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Hiring your first employee is a major milestone for your business. It can feel like stepping into uncharted territory. I know for sure when I hired my first contractor, I was full of uncertainty and questions. In the latest episode of The Master Your Business Podcast, I sat down with the remarkable Louisa Meehan to discuss the process of hiring the right person every time. A seasoned expert in the realm of recruitment and management, Louisa shares invaluable insights on hiring strategies, onboarding practices, and setting the foundations for a successful employer-employee relationship in episode #70 of The Master Your Business Podcast. Timestamps:[00:00] Introduction[02:24] Where to begin when hiring employees[09:24] Full time, part time, what time??[11:10] You have the CVs. Who do you choose?[23:51] What you need to do as an employer for seamless integration
Practice pronunciation with me! Suffixes in English often change the pronunciation and stress on a word, which can make guessing the right pronunciation a bit stressful. But in this episode, I'll show you how to pronounce words with the -ally suffix with ease. What other words with the -ally suffix can you think of? In this episode, the examples include how to pronounce the words: Cultural and Culturally Digital and Digitally Natural and Naturally Accident and Accidentally Specific and Specifically
Practice pronunciation with me! Suffixes in English often change the pronunciation and stress on a word, which can make guessing the right pronunciation a bit stressful. But in this episode, I'll show you how to pronounce words with the -ally suffix with ease. What other words with the -ally suffix can you think of? In this episode, the examples include how to pronounce the words: Cultural and Culturally Digital and Digitally Natural and Naturally Accident and Accidentally Specific and Specifically
One of our favorite comics of all time has officially been optioned for a TV show and we couldn't be happier, Marvel decides to literally flip the script on a recent X-story and it pays to subscribe to your favorite creators newsletter. Plus, follow ups from last week's Grading on You story and TWO non-the […] The post Longbox Heroes episode 692: It's Right Every Day appeared first on Longbox Heroes.
In this episode, Alex and John begin with a dive into John's largest, and most successful, holding, Treatt Plc. He delves into his history with the flavour and fragrance company and explains the appeal that led him to up his holding is for so long.This leads tidily onto a conversation on the art, and challenge, of selling, the downfalls he's experienced and what he's learned from his time as a DIY investor. The duo also discuss how important political environments are to investing and finally, he answers questions from listeners.This episode was recorded on 19th October. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The leadership behaviours that really matter… “Effective leadership is not about being liked or making speeches; leadership is defined by results, not attributes” Peter Drucker The quality of leadership is the most fundamentally important factor for an organization's success and growth Good or great leaders need to have self awareness, possess credibility, build and develop relationships, be action oriented, be authentic and enable and empower others To achieve this, leaders need to have the right mindsets, skillsets and knowledge and these need to transformed into daily actions
"What is Right" Every morning, Monday through Friday, I share a daily motivational thought to help you start your day. One minute of positive thinking every morning has the potential to change the outlook of your day. Start off right with our “Morning Minute”. Purchase my book “Sometimes, Sis, it's YOU!” here http://amzn.to/3cAGfMo --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chatty-passenger/support
Rosie Right Remodeling team of Bruce Stumbo and Romano Klepec join Rosie to give you the proper steps for a successful remodeling project. From researching licensed contractors to asking the right questions creating a relationship with the prospective contractor. Investing the time and details is key! Original broadcast archive page with expanded content https://rosieonthehouse.com/podcast/on-the-house-hour-what-it-means-for-you-home-remodeling-projects-to-be-rosie-right-every-time-with-rosie-right-design-build-remodeling
Pasta is one of the easiest things to cook, right? Well, uh, sure—but we've probably all created versions that were clumpy, or the sauce didn't cling, or it just wasn't totally there flavor-wise. No longer! The BA Test Kitchen is here for your pasta-related emergencies and is gonna help you get the carb-fest you deserve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Do you know exactly how you're spending your time? Are you getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things to grow your business? In this episode, episode 068 of the Restoration Domination Podcast, Host Rico Garcia Jr is joined by John Senac "The Roof Pro" with "Name That Shingle" where they discuss how to take inventory of how you use your time so that you can take fewer but more focused actions towards growing your business. They also discuss the power of social media and video can have and how always challenging yourself to be on the edge of your comfort zone can affect you as a person, as an entrepreneur and your business overall. 1. Live on the Edge Of Your Comfort Zone2. How Doing Less Gets You More3. Time is Your Ultimate CurrencyGuest Contact:Website: www.ntsid.com Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/JohnTheRoofPro Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/namethatshinglerenamed Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ntsidllc/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsenac/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johntheroofpro/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/namethatshingle/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNj5nIHWzCbKo9FejcAEF4Q Sponsors:mpartial uses geospatial data to assist in creating accurate estimates, invoices, documentation of damages or work done and assisting in faster and fairer claim settlement. Use DOMINATE60 for 99% off Enterprise Plan https://bit.ly/3tz2Xwz CompanyCam allows for unlimited time/location-stamped photos that can be notated & can be easily annotated/tagged. Attach the photos to specific files and easily share the entire file with others on your team or other pros and see the updates in real time. Special Offer: Get 14 days FREE & 50% off of your first 2 months https://bit.ly/3FNmJb2 Sureti Corporation removes the time and financial headaches of getting the mortgage company to release funds or a customer to pay their deductibles in insurance claims. They cut the middle man getting you paid faster and in full. Learn More: https://bit.ly/3pyVLxr C&R Magazine is the oldest trade publication specifically dedicated to the cleaning and restoration industry. C&R is available in print and digital formats for free. Learn more and subscribe for FREE here: https://bit.ly/310KLjp 0:00 Intro1:56 Podcast Intro2:12 John and Name That Shingle3:07 What More Business Owners Need to Know4:29 Evaluating Your Time8:45 Questions Business Owners Should Ask15:24 Keys to Success17:18 Practices to Implement23:48 Thanks to Our Sponsors: sureti25:24 Thanks to Our Sponsors: mpartial28:09 We're Back32:48 Embarrassment34:17 Marketing37:26 Creating Video Content43:36 Personal Branding vs Company Branding46:54 John's Coaching and Classes49:59 How to Find John51:36 OUTRO
Experts get it wrong over 60% of the time. Scientists who ‘followed the science” and predicted global cooling only 50 years ago were wrong then just as scientists today who predict global warming calamity are wrong now. To get your own life decisions right and your own important predictions accurate, acquire wisdom. Learn how the world REALLY works. That is what this show is all about. Interested in hearing how I sound speaking to an Orthodox Jewish audience? Try this interview on Kosher Money: https://youtu.be/Sx3S2bzQlIg It is important to learn how the world REALLY works. That is just another way of saying Wisdom. Try Scrolling Through Scripture for a dose of wisdom https://www.wehappywarriors.com/scrolling-through-scripture-free-lesson?seg_id=01G7AVA808RQ225VH1FD4HQZ98.12051.1659136044970 Some laws are proscriptive. Don't worry too much about those. But watch out for descriptive laws. This show teaches you how to tell the difference. Happy Warriors are NOT tennis balls floating down the gutter of life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Experts get it wrong over 60% of the time. Scientists who ‘followed the science” and predicted global cooling only 50 years ago were wrong then just as scientists today who predict global warming calamity are wrong now. To get your own life decisions right and your own important predictions accurate, acquire wisdom. Learn how the world REALLY works. That is what this show is all about. Interested in hearing how I sound speaking to an Orthodox Jewish audience? Try this interview on Kosher Money: https://youtu.be/Sx3S2bzQlIg. It is important to learn how the world REALLY works. That is just another way of saying Wisdom. Try Scrolling through Scripture for a dose of wisdom https://www.wehappywarriors.com/scrolling-through-scripture-free-lesson?seg_id=01G7AVA808RQ225VH1FD4HQZ98.12051.1659136044970 Some laws are proscriptive. Don't worry too much about those. But watch out for descriptive laws. This show teaches you how to tell the difference. Happy Warriors are NOT tennis balls floating down the gutter of life.
In today's episode of Law With Mr. Lafayette the term due process is explained. This is an important part of the rights guaranteed every citizen by the Constitution. But what does it mean? Stay tuned to find out.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
Discover inspiring truth from Philippians 3 and learn how to live right every day of the year.
MHP Podcast Episode 8: How to Get Your Mobile Home Park Appraisal Right Every Time No matter how many mobile home park or RV community deals investors have made in their careers, they can fall victim to three major errors when getting an appraisal for the purpose of buying a property. I'll explain these common errors, or obstacles, and show you how to maximize your profit potential by avoiding these Big Three no-nos. As always, this episode, hosted by Maxwell Baker, was brought to you by The Mobile Home Park (MHP) Broker's proprietary Community Price Maximizer. With our system and our very experienced brokers, we'll guarantee you a higher price when you later sell your mobile home or RV community. Here Are The Show Highlights: Appraisals are difficult, even if you're buying your second, third, fourth, fifth or tenth community. The MHP Brokers has worked with clients who own more than 100 mobile home parks or RV communities and even they struggle with appraisals. (1:08) There are three common appraisal obstacles or challenges that could screw up a deal for even a veteran buyer. (1:08) The first of these is getting a deal with artificially high, inflated lot rent numbers that can make a community look more valuable than it might be. (1:45) The second possible obstacle is getting a quote asking you to pay what might be the highest per pad price in the state when our sales data might have identified a more realistic figure based on our constantly updated market analysis. (2:06) The third error is when your lender receives bids and picks an appraiser with little or no experience with mobile home or RV parks. That's why it's so important to let us work with you. We work with appraisers all the time and can recommend appraisers with experience in this narrow field. The lender doesn't have to accept our recommendations, but they'll often add at least one of our contacts to the list of three from which they'll make their selection. (2:28) The MHP Broker ‘appraisal in a box' is our systematic and organized marketing package of rent comps and other marketing information that can make the appraisal easier and more accurate. (3:58) Want to know more about The MHP Broker approach to accurate and beneficial appraisals on every park you attempt to buy? Don't hesitate to drop me a line at info@themhpbroker.com or give me a call at 678-932-0200. Power Quotes From Max on Episode 8: “Since 2010, community lenders have had to source a minimum of three appraisers and then go through a blind bidding process to get the job.”(3:15) “We pull fresh rent comps, we pull fresh sales comps, and we make sure that it's all in there to show (lenders) where the market is.”(3:58) “We are very strict with our research crew in Indiawith getting rent comps, so we're very accurate. But a lot of these big name guys (competitors) will just fart up a number and just throw it in there. Be careful with that and make sure you do your own rent comps.” (4:18) “Our research team spends a combined 315 hours a week databasing and finding real sales data for 15 different states that we operate in. We always have the most up-to-date sales data and trends for your community locally.” (5:46)
It is not possible to always know the answer and the right thing to do. But this podcast can help you to lean in the right direction. To learn as we go, making the best decisions we can. I guess we will always be a work in progress. Listen in for a catch up on life in the valley with the alpacas.
This course is full of extremely useful and well-researched lessons with tons of time management strategies that will help you maximize the results you get every day in your business or personal life. Whether you're an employee, entrepreneur or a successful business owner, this course has everything you need to get more done in less time.
"Don't Fear What's Right" Every morning, Monday through Friday, I share a daily motivational thought to help you start your day. One minute of positive thinking every morning has the potential to change the outlook of your day. Start off right with our “Morning Minute”. Purchase my new book “Sometimes, Sis, it's YOU!” here http://amzn.to/3cAGfMo --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/chatty-passenger/support
Making predictions can be fun but sometimes people take it personally. That’s why it’s important to own up to what I get wrong to be accountable to fans of this channel and of the NBA. This pod also says where I got thing right because if I’m admitting faults it’s ok to pat myself on the back a little too. Santana, "Black Magic Woman"
On today's episode of The Sales Evangelist, we're joined by coach, speaker, and presenter Francois Lupien. From Tae Kwon Do Canadian champion to a top real estate agent to serial entrepreneur, Francois has worn multiple hats and now dedicates himself to helping entrepreneurs increase their net worth and accomplish their goals. Today, he lets us know why sales are important and his approach to doing it right every time. But first, why are sales so important? Nothing happens until a sale is made, regardless of the field. A sale is needed for a business, just like fuel is needed for any car. For the client, you are an essential cog in the wheel. There are many problems and many solutions, but the salesperson's job is to ensure the solution is brought to the problem. As a salesperson, you need to be Sherlock Holmes: inquisitive, curious, and 100% focused on the person in front of you. Genuine interest in the client is your first role. Francois's tips to be excellent in sales: Questions are the answer. If you aren't getting the answers you want, change your questions to get the right answers. Do not make assumptions as a salesperson - you will fail. Ask questions to find out what the prospect wants. The salesperson's job is to serve the people, even if they aren't the perfect fit for the sale. If you remain professional and helpful, they'll be impressed and give referrals to more prospects. Use active listening to figure out what information you need from the prospect. A phrase that brings sales “I can help you with that. It's very common with the people that I deal with. If I can show you how to solve your problem, will you work with me?” His parting advice: His go-to method - describe a scenario and ask the client if the scenario describes them. Never ask to close or make the person join when they're in that stressful environment (AKA when you tell them the price.) After stating the price, link your service back to their end result - exceeding their expectations and future pacing. Once they're back in a yes mentality, move forward and make the sale. One major takeaway? Listen to the people who've been in your situation. Success leaves clues. Don't try to reinvent the wheel and embrace the experience of others. Connect with Francois on LinkedIn and at his website howtobecomemore.com to schedule a free call with him! This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We'd love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX.
SEGMENT 1: Small Business Saturday is quickly approaching and it will probably look a bit different than last year. Here with advice on how to take advantage of the holiday season is Chip Hamann who is the Deputy President – Small Commercial, of The Hanover Insurance Group.SEGMENT 2: A perennial issue for small business owners is determining who can be categorized as an employee and who can qualify as an independent contractor. Here to help us classify each person correctly is Jaime Lizotte with efile4Biz.SEGMENT 3: One of the biggest issues that small businesses face is that they don't fully understand their financial statements. In fact, many never look at them monthly. Unfortunately, they are missing key data to managing their company, especially during tight cash flow times. Here to help is Christopher Calandra, the founder and principal of Elliott Wealth Management Services. Sponsored by The Hanover Insurance Group and efile4Biz
Erik Qualman and Shane Barker talk about the penetration of social media and its impact on brands. Erik shares how he ideated “The Social Media Revolution,” a video that has earned 30 million+ views so far. He also reveals the three factors responsible for the video’s success. In the later part of the conversation, Erik talks about digital storytelling. What makes a brand story compelling? That’s the question Erik answers, with a real example. Tune in to catch the conversation here: https://shanebarker.com/podcast/digital-storytelling-with-erik-qualman/
BE SURE TO SEE THE SHOWNOTES AND LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE. Eve Picker: [00:00:15] Hi there, thanks so much for joining me today for the latest episode of Impact Real Estate Investing. Eve: [00:00:22] My guest today is Cynthia Muller. She's the director of Mission Driven Investment at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Cynthia doesn't see herself as a leader, but she is. She's been described as a thought leader of the impact investing ecosystem and a trailblazer in the field. Cynthia has been at Kellogg since 2016, first serving as a program officer with their mission driven investment division, then as its director. There she is wholly focused on their core mission to deploy investments that help to dismantle the root causes of racial inequity. She's taking action. Eve: [00:01:18] Be sure to go to evepicker.com to find out more about Cynthia on the show notes page for this episode and be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you can access information about impact real estate investing and get the latest news about the exciting projects on my crowdfunding platform, Small change. Eve: [00:01:41] Hi, Cynthia. I'm just really delighted to have this opportunity to talk to you. Cynthia Muller: [00:01:47] Me too, Eve. It's been great, it's great to connect and I've been a huge fan of the podcast and I'm really excited for our conversation today. Eve: [00:01:54] Oh, that's lovely to hear. OK, so I like having fans. So tell me, just to set the scene, what's your background and how did you become a leader in impact investing? Cynthia: [00:02:11] I honestly, I didn't set out, by any reason, I certainly don't think of myself as one now. I'm really just a practitioner and I have the fortune to work for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where I lead our Mission Driven Investment program, which is about 13 years old, focused on impact investment. We do both MTRIs, our mission really did invest in market rate investments, as well as concessionary investments known at the foundation as program-related investment. And it's a small 450 million but it's really exciting because that pool has really been a tool for us at the foundation to learn how do we invest with a more equitable lend? How do we invest understanding that not only are we achieving a financial return, but we are also targeting demonstratable, tangible social impact? Cynthia Muller: [00:03:02] And so, 13 years ago when our board approved this, they also declared us an anti-racist organization. In that same year in 2007, our predecessor, previous president of our foundation, as well as board members who are currently and of the past, had, knew that there were opportunities for us to think about how do we use tools differently, how do we think about systems differently? And so, 13 years later, it's all culminating now this intersection between understand that there would be systems that people operate in and even though these systems are built for everyone, they don't work for everyone. And I think what I'm heartened, despite this is a terribly difficult time to see what all of the loss of life, as well as the challenges that many folks are facing, and in particular, the poor Black, native and other marginalized groups that were already systematically left behind who now, yet have a double whammy to try and catch up. Cynthia: [00:04:08] But that is also an incredible opportunity for groups that we fund and that we partner with. These are groups that are in communities. These are groups that, through their advocacy, lived experience and continued representation of the communities, know exactly what tools, what resources they need in order to build the community that will work truly for everyone. So, I'm so excited about that, this work and about the ways in which we can think about these systems, right? Because we're in such a period of inflection. We, in philanthropy, you know, obviously we, like a lot of other industries, are going through our own reckoning and how we navigate the non-profit sector and social impact and even how we navigate being complicit in some of these practices of white supremacy in these systems. So, for me, it's really helping to figure out how to use these tools to unlock and really help to support our folks in developing resources, tools and funds, models that truly could be resonant and sustainable for communities in the long term. Eve: [00:05:12] I read somewhere that you said, you talked about approaching racial equity, not with guilt, but with an impact lens, which I love. I think that's a really meaningful shift in understanding for me, I suppose. And I wanted to start talking about, like, this is a really huge subject we all know but I'm in the little real estate industry section of it and I wanted to start talking about, you know, how the real estate industry fails people of color and what you think are some of the key things going wrong. Cynthia: [00:05:47] Sure. And, I want to couch my remarks carefully, because, again to the point, I don't want to guilt, you know, folks in these conversations. These conversations are really to help illuminate, right? Illuminate how people actually experience working in these systems. And I think, in real estate industry in particular, I think is interesting, obviously built off our understanding of what it means to own land. Our, I should say, Western understanding of what it means to own land. And that's derived from obviously the theft of land from Native Americans several hundred years ago. Cynthia: [00:06:25] And so, the start was there. The start with our fundamental understanding of what it means to land. And so, when you have a society that has been built on taking land from folks already there and then re-giving it out, well of course you're going to have flaws in the system several hundreds of years later because it perpetuates this idea of who owns the land and who has the right to decide on it. But that's not to say that for 2020, I think in the ways that real estate has left Black communities behind, I think it's similar to how the finance industry or even the entertainment industry has left Black communities behind. They leverage the work, the creativity of folks in use of their land. And it really started with slavery, with the renaming of the 40 acres and a mule. And so, folks who had nothing coming out of reconstruction where they were promised this land and they had it for a couple of years before it was unfortunately taken back and given to other folks, and in that case, those who have resources. And so, I think compound that over generations. Right? Every time there was an opportunity for black and brown people to build an asset, to build wealth, unfortunately and systematically, it was taken away through, either through force like we saw in, you know, in many examples that we've been learning about, but we also learned through other means, through legal means, right? Cynthia: [00:07:53] And for me in my own journey, in understanding how these systems work, and even myself being complicit and working in organizations that didn't know, or to understand how, you know, we continue to perpetuate this divide through our financing structures, through how we even underwrite our deals, who we consider deal-worthy, even by zip code. And so I think all of that's to say that we all operate in this environment of a real estate where we understand who owns things based on who it's passed down to, the legal structures, but as we have learned through great reporting like The Atlantic and The New York Times and others, there have been generations of folks who've been losing their land. And one of the greatest examples right now is the great Black land theft. There's a great, great piece in ProPublica on just that. Basically, the systematic theft of Black land that's been left to families through generations. And unfortunately, the families that they gifted this land are unable to, for a variety of reasons, maybe they don't have the assets to find a lawyer or understand how to reach the appropriate folks to document ownership. And so, this creates more vulnerability and predatory behavior by others who see it as an opportunity. [00:09:11] And so, I think that's all to say that's how the system works. We see how the money comes in. We see who is getting financed, how these big real estate funds are able to amass all this property through systematic purchasing. And we see how this plays out in local communities where there are a handful of individuals or families that own the real estate, right? And so, unfortunately, for folks who, like myself, my father was in Vietnam, came back from the war, settled in Alaska and worked as a civilian on the Air Force base for many years and was ultimately able to buy his own property. But that was after a lot of handwringing. He had to jump through a lot of different hoops, thinking about financing in different ways because traditional banks were going to put him through extra steps that he wasn't willing to go through. So, every time we talk about creating wealth for people, that's great. But it's not that everybody has the same access and opportunity to create that wealth. I think that's, quite frankly, how real estate fails black and brown communities. That lack of recognition is very much obviously focused on the bottom line and that exchange of the assets and who owns and how much revenue we can glean from it but we never systematically just sit down and think about who actually is benefiting from this and who is it benefiting from this? Eve: [00:10:37] I mean, that's just a huge problem. And, you know, and the predatory behavior is continuing today in different ways. So, it isn't like it's stopped. So, what would it take to correct this? We're talking about banks that won't lend to certain groups of people. We're talking about people who go into poor neighborhoods and purchase homes for less than market value. We're talking about all sorts of, kind of, failings that ultimately impact people who don't have the resources to deal with it, right? Cynthia: [00:11:13] Mm hmm, that's right. So how do we, how do we help them, right? Eve: [00:11:16] How do we start, right? Cynthia: [00:11:20] So now that we've painted this dire... What's out there? There are some incredible areas of opportunity and great work. One of those is really around community development finance. This is an industry that's been around for 40-something years. This really came out of church groups, non-profits creating loan funds all over the country to do justice, to be that bridge finance or for, in those places and those communities, for those people who are being overlooked. And so, there are several thousand CDFIs across the country, they're all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some of them are national, some of them are in places, some of them are thematically structured, but they're all in the service of deploying capital. And a lot of them are very much active in the real estate market because a lot of great programs in the 80s and 90s and then the aughts have really allowed the industry to flourish. New market tax credits to various CDFI fund programs, healthy food financing. Cynthia: [00:12:24] I do think the CDFI space has done a tremendous job. We've got a great history and track record of these transactions. I think the challenge is that the industry is a little dispersed. Obviously, it's all over the country and each CDFI has its own individual strategy. And I think further, the CDFI industry has been really, really thoughtful about scaling up and figuring out how do we start to do larger deals so we can be a more significant player with the larger banks. And I think we've proven that case. I think, unfortunately, though, we have veered a little bit away from providing capital to the folks in the most need. Cynthia: [00:13:05] And I say this because when we, as we have been trying to marry this impact and finance, I think this field is borne out of a number of different things and I think the folks that have come to it have brought all of this incredible insight and talent and resources from a lot of the institutional finance investment. Some of those folks came from banks, they came from investment banking, they came from equity, venture capital, the whole industry. Now if you think about it, what are those industries lacking? A lens into these communities, a connection into these communities. And unfortunately, I think that it still comes out in different ways. And so, I'll say that while we have incredible groups that are providing capital to low-income communities, we're still not hitting the most marginalized. We're hitting cities, we're hitting gentrifying areas. And so, if you actually look at some of the loans across the country, we are, we're actually, we're doing work but we're hitting the wrong areas. [00:14:02] And so for me, it's really helping to illuminate what these other opportunities look like and that CDFIs and others have the opportunity to really bring their lens and this 40 years of working in low income communities to the space, and to provide that capital. That quite frankly, and it's already happening in so many ways. In the news recently, we're hearing about groups like Netflix and PayPal who are deploying tens of millions of dollars into CDFIs and community banks to help folks address these needs. And PPP, the subsequent round after the first round, they made sure to include CDFIs because, obviously, they realized really quickly that there was a whole flock of folks that were being left behind. I think CDFIs aren't the panacea, but I do think they are a huge partner, along with other asset holders that help to influence how we structure the practice. Eve: [00:14:55] Yes. I think developers., OK let's talk about developers. They're often, you know, that's often considered a bad word in underserved neighborhoods, while there are, I think, quite a few developers who really want to do the right thing. So how we train developers to fully understand the consequences of their projects? And can we do that? Can we really, like, look ahead 20 years and understand what might happen in a neighborhood? Cynthia: [00:15:27] Yeah, I think we can. I think we got a little bit of a lesson with Opportunity Zones. While.... hold out with me here. Opportunity Zones obviously a lot of challenges. I personally have a lot of challenges with them in the way that the program is structured, and I think folks have talked about this in detail. So, I don't think I have anything else to add. But I do think there were a number of my peers who were really trying to figure out just that. How do they help to show, demonstrate, the practice of making these investments in communities with that land? Right? Because that was the general intent that I think that a lot of folks had expected and unfortunately the program did not have enough accountability metrics to really allow for that to really play out. Cynthia: [00:16:15] And so we've gotten what we've gotten, you know, a lot of deals that didn't go into high need communities. However, the work that Kresge Foundation funded really around, how do we look at these transactions with that lens? I think that was the most valuable piece of what we learned from Opportunity Funds so far, is that we can go in with a good intent, right? We know that the idea was to bring in new money, right? But we also realized that, unfortunately, capital markets need some accountability, you know. And I know that there's varying degrees of how we can play that. But it's clear to me that had we been clear about when you're going into these communities, here are kind of the criteria. How are you engaging with the community? What's the community's voice? Does the community have an actual equity stake in this development? If so, how? Right? So how do we get past this rubber stamp where people hold community meetings to say they did it and say the community's involved, right? How do we actually push for meaningful? Cynthia: [00:17:18] I think the answer is pretty simple. I think the answer is that communities have a voice. And a voice that I think that people have been so surprised and shocked by. And it's been social media. Think about what we are able to see now right outside of the news. When I was growing up, you saw the news and that was your world view, right? And whatever news you've watched? And now your world view is not just the news you watch, it's the social media system and the people you connect with. And so, think about communities you see all over the country right now with, you know, Municipal Boards and cities debating and hearing the community talk about how they're being failed. And that is raising the visibility around a lot of the gaps. And I think that's really where the opportunity is. Because when you have a community that engaged, that community is willing to be involved and willing to go with you on that journey. And also, it means that there is an accountability there, that you can't just come into that community and say you're going to do one thing and not follow up. Cynthia: [00:18:19] And I think that, quite frankly, developers, unfortunately, have a reputation. And I think this is an opportunity for them to work in a meaningful way, because I think in the long term that actually benefits them. If they have a community that's bought into, right? It's going to compound the prosperity of that asset, of that community and the longevity of that community, right? And bring in more folks. And so, you want that compounding effect, but you have to spend the time to do it. And unfortunately, underwriting, due diligence, structuring doesn't allow for that. So how do you do that in a meaningful way that still allows folks to get their deals done to set up these projects to house, provide services to folks without going through a two-year journey of learning this community? And I think the answer, quite frankly, is that the community has to be involved in the development, right? It means that we have to think about their engagement differently. And it's not just the developer who's developing, it's the community who's developing their own community. It's a very deep philosophical shift, but it's one where I think where it's the time for us to be having a conversation. Eve: [00:19:23] Yeah, no, I agree. But I think, you know, it's a very different conversation when it's a small developer versus a large one. It's about resources and what's possible and it's a huge industry doing a lot of different things. It's difficult. Cynthia: [00:19:40] When you talk about small, like, the small developer, and I'm thinking about, you know, obviously there's the developers in New York and L.A. and then you've got developers in the Midwest and in these smaller cities. And there are different dynamics there, right? There's a little bit more, obviously, insular, you know. It obviously depends on who owns what assets, the political leanings of folks in power and whatnot. But I do think, given Covid, given the Black Lives Matter uprisings, we're in a place in time where that's our leverage. Right? Because we all want to build stronger communities. We all want to live in safe, strong communities. And I think that's the message for us, right? Where we've been living in the last four months in Covid and all of this. And there's so much fear and people just want to get to their communities. And so, it just feels like, if there were a call-out to developers, it would be now. You have an opportunity to rewrite how you show up in communities, how you develop communities, who you develop communities with. Eve: [00:20:50] So, I want to go up the food chain just a little bit more because it isn't just developers. When developers look for equity, which, you know, over the last 15 years they have needed more and more of as banks have retracted the amount they will lend. You know, when you need to find 35 or 40 percent of the development cost as equity, you have to pay for that. Now we're in the market where there's investors who are seeking a return for the risk they're taking. And I think, more than anything, that return drives what goes on, right? Cynthia: [00:21:26] It does. Eve: [00:21:27] And I think there are expectations of return in real estate that I've heard, you know, are 25 percent internal rate of return. How can you ever build anything affordable for a community when that's the equity that you have access to? You know I have Small Change and I've been trying to raise money for meaningful projects, and this is this is the question I always get from developers. How much return do I have to give to investors to raise the money? And I don't really know the answer because I think there is kind of the level of greed and I wish that were kind of reduced right now, but I don't know the answer. I don't know if you have thoughts about that. Cynthia: [00:22:12] While impact investing or social mission investing or whatever folks call it, I think we're in a moment. There's enough of us now, we're in major investment banks, we have our own celebrities now and I think our practice out there. Listen, like Netflix dedicating 100 million to Black banks all over the US didn't happen overnight, right? These funds that are 200-million-dollar impact funds didn't happen overnight. There are investors who understand how to manage risk and how to manage impact. I think the challenge is in creating a better flow between those investors and to folks that are raising those dollars. And that's the piece that I think we constantly run up against. What's nice is, through the global impact investment networks, through groups like SOCAP and Confluence and others, we have these great anchor organizations within our field that are really able to connect folks to the deal. So, for instance, at Confluence I just think they do a fantastic job, really kind of digging in in specific things and bringing their investors together. So, like any investor that has an interest in an area can go in. And in with other folks that have been looking at similar deals and to engage. I think it's really creating more visibility and awareness around that practice. Cynthia: [00:23:36] And one of the things I think that it's already being seeded, it's been seeded, is that we are in so many business schools right now, there's so much impact investing being baked in into MBA programs, into graduate programs all over the country. We are also, we have a dearth of folks who are interested in the space and not enough jobs. And so, I think that I would put it out to developers to really start to look at that. There's a whole dearth of folks that are coming into the industry with this orientation. Hire them, engage them, especially if they're from these communities. Because what I have found is that a lot of these students and the young folks, the way that they're coming up in the world is not in these silos, the way that the world is so much more fluid. And so, it makes so much more sense, the why. For them this is, this integration, is much more, is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, we're on the other side of it or trying to reorient our infrastructure, our approach, our lens into that. And so, I would say for investors and for folks, for developers, smaller developers, looking for this type of investor, I that that with the impact field in the regard that we have community foundations in every major city in this country, we've got family foundations, we've got private foundations, and we've got a lot of individuals, like a lot of your listenership and your partners, right? And so, we have to start to message that and get that out more. And I think it's starting to take root. It's just, it's a lot. It's a lot in this environment, right? To introduce in a completely new framing. Eve: [00:25:12] It is. Yeah. And then, you know, there's also redlining, which was supposed to be gone, right? Cynthia: [00:25:21] No, yeah, no it never went away, never went away. Eve: [00:25:24] It never went away. So how does that get eradicated? How will that go away? Cynthia: [00:25:31] So familiar. You know, there are recent reports of some of the cases, and current cases of redlining are still there. And so, I think this is also a finer point, right? So, while we are being aspirational, working in this new normal, we still have to recognize we have vestiges of this old practice. And I think that for many groups that are wanting to engage, and what do I do now, it's really continued to let up and figuring out how do we support those communities. Look at the communities that haven't been, who haven't had any investment. And it's not easy, it's not hard to find them, right. And you can see exactly who has been flown over and the bank does, or what have you. Start looking at them. Cynthia: [00:26:16] So, whenever folks come to us and they're like, oh, my gosh, we got we've got 50-million-dollars, which we do. All right. So, I ask them to look at their issue areas, look at and think about who's benefiting and who isn't, and then really focus on who isn't. And that's your baseline. And then you build from there you look at, all right, so if this community does not have access to housing, we're like, well, OK, well what other alternatives, right? Is a smaller housing unit? Is it partnerships with other groups? It's really helping them to reframe their lens instead of how the deals fit within the future is, to look at what the actual deal is and how you look for the opportunity. Cynthia: [00:26:56] And I think that given that this recession will hit us very much in places different than the last recession and in a sense, because, look how Covid is hitting us now. The wave will be similar. So, I think the developers in those places that will be in a tremendous amount of opportunity and need for creativity. Eve: [00:27:22] Yes. Cynthia: [00:27:22] To help to buy up some of these properties, to help them ensure that they maintain affordability, that they are owned by Black and brown community. And so that's where I would go. I would look at that and start to think about how do we, how do we help reinforce these communities. Eve: [00:27:38] Right. Oh, OK. Cynthia: [00:27:43] Sorry, we said we'd go heavy and deep. Eve: [00:27:48] I know, it's hard work, isn't it? Just shifting gears, a little bit, how much money is being deployed in impact investing at the moment and how much you expect that to grow? Cynthia: [00:28:01] Yes so impact investing has, over the last few years, has grown a tremendous amount. And so, in the most recent global impact investment report, I believe that the size, and they, every year, they do a survey of self-identified impact investing and impact investors, that every year it's been going up. And so, this year, I think we're up into several trillion. And what's really exciting is if you actually look at the impact investing, if you look at that survey, do it every year, you can see, year over year, exponential growth of the folks that are identifying in this space. And even more so, if you look here in the US, you can see more and more folks that have, who have investable assets, who are very much interested. So, the signs show that there is interest. Cynthia: [00:28:44] I think the challenge is like, OK, what is that interest, right? And how do we translate that interest into capital and into these deals? And I think that's the piece that, what we do in our grant-making and with our peers in the impact investing field, it's where, how are we creating new vehicles, whether they're investment vehicles and organizations or even thinking about the fintech infrastructure, right? So, there's a lot of conversations around that. And how do we attract investors to participate in, kind of, this fintech revolution or should we in some cases? And I think that's all to say, that there's a momentum and it's just connecting that momentum with folks who have capital. And the folks who have capital are very much interested in that. A least based on my schedule calls. Eve: [00:29:34] You said the folks that have capital and that that's actually what interests me most because everyone has a little bit of capital. I think about how everyone could be involved. And, you know, when you build a new project in a neighborhood that is funded through foundation funds or government funds or new market tax credits or however, you basically increasing, eventually, the asset value of that neighborhood. And then there are people who are left behind. We call that gentrification. I think there's probably some good things about gentrification. You can't, you know, not leaving neighborhoods in deplorable states is one of them. I think investments have to be made. But how do you make sure that the little people also get to be part of this, maybe even get to invest? Cynthia: [00:30:27] Yeah, and I think the more that we can democratize investing, I think the better. The same way think about social media, the way that we've democratized people's voices. Some would argue there's a downside, and there definitely is... Eve: [00:30:42] Yeah, there definitely is. Cynthia: [00:30:44] I will not deny that. But think about it. Think of the voices we've been able to hear; think of the things that we've been able to see. Eve: [00:30:52] Yes. Cynthia: [00:30:52] Think about the deals. Now translate that to investment. Think about the deals we'll be able to do as a result of people's voices and perspectives who outside of our industry. And I think there'll be a reckoning for us around what does risk actually mean? When you think about the risk of National Guardsmen coming into your city and bringing, and all of the chaos that could come with that, right, because some of these protests? And so, I think risk is really what's on the table, is like, how do we, a free market, define risk? And that's what's really happening, because it's clear that people have defined risk in ways that have been self-serving to one group or groups over others, right? Eve: [00:31:36] Yes. Cynthia: [00:31:36] And so, and that's where we're at. That's where we're at. But wait a minute, you didn't have, you know, how many folks were like, wait a minute, you know, why couldn't you waive our rent? These are all issues that are based on the system, but we can dictate the system based on what the need is in this given moment. And I think that that's really caused a lot of consternation in folks, and particularly those folks that are coming, that are growing up, progressing in their careers and realizing they're not going to have the same opportunities as the parents. Eve: [00:32:11] Right. Cynthia: [00:32:12] Or the grandparents. Are you even remotely, you know. Eve: [00:32:17] So, a completely different question again. What community engagement tools have you seen that have really worked? Cynthia: [00:32:26] Power mapping. It's probably one of my, the best tools in the sense of really, if you are an investor who wants to, you want to make sure that you're engaging in community in a sufficient and a meaningful way and, be real, like the Black community, right? And often folks especially, say a white developer, or white-led organizations don't know how to navigate that. So, I would encourage folks to look at things like power mapping and helping them to understand why some communities will be so resistant to developers. This takes reflection and really understanding around the barrage of issues that these communities are facing. And obviously, place is paramount, but now on top of that, access to health care, access to jobs. And so, when you think about that and you have developers that are coming in, we're going to fix your lives with this new development and then not deliver. And then rinse and repeat. That bears out, that really shows up in the community. I encourage folks to always go into understanding power. How has it been stripped from this community? You know, in the past, how has it enabled the community? You learn about the history, right? It really helps you to understand, how do you find a project, or structure a project, that will get through and be meaningful and beneficial to the community. So, I always start with power mapping. Cynthia: [00:33:48] I also start with, you know, there are a lot of really great local data and analytics there. Folks who are just totally crunching the data for the communities, right? And really using that to program. Look at them. A lot of folks like to bring in national groups and they're great, too but I think these local groups have access to data, they have the nuance of this data, that I think is far more powerful and insightful to folks who are thinking about a comprehensive project. That's the data that helps to tell the story of that community. And so, so many stories of communities have been forgotten or reframed. And so, I would also think about them, making sure you're getting an understanding of that community, not the, you know, not the one that's told you by folks who are selling it, but really the community. Right? And so, you know, when you're going in, you know what you experience with blockers in that development. Eve: [00:34:46] That's really, that's really fascinating. OK, so, where do you think the future of real estate impact investing lies, like 10 years from now? What does this all look like? Cynthia: [00:34:57] Gosh. Hopefully, it means we see more community making decisions about what businesses are there and more deep engagement, right? I think we've seen a lot of national chains that go into various communities and doing a lot of extractive practices, unfortunately. And so, I'm hopeful that we see a little bit of a rightsizing of that, right? And I think where we see much more meaningful and thoughtful engagement from a lot of our national corporates who are a critical partner to community development all over this country. I also hope that we have better models for underwriting these projects and ensuring that we're thinking about risk in the proper way. And then we are also, we're comfortable with a different form of return from some of these projects we'll take. We all, many of us, are long-term investors, right? But we all, we say we're long term investors, but that's not how we act. And so, I think that'll be an interesting piece, I hope that it helps us to shake out a new framing around that. Eve: [00:36:05] And so what's next for you? What are you working on? Cynthia: [00:36:10] A couple of things. Something that I'm really excited about, well as much as you can be excited about trying to systematically eradicate racial injustice in the capital markets, is really some of this ecosystem building. So, for instance, like I said, you know, this recession is going to be so localized and so for, in my mind, that it creates a lot of opportunities with a lot of our local leaders and a lot of folks are about to become local leaders. And so, there's the conversations that are happening in some of these cities around that and thinking about innovative financing structure. So, I'm really excited about that, Eve. I'm also excited about getting a little more visibility to many of our under-banked and under-financed regions, most notably in the US south. The US south are going to have like 45 percent of our population, is probably the most impoverished counties and cities across the country. And yet we barely have banked them. We barely have community banks and other resources to help these communities, kind of figure out the tools and structures that would work for them and so, for me, it's really connecting those dots and really helping them build those eco systems and driving more capital and connecting investors to those burgeoning opportunities and businesses and funds. Eve: [00:37:36] Well, I think you'll have your hands full, in fact, I think we're all going to have our hands full, but it is, as you said, an opportunity. Thank you so much for talking to me today. I really enjoyed our conversation. Hope we continue it. Cynthia: [00:37:55] Likewise, Eve. Eve: [00:37:55] That was Cynthia. Every time there has been an opportunity for black and brown people to build an asset, to build wealth, says Cynthia, it's been taken away from them. Who do we consider deal-worthy? Cynthia thinks we are in a moment and so do I. This may just be the moment where we should all sit our guilt aside and just take action. Eve: [00:38:22] You can find out more about impact real estate investing and access the show notes for today's episode at my website evepicker.com. While you're there, sign up for my newsletter to find out more about how to make money in real estate while building better cities. Eve: [00:38:39] Thank you so much for spending your time with me today. And thank you, Cynthia, for sharing your thoughts. We'll talk again soon but, for now, this is Eve Picker signing off to go make some change.
There's a lot of overlap between type 1 diabetes & celiac disease, including how hard it can be to get a diagnosis. People with T1D are thought to have ten times the risk of developing celiac and even more have a sensitivity to gluten. Ann Campanella went for years knowing something was wrong with her little girl and being brushed aside until she finally found a doctor who took her seriously. Ann shares her story in her new book ““Celiac Mom”” and takes some time to talk to us about her story Check out Stacey's new book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! In Tell Me Something Good, The Renegade Run is back and we share a bunch of diaversaries, with some interesting ways to celebrate. Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Sign up for our newsletter here Find out more about The Virtual Renegade Run ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone Click here for Android Episode transcription Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop created for people with diabetes by people who have diabetes and by Dexcom, take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. Announcer 0:22 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:28 This week, if you live with Type One Diabetes, you have about a tenfold chance of developing celiac and there's a lot of overlap in the communities, including how hard it can be to get a diagnosis. Ann Campanella went for years knowing something was wrong with her daughter until she finally found a doctor who took her seriously. Anne Campanella 0:47 I mean, he listened to me which was wonderful for the first time I was not nervous mom or you know somebody who was just like, she's always got some issue with her child but the child is fine. So it was just great. Have somebody listen and go Yes, you're right. Stacey Simms 1:03 Ann shares the rest of her story in her new book “Celiac Mom” and take some time to talk to us and tell me something good. The Renegade run is back I'll explain. And a bunch of diaversaries with some interesting ways to celebrate. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. I am so glad to have you along. I'm your host Stacey Simms. We aim to educate and inspire about type 1 diabetes by sharing stories of connection. My son was diagnosed with type one, right before he turned two he is now 15 and a half my husband lives with type two diabetes. I don't have diabetes. I have a background in broadcasting and that is how you get the podcast. A little bit of a different focus of the show this week in that I'm talking about celiac, which does not affect everybody with type one, but I felt like Anne's story in particular really resonated and really reminded me frankly, about our own story, I think you'll hear a lot in and that perhaps you have gone through, even if you do not have celiac if you do not have a gluten sensitivity, and that's why I want her to come on the show. She's a terrific author as well. And we talked about some of the other books that she has written. Speaking of authors, I'm just gonna take a second, I have to tell you some news about my book, “The World’s Worst Diabetes Mom”, huge thank you, to those of you who have told a friend about this, who've purchased the book and then posted it somewhere on Facebook. Because you know, with the book tour being totally canceled this year, it really changed what we had expected. Although, gosh, I gotta say, I'm so grateful. I'm going to knock some wood here. It's just been going great. We already hit the year long sales goal a couple of months ago. I mean, it's very exciting stuff, but that's not why I'm bringing it up. I'm bringing it up because I just want to mention the book to clinic program. That is something new and different that I started earlier this year. I had a pediatric endocrinologist and CDE certified diabetes. Educators asked me about the book because a couple of groups purchased books and provided them to their local peace endo clinic, so that a newer diagnosed family would get a free copy of the book. I mean, how cool is that? I kind of wish I thought of it. I didn't. But once I saw it, I knew we could help. I have some wonderful sponsors who have signed on to make this work. Most recently, I want to give a big thank you to Glucose Revival. They make the Thrive necklace, a big thank you to Pump Peelz, our very latest sponsor. And of course, the people who started me on this Frio and T1D3DGear, I'm going to link up all of their stuff in the show notes, please visit these wonderful sponsors. I'm looking for groups like that people who are small businesses, let's say in the diabetes community, and this is a very affordable way to get your message out. And of course, I'm now in the position where we're looking for clinics as well. So if you’re a health care provider listening, if you see families touched by type one, we want to give you some free books, so please Reach out and let me know you can find me on social media Of course, Stacey at Diabetes Connections.com. Okay, let's talk about celiac in just a moment. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop. And it is so nice to find a diabetes product that not only does what you need, but also fits in perfectly with your life. One Drop is that it is the slickest looking and most modern meter My family has ever used. And it's not just about their modern meter setup. You can also send your readings to the mobile app automatically and review your data at any time. Instantly share blood glucose reports with your healthcare team and also works with your Dexcom Fitbit or your Apple Watch. Not to mention their awesome test strips subscription plan, pick as many test strips as you need and they will deliver them to your door. One Drop diabetes care delivered, learn more, go to Diabetes Connections comm and click on the white drop logo. My guest this week is the author of “Celiac Mom” and full disclosure She's a friend of mine, formerly a magazine and newspaper editor Ann Campanella is the author already of two memoirs and four collections of poetry. Her first memoir, motherhood Lost and Found has won numerous awards. And it was named one of the best Alzheimer's books of all time by book authority. I've known Ann and her husband Joel and their daughter, Sydney since our kids were young. Of course, I knew Sidney had celiac, but I never knew the story behind her diagnosis. And it turns out, she was diagnosed the same year that we found out that Benny had type one diabetes. Now look, obviously everybody who listens to this show and lives with diabetes doesn't live with celiac, thankfully. But there is a lot of overlap here in terms of having to advocate for ourselves to trust our gut, no pun intended there and to transition to a new type of life after diagnosis. So real quick, just to make sure we're all on the same page here. If you don't know celiac disease is a genetic autoimmune disease. It's not a food allergy. It does cause damage to the small intestine. It interferes with the absorption of nutrients in is a serious deal. It's not a joke. I think that's another overlap that we have with diabetes and celiac that people just don't take it seriously. I was really happy to talk to. And so here's my chat with author Ann Campanella, and thank you so much for joining me. This is gonna be so much fun. It's nice to talk to a friend for the show. Anne Campanella 6:19 Absolutely. I'm so excited. Stacey Simms 6:22 You know, I was struck reading “Celiac Mom”, how difficult the beginnings of this story are. And I want to talk about that and how you got to where the great place where you are now. But let me start by asking what prompted you to write the book in the first place? Anne Campanella 6:34 Well, you know, I think one of the reasons that this book just poured out of me was because, as you said, I don't think most people had any idea what I was living through. And, you know, you can talk about, oh, I wasn't getting sleep. Oh, my baby was not happy. She was crying, and people just sort of pat you on the head and go, Oh, you're a new mom. Everything will be fine, but writing that book was a way to go, you know, I want to get this whole story out, really for others who may be coming after me and experiencing this. Stacey Simms 7:10 So let's talk about what happened early on, as I said, even having known you, and I know and I know Sydney as the healthy happy Sydney that she is now. Yes. What were those signs? Anne Campanella 7:20 Oh, my goodness. Probably the first one was as a baby. She did not sleep. everybody around me who had new babies. They were like, Oh, my baby's sleeping 12 hours a night, 11 hours a night, 14 hours a night. Sydney would she would barely sleep six to eight hours, and then I could not get her to nap. And at the same time, I was caring for my mom who had Alzheimer's. So I was I didn't even know if I was coming or going. And in the beginning, she woke up like every hour on the hour. And again, people said Oh, she's teasing. thing or it's this or it's that. So that was one of the earliest signs, but I had no idea it was a sign right when she got a little bit older. Joel love to eat cereal, he pour a huge bowl of cereal so they would do the exact same thing. And five minutes later, she would be on the couch holding her stomach. In addition, I could see that she was bloated most of the time. And she just she had these teeny little arms and legs in this big stomach. And I thought, is she eating too much? You know, it was that big bowl of cereal more than she should eat. And as a new mom, I just had no clue. You know, was this normal was this not but then as she got even older, I knew that something was really wrong because she wasn't growing properly. She was basically head and shoulders shorter than all of her classmates and all of her friends would be growing in by inches and she was barely mean she was In the same clothes for like three years, so those were some real good signs. Stacey Simms 9:05 You know, it's, it is obviously very different from type 1 diabetes. But we, so many people in different communities get these doctor's visits where they'll say, oh, it isn't that it's this or, you know, we don't need to check because this is just the flu or she just needs to grow into it. Or, you know, every kid grows differently. And I'm curious, I know, you heard that a lot. I did. What was the tipping point for you, though, where you finally got the answer? Anne Campanella 9:33 You know, I guess I was, I was on alert constantly. And I did. I loved my family practice doctor. She was fantastic, with so many things, but she just didn't have the knowledge about celiac. And Sydney also had one of her symptoms was constipation, and that sort of the opposite of what a lot of kids have have diarrhea. So that didn't tip her off to it. Every single visit, I would ask I would talk about stuff. I was also searching on the internet. You know, day after day, when everybody went to bed for the short times that he was asleep, I'd be checking things out. But I actually had a friend who had, I think it was her niece had growing issues. She knew Sydney, she had known her as a baby, and she would hear me talk about my concerns. And she said, you know, and there is, you know, a doctor in Charlotte, who can deal with some of these things. He was an endocrinologist, and there were various factors that she felt like it might be worth seeing him. And as soon as I got that information, I was like, we are going to that doctor. And he is the one who very quickly I mean, he listened to me, which was one Wonderful for the first time I was not nervous mom or you know somebody who was just like, Oh, she's always got some issue with her child, but the child is fine. And so it was just great to have somebody listen and go, yes, you're right. If this isn't dealt with, she's going to be four foot eight. And thank goodness, he was able to rule things out. And then he sent me to a pediatric gastroenterologist who did an endoscopy. And that is what set us on the course to know for sure that she had celiac. We had blood tests done and the blood tests were so borderline that they did not show anything definitive. So that was something that was just dismissed. But when she had the endoscopy, the doctor said she had severe scarring. So even though the blood test, which everybody's like, Oh, just get a blood test, you know, you'll find out that did not give us the information we needed. The endoscopy, told us everything, and that they took samples of her small intestine. And the doctor knew from the moment he got in there and started looking. He didn't even have to wait for the test. He's like, she's got celiac, Stacey Simms 12:15 obviously, look, you and I are not doctors, we can't give medical advice. Right? Every borderline blood test is not going to lead to a positive result from the endoscopy. But I think it's a great point to bring up that if you're still not certain if you know, this is something that, again, we don't have this experience. But if you get the blood tests back, even though it was borderline, did you have to push for it or did the doctor say you know, to be sure, you know, I'm curious how you still got the endoscopy. Anne Campanella 12:41 I definitely had to push for it. Now, the doctor that the endocrinologist he was happy to do it. But in order to get to see him through the medical system, I definitely had to push because they were ready to just dismiss it. Which I guess you know, maybe that's the For a lot of people, but it did make me think, goodness for all this moms who know intuitively that something is not right. It's so important to just keep pushing and you know, to go for what you know, will help your child. Stacey Simms 13:15 So tell me about the transition. Obviously, when you get a diagnosis, we want to help our kids, we want to do what's best for them. But I laughed out loud when I read in your book, and here's a quote from it. She says, I have never been a cook. In fact, Joelle or husband and I survived for years on a diet of microwave dinners and take out food. So a woman after my own heart, I was the exact same way for many years before I had children. I didn't cook at all really, how do you make the transition from going out for Italian food bringing home big bready subs to what I imagine was a lot of food prep and cooking after this diagnosis. Anne Campanella 13:56 You know, it was horrendous. To be honest, it was so hard and I love hearing that you are not a cook either. Because you get this. And I feel like it's sort of like, God has a sense of humor. You know, I went in thinking went into motherhood thinking, well, I don't have to cook, I can get through this. And then he just turns things on. It's his head or my head. And it's like, no, you're gonna have to cook every single meal for the rest of your life and just see how that is. But how did I do it? I will tell you Stacey. It took me a good year before I felt comfortable at all. And I think I started the transition with just going oh my gosh, I have got to find something to feed my daughter. You know, I literally thought she was going to starve because I didn't know what to put on our plate. I figured out five meals. Okay, what are five meals that I can Give her that she will eat. And she actually she was starving. That was another symptom that she had. She was always starving, she would eat one meal. Five minutes later, she'd be asking for a second meal. And I'd be thinking, what is the deal? You know, am I creating a child who's going to have eating disorders because she, she wants all these meals. So we went from, I tried to find the meals that I used to pick up. Like, if it was Italian, like spaghetti, okay, spaghetti can't be too hard. And I found rice pasta and had to go searching the labels on spaghetti sauce to make sure that there was no gluten in them. Stacey Simms 15:46 So we should also jump in and say this is 2007 Yeah, while it was probably better than 1987 Yeah, certainly isn't what we have now. Oh my gosh, Anne Campanella 15:56 no, it's it's so much better now. You can actually go to regular stores and find gluten free food. Back then I went to the one health food store. And, and it was funny because it's health food. But basically the thing that they had most that was gluten free was cookies and brownies and cake and still defined actual meals. That was a challenge. I mean, you really had the search. And like one of the things I learned was, chicken is not always safe. It's often processed with gluten. And so for a couple of months, I was feeding Sidney chicken for several meals thinking, Oh, I'm doing so well. But she still was bloated. And as I was reading and researching, somewhere I ran across Oh yeah, chicken and there's a couple of brands that are safe, but most are not. So once I got her off of chicken, she actually sprouted that summer like three years. Four inches. Unknown Speaker 17:01 Wait, I did I miss something? Anne Campanella 17:02 Why would chicken have gluten? fresh chicken has a processing and it's processed with some kind of wheat flour or something that's in it. And if you read real carefully and it might be modified food starch or some other name that denotes wheat or gluten. Chicken is dangerous for people with celiac. Stacey Simms 17:24 I mean, I have to ask even closer you're talking about plain old naked chicken, not chicken nuggets, right? Anne Campanella 17:31 What? Chicken out like Purdue chicken is safe. But I don't even know what other brands but basically brands of chicken that you find wrapped up in the supermarket, and they haven't been cooked yet. Most of them are not safe. So if you go to a restaurant, and you order chicken, and some restaurants, they don't even know and they'll say oh yeah, things are gluten free and they're not And again, it's not a huge amount. And I should back up and say, people with celiac, it varies how allergic allergic is not really the right word, but how sensitive they are to gluten. But for Sydney and most other people with celiac, the tiniest crumb will set off an allergic reaction or the reaction that causes the immune system response. That's amazing. Who would think Stacey Simms 18:27 so what were your five meals? Do you remember? I can imagine you'd ever forget. Anne Campanella 18:32 Oh my gosh. Well, it's funny because we branched out since Oh, yeah. But spaghetti. Spaghetti was probably three of them. is sad to say. And when Sydney started going to school, because I'm not a cook, I would just make a huge pot of spaghetti and feed her meals of spaghetti like for lunch and it was so sad, poor child. That spaghetti was one chicken pox. pie that was like my big thing but I would make two of them at once and I could find gluten free pot pie crust for the bottom. And then I would just dump chicken and broth and vegetables into the pot pie. So it's it was not like this fantastically tasting, good tasting potpie but it was decent and Sidney loved it because she didn't know any better. And then I would roll out a crust made from like rice flour. So that was one and what else hamburgers. I could get Joel to cook hamburgers on the grill and I would just steam up some vegetables. I did have a chicken and rice meal. That was my mom's and I just changed a few of the ingredients that that's probably that about covers it maybe scrambled eggs. That was another really easy one. Stacey Simms 19:54 What happened to her once she started eating gluten free you had to have sort of a big physical Anne Campanella 20:00 Oh my gosh, the change was incredible. And it just, it made me feel like no matter what I had gone through, it was worth it. She went from being this child. And I didn't even know that this was not normal. But she went from this child who would hang out on the couch, reading all the time doing puzzles, being very sort of quiet to somebody who like would run around the house. She couldn't wait to get to the park. She had so much energy, her face went from this pale expression where her eyes look bruised to this sort of just a constant joyful quality in her face and in her skin. And then her growth was just incredible. She went from being so tiny to just being normal sized. She's not super tall now, but Within the normal range is five, three. And she started playing basketball. She had energy to do things. We used to take her to the park before this and like we bring her bike and she ride for a little bit and be like, I'm tired. I want to stop. She just was irritable. Oh, the other thing, the biggest thing she slept on the first day that I was able to eliminate all the wheat from her diet. She slept through the night, for the first time. I knew that. I will actually I didn't because I was so used to waking out. And I went and checked on her like, Is everything okay? But I was gradually able to sleep which was just like, oh my goodness, this was amazing. So that was that was probably the most wonderful other than it I mean, everything else was wonderful too, but to have her sleeping and just thinking oh my gosh body is working normally now. And it was incredible how quickly that happened Stacey Simms 22:04 during this time and your wonderful writer and you've written about your experience with your mother and all timers disease, this was all pretty much going on at the same time was it How were you handling all of this? Anne Campanella 22:17 It was, oh Stacey, I was a mess. I was truly mean I was caretaking both ends of life. And oddly, my mom and Sydney had the same sort of needs. Like I remember having to bave Sydney having to wash my mom, having to feed Sydney, having to feed my mom trimming their fingernails at the same time. And I was going back and forth. Part of the time my mom lived at the coast near my sister, and then eventually we brought her here and I was bringing Sydney with me to visit my mom. And that was a sweet time because Sydney would like To push her wheelchair around, and my mom would, you know, Pat her on the head and they could play ball and do little things like that. But it was so tough. And I think maybe that was part of what made the story hard for me because I, I was so concerned about my mom, because she was close to death for a long time. She had Alzheimer's for 14 years. And the last, gosh, seven years of her life, we kept thinking we were about to lose her, and then she would hang in there, but I feel like I wasn't really thinking straight, wasn't sleeping. Well, I was just existing. But at the same time, when Sydney came, there was this incredible joy and, you know, this new light a new life. And so it really helped balance the two I guess. Stacey Simms 23:52 Your book about Alzheimer's disease is very well received. You know, you've won awards. It's a beautiful book. I know you've been kind of in that world for a while. I'm curious. When you're writing a book about your child, it's a different experience altogether. Were you nervous about sharing that story? I mean, you've shared such personal things already. I guess that's what I'm trying to get to. But when it comes to your child, it's a little bit different. I'm curious what your reaction to your own writing and sharing it about Sydney has been. Anne Campanella 24:22 You are so right Stacey and I'm sure you have had the same experience. It is so different and as I was writing this, Sydney was she's now 18 but as I was writing this, she was 15 1617 and not as mature and not really wanting me to share very much so I just felt like I had to be so careful not to share things that she wouldn't be comfortable with my dash n even the book became “Celiac Mom”. Because I wanted it to be about my experience of parenting her, rather than me trying to say everything that she went through, even though I included that, and we have a place up at Lake George New York. And last summer, when I had the whole manuscript written, I read it to her out loud out loud. She's a busy teenager. And the last thing she wants to do is sit and listen to mom's writing. So she was a captive audience when we were driving up to Lake George and I thought, okay, I'm just gonna read this and this will also give Joel a chance because he's in the book to, to hear it. And it was a great time to do it because we were having sweet family time, but I was able, wherever there were any places that she was uncomfortable with, I could take them and edit them a little bit and, you know, just askers Are you comfortable with this? And amazingly, now that she's a teenager She is fine with it. And she's excited that the story is getting out and she wants it to help people. So I'm just so relieved about that. That's wonderful. Stacey Simms 26:10 How is she doing? I mean, she must be very independent. I know that college doesn't look like it's supposed to for anybody. So instead of going to school, she will be virtually learning at home this year. But I imagine that no knocks on your current cooking. I don't know what's going on. I imagine that she can pretty much take care of herself. Anne Campanella 26:28 Yes, she's actually learned where she can go get take out and she's sort of led the way for the family. And it's wonderful because I've been hanging up my apron and just not having to make, you know, meals that she didn't really care about. But she is doing great. And interestingly, when we were looking at colleges, in my mind, a place that was going to offer great gluten free food was like top on the list, but that was very far down the list for her. She cared about it, but it just wasn't the top thing. She had other sort of normal things that were important to her know like, what kind of programs the college offered where it was, was it a city or was it a country setting? You know how the size of it, it was really interesting going through the process of looking at schools with her and me being it's funny you call yourself “The World’s Worst Diabetes Mom”. I'm probably the most obsessive “Celiac Mom”. So I'm just watching every little thing and telling her Oh, did you see this? Or, oh, this, they didn't have any gluten free food here? And she'd be like, Mom, it's fine. You know, don't worry about it. I can handle it. And eventually I just had to believe it and trust that she could and she has really shown that she can. That's fantastic. Stacey Simms 27:51 Before I let you go, any advice for families who are newer diagnosed with celiac and listening because I've got to imagine like, just like you You have already said it's a devastating diagnosis. You're so happy to know what's going on. But you really do have to change everything about how you eat and even, you know, down to household appliances, things like that. I assume, right. You have to get rid of yesterday Anne Campanella 28:14 that yes, new toaster oven. Yes. I mean, we went through our cabinets took everything out and had to replace, I would basically say to take it in steps and stages because it is overwhelming. I mean, we were basically wedded to wheat, my husband and I, and to suddenly step back from that was huge, and it's really a grief process. Because, you know, every single thing in life seems like it's connected to food, and to suddenly think, oh, we can't eat our favorite stuff. We can't do this. You know if you can find support, you can find even one other person who is Going through this. For me, as a writer, I always love to read books. And I love memoirs, because they do take people through, you know, the real experience of somebody's life. So there's that. But finding a real person, a friend, once Sidney had one friend who didn't eat gluten, it just made a world of difference because she was no longer alone in it. So those are some steps as far as the cooking. There are, there are websites and there are so many more resources than there used to be. So many restaurants do offer gluten free menus, and some are safe and some are not. And I would suggest reading the reviews to make sure that people who have celiac feel safe with them. But Gosh, find somebody who can kind of hold your hand as you take those steps. Stacey Simms 29:55 Well, and thank you so much for sharing your story. I really you I knew some of it having known you. But you know to hear the whole thing is just remarkable. I'm so glad you wrote it. I know it's getting a great reception. So thanks for talking to me today. Anne Campanella 30:09 It is totally My pleasure, Stacey just enjoyed it so much. Unknown Speaker 30:18 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 30:24 More information about “Celiac Mom” and about celiac in general over at Diabetes Connections.com. And I know as you listen, you probably have more resources to so if you're in a good celiac Facebook group, if you've got good supportive resources for us, please let me know you can post it in Diabetes Connections of the group or just message me and I'll pass it along. But I think just like there's a really great diabetes community. I know there's a wonderful celiac community as well, that can help. So I'd love to get the word out about that as well. Tell me something good coming up in just a moment, but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. And we have been Using the Dexcom g six since it came out points more than two years ago now, it's amazing the Dexcom g six is now FDA permitted for no finger sticks for calibration and diabetes treatment decisions. If like us, you have used Dexcom for many years that when you do the two hour warm up, and there's no finger stick, you know the number just pops up on your phone. It's amazing. I mean, it really is a big difference. We've been using Dexcom since he was nine years old, so it's six it's almost seven years now for the seven years in December. It just keeps getting better. The G six has longer sensor we're now 10 days and the new sensor applicator is so easy to use. Benny does it himself. He says it doesn't hurt. Of course we love the alerts and alarms and we can set them how we want. If your glucose alerts and readings from the G six do not match symptoms or expectations use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions. To learn more, go to Diabetes Connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo. Tell me something good. This week I want to let you know about an event. We talked to these folks a couple of years ago about the renegade run obstacle course race. This year. It's a little different on what isn't different this year. It's the renegade virtual run. This is happening in mid September the 12th to the 27th of September from anywhere in the world. You just complete the different obstacles the different run, jog, walk back in I think series of exercises, and you can complete them anytime you share your photos, your videos, it's a really neat idea. Very creative. I've seen some other things that have switched to online this year. And if people just get so creative with this stuff, you can find out more very easily. I'm linking it all up on the episode homepage Diabetes Connections.com. And when you register, or you donate or you know, whatever you want to do, they will send you all of the information including the list of exercises, so they're trying to make it super simple for everyone. This is a fundraiser as well. They raise funds to support the research that's going on for diabetes at Massachusetts General Hospital. So again, just find out more at the episode homepage. We have a lot of diaversaries to talk about. We had a woman I'll get her in just a second, Christina posted about her diaversary earlier this month in the Facebook group, and then a bunch of other people chimed in. But the funny part about this post that Christina started, it's all about soda and or pop or whatever you call it coke. It's actually about Pepsi for her. So Christina celebrates her diaversary every year by drinking a Pepsi Diet Pepsi, a real Pepsi. It was her 14th diversity, 14 years with type one and her blog post which I will link up as well. And you can read it if you're in the Facebook group was really great because she talks about how hard it was to make lifestyle changes. And the key was really well it was her but it was sparked by an endocrinologist who didn't scold her or make her feel bad for her lack of compliance. He just urged her to make a few small changes. And he didn't expect her to be perfect. So she talked about how she made these small changes over time. But the thought of never having regular soda again was really hard. So she decided to try to do it once a year. That's what she does every year on her diaversary, she drinks a regular soda. I think it's just an amazing way of looking at things. So I'll link up her blog. You know, when we think about all of the big stuff that we have to do to stay healthy, it can be overwhelming, I mean, whether without diabetes, but if you take it one little thing at a time and try to make that change, that's really the way to do it, and the only way to last, okay, so within the group, other people started chiming in with I want to try to do this or I think this is a great idea or here's my diaversary Beverly says she's going to do it with a root beer float once a year, and she is marking 55 years with diabetes. Tamara is talking about her three years with type two and she also had to give up diets. Soda her kidney specialist said No way. So they talked about that for a little while. Janice, who I've talked to many times before, has had type one for 65 years and Bonnie with 54 years. 37 years for Robert, I gotta tell you as a parent of a child who's lived with type one for now, 14 years, in just a couple of months, it is incredibly heartening to see all the amazing hard work perseverance and resilience, not perfection of the people who chime in when they talk about living a long life with diabetes. So thank you all so much for sharing that. And I'll share a quick story about soda for me. I used to love Diet Coke, big time. I never kept it in the house. It was my going out. We're going out to dinner, going out to lunch at work, that kind of thing. I would drink Diet Coke. I never wanted my kids to drink soda so I'd never kept it in the house. A couple of years ago. Vinnie noticed this was probably four maybe five years ago. Gosh, it's been so long, and he noticed how much Diet Coke I was drinking and he knew that it wasn't good for me. And he challenged me to give it up for a month. Could I give up Diet Coke for a month? And I challenge I don't remember what I challenged him, but I gave him something back. And so we agreed we would do it. And I easily gave up Diet Coke for a month I switched to unsweet tea, which is what I still drink, which is hard. I mean, it’s the south everybody always drinks sweet tea and I’m like no unsweet unsweetened tea, please. I can't say I haven't had a diet coke since but it is rare. It is few and far between because you know why? I don't like the taste that much anymore. It's weird how things change, right? It was hard at first. And I really kind of felt that craving. But after a month, it was totally gone. And I know if you're a longtime listener, you know me and Benny, I wasn't gonna let him win that bet. No way. So I thank him for it now because I really don't remember the last time I've ordered one in a restaurant. And certainly the last time I had one, it's got to be months and months. And just another real quick story. Don't get long here but about sweet tea. So my husband used to own a restaurant he owned and operated a restaurant for many years and He once told me if I ever saw how they make the sweet tea, I would not that I ever drank it, but I would never let anyone I knew drink it again. Because the amount of sugar that goes in there, it's not like oh, a little teaspoon of sugar per glass. I mean, it's bonkers how much sugar goes in sweet tea. I'll try to actually get a measurement of it and ask him about it. Maybe I can post that in the group too. I mean, I know that you're not drinking a lot of sweet tea. I mean, let's face it. This is diabetes podcast, but I don't know about you. I'm always fascinated by that stuff. Okay, back to the diversity. Sorry, I got off on a different tangent there. But if you've got a way that you mark a diaversary or a milestone or something like that, please let me know. You can always email me Stacey at Diabetes Connections.com or post in the group and tell me something good. Okay before I let you go quick school check in for our family because oh my gosh this year, so so far Tulane is doing pretty well as I am taping this. It's been just a week for my daughter on campus classes did start they have switched to weekly testing. They as I had said in previous episodes, everybody had to be tested before they could step foot on campus. Then it was going to be random daily testing then mandatory monthly testing. They have switched that daily testing continues but mandatory weekly testing They haven't really put out too much about why they said it was in, you know, in consultation with health officials locally. My thinking is also that they saw all of the schools that have already sent kids home, so they decided to step it up. So I'm grateful for that. My daughter seems to be holding up just fine. Of course, everybody's nervous. But you know, fingers crossed. What a bananas year. This is in terms of online school. Benny's ginormous school district with 150,000 kids is a virtual, and he is doing just fine. He just as I'm taping, he knocked on the door and said, I'm going to take a walk. He has a half hour lunch period. And he's decided to get out of the house for a little while and get off the screen. And I'm grateful for that. But he seems to be doing as well as can be expected. He's a sophomore in high school. He's got some really hard classes this year. He's got an AP class. I am optimistic, but he's a self starting kid. And I think that he'll do fine. But gosh, there's so many kids to worry about this year. And you know, my local district is doing a fundraiser for hotspots and computer access and it's really hard this year. So my heart does go out and We're to do what we can to help out has been a really hard time. But you know, I'm proud of him. And diabetes wise, I think we're seeing the numbers go up a little bit. It's not for the reason you think he's not stressed out about school, but it is because he was sleeping through breakfast and often sleeping through lunch. And so we're in that nice steady range. You know, he'd wake up at 90, but he was 90 all night and until noon, because he wasn't eating anything. And now he's getting up in school starts at 755. So he's eating breakfast, and he's drinking coffee now and he's eating a little bit of lunch. So I'm just laughing all as well, and I'm really trying not to hover Haha, but I really am in control, like you helps an awful lot too. So I think he's going to do just fine. But it was really funny to see that. You know, if you sleep through your meals, and you don't have to vote this for him, there's a lot less room for error And supposedly we will have a 504 meeting with the counselor at some point. That should be interesting. I will let you know what the heck that entails when we have virtual at home school, but I understand there's still needs to be accommodations. I'm not joking about that, but I am fascinated to see how it goes. Alright, thank you to my editor john Kenneth from audio editing solutions. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here next week. Until then be kind to yourself. Benny 41:19 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Sermon Series: My Hope Speaker: Greg Bondurant, Lead Minister
How to Recession-Proof Your Mindset Special episode featuring business coach Tyson Sharpe. Check out Tyson's Facebook group Connect, Contribute, Collaborate: https://www.facebook.com/groups/connectcontributecollaborate/ Learn more on how to recession-proof your mindset at dorksdelivered.com.au Josh: Good morning everyone, and welcome to this podcast. Today we've got a fantastic guest with us. We've got Tyson Sharpe and it's going to be a doozy of an episode. We're going to be talking about recession proofing, your mindset. Tyson tell me a bit about what you do. Tyson: Yeah, sure. Well, thanks for having me. I always love doing these interviews and love sharing this type of stuff. But basically what I described as what I do is I help business owners and CEOs basically understand what's happening in their unconscious mind when they see these patterns of fears, doubts and frustrations arise. And so, we can have a different relationship with them. So, not only can we start to resolve those internal conflicts, but we can start having more success in business or in whatever ventures we're in, just as a byproduct of who it been. So, that's really where my work and my expertise lies. Josh: Sweet. Well, I know that it's, everything comes down to mindset. I started today with the eight suspicious transactions on my credit card and I thought no, so here we go. How's this week going to be? And I thought, you know what? I could smile off or cry. A rang through to the bank, got the transactions, looked at, had the credit card pause and then laugh. Tyson: You've got to stop sharing your details on the podcast. Josh: That's probably a good hint and tip there for anyone out there and security learn. So, if you had to go through different situations that you've seen and I think it's an imminent to the situation we're in in Australia with the recession, and that can bring about nasty thought, patterns and am I going to be successful or why are people disappearing? Why are they leaving and things like that. And it's a lot of the time not due to your own doing. How do you make sure that you have... what hints and tips would you give to make sure that you do continue on a positive train of thought in making sure that you're aware of your emotions and you keep up with your emotional fitness. Tyson: Yeah, sure. So, one piece of the awareness I would give people, and people can find this in themselves as well, is that when you have something like some uncertainties in your environment or you have some uncertainties in the future around finances or what's going to happen, whatever it may be, if you feel triggered by that, if you feel the scarcity, if you feel lack, if you feel overwhelmed uncertainty, what you have to understand is those patterns were already in you, right? So, if the recession comes or the recession's on its way or it's sort of slowly moving its way in, and that trigger you, what you have to know is that pattern was already in you. So, your external environments just triggered what was already in you. Right? So, what a lot of people will do is they'll try to solve their internal, how they feel and the uncertainty with the external results, right? So, they're like, "Oh, I just got to make more money or I just got to save this or whatever." And that's where I sort of find with a lot of business owners is they try to resolve the internal conflict with something externally. Or another way to put that as you're trying to achieve something external by filling a void within yourself. Right? Josh: Yeah. Tyson: So, if you're looking to achieve, if you're looking to get more money, more success, more fame or whatever it may be, what I find is a lot of people are doing that through an unconscious pattern of trying to solve an internal conflict, right? An internal void within themselves that they can't solve any other way because they didn't have the heightened awareness yet. And so, I like to raise that awareness so that people can actually start seeing what's going on within them and actually what's driving them, right? So a lot of people are trying to achieve success and they're thinking, yeah, I just want the best life possible. But what they don't understand is what unconsciously what's happening is they're trying to achieve at a different level because it's some level within themselves they're trying to feel enough or they're trying to feel worthy. And that's why I find a lot of people are trying to build a business based on fear, based on scarcity and based on lack, which obviously is not sustainable. Josh: So, I guess in that situation you'd be saying that maybe the measuring stick that they're using and what successes should be changed? Tyson: Totally. So, in terms of, it's not only the measuring stick, but it's also what's driving you. It's also what's giving you the fuel? Is it a push or is it a pull? Is it something that you feel like you have to do in order to be enough? Right? Josh: Mm-hmm Tyson: Or is it a pull, is it like a calling to you? Is it like when, so for example, if your internal and external world was exactly the way you wanted it, would you still have a calling to do the exact same thing right? Josh: Right. Do you wake up to do it or is it a job or is it a lifestyle I guess, is this something you would do if you were retired and you had all the time, money in the world or you found out you had a terminal illness or something like that? Tyson: Yeah, exactly. So, that's where I find a lot of people are trying to achieve because they're trying to feel that void within themselves. And that's why when they run into all the fears, doubts and frustrations, they're not too sure what to do and all of a sudden they think they need to change their external circumstances in order to feel a certain way. And obviously if you're trying to achieve something externally to feel a certain way, a lot of that can be outside your control. That's what sort of like drives people crazy, right? Trying to change things outside of their control and thinking that that impedes on how they feel on a day to day basis. So, that's the sort of awareness that I like to sort of raise with people. Josh: So, bringing awareness to the problem I think is very important. I know that I went through a darkest portion in my life, if I could call it that. And I wrote down a list of all the things that make me happy. All the things that make me sad. And one of the things was things outside of my control. And I was becoming aware of that, it allowed me to think, okay, now that I'm aware that that's outside of my control, I now know that something that makes me upset. But you can then change your emotions and change your relationship with that situation once you become aware of it. Would you say that's an approach that you would take, yeah? Tyson: Totally. So, that's the sort of what I call the first step. Josh: Correct. Tyson: So, in the business. So, everyone loves personal development, right? So, we love improving ourselves and so we love being able to reframe our thoughts and shift our state and learn how to feel better. Right? I call that's sort of first step. That's the pillar because that it's a good first step because it shows you that you are in control of your emotions and that it's actually your thoughts that lead to any emotions, not the circumstance themselves. So, that's a really, really good platform and it really sets the stage for personal development and for you to become the director of your own life. What I find what other people like my clients and my community is doing is just going that layer deeper. So, in terms of when they already know that, okay, my feelings and everything in my internal world is being driven by my thoughts and my internal pattern's not the circumstance themselves. One thing that you can start doing is when you do have emotions like fear, like doubt, like worry, scarcity, overwhelmed. When those feelings start to come up, instead of changing your emotion straight away, what you can actually start doing is starting to have a very, very different relationship with those patterns. Because what I found in my work coaching hundreds of business owners in the last couple of years is that, when these patterns arise, say a pattern of fear, so you've got the recession, you got external circumstances that are outside your control and you have this fear come up. What a lot of people do is, they avoid that feeling or they resist that feeling so they can avoid it by, like I said, by shifting your state and avoiding that feeling all by trying to change your external circumstances so that you don't feel that feeling right? Avoiding the circumstance, avoiding a situation that would make that feeling arise or they resist it. They resist it by not allowing it. So, they resist it by making it wrong. They resist it by thinking it shouldn't be there. They resist it by trying to fix it. Right? And so, what happens is when you have any emotion that arises, like fear and you avoid or resist it, it actually grows unconsciously. You're actually pushing down a side of you unconsciously. And that takes a lot of unconscious energy, but also allows that pattern to grow. So, it's almost like, if you were to have a five year old come to you, and they're running chaos, right? So, they're a bit scared. They're worried, they're fearful, and for a bit of peace, what you do is, you go and you place that five-year-old in a different room in the house. And so, you place the five-year-old in a different room, you come back to the room you're in and it feels more peaceful. Right? It feels more peaceful. But- Josh: It's not. Tyson: ... that five-year-old's still running chaos in the other room. Right? And they're probably doing it a different level, and in a different manner, because they're in a different room just running chaos. And that's what I find that a lot of business owners do, when these patterns arise is they avoid them. Right? Or they resist them. And so I find when people shift out of those patterns quickly, and they try to fix them, or they think something's wrong, they grow unconsciously. So, you can feel better on the surface with some personal development, and you're shifting your thoughts and reframing and all those really, really good tools. But unless you resolve that conflict, it's always going to grow unconsciously. Josh: Okay. And so, what would you say is the first step? Well, yeah, I guess we were talking about writing them down and becoming aware of them, but how do you know some people have had these ingrained in their life for so long that they're not even aware that there was some something like, I guess the old Hollywood scenario of you go and see a psychologist and they say all the problems stem back to your mother? Tyson: No. What should? Josh: And then how do you become aware that that's an issue? Tyson: Well, you can only become aware of what's in your conscious mind, right? So, what's coming up consciously that you can recognise are your emotions. We're genuinely pretty aware when we're fearful, when we do have this emotion of worry or stress, right? We totally do have those emotions and we're generally pretty aware of them. And so, I find it is true. A lot of your emotional patterns do come back to your childhood, right? Because we have conditioned in our lives, we have conditioned patterns that say who do I need to be and what needs to happen in order for me to be enough? Because if I'm enough, therefore I'll be loved and unconsciously love is linked to survival. So, that's why when we have an obstacle in our way between us and success, it can often feel like life and death because at some level it is to our unconscious mind. But you can definitely be aware of the emotions you're feeling and you don't actually need to know where it's coming from. It can help. You don't actually need to know where it's coming from to resolve the internal conflict, to resolve that pattern. What you actually need to do is feel it, is to feel that pattern without any resistance, without any judgement . And if you allow it to be there and not need it to leave, that's when the pattern starts to resolve. Josh: Okay. So, I guess, where do you start? I guess I know you've got a Facebook group. What are the other tools that you use or that you have to help people out with this? Tyson: Yeah, sure. I have, yeah, so many things. I've got the Facebook group and the YouTube channel and all those different things. The type of exercises or content or whatever it may be that helps people most, is helping them become aware that, so, to feel these patterns, so to feel when these emotions arise and to feel them fully. The way I sort of explain it, we'll stick to the five year old analogy. So, it's like when this patterns arising, let's say fear for example, if fear is arising within you, it's almost like an internal five of year old that's scared, right? So, for the recession, for example, recession's happening a lot of uncertainty, you're not too sure about your financial future. And all of a sudden you have fear. Now, what's actually happening is you have a pattern within you that was, I call it your five year old self, right? You have a pattern that was generally conditioned in your childhood that says, and that this pattern and his five year old within you believes that you need to have finances in order to feel enough or you need to have finances in order to be okay, in order to be safe, in order to be secure. Josh: Okay. And that could be depending on how your parents brought you up or the lifestyle that they had or other aspects like that. Tyson: There's so many factors. So, that's why I find it can help to identify the story, but it's not necessary. It's not an absolute puzzle piece to figuring out all of this, but it can help to understand that there is a five year old within you, a five-year-old pattern that does believe that something, that your financial future needs to be secure in order for you to be secure. Or you need money in order to feel enough and worthy, right? Or in order to feel safe. So, this five-year-olds freaking out. And what's emerging in the form of fear. It's almost like your internal five-year-old freaking out saying external circumstances aren't the way we think they should be. And so, the reason why this five-year-old's emerging, is so it can be seen, is so it can be heard, so it can be understood and loved. So, it's almost like that five-year-old coming up to you, right when you're in your house or whatever it may be. And this five year old is trying to be seen, trying to be heard. And that's why when a lot of people try to avoid them, or resist them, using the analogy of putting them in the other room. That's why that pattern grows unconsciously because it's not seen, and all fear will continue the more you don't want it to be there, and the more it's not seen. But fear will resolve and you can almost feel it start to dissolve within you. The moments that it's seen, the moment that it's understood and the moment that it's loved unconditionally. Another way of putting that is, fear will always resolve when you don't need it to leave. When you don't need it to leave and you just sit there and you feel it fully and you love that pattern and you listen to it, and you allow it to be there. That's when the pattern starts resolving. That's when it's [crosstalk 00:18:40]- Josh: There was just exactly what you're talking about. I might be misquoting this a bit, but are you familiar with the story of the turtle and the hungry fox about- Tyson: I'm not. Josh: It is a story told by Buddha and sorry for anyone that's listening as I'm terribly, it's terribly reiterating this wrong, but the fox sees this turtle and gets something to eat this turtle. This is going to be amazing and runs over to the turtle. The turtle pulls itself into the shell, instead of running away knowing that it won't ever be able to run away from something, the turtle in the situation would be fear as for the fox in the situation would be fear. The turtle pulls itself into the shell, not to necessarily protect itself, but to look within its own mind is the metaphor there to find and be within its own mind to be able to look outwards once the fear is gone. But battling the fee and not running away from it, was the sort of the analogy there. So, that'd be similar- Tyson: Yeah, exactly. Josh: I guess to sort of what you're sort of describing there. And it's definitely something that everyone needs to do. There's a lot of people that suffer from anxiety and I think anxiety is just, and this is again as a generalisation, it is a disease, but it's when we're not put in a situation where we're asked to grow beyond our comfort circle. You build up more and more of a problem and that's where you need to sometimes just battle up and jump straight forward through it. And that's stress. I guess another immersion, if you have stress a lot of the time it's because it's something that's important to you. You have anxiety because it's important to you. And so you need to know how to deal with that and be able to jump through those hoops so that you can overcome some of those five year old child, five year old self problems that you might have that have been ingrained into your belief systems. Tyson: Totally. I love that story. And it's true, if you are trying to solve something by running away from it, it's never going to work out. It's always going to be a downward spiral. But the moments you evolve are the moments when you know you need to look in. All the answers you have are within. And that's what a huge shift in my life has been, is when I have all this fear, doubt and frustration, and I realise that everything I want to achieve externally is internal. Every answer is found internally. And I am the answer that I'm looking for. And so, when I go in and meditate, for example, or I look in and resolve these internal conflicts, the external success is just the byproduct, all right? The excellent success in terms of the wherever it may be, the clients, the income, the Facebook group, whatever it may be. All of that is just growing just as a byproduct of the resolving these internal conflicts, because you can't help it evolve, you can't help, you're like a helium balloon that always just wants to expand and rise up. [crosstalk 00:21:54] A lot of us have the patterns that keep pushing the balloon down. So, once you resolve these internal conflicts, you naturally just float up. You naturally just move into a higher level of consciousness and a higher level of success, high level of contribution because that's naturally where we move, that's naturally where we go when we start resolving these patterns. Josh: Well, I couldn't agree more and having the best mindset and I've got a podcast and a YouTube video on mirror mindset. And looking within, because it is ultimately, it's where everything sits. The six inches between your ears is the most important six inches you have in your body. That's right. It's funny. So, yeah. Meditation doesn't have to be difficult to either. I know that you are a king spear who's meditates for a couple of hours a day, is that right? Tyson: Correct. Yeah. So I meditate. I've gone past a hundred days of meditating, two hours a day. And a lot of people freak out when they think of themselves doing the same, like how do you have the time? How the hell do you run a business and do all of this when you're meditating two hours a day. And I just find that when I wake up, I can feel when I'm in my head I'm like, I need to have this to do list. Right? Josh: Yes. Tyson: And my mind has a story of what I think I need to do in order to be okay. In order to be successful, in order to feel enough, in order to feel worthy. And then when I sit down and meditate for an hour, and I do at least an hour in the morning before I do anything, before I check my phone or emails, whatever it may be, social media. And so, when I do that, I come out of meditation knowing I don't have to do any of that. And in fact that was just a story I was telling myself. And then the actions taken moving forward, I'd just from such a guided place, it's from such a resourceful place. It's from a space of creativity and flow and that's why the success is the byproduct. When you're in flow, like you're unstoppable, right? When you're in flow and you've resolved some of your patterns and your internal conflicts and you start to love these five year olds so they can transcend, you just naturally fit into a flow and into a creativity. And you can start to feel when things feel heavy, when things feel a lot. And you can just stop moving from a place that's a higher guidance system. And that's what I find is, that's the flip that where everything sort of changes, and everyone sort of starts to notice that the answers are within them and they can just move from that place and they can be guided from that place and then they start to realise the success that they find is a byproduct. It's really just it's your own natural, it's the internal work that matters most and the external that is just the secondary gain. Josh: I would absolutely agree. I would say the best way to describe it in my opinion is everyone has experienced that writer's block is experience where you're there in front of the computer or pen on paper and you are like, honey just got to get this thing done and it might be a school assignment, might be an assessment, it might be something that's due the next day at work or, and you're just going through. I can't get it, and nothing is working. Nothing is working. A lot of the time, the amount of time that you sit there pestering your brain with negative thoughts saying, I can't get it, it's not working, I can't think of it. This is just crap, but I'm writing. Your conscious mind is passing all that to your unconscious mind and you're in 100% belief that you cannot do it, and you won't be able to do it. And then, as soon as you hit that point, which is the normally hours before it's due, or the night before, and then you have these cram sessions or this epiphany where this writer's blocks removed and you just have this huge amount of work that just comes out of you. And you think, "Wow, where did that all come from?" And as you said, it's always been within you and it's that you had this shift at a time where you went, "Okay, the negative of me not doing this work is now worse if I don't get it in because then I might not get the university degree or I might not get that promotion or whatever is at the end.” And so, the two balances of evil weigh each other out until you finally get it done. But if you meditate and if you, instead of procrastinating and having those negative thoughts, if you're, instead of spending the same time meditating, you'd find most people would have an easily an hour a day where they would be just procrastinating that they could easily be spending on meditation and positive thought training rather than sitting there not working, but waiting to work sort to speak. Tyson: Yeah, and I did this for like when I just started to, okay, I'm going to look internal. I'm going to resolve whatever patterns are emerging. I'm going to start to see, I'm just going to experiment. I actually did six hours in one day, just meditating and just in silence, complete silence, just sitting there. And that's scary to a lot of people, right? Very, very scary to a lot of people, and it was scary for me as well. And that's the exact reason why I thought I needed to do this. We live in a world where we are scared of what's emerging within us. We're scared of our thoughts, we're scared of our emotions. We're scared of just sitting there in silence. That's alarming to me, and my thought was how the hell is building a business or living the life you want, in terms of what you want to feel, and the relationships you want to have, and the contribution you want to make? How the hell is all that going to happen? How the hell is that sustainable? If I'm not okay with what's emerging within me, right? This doesn't make sense. It does not make sense if you're scared of the thoughts that are coming up or if you're scared of the emotions, like wouldn't that be something that needs to be addressed? Like wouldn't that be something? And so, when I sat down, I'm like I'm going to meditate for six hours, and I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's going to come out of it, but all I know is I'm going to find out who I am. And so, for hours I just had all these patterns and all of these stories of like, oh my God, you're irresponsible, you should be doing income generating activities, right? I felt guilty, so much guilt come up, all these thoughts around why, I shouldn't do it. And as I just sat there, I allowed it. I realised these were just five year old patterns that needed love, needed to be seen. And one by one, all those patterns just started falling away. All those stories, all of those patterns just melted away. And then I just sat there and I just kept feeling what was coming up. And I was just a space that all this was emerging in. And then, that's when I started having the biggest levels of creativity and flow and alignment. And yet a lot of patterns came up. There was a lot of sadness, right? I opened up a safe enough space for more and more five year olds to come to be seen. And I had sadness around past relationships. I had so much uncertainty around money come up, uncertainty about business, and finance, and clients I had, and all these different things. I just allowed it to be there, I just welcomed it, I loved all of it. I just sat there and just paid attention to what these patterns are saying. And one by one I just resolved them and then they transcended, and then more came up and that transcended and what was left. It was just this infinite flow like you described, if you're, would you rather be in? Would you rather be in a situation where you're like, I have to write this blog or I have to finish piece of work. And we're there when we're grinding an hour, we're trying to finish this blog. But then there's moments when the blog writes, you sit there and you're like, "Oh my God, I have to get this down." And you're just in flow and it's like everything else doesn't matter, and time stands still and you just, you're flowing with this blog and it's riding you. And that's what I find is possible. That's what I find, if you build a business based on that energy, based on that pattern where it's just emerging and flowing out of you, then that's it. Then that's a pattern that's sustainable, that's a business that's sustainable, that's a business that will be focused on growth, focused on vulnerability, focused on love, contribution, all those things that you know you are, instead of the fear, lack and worry and fear that we sort of explained before. Josh: And you're not pushing against yourself, which is really important. Tyson: Exactly. Josh: You're working with yourself, with your own goals and your own mindset. And I would like in this, obviously as with a computer background, I would like in a meditation to defragging your brain. As you said, you've got all these distractions all the time. You've got more than 350, 400 pieces of advertisement that's sent to you every day in one form or another to try and promote someone's product and do something here and something there. You've got people talking to you about is this thing done? Is the timeline done? Do you have this other thing done? Is this thing paid? All these things are going through your mind all the time, and you don't give yourself a moment to just breathe. And defragging your brain is putting everything in order, putting things in the right place, finding those priorities, finding the things that are important and letting your brain do the walking for you. Letting your brain do the calculations for you as opposed to you trying to dictate what's meant to be happening. There's 86,400 seconds in the day and people don't give enough time to themselves. People give themselves heaps of time to their clients, their family, their friends, their social posts. Their liking, whatever they're doing at the time, but they don't give that moment to themselves where they're not off when they're asleep and on when they're awake. They need to have that moment of reflection for themselves. And what you were saying, again on the 86,400 seconds in a day, during the day, some are like, "Aw man, you're a dickhead." And they say something about it and you go, "Oh man, I'm so offended when they said that, I had so much respect for them. Why would they say that?" And then you're there pondering over that one small comment and it might've just been like an off the cuff thing that you misunderstood the tonality in their voice. Like "Oh man, how are you even dickhead?" And you go, "Ah, okay." And then you're overthinking that problem. I don't know. I'm guilty of that. I've had situations where I've thought of something that someone has said even years later when I saw them again, I'm thinking, Oh, you said that to me. And they probably thought about it, said it as a funny joke and they continued on. And meanwhile, your brain is sitting there stewing over this one thing that they've said that's changed around the relationship with that person. It changed around your and mindset and burnt away a lot more time than the 86,000 and then the 10 seconds that might've been that they said it. And it's eaten into the 86,400 seconds in the rest of your day or even onwards. So, meditation is in very, very needed in the society, and it doesn't need to be hard. I started off looking at a candle and breathing deeply, holding my breath for a second and then breathing out and doing that 10 times or looking at a candle in a dark room with no distractions. And that is, in my opinion, one of the easiest forms of meditation to just start. What would you say? Where would you start? Where would you go from, some of these? Tyson: I mean, I meditate a lot, but I'm not the meditation expert. I've really done to teach on it or anything like that. But I think meditation is a tool just for you to connect with yourself at a different level. So, that's the way I describe it. I call it the may-first meditation, where that's when I meditate, before I do anything else in the day, I'll just sit, I'll just wake up, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, and then just sit down in silence for an hour. But I say meditation as the opportunity for you to hold the space, to allow what's emerging to emerged. So, if you just sit there in silence and you'll start noticing all these thoughts, you may notice some emotions. That's just the space. Because what you're feeling emotionally, you're feeling it. It's coming up so that it can be transcended. It's coming up so that it can be released. That's what I know a lot of people understand. If you have fear, doubt, why are you scarcity that's coming up because it's ready to be emerged. Like the five year old sees you as safe enough to approach you, right? The five year olds approaching you because he wants to be seen, heard, understood and loved. And the five year old feels safe enough to come to you, right to be seen. And that's what's happening when these emotions arise? And so, instead of seeing the patterns and allowing them to transcend, we're neglecting them, or resisting them, right? It's almost like going exactly going out to that five year old and saying, it's wrong you're feeling this way or go away until you feel better or you need to be fixed on how much is the five year old going to feel seen. Of course not. And so, I find in meditation, it's giving you the space for you to feel and for you to notice what's happening internally and transcend these patterns that are ready to be released. Transcending these patterns that are going to give you the deeper connection with yourself. Because what's trying to emerge is not you. Right? Another analogy is that everything that's emerging is trying to die. It's trying to die. It's trying to move on because it's showing you what you're not. You're not these emotions, you're not these patterns. You are not your thoughts, right? You're the space at all of that exists in. And so, when you can start to tap into meditation, you can start to sit down and start to, whether you are looking at a candle, whether you are in nature, whether you are just sitting there in your room and just paying attention internally. It gives you that space for you to start loving those patterns. Start seeing, start noticing, start to hear those patterns and allow them to transcend and feel them fully so that they can transcend. And so, I find meditation for me is more of a self-connection than anything. And so, there's many, many ways you can do it. But that's just the way I view it. Josh: Cool. Right. I'd agree it's all about becoming connected in your special way that allows for you to do that. So, I guess for anyone that is listening, that is worried about the recession or doesn't feel aligned or doesn't feel enough, I know that you've got the Facebook group, you've also got a course that people can look to. Is that right? Tyson: Yeah, totally. So, the Facebook group is Connect, Contribute, Collaborate. So, that's the group where there's a lot of online business owners there, that are looking to do this in a work, but then they're also looking to connect with one another and they're connecting to form collaborations, joint ventures, all those really cool business things. And they know that that group is a group of heart-centred business owners who are looking to transcend these patterns who are looking to use that excess creativity and flow to add more value to their marketplace. So, there's a lot of value in that group and it's a really cool group. It's so engaging, everyone's looking to find ways to do joint ventures and collaborations. And then another aspect we're doing is we're actually going to combine our resources, combine our business brains, our expertise, and we're actually going to start donating some time towards charity and some non for profit organisations and helping them build their businesses as well. So, it's a really, really cool group that's actually making a difference. And so, that's what makes me super excited about it and super excited about the people that are in it as well. Josh: Cool. Well, I'm definitely keen to see what comes with it and if anyone wants to reach out and see what some of the awesome work that Tyson does, definitely jump across that Facebook group, would be a good entry point to start on your new journey of making sure that you have a recession proof mindset, and you're emotionally attached to your goals, I guess. Well, is there anything else you'd like to cover off on Tyson before we cruise off? Tyson: Oh man, there's so many different things that I could talk about. But the main takeaway is to just notice when you're resisting, and notice when you're avoiding those emotional patterns and your life will take a complete flip in the moments when you actually start to drop the resistance to those patterns. Right? Every emotion is never the problem. It's always a resistance to it. And so if you want to really start shifting, then dropping that resistance, dropping the judgement of what you're feeling and actually stop feeling without resistance is where I would say the biggest takeaway is. So, if people wanting to do that work, then that's where I'm always looking to support and I think it's going to be a complete game changer for so many business owners, and that's just what I'm passionate about. So, that's what I would leave you with. Josh: Cool. I guess engaging and embracing. Tyson: Mm-hmm. Josh: Well, it's been lovely having you on the show Tyson and I look forward to some of the new cool stuff that will come through over the next few months. I've been checking out some of the bits and pieces on your YouTube channel and I'm sure we'll have some of our listeners do the same. So, if anyone has enjoyed this episode, make sure to jump across the iTunes and leave us your reviews, some loving the comments and any questions you might have to Tyson. Thank you very much. Tyson: Awesome, thanks so much. Thanks so much for having me Josh.
Faith Positive Radio: Increase your Faith with greater Joy at work so you Love God and others more!
Make a mistake and learn from it as you Live Positive and make a life worth living today.
EP. 05: THE "W" IN TEAMWORK IS FOR WEEKLY STAFF MEETINGS For years, I asked my team to bring me a brief weekly report on a small 3-by-5 card. This kept the reports short and to the point. Then those cards became our weekly meeting agenda. Today we use email. Here are the four things you want to know as a leader: “I’ve made progress in ______________________________________” “I’m having difficulty with ___________________________________” “I need a decision from you on ________________________________” “I’m thankful for ___________________________________________” QUOTABLE QUOTES Every time we get together, there's an opportunity to go deeper in our relationships. And we know that the cost of that is time, but the value is that you feel more connected in every effort that you get together on. - Mingo PalaciosClick To Tweet DOWNLOAD TRANSCRIPT Grab your reading glasses and download the PDF here. READ THE TRANSCRIPT Mingo Palacios: So what's next on the acronym? Tyler Hofer: All right, we are on the "W" value. We are halfway through. Mingo Palacios: Hey. Tyler Hofer: Rounding second heading towards home. The "W" stands for weekly team meetings. And so we want to be consistent in meeting with our teams. A scripture passage that we're referencing for this value comes out of Hebrews 10, which actually is referencing the church as a whole. It says, "Let's not give up the habit of meeting together, but let us encourage one another." And so whoever the author of Hebrews is is writing to the church and saying, don't neglect meeting together. Don't neglect these consistent meetings, whether that's weekly or I don't know, however, however often they met back then. But weekly team meetings, gathering together for encouragement, for discipleship, for really learning what it is to be a team. Because if you're a team, you need to be meeting together consistently and building that teamwork, that team mentality together. So, what do you think, Mingo, about this? Mingo Palacios: Well, I think the Hebrew actually in Hebrews refers to don't just keep your team meetings across texts. I think that's what the author was originally alluding to is don't just rely on text messages. If I remember correct from my Greek and Hebrew classes. But in all, in all seriousness, I do think that it's very convenient for us to reduce the time together just to reporting. In communication there's like this whole theory on like the value between reporting and rapport, rapport being the relational end of our time together with those who are connected with and then reporting being like, what are the facts I need to know? And sometimes we have tools that can just prop up, like the reporting, like, "Hey, who's covering what shift? What time are you going to get there? Who needs to be responsible for what?" And you actually lose the relational equity that comes when we come together. Right? Every time we get together, there's an opportunity to go deeper in our relationships. And we know that the cost of that is time, but the value is that you feel more connected in every effort that you get together on. So that's what I think. Tyler Hofer: Yeah. And we try to do that weekly in our pre service get togethers, whatever you want to call it, where we gather together as teams and we go over the assignments, we pray together. And so we're trying to do that on a weekly basis. Mingo Palacios: Yeah. Tyler Hofer: And we're getting better at doing that on a larger level with what just happened on Wednesday night- Mingo Palacios: Yeah. Team nights. Tyler Hofer:
A Study of Matthew 16:13-23
Yolt were the winners of the Excellence in Innovation category at our Corporate Entrepreneur Awards this year! They've been making a big splash in the UK personal finance area and we wanted to know all about the journey they've been on. We have a fascinating chat with Frank Jan Risseeuw, CEO of Yolt, to find out! This is the first of 4 podcasts speaking to the award winners at CEA 2018, look out for the others coming soon!
What does it mean to be made right with God? What rights do you have as God's beloved son or daughter? How does God avenge you and right every wrong you have experienced? This eye-opening and practical message will show you how you can receive God's restoration of whatever you have lost. Now, you can expect to see the goodness of God restore your peace, joy, and happiness as you learn to trust Him. He has promised to reveal His goodness to you no matter what negative things have happened to you. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gregorydickow/support
What's going on, everyone? It's Steve Larsen, and today, we’re gonna talk about how to compete with your Attractive Character. I just spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now, I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million-dollar business. The real question is, how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer. Join me and follow along as I learn, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's best internet sales funnels. My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio. Guys, I'm pumped for today. This could be a bunch of fun. A lot of guys know, I was really shy for a long time, right? And I've mentioned that many times, and some of you guys have said, that's not true, Stephen. No way that's true, right? But I was. I was really shy for a long time. I would say I even had a near-clinical fear of adults. You know, I would see an adult, and I would physically move in a different direction - I did that for a time. Even into my early 20s, I was pretty shy. It's not that I was like cowering, or that I wouldn't speak to anybody else... It's just that I was doing everything that I could to not engage with human beings. I don't know why I was that way. It’s not that I was really reclusive… or that I was sitting back all the time, going, “ugh, it's a person.” That's not how I was at all. But there was no way I would be getting on stage now. There was no way I would ever do something like a podcast. Just the thought of that would freak me out. To have a camera on my face right now, there's no way. When I finally became cognizant that I was this way, I started noticing all these business people who were amazing leaders. I’d be, “oh my gosh, check out those guys... Look at him, he's so impressive. He speaks and things sway. I wanted to develop that skill. I started doing things like door-to-door sales for the explicit reason of learning how to sell in scary environments. I started doing telemarketing, for the explicit reason of going in and learning how to sell hard in environments where you're constantly getting rejected. I don't know that everyone has to go through this kind of thing, but for me, I chose to start molding who I was... and who I was trying to become. It was a really challenging thing to go through. As I started getting more into it, I noticed that my ability to speak and to give sales messages started improving. Several years before I started working for Russell, I realized that I needed to get even better at this whole stand and deliver concept. I wanted to work out how to become… I don't wanna say, ‘a leader’… How to become... a ‘follow-able person’. It's kind of like saying leader. Anyway, but I was trying to figure out how to do that. Because from my background, and where I was coming from - that was an insanely hard thing to do! I would take my computer and find videos of people on stage. I did this specifically with Russell Brunson's stuff. This was way before we ever knew each other personally. I would take his videos - videos of him on stage, and I would go in front of a mirror, mute the video of him, so I could see him, but not hear him. And he'd be making all these gestures and I would mirror him. I would mimic him. I’d be moving around all over the place, mirroring and mimicking everything he was doing. It was so weird. It was awkward. I know that it’s weird, but it was what I needed to start breaking out of the shell I was in.. It’s how ‘Steve Larsen’ was born. Fast forward, I was working for Russell, sitting next to him; I was about 40-ish episodes into Sales Funnel Radio... We were running this thing called the FHAT event - the Funnel Hackathon Event. People would pay 15 grand for three days, and I would teach for hours. I mean, man, it was a long freaking time! Well, the very first FHAT event, we were vetting out the content, we were making sure that everything was awesome and solid. Then, right before Russell goes on stage, he turns around at me, and he goes, "Hey dude. Do you wanna introduce me?" I always make it a habit to say “YES’ - especially when someone with a lot of influence asks me to do something… My knee-jerk reaction is to say “YES!” and then figure out how to do it later. This attitude has brought me to some cool places in life. At the FHAT event, the room's filled with loads of people - very successful people.There's like 60 people in there, and many millions - tens of millions - hundreds of millions of dollars, collectively inside of that room. There's a lot of Russells inner circle - and they know what the heck they're talking about, right? I was like, crap, I gotta get on and introduce… The whole role of somebody who introduces somebody else is merely to raise the state of the room so that when the speaker comes on, they don't have to raise the state of the room. They can just walk on and start presenting. Otherwise, the speaker spends a whole bunch of time to do that. Russell told me, “that's your role.” I was like, crap! How can I do that? It's not like Russell's low energy. How do I introduce Russell Brunson in a way that suits who he is? That suits his audience? It was very challenging for me. I remember sitting there. I mean, he asked me three minutes ahead of time, to go on and do this. Immediately I was like, okay, is there a script? Is there like a format that good introducers use to bring on other prominent people? There's gotta be something. What can I do? Russell walked over, and he said, "Hey, just make sure you raise the state of the room- that way, I don't have to." I was like, oh crap. Okay, another huge task. Okay, sweet. Inside, I was like, oh, crap! He could tell I was stressing out. He knew that I had done all that stuff, like stand in front of a mirror with his videos muted, just moving around and mimicking what he's doing. He knew I’d done door-to-door. He knew I’d done telemarketing. He knew I’d done a lot of stuff and become good at them so that I could break out of my shell. Instead of fight the fact that I was in a shell, I accepted the fact, and just did things to come out of it. Knowing this, Russell turned to me, and this is what he said, and this is the reason why I wanna share this with you... Because it really, really, really matters: He turned to me, and he said, he said, "Dude, "You model me. It's quite impressive how you model me. You model me to the ‘T.’ You do everything that I do. You model me so well, but you’ve got to have your own voice eventually. Just do it how you’d introduce me." It's funny because I knew that answer, but for Russell to say it ‘in that way’, I really took notice. At that time, I'd already been publishing. I'd already been doing a whole bunch of stuff. I would already say that I had, quote, unquote, found my voice. However, when he said, dude, you gotta have your own ‘isms’, you gotta have your own character, you gotta have your own thing, I started thinking through, what makes ‘me’ me? These were all quick thoughts that were hitting me as I'm about to walk on stage. I don't remember what I said, but it went great. The energy in the room got really high. It's half the reason I yell like crazy, guys. Those are all little things that I do on stage before bringing somebody big on, and, and it's a bunch of fun. What does this have to do with anything? It has to do with everything.... Your business competes in the marketplace based on how much value it provides, right? You're very valuable if you answer a lot of questions, if you solve things for people, if you give things that people want, if you give things that people need (I suggest you go for the wants, not the needs - You’ll make more money). However, let’s start thinking through what value your business gives to the ecosystem - to the market? Because that's where you compete on the business side - with your strengths. How can you be the best? How can you deliver more? How can you be more than the other guy? How can you do things in an entirely brand new, unique way? That's what the business side competes on. Strengths. Your Attractive Character, however, doesn’t compete on strengths. Isn’t that interesting? Let me explain… In the first office that I was a part of with ClickFunnels, Russell and I would sit back to back. His computer and my computer screens were facing each other, so I could see his reflection in my screen... I'd be building these funnels - In the first two months, I was totally mute. I didn't wanna say anything. I was like, this is freaking Russell Brunson, like, oh my gosh, look, Y'all, oh my gosh. He's gonna melt me with his marketing zeroes and ones, huh! I’d see his reflection in my screen 24/7 right there, I was like, don't say anything or you'll die. That was my mentality. I remember my desk was a picnic table that was slightly too high, and my chair was slightly too low - so I get a lot of back pain 'cause I have kind of long arms. These details are burned into my head... I remember the way that room smelled, I remember the way it looked, I remember everything about that room. Over to my right, there was a book. I never read it, but it was called: ‘How The World Sees You.’ And on the back, it said two things. One of them was, “Don't compete on your strengths. Compete on your differences.” I thought that was really interesting. The other one was, “You don't learn interesting, you unlearn boring.” Now, I wanna look at those two phrases real quick. You have to understand that this is HOW your Attractive Character competes. On the business side, you compete on strengths. Your business, the systems, the offer, the marketing. But with your attractive character (which marketing bleeds into for sure) - You don't compete on strengths! Somebody will always be better, faster, stronger, right or better-looking, right? Does that make sense? Someone's always gonna be more talented. Someone's always gonna be boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So on that measure, your attractive character will die. It’s the fastest way to entrepreneurial suicide; to start competing with your attractive character on strengths because it’s never gonna be enough. You start comparing yourselves to ideals. The problem with an ideal is that it’s fluffy, it's fictitious, it's out there. There's no way for you to know if you'll ever hit it... And because of that, it's not measurable - so it's not attainable. As an entrepreneur you start spinning your wheels and comparing yourself to an ideal. To strengths. Don't do that. Don't do that. I did that for a long time. I'm speaking from experience with this stuff. I did that for quite some time. It sucked. It was hard because you start saying things like, “man, I don't know if I'm ever gonna make this. Am I ever actually gonna be successful with this?” Right? Every one of us has said that. Come on, I know we all have, right? Am I ever gonna, is something wrong with me? Oh my gosh, another two people made a million, you know, made the two comma club today. Crap. Gosh, dang it. Are you kidding me? Right? What's wrong with me? Something must be wrong with me, because it’s not the funnel, it's not this, it's not that. It has to be me, right? And the entrepreneur starts to blame themselves because they're comparing themselves to where the other people are. They're comparing themselves to another person's business. That's a stupid comparison. Don't do it. The way to move forward on the Attractive Character is to compare YOU to YOUR history. That's it. That is what keeps you from, from self-sabotaging, from literally burying yourself. It's like your brain eventually turns submarine mode, and it doesn't know how to go back up. You start sinking-and going further, and further down. Oh crap, I can't get this, something must be wrong with me, because all these other people are getting it done. You're comparing themselves with somebody's business. Stupid, dumb comparison. Because while a business competes on strengths, an attractive character competes on DIFFERENCES - YOU compete on your differences. It is so much easier. My gosh, guys, you’ll save your sanity. If you guys haven't been following me on Instagram, (I think you'll like it)... Monday morning, I always yell, and it's exactly what it sounds like. I yell. I get up, and I yell, whoo, yeah. What I've been doing lately is having a whole bunch of you guys yelling back. In the the highlights - Russell's in there yelling, Peng Joon's in there yelling - it's really fun. Go check it out if you want to; you'll see what I'm talking about. But why do I do that? It's because it's what I would do anyway. I'm just me, but louder… That's the real trick with becoming an attractive character. This internet business, does not exist for you to have to change into someone you’re not... Meaning there's this facade, right? There's this facade about what it means to be successful. I don't want any expensive fancy cars. Heh. Right? I'm not living in a mansion, urgh. Right? And there's this facade that's complete garbage when it comes to what it means to be successful on the internet. There's this persona that you have to go live. It's crap. It's complete garbage. Don't believe it. It doesn't make sense. For those people who are doing it because that's who they truly are, great, I'm not poo-pooing on that. Like, that's great, okay, stay that course. That's awesome. What I'm saying is those of you guys who are not naturally that way - you don’t have to pretend. If you want those things, that's awesome, but you don't have to pretend to be someone different to be successful. I'm saying this because I've heard a lot of people say things to the equivalent of, I don't even own a briefcase, how can I be successful, urgh. Right? It's like, what? That's not what the game's about, right? Your business competes on strengths, but your Attractive Character competes on differences. What makes me ‘me’ is how I compete; so I listen to music more openly, 'cause I'm always listening to music - my kind of music. I don't care if people don't like it because it’s one of the things that makes me different. On the business side, I can't say that though. When it comes to products, I need to have slight reactions to what the market wants me to build for them… However, for the Attractive Character, that's not how it works. I can do all the quirky things I love to do. The little character traits that I have that make me a bit weird... those things that I don't necessarily want other people to see... Man, those are your freakin' superpowers. That's the stuff to go publish about. Right now, I'm yelling into a camera in an office by myself. It would be weird for other people to come to see this. I don't care. Right? For a long time, I would've cared though, 'cause I had that same perception. I was like, this is what it means to be successful in this business; I have to go have X, Y and Z over here. I need to have this kind of suit, and I must look this way, I must act this way. I must be slightly recluse from all of these other people and set myself apart… (I still have to be a little bit reclusive sometimes, when I'm around other people, just to recharge, but it's not for the same reason. Mentally, I have to recharge, 'cause there's a lot of questions 24/7 at events, you know. Whoo, and I'm like, whoa, I gotta separate and isolate for a second) When I hear somebody say, “I don't know that I can be successful because I have a stutter” or I have this limitation or that limitation, or I'm dyslexic, or I have ADHD. Man, that’s just wrong! I had this counselor once tell me that I have a lot of tendencies of ADHD. And for a long time, I used to think that this was a hindrance. That's garbage. It's bullcrap. Did you know that most billionaires are dyslexic? Seriously, go look it up. Richard Branson - the guy's dyslexic - it didn’t stop him. Whatever it is about you - I'm not just talking about dyslexia, and you know, ADHD and stuff, whatever - I don't care what it is. Whatever it is about you that makes you feel incompetent- is actually a superpower. Stop acting like it’s a hindrance. The beauty of the internet is that you can become who you are, even more, louder. You don't have to change you - just be a louder you. That's what the attractive character is. Instagram's kinda fun, 'cause I can do a lot of the little snapshots of what I'm doing throughout the day. I have a little dummy down there that I beat the crap out of. I'm gonna name it ‘Poverty’, so I can beat the crap out of ‘poverty’ every morning. It's really fun. But no one's telling me to do that. That's my own creativity and my own little weirdness kicking in. That's great for my Attractive Character. What's funny is that if you try to go and you compete on strengths, if you try to be something that you’re not - IT WILL SINK YOU. You’ll have a tough time connecting with your audience. Your audience won't feel your authenticity if you're not being true to yourself. People can smell it. They can. When you start having thoughts like, I don't know that I can do this because I have, blank. I have a limitation because of, blank. I have a limitation because of, blank. Those things are the things that you should be publishing about! Not that it's a pity fest. Not that you're walking around all the time, saying like, oh well, follow me, I'm terrible at this. I'm awful at that. That's not what I'm saying at all. The reason I can push so freaking hard, is because I do have some ADHD tendencies. I’ve got a lot of friends who can't do that. It is a superpower. When I talk about this, all of you guys who feel the same way - you reach out to me and you say, I getcha. I feel ya. I'm with ya. I understand what you're saying. If I wasn’t willing to expose my vulnerabilities - the things that I feel I'm limited on - I wouldn’t be able to connect with you in the same way. Does that make sense? That is why I tell everyone to publish so much. Don't take on a persona that doesn’t feel like you. Just be you - louder. While businesses competes on strengths and the ability to give results, your attractive character competes on differences. You don’t need to compare yourself to somebody else. If you're comparing your business to somebody else’s, I don't see a massive problem with that, as long as you feel like you’re not your business. You know what I mean? Sometimes in an agency setting you are the business. Well, that can be dangerous. You'd be like, well, I suck at this, I suck at this. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. Bad. The reality is that you don't have the ‘systems’ in place to get those things done. That's not YOU! It’s your business. Right? So get in the habit of running your critiques through a filter. You need to ask’ “Is this a business-oriented adjustment, or is this just, who I am?” On the business side; judge, and critique away. It’s your baby and it's always broken. Don't fall in love with it. But when you head over to the attractive character side; don't judge yourself on how you’re different. Your difference is your superpower - it’s what lets you be you. It's what calls out your tribe and provides the blanket of security for the people who follow you. What makes you attractive, what makes you followable, is your ability to be open with the things that you're not amazing at, your little quirks, the things that you ‘like’ or ‘don't like’ - the polarity that you have… When I say, “I hate this” or “I love this” - It's very polarizing. When I say “I freakin' hate VC funding, I can think of 99% of businesses that probably didn't need it.” I understand that some people are not gonna like that, and that's okay because it's me. I'm totally fine with that. So as you think about your attractive character, don't judge yourself. Don't come over here and be like, oh, I should change, I should be this, I should... I'm always for self-improvement, but don’t tie your self-worth to the worth of your actual business. Don’t tie your self-worth to the value of your offer, or how many people you’ve helped - You are NOT the business. If you’re in this scenario, you need to start separating your business from your attractive character. You can be an attractive character of the business. Every business should have one. However, you are NOT the New Opportunity. You are NOT the Offer. You are NOT the Cause. You ARE the Attractive Character. Every mass movement needs an Attractive Character, a Cause, and an Opportunity. However, the attractive character is in its own category. The Cause and the Opportunity are separate too. They are not judged on the same report card as the Attractive Character. Anyway, I think I've beaten this one down like crazy. I just wanna help entrepreneurs to stop beating ourselves up. If you’re not like everyone else, then good, great, awesome. Be louder about it! You'll find it’s actually an accelerant. It's a catalyst, an enzyme. *Other synonyms*. So that you can go forward faster. Boosh! But only, if you're willing to be open about your differences - that's the key- and the caveat. Again, it’s not a pity fest. That's not what I'm saying at all. Those little quirks are the things that make you amazing and unique. Anyway, I think I've said the same thing like 12 times now, but it's because I'm trying to hit it home! Now, I challenge you to sit down and start thinking about what makes you different. Either write it down - or just start being cognizant of it. I like guns - there's a sniper rifle behind the camera right there. It's an Airsoft sniper rifle. I don't care about being politically correct - because it's me. So start writing down these things. Start being cognizant of who you are - and then be willing to share those differences. It may require you to drop a wall that you’ve been building because you're afraid of people seeing the true you. “I'm not clean all the time… Sometimes I'm a slob, heh.” Whatever. I don't care, okay? My garage downstairs, it's not painted. Urgh, it shouldn’t be on Instagram because it's not painted, right? I hate that kinda garbage. On stage the other day we were talking about the stack slide. We were talking about using certain scripts, and I was talking a little bit about this… There's one great therapy known to help people get past the fear of doing these kinds of things. It's really interesting. So if you guys raise your arm out at a 45-degree angle in front of you. Next bend, right, at the elbow. So your arm's out 45 degrees, starting bending at the elbow, and then get your hand, kind of like right by your face. Kind of like right by your cheek right here. While you have been watching this, while you have been listening to/ reading this, without you knowing, I have ‘ninja-ly’ (that's a new word)... Like a ninja, I’ve placed the most deadly spider on your face from South Africa, and it's gonna bite your face. Okay, get that thing off. Just slap that face. Yeah, right, get it done. Get it out there, right? I couldn't tell if it was offensive when I did it on stage, or if it was actually really cool. But you got the point, though? Just buck up a little bit, and you guys are gonna be awesome. I care about you so much, okay, so much. I think about you guys like, 24/7, and that's 'cause when I look back and see where I've gone, both from a revenue and a business standpoint - it's humbling, right? But I was not expecting all of this other stuff ‘mentally’ to have to happen. Am I an attractive character? My attractive character has now come to a point and a spot, where it is... My business doesn't move past the level of my attractive character anymore. I now have to develop individually, personally, mentally because my business will not move past the level of my attractive character. It's fascinating. Anyways, guys, I hope that that was helpful. It's a long episode. Thank you for tuning in. I appreciate it. Hopefully, this episode has made you cognizant of the power that you have inside of you. The power that’s already there. All right, I'll talk to you later. Bye. Please remember to rate and subscribe. Got a question you want answering live on the show? Head over to salesfunnelradio.com and ask your question now.
Decrease frustration and Increase results with this easy tip - use a checklist! We have proven to ourselves that if we don't go through our checklists one by one, we will inevitably miss something. Having the proper checklist and knowing how to use it takes a huge weight off your shoulders. In this episode, we're going to help you implement a checklist in any situation.
Decrease frustration and Increase results with this easy tip - use a checklist! We have proven to ourselves that if we don't go through our checklists one by one, we will inevitably miss something. Having the proper checklist and knowing how to use it takes a huge weight off your shoulders. In this episode, we're going to help you implement a checklist in any situation.
Decrease frustration and Increase results with this easy tip - use a checklist! We have proven to ourselves that if we don't go through our checklists one by one, we will inevitably miss something. Having the proper checklist and knowing how to use it takes a huge weight off your shoulders. In this episode, we're going to help you implement a checklist in any situation.
Decrease frustration and Increase results with this easy tip - use a checklist! We have proven to ourselves that if we don't go through our checklists one by one, we will inevitably miss something. Having the proper checklist and knowing how to use it takes a huge weight off your shoulders. In this episode, we're going to help you implement a checklist in any situation.
RED ALERT Technology makes exposing CLINTON SOROS possible, but there's a THREAT you may not see. As yourself this: Why is there no talk of antitrust suits against any of these tech companies? Answer: Because they play along. Right? Every one of these companies have learned to play along. ð??³ DONATE on PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/LeeStranahan ð??§ LISTEN to Fault Lines w/ Nixon & Stranahan: https://sputniknews.com/radio_fault_l... â?«ï¸? POPULIST.TV: http://www.Populist.TV â?«ï¸? TWITTER & INSTAGRAM: @stranahan â?«ï¸? http://www.CitizenJournalismSchool.com
Click above to listen in iTunes... Russell Brunson, Todd Brown, Brandon and Kaelin Poulin, Jim Edwards, and Stu McLaren... What's going on everyone? This is Steve Larsen. You're listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Now, for the next three episodes, I'm actually going to do ... This episode will be day one of Funnel Hacking Live, and I want to go through and show you the lessons I learned, and kind of what some of the speakers were doing and sharing with us. And then, obviously, next episode will be day two, and then day three. So the next three episodes are going to be a bit of an overview of the things that I learned. Let's kick it off. Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio, where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. And now, here's your host, Steve Larsen. All right guys, now the first thing you'll probably notice is that my voice is shot. I am completely humbled by the number of you that I met who listen to my podcast. It was so awesome. But I met so many of you. I was totally touched, also, by the number of you ... I mean, I was not expecting gifts, but a lot of you guys ... Anyways, I'm saying thank you to those of you did that. That was very nice of you and I appreciate that a lot... I pretty much talked for three straight days and my voice is totally gone. I was going to do these last night while it was all even more fresh in my brain, but I was like, "Gosh. I can't even ... I can't even ..." You know, anyway. I was like, "Maybe if I go to sleep, everything is going to be better, and I'll wake up in the morning, my voice will be better." It's not. It's actually worse. I'm probably going to lose my voice, 100%. Anyway, that's okay. Here it goes though, all right, so you just have to, I guess, deal with that. I'm going to go ahead though, and I'm going to let you know the things that I learned, the big takeaways from Funnel Hacking Live. Now, understand that what I'm going to do here, it's not going to give justice at all for what really happened. But, this is more the tactile stuff that I'm going to go over. The very first day that we had ... Gosh, it was such a good event. Oh my goodness. Everyone was going nuts, so crazy. Totally got my picture with Tony Robbins, which was crazy cool. That guy is huge. Anyway. I'm not a small guy either, but man, he was like a full two heads taller than I was. Anyway, all right. So hey, the very first day we had Russell Brunson speak, obviously, then Todd Brown came in and spoke. Russell spoke again about something so good, and I could see everyone going like, "Crap. I need to redo how my whole product works now that I've heard Russell speak." Brandon and Kaelin spoke. Jim Edwards spoke about copies. Stu McLaren came in and taught about membership sites and how to make millions of dollars with them, it was fantastic, it was amazing. Then we had huge round table discussions, and honestly, that's ... I really lost my voice from the majority of, really, two things. When people walked in the door for the very first day, I mean, music was bumping. I mean, it was so loud, it was awesome. The stage looked incredible; it was so much bigger than last time, which none of us could really believe. We were like, "Oh my gosh, this is just amazing." Melanie and our team did fantastic. It really, really went well. Just, I can't even ... It's hard for me to describe everything that went on there. But I ... As people walked in the door, I was screaming, "Yeah, what's up? It's game day baby," as loud as I could, slapping, giving hand-fives to everyone that came in. I'm pretty sure I started bruising my hand; it actually really started hurting. But it got everyone jazzed up and in state as they walked into the door, which is awesome. We wanted the energy levels to go up, because it pulled them out of their comfort zones. I try and do that a lot of times when I'm learning things, even on my own. All right, so Russell first spoke about creating a mass movement. These are really chapters that are hardcore in his new book. But the main point is that you really need ... You got to have three things in order to create a mass movement. The first one is, you need a charismatic leader. Second one, you got to be able to have ... There needs to be a cause. Then the third thing, I think it was a following... Crap, I should have brought all my notes with me as I was doing this. But, anyway, it was so good, because he started talking about ... This is way beyond product creation, right? Most of our audience speaks, and talks, and is focused solely on, "How do I create the funnel? How do I create the product?" Right? He's like, "Okay that's good, and you guys are getting really good at that as a community. But the next step is really, how do you get people to it." Right? Joe Polish, this reminds me of one of Joe Polish's courses, but he's talking about how marketing ... You think about sales, sales is what happens face-to-face, in front of people. I think that I've mentioned that before in this podcast. Imagine standing in front of somebody, that's how you sell them, right? But marketing is what gets them in front of your face, right? That's what turns their feet and gets them standing in front of you, and that's really what Russel talked about first. Very tactile, how to do that, how to construct the message, how to get it and put it all together. Really, really cool. Then we had a quick break. Then Todd Brown came in and he talked more about the big idea, and this idea that you could latch, go back in history and look at other marketing messages that were killing it, and just tweak those messages, and he showed you how to ... Again, the whole thing was extremely tactile. I saw someone post, and they were like, "I learned no actual hardcore strategy." I was like, "Man, you must not have been freaking in the room then, because you're the only person who said that. Ever." I don't even ... Everyone I've been talking to is like, "That was the best thing I've ever ... That's the best event I've ever been to, related to business, ever. Across all business, not just marketing, in general." I was like, "Yeah, it's pretty cool." We worked our butts off for it, so we're super glad that you guys liked it. But Todd Brown talked more about how to actually get that big idea, right, the one thing, and how to construct it. The big takeaway I got from him is that the creativity that your business requires is not in you. It's not. He said, "You have got to be obsessed with the market that you're in. As you dive into the market, and as you figure out what pieces are missing, the creativity comes from the market, not from you." If you're sitting there and you're not reading books, and you're not digesting things, and you're not there trying to get better and get your craft down, you cannot conjure the amount of creativity needed, that your business needs. I was like, "That's so key. My gosh." I started thinking back, and I was like, "Holy crap. He's totally right." Any time I've ever made a product that really has done well, it's because I have been obsessed with that market. I found out exactly what the pain points were, which essentially told me what to build. It didn't come from me. There was ... I actually wrote an e-book when I was in college, and I talked all about this, that man, essentially you don't need to be creative. That is the number one thing that entrepreneurs come out and they're like, "I got to create something totally new." It's like, "Ugh." Anyway, I'll talk about that some time later... But I wrote an e-book that talks about ... I call it "Product Big Bang Theory", which is where these new ideas ... I was like, "Oh, I got to create something totally new," and it's like, actually the market might not even be ready for that. Let's say you actually did pull that off, which is super rare, that something you just made was totally new, not influenced by anything else, that's rare. That doesn't happen very often, right? It's more about product evolution. Right? You look at current states of things and you make an improvement on the way things are, and sell the solution. Then the next person comes along, he's like, "Well that's cool. That brought me up to here. But, now let's go ahead and let's elevate it again." Why are there so many freaking iPhones? Right? That's exactly what product evolution is. That's how huge money is made. Not by product big bang theory; half the time the market doesn't even accept it, you know what I mean? Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, but ... Okay, that was the first half of the day. It was so good. Then Russell came back on and he gave a speech about how to sell pretty much anything, without selling anything. That was his headline. "How to sell almost anything without actually selling anything." He talked about this concept of ... Okay, right now, you listening, right, think about the industry that you're in right now. Think about it, and think about what it took for you to become an expert in that industry. If you don't feel like you're an expert yet, just keep learning. Right? Keep learning, and the fastest way I know to learn is to teach. Right? This podcast also helps me, guys. It helps me sharpen my craft. Right? Sharpen the saw and get better, and better, and better... I always tell people to get a coach, because it accelerates your learning, and then be a coach, because it solidifies it. Get a coach, be a coach. Get a coach, be a coach. Get a coach, be a coach... That's what I gave my closing speech on at graduation, when I graduated. Anyway. He goes through and he starts saying, "Look, as you came into this industry, whatever it is that you're in, you loved it and you started learning all the vocab from that industry." Sales funnels, auto-responders, SMTP, right? All this crap, no one know what that is if they're not in here. You go out, you get so excited, and the first person who you think is even remotely a good fit for a sales funnel, let's just use that as an example, you run up to them and you're like, "Sales funnel. Auto-responder. SMTP," and they're like, "Ah." You know, we call it technobabble... Technobabble's this thing that will kill the sale, always. The point of Russell's speech on that is that he said, "You need to go back to the time where you had the epiphany, personally. Right? That you needed a sales funnel, and you have to tell that story in a way that gets them in the same state, to have the same epiphany that you did. And then you don't have to be selling anything." Suddenly they'll have the epiphany. They'll realize, "Oh my gosh. I got to have a sales funnel now." You know what I mean? For me, because of the origin story, right? My origin story ... I've said this before, so I'm not going to go into it, because it's a big story. Right? I was in college, I was trying to make a lot of money on the side, and I was doing all right at it. I was getting hired by Paul Mitchell, the hair school. I was driving tons of traffic for them. We were building websites for some of their rising celebrities. Funny, because it was in the middle of my marketing class. We walked up to the teacher and I was like, "Hey, I don't want to come back to your class ever again. I'm already doing this stuff." He's like, "Cool. Just show me a deliverable at the end." So I went and I worked for Paul Mitchell during those hours, three hours a day, driving lots of internet traffic for them, and I could get huge volumes of traffic. I was getting all these people, all these ninja waves, white hat and gray hat stuff. We were getting lots of website visitors for Paul Mitchell there. I realized I could get tons of traffic. But I kept looking at the numbers, and they're like, "Okay, we're spending extra money on this traffic that's coming in. We know we're targeting okay, but why aren't people converting? How do I actually know that these people are making me money?" Right? It's a brick-and-mortar story. That was the big challenge, bringing them from online to offline, and walking into their stores. Right? That's when I realized, there was a skillset out there that I did not have, and that's what ultimately led me to getting all over the internet. I was like, "Oh my gosh. How do I do this? How do I do this?" That's when I ran into "DotCom Secrets" and Russell Brunson. That's how I did it. Anyway, that was the whole point of that though, is that you need to go back to ... start categorizing, start ... Sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself. Start indexing. I should say that, that's probably a better way to say it. Start indexing your stories. Okay? Russell told way over 40 stories in each one of his presentations. It's not because he's just sitting there telling stories, it's to help us. Now that you know, okay, watch what he does, watch what he does in his Snapchat. That's a huge, long, slow story that's going on. You see behind the scenes of what he's really doing in his own personal life. Right? That gets the attractive character up... He tells stories in his podcasts. He tells stories, and it's to help people have the same epiphany of need for what he's selling. Right? That's exactly what it is. That's exactly what he's doing, because he doesn't like hard closing people. He's not even that good at that. I'm not either. I'm not very good at hard selling... It's like, when I was doing door-to-door sales, that was one of the things I sucked at. I was like, "Man, I could come up with a sweet offer, but the best way to sell without selling is story selling." That's what we call it, instead of storytelling... Anyway, so we're going to keep going on. Then Brandon and Kaelin Poulin came up and they talked about social webinars, and they talked about how they spend a thousand dollars getting Russell's Funnel Hacks class. I'm sure you guys have had the Funnel Hacks class, you've gone through it, you know what it is. It's the, "My weird niche funnel that's currently making me 17 grand a day," which, that's very low compared to what it is now. But, anyway, they went through, though, and they started saying, "Hey, I got the thousand dollar thing, and all we did is we played Russell's thing for five seconds and then we stopped, and we implemented exactly what he was saying. We paused the video." He's like, "Sometimes it would take us hours to get through this set that he just showed, and we'd play the video for five seconds, then stop." Russell wanted them up there ... Sorry guys, my voice is shot. I'm trying to do the best I can here. Okay? But Russell wanted them up there to show you guys that you can go just follow Russell's path, and just pause the video. Just pause it, do what he said. Pause it, do what he said. The first year they did that, they turned that thousand dollar investment into 300 grand. The second year they did that, which was 2016, they turned it into 2.3 million. Right? Every time they saw Russell do something on social media, they paused the video and immediately did it. Right? I mean that day, they got it done, and that's how they did it. They didn't know anything about tech stuff. I know way more about click funnels than them. Right? The point was implementation, was getting out there and just doing it. Right? They used social webinars to do that. That was the name of their speech. They would stand up, and one of the cool takeaways I got from them was they said, "Hey look, if you can do it afraid, you'll be able to make it." Meaning, it's scary sometimes to do this stuff. You're like, "Oh, I don't want to do the webinar. I don't want to get out there. I don't want to be myself. I don't want to do a podcast when my voice sucks." You know what I mean, like right now? They said, "If you can do it afraid, people will sense that, they'll bond with you even more, and you'll be able to just take action and just get it done." It works out for everybody. Let me keep going here. Then there was a break, and then Jim Edwards came in and he taught about copy. Now, he is the creator of Funnel Scripts. If you guys have never used that software, fantastic software. You go in, and he basically says, "Hey look. Look, copy is not written, it is assembled." All the top copywriters in the world understand that there are elements, there are fill-in-the-blanks, for whole sales letters. Right? Everything. If you need to change your sales letter a little bit, he's like, "Think of it like Legos. All right? You take one little Lego out, and you stick another one right there to complete the sentence." You know, how to blank without blank. You know, how to make a million dollars without leaving your house. You know, how to blank without blank. Over and over again. But that works for all copy, it's not just for headlines. It works for ... He said, "I became a great copywriter when I realized that, that copy was assembled, it's not written. You are not a copywriter, you are a copy-assembler." You might think, "Okay, wow. That's not ... Is that a big enough golden nugget to actually make a speech on?" Well, then he started going through, and he started showing us how ... I mean, this is how Funnel Scripts works. If you ever used the software, it's these inputs that you toss in, and it spits out all your sales copy. At the end, he said, "Hey. The best copywriter that I ever hired, ever, is me." He's like, "If you really want to get amazing at copies, Funnel Scripts is a great launch pad. It will get you there very quickly, but you have got to learn how to assemble it on your own." He gave all the funnels, and all the scripts, and all the fill-in-the-blanks that we would ever need for any type of copy, ever, while we were there. It was a really huge value. Most the speakers gave something ridiculous at the end. It was really nice. Just, tremendous value the whole way. Okay, then Stu McLaren came in. Guys, if you don't know who Stu McLaren is, this guy's one of my heroes, second to Russell, okay? What Stu does with his time, is he goes out and he has something called World Teacher Aid, and any time you ... Some of you guys ... We were actually shocked at the number of people that did not know this. When you click 'Add New Funnel' in ClickFunnels, and you build the funnel, as soon as 100 visitors hit that funnel, a dollar automatically gets donated to World Teacher Aid. Well, we presented him with a $76,000 check while he was here. Literally 100% of all the money that comes into World Teacher Aid is used for building schools in Kenya and Africa. They've built like 11 of them now. Anyway, it's really, really cool, really touching. But we were like, "Holy crap, 76,000 funnels with 100 people came in." That's what that means. Oh my gosh. But he came in and he talked about membership funnels. What he does, is he goes through and he says, "Okay, I'm going to make a sweet membership site, but I'm only going to spend 2 weeks out of the whole year running it." You're like, "What the heck?" He goes in and he says, "Okay. I'm going to go in and I'm going to, on week one, let's have an expert come in and teach something. On week two, let's do a live Q&A about it. On week three, let's do some kind of blog or post, or something like that, some other tangible item that they can go learn from. Then on week four, we'll do some other behind-the-scenes video. Like, 'Hey, this is how I really do it. These are the little hacks I learned.'" And that's what he does. If you look at those, week one, two, three, four, the only two pieces that you have to do ahead of time are getting an expert to come in. He flies everybody in. In two days he interviews, back-to-back, to back-to-back, to back-to-back, to back-to-back, 12 of them. Right? Pre-loads 12 months of content, gets it transcribed, puts it in the membership area, puts it on a drip thing so that it goes out for them after 30 days, after 60, 90, the whole way through the year. Then he creates the blog post for it, same thing. He gets the whole thing set, and then he presses go. The way that he makes $7 million a year off of membership sites, where he only runs them a couple weeks a year, is by the way he handles the cart. He does not leave it open cart all the time. He leaves it as seats. He's like, "Look. I treat you guys like students. I really do want you to know." So rather than these huge ups and downs in his membership sites, he will literally just ... It's like stairs, steps. It's a little up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, because while the cart is closed, while people can't get in, there's a waiting list. If there are times when he knows he wants a little boost in the revenue or he might lose some numbers, he just goes to the waiting list and says, "Hey. Look, a seat is going to open up. If you guys want to jump in, go for it," and he'll get a little boost in the sales. That's how he handles membership sites. I thought that was a really great takeaway, and I just wanted to share that over to you guys. Anyways, after that, Russell is taking people to Kenya if they buy a school. We're just trying to raise money for charity. But we don't any of that, obviously. That's literally straight for charity. Then there were huge round tables at the end. It's like non-stop talking. It was awesome. It was really fun to talk to you guys, because half your questions are tactile, "Hey, how do I do this in ClickFunnels?" Then the other half are strategy like, "Hey, how would you sell this?" I got to sit down with so many of you and draw out funnels, and show you how I'd do this, and the ways we've seen it work. You guys know I've built over 140 sales funnels with Russell in the last 11 months. Way more than half of them have been all on my own. You know what I mean? Right at the beginning it was like, "Hey, build this funnel," and then I'd go out and I'd build it, he'd destroy like 90% of it. Well the percent that he's destroying is going smaller, and smaller, and smaller, and smaller. Until finally, the last six months has been like, "Okay, cool. Hey, just change the headline just a little." That's it. I was like, "Holy crap. That's so cool." But it's really fun to sit down with you guys and just start showing all these cool things we've been doing. Hopefully next year we get a round table. That's what I'm hoping for. Don't tell Russell, but tell Russell if you want to. Be like, "Russell, Stephen, why aren't you speaking? Why aren't you at a round table?" I was like, "Well, it's not my company or my call, so I'm not ... " Maybe next time I will. Anyways. Guys, that was the first day. We were there until midnight, and then we got back up. We had our meeting at 7:30, and then huge hand-slapping times the whole way, high-fives coming on in. It was awesome, again. Anyways, that was the first day. Hopefully something in there I said was of use and of value to you. Very, very awesome. I want to encourage you guys right now, if you want to ... I think we sold several hundred tickets for 2018. We sold almost 100 for 2018 right before this event actually started. But then during this event, we sold another couple hundred tickets. Anyway. There are 35 tickets, 35 seats, available for our next conference in 2018. It's going to be at Disney in Florida. We already got the resort, everything's done. The contracts are signed. We are going to freaking Disney... The early-bird price right now is 697. I think you can go to funnelhacking.com ... Well you can, I built it. Go to funnelhacking.com. You can only buy single tickets right now, not two. But, just so you guys know, a little inside track here, they are going to raise the price significantly higher for this one. Half of it's just because of demand, and because we bring in people like Tony Robbins. You know what I mean? That is not cheap. I am legally not allowed to tell you how much money it was, but holy crap. Get your ticket now, is what I'm telling you to go do. I'm not pushing an affiliate link, I'm not telling anything else, I just would love to meet more of you guys. About 75% of the room raised their hand when they asked if this was their first event. I think it's because you guys were listening. Anyways guys, fantastic time, and again, next two episodes, I'm going to go through the next two days here. I think you guys are going to like this. It got even cooler. I can't even believe the first day was just so freaking awesome. The first day, when Russell and I were talking about it and going through it, we were going through slides ... I made so many images for his slides. It was a lot of fun doing it with him. But, we realized that the first day is so foundational for the remainder of the event. All right? It had less to do with, "Hey, make this tweak on your funnel here and get an increase in conversions." That's not what the event is about. The event is about how to sell. The event is about how to actually be the business owner. It's about how to outsource. It's how to craft your message. That's really what this was all about. Okay? I saw a blog post from some guy, Billy Gene, and he was like, "This was the worst thing ever. Day one went by, and he didn't go through any tactics." I was like, "Are you freaking kidding me? What he just laid down there means you don't have to strong sell anybody else ever again, ever. All right? I don't like doing that. I'd rather put that on autopilot through a funnel, and he just told you how to do it." No tactics, my butt. Anyway. Okay, don't get me started on that, because what he put out there, there's nothing else from that event ... There's nothing else you could learn that was so valuable. It's pretty much more important than the offer. I have watched Russell ... Just so you guys know, and then I'll end this podcast. I have watched Russell, many times, not know a thing about the person's product, but because he asked certain questions, he knew how to sell it. Did you just have an epiphany? Because you should, about your own products. Some of you guys are so obsessed with your product, but you are not obsessing on how to sell it. They're different things. They're totally different things. Right? One, you've got, let's say ... I was asking someone at the event, I was like, "Do you know what's in a Campbell's Soup soup? What are the ingredients?" He's like, "You mean like all of them on the back?" I was like, "Yeah." He's like, "I don't know." I was like, "Then why'd you buy it? You don't know everything that's in it? Oh my gosh. You're crazy. You're nuts." I was like, "Now is that really that crazy or nuts?" He's like, "No." I was like, "You are thinking that everyone is going to look at all the ingredients in your offer, and all the little pieces, and all these things. That's true; the offer needs to deliver, it needs to be awesome. It's got to be amazing. But, just as important, if not more, in fact, I would say even more, you have got to obsess on how to sell it." I say, "Okay now, can you tell me what a Campbell's Soup label looks like?" He's like, "Well, yeah," and he goes through. I was like, "Okay, now why is that?" He's like, "Because they spent so much more time ... Okay, the ingredients list is on the back of the can, even. Right? That's not the highlight." However, it is the product; it's got to be there. But the message, what people see, the thing that pulls people in, right, the message they put on TV of you drinking this soup while you're sick ... Those are stories. That's how everything's sold. Anyway, I was trying to tell some of this, "Understand what I'm saying to you, that the product is important, but you have been obsessing over your product for the last several years." I knew he was. I was like, "Stop. Okay? It's time to obsess on the message. It's time to obsess on your culture. It's time to obsess on all the little analogies you're going to tell, and inventory your personal stories so people get attracted to you. Let's say your product got shut down, or you lost something, or whatever, that way people still know who you are." Does that make sense? That's the important of this, and that's really what day one was. Anyway, it was a long podcast guys, but hopefully you guys liked that. Hey guys, seriously, again, I would go get the ticket if you haven't. I'm so excited to show you guys day two and three. Holy crap. All right guys, talk to you later. Bye. Thanks for listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Want to get one of today's best internet sales funnel for free? Go to salesfunnelbroker.com/freefunnels to download your pre-built sales funnel today.
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Jesus is Better “Help for Hard Hearts” Hebrews 3:7-15 Key Verse: Therefore, as the Holy Sprit says, “Today, if yo hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion"(Hebrews 3:7-8a). 1. The causes of a heard heart a. Deafness can cause a hard heart b. Doubt can cause a hard heart c. Deceit can cause a hard heart 2. The consequences of a hard heart a. What you don’t get b. What you do get 3. The cures for a hard heart a. Fellowship with one another b. Faith in One When I was a senior in high school, I made a New Year's resolution. And the New Year's resolution was, that I was going to learn to play the guitar. And so with great gusto, I began playing the guitar. It didn't take too many days of, hours per day on that guitar until the tips of my fingers were you form the cords on those steel strings were actually cut and bleeding a little bit. But, I didn’t give up and you know what happened with the passage of time those cuts became calluses. I don’t play the guitar that much anymore but I still when I feel the ends of my fingers, my fingertips on the left-hand, I feel that callouses still today. You know it's okay if some parts of your body get calluses on them. If you ever shaken working man's hand, you know you get that big old hand and you shake it and you feel those calluses, it serves them well because, his hand has become hardened to carry out the tasks that are his. But there are other parts of your body that you never need to grow hard. That would be, chief of all, your heart. Your heart needs to always be supple and soft and flexible. In fact did you know, there’s a phrase, a lot of you are too young to recognize this phrase but its called, the hardening of the arteries. It’s really a term used for heart disease, when you get plaque buildup in your arteries and it restricts the flow of blood, as the passage narrows. Soon enough if you don't get enough blood to your heart, you can have a heart attack or you can have a stroke, you can die. And so you need your heart to always remain soft and pliable and supple. And so today I want to preach a message that takes that physical principle and puts it into the spiritual realm. Just as your physical heart you cant afford it for it to get hard, spiritually; you can't afford to get a hard heart. You need a soft heart. I need a soft heart toward God. And so here's the title of today's message, help for Hard Hearts. I wonder, don’t show your hand, but I wonder how many of us would say, you know Pastor Jeff, I'm afraid, if I were to be honest, you know my heart maybe getting a little cold. A little hard. This morning I know God wants to soften our hearts so that they will be pliable in his hands and useful to Him. So today were to get some help for hard hearts and we’re going to do so out of the book of Hebrews. That’s toward the end of your Bible, so if you would please turn there. Hebrews chapter 3 and stand to your feet in honor of God's Word. We’re about to hear the King of Heaven speak and I want you given your best attention. Hebrews chapter 3, we’re going to start in verse seven. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts.” you see their there's the phrase. “Do not harden your heart as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart they have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter my rest. Take care brothers. Take care sisters. Lest there be in any of you, an evil unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another, every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For, as we have come to share in Christ. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, as it is said, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Lets pray. God, thank you that you speak to us. I thank you that we can hear your voice today if we if we got a heart to here. I pray that we will have soft pliable soulful hearts that are responsive to you. Awaken us to what you say today Lord and change for, Jesus sake, Amen. Please be seated. Help for hard hearts. Let me advise you if you're visiting us today, if you’ll turn on the back of your worship guide, just flip that guide over, there’s a skeleton outline of the today's message, and really for all of our sake, it's helpful to follow along, and just jot down anything that you think God is saying to you. That you need to apply from what would we be hear today. All right. I will begin the message by talking about what causes a hard heart. What are the causes of a hard heart? First of all, a heard heart is caused by deafness. Now in the physical realm don't tend to think of hearing being related to heart. But in the Bible there's a huge connection between hearing and heart. And if were hard of hearing we will be hard of heart. God wants us always have an open ear to hear what he said. I take this from verse seven. He says, “Therefore as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.” what's the implication? That if you don't hear his voice, over time, your heart gets to be hard. Soon enough, you won't be able to hear it. So today, if you hear his voice, then respond to it, so that your heart will not become hard. Now heart disease, in the physical realm, can be caused by not listening to good counsel. For example, we all know that if you have a healthy heart, you need to exercise. Right? Every day do some exercise? Some cardiovascular workout. You need to watch what you eat. You need to get plenty of rest. You need to let the stress in your life go down. All of these things, that’s the counsel that you get, and if you hear it, and respond to it, it will help you have a soft healthy heart. But, if you ignore that counsel, you may get the hardening of the arteries and you have a stroke or heart attack. You may get into trouble. Now the same thing is true spiritually. God gives us council from his word on how to live. And if you listen to his counsel, then our hearts will be soft and will be spiritually healthy. We need to listen to God. It’s dangerous not to listen to good counsel isn’t it? Let me tell you a story about a church youth group. Now all you teenagers listen to me. There was a youth group very much like ours that went on a trip to Yosemite national Park. Way out West. They were from California. So it wasn’t that fare of a drive. They went up to Yosemite and they said we're going to hike the most famous of the hikes in that great park. In it's the hike up what's called Vernal Falls. We’re going to put a picture on the screen, of this beautiful waterfall. It’s the Merced River, it falls about 317 feet at that precipice and thousands of people every year make this hike. It’s gorgeous. Well all along that hike, there are warning signs, because while it looks placid and beautiful and majestic, the truth is it's very dangerous. In fact the signs are actually in four languages, so that nobody misunderstands or fails to hear the warning. They caution about the force of the river and that the rocks are slippery. And of course, you can imagine with the falls and the mist that the bellows out from that, the rocks get slippery. And so the youth group start making its way up to the top of Vernal Falls and when they got up there, there were three of them that decided they wanted to get a picture for instagram. You young people know what I'm talking about? Something to post on Facebook I guess. And so one of the girls, well in fact three of them, the girl is the particular one that was leading the pack, they climbed over a guardrail that bordered the Merced River there the top. Now I think in part the reason they did it, is that when you're up on top, the water is actually kind of placid. In fact, they call it the Emerald Pool and other of the pictures of you can see online, I’m not going to put it on screen but either other pictures of it, and you can almost see that that placid pool of green water there at the top. It’s beautiful. It’s crystal clear and the girls said, come on ya’ll. Lets Climb over this guardrail and we’ll just go out there and stand on a rock, and ya’ll can take my picture. Harmless enough. I really can hardly blame the young people, because I could almost see me doing something foolish like that. They climbed over, got out in the river, they didn’t know it but that year, there had been a real heavy snowfall and the snowmelt have been great and the Merced River had swollen with that extra water, and the force of the river was greater than even normally was. Beneath the placid surface, the were currents that they couldn't even see. The girl got out on the rock and she slipped. She splashed into the water and her friend, alarmed of course, because they were only about 25 feet from the edge of the falls, he went out into the water to try to grab her, he lost his footing. So now the third guy was to take the picture, he goes in after those two. And before anything could be done. To the wailing screams of the whole group, those three young people were swept over the precipice to their deaths. That is a terrible story, but it's a true story. Fact, they couldn't even find their bodies for several days, because the force of the water was so great. They were pinned there on the rocks somewhere beneath the surface at the foot of the falls. What had happened? They had ignored the warnings that had been given. Deafness can be deadly. You must listen to God's voice, because deafness can cause a hard heart, and a hard heart can be deadly. Now what else can cause a hard heart? Not only deafness, but doubt can cause a hard heart. I think most of you know the story that is in view here, in Hebrew 3. It’s actually looking back to the children of Israel, who had been enslaved in Egypt. You remember this. For about 400 years, they were enslaved there. But God never forgot about his children. He heard their cry. And he sent Moses to them to deliver them. And you'll remember that God, with miraculous power, sent plague after plague after plague and in patience, he was saying to Pharaoh, and the Egyptians, let my people go! But pharaoh was deaf to God's voice and he had a hard heart. And the Bible says he stiffened his neck against God. God continued to send those plagues until finally the night of Passover came, the death Angel came and all of the firstborn, both of the livestock and even of the male firstborn sons of every family, died in the Egypt. God spared the Israelites. Finally Pharaoh and the Egyptians said please go! And out went the Israelites in great freedom. Well, they made their way down to the Red Sea. Once they became alarmed. There like, we're going to die here because Pharaoh had regained his courage, and you want to go back and capture them. He was in hot pursuit. On one side, had the Red Sea, and on the other side was Pharaoh bearing down on them. And mountain walls hemmed them in. it looked as though they were goners. Again, God heard their cry. And Moses extended his rod and the Red Sea opened. A strong wind blew and they walked across on dry ground. Then they went to up the wilderness there. Safe now from the Army of the Egypt that was destroyed. They were hungry and a cried out and God heard them. God sent manna. He dropped groceries from heaven. And then they ate their fill. They got thirsty and they complained against God. God caused water flow from the rock. Again, again and again God provided for them. But it was if if they'd never could get over their bellyaching. There murmuring. They’re complaining. Finally they came to the Jordan River, God had proven himself true to every promise, and he said “this land that you see that flows with milk and honey, where there are vineyards that you did not plant, where their houses to live in that you did not build, with their walled cities that you can inhabit, all of this I'm giving to you. The children of Israel, what did they do, the they doubted. They said that land is too mighty. There are chariots there. There are walled cities. We are as but grasshoppers in our own eyes. We can't do it. And they doubted and it gave them our atherosclerosis. I mean it hardened their arteries. It gave them heart disease. Listen to what the Bible says in verse 12 of our chapter, Hebrews 3. Take care brothers, lest there be in any of you and an evil, unbelieving heart. Leading you to fall away from the living God. What had happened? They had they had heart disease. Their heart had become evil, and it is rooted in, what the Bible says, unbelief. You know what God wants for us above everything? He wants us to believe him when he makes promises. He wants us to believe that they will come true. When he says what the Bible says, God so loved the world; he wants us to believe it. That he gave his only begotten son; he wants us to believe that. That whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life; he wants us to trust that promise. That’s what he seeks above all. That we would trust and believe in him. But they doubted. It caused a hard heart. Let me give you one other cause of a hard hart. I've mentioned deafness and doubt but deceit can cause you to have a hard heart. Look in verse 13, but exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. You see sin is at work in us. The devil was at work to deceive us. To think that God is not good. That he is not faithful to his promises. And to pull us away from the living God. The deceitfulness of sin. I heard a story years ago, about what was called the perfect crime. It’s a story set in New York, back in the days when they were building the skyscrapers. And there were two men that have become enemies of one another on the building site. But they worked, side-by-side, on the girders as they were building this mighty skyscraper. One of the men had the job of affixing the rivets to the girders so that they would be in place. The other man would pitch the rivets to the first man. He would pitch them. The man would catch it and he would attach the rivet and on they would go throughout the day, attaching those great steel girders. The one man thought of away to murder his coworker. And here was his plan. As he threw the rivet to him, with each successive throw, he withdraw just a little bit further out from the building. And so the man that was catching the rivet and attaching them, you know he caught the rivet, with the next throw he had to reach out just a little bit further, the next throw, a little further, and it was so subtle, it was so incremental, it was so sinister, he didn’t recognize he was reaching out further and further. Until finally that last throw came and he lost his balance as he reached out to get it. He plunged to his death. Now they called it the perfect crime because there was no trace of any misdeed. He subtlety, very incrementally murdered his coworker. Now, why do I tell that story? That’s the way sin operates in our lives. The devil, he’s not going up and get you to like jump over to some massive evil like Hitler, but he's going to incrementally, very subtly, throw you a temptation that just close enough that you might bite. Once you've indulged in that, he may throw at temptation that's a little further out from God's will, in a little further out, until finally you take a great fall because sin is deceitful. I wonder today if I'm talking to some people whose hearts are becoming hard because you've been deceived by sin. You find yourself doing things that you never would've dreamed of doing, because incrementally, you gone there. Today if you hear his voice, awaken to the danger that is in front you. These are the causes of a heard heart. Now quickly, what does it matter? Are there any consequences for having a hard heart? Well you know physically, if you have hardening of the arteries, and your heart gets where there is not enough blood flowing to it. It’s deadly. In fact, did you know every 33 seconds, someone in America dies of heart disease? In a year more than a million people die. It is the leading cause of death for both men and women. Physically, it's dangerous. There are consequences. What about spiritually? If your heart gets cold and hard toward God, does it matter? Well I am going to tell you today it does matter. I’m going to give you two reasons it matters. First of all, it matters because what you don't get when your heart is hard. Now, remember I told you that God was taking the children of Israel to the Promised Land. They were going to go to that land of milk and honey. Those walled cities. They were going to inhabit them. Every good thing was going to be provided them. But because they did not believe, because their hearts were cold and hard, they did not get what God would have otherwise given them. Do you see how this is applicable to you and me? God of the Bible says Jesus came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. The Promised Land is but a picture of the life abundant that we are to have in Jesus. But you don't get it if you have a hard heart toward God and if you ignore his voice. I’m going to put on the screen a picture of fellow, you may recognize. Him his name John Candy. Here’s a famous actor, some years ago. He starred in the movie, Cool Running about the Jamaican bobsled team; Splash He was with the Blues Brothers and so a little bit dated. So you may know John Candy. He was actually well known for being a comedic character. He was a big man, physically very big. In his family that was a history of heart disease. His father, now get this, his father died when he was only 35 years old. Can you imagine? Almost 20 years my younger, dying of a heart attack. So John grew up in a family that should've known well the dangers of heart disease. But John, I guess it goes with that comedic, jovial feel. He loved to eat. He gave it a good Louisiana. He loved to eat and he would put on a big spread for everybody. He would smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. He just lived the life. Those in violation of every rule of good health and we was 43 years old, he too died. He didn't get the love out all of these years. He lost it. He didn't get what he could've otherwise had. He was making $4 million per picture. That was back in the mid-90. All that wealth. All the future that was before him, but he squandered it, because of his hard hardening heart. In the physical realm. The same thing can be true for us spiritually. God wants us to enter into a life of joy and freedom and purpose. We can’t have it, if we can have a hard heart. So the consequences are, what you don't get what the consequence is also are, what you do get. When you have a hard heart, what they get? Look again at your Bible and Ill show you. In verse 17 it says, “and with whom was he provoked for 40 years, was it not with those who sinned? Whose bodies fell in the wilderness. What did they get? They got 40 years; listen to me, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Until every one of their bodies fell dead in the desert. All those that were of age that could've gone to the Promised Land, save Joshua and Caleb. Those faithful men who said “let's go.” all the rest died. What they didn't get was the Promised Land. What they did get was death. Spiritually, don't miss what God would give you and don't get what the world would give you. Right? I said before, I said again, God wants for us what we would want for ourselves, if we had sense enough to want it. He wants a life of goodness for you in abundance and joy and purpose. But if you have a hard heart, you never going to get it. Well let me conclude. Is there a cure? You know physically, if you have a heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, which I have several those things, to some small degree, is there anything I can do? There is something that I can do. I can exercise. And I need to do more than I do, but I could exercise. I could eat better. And I'm trying to do a little better on my eating. You let the stress out of your life. You can rest better. We need these disciplines in our lives physically. But what about spiritually? Is there something that you can do? Is there a cure for the hard heart? There is. Let me give you two cures. Number one, fellowship with one another. Notice what he says in verse 13, “but exhort one another, every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, do you see that? When we exhort one another, when we encourage one another, it helps our hearts to be soft. That’s why it is so good for you to come to church. Ill tells you something curious. You know they have done a study and that regular church attendance actually prolongs physical life. It’s good for you to come to church. Even if that were the spiritual element, which is supreme, but even physically good for you to come. And spiritually, how good it is to be in the company of other believers. When I see you here, what does it do, it warms my heart. It softens my heart. It encourages my heart. And I know that you have that sensation as you gather with one another. And I hope you're part of one of our small groups. We call them ABF’s, Adult Bible Fellowship. Or if you’re a teenager you’re in our student ministry with the table groups. We have to Thrive classes where you can come on Wednesday nights and exhort one another as the Bible says. Be one of our D groups. But get into the company of others. That will keep your heart soft. Don’t get out there by yourself and be hardhearted. There’s one special night I’m going to mention, its November 2. I want all of you to please put this on your calendar, all right. On November 2, that morning were going to have Go Global Sunday. Dr. Dave Early is going to be here to speak to us and that night we going to gather back, we we don't normally come on Sunday nights, this is getting be an exception. We are going to come together and our purpose is to cry out to God, to exhort one another, God bring revival to my heart. I tell you something; my heart needs to be softer. I bet some of you if you were to be honest would say, me to preacher. I need my heart to be softened. Our church needs revival. Our nation needs revival. Our world is desperate for the peace and life that Jesus brings. We are going to get on our knees, November 2 and I want to be here. We are calling the night, The Power of One. The since of us being together. Exhorting one another. One Church, one heart, and one voice, an all campus prayer gathering on November 2 at 6 PM. alright now, the other thing that you can do to have a soft heart, and it's the chief thing, while it is important fellowship with one another, you to have faith in one. I mean you need to have your faith in the Lord Jesus, who gave his life on the cross. Who shed his blood? That we might live. Verse 14 of this chapter says. “ For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” he's talking about faith. He’s talking about belief. And he says we're to hold our confidence firm until the end. Does that mean that, by having firm confidence to the end, we save ourselves? No. We don’t save ourselves. We are saved by him. But our confidence to the end reveals the genuineness of our faith. And so were to hold that confidence firm. That faith that fate firm to the end. When I was a boy my preacher, used to say, “faith that fizzles before the finish, was faulty from the first.” you heard that? Faith that fizzles before the finish was faulty from the first. And so man look, don’t let your faith fizzle. Don’t get a cold heart man. Stay in fellowship with one another and put your faith in the Lord Jesus. Now conclude. In 2011, Steven Spielberg produced a wonderful movie. Some of you went and saw it. I'm sure it's called Warhorse. If you haven't seen it, I'd recommended even for family viewing. It one of those few Hollywood movies that you wouldn’t mind your children seeing. It’s a story of a young boy and his horse. The horses’ name is Joey. Joey is a thoroughbred. And by a set of circumstances, Joey's poor family comes into possession of this prize horse. The boy's name is Albert, is it not? Albert. Thank you. He loves Joey the horse. And so he just raises up that thoroughbred. They’re the best of friends. Well, World War I comes along and Great Britain is in need of horses to pull the heavy artillery and for the chores of battle and are buying up all the horses. One day Albert was out and the Army men came and Albert's father needed money for their farm. He sold the horse while the boy was away the boy came back he was “Where is my horse” and they were taking them away to the Army. Well, with the passage of time the boy himself went into the Army. And he and the horse were scattered across was thousands of miles, far apart from one another. He didn’t know where his horse was. But he never forgot him. As the battles of drug on and the war drug on, one day the boy was in a trench, and some poison gas was shelled his trench and it blinded the boy, temporarily. So he went to an infirmary to be nursed back to health. And he didn’t know it but the horse had been captured by the Germans and had been put into very harsh labor. The horse, his health to become broken, his spirit had become broken, and in one scene that is very memorable, the horse tries the bolt across no man's land. And the horse becomes entangled in the barbed wire. You remember that horrific scene? The freed the horse but the horse is so wounded that they can't nurse him back to health it seems. And so there are going to just shoot the horse, to put him out of his misery, remember this? And the boys in the hospital, and it happens that now the horses is very close at hand. The boy hears some people talking about this, this ghost horse, this is miracle horse that had survived no man's land, which no one survived, if you heard them talk about the horse, he thought, perhaps that's Joey. Perhaps that's my horse. And so he staggers up out of his sickbed. In he makes his way into the alley and they're about to shoot the horse. And the boy Joey, he had this whistle the always use with the horse, from the horse in the earliest days. [Whistles]. The old horse perked his head up. Looked about, showed some life and vigor that he never shown before. And the blind boy begins to inch his way through the crowd of soldiers. They are all just silent, because they are about to hear the gunshot, right. The horse neighs and the boy whistles again. The old horse begins to snort and gather strength up again and the soldier’s part like the Red Sea, and the boy in the horse are united. The horse was saved because he knew his master's voice. He heard it. He responded to it. His salvation. What am I saying to you? Listen to the bookends of this passage, how does the passage start? How does it end? Verbatim, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as your forefathers did the rebellion in the wilderness, instead be saved. Would you bow your heads please? I wonder who here today would say, preacher my hearts been hard. I've been getting further and further away from the warmth of God. I've gone astray and preacher, I need, I name my heart softened. The Bible says that God wants to take out of us a heart of stone and put in us, heart of flesh. Like the heart of a new baby. He wants us to be born again and saved. Forgiven. Maid new. Warm. Responsive. Would you just cry out to Him? Lord! Lord please; take out my hard stone heart. And God give me your heart, a new heart. New life. And for those of you who know Christ as Savior, and if you been away from him, would you just say Lord I repent. I come back to you. Lord from the deceitfulness of sin. I want to get away from those temptations and Lord I come to you, tower of strength and I run into you Lord. Revive me. Cleanse me. Help me to walk closely with you. All of these things Lord, we pray, in Jesus name, Amen.
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