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March 23, 2025 - Sunday AM Sermon   OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION - (Mark 3:1-6)  Neal Pollard  Introduction  A. In Every _________ We Have, God Speaks to Us About ________ __________     1. If it's our ______________________     2. If it's our _______________     3. If it's our _____________  B. In Our Text, We See:  I. ___________ IS GOING TO ____________  II. ______ CAN MAKE IT ___________     A. The Pharisees Were ___________ (2)     B. They Were _______________ (4)     C. They Were ________________ (5)     D. They Were _______________ (6)  III. HOW TO ____________ LIKE __________     A. He _____________ (4)     B. He Experienced _________ _______ (5)     C. He Was _______________ (5)     D. He Did the Right ________ For the Right __________ (5)  Conclusion  A. Four of the Worst Words in Conflict: ______________________  B. Four of the Best Words in Conflict: _______________________  C. Even _______________ Could Not Avoid ___________ (Neither Can We)   Duration 38:09

In this episode of the IC-DISC Show, I sit down with Brian Schwam to discuss how Interest Charge Domestic International Sales Corporations (IC-DISCs) can help businesses save on taxes. With over 35 years of experience, Brian shares how IC-DISC has evolved since 1972 and why it remains a valuable tool for U.S. exporters. He explains how businesses, particularly in the aerospace industry's Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) sector, can take advantage of this incentive to improve their financial position. We walk through a hypothetical example to illustrate how an exporting business could benefit from IC-DISC. Brian explains how companies involved in manufacturing, repairing, or trading parts can qualify and why many eligible businesses overlook this opportunity. We also discuss the annual MRO conference in Atlanta, where industry professionals gather to share insights and best practices. This event highlights the ongoing impact of IC-DISC within the aerospace sector and beyond. Despite the clear benefits, many businesses hesitate to implement IC-DISC due to a lack of awareness or expertise. Brian talks about how our firm partners with CPA firms to integrate IC-DISCs into existing tax processes, making it easier for businesses to take advantage of these savings. He also highlights the underutilization of IC-DISC and why more companies should consider it as part of their tax strategy. We wrap up by discussing the upcoming MRO America's Conference in Atlanta, where exporting aviation maintenance companies can connect and learn more about IC-DISC applications. Whether you're new to IC-DISC or looking to refine your approach, this conversation provides useful insights for businesses considering this tax-saving opportunity.     SHOW HIGHLIGHTS In this episode, I discuss the intricacies and benefits of Interest Charge Domestic International Sales Corporations (IC-DISC) with tax attorney Brian Schwam, who has over 35 years of experience in the field. We explore the historical context of IC-DISC, including its origins in 1972 and the significant changes it underwent following international scrutiny and U.S. tax reforms, such as the 2003 Bush tax cuts and the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Brian provides insights into how IC-DISC can serve as a valuable tax incentive for U.S. exporters, particularly those in the aerospace industry's Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) sector. Through a detailed hypothetical example, we illustrate how companies can leverage IC-DISC to maximize export profits, highlighting specific benefits for pass-through entities and closely held C corporations. We address common apprehensions businesses face regarding IC-DISC implementation and discuss how collaboration with CPA firms can facilitate a seamless integration into existing tax processes. Despite the clear benefits, IC-DISC remains underutilized, and we emphasize the potential missed opportunities for businesses not taking advantage of this tax-saving strategy. The episode also covers upcoming industry events, such as the annual MRO conference in Atlanta and the ICDISC Alliance Conference, which offer valuable networking and professional growth opportunities.   Contact Details LinkedIn - Brian Schwam (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-schwam-b6026a3/) LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance About WTP Advisors GUEST Brian SchwamAbout Brian TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dave: Hey, brian, welcome to the podcast. Brian: Thanks, dave, good to be here. Dave: So where on planet Earth are you calling in from today? It's hard to tell by looking at your background. Brian: Outer space. I am in the sunny South Florida. Dave: Okay. Brian: Breezy, south Florida, okay. Dave: Now are you a native of Florida. Brian: I am not a native of Florida. I spent 50 years of my life in the upper Midwest in Wisconsin. Okay, I had to move to Sunbelt. Dave: Okay, Now were you educated in the Midwest then too. Brian: I was. I'm a proud alum of the University of Wisconsin, both for an undergraduate degree in accounting and also my JD from the law school Okay. Dave: So you've and I take it and I've known you a while, so I think that's been several decades ago that your career was started. Is that about right? Brian: Several would be a good good approximation. Yes, I've been at this for 38 years. I know it doesn't look like it, right, okay? Dave: And so, and how long have you been involved in ICDISC? Then Most of that time 38 years, oh, 38 years in ICDISC. Then most of that time, 38 years, oh, 38 years in the disc, wow, yeah. So how does that do you know? Do you have any way to quantify that? Like how many you know ICDISC returns you've, you know, signed or reviewed or prepared, or Boy, it's a big number, dave. Brian: It's probably five figures. Okay, probably, so you know, somewhere north of 10,000 for sure. Okay, over that time period. Dave: Well, and that is why I'm glad that you are one of the founding members of the IC Disc Alliance with me that when I had a chance to partner up with you and some of your team when we created the IC Disc Alliance, I was really excited because in my book I pretty much knew all the players in the IC Disc space and once the famous Neil Block retired after 50 years to me you were without peer in the IC Disc space. Brian: So I really enjoyed collaborating with you through the years here in the ICDISC space, so I really enjoyed collaborating with you through the years. Dave: Thank, you for that, Dave. I hope to be able to follow Neil into that 50-year stratosphere. Yeah, that's big shoes to follow. So let's just talk a bit about the ICDISC. What the heck is it? Why does everyone use that silly acronym? Brian: Because what it really stands for is a mouthful. Dave: Okay. Brian: Discharged Domestic International Sales Corporation and that is what the ICDISC stands for, short right ICDISC. And I don't know if we'll get into. I'll get into what the IC stands for and everything. But basically this is an export incentive that's been in the Internal Revenue Code since 1972. Okay, in various forms. Initially it was an export incentive that just about any company could use, that was exporting goods that were manufactured, produced, grown or extracted in the US. It came under some fire from our trading partners and in 1984, it was transformed into the ICDISC. It started out just as the DISC in 1972 for the Boston International Sales Corporation and it, like I said, came under scrutiny. Our trading partners said hey, you're a, you can't have an exemption from income because you're not. You know you tax things differently in your country. This flies in the face of the other incentives you give your taxpayers. So they changed it into the ICDIS, which made it into, instead of a permanent tax savings, at least on its face, into a temporary savings where, to the extent a taxpayer saved tax and deferred income from tax, they were required to pay an interest charge to the IRS on that deferred tax. Hence the IC. Dave: Okay, okay. Brian: That rate changes every year. It's based on the one-year average TBLO rate as of September 30th annually. And at the same time they instituted something called the Foreign Sales Corporation, which was widely used by thousands of companies, and that came under attack and eventually became the extraterritorial income exclusion which was immediately attacked and eventually, a couple of years later, it just went away. In the meantime, the disk floundered for quite a number of years. In fact, in the year 2000 there were only 787 disks in existence. Dave: Wow, it seems like a shockingly small number. Brian: Well, the tax laws weren't real conducive to benefiting from the disk at that time. Then, in 2003, the Bush tax cuts brought in the concept of qualified dividend income and it took the disk off of life support and really put it on robust territory for pass-through entities, because they could now, to the extent that they could qualify and we'll get into that, to the extent they could qualify and to the extent that they could benefit it provided a 20% rate benefit between ordinary income and qualified dividend income, so it was a significant savings. Now that's been whittled away over time, where it's been reduced here and there. Various tax law changes and probably the largest or the next biggest reduction came in in 2017 with the Trump tax bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduced the rate on qualified income on non-qualified income. So it reduced the rate on S-corp income partnership income in an individual's tax return to a 29.6% level, and so now the spread between the qualified dividend rate and the ordinary rate just isn't as great as it used to be. It's approaching 6%. So where it used to be 20, then it went to 15, and now it's 6. But it's still a permanent savings for these past three entities and it's not something that they should ignore, because it can save significant taxes, depending upon the level of export activity. Dave: Okay, and now to be clear, depending on a company-specific fact pattern, that spread could be greater. Right For a pass-through. It could be as high as what like? Brian: 13% or so For a pass-through it could be as high as what like, 13% or so For a pass-through business. Dave: It could be as high as 13.2%, okay, but in general we see that it and it could even be somewhere between that, depending on. Brian: Anywhere in between 5.8 and 13.2. Dave: And our experience has been that most companies tend to gravitate more toward the lower end of the savings than the higher end. Brian: Yes. Dave: Yes, okay. Now what about for a C-Corp? Brian: C-Corp is a different animal. Okay, a C-Corp can't use an disc to pay deductible dividends to its owners if it's a closely held C corp. This is not something that a public company can benefit from. But if a closely held business C corp is paying dividends to its shareholders and would like to be able to deduct those payments, rather than not being able to deduct those payments, using an ICDIS can transform the dividend into a deductible dividend. Now, it doesn't save the shareholders any tax, because they're paying tax on the dividend regardless of where it comes from, but it would eliminate the corporate level tax on the C corporation, so that benefit could be as high as 21%. Dave: Okay. Brian: Okay, another manner in which certain C corporations use the disc is to fund bonuses for shareholders and key employees, and then that saves the shareholders 17% tax the difference between a tax on a wage and a tax on a dividend, qualified dividend. So that's a 17% savings for the shareholder. In that case the C-Corp doesn't save any tax. They're getting a deduction either way wages or commission to the disk. And now that I've mentioned the word commission, that's probably a good segue into how does a disk earn income? Yeah, and what is its income? So most discs are what we call commission discs. They earn a commission when a operating business that's related to that disc makes an export sale of qualified export property. So let's dig down into that first. What's qualified export property? Well, that's property that has been manufactured, produced, grown or extracted in the US. So if I'm manufacturing in Mexico or Canada or China and I'm simply selling what I've made in those other countries, you know the disc is not something that's going to benefit that type of a business. Dave: Okay. Brian: It is there to spur US manufacturing, create US jobs, right in line with the America First proposition that's headlining Washington in 2025. Dave: Okay. Brian: So it should be on safe ground, everything that's going on there. So if a company has property that's been manufactured, produced, grown or extracted in the US and they sell it for export outside the United States and not to a US possession, then that sale can potentially generate an ICDIS commission that would be paid to the ICDIS. And keep in mind this ICDISC is not an entity that the outside world sees or understands or knows about. It's simply an entity that does business, if you will, internally with the operating company, so customers don't know about it. It's really transparent to the world. It's just there to help US exporters save tax. Dave: Okay, it's just there to help US exporters save tax. Okay, and the logistics of it. Like say a company has just for simple math, let's say they have $10 million of export, of qualified export revenue, and the ICDIS commission that's calculated to say 10% of that. Brian: Okay. Dave: So 10% of that would be a million dollars, and so walk me through kind of the that's correct and it accrues the deduction, assuming it's not a cash basis taxpayer. Brian: It accrues that deduction at the end of the year, the DISC accrues the income at the end of the year and then by statute the DISC does not pay income tax. So now we've gotten a deduction on one side, we have non-taxable income on the other side and then when the disc pays a dividend to its owners, that becomes a qualified dividend and is taxed at a lower rate. Dave: Okay, so then, effectively, that million dollars gets reclassified from being taxed at ordinary dividend rates to qualified dividend rates. Brian: From ordinary income rates to qualified dividend rates. Dave: yes, Yep, thank you for that. And where that shows up for a pass-through is going to be on the individual shareholders, k-1, right. That box up near the top that shows ordinary taxable income would basically go down. Let's say there was one shareholder, that number goes down by a million dollars. And then there's a box further down on the K-1 for qualified dividend income and that's where the number's being shifted to right. Brian: Right. Assuming the disc is owned by the operating company, which most of the time it is in the pass-through business context, then the ordinary income gets reduced on the K-1 and the dividend income will increase on the K-1, not necessarily in the same year, but that will be the result over time. Dave: And then that tax savings then will show up on the individual shareholders. 1040, right, because their ordinary income line is a million dollars less. The qualified dividend income line is a million dollars more, and that's where that arbitrage. Brian: They pay less tax if they're getting a distribution from the company to cover their taxes, which is often the case, the company doesn't have to distribute as much cash, therefore increasing the working capital of the business. Dave: Okay, well, thank you. Thank you for that. Now, what I want to drill down into a little more today is looking at the aerospace industry, specifically what's called the MRO space in aerospace. Do you know what MRO stands for? Brian: I believe, I do, I believe maintenance, repair and overhaul. Dave: That's my understanding as well. Brian: That's a significant area in the aviation space. Dave: yes, Okay, and I believe that there's a big conference in Atlanta in April with like something like 17,000 expected attendees. Brian: Yeah, just a small gathering. Dave: A small gathering. Brian: For sure. Yes, that's my understanding as well. In fact, I'll be there. Dave: Yeah, I believe we'll both be there, yeah we'll both be there A few of our colleagues. Brian: Yeah, so it's a one a year significant gathering of companies that operate in this MRO space, supporting airlines and other aviation companies, and basically MRO is important because it keeps planes able to fly. Yeah, and we actually have a booth there. Dave: Yeah, and we actually have a booth there. 1818 BC and it makes it sound like it's a date from a long time ago. But yeah, we'll be there and this will be our first year in attendance or exhibiting. And this has come from, in recent years, I'd say, a big ramp up in the number of MRO companies who we are helping with their IC disk. Is that right? Brian: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, one of the sponsors of the conference was a company I was doing some work with and I asked them if he thought it would be a good idea for us to attend, and it was a resounding absolutely that he thought that we could meet a lot of companies that could benefit from this ICDISC similar to his company. Dave: Okay. What are the elements in the MRO space or the characteristics of the companies that make them a good fit for the ICDISC, because my understanding is it's probably only one out of a hundred of like all the registered corporations in the US are really a fit for the disc. Brian: Yeah, so it takes a specific fact pattern to really benefit. So the companies in the service side of the business so let's say they're carpet cleaners or something to that nature they're not going to be able to benefit from the disk. But let's say it's a repair center and airlines will ship in parts to the repair center because they've worn out and they need it. They need a replacement part so that they can fly this plane. So what happens is maybe the repair center takes their part and repairs it, but they previously repaired another part that's identical and then to the customer and that plane gets back in the air right away. So in that scenario, even though it's a different part that's going back out versus what was coming in, that type of activity qualifies as long as what they're doing qualifies as manufacturing and that repair is occurring in the US. Dave: Okay. Brian: Then that type of a company could definitely benefit Other companies. I don't want to use this term, but it's kind of like horse trading. Sometimes companies will buy a surplus of parts, knowing that eventually they're going to be used by somebody and they hang on to these parts, or they find them from somebody who says I don't want these parts anymore, I haven't been able to sell them. So they take a flyer, they take a risk and they buy these parts and they hang on to them and maybe they sell them at a significant profit and maybe they don't. But there's that space as well that can benefit from the disc, and there's some misconception out there that some of the companies that are similar to what I just described can't benefit from a disc, and so, for example, if parts are obtained outside the US, they stay outside the US. They stay outside the US and they're repaired, recertified and resold. Those aren't going to qualify for the ICBITS. But sometimes parts are acquired outside the US and they're brought into the US, they're repaired, put it back into inventory in the US and then sold for export, and that activity does qualify for the ICs, and so it's very important to know where this refurbishment or remanufacturing is taking place. Dave: Okay and yeah, and there's a US content piece to it, right, like if they buy a part from China and all they do is they just put a little lubricant on it and throw it in a box. Brian: that may not qualify and then they export it. The test is what's the customer's value when that part comes into the US. So if it's a burned out hot engine part, for example, yeah there's no value or very little value and it comes into the US, its customers value is close to zero. It gets repaired, it's going to easily meet the content test and it's easily going to be considered manufactured in the US. It's rare, I think, that we'll find that somebody will buy a new part from outside the US just to inventory it here for export. Dave: Okay, yeah, because there's that it's a 50% US content test, right which? Is also, I think confusing on the surface if you don't really dive down into the rules, right, I mean, the layperson may find it. Brian: How do you know what's 50% US content? Well, the cost of good, I mean. Think of it the other way. The foreign content can't be more than 50%. And the foreign content is the cost, the customs value when it was imported. So if I'm selling something for $100, I imported it for as much as $49.99. That's going to qualify as long as I did something, you know, remanufactured it once it got to the US and once it got to the plus, more often than not, I think the value of those things coming in because they're used and worn and damaged parts, they're going to have a low customs valuation where there'll be no problem meeting that content. Dave: Okay, I can see that. Well, I find and my listeners tell me they really like kind of case studies, little mini of case studies, little mini, you know, client case studies On an anonymous basis. Do you have an example or two of some of the types of companies we've worked with, just to give people a flavor of them and, again, you know, being anonymous to you know? What company it is, but just a sense of like the sense of the size of the company, what the benefit might have been. Brian: The size is sort of across the board, right. So some of them are someone on the smaller side. They might have export sales between $5 and $10 million, and then some of them might have export sales of $100 million. It all depends on the size of their business and the benefits are kind of all over the map. Because we don't just do a simple calculation of the benefits. And the reason we don't is because in this industry what we find is there's a lot of margin variability in the companies that are exporting, and then a transaction-by-transaction analysis of the disk commission is what makes the most sense. That allows us to benefit from the margin variability, allows them to benefit from a higher disk commission and obviously then they're going to save more tax. And in some cases the commission grows by 10x by using the T by T. Sometimes it's two or three x, sometimes it's. You know, I've seen you know where it would have been zero because there was an overall loss in the company, but we were able to get a significant discommission with a T by T approach. So it's hard to pinpoint an exact number, but generally speaking it's 15 to 20, you know the commission ends up being 15 to 20% of sales. And if you look at the statutes, one of the statutes says oh, the commission can be 4% of sales, and another implies that it could be anywhere from 4% to 10%, but we generally see in this industry at least 15% on average. It's significantly higher. Dave: Yeah, and I'd like to drill down into that because I tell, and based on my understanding, we may manage more IC disks than any other organization of the country. I mean we I think our number is somewhere north of 500 companies now that we're helping out, and when I'm having these conversations, you know. So I'm, as you know, I'm more focused on the sales side. You know, and you and your team are more focused kind of on the technical aspect of producing these returns, and what I tell people is that our real value isn't being able to produce an IC disk return. Our value is the incremental benefit that the transaction by transaction calculation yields. That the transaction by transaction calculation yields. Because you know just about any any cpa firm you know most of them their software includes the ic disk return. You know, if they just go do a four percent calculation, it's a, you know, reasonably straightforward calculation. But we find that you know they're capturing only a fraction of the total benefit. Brian: That's true, and while I've seen a good number of interesting looking disc returns, I tend to agree that if you follow the directions, anybody can probably prepare a disc return. We do that as well. That's not where we add the most value. Where we add the most value, adding the value comes in unlocking the highest commission possible so that the tax savings are as great as possible. Yeah, and a lot of businesses that are high margin I'm sorry, low margin high volume businesses. When you look at the disc, on its face it looks like oh, there's not much benefit here, we're only making 2% or 3% of sales on our bottom line. So our disc commission would be 2% or 3% of sales. But, like I said, with the transactional approach, if the commission approach is 15%, well now we've taken the company into a tax loss which could potentially save additional taxes for the owners over and above that 5.8%, because now we're offsetting that loss against other income wages, interest, et cetera and being taxed just on the qualified dividend income of the disc. And so you can't just look at the overall margin or overall profitability of the company and project what that, what it's going to look like, Because they vary all over the place. Dave: Based on this transactional approach, yeah, and I would like to talk a bit about. Oftentimes, when I'm talking to a company that's considering a disk, oftentimes they've never even heard of it. Their CPA firm may not have even mentioned the idea. And they'll say, and they'll ask me hey, does this mean my CPA, you know, screwed up by not telling me about it. In my response, you know I try to be generous and I explain it that, look, you know, in our experience only about one out of 100 companies are a candidate. And so let's just say you have a large local CPA firm and they have 100, you know midsize corporate clients. Statistically we find that only one of them, you know, would be a fit for the disk. And your experience may be a little different, you know, feel free to correct me. And so when you think about it from the CPA's perspective, if there's a special part of the tax code and they only have one client that benefits, it's a difficult economic dynamic for the CPA firm to invest in a whole team and expertise to serve one client, right? Isn't that like part of the challenge that the and I know you've worked at a number of large CPA firms Is my understanding correct? That's part of the problem is just their clientele. There aren't enough of them. That makes it worth doing yeah. Brian: Yeah, I think that's a fair characterization. I might phrase it a little bit differently. I mean, there are thousands of CPA firms and they're all excellent generalists. This is not an area where you can be a generalist. Cpa firms often outsource R&D, tax credit work, cost segregation work. This, to me, falls right in that same category. You don't want to dabble in this, and if you're not sure what you're doing, you can get you and your client in trouble. Have good intentions, but if you don't execute it properly, it can be more of a headache than it's worth. And so, like most people, I think people gravitate towards what they know and understand, and things that they don't know and understand can look and sound scary. Dave: Yeah. Brian: So it's like, oh my God, an IC disc. I've never heard of that. I'm not sure I can bring that to my client because I don't really know what I'm doing. Well, I wish I knew somebody I could call to him. He's not a competitor right who could help me through this and help my client through this, and so that's really one of the reasons why we exist, because, as you stated, you don't want it to be a competitor that you call, and so, because we are so hyper focused on what we do and we don't do the things that I'll call the cpa's generalists, that the generalists do, we're an excellent partner because we're not looking to take away anybody's tax return or any of the other type of work that the CPA might be doing for that client. We just want to play in our space. Dave: Yeah, sometimes I'm sorry. Sometimes you know clients or potential clients will say, yeah, but you know our CPA firm does. You know all of our work. It's a one-stop shop thing and I'm afraid having you do the disc return and then doing the corporate return yeah, but our CPA firm does all of our work, it's a one-stop shop thing and I'm afraid having you do the disc return and then doing the corporate return it's just going to be a nightmare for you all to coordinate your efforts. It just sounds like too much trouble. What would your response be to that? Brian: My response is I work with over 500 companies. Generally we do the disk work for those companies. The regular mainstream CPA does everything else. We coordinate our work with that CPA and it's never a problem. We say, look, we're going to need X number of days to turn this around, so please have a draft of the operating company return by a particular date, and then they work towards that date. They give us the return, we get data from the company and we turn the number around so they can finish their tax return and then we go ahead and finish the disc return and I would say 99.9% of the time it works like we're all part of the same thing. Dave: Yeah, because really the CPA they prepare that final draft corporate return. They then pull two numbers from the disk return that goes into the corporate return and then they're done, basically right. Brian: And they're done and they can go ahead and finish up their disk return, I mean their operating company return and their state returns and everything. And then we just have to get the disc return done. And sometimes you know they file their tax return in april and you know the disc returns aren't due till september. So one might say, oh, you could just sit on them until september. But you know, we try to get them done at the same time. Sure sure Everybody can rest easy. But I mean we think of ourselves as a bolt-on resource to that CPA firm while we're working with that and we work with probably 50 to 75 CPA firms around the country in that role- yeah. It works well. I mean, you can talk to any one of them about what it's like to work with us, and I'm sure you'd get a glowing recommendation for how we work with them and for their clients. Dave: Yeah, no, I'm with you. So, as we're nearing the end here, the other thing that people find interesting you'd mentioned in 2003, there were 700 IC disks under 1,000. Yeah, 787. And then, according, if my recollection is correct, the most recent IRS stats that updated that were published, I think, in 2010. And I believe in 2010, there were like 2000 disks. Brian: Yeah, something like 1926. Okay, To be exact, and that number I'm sure has grown dramatically since then. I would guess there's somewhere between eight and 10,000 disks out there now. Okay, yeah. Dave: Yeah, now what's interesting? This is what people find interesting. I believe there's about 50 million business organization, you know business entities in the country, and so let's just assume that's the number, 50 million. Brian: I mean it's tens of millions. Dave: I'm certain of that. For some reason, I think it's 50 million. Does that sound reasonable? Brian: It does so let's think it's 50 million, does that? Dave: sound reasonable. It does. So let's say it's 50 million and on your average, you know we find around one out of a hundred. You know, maybe one out of 200 companies are fit for the disc. So if we run through the math, you know one percent of 50 million, I believe, is 500, 000. You know approximate companies that we think would benefit from a disc. Yet most recent stats, there's only 2000, you know, and maybe it's 4,000, 6,000, you know. Even, let's say it's 10,000 that exists now. So if you divide 10,000 by 500,000, what is that? Like 2%, I think, of the projected eligible company actually have a disc yeah, and people can't. They always are surprised by that and I usually tell them it might. And tell me if your numbers are consistent. I say about 100. One out of 100 benefit or could benefit. The ones who could benefit 90 percent of them have never heard of the disc, maybe 95%, and the 5% of the 1% who have heard of it, even once they hear about it, they usually haven't implemented it. Brian: Right. Then there's a percent that have implemented it. They're not getting out of it what they can. Dave: Right right. Brian: So it's so. There's a lot of missed opportunities by taxpayers and everyone's always trying to save some taxes. It helps fun, you know. It might help hire another employee might help, you know, if the savings are moderate and it's 50, 6070, 1000 of tax savings that still could pay for an employee to come work at the company. Why do? Dave: you think that utilization is so low? I mean because it'd be shocking if only 2% of the companies who did research and development took advantage of the RMD tax credit. Brian: I think it's just not well known. I mean it's very esoteric, it's been in the tax code for ages and ages and it just doesn't you. You know, there were so many years where it just wasn't relevant when you think that it's not something people think about. And then if you know, if you're a small exporter and you're exporting a half a million dollars a year a million dollars a year unfortunately it probably doesn't benefit you to have a disc and so maybe someone will look at it whether that size and they're like, oh yeah, it doesn't benefit you to have a disk and so maybe someone will look at it whether that size and they're like, oh yeah, it doesn't work. And then they grow and they forget that it might work once they've grown. So once a company hits about three million of export sales really should look at it again, because that's where it starts to have economic relevance that's where it starts to have economic relevance. Dave: Do you think some of it could be that? I mean, in general, public companies don't use disks, right? Brian: They just simply don't. Dave: Okay, and so I've found that oftentimes small to mid-sized privately held companies receive a lot of their sophisticated business knowledge from their Fortune 500 suppliers or clients. You know they'll hear from them about something and you know, like the payroll protection program during COVID, you know I suspect some of those might have heard about that from you know some of their large customers. Maybe that's not a good example, but you know that could be another reason. Right, there's just a dearth of knowledge that the CPAs aren't focused on it because the economics don't make sense. The large sophisticated public suppliers and clients don't use it, so they don't hear about it from them. Right, it's not really in the news, it's just. It just kind of flies below the radar screen, doesn't it? Brian: It definitely does, and that's certainly a reason why it's not as utilized as it probably could be. Dave: Yeah, and it seems like you know most of our, you know virtually all of our clients come as a referral from either an existing client or an advisor who we've worked with other clients you know, like a CPA or attorney or banker. So yeah, it's just a yeah, even though you know the podcast is called the Icy Disc Show. I don't get the sense that I'm ever going to. You know, reach Joe Rogan's audience size. It just seems to kind of fly below the radar screen. Brian: Yeah, and the potential audience is probably a little smaller than Joe's. Dave: Probably Well. So the last thing, the other thing people tell me they're surprised about the first year of the disk return. When they set up a disk is to get everything done. And we tell them the disk return's ready and they say, super good, and e-file it for me, like the CPA does the corporate and personal returns. And what is our response when they tell us to go e-file it for them? Brian: The response is unfortunately, the IRS doesn't provide for e-filing of disk returns and we'll need to send you a paper return. You're going to need to sign it and file it with the IRS and the unfortunate thing there is gosh, I don't know what percent of the time, but it's a growing percentage of the time the IRS loses the return Right and then sends a notice saying, hey, we never filed or whatever. And some of these disk returns are quite large. The fact that they because when you do the transaction by transaction analysis, there's a lot of paper that gets produced and filed and it's shocking to me that the IRS would lose those what they do. Dave: So it's interesting what they do. So it's interesting. I like to say that not only does the ICDISC fly under the radar screen of most everything, it even, in some ways, it's almost like it flies under the radar screen of the IRS itself. Brian: Yeah, and they put some things in place with regard to the ICDISC in 1984 and have never changed it. For example, if you're in the situation where you have to pay interest on deferred tax, which often occurs. First of all, a lot of times taxpayers don't realize it and they don't do it. Secondly, if they do it. It's so antiquated that the instructions to the form where you calculate the interest it says please staple a check to this form and mail it in. I mean, who does that in 2020, right? Nobody. People, businesses prefer to do things electronically to avoid checks being stolen, fraudulent activity, so on and so forth. But here the IRS is saying staple a check to this form and mail it to Kansas City, missouri. Dave: Yeah, and I guess it kind of makes sense that you know if there's only a few thousand of these disks in existence. In the same way, you can't expect the CPA firms to make it a heavy focus, I suppose even the IRS. You know there's a hundred other tax incentives or a thousand other tax incentives that are more highly utilized that you know they maybe are spending their time on. Brian: Yeah, as I like to say, the people at the IRS that understood the disc were working there in the 70s and 80s, OK, and they're long retired. Yeah, and they're long retired. There's really not a lot of bodies at the IRS that understand the DISC and certainly when you're doing a transaction by transaction study and calculating the commission on each individual transaction, there's nobody there that understands that. Dave: Nobody Well, and it's kind of the same thing outside the IRS, right? Nobody Well, and it's kind of the same thing outside the IRS, right? I mean I have this joke that nobody makes partner at a big four firm being the IC disk expert. Oh, that's true, so it even especially nowadays. Yeah, and so it seems like like the average age of IC disks experts is about the same as the average age of the average Fortran computer language programmer. It just seems like you know new people are not coming into the disk and there's just a dearth of knowledge all around. Brian: Right, right. And I myself learned COBOL, which is a choice between Fortran and COBOL, when I was in business school, both equally non-usable. Dave: Is it part of that? Because since the disk came on in 1972, it seems like since 1973, people have been talking about the IC disk going away. So is that maybe part of it? People think, well, why should I learn something if it's going away? Brian: Maybe part of it. People think, well, why should I learn something if it's going away? There's always been a fear that it's either going to go away or that there's a technical correction coming that the disk dividend is not a qualified dividend. But the bottom line is politically, I just don't see that happening. Dave: It stands for too many things that are positive for the US Job creation export sales for too many things that are positive for the US Job creation, export sales, us companies being more competitive in the global market. Brian: So it doesn't really lend itself to be repealed. What can be repealed are some of the tax rates. Some of the tax rates can change and that can change the benefits of the disc. The concept of the disc itself and what it stands for really is very consistent with our country. Dave: Yeah, wow, I can't believe how the time has flown by, brian. Is there anything else that you want to mention about the IC disc or the MRO industry? Brian: No, I can't think of anything specifically other than I'm looking forward to being there and meeting many of the attendees and other exhibitors that are there and spending some time with you and our colleagues in Atlanta. Dave: Yeah, it will be fun. So it's the ICDISC Alliance. If you want to look us up on the website for the conference or stop by 1818BC. We also have a LinkedIn page for the ICDISC Alliance, and so I'd love to meet with any of you who are going to be at the conference. Awesome, well, thank you very much for your time, Brian. This has been really useful. Brian: You're welcome. You're very welcome. Special Guest: Brian Schwam.

3HL - 11-18-24 - Hour 3 - What Has to go Right For the Titans to Win OutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

3HL - 11-18-24 - Hour 3 - What Has to go Right For the Titans to Win OutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we talk with Bri Seeley, The Entrepreneur Coach, who pulls back the curtain on her own life and business and shares with us the steps she took to realign with herself and do work that lights her up to not only bring huge success for herself, but massive success for each of her clients.  We also dive into the importance of creating space, stillness, silence, and thinking time as a leader, as well as getting yourself into rooms where you can expand and grow.   Resources: Join Bri and me in September at the Amplify Your Life Growth Summit! Use this code at checkout to save $200: BRI   Join Bri and me in November at the Success Becomes Me Event!   Connect with Bri HERE.   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life Growth Summit: Text us “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM Carmen @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Amplified Life Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

Get out your pen and paper and get ready for some serious note-taking on this one podcast family!  In this episode, we talk with the founder of the Butterfly Szn, Aisha Marshall who drops the real, real on transformation, growth, and personal awareness.  We talk about the self-imposed limitation of “bargaining” that we could all SO relate to, how to recognize if you're self-abandoning, and the importance of knowing most of the time, that the true problem in our lives and businesses is not external, it's internal. If you want way more Aisha, like we do, be sure to join us at the Amplify Your Life Growth Summit and grab one of the last few VIP tickets to get in the room with Aisha!   Resources: Join Aisha and me in September at the Amplify Your Life Growth Summit! Use this code at checkout to save $200: butterflyszn   Grab your Butterfly Szn Journal HERE and use this code to save: CARMEN Figure out your current season with THIS QUIZ!   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text us “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM Carmen @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Amplified Life Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

This episode is snippets that are comprised into a high-level recap, no fluff all content, of our recent Life + Leadership Development 6-Week Summer School Program that reviewed the following lessons:  Building Character, Optimizing Your Energy, Working in A Focused Flow State, Becoming a Transformational Leader, Communicating Authentically, and Building A Thriving Relationship Ecosystem.   Resources: Bring your team to the Amplify Your Life Growth Summit and SAVE $300 per ticket!   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life Growth Summit: Text us “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM Carmen @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Amplified Life Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

In this episode we are continuing our series asking, “What are you doing differently this year,” and let me tell you that Louis Taylor, the founder of TWM Wealth Management drops a gold mine in this episode, literally!  Not only do we dive into all things about building wealth that's aligned with your values, but we also talk about the importance of mentorship and how to understand your emotions yet lean on using data to make decisions. Louis will be featured at the Amplify Your Life Growth Summit in Bend, Oregon this September where we'll dive in more with him in a workshop intensive and panel interview.  Be sure to grab your spot and join us!   Resources: Email Louis to connect with him at: louis@twmwealthmanagement.com   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text us “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM Carmen @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Amplified Life Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

Here's the truth about success: If you can't measure something, you can't understand it.  If you can't understand it, you can't be decisive.  If you can't be decisive you can't grow. Listen to this episode as we share how we do our mid-year review at the Amplified Life Company and learn the steps to do your own.   Resources: Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. Check out Flodesk Email/CRM system I use HERE.     Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text us “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM Carmen @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Amplified Life Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

Have you ever considered the legacy you are leaving in the world?  How about your deeper purpose?  In this episode, I sit down with the Founders of O.G. LLC and dive into all of this and more.  They share with us the secrets they use to empower their clients to embrace the vibe of visionaries and the energy of excellence.  Plus, they give a glimpse of their upcoming workshop at the Amplify Your Life World Conference happening in September in Bend, Oregon!   Resources: Connect with OG LLC on IG HERE and FB HERE. Learn more about OG LLC on their website HERE.   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Amplified Life Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

Tune in to this week's episode which is a behind-the-scenes workshop we held in Oregon earlier this year.  In this workshop, Carmen will guide you through how to cultivate the 4 crucial self-disciplines that will elevate your connections, propel your success, and be the catalyst to accessing true freedom in your life! Stop. Simplify. Focus. Amplify.   Resources: Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

In this episode, I speak with Tamra Andress who is a best-selling author, speaker, top-rated podcast host, and founder of multiple companies, including F.I.T Press, a publishing house for faith-based writers and entrepreneurs.  We talk about everything from being in an incubation season to building a multiple 6-figure business on the foundation of a strong community ecosystem and walking in faith.  There are so many mic drop moments in this episode, that you'll want to take notes and rewind more than once.    Be sure to grab Tamra's book, Always Becoming to find out more about Tamra's journey too!   Resources: Grab Tamra's book, Always Becoming HERE. Connect with Tamra HERE. Join FounderCon HERE.   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

In this episode, I speak with Justin Roethlingshoefer who is a best selling author, speaker, and high-performance coach for top athletes, and 7-figure earners.  We talk about everything from the importance of investing in yourself and getting in expansive rooms to HRV and walking in faith.  There are so many golden nuggets in this episode, that you'll want to take notes and listen more than once.  Be sure to grab Justin's newest book, The Power of Ownership too!   Resources: Grab Justin's book, The Power of Ownership HERE. Connect with Justin HERE.   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website  

Let's take a minute today and celebrate your current level of success; be proud of what you have accomplished.  It's good, right?  But, wait, are you feeling like there is more?  Well, my friends, good is the enemy of great and it's your current level of success that is keeping you from your next level of success!   In this episode I break down the Change Model, Growth Model and our Amplify Your Life Model and how you can use it to create massive results in less than one year!   Resources: Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Download the leaders guide HERE! Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

I feel so blessed to have been in the rooms with and built relationships with highly successful individuals over my decade of entrepreneurship.  In this episode I dive into many topics you may not have considered previously, like psychological detachment from work, training your nervous system, developing unreasonable focus, and more.  You only need 10 minutes to listen to this quickie episode, but it's jam-packed – tune in today!   Resources: Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Download the leaders guide HERE. Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

In this episode, you are getting a behind-the-scenes masterclass with Mindset Expert and NPL Coach, Mindi Huebner.  She leads us through using her signature 7 step method to rewire your thoughts and beliefs, tap into your subconscious, unlock your 24K success, and using mental rehearsal as your secret weapon.   Resources: Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Connect with Mindi HERE! Download Mindi's Mental Rehearsal HERE! Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE!     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website

It's pretty difficult to “enjoy the journey” when you are so tightly attached to particular outcomes in your life and business.  Plus, if we don't reach specific outcomes, we often get discouraged and make it mean something about our worthiness.  In this episode, I share with you my two-step process to start to enjoy the journey in your life and live a life full of peace, joy, happiness, and success! Be sure to download this week's leader guide in the show notes!    Resources: Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE!   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.   Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website Instagram

Over the past decade, I have been blessed with the opportunity to collaborate with and be in rooms and experiences with some of the most talented and successful people.  Throughout this time, I have watched listened, asked questions, and paid attention to the specific traits they all seemingly have in common.  Even more recently we've been speaking with key thought leaders and change-makers who will be sharing their expertise with us all at the Amplify Your Life World Conference, and they too have these traits!    Listen to this episode if you want to get the inside scoop!    Be sure to download this week's leader guide in the show notes and grab your spot at The Amplify Your Life World Conference!     Resources: Download the leaders guide HERE. Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE!     Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website Instagram

Wow, there were so many tangible tips, resources, and teachings within this one episode I took notes as the host!  Today we are joined by marketing and copywriting experts, Sophia Parra and Hayley Barnes to bring you the Ultimate Guide to Success.  This episode is for you if:   You feel overwhelmed by social media, email, ads – basically marketing as a whole! You've “done” it all but still get lackluster results. You put so much time in, but it seems like no one is connecting with your messages.     Resources: Connect with Sophia HERE. Listen to Sophia on the Cubicle to CEO Podcast on Q&A Parties HERE. Connect with Hayley HERE. Watch Hayley's Visibility Summit HERE.    Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE!     Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE.     Connect: Facebook Community Carmen's Instagram Permission Slip Community Instagram Website Instagram

  After our last episode on “throwing in the towel,” we heard from so many of you, that we decided to do a “part 2” around discouragement.  In this episode, we break down:   Defining what discouragement truly means. Uncover what's underneath your discouragement. Sharing a fresh perspective on faith, hope, and staying in the energy of high expectancy anticipation.   Listen to this episode anytime you feel down, discouraged, or at a loss of hope.    I hope that by listening to this episode and following these steps you will let go of all fear, disbelief, hesitation, worry, and doubt so that you can step fully into trust and faith in your biggest dreams and goals!   Be sure to download this week's leader guide below.   Resources: Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. https://carmenohling.myflodesk.com/167   Click HERE to download a copy of the emotional guidance scale. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s3mmvgb63e6vll3ycrijm/How_to_use_the_Abraham-Hicks_emotional_guidance_scale_.pdf?rlkey=dsb60hqs3po05l3ks4wgjmdcm&dl=0   Click HERE to check out the notebook I carry and use to journal and record inspiration. https://a.co/d/eBigV0W   Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE. https://carmenohling.com/amplify-your-life-world-conference/     Connect: Facebook Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live   Carmen's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/   Permission Slip Community Instagram https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/   Website https://carmenohling.com/   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garnerandgather/    

  Today I felt discouraged. Today I was ready to give up. Today I wanted to throw in the towel and walk away from it all.   But I didn't.  I did this instead!   Listen to this episode anytime you feel like you're ready to throw in the towel.    I hope that by listening to this episode and following these steps you will let go of all fear, disbelief, hesitation, worry, and doubt so that you can step fully into trust and faith in your biggest dreams and goals!   Be sure to download this week's leader guide below.   Resources: Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. https://carmenohling.myflodesk.com/166   Click HERE to download a copy of the emotional guidance scale. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s3mmvgb63e6vll3ycrijm/How_to_use_the_Abraham-Hicks_emotional_guidance_scale_.pdf?rlkey=dsb60hqs3po05l3ks4wgjmdcm&dl=0   Click HERE to check out the notebook I carry and use to journal and record inspiration. https://a.co/d/eBigV0W   Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088     Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE. https://carmenohling.com/amplify-your-life-world-conference/     Connect: Facebook Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live   Carmen's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/   Permission Slip Community Instagram https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/   Website https://carmenohling.com/   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garnerandgather/

My POV and two truths about distraction:   #1- Distraction is a choice. #2- Once you're wired for distraction, you crave it!   Tune into this episode where I share the three areas in your life where distraction can creep in the most and how you can start turning it around this week.   Be sure to download this week's leader guide below.     Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE. https://carmenohling.com/amplify-your-life-world-conference/   Resources: Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. https://carmenohling.myflodesk.com/leaderguide165   Text me “FOCUS” to 503-386-2981 to join the Masterclass on Mastering your Focus!   Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088     Connect: Facebook Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live   Carmen's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/   Permission Slip Community Instagram https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/   Website https://carmenohling.com/   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garnerandgather/

These two amazing women, Bree Carroll and Kimberly Garner are sharing everything they know about taking your in-person events from simply an event to creating epic experiences.  Even if planning an in-person event is not on your radar currently for your biz, this is a must-listen because we might just change your mind!   Be sure to download this week's leader guide below.   Connect with Kimberly Garner: Top 8 Events To Grow Your Biz https://stan.store/Kimberlygarner7   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garnerandgather/   Connect with Bree Carroll: Website https://www.bcarrollevents.com/   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bcarrollevents/   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE. https://carmenohling.com/amplify-your-life-world-conference/   Resources: Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. https://carmenohling.myflodesk.com/leaderguide164   The book Kim mentioned, She Works His Way is HERE. https://a.co/d/9tvJfmE   The book Bree mentioned, The Awe of God is HERE. https://a.co/d/dzprwJF   Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088     Connect: Facebook Community         https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live   Carmen's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/   Permission Slip Community Instagram https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/   Website https://carmenohling.com/   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garnerandgather/

I am so enthusiastic about sharing my knowledge with you on this episode because the world needs more of you and your unique voice!  I have over a decade of speaking, coaching, and in-person training experience, as well as 16 years in corporate leadership – so I am bringing a wealth of expertise to the show today as I share with you what you need to do one you get booked to speak!   Be sure to download this week's leader guide below.   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE. https://carmenohling.com/amplify-your-life-world-conference/   Resources: Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vt5j9l4jufo235jxt9704/Leader-Guide-Episode-162.pdf?rlkey=839d02i29p502qh6quem73syh&dl=0   Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088   Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/ Permission Slip Community Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/ Website   https://carmenohling.com/

I am so enthusiastic about sharing my knowledge with you on this episode because the world needs more of you and your unique voice!  I have over a decade of speaking, coaching, and in-person training experience, as well as 16 years in corporate leadership – so I am bringing a wealth of expertise to the show today as I share with you how you can get started to become a speaker!   Be sure to download this week's leader guide below.   Get more info on the Amplify Your Life World Conference: Text me “AMPLIFY” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “AMPLIFY” Go to the event website HERE. https://carmenohling.com/amplify-your-life-world-conference/     Resources: Download this episode's Leader Guide HERE https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vt5j9l4jufo235jxt9704/Leader-Guide-Episode-162.pdf?rlkey=839d02i29p502qh6quem73syh&dl=0     Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088   Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/ Permission Slip Community Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/ Website   https://carmenohling.com/

If I had $1 for every time someone asked, Carmen what is your favorite _____ (you fill in the blank here) I would be rich!  So, in this episode I am breaking down all my current favorite things that I use daily and absolutely love.  I know that you will find a new favorite here too and if you'd like the complete list with all the links, text me “FAVE” to 503-386-2981 or DM me @carmenohling the word “FAVE”   Resources: Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088   Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/ Permission Slip Community Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/ Website   https://carmenohling.com/

This week we are rewinding back to one of our favorite podcast interviews with Jessica Burgio on the Unscripted Podcast! In this interview, we talk about the power of putting yourself out there and ditching that comfort zone like it's a bad ex! Also, taking charge of your life by initiating connections that can truly set your world on fire. And let me tell you, it's not just about making friends; it's about forging connections that are like rocket fuel for your personal growth. Stay tuned as both of us drop some truth bombs, reminding us that some connections are for a reason, some for a season, and some for a lifetime because you just never know where they might lead. Connect with Jessica @jessicaburgio https://www.instagram.com/jessicaburgio/ and follow the Unscripted Podcast @mediaunscripted https://www.instagram.com/mediaunscripted/   Resources: Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088   Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/ Permission Slip Community Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/ Website   https://carmenohling.com/

Do you want to write a book, but you're simply unsure how to get started?  In this episode we unpack it all from the truth about the writing process, to editing, ghostwriting, budget, marketing, publishing and more!  In this episode you will learn from some of the best in the industry and we cover it all!   Connect with Cindy HERE www.cindychildress.com   Discover Your #1 Bestselling Author Personality Quiz www.cindychildress.com/quiz   Connect with Lauren HERE https://www.instagram.com/laureneckhardtwrites/   Order Lauren's newest book HERE https://laureneckhardtwrites.com/product/memoir/   Download the Self Publishing Guide HERE https://burningsoulcollective.thrivecart.com/self-publishing-guide-bundle/   Resources: Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088   Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/ Permission Slip Community Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/ Website   https://carmenohling.com/                

Overthinking can be defined as putting too much time into thinking about or analyzing (something) in a way that is more harmful than helpful.  If you spend time overthinking, then listen to this episode ASAP!  I share with you the signs to recognize when you are overthinking and what to do instead.    Self check: How much time do you spend each day overthinking?     Resources: Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088       Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/ Permission Slip Community Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/ Website   https://carmenohling.com/

Making your first million isn't just about making money.  Nope, it takes specific systems and mindset shifts to get there!  In this roundtable episode we talk with two of today's leading money experts so that your business finances can be a source of inspiration not intimidation as Shannon says, and you can make more, spend better and stress less about money as Belinda shares!   CFO On Demand with Shannon https://www.keepwhatyouearn.com/cfo-on-demand   Keep What you Earn Podcast with Shannon https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-what-you-earn/id1580071347   Connect with Shannon on Instagram HERE https://www.instagram.com/shannonkweinstein/   Pay Yourself Calculator from Belinda https://ownyourmoney.isrefer.com/go/calculator/cohling   High Profit Offers Masterclass with Belinda https://ownyourmoney.isrefer.com/go/masterclass/cohling   Connect with Belinda on Instagram HERE https://www.instagram.com/ownyourmoney/     Resources: Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088     Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/ Permission Slip Community Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/ Website   https://carmenohling.com/

How many important decisions do you need to make in your life and business today? Considering that the average adult makes 35,000 small decisions (choices) each day what happens when you are constantly thinking about the bigger decision you need to make as well?  Not making them can no longer be an option!  In 2024 we are declaring: “I am a decisive person!” and in this episode I share with you the steps to get there.   Mastermind and idea share with us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE!    https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Resources: Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! Find out your Unique Superpower HERE!   https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE!   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088   Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live   Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/   Permission Slip Community IG   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/   Website   https://carmenohling.com/

If you are ready to get to your next level of success and freedom in your life, this episode is for you.  In this episode I break down the 5 High Performance Habits you need based on my years of study in coaching, psychology principles, my own life, and the 1000's of individuals I have worked with in the decade of my coaching practice.   Let's chat if the 1-1 Personal High Performance Retreat is Right For you HERE! https://calendly.com/carmenohling/personal-high-performance-immersive-retreat-application   Join us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Check out the Fitness App, including daily mobility from my friend Jeremy Scott, HERE! https://playbookapp.io/creators/jeremy-scott   Resources: Join us FREE in the Amplify Your Life Membership HERE! https://carmenohling.com/amplifyyourlife/   Find out your Unique Superpower HERE! https://carmenohling.com/superpower/   Join the Permission Slip Community for FREE HERE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694102717488088   Connect: Facebook Community   https://www.facebook.com/groups/carmenohling.eat.move.live Carmen's Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/carmenohling/ Permission Slip Community Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/permissionslipcommunity/ Website   https://carmenohling.com/

In today's episode of the IC-DISC podcast, we sit down with Jackie Campbell, a savvy CPA, founding partner of a thriving firm in Tampa, and the engaging host of her own radio show and podcast, Beyond the Money. Jackie generously shares her firm's unique 360-degree approach to financial planning, propelling clients towards a secure future. We dig deep into the importance of believing in oneself, the necessity of having succession plans, and how to stay connected with clients. Jackie highlights the importance of strategic planning, building generational wealth, and her passion for helping those in the "retirement red zone" and first responders.   SHOW HIGHLIGHTS Jackie, a CPA and founding partner at a firm in Tampa, Florida, shares her firm's unique approach to financial planning. They take a 360-degree view of their clients' financial history and patterns, and use these insights to strategically plan for the future. Her firm has created the 'hero package', a document storage system designed to prepare clients for unexpected life events. This has proven to be an extremely beneficial tool for clients and their families. Jackie also runs a radio show, Beyond the Money, where she promotes financial literacy. She shares her clients' successes and educates listeners on various financial topics. She transitioned from radio to podcasting to delve deeper into financial topics. This medium allows her to explore complex subjects in greater detail and share her wealth of knowledge with a broader audience. Jackie believes in the importance of self-trust and confidence. She encourages listeners to believe in their capabilities and not be overly concerned with others' opinions. She emphasizes the importance of having a succession plan for businesses. Having a plan in place can prevent confusion and complications in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Jackie's firm serves clients all over the United States and Europe, focusing particularly on those in the retirement 'red zone' and first responders. Her unique timeline process helps clients plan for upcoming life milestones. She advocates for progress over perfection. She believes that being organized and having all important documents and passwords in one place can make a significant difference. Jackie's firm is considered a full-service planning firm. They collaborate with attorneys and other professionals to provide a comprehensive 360-degree view of their clients' lives. Through her radio show and podcast, Jackie has been able to interview celebrities and share their personal financial planning stories. These interviews provide listeners with a unique perspective on financial planning and management. LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance About Campbell & Co GUEST Jackie CampbellAbout Jackie TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) David Spray Good morning, jackie, how good morning. Jackie Campbell I'm doing ve past the summer storms, he will be doing good yeah. David Spray a native of Houston, texas, the Gulf Coast, summer sto part of florida, are you? Jackie Campbell I'm right, just north abo right there in the center, the west coast. David Spray Okay, and that part of the state. Jackie Campbell I but I'm originally from t florida panhandle, where t beaches are up near Fort nice, and what brought yo part of florida. Wow, my and he was in law enforci with the state of florida here for his very first s of Tampa and we've been h 10 years now. David Spray And I guess in your career it was z started there as anywhere up here at University of in Tampa and you know it working. Jackie Campbell The next thing y firm one of the youngest state of florida having m have kids and they start history. David Spray Oh, that is awes before you. You, you struck. Jackie Campbell Well, I started with the. Even knew what a CPA was high school. I kind of fou job when I was in college sort of kind of all, came bit of experience in diff and public accounting be had my college sugary, so a few different things p and decided that public a more my line and kind of head of schedule of havin a lot of ideas and you kn it your way, I guess is t any specific event that the move or well, having t had this great idea, you think we're smarter than two toddlers and I thought more time with my kids. David Spray I and you know that lasti and you know three employ to get an office locatiin and just kept going from would imagine, because I m started our career probab, back when we started our weren't as kind of family are now, or they that that will train you very well. Jackie Campbell Larger firms, the regional, expect you know a lot f. David Spray Okay, so you started your. Why don't we just kind of the firm? What would you, your clients say, make your than just the average CPA? Jackie Campbell think just experience has right. I think that is on is different. One thing t clients is just the trust and you know you would t really easy to earn or to, but you know that's not, and we've been in busines over 30 years so that's working with not only one. We go into the second and whether it's a small busi or whether it's just an, I already been retired and so I would say that pretty, we are a planning, firm th thing that we do a little. We don't just look at hist, our historians looking at happen. I think we have an unique ability is to be a going on now what the pa and what that pattern is, be moved forward and plan strategic, being tactical along the way as those ma come along the planned on. So I think that you know the 360 degree lens is re became duly licensed as f. We were allowed so back the first time a CPA acti than one license because a responsibility and the know been regarded as a. So just looking at that f with attorneys, collabori, make sure that we get tha and what the advisors are, the strategy, what that' does take place. David Spray Yeah, I I've always thought that presented themselves that for CPA firms because you know the trusted advisere communicating with your cl annually just because of compliance and it just se for whatever reason it j of CPA firms have maybe d but really weren't able t practices very well. So y life from your client's p to have kind of this one. Obviously the legal is st with somebody else for th three legs of that stool, the planning and financia, the legal you're covering. That sounds great and th guys end up typically bei, would you say, because yo at like a state planning in the attorneys for that many plans are created. B would do you all have you that, or is that pretty much and the attorney to to imp. Jackie Campbell I would say it depends on. Some people are really n always looking and learni what options or oppurtunit for them, so they will su ideas. Sometimes it's jus conversations. You know a plan, it's just very we isn't sure. But yeah, we role. Quite often I had s through the years where s an attorney, they would h, they would have a trust a be titled in the trust, a advisor or the insurance having a certain plan or ramifications of their t legally can't talk about, I can't talk, I can't dis to talk to your accountso prepare and then as the C kind of cleaning everything. Wait, you have a trust W all your financial account. It's just about pulling t and making sure that is t in direction that you're that road mount together. The other day, the one th it's in the water is the. The same story. It's hard. Professional advisors you advice and see a lot of p challenges and the oppurt when it comes to yourself, to the scenario. David Spray Yeah th the shoes situation right, you all are. You also set, in addition to the planin, the implementation, as far you know, insurance prode funding vehicles in that. Jackie Campbell Yeah, we're considered a firm. So you know, pretty with money we're able to with someone and find a s, someone who actually spea either tax law or that str, to look at it as products. It that way we look at I trying to get to and to a best, most economical way that makes a lot of sense. David Spray You have all those capabil umbrella because I have s a heavy planning focus b on the independence that actually implement the pro. You have to rely on you, commission, you know dr person let's say to do t, then that can be kind of know, you don't necessarily client over to somebody h a more aggressive style th. I think that's great that to really do it all. And to that that, what do you? The 360? Jackie Campbell Yeah, the 360 planning. David Spray Okay, yeah, no, like a great, a great dis you do so talk to. So w now shift gears. I'm rea you do. In the media world you have a radio show y which came first, the rad the book the radio show been doing that for about. Jackie Campbell I think it's a little over radio in the Tampa Bay area, as someone who was really mom would always say oh, her from behind my skirt looking for a place to h. Funny how the thing that most when you're younger develop and that's your s to be and you know I th there. You're always tryi a little bit but I love that I work with and they and really I think help for radio because I come a lot of things to say S so many individuals and f family and the hard one w. It just makes it so natu. Able to actually pull multiple professions together and pull that full Three sixty together for someone is just it. To me that's so rewarding because not everybody can see multi dimensional aspects. Radio was first. We called our radio show beyond the money. That's because it's really beyond the money. It's about what are you trying to get the freedom to do with your life or your business? What are you trying to grow into? Multiply and freedom of relationships, freedom of purpose those are things that we hear from Dan Sullivan, the founder and strategic coach and it. And when you just really focus on you, what are you trying to get the freedom to do, not just the freedom from doing. I think it's a totally different mindset. David Spray Sure is your radio show like the weekly show. Jackie Campbell Yeah, we have. We do air the same show on Saturday and on Sunday as well, and then we have podcast that came as a result a few years later, and that's the beyond the money podcast. David Spray Okay, so as far as the radio show. So what station is it on and what time is it come? On? Saturday and Sunday. Jackie Campbell Yeah, it's W X, j B, it's a local station and ninety nine point nine here in the Tampa Bay area. But you can I mean these days you can access everything all over. David Spray And then do you have calls callers that call in with questions. Is that kind of the format? Jackie Campbell We do not take live calls because highly count compliance, regulated industry. Oh sure, we don't do that. But sometimes they will call the radio station and they will leave a question for me to talk about. And I do a live conversation on Wednesday mornings with the morning DJ just to talk about what's going on in our area and if there's any changes in law changes and sort of just kind of finger on the polls. David Spray Wow, that's so, that's great. So that that ended up leading to the podcast. And so how do you view the podcast differently than the radio show? What are the kind of pros and cons of the podcast versus the radio show? Or is the podcast just a rebroadcast of the radio show? Jackie Campbell It's kind of a combination. We have a little over 250 episodes on our podcast and it's a little bit of combination. Sometimes I have what we call on tour interviews. I've had the pleasure to interview Reba McIntyre, yeah, in Nevada, and we talked about mama and the rope and pen and she's he's great she's just who you see on TV. Who you see on stage is exactly who she is in person Martina McBride. You know quite a few others get the pleasure to go to Nashville here in a few weeks and interview a few as well. So we do take some celebrity interviews and those are just more on a personal level, and then it could be some professionals that we work with, we collaborate with here in our area and we have them on as guests as well. We have a licensed mental health counselor, because you know emotions and is certainly all about your financial picture for individuals and business owners, and we have a quite a few other professionals that will have on from time to time. David Spray Okay, that really sounds great, and then it sounds like the last piece of the media stool was the book. Is that right? Jackie Campbell Yeah, this is something that I've been thinking about for a while. You know what it's. There's a concept called the 90 minute book and I said it took me nine years to actually hit 100%. But you know, sometimes things just happen when they're meant to be and this is just something. It's some of that really hard one wisdom that I was talking about. You know, you don't really know how challenging it is to go through cleaning up Financial records from someone until you experience it up close and personal. And I've seen many families do things right and I've seen the outcome of that and I've seen them Just have a total mess. Nobody knows where the keys are, literally and for figuratively, you know, for their financial life, and it's just such a stressful time both you know, emotionally, physically and mentally, and then Figure out and put the puzzle together. I came up with a book I have a what we call a hero package and my wind file came first. That came about eight years ago and that's a document storage system For how to gather all of your important documents and your passwords and you know who are your professional advisors and really what are the succession plan steps that would need to take place. So sort of giving, like an owner's manual. You know how to run my life without me if I'm not able to or not here. So just a real gift for your loved ones and your next to can and your family members. David Spray So I'm curious about that. Talk to me a little bit more. So you talk about the hero file, and then you talked about something else when my wind file W H E N. You, having my southern accents, sounds not sure which way to say it but it's my wind file when the time comes right. Jackie Campbell It's just a really go to book. We never know what's going to happen, doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are sometimes life just happens, and it's just a really great way to collect all those things, and that was the very start of it. The book that I just released was be prepared, creating peace of mind for you and your loved ones, and it sort of ties it all together ideation behind it, my why, my personal why, and also just some highlights of you know what to have in your black book or your lock box, whatever you call it, just just to make it a little bit easier for those that you love and care about the most. David Spray Sure, and I guess the one of the great things about your practice and your comprehensive, you know, 360 degree view of your clients lives is if the only planning they do is just tell their loved ones to call Jackie, that probably get some, you know, a lot further ahead than they would be if they didn't have a Jackie, right. Jackie Campbell That's exactly the point and so many of my clients have said that. I just told them call this person right here and she will know everything, she will know. And you know I just got another one of those calls this week from one of my clients. You know both. Both the parents happen to be sick and not doing well and the kids came in from out of state and of course they knew, called Jackie Campbell and she'll be able to help you navigate through some of these things and work along with the attorney, and you just never know when that time is going to come. And that's I take that as an honor to be able to do that. Another long term client just passed away a few weeks ago, very, quite young, and you know the family is. You know we're actually going to be meeting in a few days here and going through some of the things that we've been doing. You know I really value the relationships that I'm able to build with my clients and I think they're often at a much deeper level because of the trust and because of going the extra step to be on the money not just how much money do you have, how to invest it, where to put it, do you have life insurance, do you have your state documents or are you in compliance with the IRS? It's just really about thinking at a much more personal level with them and kind of always looking and planning ahead, because not everyone has that skill and ability. David Spray Well, it's a good thing that that you're a big fan of strategic coach and Dan Sullivan's approach to life, because it doesn't sound like you're going to be able to retire anytime soon. It sounds like there's too many families depending on on you to just be able to just decide you're done and just disappear tomorrow. Is that a fair assumption? Jackie Campbell That's a fair assumption. Yes, as long as you love what you're doing, you know there's really no reason to stop. It's truly about that's one thing I learned from Dan Sullivan is, you know, having whatever you're doing, your life is short and really enjoy what you're doing and have a purpose for what you're doing. And you know, compliance wasn't my thing. I mean I could do it. I started at a very young age and, you know, before computers even did the tax returns for you. So you really learn With the pencil and the eraser, you know, as the numbers carried page to page. But just being able to go that, that higher level, I just really am blessed that I am able to take my unique abilities and just help somebody else kind of tie those things up with a bow. I'm a big fan of enjoying life and confetti moments and you know people have this idea or ideal that they want this hallmark type life. And OK, what do we need to do to work towards that? It's probably never going to be ideal, but enjoy the confetti moments that come along the way and celebrate them, because we don't know how many of those we're going to have. David Spray What's the example of a confetti moment? I really like that expression like graduations, marriages, child or, you know, child being born. Jackie Campbell Yeah, well, those are the big ones, right, and those are the obvious ones that people think about. They have dinner, they do flowers or balloons or whatever birthday cake. But it's also the smaller ones that come along the way. Maybe you're reaching a goal or a milestone or you're like, if you're a business owner, it's your largest quarter yet, or you've reached your dreams. Check, it could be a lot of different things. Maybe you finally got the right team in place that you're able to take some true free time. It could be a lot of different things that go along. We look for confetti all the time around here. We just had to find the ones that were easier to clean up because we were having a mess. But you know, the last day of tax season, our staff is real, our team is just loves the throw in the confetti. This year we celebrated our 30th year in business and just having that celebration you know, my family was there, team was there, their family and some of our long term clients and just being able to share the appreciation and the gratitude that we have with them confetti just a lot of fun. David Spray That's awesome. You mentioned your personal. Why, if it's not too personal, what is your personal why? Jackie Campbell That is when my dad was sick. You know you spend our I had spent, you know, two thirds of my career helping others that weren't related, and they were. You know I built a relationship with them and helping them the parents, the moms, the dads, the grandparents get ready for the next generations and I had not really paid attention to my own family, the ones I love and care about the most, and I guess I had it's just you always like wish you had done things. I should have done this. I should have done that when my dad was ill, in the last 30 days of his life in the hospital. You just realizing some things that should have been done and how difficult that was. You know my mom was the CFO of the family and she knew where everything was Any insurance, any medical record that the doctors asked for. My mom was able to go and pull it out of a file cabinet. She was really organized. My dad would not have had a clue where the passwords were, how to turn on the computer. He worked on the military base totally different career and mindset and most families have one CFO that pays the bills and does all the filing. And if you look at where we're at now. I guess 20 years ago we didn't have all the electronic files, so you were able to wait 30 days, wait 60 days and you're gonna get a letter from whatever account or safe deposit and you're gonna get an invoice or something in the mail. That doesn't happen anymore and we have so many things in the cloud on computers, on tablets, and if you don't have certain keys or pens or passwords, you can't even obtain obtain any of those records or documentation. So that was just a real big eye-opener that, wow, my dad probably isn't the only person that would have been in a jam and I would have had to really help comb through every piece of paper because I didn't know what my mom's filing system was. And you have this concept and this idea that your parents are gonna live forever and while he did pass away at a young age, the time goes by so quickly. So that was my personal experience. And I do remember when we were in the hospital and the nurse came in and said this room is in dire straits today. So whatever they need, they get. And I just thought, dire straits. You're right, that is so true. You get to that dire straight point. And one more thing would just be unbearable to have to go find accounts and where's the money and is there life insurance? And many people, especially the older generations, they keep money and finances really close to the vest. So it's just a way of having let's talk, let's have that conversation, and I'm just so blessed that the feedback that I've gotten from my family, my clients and those around me saying wow, I'm glad somebody's really brought this to my attention that you might need to leave a little bit of a cookie crumb trail for someone else behind you. David Spray Okay, so thank you for sharing that and, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying that before your dad's illness you'd been helping clients at a certain level. But then it really you experienced at first hand how difficult it can be to try to while you're dealing with end of life health issues but also dealing with layering onto that getting passwords and other stuff in order and you're saying that experience personally gave you kind of a newfound insight and passion to make sure that your clients were not in that situation. Does that about summarize it? Jackie Campbell That completely summarizes it, yeah. David Spray Well, that's, and how long ago was that? Jackie Campbell That was about 10 years ago. That happened and I knew I wanted to write a book but it took me a while to get to it. And I did get 80% of the book done. But it was the personal why that I couldn't get past making that and I thought about that for a while, off and on, and I thought, oh, I've got to get that done. It was on my list of goals every year finished my book and it's just a short read. It's not a very thick book. I'm not a big. I normally will skip chapters if it's a big book anyway, get the most important parts out of it. But the main thing is to inspire people with this book and the final way I was able to get that executed was I realized that it wasn't about me, it wasn't about my dad, it wasn't about what I did or didn't do. It was truly about helping others be the hero of their family, Because we really I would say the majority of the population wants to honor your parents, what they want to happen, and this is a way for them to keep their dignity you to keep your dignity in some tough decisions that you might have to make. But it's just a way to let your parents or your loved ones be the hero of their story and have that big handoff, that baton. That's just gonna be such a gift and blessing, and I don't know that somebody who receives it might realize how difficult it might have been otherwise. But you're working with clients since then and some that have children that live out of state or completely away and they just they don't even know where, how to open the garage, what the garage code is, or they're just not basically here. They don't know these things, and I have just seen so many examples of how this would have been just such a true blessing and a gift to who's next. David Spray And it's interesting, as you talk about the hero part, that's another reminds me of something that Dan Sullivan always says who do you want to be a hero to? Was that inspired by that question by Dan, or was it unrelated? Jackie Campbell It's definitely. I mean, I've been a strategic coach for about 10 years so it's definitely had a significant influence in my thinking because, as he says, we're in the thinking business, so it's definitely part of it and it's just. I personally wish my dad was able to be the hero and have all those things done. My mom certainly still is the hero and she just has given me invaluable feedback on putting this together and some of the things that she's done for years. It's in several of my clients. I've been able to collaborate with them some long-term clients, our client advisory board and get some really great feedback from them and how they've kind of kept track of things and put it all together to really just kind of make it something. That's one go-to place and we do have a digital version of it now as well the my Winfile. The book goes along with it, and we also have a for those that just like cheats. Cheats and checklists. We have a guarding your legacy checklist. So that's what we call the Hero Pack. It's just a system, a go-to system to really kind of pull things together for your loved ones. David Spray That's awesome, by the way, if it makes you feel any better. I also teamed up with Stuart and his team from 90-Minute Books for my book, and it also took me many years to do a 90-Minute Book. The good news is, when I do my second one, it'll be not much more than 90 minutes, because now that I really understand that it's all about progress, not perfection it's, and, like you said, you're authoring the book as a resource to people, and every day that perfectionism slows down, good enough, there's people that could be benefiting from a good enough version. So, anyway, I just wanna let you know you're in good company. It also took me many years to get my 90-Minute Book done. Jackie Campbell Yeah, he did say I'm not alone. David Spray Yeah no, I think so. I think I know the answer to this question, but I'd like to ask you anyway. So what do you get the most satisfaction from in your role, in your firm, in the way you've structured your role, what gives you the most satisfaction? Jackie Campbell That's a really great question. I think I'm really energized by being able to see things come together, not just having the conversation, not just talking, to hear myself talk, but to have someone that really values my input and my recommendations and will walk alongside me to actually get those executed. I think that is really the trust that I try to build and really value most. And I'm working now with a client that they've been clients for a long time and just really high ranking in the military, so super organized, very strategic, very tactical, and they're thinking and their operations and I've worked with them for a long period of time, so I've worked with them, now their children and now the next, the third generation, with the grandchildren. And to be able to help someone set up their very first Roth IRA at 19 years old, it just melts my heart and it's like, oh, this is just such a great generational trend to build and you see all the bad things that happen, but just to see that positive thinking and growth that happens with those next generations. I just really enjoy that and worked with quite a few war veterans and from the Normandy days that still were there on the beaches of Normandy and to hear some of those heartbreaking stories and all the different things and life events that have gone on for over a hundred years and some of those really confetti moments and really difficult times and now working with the grandchildren of those families, I mean that's what I value the most. David Spray Sure, yeah, it's what is the saying too. The biggest blessing is to be a blessing for others. Right For sure, and that comes through. Do you have an ideal client? Do they? Are they typically located geographically near you? Just because of the closeness Do you like to have with your clients, do they typically tend to be geographically close? Jackie Campbell I would say most are in the, I would say, southeast region, but I do have clients all over the United States. I have some that live half a year over in Europe as well. So with technology there's no border anymore. With Zoom you're able to get on and I have a whiteboard, and with our Zoom meetings and we're able to actually share that. I really enjoy using whiteboards when I'm working with clients because I can kind of organize their thoughts a little bit and make sure that I'm understanding what they're looking to do. But it doesn't really matter. We work with clients all over the state of Florida. You know many really like to have that in-person meeting and sit across the table from you, especially as they get a little bit older. Yeah, but we do both for sure. David Spray Okay, yeah, that's good to know, because I have clients all over the country and from time to time they're looking for a CPA introduction. So that's good to know that there's no geographic constraints. But so, since there's no geographic constraints, though, what else are you looking for in a client? I assume you don't need any more high maintenance clients who don't do what you tell them, who are uncooperative and don't trust you. I guess you have enough of those clients already. Is that a safe assumption? Jackie Campbell Yes, that is correct. One of those is too many. David Spray One of those is too many right. Jackie Campbell That's right. Yeah, that's an entirely different business model. It's funny, you know, like you, when you first start your business, it's what they call threshold clients. Right, it's like anyone who comes across the threshold. Yes, I can help them, and you do, and you're so grateful for that trust and confidence that they have in you to start with them. But I really am passionate about those that are in the retirement red zone, that are looking for those real important upcoming milestones. One of my unique processes is taking someone through a timeline and you know it's a very visual timeline when are you at, Where's your spouse at, what are the next milestones coming up and what do we need to plan for in advance From a tax efficiency standpoint, from an income planning standpoint, from insurance, health and long-term care, legacy planning I mean all of those things kind of come together and then, of course, your investments what is the most appropriate amount of risk that you're trying to take or need to take? So it's just about pulling all those things together. So I would definitely say the retirement red zone and beyond, enjoying retirement. I'm really passionate about law enforcement and first responders. You know, growing up in a first responder family, my husband was in law enforcement. We were high school sweetheart setting. He's been in law enforcement as soon as he was able to carry a gun, so he wasn't able to buy bullets yet, but he was able to carry a gun and work in the jail. So he worked with the state of Florida. He was a state trooper and a deputy sheriff and you know, having that entire career, you see things from a different perspective. So I'm really passionate about helping the first responder community my brother's in law enforcement, his entire career, my sister-in-law, my husband's dad, I've got a cousin. We're just, you know, a kind of you have one side of the family is on one side of the law. One side could be on the other side of the law, but you know, that's another real area of passion for us and an ideal client. And because they're paid so little for the sacrifice, you know, and there are decisions on their timeline, which is a totally different timeline than the normal average worker or business owner. So we also my husband has, we have a podcast that we do beyond the badge. David Spray Oh yeah. Jackie Campbell Yeah. David Spray So that's, great. Jackie Campbell Yeah. So I can't believe that I got him to be so vulnerable to actually do that. But yeah, I've had him on TV and a podcast so but he's actually really good at it. So, and only somebody who's lived that life can really, you know, talk and really you know correlate to someone who is has lived in that life and as a first responder. And then the other ideal client for us as a firm is someone who is an entrepreneur, business owner, entrepreneur. That is in that red zone. You know a lot of entrepreneurs never really want to retire, but it doesn't mean they don't sell off part of their business or have a succession plan so they can move on to something else that they're really passionate about or a different purpose at a higher level. But it just when they start making those changes, when they get to those milestone ages around 55, that's really where you know there's going to be some real key confetti moments and milestones or mile markers however you want to look at it that that are going to require some different thinking. David Spray I tell you your husband just sounds like like my kind of guy. But the thing that I'm most impressed with I'm always impressed with guys who marry their high school sweetheart, because that tells me there's a guy who says, you know what, if I, you know, screw this up and she ends up dating other guys in college, I may never get her back. You know I better go ahead and you know, you know, get this deal closed before she has a chance to realize that you know there's other guys out there. So I'm always impressed with guys who marry their high school sweetheart. I say that's very you know, that's very wise, beyond your years, when you recognize in high school your life partner is. Jackie Campbell Yeah, he was way wiser than I was. You know I'll give him credit for that one. David Spray Well, good. So, speaking of younger years, what do you wish you knew when you were 25? Jackie Campbell Oh gosh, I love that question. I think I like it better when I ask it, though. David Spray I'm sure I do too. Jackie Campbell You're wiser than you think you are and don't care about what everybody else thinks, and stop making up those stories about what you think that they're thinking. I think we overanalyze, we worry about others too much than to actually live our own dreams, and there are truly people that are never going to be happy for you, for your success and your achievements. But you know you can love them anyway, or you just don't tell them everything, but just don't lower your expectations for what you think you're capable of and what you want to achieve in life. David Spray Yeah, I think that's great. I heard I was listening to a podcast and I remember the person said you know, they said we worry too much about what other people think. And they say, really it's a form of arrogance, because other people don't think about you. Everybody's so focused on themselves that, believe it or not, they really don't notice that you, that your shirt was wrinkled or you had some small stain on your shirt sleeve, like people are so self-absorbed they really don't care about what you're doing. So embrace that concept and realize that nobody really cares. Nobody's staying awake at night worrying about you. Know whether you're writing a book or not writing a book, or whether there was a typo in your book or so, yeah, I really, I think that's great. Trust your gut and don't worry about others. Jackie Campbell It's an insecurity for sure. I would say that there's definitely a lot of hard one wisdom. I think the one that stands out to me, you know, as I've gotten older, is your health is truly the number one, most important part of your retirement plan, and I don't think it's ever worded that way when you're younger just truly investing in your health, your skin, you know your core part of your body, you know it's not just the muscles, it's all of it, it's truly all of it. And I think if we're taught that that is the very first step in your retirement plan before saving money, that you know we could see things and enjoy retirement a little bit longer. David Spray That's really great. What's the saying? That a healthy man has a thousand dreams and the unhealthy one has a one dream. Jackie Campbell Yeah, to be healthy. Yeah. David Spray So well, that is really great If people want to reach out to you. What's the best way for somebody to reach out? I know you're on LinkedIn. Do you accept LinkedIn? You know connections. Jackie Campbell Yes, linkedin would be a great way to reach out to me. It's under Jackie or Jacqueline, j-a-c-q-e-l-y-n, and online you can reach out to me as well, mycamblincocom, or I can give a phone number if you'd like to give out Sure. David Spray Yeah, go ahead 7365. So last question is there anything I didn't ask you that you wish I had? Jackie Campbell I would say you pretty much covered it all. And one other thought of kind of where I'm going next and this really came out quite a bit the past few years during COVID was as a business owner or a CEO of a company. You know, typically, the larger the business, you're going to have some sort of succession plan already written and in place. But for most business owners they don't have a succession plan or a when file for themselves not just personally, but for the company and one thing that I am working on is a 100 day succession plan. David Spray Oh, wow, okay. Jackie Campbell And that's where you know somebody like me. I have other partners but, you know, really spelling out some of those key things that they don't know. They know a lot they're still going to have to. You know, hunt and peck for a few things that you know still are just my personal logins, my personal, where do I keep the keys, so to speak, and you know who is the. You know, like you said earlier, go see Jackie Campbell. She's going to be the one who has all the information, all the important details of what to do next. You know who is that next important person, what is the order of what should happen if something happened and I became unable to fill my role and or passed away? So I really think you know, business owners have a big responsibility to their family at a much higher level, and that's just a great way to kind of pull all those things together. David Spray That's great and that, and correct me if I'm wrong, but that's that vaguely sounds familiar that I heard Dan Sullivan talk about that same concept. Does this sound like another Dan Sullivan inspired one, or am I reading too much into it? Jackie Campbell You might be reading too much into it. I don't know. I don't remember him saying anything about that, but I know he's always about building out 90 day plans. David Spray Sure. Jackie Campbell We do a couple of things by a hundred days here at Campbell and company, so I don't know if that's something we picked out along the way or we just didn't like to do the quarterly plan. David Spray I'd say it's because you're an overachiever. If a 90 day plan is good, then a hundred day plan must be even better, right, jackie? Jackie Campbell It must be, and it gives you a little bit extra time to measure the results and benchmark. David Spray So well, that is awesome. Well, I really appreciate you taking time out of your day and I really love your story and I know many of our listeners will find it interesting too. And again, thank you. Thank you for your time and I hope the weather in Southern Florida clears up the rest of the day for you. Jackie Campbell Well, thank you, I think the thunderstorms are gone and probably bright skies coming. The great thing about the weather here in Florida, and I guess in Texas as well, is it'll change pretty often. David Spray That is for sure. Well, hey, well, thanks again, jackie, and have a great day. Jackie Campbell Thank you, david, appreciate it. David Spray Hi, this is David Spray, and welcome to another episode of the ICDisc Show. My guest today is Jackie Campbell from the Greater Tampa Bay Area. Jackie is a really interesting CPA who has a practice that also includes comprehensive financial planning and she has a 360 degree view of her client's financial situation. She has a really unique perspective and she's a podcast host with over 250 episodes on this subject. She has a radio show, she's frequently a guest on radio and TV and she's also authored a book. So there's just a lot of great nuggets on the importance of planning and making sure that, when your time is up, that your heirs will have a seamless transition financially and emotionally. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. Good morning, jackie. How are you today, hi? Jackie Campbell good morning. I'm doing very well. If I can get past the summer storms here in Florida, I think we'll be doing good. David Spray Yeah, I'm nearly a native of Houston, Texas, so I understand the Gulf Coast summer storms thing. What part of Florida are you calling in from? Jackie Campbell I'm right, just north above the Tampa Bay area, right there in the center part of the state on the west coast. David Spray Oh, okay, and are you a native of that part of the state? Jackie Campbell I am a native of Florida, but I'm originally from the Panhandle, the Florida Panhandle, where the world's most beautiful beaches are up near Fort Walton Beach. David Spray Nice, nice. And what brought you to the current part of Florida. Jackie Campbell Wow, my husband. We were married and he was in law enforcement, so he worked with the state of Florida. So he was transferred here for his very first station right outside of Tampa, and we've been here ever since, 37 years now. David Spray And I guess you were early enough in your career. It was easy to get started there, as anywhere. Jackie Campbell Oh yeah, I finished up here at University of South Florida right in Tampa and you know you start working the next thing. You know I had my own firm, one of the youngest females in the state of Florida having my own firm and you have kids and they start school and the rest is history. David Spray Oh, that is awesome. So how long before you struck out on your own? Jackie Campbell Well, I started with the CPA firm before I even knew what a CPA was, and that was right out of high school. I kind of found that as a summer job when. I was in college, yeah, and it just sort of kind of all came together. So I had quite a bit of experience in different bookkeeping and public accounting before I even had my college degree. So it was a few years, tried a few different things public and private and decided that public accounting was going to be more my line and kind of was a little bit ahead of schedule of having my own firm. You know have a lot of ideas and you know want to kind of do it your way. David Spray I guess, as they say, was there any specific event that prompted you to make the move? Jackie Campbell Well, having two small children, I had this great idea. You know, sometimes we think we're smarter than we might be. I had two toddlers and I thought well, I'll get to spend more time with my kids if I have my own business. And you know, that lasted for about six months and you know, three employees. We finally had to get an office location and just kept growing and just kept going from there. David Spray Well, and I also would imagine, because my sense is that we started our career probably similar times. In fact, when we started our career, the firms weren't as kind of family friendly as they are now, were they? Jackie Campbell That's right. I mean they will train you very well, especially the larger firms, the regional firms. But they do expect you know a lot from you. David Spray Sure. Okay, so you started your firm, and so why don't we just kind of talk a bit about the firm? What would you say, or what would your clients say, make your firm different than just the average CPA firm? Jackie Campbell Well, I think just experience has a lot to do with it, right, I think that is one one thing that makes us different. One thing that I hear a lot from clients is just the trust that they have for us. And you know you would think that trust is really easy to earn or to build in relationships, but you know that's not necessarily the case, and we've been in business now for a little over 30 years, so that's a long time of working with not only one generation, but often we go into the second and third generation, whether it's a small business owner, an entrepreneur, or whether it's just an individual who's already been retired and enjoying retirement. So I would say that pretty much makes us unique. We are a planning firm. That, I think, is another thing that we do a little bit differently and we don't just look at history Most CPAs are historians looking at, you know, everything that happened. I think we have, and as part of my unique ability, is to be able to look at what's going on now, what the pattern was in the past and what that pattern is most likely going to be, as we move forward and plan forward and, you know, being strategic, being tactical, trying to help clients along the way as those major milestones and events come along, the planned ones and the unplanned. So I think that you know and that looking at the 360 degree lens is really important. We became duly licensed as financial advisors when we were allowed, so back in the late 90s was the first time a CPA actually could have more than one license because of the high fiduciary responsibility and CPA is always, as you know, been regarded as a really trusted advisor. So just looking at that full package and working with attorneys, collaborating with them, just to make sure that we get that full service and what the advisors are intending to happen, or the strategy, what that's going to be, actually does take place. David Spray Yeah, I think that's great. I've always thought that really, since those opportunities presented themselves, that it was a great opportunity for CPA firms because you know they're already, you know the trusted advisor, you're already communicating with your clients, at least annually, just because of you know the tax return compliance, and it just seems so, so natural. But for whatever reason, it just seems like a lot of CPA firms have, you know, maybe dipped their toe in it but really weren't able to integrate those two practices very well. So, yeah, I can imagine why, from your client's perspective, it's great to have kind of this one stop shop. I mean, obviously the legal is still. You know you're partnering with somebody else for that, but at least two of the three legs of that stool you know, the CPA, the planning and financial advisory and the legal you're covering and under one roof, that sounds great. And then like how do you guys end up typically being like the quarterback, would you say, because you know, like when you look at like estate planning, obviously you're bringing in the attorneys for that, but it seems like so many plans are created but not implemented. Do you all have, you know, some role in that, or is that pretty much left to the client and the attorney to to implement those plans? Jackie Campbell Well, I would say it depends on the individual. Some people are really entrepreneurial. They're always looking and learning and paying attention to what options or opportunities may be out there for them. So they will sometimes come with ideas. Sometimes it's just a matter of having conversations. You know, we all kind of have a plan. It's just very well laid out or it isn't Sure. But yeah, we do take that quarterback role. Quite often I had so many conversations through the years where someone would meet an attorney, they would have illegal documents, they would have a trust and then nothing would be titled in the trust. And then you have the financial advisor or the insurance advisor and they're having a certain plan or their certain tax ramifications of their transactions that they, you know, legally can't talk about and say, oh, I can't talk, I can't discuss taxation, You'll have to talk to your accountant about that, or tax preparer. And then as the CPA, we would end up, you know, kind of cleaning everything up, saying, wait, you have a trust, why isn't? Why aren't things? All your financial accounts titled that way? So it's just about you know, pulling that plan together and making sure that is this the true plan and direction that you're going, and pulling that road map together. You know, I heard something the other day the one thing that doesn't know it's in the water is the fish. And it's the same story. It's hard for us to see even professional advisors. You can give really great advice and see a lot of pitfalls and potential challenges and the opportunities for someone else, but when it comes to yourself, you're just too close to the scenario. David Spray Yeah, the classic cobbler in the shoes situation. Right, and then can you all. Are you also set up to actually, you know, in addition to the planning, actually you'll do the implementation as far as you know acquiring, you know, insurance products, you know for funding vehicles, and that as well. Jackie Campbell We do. Yeah, we're considered a full wealth management firm, so you know pretty much anything dealing with money. We're able to do it, or collaborate with someone and find a solution for it, or someone who actually specializes in that that either tax law or that strategy but we try to look at it as products at all. We don't address it that way. We look at it as what are we trying to get to and to achieve, and what is the best, most economical way to get there? David Spray No, that that makes a lot of sense and it's great that you have all those capabilities under one umbrella, because I have seen firms that have a heavy planning focus but you know, are so focused on the independence that you know that they won't actually implement the products you know. So then you have to rely on, you know, a kind of a traditional commission, you know driven, you know insurance person, let's say, to do the implementation. And then that can be kind of tricky because you know you don't necessarily want to turn your client over to somebody who might have a, you know, a different, a more aggressive style than you do. So yeah, I think that's great that you just have the ability to really do it all and I think it speaks to that that. What do you call your approach? The 360? Jackie Campbell Yeah, the 360 degree complete planning. David Spray Okay, yeah, no, I can. It seems like a great, a great description for what you do, so talk to. So what I'd like to do now is shift gears. I'm really curious about all you do in the media world. Jackie Campbell You have a podcast, you have a radio show, you've authored a book which came first the radio show, the podcast, the book the radio show actually came first, been doing that for about nine or 10 years now I think it's a little over nine been doing radio in the Tampa Bay area. You know I grew up as someone who was really shy. You know my mom would always say, oh, just have to pull her from behind my skirt because I was always looking for a place to hide. And it's funny how the thing that you're afraid of most when you're younger is how you grow and develop and that's your spot, that you're supposed to be. And you know I think you're never really there. You're always trying to raise the bar a little bit. But I love radio. I had someone that I worked with and they coached me along and really I think helped me find a voice for radio because I come, turns out, I had a lot of things to say. So you know, working with so many individuals and families and my own family and the hard one wisdom that we have it just makes it so natural and easy. And I think being able to actually pull multiple professions together and pull that full 360 together for someone is just to me that's so rewarding because not everybody can see multi-dimensional Aspects. So radio was first. We called our radio show beyond the money. Okay that's because it's really beyond the money. It's about what are you trying to get the freedom to do with your life or your business? What are you trying to grow into? Multiply and freedom of relationships, freedom of purpose those are things that we hear from Dan Sullivan, the founder and strategic coach. And and when you just really focus on you, what are you trying to get the freedom to do, not just the freedom from doing? I think it's a totally different mindset. David Spray Sure, and is your radio show like the weekly show? Jackie Campbell Yeah, we have. We do air the same show on Saturday and on Sunday as well, and then we have Podcasts that came as a result a few years later, and that's the beyond the money podcast. David Spray Okay, so as far as the radio show. So what station is it on and what time is it come? On? Saturday and Sunday. Jackie Campbell Yeah, it's W X, j B, it's a local station and ninety nine point nine here in the Tampa Bay area. But you can't. I mean these days you can access everything all over the year. David Spray And then do you have calls Callers that call in with questions. Is that kind of the format? Jackie Campbell We do not take live calls because you know highly count compliance regulated industry. Oh sure, yeah, we don't do that, but sometimes they will call the radio station and they will leave a question for me to talk about. And I Do a live conversation on Wednesday mornings with the morning DJ just to talk about what's going on in our area and there's any changes and law changes and sort of just kind of finger on the pulse. David Spray Wow, well, that's so, that's great. So that that ended up leading to the podcast, and so how do you view the podcast differently than the radio show? What are the kind of pros and cons of the podcast versus the the radio show? Or is the podcast just a rebroadcast of the radio show? Jackie Campbell It's kind of a combination. We have a little over 250 episodes on our podcast and it's a little bit of combination. Sometimes I have what we call on tour interviews. I've had the pleasure to interview Reba McIntyre, yeah, in Nevada and we talked about mama and the rope and pin and she's he's great. She's just who you see on TV. Who you see on stage is exactly who she is in person. Martina McBride you know quite a few others get the pleasure to go to Nashville here in a few weeks and Interview a few as well. So we do take some celebrity interviews and those are just more on a personal level. And then it could be some professionals that we work with, we collaborate with here in our area and we have them on as guests as well. We have a licensed mental health counselor, because you know Emotions and is certainly all about your financial picture for individuals and business owners, and you know we have a quite a few other professionals that we'll have on from time to time. David Spray Okay, that really sounds great. And then it sounds like the last piece of the media Stool was the bunk. Is that right? Jackie Campbell Yeah, this is something that I've been Thinking about for a while. You know it's. There's a concept called the 90 minute book and I said it took me nine years to actually it's 100%. But you know, sometimes things just happen when they're meant to be and this is just something. It's some of that really hard one wisdom that I was talking about. You know, you don't really know how challenging it is to go through cleaning up Financial records from someone until you experience it up close and personal. And I've seen many families Do things right and I've seen the outcome of that and I've seen them Just have a total mess. Nobody knows where the keys are, literally and for figuratively, you know, for their financial life, and it's just such a stressful time, both you know, emotionally, physically and mentally. And then to try to figure out, put the puzzle together, I came up with a book. I have a what we call a hero package and my wind file came first. That came about eight years ago and that's a document storage system for how to gather all of your important documents and your passwords and you know who are your professional advisors and really what are the succession plan Steps that would need to take place. So sort of giving, like an owner's manual. You know how to run my life Without me if I'm not able to or not here. So just a real gift for your loved ones and your nexa can and your family members. David Spray So I'm curious about that. Talk to me a little bit more. So you talk about the hero file and then you talked about something else when the my, when file. Jackie Campbell WHEN You're having my southern accent sounds not sure which way to say it, but it's my wind file. It's when the time comes right. It's just a really go-to book. You know, we never know what's gonna happen, doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are. Sometimes life just happens, and it's just a really great way to collect all those things, and that was the very start of it. The book that I just released was be prepared, creating peace of mind for you and your loved ones, and it sort of ties it all together ideation behind it, my why, my personal why, and also just some Highlights of you know what to have in your black book or your lockbox, whatever you call it, just just to make it a little bit easier for those that you love and care about the most. David Spray Sure, and I guess the one of the great things about your practice and your comprehensive, you know, 360 degree view of your clients lives Is if the only planning they do is just tell their loved ones to call Jackie, that probably get some, you know, a lot further ahead than they would be if they didn't have a Jackie, right. Jackie Campbell That's exactly the point and so many of my clients have said that. I just told them call this person right here and she will know everything, she will know. And you know, I just got another one of those calls this week from One of my clients. You know both. Both the parents Happen to be sick and not doing well and the kids came in from out of state and of course they knew Call Jackie Campbell and she'll be able to help you navigate through some of these things and work along with the attorney. And you just never know when that time is going to come. And that's I take that as an honor to be able to do that. Another long-term client just passed away a few weeks ago, very, quite young, and you know the family is. You know we're actually going to be meeting in a few days here and going through some things. But you know I really value the relationships that I'm able to build with my clients and I think they're often at a much deeper level Because of the trust and because of going the extra step to. You know, beyond the money, not just how much money do you have, how to invest it, where to put it, do you have life insurance? Do you have your estate documents on order? Are you in compliance with the IRS? It's just really about thinking at a much more personal level with them and kind of always looking and planning ahead, because not everyone has that skill and ability. David Spray Well, it's a good thing that that you're a big fan of strategic coach and Dan Sullivan's Approach to life, because it doesn't sound like you're going to be able to retire anytime soon. It sounds like there's too many families depending on on you to just be able to just Decide you're done and just just appear tomorrow. Is that a fair assumption? Jackie Campbell That's a fair assumption. Yes, as long as you love what you're doing, you know there's really no reason to stop. It's truly about I. That's one thing I learned from Dan Sullivan is, you know, having whatever you're doing, your life is short and really enjoy what you're doing and have a purpose for what you're doing. And you know, compliance wasn't my thing. I mean I could do it. I started at a very young age and, you know, before Computers even did the tax returns for you. So you really learn the way with the pencil and the eraser, you know, as the numbers carried page to page. But Just being able to go that, that higher level, I just really Am blessed that I am able to take my unique abilities and just help somebody else kind of To tie those things up with a bow. I'm a big fan of enjoying life and confetti moments and you know people have this idea or ideal that they want this hallmark type life. And Okay, what do we need to do to work towards that? It's probably never going to be ideal, but enjoy the confetti moments that come along the way and celebrate them, because we don't know how many of those we're gonna have. David Spray There, and what's the example of a confetti moment. I really like that expression. Like graduations, marriages, child or, you know, child being born. Jackie Campbell Yeah, well, those are the big ones, right, and those are the obvious ones that people Think about. They have dinner, they do flowers or balloons or whatever birthday cake. But it's also the smaller ones that come along the way. Maybe you're reaching a goal or a milestone or you're like, if you're a business owner, it's your largest quarter yet, or you've reached and achieved your dream. Check, it could be a lot of different things. Maybe you finally got the right team in place that you're able to take some true free time. It could be a lot of different things that go along. We look for confetti all the time around here. We just had to find the ones that were easier to clean up because, no, we were having a mess. But you know, the last day of tax season, our staff is real, our team is just Loves the throw in the confetti. This year we celebrated our 30th year in business and just having that celebration you know, my family was there, team was there, their family and some of our long-term clients and just being able to share the appreciation and the gratitude that we have with them lots of confetti. It's just a lot of fun. David Spray Now, that's awesome, you'd mentioned your personal. Why, if it's not too personal, what is your personal why? Jackie Campbell That is when my dad was sick. You know you spend our.

On today's episode, Tony chats with 4-time Emmy Award Winning casting director, John Frank Levey. John is known for casting ER, The West Wing, and Shameless to name a few. They chat about the mindset of seeing opportunity in every step of your career, the nuances of your type as an actor, and John's new book Right For the Role: Breakdowns, Breakups, and Breakthroughs From 35 Years of Casting Iconic TV Shows.

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Two kinds of fathers are there.  The one Heavenly, the other earthly.  The Lord of Glory, the Carpenter of Nazareth said: “I AND THE FATHER ARE ONE.” What a claim.Blasphemy by a human being if it were not true.  But they were ONE, and the carpenter from Nazareth told us in unequivocal terms that the CREATOR OF THIS UNIVERSE AND OUR EARTH was indeed among so many other things a: FATHER To Him and to us.For otherwise, this Creator would be completely unknown, incapable of being known by us, but HE is. And, the Supreme Creator loves us and cares for us.  To me that is a thought incomprehensible were it not for: HIM Our Lord Jesus Christ took something remote, obscure and unfathomable and made it known, personal, deeply meaningful and loving so that we, the creatures of His creation, could understand who we are, why we are, and what we should believe. We are to understand and believe said Jesus, that there is for us an ETERNAL FATHER and not merely a cosmic Creator.  We are known as individuals, as sons and daughters by this Father, and we are not mere specks in the universe or dust in the wind.  We have meaning.  We are in fact SONS AND DAUGHTERS of this Father having claimed our inheritance as such through the SON Jesus Christ.  Hard to comprehend but true.We are also told that God the Father is love.GOD IS LOVE, and that love is the essence of God and so available to us.  Love is the greatest says the Scriptures, more so than faith and hope, and to know that God is love incarnate is just incredible. And we who are fathers should love the very same way.  Even as the eternal Father loves us, so should we love our children.  If a Heavenly Father loves unconditionally, so an earthly father should do the same, love the child unconditionally.  The highest attributes of any earthly father are the embracing, heartfelt and unconditional loving openness to the child even as the Father loves the child: LOVE NEVER FAILS But there is another side of love from our Heavenly Father, a TOUGH LOVE.  That is, love at work which is ready to: DISCIPLINE Love may indeed be meek, warm, gentle and forgiving, kind and open and it should be.But love must also be tough, demanding, disciplined and concerned for all things which are: RIGHT For there are indeed prodigal sons and daughters who go astray.  As such, they honor not the Heavenly Father nor the earthly.Discipline is required, firm and straight.  The rod was used in the old days to accomplish discipline and to carryout punishment.  But that has been taken away.  Discipline today is more on the order of depriving the child of opportunities and pleasures or requiring the child to make up for the wrong and do what is right.Sometimes it works and sometimes not.But fathers can not SPARE THE ROD however the rod is determined for that is a fatherly duty.  No child can grow without discipline for there is nothing worse for a father than a child spoiled and bent upon his own way.Demanding standards, the terms and conditions of sonship, are a father's duty which can not be delegated or ignored.And the Scriptures make it perfectly clear: WHOM THE FATHER LOVES HE CHASTENS Chastening is real love at work.  BY THEIR FRUITS, LOVING DISCIPLINE AT WORK, YE SHALL KNOW THE FATHER AND WHO THE FATHER TRULY IS. The integrity of the father is critical.  Dads must do what they say and dads must say what they mean.  The father must live by the same standards he requires of the child.The father must be consistent in character, live a life with values and without hypocrisy.  Nothing is harder for a child to accept than lectures about right and wrong from a father who lives by neither.  So that, a father does not have to explain or justify the demands.The father does not have to negotiate with the child and in the course of discipline ask the child if it is OK. For it matters not if the child agrees with the father.  If a child respects a loving father, that is all that is required.  So many families seem to have so little respect for each other and rapidly become dysfunctional.  But a true father, a real father is head of household.  He is the one in charge, so say the Scriptures, kind, loving, considerate and respectful of all including and especially the wife-mother, but head of the household nonetheless.  Discharging all of those functions gives the father the right to discipline and demand.  But again, the father has earned that right by the way he lives.  When the son is old and ready for his own life, the ways of the father will be his and the son in turn will perpetuate, carryon those values for his family.  It is so very important for the father to incorporate the son into his life.  To train up the child is to involve the child in the life, the career, the work of the father.  So many sons carry on, inherit and follow the father.  Father and son, or daughter, work together, learn together and the father teaches in practical ways.  What the father holds dear and in which he has invested his life becomes part of the child, a very practical and worthy training for the child.  The child can learn the way of business, work, industry so that like father, the child can be: A WORK MAN OR WOMAN WORTHY OF HIS HIRE That kind of fatherly guidance is so very important and it is the duty of the father to invest the time and effort to train up the child in that way.  And so with hobbies, and fun.  There are games, trips, sports, theater, dining and all manners of wonderful vacation which must be shared by father and child.  Life is difficult and even as there are the demands of work, there must be the pleasures of play.  To laugh and cry together.  To enjoy the joys of this world as God has indicated is our right.  Lasting moments are created in fun and play.Father and child are intimate, or should be.Their dialogue, their caring for each other should be totally open, transparent.  Nothing should be hidden.  The child should have the confidence and the trust in father to openly reveal, discuss hurts, ask questions, confess doubt, challenge beliefs and otherwise make certain that the father fully understands precisely who the child is.  For the child develops independently and individually, a special and unique creation by God, and not merely as the earthly father would have him be.  The answers to questions should come first from the father, not from peers or school but from DAD.  The son should want to talk to father first and be assured that he knows what the father thinks.  They can not always agree but father and son can always be open and honest with each other.That seems so lacking today.There is little communication, virtually no dialogue.  Father's preach and lecture but seldom practice one of the most important attributes of good fathering: LISTENING Really listening.Patiently allowing the child to open the heart, to question, to express love and anger and to know as a child the father will listen and respect.  That more than anything builds character and confidence in the child.Fathers are friends and confidants.The father in the mind of the child is the first GO-TO.  If not, the child seeks FATHER SURROGATES and substitutes.  Today's education can often occur without traditional moral values or the standards of old.  No third party education is a substitute for a father's education.  Children who are fatherless in actuality or spiritually seek comfort, guidance and acceptance from their peers which can often be secular and even with immoral influences.  They are ready to learn and adapt, to be accepted in so many ways different from what the father might believe or want for the child.  The conduct of the child can then become permissive, even unlawful as standards or morality are worn down and compromised.  That fatherless child goes a different way and the father has forsaken the most important duty of fatherhood, training up that child.If you have a child, if you are a biological father, then you must, YOU MUST be a spiritual, loving father as God would have it.  Don't send a child to church.  Take him.Worship with him.  Love together the Lord of Glory.  Study Scripture and pray, together.  Talk about spiritual things for the child is even more interested in what the father thinks and believes than perhaps a pastor. Take time for the child's life, school events, sports.  Be there, lovingly and with respect for the child growing to adult.  Nothing means more than a father BEING THERE.That child is YOU, dad.You can not ignore or deny YOU.The child wants YOU more than anything else.  There came to you that little bundle of joy, your very own son, your very own daughter, YOU IN EVERY WAY!  You are privileged to be a father of that child and he or she should be a clear priority, a first priority.  There will never be better earthly love, nothing comes close, than the love of a father for his child.  However strong the bond, and even if the father-child bond is broken, in some deep primal way, love is always there, or at least the hope of that love.  There is no child, or father however old or hardened who does not feel that way.  What a joy, what a privilege to be a father. Even as an adult, well-educated, perhaps successful, father himself, a son will always seek out a father, for fellowship, for advice, for comfort and caring, and for love.  That never changes.  Even in death, he the father being dead yet speaketh.  All he was and all they were together lives on, it is eternal even as the love of God is eternal.  The words, the deeds, the loving deeds will never be forgotten.  The understanding, the trust and the respect between father and child will never die.  Perhaps a father's proudest moment is when the child, adult and ready, leaves the father and becomes his own man.  That is a biblical requirement, and at that time, the father should be proud, very proud of the INVESTMENT he has made in the child.  For a father can think back, reminisce and remember all of those things which forged the bond, the training, the education and growth of the child, an investment far more valuable than anything financial.  That, says dad, is my son.  That, says dad, is my daughter of whom I am so very proud.He or she was worth everything I gave.The loving bond between father and child will sustain, motivate and guide the child for a lifetime.  It is the earthly component of the Heavenly Father.What a privilege it is to be a father. So, I and my company the Crawford Broadcasting Company salute fathers, real fathers who love, educate, grow and train up their children in the way in which they should go.  You are special, dads like that, very special.  The world needs real fathers now more than ever.  And, what is so wonderful is that it is never too late to be father no matter what has gone before.  Fathering may ebb and flow but the opportunity is always there, always.Never quit, never give up on fathering. So, enjoy your day DAD.  Father's Day can show love and respect for dad one day. But real fathers are honored by their children every day.  For the most priceless thing any child can have is: A LOVING FATHER!

What’s in a name? That is the question of this week’s episode of the “Currently Obsessed” podcast. From choosing nicknames to naming pets to Starbucks name fails, C+D have a laugh about names, personalities, and more. Listen to Episode 113 now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more. Links To Give You Life: Explore the post-apocalyptic world with outcast-turned-warrior Aloy as she discovers the secrets of her past (and the world’s) in “Horizon Zero Dawn” Give your curls volume and personality without crunch or frizz with C’s new favorite hair product Cantu Wave Whip Curling Mousse Make yourself feel better about strangers’ misspellings and mispronunciations of your name with this list of “16 Starbucks Name Fails That Are Sooo Wrong They're Right” For this week’s #AskReddit segment, D asks, “What’s the weirdest thing a guest has done at your house?” while C asks, “What is one thing you tried because of FOMO?” Thanks for listening to another episode of the “Currently Obsessed” podcast! Remember to send in all your obsessions, suggestions, and questions to currentlyobsessedclub@gmail.com and stay in touch between episodes @currentlyobsessedclub. Stay obsessed! Episode Guide: (00:00) Vaccines and hope (05:00) D obsesses over “Horizon Zero Dawn” (13:00) C obsesses over Cantu Wave Whip Curling Mousse (17:00) Names, nicknames, and changing names (26:30) The Baby Boomer Book of Names (30:00) Do you get along with people with your same name? (35:00) What name would people say fits you better than your existing one? (40:00) Naming pets...among other things (52:00) “16 Starbucks Name Fails That Are Sooo Wrong They're Right” (01:01:00) #AskReddit with bathroom mishaps and 15 seconds of fame

Joyce's weekly newsletter: The Herman Trend Alert https://www.hermangroup.com/trend_alert_main.htmlTRANSCRIPTDiane Dayton  0:02  This is Changing the Rules, a podcast about designing the life you want to live, hosted by KC Dempster and Ray Loewe, the luckiest guy in the world.KC Dempster  0:12  Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Changing the Rules. This is KC Dempster. And I'm here in the studio with Ray Loewe. And we have a very interesting guest with us today. And in the interest of not running out of time, I'm going to abbreviate my opening remarks just by saying that we talk about changing the rules, because sometimes the rules that we were given as children don't work for us anymore. And if we're the luckiest people in the world, we have figured that out, and we've learned how to tweak the rules and make them work for us.Ray Loewe  0:44  Yes, and the luckiest people in the world are really good at changing rules. And one of the things that we try and do every week is to feature one of the luckiest people in the world on our show and and when we start with our guest, and let me just introduce her quickly and then we're going to take time for a quick break, KC so you get your break in. How's that? Thank you. So So we start with a wonderful name of Joyce Gioia Now, is there a lot of joy in that name...KC Dempster  1:16  Absolutely, I love itRay Loewe  1:18  Okay, so before we introduce Joyce, let's take a quick break. And we have a couple sponsors. We have to acknowledgeDiane Dayton  1:25  You're listening to Changing the Rules with KC Dempster and Ray Loewe the luckiest guy in the world. We will be right back with more exciting information.KC Dempster  1:34  Welcome back, everybody. And before we jump into our interview with Joyce, I would like to take a minute to thank our sponsors for our Virtual Friends Connection Conference that we had. The first one was Springpoint Choice and their generosity of supporting the conference allowed us to have our participants participants be able to participate for free.  Springpoint Choice is a membership based program for adults aged 55 and older, that offers the option to continue living in their own home protecting income and assets against future long term care costs, and having the additional assurance of quality care when it's needed. So for more information, contact Springpoint Choice at 866-778-3255. Thank you Springpoint Choice. Our second sponsor was Passero's Coffee Roasters, and again, their generosity enabled us to bring our conference to our participants at no cost to them. Passero's Coffee Roasters has three locations in the Philadelphia area. And it's a family run business and has been serving the Philadelphia region for more than 30 years. And in addition to their person to person locations, they roast and sell their own organic coffee beans through an online site. passeroscoffee.com. That's p a s s e r o s coffee.com. Thank you Passero's coffee,Ray Loewe  3:07  and blackdog coffee. That's all it needs to be said. Okay, if you haven't ever had black coffee, you're missing an experience in life.KC Dempster  3:17  I will attest to that. It was the best coffee I've had.Ray Loewe  3:19  Okay, so we're ready now to bring joy to our podcast right? Indeed. Okay, I hope you don't mind my playing on your name, but it's just such a wonderful name. You know,Joyce Gioia  3:32  not at all. Not at all. I chose that name. Not only did I choose it in in choosing my, my husband at the time, but then when he was no longer appropriate to be in my life. I kept the name.Ray Loewe  3:51  Oh, wow. Okay. So, Joyce is a futurist and KC just share with us a little bit of her background. We'll bring most of it out when we talk to herKC Dempster  4:07  right well, Joyce started her first business so she's an entrepreneur at the tender age of 14 when she founded Jack and Jill Parties for children. She went on to be a magazine publisher. She is a strategic business futurist and certified management consultant and has been named one of the top 50 women futurists in the world by Forbes magazine. This word futurist keeps coming up and I can't wait to to expand on that. Joyce has written three best selling books. She has given TED talks and you know I could go on and on there's a very extensive intro but I'd rather get started talking withRay Loewe  4:49  Yeah, so take it away. So So Joyce what is a futuristJoyce Gioia  4:55  a futurist is a person and and people ask me that all the time. And I work with organizations and individuals so that they can make better decisions by and be able to reduce risk and therefore and innovate, and therefore drive more bottom line profit. In other words, I help people and organizations to be more successfulKC Dempster  5:22  by predicting the futureJoyce Gioia  5:25  forecasts.Ray Loewe  5:28  So, soJoyce Gioia  5:29  We do not use the world predict,,,future. I joke that it doesn't give us enough wiggle room. That's true. In forecasting, we, we typically offer a range of futures and multiple futures to our clients, not just one.Ray Loewe  5:49  Well, you know, it's really interesting because you, you really work off of business, and you just have to have a pulse for what's going on. It's not a crystal ball, but it's unless you consider data, a crystal ball wrapped up in a nice way of some kind.Joyce Gioia  6:05  Very good point Ray. Very good point, most people don't realize that.Ray Loewe  6:10  But, but you know, you did something for me right? After we had kind of a pre interview, we talked for a few minutes, you and I were talking about how much we like to travel and and how much travel has been dumped upon these days. Okay. And one of the first things that you shot me after that was an email. And the email was about this surface coating that the airlines, I think was American, yeah. And they talk for a minute about that, because that's very typical of the kind of data that you search for, in order to help pull the trends together of what's going to happen.Joyce Gioia  6:45  Yes, it is, I, I do what we call scan, probably 80 or so different publications every week. And I have, you know, there are some of the the services that I sign up for as well, which do look at multiple, multiple different publications and distributions, hard to know what whether you call an easy publication, right, because there's no ink on paper, but, but I scan a lot I look at, I look at a lot of different things that are on the World Wide Web, in order to, to then bring together I do what I call connecting the dots. And I'll see something going on over there and something going on over here. And something going on way out there, which is what we call a weak signal. And I'll bring it together. And I'll say, okay, from what I can see the world is going in that direction. And in that article was very interesting, in terms of the pandemic fostering innovations that we didn't have before, right, so there's software and there's new there, there are new, there's new hardware, there are new things that make our lives safer. And this will continue to happen because Sadly, this pandemic is only the beginning. We are in for and this is in my coming new normal thing, I believe, a series of epidemics and pandemics, the question is, will we respond very quickly. And it's that responding quickly, that keeps the diseases from getting out of control. And that's what did not happen here in the US sadly, in regards to COVID-19Ray Loewe  9:04  you know, we need a wake up call every once in a while and and I think one of the things that you see all the time, is that in every adverse adversarial situation, good stuff comes out, you know, we have to put up with the bad stuff. But we learn and we grow and new things come out. And so it's it's both an exciting and a sad time to live. I think.Joyce Gioia  9:32  I couldn't agree with you more. It's exciting. It's and it's challenging for many of us who are like Well, I'm speaking personally because I'm accustomed to being on airplanes a lot of the time as USA Today's first and only Road Warrior of the year. I travel a lot and I'm accustomed to seeing new cultures and interacting with new people who speak different languages and learning a little bit of their language so that I can communicate with them on their level and build relationships easily. And I'm really missing that. And so I may be actually in October, getting getting on an airplane and traveling to Armenia. Oh, so, yes, it's, I would be representing the Institute of Management Consultants for the United States as their ambassador to something called the Constantinos Awards. And they are awards for the most significant consulting work in the world, huh. Pretty impressive.Ray Loewe  11:00  Yeah. Well, you you have a trail of those. I think you started out with your Jack and Jill Parties, you know, at age 14, so you are an entrepreneurs, entrepreneur. You you were one of the youngest magazine publishers ever Okay,Joyce Gioia  11:19  I doubled advertising revenues five years in a row. Yeah.Ray Loewe  11:21  So So how does one take all of this and decide to become a futurist?Joyce Gioia  11:28  Well, that actually started back when I was the publisher of the magazine. And I was reading Kiplinger and other publications, and sharing some of that Intel, with my clients who were the US presidents of Japanese companies. And they were just blown away. And that's, in part how I was able to be so successful. But I also did it by helping them to help their clients, which was not unknown, but it was pretty innovative at that time. So in other words, I would show up at their, at their booths at the Consumer Electronics Show. And I would have with me a stack of pre publication reprints, which then would help them to sell those production models of their equipment into the dealers. And I learned that if we can help our clients and our customers to sell their clients and customers, boy that makes us irresistible.Ray Loewe  12:52  Yeah, wow. So tell me a minute about you, you know, write a weekly publication, and it goes on to a whole lot of people. And it's called the Herman, Trend Alert, right?Unknown Speaker  13:02  It is The Herman Trend Alert goes out to about 29,000 people in 90 countries. I think we're up to 91 now in three languages.Ray Loewe  13:13  And what this shows is, this is a compendium of your thinking, based on the information that you've seen as to where we're going is that well,Joyce Gioia  13:23  I used to cover one trend, every week, one trend 350 words, and then COVID hit. And what I felt like was that people needed a trusted source for really solid information about COVID. And so I started writing about testing and the differences between the tests and the value that the tests really had. I started writing about vaccination, and contact tracing and all of the things that I felt people needed, I believe that people needed to know in order to feel secure and hopeful. Well, this this week, and it'll be coming out tomorrow is about Normal. 2.0. And I say Normal 2.0 not the New normal.Ray Loewe  14:18  Thank you. I don't believeJoyce Gioia  14:21  that we're going back to anything, right. We're going forward to something new. It's a new version of the normal and that's why I call it Normal. 2.0KC Dempster  14:33  right. You know, it's interesting this morning, when I was driving down to the studio, I I turned on the radio and came in on the end of a commercial and I don't even know necessarily what the product was, but the tagline was, don't bounce back. Bounce forward. Great. Yes. So you can use that.Joyce Gioia  14:53  And I'm gonna use I probably will,Ray Loewe  14:55  and I'm gonna use Normal 2.0 because I'm so tired of this new normal. I think you're right. Things are gonna change. And they have changed already. And well, they always change in a way. Right on. SoJoyce Gioia  15:09  it was Descartes who said the only thing constant is change?Ray Loewe  15:13  That's true. Yeah. And and you have, you have some insight, and maybe you can take a few minutes and talk a little bit about it. So we got hit with this pandemic, and all of a sudden, everything shut down. And well, maybe it's not all shut down, because we have these pockets of people emerging. And I don't know about you, but I have this, this great urge to burst out of my house, and I'm over Zoom. I've been on so many Zoom meetings. And, and, but, you know, prudence comes into play, you know, you got to not do stupid things. So what do you?Joyce Gioia  15:49  Oh, yes, most definitely very true.Ray Loewe  15:52  What do you think is happening and give us some sense of as individuals particularly, what are some of the things we ought to be looking for, and maybe some of the things that we had to pull into our lives to make sure that it's going to make us safer and more comfortable, and, and allow us to explore life?Joyce Gioia  16:10  Well, I'm going to start with me if I may, with something personal. And that is that I chose to call this, this pandemic and opportunity. And instead of the COVID, 20, I've actually reduced my weight at this point by 18 pounds. From the time that I got back from this, I was the clinical professor for leadership and innovation. So I was on a four month voyage last fall, teaching college students aboard Semester at Sea. It was one of the probably one of the highlights of my life, including side trips to go camel riding in the desert and, and I went snorkeling in the Galapagos. And it was just it was, it was an incredible experience. But anyway, I came back with not surprising, an extra amount of weight, it wasn't 18 pounds, but I came back with an extra amount of weight. And so I started with an exercise regimen. And then I discovered that one of the people who works for my cardiologist is a is an exercise, physiologist, technician. And so he helped me to learn that I would get rid of more weight, if I aimed to keep my exercise and I wear an Apple Watch. That was at my fat burning weight. So 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes in the evening, I work on and it's always more than that. But I work to keep everything within the fat burning range. And I've also stopped eating dairy. I've reduced the oil in my life. And I've, for the most part, become vegetarian with a little bit vegan with a little bit of pescatarian thrown in.KC Dempster  18:29  Okay.Ray Loewe  18:30  Okay. But But the point isJoyce Gioia  18:33  that that makes Imagine if you picked up a sack of flour, or sand or something that weighed 18 pounds, right? And you tried to carry that around, you wouldn't be able to carry it around very long, I don't think without getting tired. So imagine not having that extra weight. And how much more energy that gives us? So, I would urge people to and by the way, what I used is the most remarkable, I used a free app on my cell phone called 30 days to fitness.Ray Loewe  19:16  So So what you're telling us is that attitude has a lot to do with how we face the future here. And and I think pick out Don't waste the time, right? No, this is one of the things I'm worried about most I'm 78 years old, you know, and, and I feel healthy. And I'm looking I'm not thinking about a terminal end over here. I'm thinking about what I can do in the next 40 years of my life. But what I'm missing, but I'm missing a year here, okay? Unless I do something like you're suggesting. And if we're going to be facing a pandemic kind of thing if we're going to have this in our future. You know, how do we turn it into positives and I think that's your message for us. Isn't it?Joyce Gioia  20:00  It is it is exactly. And, and sadly, I, my husband is one of those people with underlying conditions. And with and, and I just won't let him do the grocery shopping, which he loved to do. And I let him go and get gas for me.Ray Loewe  20:24  But he's got to walk down to get it right.Joyce Gioia  20:28  Oh, and he's gotten on a regimen as well. He's walking a mile a day every morning. So, you know, the truth is that we have to do what works for us. Right? For some people, it's dancing and Zumba. For some people, it's what I do on my rest days is I work out with classical stretch with Amanda Esmund White. Because I'm a former dancer. In my in my youth, I was a ballet dancer.Ray Loewe  20:59  Oh, wow. Well, you know, unfortunately, we're at the end of our time. And yeah, we're gonna have to have you come back again and, and feed us some trends in it, because it's a fascinating discussion. And I can certainly see why you are one of the luckiest people in the world.Joyce Gioia  21:18  Ray. And when I you know, when I saw that you were that you had characterized yourself as the luckiest man in the world. I said, Well, I'm certainly the luckiest woman in the world because I do feel blessed. I feel like I am divinely guided. I feel like if as long as I open my, my heart and my mind and listen, that I get great information about what's right for me and where I need to go next.Ray Loewe  21:49  Well, and thank you so much for your insights. And we'll we'll get you back on here in the future. So, KC, what do we got coming up?KC Dempster  21:59  Well, I know that you've got a list of podcast guests that goes out into the next month so I can't wait for the surprise of that because I don't always knowRay Loewe  22:08  and they're exciting okay. And and and they're all like Joyce Gioia over here. You know, with great inspiration and, and great thinking, and this is what's great about my job here. I get to interview people like you and I get excited. I'm not gonna calm down for about two hours now.KC Dempster  22:27  Better than coffee.Ray Loewe  22:28  So So again, thanks. Thanks for being with us. Joyce, Julia, and we'll have your information along with our podcast description so people can find you andJoyce Gioia  22:39  sign up for the Herman trend alert.Ray Loewe  22:41  Yeah, right. And thanks so much for being you and we'll see everybody next week.Diane Dayton  22:47  Thank you for listening to Changing the Rules, a podcast designed to help you live your life the way you want, and give you what you need to make it happen. Join us in two weeks for our next exciting topic on changing the rules with KC Dempster and Ray Loewe the luckiest guy in the world.  

I’LL BE DAMNED – Primal Fear 🤘 L.A. GUNS – Renegades INDRID – Espectro 🤘 ENGST – Mein Problem MOLYBARON ft. Witfield Crane – Twenty Four Hours SEVENDUST – Blood From A Stone DISCIPLE – Kingdom Come OCEANS HILLS – Santa Mónica MONO INC ft. TANZWUT – Right For the Devil EVANESCENCE – Use My Voice I PREVAIL ft DELANEY JANE – Every Time You Leave ESCAPE THE FATE – Walk On MEMOIRA – Shooting Star 🤘 ILLUMISHADE – Muse Of Unknow Forces 🤘 HELION PRIME – Madame Mercury POWER THEROY – Mountain of Death DAVID ELLEFSON – Over Now NIGHT FIENDS ft SAMY ELBANNA – Death Lead The Way DED – Parasite FIT FOR A KING – Annihilation GOSTKID ft MARCUS BISCHOFF – Supernova LAID TO REST – Bureaucrazy PRIMAL INSTINCT – The Mask KATAKLYSM – Underneath The Scars 🏆 WAKE UP FRANKIE – Sixpounder DYING WISH – Innate Thirst Playlist Spotify HUP-36 - SEPTIEMBRE 1 SEMANA https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2QBR4pbpK9DNWh43LiFhue?si=e2CVQReaQsSDlZ4CsqTCKA Horns Up Podcast quiere dar las gracias como siempre a: Adri de Metalskala

I’LL BE DAMNED – Primal Fear 🤘 L.A. GUNS – Renegades INDRID – Espectro 🤘 ENGST – Mein Problem MOLYBARON ft. Witfield Crane – Twenty Four Hours SEVENDUST – Blood From A Stone DISCIPLE – Kingdom Come OCEANS HILLS – Santa Mónica MONO INC ft. TANZWUT – Right For the Devil EVANESCENCE – Use My Voice I PREVAIL ft DELANEY JANE – Every Time You Leave ESCAPE THE FATE – Walk On MEMOIRA – Shooting Star 🤘 ILLUMISHADE – Muse Of Unknow Forces 🤘 HELION PRIME – Madame Mercury POWER THEROY – Mountain of Death DAVID ELLEFSON – Over Now NIGHT FIENDS ft SAMY ELBANNA – Death Lead The Way DED – Parasite FIT FOR A KING – Annihilation GOSTKID ft MARCUS BISCHOFF – Supernova LAID TO REST – Bureaucrazy PRIMAL INSTINCT – The Mask KATAKLYSM – Underneath The Scars 🏆 WAKE UP FRANKIE – Sixpounder DYING WISH – Innate Thirst Playlist Spotify HUP-36 - SEPTIEMBRE 1 SEMANA https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2QBR4pbpK9DNWh43LiFhue?si=e2CVQReaQsSDlZ4CsqTCKA Horns Up Podcast quiere dar las gracias como siempre a: Adri de Metalskala

On this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Smart Podcast, I welcome Susie Gronski on the show to discuss chronic pelvic pain syndrome in men. Dr. Susie Gronski, licensed doctor of physical therapy and board-certified pelvic rehabilitation practitioner, is the author of Pelvic Pain: The Ultimate Cock Block, an international teacher, and the creator of several programs that help men with pelvic pain get their pain-free life back.   In this episode, we discuss: -What is chronic pelvic pain syndrome/chronic prostatitis -Sociocultural barriers unique to men receiving pelvic pain care -Male expectations and reservations during a pelvic health treatment session -Strategies to increase patient self-efficacy -And so much more!   Resources: Susie Gronski Instagram Susie Gronski Facebook Susie Gronski Twitter Treating Male Pelvic Pain Course for healthcare practitioners Pelvic Pain: The Ultimate Cock Block Book In Your Pants Podcast Men's Online DIY program: use code painfree20 for $20 off! One-on-One Intensive Program   A big thank you to Net Health for sponsoring this episode!  Learn more about the Redoc Patient Portal here.       For more information on Susie:  Dr. Susie Gronski is a licensed doctor of physical therapy and a board certified pelvic rehabilitation practitioner. Simply put, she’s the doctor for ‘everything down there.’ Her passion is to make you feel comfortable about taboo subjects like sex and private parts. Social stigmas aren’t her thing. She provides real advice without the medical fluff, sorta' like a friend who knows the lowdown down below.   Dr. Susie is an author and the creator of a unique one-on-on intensive program helping men with pelvic pain become experts in treating themselves. Her enthusiasm for male pelvic health stretches internationally, teaching healthcare providers how to feel more confident serving people with dangly bits.   She’s determined to make sure you know you can get help for: painful ejaculation problems with the joystick discomfort or pain during sex controlling your pee without needing to be embarrassed... So whatever you want to call it, (penis, shlong or ding-dong), if you’ve got a problem ‘down there’, she’s the person to get to know. Dr. Susie is currently in private practice in Asheville, North Carolina specializing in men’s pelvic health.    Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and listen to her podcast, In Your Pants, for expert pelvic health advice without the jargon.    Read the full transcript below: Karen Litzy (00:01): Hi Susie, welcome to the podcast. I'm happy to have you on. And now as the listeners may know, I've had a lot of episodes about pelvic health, pelvic pain, but most of them were centered around female pelvic health and pelvic pain. And today, kind of excited to have you on Susie because today we're going to be talking about chronic pelvic pain in men. And I think this is a topic that is not spoken about a lot. I don't know if it's still considered taboo in many places. We'll talk about that today as we go through this podcast. But before we get into it, can you tell the listeners what is chronic pelvic pain syndrome or chronic prostatitis, which I don't know why I have a hard time saying that word and I'm looking at it and still have a hard time. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. That's my problem, not yours. So go ahead and just give us what is it? Susie Gronski (00:52): Well that's okay about the not able to say the word prostatitis because it is a bit of a misnomer when we're talking about male chronic pelvic pain syndrome. So it's okay. I wish that word wasn't used as frequently anyway to describe what we're going to be talking about. So the official definition that one might read in the literature is that chronic pelvic pain syndrome or chronic prostatitis is having recurring symptoms lasting more than three to six months without a known cause or pathology. And that typically results in sexual health issues, urinary complaints, and obviously a lot of worry to say the least. So that's the official definition of chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Susie Gronski (01:46): Now the NIH or the national Institute of health classifies, I put in bunny quotes here, prostatitis into four categories and briefly those categories are an acute bacteria prostatitis, chronic bacterial prostatitis, chronic non bacterial prostatitis, both inflammatory and non-inflammatory, which is the realm that physical therapist will work in. And then you have a category, interestingly enough, asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis. And I think that's really important to stress that you can have quote unquote inflammation in the prostate, but you still have individuals who are asymptomatic. So when it comes to the word prostatitis and itself to describe male pelvic pain, I think it is a bit of a misnomer because a lot of cases are not bacterial related or infection related. And actually in fact 90 to 95% are not infection related or bacteria related. So I think we need to shift from using prostatitis as the main umbrella term. Susie Gronski (02:52): Because you know, it puts the blame on the prostate when we know that's not the sole cause or what we're dealing with in the long run.   Karen Litzy: Got it. So that, that can be a little confusing for people. Cause I'm assuming if you're a man and you hear that diagnosis prostatitis that that's gotta be kind of unnerving to hear. Right? For one you don't know what it is.   Susie Gronski: Yeah. It's like, well, and I don't want to stereotype, but I think when guys really hear prostate, anything, what's the first thing that might come to mind? Cancer, cancer. Right. And so now you're freaked out like what's wrong with my prostate? Am I going to have cancer? We know it's highly prevalent. And so yeah, I think it is a bit of a misnomer in terms of when you have pain down there especially without a known cause that leaves the fear of, well, they must be dismissing something. Susie Gronski (03:50): There must be something really seriously wrong that the doctors are not just finding.   Karen Litzy: And what are some common symptoms? I know you mentioned a couple in the beginning there, but if you can kind of repeat those common symptoms that people may experience with chronic pelvic pain syndrome and is pain one of them. Yes. Right?   Susie Gronski: Yes. Most often it is a sensation that is not typically pleasurable. It's painful. It may or may not be associated with urinary issues. In general. You'll have any sort of pain or discomfort in the abdominal or genital region. It could even be around the tailbone or even pain with sitting, sitting around, you know, around the sit bones in the groin. It may or may not be associated with sexual function. So for some men they might experience pain after completion or with an erection. Susie Gronski (04:46): They might feel pain with bowel movements. It might be testicular pain. It might be pain between the scrotum and the anus, typically known as the taint area. So there's a lot of overlapping symptoms that one might have. Again, everyone's so unique, but those are some of the common themes that one might hear in the pelvic health world.   Karen Litzy: And so if you're experiencing these symptoms, let's say for more than a month, I mean, will people experiencing these symptoms for, let's say a couple of weeks before they go see a doctor or go to look up their symptoms and see what's going on?   Susie Gronski: I think that varies on the person and their personality in terms of like their health and healthy behavior in terms of men health seeking behavior. We know that when you compare it to, for example, women, they don't tend to kind of seek out the help of doctors as women might do. Susie Gronski (05:50): Right. and I think that's across the board in terms of international standards as well in terms of the seeking behavior, health seeking behavior. I don't think I can have like a, I don't have a stat or factored on that, but I do think that men tend to kind of like watch and see what happens or you know, I think many of us do. Like if you feel something you're like, well that'll just pass. Right? I don't know if I gave an answer that fully. I just know that sometimes people wait and sometimes people go right away cause they're afraid or whatever the case may be. But I do think that the sooner that you can get reassurance for what you're experiencing in term, and I mean reassurance from not just take these antibiotics and come back and see me in six weeks, it should go away. Susie Gronski (06:42): Because that's typically what will happen when a guy will seek help. And I think the main one of the main barriers too is that where does a guy go get help from when something like this happens? Cause for females we have a gynecologist or a woman's doctor, right. But guys, like I know my husband just, he's like, I would have no idea where to even go. Who do I seek for help for this kind of thing. And so I think when we're talking about barriers for seeking help, that's one of them. I just don't know where do I go. And then you'll go to your primary care physician who may or may not be familiar with, you know, chronic pelvic pain or being able to differentiate, you know, whether it's an infection and what tests to do. Susie Gronski (07:26): A lot of times men are given antibiotics without even having diagnostic tests to see if there's an infection, which is unfortunate. And they'll do this for several rounds too. And so I think the longer that happens, the more that we're making the situation worse in terms of, you know, we know we've got microbiome, we'll plan to those pictures. Well it may or may not have been an infection that triggered this. We know the immune system plays a role in chronic pelvic pain. So, you know, I think having a well versed, fuzzy healthcare professional who can really help this person say, Hey, this is what could be happening. We know a multifactorial and multi-modal treatment approaches is very helpful for what you're going through and that, you know, these symptoms shouldn't last forever. Here go see a pelvic therapist if we know that's not happening. Susie Gronski (08:23): And I see guys several years later or years later before they even have an appropriate diagnosis, which I guess brings me to say that chronic pelvic pain syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion. So, before they even come see or get a referral to see and see if they're lucky to get a pelvic health referral, they'll go through a lot of invasive tests. Cystoscopies colonoscopies. I mean, you name it. So I just think that by the time they do get the help, the right care that they need for the issues that they're experiencing, they've gone down a really dark rabbit hole by that point.   Karen Litzy: Yeah, and that's sort of looking at, I mean, it's not that they're healthcare providers are intentionally doing them wrong, right? They just don't know. Right. So we're talking about, I guess this more traditional view of a medical process for men who are coming in. Having these complaints is saying, well, let's check this, this, this, this, this, and this. Like you said, a diagnosis of exclusion. And then years down the road they come to see you and I can't imagine, forget about their physical wellbeing. I can't imagine their mental and emotional wellbeing is doing all right either. And now the pelvic physical therapist has a whole lot of comorbidities to deal with. Susie Gronski (09:21): Absolutely. Absolutely. And with any type of persistent pain, not just chronic pelvic pain syndrome in men, but I think with any type of persistent pain, we really have to be looking at the psychological and sociological aspects of that person's experience. Because at this point now we're dealing with an emotionally driven process versus a purely nociceptive in nature. You know, it may have started that, but now we're dealing with this like this cat yarn, I don't have cats, but a kid, I know they like to play with yarn and you have this big ball of yarn that you're really just taking one strand out at a time to really unravel and everyone is so unique and very different. Susie Gronski (10:30): So yeah, I think that's where we're dropping the ball with getting quality pain care for these individuals. Number one, just getting rid of some of these barriers of a lack of education on the practitioners, you know, perspective of what do I do in this situation? Why do we need to have all these invasive tests done? In my opinion. I don't think we need to do that, but they're really not getting the referral to see qualified, you know, pelvic therapists who can really rule out, you know, biological triggers and even work with the psychological and sociological aspects of that person's experience. Just to, again, calm things down. And to reassure that person that things are going to be okay. And to that extent, I think this would be worth noting as well is some men do not have positive medical experiences in that they're not being validated, often being dismissed. Susie Gronski (11:23): And no one's really actually looking at their genitals. To this day, I still have men say it's all about just finger, finger in the butt, checking out the prostate, and no one's really addressing like, take a look at my testicles, look at my penis, like treat it like any other part of my body. And then you're then that kind of plays into the blame and shame of one's body. And just again, not knowing, no one's really looking at it. I want somebody to look at it to tell me I'm okay. And I think that's really being missed as well in those early encounters with medical providers. I think that's so important.   Karen Litzy: And you know, you had touched on it a few minutes ago talking about not just what we see from a physical standpoint, but a socio cultural standpoint as well. So what are some common barriers that are unique to men from a sociocultural standpoint when receiving care for chronic pelvic pain? Susie Gronski (12:25): Well, the first one that I touched base upon as you said, was having an outlet to get medical care. So there isn't a, you know, male gynecologist per se for men. And so I think just having a lack of that awareness of where does a guy go get help for these types of things. Where would be the best physician, let's say for health urologist or urologist. But that isn't usually the first line of the encounter. It's usually an internist or primary care physician. And sometimes it could be even other healthcare professionals like a massage therapist or a chiropractor, an acupuncturist who's hearing these the symptoms or men feel comfortable enough with the trusted provider that they trust to talk about even what they're going through. Cause I think that brings me into the second, I think barrier is I think if I can say this, the masculine side of culture, right? Susie Gronski (13:33): Like, what should men like mentioned man up and not have these issues and what if something is going on down there? Like, you know, guys aren't really talking about their private parts in the locker room per se. And I speak, again, I'm speaking for the heterosexual male, but like, you know, I think it's just uncomfortable in terms of how the society that we live in to even have that conversation be brought up so that being one of the barriers is just, we're not really talking about sexual health issues and what could go wrong unless it's like, you know, erectile dysfunction. Right?   Karen Litzy: Well, that's all over TV, so you can't miss that one. Right, exactly. Here's a pill for that. We know how to fix that. You know, you got Snoop dog talking about like male enhancement products, Pandora. Yeah. And I think, I think in terms of, you know, what are the conversations that we're having around men's health and really comes down to what's selling and what's not selling, unfortunately. Susie Gronski (14:38): But yeah, I think that that's one of the biggest barriers as well as just we're not talking about it outlets. There are no you know, taking a stand for men's health essentially. And the second thing too, or the third thing is when a guy has pain down there and they look it up on the internet, cause that'll probably the first thing we do. Absolutely dr Google will be first they're there and to get help, everything is women's health, women's pelvic health, a women's clinic, baby and mom, you know, like things like that that are coming up where that in itself is like, wow, this is a quote unquote woman's issue. Why am I having it? What does that mean for me? Because again, guys and everyone, I think unless something is going on down there, like we really don't talk about our pelvises or how things work and we're not taught, we're not really taught about like you know, what to expect and how things work and that you have actually pelvic muscles down there. Susie Gronski (15:39): So until you know, something goes South literally and then you have to like look things up and there's enough of crap out there to scare anybody. And so I think, you know, again, I think Google is helpful but it also can be harmful because we know, we know that anything can really shape someone's prognosis when they're seeking treatment and you have scary forums and you have people talking about how I'm living with this for several years. And then you have this person who's just starting to experience these symptoms, reading through these forums and looking at, you know, it could be cancer or it could be this or that. You know, it's like a life sentence. And that's really scary. And that I think is what part of the picture that takes things from acute to chronic in my opinion.   Karen Litzy (16:48): Yeah. And you know, when people are involved in, and this isn't across the board, but oftentimes in those kinds of forums, it's people are writing about their experiences that have gone wrong, right? Or that you said, I've been experiencing this for years or I tried X, Y, and Z and it was horrible. So when you read those kinds of forums, cause I've gone on those, I think we, you know, a lot of healthcare practitioners should go on some of these forums to see what's being spoken about. But I've gone on them for like chronic neck pain and you're like, Oh my God, goodness. Right. This is, this is frightening. It's really scary. And so I can't even imagine someone going on there who is experiencing, like you said, some of the symptoms that you had mentioned before. Maybe they've been experiencing these symptoms for a couple of years or a couple of weeks and they look on these forums, they're like, Holy crap. Yeah. Like this is what my life is going to be now. Susie Gronski (17:35): Right. I mean that is really scary. Exactly. Exactly. And that we know, doesn't matter what body part we're dealing with, right. Tends to make the situation worse. Yes. Just cause of that. And so I think I'm a huge proponent of, I don't think I am a huge proponent of having good information knowledge. And like I said, reassurance for this group of people to say like, Hey, this isn't forever. This is what you can do about it. We can really work with this. It's more common than you think. And, it happens in this area, just like any other part of our body, you know there's muscles down there, there's nerves down there, there's everyday function that happens, like pooping, having sex, you know, all these things are quite normal. And I think just even experiencing some discomfort down there, just like you would have some back pain once in a blue moon is not, you know, something that needs to be perpetuated I think for many, many years. Susie Gronski (18:41): But I think we're talking about is that it's unfortunate because they will go down a rabbit hole of, well we've checked everything, we've done every scan under the sun and there's nothing that's showing up on scans. I just don't know what else I can do to help you. And then at that point the conversation is, well now it's all in your head and then, and I'm a goner. Like I'm doing. Yes, I'm doomed. Like and then, yeah. You know, when we talk about the interpersonal context of pain for that individual, it's am I going to be able to have a family, you know, if they don't have any, you know, or be in a relationship or to have kids or how about my job, I have to sit for my work. I can't do that. Or what about my sport that I want to play? Susie Gronski (19:27): Does that mean I can't do that anymore. I mean, there's so many like what ifs and uncertainty and that's one of the themes that men will talk about it's this uncertainty, this roller coaster ride of the symptoms that they experiences. It's fine, you know, one week and then it's terrible the other week and they just don't know what to expect because there's no rhyme or reason for it, for their triggers. And that's really, I think that's a really hard mental, yeah. How do I say that? Like a lack of words. It's really hard. Mentally. It is.   Karen Litzy: Yeah. You know, you're absolutely right. And now let's say one of these guys they've been having these symptoms, they've gone to their doctor and miraculously their doctor said you need to go see a pelvic health therapist. Right. Yay. The doctors know what's up. So what are some reservations men might have before seeing that pelvic health therapist? And then we'll talk a little bit from the therapist background point of view after that. But let's talk about the men's point of view first. Susie Gronski (20:26): Yeah. So, the point of views that I'm going to be talking about are actually from the people that I've worked with. So I'm just reiterating or paraphrasing from their experience. But the number one thing is what is it? Cause the doctors aren't really telling them what to expect. So again, they'll go on to Google and they'll find like, you know, this is a woman's health issue and why am I going here? And you know, again that psychological aspects of I guess gender in general of what that means for me as a person. And that experience in itself might be one reservation. Susie Gronski (21:17): Like you know, this is a women's health issue. Like I don't want to go there. And so they might put that off. Which is common as well. I think the second thing is the actual procedure of having internal work or an internal examination. And this is one message I'd like to kind of get across to people is that you don't have to do internal work to get better. And I think there's this huge misunderstanding of like pelvic therapy being like, well, it's all about moving the genitals out of the way and just going for internal work and chasing trigger points. That's not really what it should be an in fact, I think unintentionally of course, I think that's more harm than good because we aren't really asking. Like if you ask the guy in front of you like is this something that you really like? Susie Gronski (22:06): First of all, what would be the purpose of doing internal work? Or even having that assessment, like why are you doing what you're doing? And number two is that in alignment with what that person wants, is that a goal of theirs? Is that functional for them? You know, why are we doing these things? Because we don't want, as for me, I'm speaking for myself, I don't want it to be another person to create medical trauma. I don't want to be that person that says, well this is what you need. When in fact like they're sitting up there on the table, you know, cringing and guarding and tensing. And I think it's funny for me, like it's not funny for the person on the table, but I think when they're pissed we'll say, Oh, you're really tight. You know, you're really tight. Susie Gronski (22:51): It's like, yeah, this is tightest I've ever seen. And I look at me and I'll tell my patients, cause they'll be told that. And I say, well, how did you feel on the table? Were you comfortable with what was going on? And they're like, no, you know, no. And I said, well, no wonder your muscles are tensing. And that would happen with anyone, you know, I'm like, but that doesn't mean that you're broken or that there's something wrong with you. And I think that's the message that's going across, not for every therapist. And I'm not speaking for every therapist, but it's just a theme that I see with men who come into my office who've had therapy in the past. And that's something that I think might be a huge reservation for someone seeking care as well, is having to have an internal assessment done. Susie Gronski (23:36): Although it is common, it doesn't have to happen. And if you're doing an internal, so now let's kind of go into the pelvic health therapist point of view. So this patient comes in, they've had chronic pelvic pain for, we'll say several months and why might you do internal work in or an internal assessment if the patient was okay with it, obviously. So what would a therapist be looking for? So if the person is agreeing to have this done, number one, I think it's, they want to have a thorough evaluation by a professional who works in this field. So that's reassurance. So you would do that because they're asking you to do that, to rule out whatever's putting their mind at ease, right? Again, if that's what they so, so want, I think that's the first thing that we're doing. Susie Gronski (24:35): Number two, if there's like pain with bowel movement or let's say that person's sexual preferences or pleasure has to do with anything anal that would also be applicable in order to just map out areas of tenders, tenderness, and then see if we can change that. So we're not, they're looking for golden nuggets, trigger points. We're there just to see, okay, can we change what you're feeling and can we give that person an experience of, Hey, it doesn't always have to hurt this way. And there are things that we can do to change things and essentially giving them back a sense of control of their own body. But I like to preface that it is a very awesome teaching opportunity for the person because you can say, well, how does it feel when somebody else touches you versus when you try to do this yourself and right then and there during the assessment, I will actually have, we'll compare, I'll say, okay, I want you to touch those areas at home and tell me what you feel. Susie Gronski (25:39): And then I'll say, if it's okay, I'm going to do the same thing and that might be my own individual hand. It might be hand over hand with that person's hand. It just depends on, you know, again, their comfort level. But essentially I'm just there to see if we can change their experience in their body and to prove that you don't have to hurt all the time and that things are changeable. So I love those moments. So that's the reason that I would do any internal work or any external work for that matter, is to see if we can change that person's experience in their body to create more safety and less danger. And so it makes sense. That's what I would do. So yeah, that's essentially why do that and it's not an hour long treatment session of you know, internal work. Susie Gronski (26:31): But, men do appreciate that you take the time to actually talk to them to address their body just like, or this part of their body just like any other part of their body. And that's a theme across every single man that I have worked with. I came into my office, you know, they'll say, I really appreciate how you just worked with me and worked with my intimate parts of my body but just considered it just like any other part of my body, like my nose. And they just felt like the sense of like they can feel vulnerable, they can be safe. They feel heard and validated because somebody is actually taking the time to work with them to ease their essential suffering around what it is they're experiencing.   Karen Litzy: And I think that's really important. And so if you are working with a patient with this diagnosis and they are not comfortable with internal work, cause like you said, you don't have to do it. So what might be some other evaluative procedures you might do as the therapist to help this patient? Like you said, feel more comfortable in their body and get a better sense of understanding of what's happening. Susie Gronski (27:45): So the first thing is really just getting to know their story. So going back to giving them time to talk about what's going on for them. I think for men, having an outlet to be heard is really important because men don't typically kind of talk about these things. So once they know that you are accepting and you're there to offer that space for them to express themselves and the difficulty that they're going through with this, I think that's therapy right there. Just to give them that opportunity. So, having a supportive outlet. And the other thing is just if it's movement related, if it's an activity that they're having difficulty with, for example, sitting as a very common one. I have all sorts of like gadgets and toys in my office and I just bring some playfulness into the conversation. Susie Gronski (28:39): I have them sit on various different surfaces to see what would be something they like would actually explore, you know, again, I'm trying to see if we can violate the expectancy of, well, it always hurts and it's constant. I can't change anything. And so my role is really to see like can we change things and if we can, let's do more of that. So I try to bring a little fun into it. I try to incorporate like the passions, their hobbies that they once had done but have stopped since because of all this happening. Sometimes we don't even do any hands on work or any, even a formal assessment on the first day because we're really going through the story and we're reestablishing a sense of that person, a sense of what that person, who that person is. Because a lot of times you lose who you are. Susie Gronski (29:38): You know, when you have pain, persistent pain, you've gone through something. So life changing. So I think, you know, for me and for that person is establishing, well, what would life look like? What would life look like if this were no longer a problem? Who do you want to get back to being? And so I do vision boards. I'll do some sort of visioning exercise of where we can get to like the why, you know, why is this important for you? What do you want to get back to doing? How do you want to feel in your body? And then that becomes essentially the treatment plan or the plan of care. Anything that we can do to collaborate together in more of a coaching relationship to help you move forward, to attain I guess living in a way that you see yourself living, but also a values based type of approach. Susie Gronski (30:28): In terms of treatment. So I know that was like a mouthful, if it's the Bible, you know, I'm doing a bio-psycho-social approach, but I'm really, really having a being patient centered and patient led and I'm just there guiding them. So for some people it is really more of this, I need to figure out who I am, I need to start doing something. Well we figure that out before we go on the table. Cause there might be a lot of fear with that or they might have had certain traumas associated with, you know, medical experiences that may have had that may be negative. And so there might be a lot of reservation.   Karen Litzy: And I think we as therapists need to recognize that that person might say yes, like yes, that's okay for you to do all these things like with touch. But we should also be responsible of actually paying attention to what their body is doing, what their autonomic nervous system is doing while you're touching them. Because they might say, yes, and I'm guilty of this too. I'll go for a massage and that person's touches firmer than I'd like. And they'll ask me, you know, how's my pressure? And I'll be like, Oh, it's good, it's good. Susie Gronski (31:37): That's my point. Exactly. That's what the person that you're working with is going through the same thing. And I think it takes a sort of a bit of a skill to recognize or to be more mindful of, you know what, this isn't necessary. I noticed that you're sweating a little bit more, that you're tensing up more. I see your facial expressions, what are your eyebrows doing? And then I'll say, you know, we don't have to do this. I don't think this is right. You know, your body is saying one thing and I know you, you know, I know intellectually, yes, they want it. They want to make you happy. They want to please you, they want to make you happy. And I think part of the treatment too is giving them permission. That's self-efficacy, that's giving them a sense of agency to make that decision for themselves. Susie Gronski (32:21): Do I want, you know, I want to be able to say no. You know, and I tell them right off the bat, you know, that may know I have a lot of tools in my toolbox and if we try something where you're willing to try something and it doesn't work for you, just let me know cause there's many other things that we can do and try out. It doesn't have to be this one size fits all, which we know never works. So yeah. Anyway, I guess in the long run it just depends on the person who is sitting in front of me and essentially what they're telling me they need. And they'll actually, I have a very long intake form, but it's more reflective, very open-ended. And so I'll know from that of like what they're telling me. It's just so it's this awesome cause you can see it like they actually write it out. Susie Gronski (33:04): Like this is what I need. So I think is happening. Great. Well I'm going to facilitate this process and we have a conversation around that.   Karen Litzy: Yeah. And I think that's great. And I think it gives the listener, certainly other therapists listening have a better idea as to what a session treating someone, treating a man with chronic pelvic pain might look like. And now you had mentioned self-efficacy and we all know that as physical therapists one of our biggest jobs is to give people a sense of self efficacy and control over their body. So do you have any helpful strategies that you give to your patients for them to increase their self efficacy and to be able to manage their care when you're not there? Susie Gronski (34:02): Hmm. I love that question. So as you know, it probably depends on the person, but everything that we do together in a session, I make sure that they walk away with, well, here's what you can do for yourself. And it's really just a suggestion for them. I really want them to take it to experience it. So for example, I might say, you know, let's do some pleasure hunting. Probably if they've had experiences with you know, having an erection or participating in sexual activity, that was painful. We know that it's like all it takes is one time for things not to work and for things to be bad, to have a bad experience, to be worried about the next time and the next time and the next time. And unfortunately that's really strong for men and their, I guess their penis function, you know? And that's not uncommon to experience when you have pain down there. You know, the last thing you want to do is be like, yeah, I'm ready for sex. You know, it's a threat. Absolutely. and I think it's just educating, educating the person about like, this is completely normal what you're going through and it's common and it's not forever and let's see what we can do to start getting you to feel comfortable in your body again. Susie Gronski (35:05): And so, yeah, I think just having that kind of conversation, not being afraid to ask the questions and then asking them, well, what is it that you'd like to do or start with? Cause there's so many things we can do. What is it that you think is the most important thing to start with onto your recovery? Like I said, it could be sensory integration. So touching one's body, touching oneself and not being afraid and then having a recovery plan or a flare up plan. Cause we know that's common as well. So having some sort of structure around if I experienced this discomfort well what can I do next to help myself in this situation? Whether that's breath work a stretch you know, talking to a friend meditating, whatever it is for that person. Then we kind of put that into a plan to say, okay, next time, you know, if you try this cause you can't really, it's really hard to just, I think applied graded exposure techniques or graded activity to sexual function. Susie Gronski (36:08): Like you know, erections and having an orgasm and you're ejaculating. You can't like stop halfway. Like coming back from like, once you hit that climax, you know, and I think just letting them know that this is the process that happens in your body when you're having an erection and when you're ejaculating and here's what you can do to help yourself post. So, you know, I usually give things like recovery plan, but it's really collaborative with that person cause you know, everyone has their own way of living and their own lifestyle and whether or not it depends under relationship dynamics and sometimes we have to have a conversation around that. And then, you know, if any of those things are kind of coming into play, then we have to reach out to other, you know, a network of team members to help with all those dynamics that might be contributing to that person's experience. Susie Gronski (37:01): So, you know, like sex therapist or couples therapy or, you know, that sort of thing. So it just, you know, again, it depends on the person. So I actually want to do, I do want to make a comment about, you mentioned you know, so what is it that you give to your clients or to your patients? I think the other thing that I want to mention is that for therapists not to be afraid to address the genitals, this is one thing that I think is still common where female therapists will want to I think move male genitalia out of the way and just go to internal work. I think it's really important not to be afraid of, you know, addressing, we're touching a testicle or touching their penis. Because for them it's really important that you're doing that and then you're showing them what exactly, you know, showing them techniques or sensory integration techniques that you can do that they can do for themselves. Susie Gronski (38:03): So you don't have to do things. You're just showing them and then you're saying like, this is all completely normal or you know, or this is what we can work on. And having them experience, have an experience in their own body that's completely not sexually related at all. But I think as female therapists, we're afraid of like, well what if they have an erection right in front of me? You know, or like, and that's happened. You know, that does happen. I think that's one of the reservations is like, and speaking of reservations for the guy on the table, they're also afraid, maybe more so than you, that they're going to have an erection. Oh my gosh. You know, and then I always, I'm very candid about that too. I'm like, you know, we're touching parts of your body that have nerves and sense things and physiological reaction may occur. Susie Gronski (38:47): No big deal. If you need some time to yourself, I'll walk out of the room, you know? But you kind of address it before they even have a question about it. To put things at ease. So, sorry, I went on a tangent with that. Karen Litzy (39:20): I think that's important. That's really important to mention for sure. No, this is great. I mean, what great information. And so if you were to kind of take this conversation from let's say from the point of view of a man suffering from chronic pelvic pain syndrome, what would be your big takeaway for them? Susie Gronski (39:23): Big take away. How can I put this in one sentence? The big takeaway would be that this doesn't have to be forever. Like that this isn't permanent. That if there is something going on down there, don't be afraid to talk about it. I know you may not be surrounded by people who are very candid about talking about poop pee and sex. Like, you know, us as physical pelvic therapists. Anyway, we're so comfortable talking about that, that we forget that people, other people have reservations about talking about private parts. But yeah, not to be afraid to just, you know, reach out to a professional who understands what you're going through and who can relate to you because it doesn't have to be a lifelong sentence and a death sentence per se. Susie Gronski (40:27): You can get help for it and there's help for this. And yeah, I just, I guess that would be the main thing, just making, you know, having support and having that outlet for them to just be themselves and know that they're not alone.   Karen Litzy: And what about to the physical therapist who, let's say you, if you are a pelvic health therapist, you're probably a little bit more informed about this, but what if you're not a pelvic health therapist and someone is coming to you with these symptoms, what advice would you give to them? I mean, outside of, I have some that I could refer you to, who is more well versed in the treatment of this, but what advice would you give to the physical therapist?   Susie Gronski: You might be seeing a patient with chronic pelvic pain syndrome. I think just having more knowledge about what it is and what it isn't just as a practitioner so that you can have a conversation with this person who is experiencing pain because it in fact, you know, if the person you're working with has groin pain or the tailbone pain or sit bone pain, I think just being aware of like, there are other things that might be involved and asking questions, really not being afraid to ask questions. Susie Gronski (41:48): Maybe you put it in your questionnaire. I think there used to be Oswestry used to have a sex question in it. They took it out. So get the original one, keep the original one. But, yeah, just not being afraid to ask those questions and really just asking the person like, you know, I know asking permission without giving advice to, you know, just saying like, you know, I know a little bit about this. It's not within my scope, but how do you feel about having a consultation with a colleague of mine who works with men? Or who works in this field that can really help you out, we can really work together. It really is just opening up the conversation to say, Hey, you know, you're having these symptoms. There's something that we can do about it. Susie Gronski (42:36): It doesn't have to be, you know, it doesn't have to be like, well I don't know what to do for you, you know? Exactly, yeah. I think that's what it is. Like, you know, give them a resource or give them a website. There's so much free stuff out there. Like my website, I have all sorts of like blog posts and many others who work in this field have a lot of great literature on here's some things that you can do to just open up the conversation and what you can do to help yourself. So I think that's really the key. I think for PR professionals who are not pelvic health therapists but working with people who have pelvises that make a difference, you know, and you know they might be coming to you for low back pain but we know that low back pain and pelvic floor dysfunction and pelvic issues are correlated, highly correlated and in fact you know a lot of testicular pain can or can't originate because of low back issues and vice versa because of the connection there. Susie Gronski (43:31): And so just I think just having that conversation with your patients of saying like this is why it's all connected and this is what I think is what else is happening. How do you feel about getting, you know, getting a consult from so-and-so related to this because they might be, that person might be having many other struggles down there but not talking about it. Right. The first and foremost thing to do from a therapeutic perspective is let's have a conversation because we don't know what else might be going on for that person. And we can certainly be that gatekeeper, that liaison that says, Hey, I know I can get you to see so and so to help with these things issues. You don't have to just live with them.   Karen Litzy: Yeah. Great. Great advice. Thank you so much. This was such a good conversation. I think from the standpoint of the therapist and the standpoint of a man maybe experiencing some of these chronic pelvic pain symptoms. Thank you so much. And now last question is one that I ask everyone and that's knowing where you are now in your life and your career, what advice would you give to yourself as a new graduate out of PT school? Susie Gronski (44:52): Oh, that's a good question. Okay. So what advice would I give myself as a new graduate from PT school? Hmm. You don't have to be so serious. I think that would be the advice of knowing that we're humans are all very different and we're built differently. And what we thought was once quote unquote true is always evolving and just use your own experiences to make those determinations. Like you don't always have to be, I don't know, taking word for word when everyone tells you, experience it for yourself and then make that decision. Karen Litzy: Excellent advice. So now let's talk about what you have coming up. So you've got podcasts, books, courses. So tell the audience where they can learn about what you're doing so that they can in turn help their patients or help themselves. Susie Gronski (45:52): Well, thank you for this opportunity to have a shameless plug. Here I am. Well, I'm currently working on the second edition or revised edition of my book, pelvic pain, the ultimate cock block, which is written for, you know, the average Joe who is suffering from pelvic pain. I have a podcast called in your pants that's also on YouTube. And I have several programs support programs for men who are suffering, who suffer from pelvic pain. Some are online DIY programs, others are support programs where myself and a psychologist and sex therapist have collaborated on. And I also have a course that I teach. It's called treating male pelvic pain eight bio-psycho-social approach. So I'm very busy. I have a lots of things go. It's awesome. But where can we find all of it on my website? drSusieg.com. I'm on Instagram @drSusieG. I'm also on Facebook and Twitter. Same handle. Susie Gronski (46:54): Awesome. Yeah, and we'll have the links to everything at podcast.healthywealthysmart.com under this episode. So one click will take you to all of Dr. Susie's really helpful information, whether you're the person living with a chronic pelvic pain syndrome or you're a health practitioner that wants to learn more. So Susie, thanks so much for coming on. This was great and I look forward to your revised book and all the fun stuff that you have coming out. So congrats. And everyone, thanks so much for listening. Have a great couple of days and stay healthy, wealthy, and smart.   Thanks for listening and subscribing to the podcast! Make sure to connect with me on twitter, instagram  and facebook to stay updated on all of the latest!  Show your support for the show by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Have you thought of this? Probably not, listen and grow your business today! Carl is the creator of the 7 Stage Growth method, which has propelled over 75,000 companies worldwide. In this micro-podcast Gould shares actionable, practical tips to grow your business. You're too busy to be reading this, start listening! Read full transcript: Hi everyone, Carl Gould here with your #70secondCEO. Just a little over one minute investment every day for a lifetime of result. Okay. So we're entering a time where there is going to be a lot of good deals out there. All right. Now when we're thinking about buying through acquisition, here's why I'm stressing this so much. Of all the areas of your business the ones that are going to be limited most right now is your sales team. Right? For your operation seems ready to rock and roll. So, if you were to put a whole bunch of clients, client engagements, you know into your operations team. They can handle it. They've got the capacity. So what if we bought some revenue?  We bought somebody else's book of business. This is a way to fill capacity in your operations. Oh, there's a position you've been having trouble filling. Maybe you can buy some talent, maybe that other business has salespeople marketing people, financial people you name it people that would fit very nicely or fill some gaps in your particular office. Like and follow this podcast so you can learn more. My name is Carl Gould and this has been your #70secondCEO.

How do you build a successful eCommerce business that has attracted nearly 5 million visitors in a month? For Jerry Hum, it took a few failures and a couple of stumbles out of the gate with his cofounders before finding the winning combination of users, demand, and products all in one. Jerry is a co-founder and the Executive Chairman of Touch of Modern, a members-only e-commerce website and app focused on selling lifestyle products, fashion, and accessories to men. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Jerry takes us through his early struggles and how he found the secret sauce to making his eCommerce platform one of the most popular among male shoppers. Plus he explains what metrics other eCommerce pros should be looking at, and gives some advice to other entrepreneurs. Key Takeaways: For a multi-brand company, customer retention and lifetime value is the critical metric to look at Build the primary platform where your primary customer prefers to buy Combine marketing engagement and transactional data to prevent high engagement high cost marketing yielding low sales volume --- Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible eCommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce --- Transcript: Stephanie: Hey everyone. This is Stephanie, your host of Up Next In Commerce. Today we have Jerry Hum. The co-founder and executive chairman of Touch Of Modern. Jerry, how's it going? Jerry: Pretty good. How are you? Thanks for- Stephanie: [crosstalk] good. Yeah, how's it going? So you're in a loft right now, right? In SF, living the quarantine life. Jerry: Yeah, in San Francisco. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: Yep. Stephanie: How- Jerry: [crosstalk] for a little longer than most other folks. Stephanie: Yeah. So what's your day look like with being sheltered in place and... I think San Francisco is even stricter than Palo Alto where you guys [inaudible] allowed to do even more than we are. Jerry: Yeah. Well, we actually started preparing for it a little bit earlier actually, just as it was making news headlines and most companies were still up and running. We were planning kind of contingencies and all that planning and seeing how work from home would be like if we had to do it. Luckily we came up with a plan just in time. We actually went into it before even California started making statements about it. So I think we are kind of in a pretty decent groove in terms of keeping the business running smoothly and all that. In terms of a day to day, I'm actually surprised as to maybe how engaged people have remained. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: Being that we have to do it all through technology. I actually started thinking about it, why is it that work from home is almost a little bit easier now than it was in the past. And I think it's because when it's the only option then you just do it. Right? Stephanie: You have to make it work. Jerry: Yeah. It's not like if half the office is doing one thing and then... Or not like half the office. If most of the office is at work and a few people are work from home then it's actually more difficult because the people in the office are like, "Oh, I'll just wait for that person to get in or something." But if this is the only way that every one is communicating then it's actually fairly smooth. Obviously everything takes a little bit more time and all that. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: [inaudible] day is actually longer than usual. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: All things considered, I think it's working pretty well. Stephanie: Good. Yeah. Hopefully it will all come to a close soon. How have you all handled... I mean has there been any struggles, I'm imagining taking photos of your products and things like that? That's probably a very in-person type of thing that [inaudible] people have perspectives on and all want to help. How are you handling things like that with your business that seem pretty hard to do virtually? Jerry: Yeah. So luckily, some of our folks have set-ups at home. Stephanie: Good. Jerry: Yeah. Because usually, photographers, this is not just a job. It's also a passion and a hobby. Right. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: So we've been able to make due... Obviously at a reduced capacity. Yeah. Stephanie: Yeah. Well, good. So maybe that's a good point to dive into what is Touch of Modern. If you were to explain it to the listeners and give us some background. Jerry: Touch of Modern is the only shopping destination that men visit daily. And we offer a [inaudible] mix of remarkable products across all categories and that you can use everyday.This could be anything from a flame thrower you can strap to your wrist, or the newest exercise gadget, or anything in between. Stephanie: Are women allowed? Because I was on there and I was like, "I want to buy some of this stuff." I would buy... Maybe not a flame thrower but there was some good stuff on there that I'm like, "I want this." Jerry: Of course, women are allowed. It's just kind of more... A little bit more of our differentiator. Because most E-commerce sights out there are catered toward women. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: [inaudible] we're not the only one but one of a few that really cater to men. Stephanie: Got it. Yeah. It looks awesome. A lot of the products. I was afraid to hit buys right away. How did you come to create the idea of Touch of Modern? And I think I read it was the third... The third times a charm. That you had done three other things, or two other things before that until you got to Touch of Modern. What was that like? What was that journey like? Jerry: Yeah. I'll give you the long story here, maybe. Stephanie: Good. Jerry: [Four] founders, guys from New York. The business actually was a peer-to-peer experienced market place. And this is kind of similar to what Airbnb has now. Obviously they built that on top of their existing business but we were trying to start from scratch at the time. That was extremely difficult because you're telling folks to change their lifestyle. Right? If you need to suddenly offer a cooking class, that's not a easy thing to do if you don't have the customers for it. Right? Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: Or the time for it. And then we're telling customers to come on this platform and book stuff. But if you don't have the activities, what is there to book? Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: So it becomes this chicken and egg problem. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: It came out of our own need because we were guys from New York, you're kind of looking for interesting things to do all the time, just in the city. Right? The second business was called Raven. Well, the first one was called [Scarra 00:05:24]. I don't know if I mentioned that. Second one was called Raven. That was a slight variation on the first. And that was we took out half of the equation because we realized, double sided marketplace, super hard. Right? Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: We started offering activities that already existed. This could be like hang gliding. This could be sky diving. This could also be day at the spa. Right. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: We also layered on a recommendation algorithm where you could like stuff. And based on your activity, we would offer you a daily feed of different activities and things that were new to discover in your area. We got a lot of engagement out of that. People found really cool things. If you look at my feed versus somebody else's, it would be really different based on what we like. When we looked at it, it was like, oh this is a pretty accurate description of things I'm interested in and my hobbies and such. Right? Jerry: And that was difficult because people would then discover stuff but they wouldn't actually book it with us. They would just call directly [crosstalk 00:06:29]. Stephanie: Wow. Jerry: What we learned from that was, well, we need reason for people to transact. Right? And we need maybe something to make us relevant for right now. So the second generation of that business was actually arranging events where we built a mobile app as the early days of... Not the iPhone but when apps started getting the more complicated... Better than just the kind of beer pouring app. Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: Those simple things. Right? So we used Geofencing to create this thing where if you went within a certain perimeter of something going on, we would tell you about it. We'll alert you and be like, "Hey, like... Street fair over here or something over there." And that was really cool because there wasn't another app like that. At least that we know of... That we knew of at the time that was doing that. Also at the time, a lot of folks were moving to San Francisco. Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: Probably even more so than they are today. A ton of messages from people saying, "Wow, you're really helping me discover the city. Every weekend we pull this out and, you know, see what's going on." Especially because San Francisco is the type of city that always has something going on. Stephanie: Yeah. Like on the side streets, you're like, "There's a whole festival going on right now." Jerry: Yeah. So that was really cool but again, a lot of these things were free. So it wasn't there wasn't a real business model there. There's just a ton of engagement. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). It seems like you guys are kind of ahead of your time with that. Because even when I'm hearing about that now, I'm like, oh, if you would have kept going with that one, Airbnb probably would have acquired you. Jerry: Yeah. Right. Stephanie: Oh, if you kept going with the Geofencing thing, Google would acquired you because I worked for Google Maps before this. Jerry: Oh, yeah. Stephanie: They're still trying to figure out how to show you where the festivals are, where the farmers markets are based on your location. So maybe you guys are just ahead of your time with everything. Jerry: Maybe. That would be the positive view of it. So I think the lesson we learned from that was... Incredibly hard to scale location based things. because you could sell out all the tickets to this one show or a certain percentage of it but there's unlimited margin and you're constricted by the location and therefore we couldn't justify the kind of business mechanics that were necessary to actually make that sustainable. I mean, it raised a ton of money. Right? And so this isn't going to get like... Where it wasn't like, hey, we're going to get to a billion people and then it's going to work. It's not like that. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: So we were like, what were we good at and what were we not good at? We were really good at getting people engaged. Really good at discovery aspect of things. We just needed something more scalable to be the thing that we featured. And realized that, hey, products... You get scale with products. Right? Mass distribution and all that. There's real margin there because that's kind of built into the modal that [inaudible] already exists. Jerry: We had always kind of liked products, just as the people that we were. But we didn't want to touch it because we didn't want to deal with real world problems of moving things around, shipping, [crosstalk 00:09:46]- Stephanie: Yeah. Logistics. Jerry: Yeah. Logistics. Right? After going through the struggles of the first two business, we realized that things are not really... It's not rocket science. Right? This has been done. We started thinking about what kind of unique angle we could take at it. I remember we were in the living room and we're talking about speakers for some reason and who made the best speakers. Dennis had his idea. Jon had his idea. And then Steven, who's real audio files, was like, no, these are the best speakers. He knew all these brands that we didn't even know about. We knew the mass market brands but not the kind of stuff that he was into. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: He had all this knowledge. Okay, you win that debate. Right? And we realized that we have this thing that we geek out on. Right? Jon was really into cooking and he had these really expensive knives that he would keep in this [inaudible] that he would have to take out and show us. Dennis was really into outdoor activities and all the gear that's associated with that. I use to be an architect when I was in New York so I spent way too much money on furniture. So that was my thing. Right? And so everyone had our own thing. No one out there was catering to this desire or whatever it was that ties all these things together. Right? Jerry: So we just started sourcing things that we thought were cool. Hey, if we think it's cool, other people are going to think it's cool too. Right? It wasn't like a men thing. It wasn't even necessarily a discovery thing. It was just these were the things that we thought were cool. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: Through that process, right away it kind of hit in a way that the other two businesses did not hit at all in two years. Right? Where day one we started getting real transactions and kind of buying activity. Right? Stephanie: How? How did you get buying on day one? How did people even find your website or know where to go? Jerry: We did not even have a website on the very first day. We actually... What happened was Dennis, who ran marketing, would just start running ads and would go to a landing- Stephanie: Okay. Facebook? Jerry: Yeah. Stephanie: Or what kind of ads? Okay. Jerry: Facebook. Earlier in the days of Facebook too. I think a lot of what we did, now, can't be exactly replicated but there's probably some learnings to take from it. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: So we basically just collected emails and say, "Hey, there's this thing that's coming soon." Right? I think [inaudible] probably remember years ago there was tons of these types of things that are just coming soon and you're like wow [crosstalk 00:12:39]. Stephanie: Yeah. That was the strategy back then of just like just put up a landing page and see if people want that fake product that you could create. I remember books where they would suggest that and I'm like, that's a good idea. Jerry: [crosstalk] that is more less of a pit. I mean, we were creating it. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: I'm not talking about like, let's just run ads and see if people like it. We were just building it at the time, that same time we were running ads against it. And basically we had an idea of what that metrics needed to look like in order for a business to work. Right? We just made assumptions down the whole funnel. Right? If we acquire an email for this much, and if this percent of folks convert, and assume a certain order value, and certain repeat rate then this is what our business would look like. Right? Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: And no data for anything outside of what it would cost to acquire an email. Basically, we knew the cost of that. Then we started sourcing products and building the website behind it. Then we just went down the funnel and firmed our assumptions. Sometimes they were better and sometimes they were just different. We kind of just proved it out from the top down. Stephanie: Got it. That's really cool. Has it always been a member's only platform? Has there ever been a time where people could just go to the website, the app, and just see the products without inputting their email? Jerry: Yeah. So, we require folks to input the email for the upfront reason that we are talking to... And this is also maybe one of our differentiators, is that we are not a clearance channel per se. We talk to vendors who have products that are new to market. Right? So they may have endeavors to go to traditional retail or something else, and they may not want their prices shown necessarily to everybody. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: So that's one [inaudible] been the case. Stephanie: Got it. Okay. Cool. So when I was looking at your catalog and just seeing everything that you have, how do you go about curating something like that? I mean, it sounds easy in the early days of, oh, so and so likes knives so he pulled in his favorite knives. But I saw how many products you have on that page. Maybe it's like... How many a day do you release? Jerry: It's about 300 a day. It's quite a bit. Stephanie: How do you find 300, even a month, cool products that are so unique like that and keep up the level of quality that's on there? Jerry: We have a team of about 30 or so folks on the sources and buying team and they're out just looking for what's cool and unique. And obviously we have our standards and things that we look for and they just go out and try to find things that meet those standards. And they also try to find things that are... that we've just never seen or heard of before. Right? Then we bring it back, it goes through an approval process, and then we put it up and run it. It's fairly simple. Stephanie: Does it still go through you to approve of every single product? Jerry: Not every single product. Stephanie: No. Jerry: In the early days it was and now we have a team of folks that can do it. Stephanie: Got it. And you also have an app that people can buy from. Is it the same functionality? Does the website mimic the app or how did you think about expanding to mobile? Jerry: It's mostly the same functionality. We expanded to mobile fairly early on. Like I said, our previous companies were... We were already experimenting with mobile back then. I don't think we had one on Scarra but Raven, we definitely did. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: That was a core part of it. So we went to mobile pretty early on and I don't think we knew this per se, but it was interesting because men tend to be more comfortable buying on mobile too. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: And maybe that influenced part of our strategy or vice versa. It seems to actually be the more popular platform for us. Both in terms of actual use engagement and revenue as well. Stephanie: Okay. And do you see different customer profiles when it comes to the mobile user versus the website users? And do you cater to them differently based on that? Or personalize things different? Jerry: No. The experiences are pretty congruent on both sides. The mobile users tend to have a little bit of a higher value. But that could also be because you kind of have to self select into mobile. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: You go on to the website and then you're all, hey, we're really into it. And then you go on the app. Right? Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: It's kind of hard to say what's [inaudible 00:17:21]. Stephanie: Go it. Very cool. So in the early days you were doing Facebook ads. And I think I read that you were doing TV ads as well at a certain point. How has your marketing strategy evolved over... since you started? Jerry: Yeah. So in the early days of Facebook it was like a wild, wild west. Right. Big brands weren't really on it. So it was a great time for companies like us. And this is why I say a lot of it can't really be replicated today exactly the same way we did it back then. So when a lot of competition started moving in, in order to compete, we kept broadening our category just... I mean, just becoming a stronger business. Right? Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: So it would be a lot harder to start with just a handful of products the same way we did. When we started, I think we launched with 12 products and that was it. It was like 12 individual products, not twelve vendors, just 12 [inaudible] things you could buy. Right? Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: That was enough to make it work. Probably impossible now to do that. As the business grew we could support more channels. We went into Google and then eventually got to the size where we can actually start experimenting with TV. I think also, TV has evolved over time as well because of visual advertising. Because so many brands see the benefits of digital advertising. You can track things and kind of go after a more specific audiences. That TV now kind of has changed to have some of those properties as well. So we use them both kind of together and they enhance each other. You can tell when, if you're spending too much on TV and not enough on digital, then TV starts to suffer. If you spend too much on digital and not enough on TV then the opposite happens. Stephanie: Got it. How do you find that ROI of the campaigns? Then decide, okay let's scale back on TV and increase mobile ads or something. What metrics are you looking for? Jerry: We actually have the exact same metrics on TV as we do on digital. Right? And this is just... cost acquired customer and lifetime value and all that. The way we track it is now you can know exactly when your spot airs and basically we have a baseline of traffic that we know that, hey, if nothing is airing, this is what are organic traffic looks like. Right. So when we air a spot, we can see that spike. We do a [inaudible] analysis to say this much of the traffic following that airing is probably through the TV. Stephanie: Got it. Okay. Very cool. So when it comes to metrics, when you think about E-commerce, what metrics do you think are most important to keep track of? Or how do you define success when it comes to E-commerce? Jerry: Yeah. There's a ton of stuff. I mean, it really depends... It depends a lot on what kind of product you're selling. Right? I'll give you two extremes. One extreme is like us, and for us we are a multi-brand retailer. Right? You can buy a number of things and also we change our selection everyday. So you can keep coming back to keep buying different things. Right? Jerry: So what's important to us is lifetime value and retention. Right? How fast do you break even on the cost to acquire a customer? At the end of the day, that's kind of like the most basic thing for any kind of company in our space. But the products that you're selling may influence how you look at it. Right? If you're selling cars or mattresses or something that you just don't buy very often, then you may think about it very differently because it's just not feasible to thing that the retention rate is going to be nearly what ours is. Right. Or at least not be frequent enough for you to be able to plan your marketing spin around. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Go it. How do you keep your customers... How do you retain them and keep them coming back? Versus acquiring new customers. How do you think about that mix? Jerry: I mean, you always have to acquire new customers. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: I think [inaudible] is just like a natural part of business. You can't deny that it's there. Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: [inaudible] you can be great but there's going to be some folks that it's not for. Right? It's not like 100 percent of your folks are going to stay with you forever. Even the folks that do eventually they may change taste or things like that may happen. So in terms of splits, I think that also varies on performance for us. For us we care about kind of a payback on the spend that we're doing and pending on where we see better performances kind of where we'll weight it. And also kind of seasonally because I would say for retail there's holiday season and all that, you may want to do one thing versus another. But that's going to be really specific to the kind of company that you're running. Stephanie: Yeah. So when it comes to changes in spending pattern, what have you seen with everything from COVID-19 going on? Like what kind of differences? I saw you have a... I think a stay-at-home section or something similar like that. Shelter in place, on your website. How have you seen things change since that started? Jerry: People's priorities definitely change very quickly. Luckily for us because we can change our assortment everyday, we were actually able to adapt really quickly. We got that store up from... From when we said we were going to do it to when it was up was a matter of... Like the morning to that afternoon. Stephanie: That's impressive. How did you line up all the vendors? I mean, to me that's like a long process of picking the vendors and picking out the product and making sure they can ship enough, depending on demand. How did you get all that lined up so quickly? Jerry: The thing is... I mean, when this first started happening especially. And we need to agree now still, it seemed as if time had just sped up suddenly. Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: Things that would take an entire quarter could happen now in like a day. Right? Stephanie: Yeah. It has to. Jerry: Everyone was wondering what would be different? All of our vendors, suddenly their retail channels dried up. Right? And they had to move things around. So we just called them up and said, "Hey, this is what we're doing." Obviously most of the folks that were on there, day one, were folks we've worked with already in the past. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: Or coincidentally we were talking to and hey, this fits, kind of thing. Right? It was tapping existing relationships. And parallel, the design and engineering teams were building up the store. We were using some existing infrastructure that we could repurpose and re-skin for the store. It was an amazing feeling. I didn't think we were going to do it in a day but it happened. Stephanie: Yeah. And are you changing that catalog? Like each day or week or... Jerry: [crosstalk] as well. Mm-hmm (affirmative). Stephanie: Got it. Does it... How do you think now your company is going to change based on now you know how quick things can move if it has to? Jerry: Yeah. Stephanie: Do you think that your internal policies and all that stuff could change going forward based on how quickly you can see thing go through? And maybe seeing things aren't a priority or approval for certain things might not be as high priority as you thought they were or... What's your view on that? Jerry: Yeah. I mean, in terms of policies first... I think in more so than anything it was like validation of a lot of policies that we had in place. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: It was confirmation that we could move quickly. Because we always thought we could. I think that's always been our thing. One of the questions people always ask is how does a company that sells premium products, how does that respond in a recession? Right? This isn't a recession but it's a time when people's priorities are going to shift maybe away from things that were... seems more frivolous to things that are now more essential. Right? For us, we always said, well you know, we can respond quickly but it's never been proven. And now it's been proven to an extent that we can respond quickly. And we can move to things that are more essential. It's still essential with a twist. Right? Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: It's still within our brand. And it's going to bring a bit of uniqueness and delight into people's lives that are staying at home. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: I think it's validation that the modal can move quickly. The way we thought. And that our brand can extend to the different categories. And address people's needs as they change. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Do you think these buying behaviors are going to last for a while? And if so, are you shifting maybe your thoughts on what Touch of Modern looks like in 2025, 2030? Is it kind of having you re-think things a bit? Jerry: I think that people's buying behaviors will change because I don't think it's going to go back to exactly the way it was. You know. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I agree. Jerry: Yeah. People are going to be much more... And I hope they're going to be much more health conscience. I hope that this introduces some good habits. Right? I think people take a bit of time to reflect and think about things like self improvement. Maybe they didn't have the time to do before because I think some people staying home are going to realize like, "Hey, there's this new hobby that I've always been wanting to do that I can do now." Or, "Maybe I should drink less." Whatever it is that they discover when they change their lifestyle, that there's actually parts of this that are good, that they can take away and keep with them. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Except for the drinking lessening. I think that one's going the wrong way. Jerry: Wait. I don't know. I don't know how some people are- Stephanie: Happy hour time keeps getting earlier and earlier. I'm like, I need to set up rules around this house. Oh my gosh. It's only like two o'clock, what am I doing? Jerry: Well, I mean, another silver lining here is that I think people now have actually seen how quickly the environment can actually improve just with... And in a short period of time. Right? Because in the past I think it always seemed like this insurmountable thing to certain folks where it's like, "Yeah, you know, we can recycle and do this, but we've been doing that for a long time and nothing has really changed. It's actually been getting worse." Right? Jerry: And then suddenly you take a step back and it's like, hey, things change quickly. Right? Stephanie: Yeah. Jerry: So maybe it's not as impossible as we thought. We just have to be deliberate about habits that we have and maybe where we spend our energy. Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah, I think sometimes a little shake up like that can be good for people and the economy. And good things could come from it. Even though there's a lot of bad going on as well. I think, yeah, it depends where you're looking, I guess. So when... Oh, go ahead. Jerry: Yeah, I mean, [inaudible] other wise it's just all bad. Right? Stephanie: Yeah. No, everything can't be all bad. There has to be something good out there. That's what I'm hoping for anyways. So when it comes to outside of Touch of Modern, and more of the E-commerce industry as a whole, what destructions do you see are coming? Especially with COVID-19 now. We're seeing some of that already happening. But what are you betting on in the future... Yeah, coming? Jerry: Well, I'm going to bet probably more on E-commerce. Right? I think people are going to build habits from shopping at home that are not going to go away. Right? I think certain things that maybe people use to only buy in person are like, hey, I can buy this at home. It's actually a pretty decent experience, probably going to keep that habit even after this. And I think people are going to maybe focus a little more on preparedness for things than they have in the past. I think human nature is that you never think that these kind of outlier type of situations can happen, but they do. Be that once... Once in a century, I'd never think about it. But a person lives a long time. Right? Jerry: You may see a once in a century thing in your life. That's probably going to happen for a lot of people. Right? And this is that thing for us. Stephanie: Yeah. Agree. It seems like there's going to be a lot of new people coming online who never were online before. And it brings me to a point I saw on your website that I liked a lot is kind of meeting a consumer where they're at. There's two things I saw on your website that I thought would be perfect for a new consumer who doesn't normally buy online. The first one was you have a toggle button on your homepage that says, "View as." And you're about to actually change how you view products on the page, depending on what you prefer. Stephanie: So I thought that was genius. Any insight behind that? Or any thoughts when you were creating that? Because I haven't seen many websites allow you to toggle that view to what you prefer. Jerry: Yeah. It's just like a preference thing. Right? Our experience on the landing page is we just drop you right into our offering. Right? It's not like a landing page where you then click in and search and do all this other stuff. Mostly E-commerce is catered to search. Right? You just go on the page and automatically thing is you type in what you're looking for. Right? That's not really our experience. It's there but it's kind of secondary. It's mostly a browse and kind of meander your way through our offering. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: We let people maybe pick the way they want to meander. Right? Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). How do people meander through 300 hundred things? Because I was going through and I wanted to look at all of them but after a little I'm like, oh, this is too many. And I kind of wished maybe like... What did I see? There was this screen that extended your screen. So you have your MacBook or something and you plug in a little cord and you have an extension of your screen, which is awesome. Jerry: Yeah. Stephanie: I'm like, that should have been shown to me first because I want to buy that right now. Whereas, what was the second thing? It was showing maybe like an expensive bottle of wine, which I'm like, oh, push that down some because I'm not fancy like that. How do you think about helping people get through these products each day? Jerry: Well, I think your first time experience is going to ne a little bit different than your second and your third time. About almost half of our users, and I'm not talking about customers but just people that visit, will actually come back at least once a week. And so- Stephanie: Wow. Jerry: Yeah. And so if you're doing that and then our most frequent visitors are coming back every single day, then it's not as hard to browse through everything. Because then you can browse through it and then you'll hit a point where, okay, now I'm looking at yesterday's stuff. Right? And so, if you keep up with it everyday then it's not actually a ton of stuff. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: But for your first time, you're looking at all the days that have accumulated in the past five days. And certain events will also extend beyond that. I think the first time experience is like, wow, this is a ton of stuff. And also because you probably want to click through every single thing. Right? Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: But after awhile you're probably just looking for the things that catch your eyes. Or you're just going to scan and be like, okay, that's really cool. That's really cool. But you're not necessarily going to check out every single thing. Right? Stephanie: Yeah. [inaudible] Jerry: Also, on the mobile app, the scrolling screen is just much slicker and smoother too. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: I think you might just browse there. A lot of folks also will tell us that it's just something that they peruse through when they're waiting for something or commercial break or something like that. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). The second thing I saw that I really liked, which I also haven't seen... Maybe I'm just not on enough websites. I don't know. But I was looking through... It was an about shipping section. And it showed a visual of what does your shipping status mean. Jerry: Yeah. Yeah. Stephanie: And it just... It showed everything from like, we place our PO, and than it goes to the supplier, and here's what it means if you see... I don't know the whole... I can't remember the whole layout. But I thought that was genius showing it in a visual format. And I'm sure that probably brings down a lot of customer support emails. But tell me how you all are thinking about giving that transparency to the customer. Jerry: Yeah. Stephanie: And hopefully prevent a million a emails of, hey, where's my product. Jerry: This is another product of our business modal. Or kind of what differentiates us a bit. We sell across all categories. Right? Meaning that we have to be able to accommodate all the categories. So it's not like, a company that just sells furniture ships one way. A company that just sells clothing ships another way. Right? And so their customers go there expecting a certain experience. A company that sells everything needs to ship all the different ways. Right? So a customer might not know exactly what this shipping process is going to look like when you buy something because they may not realize... I mean it's obvious now when I talk about it but if your company goes on a site, you're going to expect shipping experience to be generally consistent. But for us it's like, we're going to ship furniture differently, then we're going to ship clothing differently, and then we're going to ship, you know, this cup, right? Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: And so for us it's just more like informing the customer, this is what's going to happen. This is what it's going to look like. And this is what the different steps mean. For us, we found that more so than anything, they just want to know what's going on. That it's moving and... like internal. Yeah.   Stephanie: How about when it comes to relaying the value of the product? How do you convince someone that something is really good? Because I don't think I saw reviews on the website. Unless I missed them.   How do you... That's usually the first thing I look for. Is it five stars? You know, I want to see if someone has the same kind of experience that I'm looking for. How do you tell someone something's valuable without that? Jerry: Yeah. I mean, a lot of what we do is educating the customer. Right? Because a lot of these things they never heard of, they didn't know it exist. I wish we could say we do an awesome job at it and we provide all these reviewed stuff but... And we vet the product. We'll go and look at the reviews and we'll test the product and all that. But it does take a leap of faith in the first purchase and maybe you get a learned trust after some time, that like we've done the research. Jerry: Because if you go and research these products you're going to find that they're pretty highly regarded. Stephanie: Yep. Which I think actually might be the modal that it's headed is just show me one or two people at your company that I trust to review product, and I trust them. Because a lot of reviews, I mean, at least on other places... Marketplaces and things like that. They're paid reviews. And so you go through and you're like, well, I can't trust 90 percent of these anyways. So I think it is kind of shifting towards just give me the one person that I can trust. Or the one company that I can trust to curate something for me. And I know if it's coming from them, it's going to be quality and good. Stephanie: Are there any big transformations that are going to be on your plate after the environment kind calms down? Or any big projects that you plan on starting or changing within your strategy? Jerry: Yeah. We're working on shipping things a lot quicker. The reason being that a lot of our products do take a little bit longer because we have these various modals that we work with. And we found that when we can ship things more quickly people are generally way more happy and more likely to come back and purchase. Stephanie: Got it. How can you speed up the shipping for... when it's a bunch of different, I'm guessing, retailers who all their own different practices? How can you kind of know that you can speed that up and make it all pretty uniform? Jerry: Consign the product. Right? So they will house it in our warehouse and we essentially act as their distribution center. Stephanie: Oh. Okay, cool. Tell me a little bit about that. Do you have to buy warehouses in different parts of California? Or how is that modal set up? Jerry: Right now our warehouse actually has a good amount of space. And we've actually developed our distribution system to fit with our model, right, which is that we run things in these short spurts. Right? And what's cool about that is that things come in and they go out really quickly so we're not sitting on mountains of inventory. I mean, we're nearly inventory-less. We're very inventory light. We don't actually require that much space to run a lot of products. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: So right now, for the foreseeable future, it's to keep it within our distribution center. It's a long winded way of saying... Stephanie: Okay. Got it. How did you learn to do that? When I even think about shipping products to a warehouse and making sure everything goes well, how did you learn best practices around... Yeah, around all that? Jerry: Yeah. This is interesting because when we first started we were shipping our own products from day one. And so- Stephanie: From your house? Or from where? Jerry: From the house. [inaudible 00:41:45]. Stephanie: That's awesome. Jerry: ... of just tons of boxes in the living room. And then when the FedEx guy came we would... The first day we just piled it in the lobby and our neighbors got really pissed at us for doing that. Stephanie: I can imagine. Jerry: So the second day, we knew when the person was coming and we just did like bucket brigade style where we just passed packages from our living room down to the... Basically we had our four founders there. And we would just pass it down, bucket brigade style, down the stairs as quickly as the guy could load it into the truck. Stephanie: Oh my gosh. Jerry: And then the first day we finally opened the office, we set aside half of it for fulfillment. And the reason why we did that was because we realized our model is just very different than a traditional pick and pack modal, which is what most 3PLs... What's called a third party logistics provider. At least back then, they were mostly doing pick and pack type operations. And it didn't really fit our modal and we realized that at a certain scale we'd have to bring it in house. It's better to learn it now than to try to take it in when it's already at scale and have huge disruptions in customer experience. So basically, we just started doing it at a really small scale and built our operations all custom to that. So our, kind of, back office technology is all custom. Right? So everything ties together and it suits us in a way that... If you went with a just a third party provider, it probably wouldn't work as well. Stephanie: Very cool. Well, definitely have to get that picture from you so you can post it somewhere to show people because that's... Yeah, a really fun story of starting out. Jerry: Yeah. Stephanie: What do you see for new people starting out, building their stores and all that? What is some advise that you give them? Or best practices or things that you did that you're like, don't do that, that actually worked out really bad. Jerry: So this probably goes back to your first question about the two businesses that we had before. We made some classic mistakes. Right? Which is, I think the big one is you build the whole thing and you spend like a year building it and then you think that one day you're going to open and people are just going to come in. Right? Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: Then you start thinking, hey, maybe we just keep tweaking the product and eventually people will come. Right? Really all you're doing is staying busy. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: Because if the demand is not there, it's not going to suddenly show up, almost like the world changes, right? And you would be at the right place at the right time. So it's prove out the demand first. And then when the demand is there, you can take your time with the product. Right? It's like, you don't want to be in a place where you're convincing yourself that the reason you're not succeeding is because the product is not quite right. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: If there's a real need for it you can come out with something that's pretty minimal and just addresses the core need. And it doesn't even have to run perfectly and be totally ironed out. And that will give you enough signal that there's something there that people want. And then you can find it down the road and keep expanding your market to... [inaudible] but this is now more mass market. And so on and so forth. Right? Because the early folks, they want your service, whatever it is, so much that they're going to put up a little bit with you in the early days of like not having it all totally together. Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). [crosstalk] Jerry: And so... Yeah. Yeah. You got to prove out the demand first before you totally refine the product. Stephanie: Cool. And what about when it comes to technology? How do you think about... It sounds like you guys did a lot of just in-house... everything. In-house logistics. In-house website stuff. What would you tell someone right now? Should they try and build things in-house? Or... Yeah, what are your thoughts on that? Jerry: It's easier now to build anything in-house than it use to be. Right? Back then it was actually a little more difficult because a lot of the frameworks that are being used today were really fresh back then. Right? So people weren't learning it in school. They had to teach themselves. There weren't the coding bootcamps back then either. So engineers were still a little bit hard to come by. Now, resources are there and everything. Jerry: We were lucky because we did our own coding in the first versions of the site. It was me and Steven, our CTO. More him than me but we built the early versions of that and didn't hire engineers for a long time. Maybe longer than... we probably should have hired engineers a little bit earlier than we did. But we got by with just two folks building stuff. Right? But you also learn a lot. You are kind of like more intimate with the product, even today, just because we have that history with it. Stephanie: Yep. Jerry: And I think one of the things that's really important to us early on was the data ownership. Right? We don't want to have all these different things talking to each other and not have a clear picture of what's going on. Right? Stephanie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jerry: We don't want any black boxes. There's things that if we don't have access to all the data then we're just going to cut that service and we're going to build it ourselves. Stephanie: Got it. Very cool. Yeah. Great advice. So with a couple minutes left, we're going to move on to... it's called the lightning round. Brought to you by [Sales Force Commerce Cloud 00:47:37]. Sales Force Commerce Cloud. This is when I shoot a question over your way and you have a minute or less to say the first answer that comes to mind. Jerry: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Stephanie: Are you ready? Jerry: Okay. Stephanie: Dun, dun, dun, dun. We'll start with the easy ones first and then we'll end with the harder one. Sound good? Jerry: Yeah. Stephanie: All right. What's up next for dinner? Jerry: Left-over Chinese food. Some more. Stephanie: Yep. What's up next that you're buying from Touch of Modern? Jerry: What am I buying next? Well, I'll have to see what comes up next. It changes everyday so I don't know yet. Stephanie: All right. Well, what did you just buy recently? Or what's your most recent purchase? Jerry: My most recent purchase was, funny enough, it is a cast-iron rice pot from [Le Creuset 00:48:22]. Stephanie: Okay. Have you tried it out yet? Jerry: No, it hasn't gotten here yet. It was very recent. This was probably... couple days ago. Stephanie: Cool. What's up next on Netflix or Hulu queue? Jerry: I actually don't have either. I don't even own [inaudible] TV. I don't watch a whole lot of stuff, actually. Stephanie: Okay. Hey, that's an answer. What's up next in your travel destinations after the environment calms down a bit? Jerry: I think an easy one from California would be Hawaii. I like to go there to relax and it's a relatively short trip. So I like to go there [inaudible 00:49:05]. Yeah. Stephanie: What's your favorite island there? Have you been? Jerry: Yeah. I go to Oahu fairly frequently. I really like Kauai, I've been there once to do a hike. Stephanie: Yeah. That's my favorite island with all the waterfalls there and the crazy hikes that- Jerry: [crosstalk] been to the weeping walls? Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah. Jerry: Yeah. Stephanie: Yep. Oh, yeah. I want to go back though. We were only there for a couple days and I feel like there's so many different hikes and waterfalls and just things to see there. I mean, it's... Yeah, like a jungle. It's awesome. On to the hard question. What's up next for E-commerce pros? Jerry: E-commerce pros. Hmm. Man. What's next for the pros? I think, I mean, it's going to be adapting to the changes in customer behavior that are coming out of this. Whatever that is. I don't have a crystal ball for that one. Stephanie: Got it. Hey, that's an answer. All right, Jerry. Well, this has been a fun interview. For everyone who hasn't gone and checked out Touch of Modern, you should. It has really fun products on there. And yeah, thanks for coming on the show. Jerry: Thanks for having me.    

The Science If Getting Rich By Wallace WattlesThe Science Of Getting Rich By Wallace Wattles focuses heavily on a philosophy that you must give more in value than you are receiving in cash. In The Science Of Getting Rich, Wattles describes how to present this worth and ultimately “get rich” in a series of 10 steps. However, the word rich as it is used here may not be what you’d typically envision. It is important to remember that his breakdown is based on building your value with a focus on growth mindset. This is not a “get rich quick” scheme, but more of a lifestyle. One that will pay off long term.Wallace Wattles QuotesIn this episode, Ken and Ryan review each of these steps and provide a number of extremely valuable Wallace Wattles Quotes. The Science Of Getting Rich is very in line with the mentality that Ken and Ryan were raised on. Always give more than asked of you, and never do it for monetary gain. While they both recommend this book to everyone (especially business owners), it is not for the fixed mindset, but for someone with a growth and abundance mindset. Episode Breakdown –01:56 “Givers Gain” BNI Philosophy03:20 Give More Than You Are Receiving05:00 With This Mentality, Ryan Got Where He Is06:25 Be Creative Not Competitive09:00 Attracting People With Similar Beliefs09:53 Step One – Have A Definite Vision11:30 The Power Of Visualization  14:05 “1-Year From Now” Visualization Activity15:24 Step Two – Be Creative Not Just Competitive18:15 Step Three – Exercise Your Imagination18:41 Step Four – Maintaining Gratitude20:50 Inventory Of What You Have vs. What You Don’t Have23:00 Step Five – 100% Belief23:15 Doubt Breeds Inaction25:26 Step Six – Make Every Day A Success27:28 Step Seven – Getting To A Business That’s Right For you27:40 Step Eight – Do More Than Fill Your Present Place29:30 You Have To Become Overqualified To Advance30:24 Examples Of This Growth With Employees in Our Company35:16 Step Nine – Make Money Now38:12 Knowing How To Charge For Your Value39:24 Step Ten – Give People The Impression Of Increase40:53 Embracing An Abundant Mentality42:43 Not A Get Rich Scheme46:49 We Are All A Result Of Previous Work49:31 How Do You Determine If You Are Being Appreciated?51:20 “I Don’t Believe You Ever Give Less”55:40 Who Should Read This Book?

BE SURE TO SEE THE SHOWNOTES AND LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE. Eve Picker: [00:00:18] Hi there. Thanks so much for joining me today for the latest episode of Impact Real Estate Investing.   [00:00:24] My guest today is Lance Chimka. Lance is the relatively new and extremely energetic director of Allegheny County's Economic Development Department, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has a very contemporary take on what government ought to be doing, and that includes investing in real estate to advance the economy. Lance is building a collaborative team environment, working with developers throughout the county, lending where banks dare not go, always with his eye on economic development growth, and always with the thought of how our region can do better. Learn how Lance and his team are supporting development in a not-quite-market rate environment.   [00:01:11] Be sure to go to EvePicker.com to find out more about Lance 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: [00:01:37] Hi, Lance. I'm really excited for the opportunity to talk to you today.   Lance Chimka: [00:01:41] Pleasure's all mine, Eve. Thank you. I'm honored that you would have me on.   Eve: [00:01:45] We're gonna have a great time.   Lance: [00:01:46] Absolutely. We usually do.   Eve: [00:01:48] In a not a lot of time, you've gone from being an intern at Allegheny County Economic Development to the organization's director. And then you did a few odd jobs in-between. And that's a pretty meteoric rise, wouldn't you say?   Lance: [00:02:06] Ah, yeah. I mean, I guess it has been pretty quick. It sometimes didn't feel that way. But I think the cool thing about that is that whole progression is absolutely vital to some of the stuff I want to get done, now. I wouldn't have changed that course, at all. Like, understanding kind of the daily struggles of interns in my office absolutely directly informs how I work on efficiency measures here, for example. It's been incredible and I've been really lucky to have incredible mentors along the way that have taught me a lot. That was one of my favorite things about public sector work, is it touches so much, that you're able to, you're able to learn.   Eve: [00:02:45] What led you to pursue a life in government service? Was it that first internship that you just liked so much?   Lance: [00:02:52] When I was pursuing an undergrad degree in finance, it was kind of in the boom times, the 2000s, and I didn't want to take that route. Kinda always been a volunteer at heart, and so I joined the Peace Corps, and that was kind of the start of my real public service. And I just kind of knew, I came back to go to CMU and get a policy degree and just kind of always knew, in my heart of hearts, I would always be in some kind of public servant role. Not necessarily in government work, but that's the path that I've chosen to this day, and it's been incredibly rewarding.   Eve: [00:03:27] So, that what drives you, yeah. So, for listeners who haven't connected the dots yet, Lance and I share a hometown, Pittsburgh, and a few decades ago, Pittsburgh was pretty well all but written off. You can listen to my podcast interview with Tom Murphy that I think just went live and you'll get to hear the turnaround mayor talk about where we were then and what it took to shake that image. And that brings me to a statement that I read, that you made, Lance, which was, "we're in economic expansion, but we're not seeing some of the other growth that other benchmark cities are seeing." And I'm just wondering what you meant by that?   Lance: [00:04:09] Not to, not to recap what you probably talked with Mayor Murphy about, but to get from the doldrums of 1983, which is really the trough of our local economy.   Eve: [00:04:19] It was the bottom, right? Yeah.   Lance: [00:04:21] Yeah. To where we're at now, has been an amazing transformation, right? It's been all about diversification and it's, of a regional economy. And then we, now we have these five primary industry sectors: in financial services, IT, energy, advanced manufacturing and healthcare. And that's really, really important because in recessionary periods, that diversified economy is very robust, and makes us the darling, and outperform benchmark cities in recessionary periods. However, the problem is that in expansionary economies we lack the kind of exponential growth that some of our other cities experience. It's just kind of the nature of our economy currently, is slow and steady wins the race, which is fine. I think my goal is on the macro economic end, is to not throw the baby out with the bathwater, keep the diversification, keep the slow, steady growth, but then really experience some of the upside of expansionary times, which we're in now. And I think the key to that is, and I'm really optimistic about the future of our economy, is across those five industry sectors. You have artificial intelligence, which we are an absolute worldwide hub of, cuts across all of those. And robotics, cuts across three of those, in advanced manufacturing, health care and energy. So, those eight intersection points that I think are the key to experiencing upside growth, and that's some of the stuff I'm excited to work on.   Eve: [00:05:56] How do you work on that? How do you improve that?   Lance: [00:05:59] Great question. Especially like, how does government do that? The risk profiles associated with investments in startups are probably too, you know, too risky of an investment for governments to be making. And not to mention, we don't have that skill set. But I think there are a lot of other ways we can invest in the city in a way to encourage that kind of growth. One of those ways is in real estate development, right? If you take something like biotech, right? A lot of times you've got companies that need wet lab space. You have extremely long periods to get through clinical trials. You have really expensive buildings that, you know, because of the nature of the beast, you have your non-credit tenants. So, I think when we're making investments in real estate, we need to incentivize those kind of assets in buildings that aren't going to happen in the open market. That's just one example. We lack high-bay space for robotics. Some other specialty real estate that I think the public sector can play a role in: mitigating the risks for developers who have non-credit tenants, and making sure that building stock is available. Speculative development is another thing we've classically underperformed on. And in the kind of pace of the current economy, like, people are not waiting around 18 months to build a building, they want turnkey space ready to go. So, we're working on a number of things to make sure that those types of building stock in speculative development is allowed for. And a lot of that is investment through tax abatements, and direct investment, and site assembly that I do here in this office. So, that's just one example in real estate. I think you can find other examples in public infrastructure, amenities, recreational space, and being really intentional about how we connect our tech hubs through infrastructure work. Whether that's public transit, or whether that's, you know, really compelling a multi-modal streetscape design. Things like that.   Eve: [00:08:03] Quite a lot to think about, isn't there?   Lance: [00:08:04] Yeah. Yeah. Keeps 'em busy.   Eve: [00:08:06] So, you also served as an advisor on Pittsburgh's Amazon HQ2 proposal. And I'm wondering in retrospect how you feel about making it to the top 20 list, but not as an Amazon final city pick.   Lance: [00:08:20] Yeah, I mean, I feel great about it, because I think we extracted all the marketing benefit from it without any of the really, really, really painful stuff that might have been associated with it. I am proud of our approach to that. I think it was, hey, here's a suite of stuff that we, as every Pittsburgher, there's wide agreement that we need to invest in. And we don't have a revenue stream to do that. So, let's take that suite of things we need to invest in and treat this gargantuan investment coming our way as the revenue stream. You know, and I think it helped kind of distill that suite of, that wish list, if you will, for us. And now, ok, we might not have the revenue stream, but at least it helped distill what we want to be as a city, forcing us to go through that process. And I think it was overwhelming positive experience.   Eve: [00:09:13] What's the top of the list that we should become?   Lance: [00:09:16] I think the two things that kind of rose to the top, given the time in our city and the way things are trending, are people want a really robust public transit network. I think that was clear. People want and are concerned about rapidly appreciating real estate values in some of our residential markets. And that would be exacerbated by a huge investment like that. And so I think it really rallied people around public transit, and around affordable housing. Which I think is a positive thing, you know?   Eve: [00:09:48] Yeah, no, I agree.   Lance: [00:09:50] It's great that affordable housing is suddenly cool again. You know?   Eve: [00:09:53] Yeah.   Lance: [00:09:54] This is fantastic. People working in this field are like, wow, this great sea change, like, in a really short period of time.   Eve: [00:10:01] Yeah, that's true. Affordable housing is a really hot button issue now, isn't it? Everywhere.   Lance: [00:10:06] Yeah, no doubt. And it's great. And I think ultimately, you know, we did not land that investment. I think predominately it was a numbers game, right? A population numbers game. You're talking about ...   Eve: [00:10:18] Yes.   Lance: [00:10:18] ... a gigantic pool of workers, and being a small middle market city was tough for us to absorb that, A., and, you know, the facts that matters are we have zero population growth and a two million metro area, and it went to a place with a 20 million metro area and five percent growth. And a, what a, maybe a 12 million metro area, and like 10 percent growth down in D.C., right?   Eve: [00:10:42] Right.   Lance: [00:10:42] At the end of the day it was all about ...   Eve: [00:10:45] The numbers.   Lance: [00:10:46] ... you know, the numbers, demographics, bodies, population. And that put a fine point that we need to work on that as well, right? That's a huge Achilles heel for us is a lack of population growth.   Eve: [00:10:56] It is and it isn't. I mean, that part of Pittsburgh's charm is its size. When you talk about what should Pittsburgh become, I think you should also think about what it shouldn't become, right?   Lance: [00:11:07] Sure.   Eve: [00:11:07] It's a pretty beautiful and rather unique city. And each city has its own strengths. I don't know. For me, cities go beyond numbers, but perhaps not for Amazon.   Lance: [00:11:17] Yeah, well, exactly. I think, despite what they would tell you, I think they had to take a very analytic approach to that.   Eve: [00:11:23] Yes.   Lance: [00:11:24] And it's something that like charm and culture and beauty were probably not heavily weighted ...   Eve: [00:11:31] No.   Lance: [00:11:31] ... on that algorithm scale, right? So. But I agree with you.   Eve: [00:11:35] Probably mobility and housing stock were right up there.   Lance: [00:11:38] Mm hmm. I imagine.   Eve: [00:11:39] You've barely started, but what would you like to accomplish at ACED?   Lance: [00:11:44] Oh, boy, I mean, a lot. So, our two-fold mission is this: one, is the work on the macro economic health of the city, which is really about building a diverse and growing regional economy that's opportunity rich for everyone to tap into, right? And we addressed some of that already. The other part of our mission is much more neighborhood-based. And that's, you know, we want to create healthy and vibrant communities. So, all of our investments, and we make those investments in the areas of housing, and industrial and commercial development, infrastructure development, parks and rec, things of that nature, all of our investments are done with that two-fold mission. So, there's certainly a lot of things I think we can do and be more creative with the tools we have. You know, I'm a big proponent of good government, too, and I think there's a lot we can do to make the public sector meet the needs of our citizens in a more efficient and customer-friendly way. So, that's the other kind of side of this that I will work on is, not only mission delivery, but just, you know, government efficiency is a twisted hobby of mine that I like, I like working on.   Eve: [00:12:55] Ha! That's a really great hobby.   Lance: [00:12:57] Yeah. I mean, everyone needs a hobby.   Eve: [00:12:59] Yeah.   Lance: [00:13:00] And to be more specific, again, I talked about the real estate assets that I think we need to incentivize. A big concern of mine is if you put communities, you can kind of classify them broadly in three buckets. And that's, there are tons of communities that are thriving, and we need to support them. There are a number of communities that are revitalizing that need special attention. There are a lot of communities, they need stabilization. We need triage. And a lot of that is direct fallout from the 1983 exodus of people with any sort of social mobility leaving the city.   Eve: [00:13:37] Yeah. Yeah.   Lance: [00:13:37] And we have certain areas that, they have zero market. Land value is negative, right? And that presents a whole slew of economic and social problems that go along with that. And we really need to support those communities. At the same time, kind of leaving the development breadcrumbs from areas of high opportunity to establish markets, and you kind of need to string those investments along. It's going to be a while until I can take the strength of the market that is the Strip District, for now, and pool it across the Allegheny Valley, right? And pool it down into the Mon Valley.   Eve: [00:14:14] Yeah.   Lance: [00:14:14] And in the process establish beachheads in Etna. And I need to establish that beachhead in Etna before I can really get to Tarentum and New Kensington, right? Same thing goes for the Mon Valley. I really need to establish a strong beachhead in Wilkinsburg and Braddock until I can really talk about strength of market in places like Clairton. In the meantime, we need to make sure that we are treating those communities with the respect that they deserve in addressing the blight and disinvestment they're struggling with, and doing that in a really smart and strategic way.   Eve: [00:14:46] Well, it must be really tough making decisions because you can't have endless resources, I'm sure. And then you have to decide where to direct those resources. And for people who don't know who are listening, Pittsburgh was around 700,000 people strong and really lost more than half of its population in the 1980s. And it's now still hovering just over 300,000. Although family units are smaller now.   Lance: [00:15:16] Yes.   Eve: [00:15:16] It's still a lot of vacancy, right?   Lance: [00:15:18] Yeah, absolutely. And so, you know, there's some opportunity there. You know, to some extent, affordable housing price per square foot is a supply demand calculation, right?   Eve: [00:15:27] Yes.   Lance: [00:15:28] The problem is the areas that are close to job centers, well-served by public transit, and have amenities like grocery stores. We're seeing rapid appreciation there, and obviously, because they're more desirable places to live. So, we need to make investments to ensure that those are mixed-income communities. And we also have the opportunity, though, that a lot of other cities don't, to make proactive preservation investments in areas that have naturally occurring affordable housing. And we're doing both of those things on the housing investment side.   Eve: [00:16:00] Real estate development is a major component of your work.   Lance: [00:16:04] Oh, yeah. I would say most of what we do has a real estate component to it. Now, one of the things we're trying to get more engaged in, that we traditionally have not, is the workforce development arena. You know, I think one of the big transitions we talked about, like the change in public opinion around affordable housing ... the innovation economy has forced site selection to go from a predominately site- and building-centric approach to predominately talent-based approach. And we, I think in the past, in the economic development community, have taken a very hands-off approach saying, hey, there are specialists in workforce development, we're going to let them do their thing, and we'll just, we'll build the stuff, invest in those tangible building products. I don't think that model works anymore. I think the workforce challenge and the future of work is such an acute need that we really need an all-hands-on-deck approach. And the more resources everyone can leverage, that and, the better. I'm just finalizing my budgets for next year and we're probably making close to a million dollars in investments in workforce development, which doesn't have a land and building component to it. And I'm proud of that. And I think that's something we'll continue to invest more heavily in. And that's everything from workforce readiness of teens, to adults with barriers to employment, getting re-educated and prepared for the workforce. You know, we need to attack this from all angles.   Eve: [00:17:33] I was going to ask, is there a rhyme or reason to the projects you become involved in. But I think I'm hearing that your organization, you really play the role as almost a pioneer investor early on when perhaps it's a little bit uncomfortable for private money to be involved?   Lance: [00:17:51] Oh, no doubt.   Eve: [00:17:52] Yeah.   Lance: [00:17:52] Yeah, absolutely. Our investments, I think, are predominately ... well, one, we take first mover investments in site assembly. Right? For example. So, one of my big hypotheses was that people say there is no market, no real estate market in Braddock, right?   Eve: [00:18:14] Mmm Hmm.   Lance: [00:18:14] And I challenge that. I think it's the fact that the available real estate is not the right kind of real estate. So, for example, we assembled 60 tax-delinquent, single-family structures, demolished them, consolidated them into one five-acre parcel, and worked with a very creative developer on a take-down period that worked for the finances of that kind of constrained market. And they built a 60,000 square foot high-bay light industrial building. It's probably the first new industrial development in Braddock in, I couldn't even tell you how long. This is a place that suffered 90 percent of population loss.   Eve: [00:18:52] Yes.   Lance: [00:18:52] Those are the type of things, in that case, we were a first mover and then worked on aggressive land conveyance strategy with the developer. And now the great thing is we have new tax base in Braddock, we new job base in Braddock, and almost more importantly, I have a comp now, I have established that land has value in Braddock.   Eve: [00:19:12] Oh yes, that's very important.   Lance: [00:19:14] And previously that didn't exist. So, that's something we did in 2019. They're going to take occupancy first quarter of 2020, and, yeah, we're really proud of that kind of work. So, sometimes our investments are in that realm. Other times were physical investments, either through tax leverage finance or direct investment, and yes, we assume a much higher risk profile than our private sector partners.   Eve: [00:19:35] And have you been able to convince some banks to come along on the ride with you?   Lance: [00:19:39] Yeah. And I think as long as you understand their underwriting criteria, and their approach, they're great partners. You just have to understand what their sweet spot is and work around it. We underwrite our investments in a very similar way that banks do, on the risk end. The difference being, one, we're willing to assume more risk. And two, on the return end we think much more broadly about returns. It's not just about debt coverage ratio. It's about tax base expansion. It isn't necessarily going to pay us, but is a return to the project because it's a mission-based return.   Eve: [00:20:16] It's a return to the region, right? As well.   Lance: [00:20:17] Exactly. We love working with banks and traditional funders. And we have the ability to be more flexible to allow them to meet their underwriting goals and and still participate in the project.   Eve: [00:20:28] What sort of projects do you hope to see more of? I mean, if things go really well and your investments pay off in the way you want them to. What sort of projects are you hoping to see arise independently in the next five years, let's say?   Lance: [00:20:42] Yeah, I think if we do a couple of projects like that, that light industrial building in Braddock then ... that's the goal, is that you would then establish a market and I can then start making similar investments in Duquesne and McKeesport. And like I said, you just pull that market down to maybe less centrally located areas. So, yeah, more spec buildings, more high-bay light industrial for robotics industry, more wet lab for biotech and life sciences. You know, hopefully, some of our development community starts to realize that you can stand in Lawrenceville in 40 dollar square foot space and look across the river at 15 dollar square foot space. And ...   Eve: [00:21:19] Yes.   Lance: [00:21:21] ... start to recognize that arbitrage opportunity. Because these communities, they're fantastic, unique, beautiful places. They are open to development. They are, you know, they're wonderful places to do work. And they're right adjacent to the urban core. So, you know, rethink your idea of proximity and let's do some great projects in some of these communities that are maybe overlooked in a lot of cases.   Eve: [00:21:47] And then most importantly, it's pretty fun to be at the leading edge, right?   Lance: [00:21:51] I think so! Sometimes, you know, that's when you don't have a comp and the bank starts to get real nervous ...   Eve: [00:21:58] I know, I know.   Lance: [00:21:58] ... that's when, you know, they don't find it as much fun as I do. But yeah. I mean, that's part of the fun, is there's additional challenge there, but it can be really, really rewarding if you pull something off.   Eve: [00:22:08] I agree. Totally agree. Yeah. We've also talked about how to empower people in these communities to be part of the change, the rapid change that's occurring in cities like Pittsburgh. And I am wondering why you think that's important?   Lance: [00:22:23] One of the big challenges we face as a society is disproportionate allocation of not only income, if you look at wealth, right? It becomes even more staggeringly problematic. So, we're not trying to establish markets for, just because, just for tax base, right? Hopefully, the idea is then, by establishing market you can assist in families building wealth, right? And we want people to be able to participate in the benefits of these hopefully catalytic investments we're making. How best to do that is a challenge. You know, obviously, it's easy when you have homeownership, high levels of homeownership, because that's, you know, your biggest asset that appreciates with change in real estate market.   Eve: [00:23:17] Yeah.   Lance: [00:23:17] If people have that asset and they want to cash out and participate in that upside return, well, great. You know, that's building equity, that's building wealth. And hopefully that's life changing for the family that chooses to do that. I think the problem, because when people are very culturally, emotionally and kind of societally invested, but don't have that asset to participate in the appreciation, how to plug those people in to our changing communities and make sure that they participate. And that's where, you know, lots of novel ideas that I think we've been talking about, about microlending, and, you know, equity returns back to neighborhoods, start to become really, really compelling for that kind of segment of society and something that I really want to learn more about, and try and institute some really progressive things on that front.   Eve: [00:24:10] I've been talking to some people over the last year who also believe that making a space for those people, like a physical space, is really important. And they do that in different ways. Like maybe a community space or ... there's a developer that I know who very purposefully will create retail space and then look for someone in the neighborhood to fill it and really help them build their business into that space. And that, I suppose that's another very concrete way to involve community and make them feel like they belong, right?   Lance: [00:24:47] Yeah. No, absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, maybe that's a, you know, a silver lining on the challenges to retail real estate now is that mixed-use buildings are kind of hoping that's a break even spot? Right?   Eve: [00:25:01] Yeah.   Lance: [00:25:02] And so what you have is then, is a really affordable commercial ...   Eve: [00:25:05] Right.   Lance: [00:25:05] ... property for people to move into. You know, locally-owned, sole proprietorship businesses that provide a higher return back to the, to the owner.   Eve: [00:25:17] Yeah, yeah.   Lance: [00:25:17] Hopefully we can continue that.   Eve: [00:25:19] Yeah. And so, like, I have to ask, what's, you know, your background? You mentioned a little bit about it, but what did you study? What got you to this place?   Lance: [00:25:29] Yeah. I grew up in Pittsburgh, to a ... I was the youngest of four.   Eve: [00:25:35] You were the baby.   Lance: [00:25:36] I was the baby and I probably act like it too much. But, you know, my first education was growing up in incredibly hilarious and brilliant family. So, you know, my parents were really hardworking, great people. I went to a mix of public and Catholic schools when I was a kid. I studied finance in Washington, D.C., The Catholic University of America. Went overseas and lived in Turkmenistan for three years, which was arguably the most educative of all of my educational experience. And I came back to CMU to get a policy degree with the intention of going back to do more international development work, because I found it just fascinating. But really fell back in love with my hometown, recognized that there were parts of my city that were in as much need or possibly greater need than what we consider to be some of the, you know, the most poverty stricken places on earth. And that didn't sit great with me. Yeah, all of those different educational life experiences, it kind of like, let me down this path. And, you know, people, like I said I have had great work mentors that have given me chances to work on stuff. I've just been incredibly lucky.   Eve: [00:26:51] I have a feeling it's not just luck, but we can go with that.   Lance: [00:26:53] I think it's mostly luck. It's mostly luck. But yeah, like I say, it goes back to my parents. I do work hard at it because I love it. It never quite feels like work, you know. Some days it does.   Eve: [00:27:04] Yes.   Lance: [00:27:05] Most of the time it doesn't.   Eve: [00:27:06] That's great. And do you think on the whole, socially responsible real estate is necessary in today's development landscape. Outside of the work you do, like everyday developers? What do you think that should look like?   Lance: [00:27:20] There's crappy real estate development and there's good real estate development, right?   Eve: [00:27:23] Yes.   Lance: [00:27:24] I think good real estate development is about placemaking, and placemaking is about integration into the community. Not just, you know, from a contextual design standpoint, but from a 'community needs' standpoint. And I think enlightened developers get that. Enlightened developers know that incorporating that kind of philosophy in the development usually leads to higher returns, too. So, I think it can be done well and it can be done profitably, right?   Eve: [00:27:52] Right.   Lance: [00:27:52] It just requires a kind of a philosophy, a mindset, and the ability to listen to people a little bit more. But in the end, they have a much better project to show for it.   Eve: [00:28:03] Creating something that's responsible isn't really swallowing a bitter pill, right?   Lance: [00:28:09] No, definitely not. Especially when you have your friendly local government economic development person to help you along the way and hopefully chip in where necessary.   Eve: [00:28:20] And are there any current trends in real estate that you think are interesting or most important to the future of our cities?   Lance: [00:28:28] Well, I mean, I think it's interesting, you know, being the hub of technology that we are. I think the design considerations around places like parking garages, for example, I think are really interesting. Because the rate of technological change is forcing people to consider the fact that this structure could achieve obsolescence in five, 10 years.   Eve: [00:28:52] Yeah.   Lance: [00:28:52] Which, what previously was considered a 50 year asset. So, I find that inherently fascinating.   Eve: [00:28:58] It is fascinating, isn't it? I just start thinking about, well, what could you do with a parking garage?   Lance: [00:29:04] Yeah, right.   Eve: [00:29:04] How many housing units could you put into those little slots?   Lance: [00:29:08] Precisely. And are they going to be livable, you know?   Eve: [00:29:10] Yeah.   Lance: [00:29:10] And how do you remediate the oil afterward? You know?   Eve: [00:29:12] That's right.   Lance: [00:29:12] It's a ... it's a really interesting thing. So, you see people spec-ing in higher ceiling heights than they would have previously. Flat floor plates. All these different design considerations that I find fascinating. And even more fascinating because we're on the bleeding edge of all of the autonomous vehicle technology that is going to lead to obsolescence of those buildings. So, yeah, I mean, that's one that I find fascinating. What else?   Eve: [00:29:39] I'm watching zoning changes across the country, and across the world. I'm pretty fascinated to see how quickly that's going to move along. When you have cities, you know, basically outlawing single family homes. That's quite a statement.   Lance: [00:29:53] Yes. I think Pittsburgh in particular is being very progressive in some ways with, you know, allowing for accessory dwelling units, which I know you're probably an advocate for, and ...   Eve: [00:30:05] Yeah.   Lance: [00:30:06] ... and, you know, what they've done with the RIV district, for example, and ensuring access to the waterfront, I think is some really good things. However, in some city neighborhoods, and this gets even more acutely problematic when you move out to maybe smaller municipal governments that haven't updated their zoning and code in a while. The thing that I find problematic is if you ask the average 10 people on the street what the vision for new development their community would look like? And then you show them what current zoning allows for, they would be horrified, right?   Eve: [00:30:40] Yes, yeah, I think that's true in most places.   Lance: [00:30:43] It's a huge disconnect and it's worrisome to me.   Eve: [00:30:47] Yeah, I mean, how do, you know, it's really expensive updating a zoning code. I've been involved in that. It's a really big deal.   Lance: [00:30:53] It is. And when you multiply that by 130 municipalities with wide, varying levels of, kind of, capacity. It's ... yeah, it's really a daunting task.   Eve: [00:31:05] Yeah. And one sign-off question, then. Given all of the possibilities, what comes next for ACED, and for you?   Lance: [00:31:14] I am very project focused. And I believe that markets are built one great project at a time and I try not to let the enormity of the challenges, you know, get me down, right? It's just one good project at a time. We're focused on that every day, and we're focused on being innovative and creative every day. And there are a ton of innovative and creative people in Pittsburgh that we need to partner with and work with to solve these problems. Like I said, it's all hands on deck.   Eve: [00:31:48] Well, thank you very much. I really enjoyed that conversation. I can't wait to see what you do next.   Lance: [00:31:52] Awesome. Thank you so much, Eve.   Eve: [00:31:54] That was Lance Chimka. Lance is embracing his role as the head of an economic development department with energy. Our conversation reflects the way that Lance thinks. Broad and diverse ideas to get at very particular economic problems. Lance is focused on growth, first and foremost. Making sure that Pittsburgh's growth matches other cities. But at the same time, he wants to make sure that no one is left behind. So, he thinks a lot about how to empower communities in the path of rapid change, and how to change the disproportionate allocation of wealth. I'll be interested to see the impact that Lance's leadership will have.   Eve: [00:32:46] 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.   [00:33:12] Thank you so much for spending your time with me today. And thank you, Lance, for sharing your thoughts with me. We'll talk again soon. But for now, this is Eve Picker signing off to go make some change.

Hey this is Angie Monroe of the warrior divas show broadcasting live each Tuesday 11 am Central from globe life park in Arlington, Texas login to hear real talk with real women that will empower and equip you to make a more powerful impact in the world each Tuesday 11 am Central on fishbowl Radio Network Hello, and welcome to warrior divas real talk for real women. I am your host Angie Leigh Monroe, our show is specifically that was right I said specifically, incorrectly because I too can mess up from time to time. It is specifically designed for our divas;  divas is an acronym for Destin inspired victorious accountable sisters. And we will be bringing guests on our show who will help in our mission to equip and empower a global community of women change agents as we make a positive impact in the world we live in. When we started divas impact four years ago, we quip that we wanted to change the way women think and speak about themselves and others. As we've progressed, so has our thinking and out of our intentions, we want to talk about things that are impacting women. So this means we talk about faith, family, fitness, finance, food and a lot of other words that don't begin with f. So today we welcome Laurie Vaughn speaks of lbs consulting loriann speaks is an expert in the area of speaker and author support. She amplifies the visibility of authors, speakers and messengers. While they do what they love. Speak. laurieann has helped spearhead multiple best selling book campaigns, editing proofing, through to launch and social media marketing to help authors create buzz and momentum throughout social media platforms and increase their Message worldwide loriann and her team have made it their mission to empower speakers to deliver their message by handling the rest of the details. Prior to starting their own company loriann had over 15 years of professional experience supporting a top 100 thought leader as she built her businesses. Welcome to the show. loriann Thanks so much, Angie. It's a pleasure to be here. Well, I personally know what a busy busy lady you are. And you've had some major projects you're working on for some of my friends, and you've done some work for me as well. But before we get into all that, what I want to visit with you about who you are and how you got here today, is that all right. Yeah, totally cool. Yeah. I love that. So if you can just kind of give us a backstory. You. You said you work for a thought leader for 15 years. I'm sure there's things you did before that. I know you're a mom. So you're one What are some of the things that kind of led you to where you are today? Well, great, yeah. Yes, I am no spring chicken. I've probably had four different careers in my lifetime. I started off in my teens and 20s being so politically involved and got my degrees in political science and economics and wanted to be in politics. Thank goodness and thank God up above that he had other plans for me, and I am not there now. So I did that. And then I became a recruiter. And when the when 911 happened, my recruiting business went to hell in a handbasket. So, I started working for this thought leader, and I was hurt for all intents purposes, girl Friday. office manager, you know, gatekeeper. And I spent 15 years learning the business of speakers and authors. And so, but really, once I had children my focus, you know, I, like I said, I started off wanting to be, like President of the United States, you know, the first woman president of the United States. Then I had children. And I realized, Oh, this is, this is what I'm good at. This is what I love. And so, when you talk about where was I, and how have I gotten here, once I had children, the business kind of went as a means to an end instead of being you know, the end all and beall and being a mom was the number one thing in my life. And, and so, you know, I did I I worked at A regular job so I could be mom and Girl Scout leader and room mom and, and be able to do all the things that I wanted to do as a mom. I love that. Sorry. I said I love that. Yeah, you know, and I and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. You know. I'm kind of glad that I never really got into the whole corporate america thing. But what got me now to owning my own company, though, is that back in December of 2017, I was laid off, my boss decided to sell our company, and I knew it was coming. But But I decided I was just going to stay until the end because she needed me. And and, and so and I knew there wasn't going to be much difference between hitting the the, you know, employment market at 59 or at 60. I was pretty bad. You know, they're not going to be doing well and I and I just sat there and went, Okay, let's just see this through to the end. And once I was laid off, it became very clear to me that once again, corporate america wasn't going to be my, you know, my journey. I must have sent out 100 different resumes and never got a call, never got a call. And so I knew if I was going to continue to work, I better start my own company. And I did and I'm so glad I did. So glad I did. Well, I love the part that you said, you know, you saw the writing on the wall you saw she was retiring, stepping away and and but you stayed until the end. I think there's so much that's lost in that finishing well, moment. You know, you you worked with this woman side by side, you served her. You served her well over the 15 years, but you also finished Well, we With her and and that's got to be a sense of accomplishment that many people miss out on today. A lot of people see the writing on the wall and they're like I'm getting out while the getting out good button right. But it's finishing well that that right there is a good wealth of information for people to grab ahold of because we've been in a couple of situations when we've been with a church that was closing its doors or a company that's closing its doors, in that finishing Well, it feels like kind of like you put your kid to bed at night, you know, you kind of you kind of made sure that from the time they rose till the time they went to bed, everything was taken care of and they were they were handled in the best way possible. And it's the closing of a chapter in in celebration of that chapter as well. Exactly in and you know, it's a karma thing as well. And it was important to support her through this process because it wasn't necessarily something she was all that jazz to do, but knew that she needed to just get out from under the actual company aspect. And just go back to being Bev and you know, and enjoying her life with her husband of 44 years. So. So I was supportive. And that's kind of the way I am with my clients now. And it is a common thing because Beth has probably introduced me and referred me to at least 1520 of our friends. Wow, over the last two and a half years, so it's it. I think you get what you get. Right? I think that's really the way life boils down. Is yet you get what you give. So I agree wholeheartedly. Good. Yeah. Well, one of the things that We've talked about whenever you and I have been on the phone before, was that you kind of not use that nurturing that you use with your children with with your thought leader that you support it with all the with all the companies you've been with, you've used that nurturing aspect of yourself. It's not a part of your DNA, it is your whole DNA. That's, that's the part that I love about you is you, you see the potential and the possibilities in in people. And you want to call that out and you want to help support that and, and push push them and challenge them. But you do it in a way that is very impactful. And I want to commend you for that while I have you on the air because you don't get to tell people that very often where they actually slow down and listen to it, say it. Well, thank you. Thank you. I have really You know, when I started the company, I wouldn't say that I was passionate about what I was doing, until I really realized how much mentoring was involved because I was now working with a lot of what I call newbies. Right? And I love mentoring. That's, that's what I'm all about. And once I embraced that, and realized, this is what I can be doing for so many people, that's when I got passionate about what I was doing. Well, I think one of the other remarks that comes to mind is something that Michael Hyatt has said before, you know, people go out and I'm gonna have you share a little more specifically about the business you started here in a minute, but Michael Hyatt commented one time and I've kind of hung my hat on it is don't go out and look for people to help you get where you're going that haven't been there you go and you look for people. To help you get where you're going that have already been there, whether it's an assistant, a coach, a mentor, whatever it is, a lot of times people go okay well I can't afford a virtual assistant a high paying virtual assistant so I'm just going to get some little girl off the street help her have her help her out, help me out, you know it's a helping each other out type of Jerry Maguire moment helped me show you the money type thing. But they're not equipped. They they haven't been where you're wanting to go and Michael Hyatt says if you want to be a fortune 500 company you need a coach that has been a leader in the fortune 500 into industry if you want to, or you need an administrative assistant that has served as a role in a fortune 500 company, you need a a support system that has been where you want to go and and i think that's beautiful because you said you work with speakers and authors and and messengers and, and those are the people that you've already served and served in a high capacity. And so you can serve your clients so much better because you've already been there done that saying that you know what to expect even before they expect it, you know how to talk them off the roof. All of that. So, so yeah, tell us tell us a little bit more about the company you started what you do, and, and what type of company it is. Well, we are a virtual assistance company, but we literally specialize in speakers, authors and podcasters. So those are our clients. Although many of the the things that I talk about and have like a, a white paper on how to increase your speaking business, if you've got a small business that you need to raise your visibility. A lot of the things that are on that list can be used for small businesses as well. But what we do is we help the speakers and authors raise their presence in social media, help them write that book and get it to bestseller status. help them find more stages. And, and, and for those that are very much established, and they've gotten to the point where they're on the stages, but they just don't have the time to deal with all the, you know, logistics and administrative stuff. Right? I was gonna say a dirty word. You know, to deal with all that we take that off their plate, and we'll handle the the business side of it, and make sure that all the T's are crossed and the i's are dotted, so that they can go out on the road, do their speeches and know everything's being taken care of. Well, I think it's, you know, one of those things that when people say Alright, I've spoken at all these places, I want to have my own event. I don't think they understand fully what all that entails. But you've put those on for people before. So, you know, having somebody like you quote unquote, in their back pocket is is a huge benefit, I'm sure. Well, yeah, there is a lot involved. And, and just knowing how to negotiate with the the venue is important, because and finding the right venue for you and your budget. So, yeah, I've been involved in in all that. But yes, there's a lot of little pieces. And I find that the creatives, which is the community that I serve, have some amazing, great ideas, but they don't know how to bring that to fruition. And that's why I come in, I'm sort of their Yin to their Yang. You know, I will reverse engineer their idea to figure out how to get there. I used an analogy explaining what to do the other day to somebody I said, when you have that picture, perfect image of what you want. She's the puzzle maker out of it. She comes in, she takes the pieces apart, and puts it in a way that you can pick your pieces together as you need, whether you're an inside to the outside or an outside to the inside person, she helps put that picture together for you. So she takes your full picture, she breaks it down into bite sized pieces, so you can put it together the way you need to put it together. And they're like, oh, okay, you know, they're like, because I can't see how to get where I'm going from looking at the big picture. I'm like, that's why you need someone with a strategy mindset, which is what you have you and it comes so natural to you. You don't get ruffled whenever one thing's not going right because you're already expecting it to not go Hopefully I've planned it out properly and nothing does go wrong. But you know, life happens and and things do go wrong. And as I tell my client, no one in the audience knows that something's wrong. Exactly like when you get married, and you know, something will go wrong, but nobody will really even notice it. You know, just go with the flow. Have a great day, do your message. And we'll make sure that everything runs smoothly. So, you know, that's and I'm pretty even keeled. I don't I don't have extreme highs or lows. So, so I can keep it together and, and make sure everything works. You know, well, even in a in a kind of, you know, emergency situation. What is that old commercial? Never let them see you sweat. Yeah, those are the people you want in your corner is the ones that never let you see like Let them see you sweat. So I know, yesterday I got a notification, I have a large organization that I'm a part of. And we have two annual or two meetings a year that we do training for new new people that have joined our organization. And we have people come from all around the world. And they ended up after some major thought in listening to research and listening to the guests and everything. They decided to postpone this one and just resume in August. And, you know, there's there's definitely some some challenges when you have a big event. I mean, we're expecting 3000 people coming. And we're now postponing this event that's supposed to happen in two weeks. And now And so, one of the things that I realized and A lot of people don't is how many how this affects a trickle effect across so many parts, like I heard today, you know, on the news they were talking about, well the event will be fine because the event has insurance and that's true the event has an entrance has an insurance policy most events have insurance policies and if you're doing an event without an insurance policy, shame on you. But um, most events have insurance policy, but the the hotel that it was being held at the servers that were there, the transportation to him from the airport, the airport, so you know, we're dealing right now, in this time and age with this thing called the corona virus. And I've got a friend that's in Italy that owns a bed and breakfast who's totally impacted by this because she's in the we're all the study abroad students are at. So although all of them have been sent home, and so the parents aren't coming to visit the kids, the kids aren't there. There's a lot that's going on. And if I were an event organizer, even though I knew I had insurance, I think I'd be freaking out right now. Do you have anybody that you're hearing that about? Well, I mean, Justin there in Texas, I know that South by Southwest was canceled, yo. And I mean, and that's millions and millions of dollars to the local, you know, economy, right. lost. So yes, this is this is definitely causing some major troubles. The, you know, the things that the conferences that I know of right now that are in our industry are still happening, because they tend to be us centric, right. So those are still going on. But yeah, I'm also a member of the meeting planners International, so I know it Hitting big time to a lot of people. And Damn, I wish I had zoom. Zoom is doing magnificently over these last couple of weeks, right? Because companies are just making them now virtual meetings. And so you know, things can we can, we can flip things around. And and as I said, you know if something goes wrong, we'll fix it. You know, if something like this happens, and we can't have a live event, so let's have a virtual event, we can do it. Well, and that's part of what we've been talking about here lately is bringing in some people in doing virtual summit with people because we can get their messages out, we can band together stronger. You know, part of what we do is dig services help promote and empower other women and doing a virtual summit and in people like well, I want to be in a room with a bunch of girlfriends. I'm like right now, you know, Or, or invite your closest friends over to your house to watch the summit together. You know, there's a lot of different ways that we can think through this and do this a little bit better. But I know I sprung that question on you and it wasn't one that we had talked about discussing, but I figured it was right there in the middle of what we're doing right now. And you know, it needed to be addressed. I heard somebody the other day telling me that they were doing an event and they had like 1000 tickets sold. It was an outdoor event in April here in Texas. And I was like, okay, so you know, what's your what what insurance agent did you use for your event planning because I know a few that are in that industry. He goes, I don't have event insurance. I'm like you What? You're talking tornado season. You're talking rainy season. You're talking you just you chose the month in Texas that you just don't do that without an insurance policy. He was like, What? I had no idea so had him on the phone with an insurance agent ASAP you know? Oh, Lord better be glad you were there. Yeah, I'm coming. I'm coming in for dummies event in April as well. Yeah, I'll be I'll be there in Texas. Yeah. In in April, in that semi neighboring town, so I will be there as well. So excited about that. So now, you said that you worked with it was Bev right. The thought leader you worked with Yeah, Beverly, Kay, she, she Beverly Kay. She's amazing in the area of career development, employee engagement and retention, and her books, which Okay, so I don't know if you know this statistics, but most business books, the average sales are like 6000 over the period of their lifespan. Bev's love lose them has sold over a million copies? Well, yeah. And what we do did is that from her books, there were workshops created that were then sold to fortune 1000 companies. So we only worked with companies of 10,000 or more employees. Wow. But yeah, yeah. So it was a, it was a nice, nice, you know, but as you know, anytime you have a company and people that you are now responsible for, it's a headache. And at 75, she said, Okay, I'm kind of done with that whole aspect. She still speaks, but there was just no need for a full time in person and so, so and I totally understood that and I kept telling her because she was, she was feeling very upset that, you know, she was gonna let me go and I said, Beth, you do not owe me a job. You know, it's okay. It's over. Kay, right. And I'm so glad that it was so positive because, as I said, she has referred me to a number of different people that I work with now. And, and I'm having much more fun because instead of one author that I knew inside and out and all her, you know, her, her her speak, so to speak, and write, you know, so it did get kind of boring. You know, work can get can be boring if you're not totally engaged. Well, now I get to work with so many different authors that I've learned from each one. And it's something different each day. So I am enjoying this fourth chapter in my life. So, you know, I mean, how many women at 62 can say, Hey, I am enjoying the heck out of working? Well, I think it's great, you know, how you speak above and how she she you know, Caring for you. It's evident that she inspired you, as well. Who were some of the other women that have been in your life that have inspired you? Well, you know, in my actual life, I mean, my mom was amazing and just really stoic. So I think I get my even keel from her. Every client I have. And I'd say probably 90% of my clients are women. Every client I have really does, you know, inspire me because I love each of their messages, and they're important. And so they inspire me to want to get them, you know, more and more visibility, because what they're talking about is important. If we're talking about you know, like, someone that's famous, my my role model, and don't laugh at me, okay? My role model is actually Dolly Parton. Oh, wow, that woman. Not only is she self deprecating, I mean, she's not full of herself, right? She's self deprecating. She is one of the most brilliant businesswoman. She has. She has a music book have over three 4000 songs that other people have sung. So, I mean, she's rolling in it, but she is also giving back. Like, like no other. Do you realize that Dolly Parton is like the number one book distributor in the world? Because she makes sure that every child that that writes to her will get a book every month from date of birth to the age of five when they enter school. Wow. I had just recently heard about her love for books and what she was doing, but I did not know that little tidbit. I believe, I believe the statistics are that she has given away over a billion books. Wow. Yeah. I mean, I hear those stories. And you know, I am small potatoes. But I hear those stories and I just think, oh, wow, Lord, can I just win the lottery and just have fun giving it away? Because that would just to me, that would make me happy. Right would make me happy. Right. So I just I just totally love Dolly Parton. I'm in love with Dolly Parton. Well, you and my husband so my husband has said that his one concert he wants to go to he wants to see he is super in love with Dolly Parton. You know, and we're, you know, we're still in our 40s and he's like, I don't know what it is. She's just she's so so engaging and so real. And doesn't take herself too seriously. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And so giving and I have never heard word one that's negative about Dolly Parton from anybody. And damn if I could look like that and still wear those heels that 80 I think she's close to 80 you know, and if it's gonna go Holy moly, really look great. Right. And you know, we've been watching we watched that heartstrings that she had on Netflix not too long ago and have watched a couple of specials that she's had on. And, and I guess the part that I appreciate is in a world where we're faced with so many fake people are people faking it till they make it? She is just real and genuine and authentic and makes you feel even through the TV like you're her best friend right there in the room whether, yeah, exactly. And she'll tell you a lot of her his fate. Yeah, she'll say a lot of you a lot of mistake, but my heart isn't. Yeah. Yeah. So, I know, I know I'm one of the people that you've inspired. So tell me about some of the people that you hope to inspire and you know what what would you like your legacy to be? You know, years from now whenever people think of you, you know, a year 510 however many years from now when they think of you what is what are some things you want them to, to say are you hope that they have felt from you? Well, on a personal basis, you know, that I was a great mom and Grammy and, and a good and a great friend, you know. I hope that people see me as you know, being giving and, and and there to help whenever is necessary. But on a business level, I would love people to realize it's never too late to go out and start your own company. You know, when they when they started saying, you know, retire at 60 or 65, we were only living till 67 or 68. Right? Well, my mom is 91 years old. Wow, I had no intention of sitting on my tush for the next 30 years. You know, I mean, the thought is just repulsive. I need to be out and about doing stuff. So I'd really love to inspire people to say, you know what, I have this amazing idea and I'm going to start a company because you don't have to go into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. I went into no debt, no debt. I literally started my company in my home office with a laptop and my telephone. That's it, right? I didn't even have a printer when I started. Do now but you know, it's like you can start with with being something really small with this gig economy the way that it is, you can you can do a project by project type basis, do a good job, get a referral, right? And just build it that way. Right now, I would say 95% of my business comes from referrals. So, you know, I don't have to go into hundreds of thousands of dollars of marketing and all that fun stuff. Seeing as though it's really not my thing to be in front of the camera, but I i will say I do love doing the podcasts and radio shows. I always have a face for radio, but but, you know, I like to just let people know, don't just because you're over 60 does not mean we need to, you know, crawl into a ball and say we're done. We still have another good chapter or two in our, in our book. Well, and we, it's whether you start a business, whether you start a nonprofit, whether you just start a group of friends that are hanging out together, get out and do stuff with people, engage with people, pay it forward, go to the schools and read the little kids. You know, there's so much that we could be doing. My husband's been working in the plumbing industry for 30 years, his body's starting to give out so he's starting to think about what are some ways he can reinvent himself? Cool. So let's, um, let's ask you this, out of the people that you're working with now, how have they inspired you to grow your business or shift your business? We talked a little bit about the niche market of what bad ad, you know, right? I know being a verb, you can say I'm a virtual assistant and everybody wants to go Okay, here's billing. Here's this. Here's that and yeah, but you said very specifically who you work with did Beth, help you do that or the clients that you started drawing in because of your personality and and what you were good at? Well, I knew that my niece was the speaking, you know, author industry because that's where my superpowers lie. And that's what I know. So I knew that that was my niche. I didn't know really that much about podcasting, but realized that that is the media of the future, and is growing leaps and bounds. And so I embraced that whole, you know, community and what an amazing community in the podcasting world is. But my, my offerings have changed. When I first started, I thought it was going to be the administrative, you know, all administrative kind of work. And I found that that's not necessary. What especially new authors were looking for. Now, I'm not a booking agent, I don't go and find, you know, paid speaking gigs as, as the only thing that I do, and if that's all that they want, I am now referring people to a couple of booking agents that I like, right? But, but my offerings have kind of changed. And what I've realized is that there are a great number of people who have been in corporate America for 20 or 25 years, who have a story and or a method of doing something that they want to now go into consulting and be a speaker and write their own book. And so I found that my mentoring in that area is really where I'm moving towards I have other women. And that's actually another aspect of what's important to me is I hire other women who have been marginalized, such as myself, who at 60 have amazing skill sets still to offer my clients. And yet, I also have a number of young moms who don't necessarily want to work a 40 hour week, because they want to be stay at home moms, but especially here in Los Angeles, you need that extra income to make ends meet. So that I have a number of young moms that helped me with the research and data entry and things along that line that honestly, I don't want to do anymore, right. But it gives them an income to help their family out. So that's like my back end mission within the company or who I hire and why I like I really try to take on those people that quote unquote, aren't hireable because they're not willing to put in the hours of corporate, you know, work that's necessary, that kind of thing. So, so that kind of what I'm about. Well, and I think it goes hand in hand with a lot of what I'm seeing in the women's marketplace for working nowadays. There's the our riveter, that makes the purses, it's the military spouses that make the purses and they know that military spouses get transported all the time. They get MCs to move, and it's hard to find a job and then because your spouse may be deployed, you've got to have a job that will be flexible with you being mom and dad to your kids while while your spouse is deployed. So they have a business model that they have components of their purses are put together and made by these male spouses and then they come back to the warehouse to be put together. And so and there's an virtual, another virtual assistant company out there that that engages male spouses to, to work for them as well. And then you've got more and more Abby, even, even our government here, then partly because of the corona virus has been testing out more and more people working from home doing it remotely. And, and so we got to stop thinking about, you know, butts and seats in the office and start thinking about how we can still be productive and make an impact for what we need to do. There are jobs out there. There are a lot of scam jobs out there big market of right now. But there are jobs, there's ways to serve people and there's a way to serve your own bottom line. If you're just willing to look forward, I know when we started my company several years ago, I started doing social media for companies and I worked with nonprofits and businesses and everything. But then whenever I got tired of doing the social media stuff, I'd say, you kind of evolved, you start working on what you what you really love, and you, you kind of evolve and you start realizing that that part while you It was fun, and it brought in money. It's not where you want to hang your hat now, because you've grown, you've evolved. And so I brought in another mom that had just had a baby. She kind of wanted to stay home with him for a while, got her trained up, and then she kept getting more and more training, and she rolled out into her own business, and great and even from there, she's now her child's in school, and she's gone on to work for a corporate company and this is what she's doing. It wasn't something that she went to school for. She took four years of college for did all this she had real hands on OJT to learn this skill test it be able to show what all she was able to accomplish on her own. And she never worked in an office she was home for her kids she worked everything around her kids schedule you know there were a few times she'd be on a conference call video call whatever and in the background her son's you know, coloring the wall with a marker or pouring cereal places that happens. Yes, she was there. I think you need to be realistic about whether you're capable of being a virtual person, right? Um, some aren't that great at and staying on task. If if you're the kind of you know, squirrel kind of person, that might not be the way to go. Believe it or not, I was actual a Virtual Employee back in 1991. Wow. Before there was such a thing, because I had been a recruiter and got married, had my kids and decided I wanted to stay at home. And, and my boss tracked me down after, like 10 years, and tracked me down and said, I just started this new company, I really want you to come on board. And I said, Well, okay, as long as I can do it from home, and he knew what I was capable of and said, okay, right. And I owe him so much because I was able to help support my family, and yet still could be the room mom, the Girl Scout leader and everything else like that. So it, you know, through the years, I understand and I know that I have the capability to stay totally focused and on task and, you know, not go down and turn on the TV or anything along that lines. It's like I am at work. And then I'm not right. Although I'm not as good as the and not Oh, I I literally last night, I got up and I did some, some tweets and stuff for a client at like 930 at night so that I could get it all loaded up. And, you know, make her happy. So, you know, it's like, I'm not that great at not staying at work, but but I'm working on that. Yeah, I totally get it my husband, you know, owning a plumbing business. It's a 24 seven on call for commercial emergencies. He works a lot. So when works, I try and work. And in that way when he's not working, we can actually go to dinner or we can go and do some of these other things. So I have set working hours during the day that take phone calls and do appointments. But if he's working outside of those normal working hours, I'll work so that maybe I don't have to have those. You know, if I've got free time with him, I can go to breakfast or I can go to lunch or dinner or we can go shopping for the kids. So my schedule looks a little hinky yet because it's not the norm of what everybody else sees. But, you know, it's it's also something that works for us. And it's, it's this is when we're, we're connected with people. This is when we're working with people. I had somebody messaged me last week. Hey, can we get on a call today? I'm like, Nope. Not today. You know, as I say, not today, Satan. But you know, yes, we can get on it. Call it just won't be today, it may be next week into next week before I can get on a call with you. And that's because I'm trying to be diligent of my time and not just block out the time for appointments and calls with people, but also block up the time to work on the projects can work on the tasks. And I think that's part of the discipline you're talking about of having the right mindset to do the job, you know, exactly. I know, I'm being pushed and challenged on writing, and I've blocked out my writing time for my books and, and I'm working on that and it's set up as an appointment. It's an appointment with myself in my laptop, and that's where I will be there. Yes. So no, no temptations. So we're about to take a break here in a couple of minutes. And when we do, it'll just be a quick short break. But when we come back, we're going to talk about some of the victories you've had. We've had, we may have touched on some of them, but we now There's women that are challenged with what life's facing them or what they're facing in life right now, or maybe they faced it years ago and they just haven't been able to get past something that keeps holding them back. And we like to hear those stories of victory from women that have kind of weathered the storms and come out on the other side. Just as a way to shine a spotlight into those dark splay spaces and let them know that we see them there. And you know, I may not be able to reach out to somebody and help them out of the dark space they're in but maybe you have the key that can unlock that dark space. So we're going to talk about that when we come back from this break. All right, we are back with Laurie and speak says we are talking more about her starting a business at the age of 60. We'll throw that out there. I hate telling women's age on the air but I love the story behind it. So That's That in itself, you know, people start talking about wanting to wind their business down at the age of 40 or 50 or 60 in your revenue up so, to me that sounds like a huge victory, but what are some other victories you've had in your life personally, professionally? You know, what are some of the I don't I don't want to assume that you just arrived and everything was perfect. Oh, gosh, no. Well, you know, it's interesting because Andrew, you know, I'm a big girl. And and so you know, life life in Los Angeles where everyone is a thinks they need to be a Barbie. I never really quite fit in. But and so hold on a second. I'm losing you. Are you Is everything okay? Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. It filter dummy. I so apologize, but Maybe it was God saying quit talking about being fat Laureen but you know, I mean, that was a hard road and I have some some major situations of being picked on. And I'll be honest with you, it took me until I was 50 to embrace the fact that this is the size that I am, this is the size that I am going to be. And I'm not going to change for anyone else. And I if I could teach the girls out there to love themselves. You know, so that they don't go through all the trials and tribulations of not thinking you're good enough. Because you're big is so, so important to me to get that message out. Love yourself the way that you are and and you'll find out that people will gravitate towards you because you become much more sure of yourself. unconfident and unfortunately, like I said, it took me to my 50s before I said, I'm done with this, you know, this is me Get over it. So, you know, that was that was part of my growing up and and maturing and you know, I guess another victory over the stuff when when bad things happen you know I went through a divorce and and and I still have yet to to remarry i mean you know there have been a couple of really nice men in my life but I I realized and here's something that I could do it myself that I didn't need a man to give me my worth, or to take care of me financially. I was capable doing it myself. Now, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't love to have a partner in life. But I realized I didn't need it. So I wasn't going to settle. Right? For someone that wasn't right for me. And I think too many of us women, you know, think that we have to have that man in our life. And and I say no at bros, embrace your powers yourself. Especially if it's a it's not a healthy relationship. So I guess those are really, I kind of have had a great life with you. I mean, I've been very lucky. So, you know, so and I'm the type of person that I have always looked at the glass half full, and I focus on the positives. And so that's what's really important when I went through the divorce My reaction was, okay. I don't want someone that doesn't want to be with me. Go Go. It's okay. But I have friends that to this day still can't stand my assessment. I let it go ages ago right ages ago. Let it go. If I can fix something, I fix it. I kind of tease sometimes I say I'm a guy with boobs. Because I am that type of person that if I, I want to fix it for you. I'm not one that just wants to listen and go all. Okay, I hear ya. Now I want to fix it. Right? I'm so much more like a guy in that way. But if I can't fix it, I let it go. And I won't. I won't sit there and and, you know, let it fester in my life. If there's nothing I can do about it. I don't have control. I let it go and I put it in God's hands. That's all good. Well, I think I think you touched on something there you know your your divorce, there may be people that are more devastated for you than you were actually devastated in the divorce. And a few years ago, I was doing a training down in San Antonio and we were having people do a life map. And on this life map, we had them put everything that was positive in their life above a line, write it on this big poster board, everything that they had encountered negatively in their life, they wrote below the line. And there were two women at the same table. And they both had divorce on there's one handed above the line, one headed below the line. The one that headed above the line said she had been set free from a very toxic relationship. The one the below the line was just totally devastated that her marriage had ended and basically her life had stalled out from that point in her life. And she just wasn't living and so It was beautiful watching that one that the divorce was freeing for her to be able to speak life and freedom into this other woman. And you know it their their experiences in the moment were very different. But the the ability to help that one that was stuck in the darkness come out of it was so beautiful to watch. And they spent weeks and months talking with each other and encouraging each other and empowering each other. Through that it was more one sided for a while. But then after that, while they they became really good friends and started doing some workshops for women that were going through divorce, and it said it in their work. Their theme was it doesn't matter how you're viewing your divorce, this workshop is for women to help you move on to the next chapter, you know, and it was it was a great thing that they did and and i don't know that they do those workshops. anymore but it was it was two polar opposite views of how one in one thing can impact a person. And exactly, you know, I know I've had this conversation with another friend of mine when I had my sexual assault, she had a sexual assault as well. Well, our reactions were two totally different reactions to it, you know, and, and, but it doesn't mean that we can't help somebody I can help somebody that had the opposite reaction I had she can help somebody that had the opposite reaction she had as we talk about it and open it up and peel back the layers of of what it all is but it goes back to more of what you you shared about loving yourself. You know, you have to do that first. Well, you know, there's this great gal Allison Donaghy, who is a podcaster. Her with Dominic No thinking, and she is all about taking yourself out of a victim state and into a freedom state. And part of that is just, you know, letting it go and understanding what your part in the situation was. You know, I mean, when I went through the divorce, and he cheated to get out, you know, but, you know, it was his fault, right? But no, there there, you know, there were things that after 15 years of marriage, you know, life got you know, we were all wrapped up and I was wrapped up in the kids with kids, kids. And and so, you know, I didn't probably give him the attention that he wanted. I will own that part. Right. Not that it was not this is doing right. But I will own that part, that maybe I was being the best wife either. And so, so I loved her framing of being able to get out of the victim state and into the freedom state because of the fact you can see where you own it, and then let it go. Right, right. And that's what we need to do is you need to just let it go. Let it go and move on. And I know that it's easier said than done. But, you know, and depending, especially depending on the situation, you know, an assault is is completely different than a divorce. Although it is and it isn't, if you think about it, right, because you can still be a victim either way, right? But, but it's like, move, you gotta let it go and move on. Because otherwise they're still having that control over you. Well, you know, I we when I left working at the church I was at before I started my business. We had this I worked in the business office, we had this thing that used to happen where there was stuff that was bought for our offices and they were bought specifically for our style or our look or or whatever the decor person that came in that decorated our offices decorated it towards our style. So when we left we had we normally had the option to ask to purchase or you know, because they would be redecorating it for the next person. So I went nice specifically asked for the chair that I had. It's kind of like the chair I'm sitting in today kind of an area on type chair. And it was very ergonomically correct. And I'd had the chair for five years it was kind of it had some issues with it, but it was molded to my but you know, to be honest, I liked that. I liked that chair. And my boss. I went to him and st if I could have the chair and he goes well as long as so and so approves that I have no problem with it. So it's getting close to the day that I'm leaving the company and everything and he comes back to me. He goes, if you're gonna get that chair I need, you know, we're getting your final paycheck and all that stuff lined out. I need to know what price you were told on it from, you know, whatever the facilities department was, and that asset I was told no. And the look on my boss's face because it was his boss that told me no, the look of my boss's face was just pure shock. Because in the five years I'd been there, nobody had told me no before. And he just looked at me and started and he goes, No, seriously, I'm like, I'm, I'm serious. Todd told me no, he's like, No, he didn't tell it's never told, you know. And, and for me, it was kind of like, Alright, now I have a right to be offended because I Even even Josh thinks it's wrong that I'm offended that that Todd told me now that he said no. And, you know, it wasn't a big offense. I'm using this kind of tongue in cheek because it's a funny story. I mean, Todd even came to me one day, I'm training my replacement, and I've got her staying there. And Todd comes running down the hall with this phone and he's got the old Groucho Marx song. It doesn't matter what you say how you phrase it, anyway, I'm against it. And he's playing that and I'm like, Pastor Todd, please meet my replacement. You know, I'm introducing Rosie's trash talking me it was a great moment. But this this business of mystery was kind of taking up an offense for me. I'm like, I don't know what the deal is. I'm not offended. It just shocked me and, and then that moment I went from dealing with my own shock to now I'm dealing with his feelings about this and you A lot of times when we tell somebody we're getting a divorce, or we've been fired, or, you know, we've been assaulted or whatever the tragic moment that comes up, we don't even get a chance to deal with our own emotions first and foremost, because we're constantly dealing with other people's emotions about what happened to us. So what I what I like is you keep saying, Let it go move on, you've got friends that were offended, but you're not letting them impact how you feel, or how your own you're feeling about yourself. Because you're like, it's done. It's over with I've moved on we say girl with long hair, because that's what we were called when we were in the military. I mean guy with long hair. That's what we were when we were in the military. We're just dudes with long hair. So you know, the not letting other people's thoughts come in and keep you stuck. Is it Something that I picked up in what you said you know those people can be offended and be mad at your ex and never want to speak to him again or, and that's fine. That's their feelings and their emotions. But you know, it doesn't disqualify you who you are what you were called to be how great you are and, and you know, it doesn't define anything else about you. It doesn't allow you to I tell people it's okay to park your boat there for a little bit but don't build a mansion around it. Oh, I like that. I like that. So I love that analogy. Yeah, if you need to go go to the gym, punch a couple of punching bags, do some kickboxing whatever, get it out of your system, and then move on. And in. Too often we're hearing that these people are parking their boats and building a mansion and and they've now got land attached to this. This thing that is become a problem in their life and You know, they'll never break the boundaries of that land because they're just, they're too hung up and what has happened to them that they can't see the rest of the world out there that's there for them at the moment and look at you, you're touching so many lives through the people that you serve. You know, every time one of those speakers you work with goes out and speaks or does a podcast or does whatever it is that they're doing. That's one of your touch points. Every time they're writing a book and putting a book out. That's one of your touch points. It may not be your voice, it may not be your thing, but you've touched it, and it's a an extension of what you've done and and all because you didn't sit back and go, Oh, well. He said I wasn't worth it. Or, you know, yeah, you're you're doing it or, you know, you say the face for radio jokingly and all that self deprecating thing, but you've got a voice that needs to be heard and needs to be shared and It doesn't matter what means it gets out there. It doesn't matter what you look like it needs to be heard. And you're not letting any of it stop you. So right, good job. Right. Thanks. Yeah, no, I think we need to embrace our own superpowers and embrace your worst. And, and unfortunately, it does take some of us longer than others. And I would love to see, you know, women, younger women having that confidence from the get go. And I think that's actually one of the things I'm probably most proud of is my daughter, who, up until about a year and a half ago was bigger than I still had the most self assured, amazing personality. You know, that just nothing stopped her. Right and Yet, you know, she was bigger than I. And I swear people are just getting mean more mean and more mean or meaner and meaner. I don't know, which is the correct way. But over the last year and a half though, she has lost 140 pounds. Wow. So wait, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, because she is so determined and so sure of herself, that when she finally made the decision, because she had had a couple kids and want to be there for them. Right, right. She made that decision and stuck to it. But, but it wasn't based on just the her luck. It was based on her health. So you know, just just having your own power is important. And you need to embrace that. Sounds like she's got some tenacity for my mama. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think so. I think We are we are very, we are very similar people. You know, we don't take a lot of stuff from people, right. I edited there too. But yeah, you know, we are, I have raised some real self assured women. And I have an amazing son, who also has a very self assured wife, who he supports and they support each other. I think, you know, as you say, what are some of the victories the victories are that all three of my kids are amazing adults who are happily married, and their spouses are amazing. And what more can I ask? They're happy, you know, and they, and they're giving me grandbabies. in Erie, we're done. I'm so upset. I'm not gonna have any more babies. Yeah, well, my, my two grandkids just turned six this week. So this weekend, so yeah, and I'm not called Grameen diva is my grandma name. So Oh, I love it. I love it. I love it. I love though. They, they definitely call me Davis. So I love that. But, um, so, in the middle of that, you know, what I love? What I kind of heard between the lines is, you know, your daughter with that transition and her outer appearance. You know, a lot of times people look at, you know, people that are overweight like myself, and they think that they're not strong that they're not self assured. Now we can walk in the room and prove them wrong, but first glance there, they're not gonna think that right off the bat. And so, one of the things that I've realized even through my my transformation of Losing weight, and still not near my goal weight yet, but in my transformation of losing weight is people do start looking at you differently. They do start thinking about you differently. And the thing is, is it's hard to explain that I never thought differently about myself. You just did. Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And yet, it's, it's also important to as long as you're healthy, right, right. To to accept yourself. Right. And so, so that's, that, to me is very important. You know, one of the things that always irritated me is that fat slob seemed to go together, right? Well, you will never, ever see me out in public. not totally put together. Every You know, there is no And, you know, dressed appropriately. And, you know, it's just so I have that in and of myself is just like, you may call me fat. But you will never call me a slob. Right? Right? Because that's, that's fine. I'm a big girl, too bad. Get over it. This is me. At this point. If I lost weight, it'd just be hanging skin. So I don't really care. It's like, no way. It's like, I'm healthy. You know, I'm not on any meds. I'm all good. So. So it's like, move on. Let's get on to the business. And I think I come across with a level of confidence that most people don't really, you know, stop and think, well, I don't want to work with her. She's sad. Right? Right. Well, it has. What's important is our brain. Exactly in it and it's one of those. One of those comments somebody made the comment what was it about it? A year ago, there was an event A friend of mine was on and they had only seen her headshots and if you look at her headshots, you think she's fairly skinny. You know very always put together. All of that right? Well then they invited her because they listened to her on a podcast how great she was an invited or to speak at an event and then they were it was a health and wellness event that she was speaking at. And she's got these amazing clients all over the West Coast and she's ran several multi million dollar businesses and and all in the skincare business and Health and Wellness Business, but she's not the model size. She's not skinny. She's not what everybody puts in when she showed up at the event. They were offended because of her size. Nice started being ugly to her. And oh my gosh. And she was like, wait a minute you listen to my podcasts, you heard the wealth of information I have. And they're like, Yeah, but the way you're you talked about on your podcast and what you're dealing with, don't seem to match up and she goes, show me where and they couldn't show her where what she was saying didn't match up with what she had promoted. It just they had a instant flip in their head as to what they had envisioned and what they had hoped to see. And of course, every other person up there look like canon Barbie, you know? And yeah, I'm like, but this is real life. This is gonna get the people that you want to help to get to Ken and Barbie status or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, but well, and and I mean, she's being real. Oh, yeah, exactly. at that. Yeah. That's just ridiculous. really ridiculous. And, and, and hopefully she stuck to her, you know, her principal, and she told him she wouldn't. She told him she would not worry about speaking from their stage. So that day, she really didn't need to speak from their stage, she would just take her check and go home. Oh, good for her. And they're like, well, if you're not speaking, we don't want to, we're not gonna pay you and she goes, No, we have a contract. You can just pay me and I will leave that way. You don't have to be disgusted by my appearance, and they're like, we never used the word disgusted and she's like, but she did in a not so kind way, you know, she, she was very firm. She's a businesswoman. So she is very good and strong and confident because they weren't seeing her the way she saw herself. Mm hmm. And I think I think that's, that's something that we have to be mindful of. We may think That we're, you know, strong and powerful and mighty. But we also realize that maybe not everybody sees us the way we see ourselves. And sometimes we just have to remove ourselves from their presence because it'll never be realized. And sadly, but the other side can also be true. You could see a beautiful girl who you think has it all together? And she does not think at all highly of herself. Exactly. So, you know, it's like, so love thyself, right, right. Know thyself. Well, I think we're all in whether you're gorgeous or not gorgeous or fat or skinny, or purple or brown or whatever. You're all beautiful, because God made you that way. So well, the way I look at it, and I do Do you know, it's one of those things that you you look at it and you go, Okay, I have been at the place where I believe the things people said negatively about me more moreso than then I should have, but then I evolved and then I started realizing that as long as I keep harping on those negative things, I will never see the positive things. So then I started shifting my thought process and and there will still be days. I'll go in Angie Lee Monroe, what were you thinking in? And I give myself that talk or, you know, come on, girl, get it together. Yeah. My husband I were talking I've had a couple of low memory things here lately that I'm just like, Okay, what in the world is going on with me? And, you know, it may it starts to make you think, Okay, well, I'm just not got it together. I'm just not this. I'm just not that. But really what it is, is you're not taking time to put margin and to allow room to breathe. It's what it is. And so in doing that, I had To be hold myself a little more accountable to how much I was putting on my plate, how much I was expecting of others how much I was expecting of myself. And I'm just gonna lead into our next little segment because what I know about you is when it comes to helping people reach their professional goals, your great accountability partner, I mean, you are the way you phrase things as you phrase things to set people up for success. So you were working on a project for me last summer and you're like, Okay, I'm going to get this to you by such and such time. How much time do you need to review it so we could set up a call? It was so there wasn't just a deadline on you. There was a deadline on me as well. And, and many people seem to blur the line between politeness and accountability. So, you know, I've told the story before my friend that never really wanted to hold me accountable for working out The gym because she didn't want to be held accountable for working out in the gym. But when we were in the office space together, she was phenomenal at it. I've had people I've given permission to, to speak into my life and say, you know, hold me accountable for doing things on certain dates and times and be consistent. But then they don't because they know that I'm a strong individual person. And I know that I know I should be doing it. But just because I know I should go to the gym and eat healthy every day doesn't mean that I necessarily do. And I've given permission to somebody to speak into my life to hold me accountable in those areas. And they don't, because they're afraid it's not polite to speak into that. Then we have a problem. So yeah, well with Yeah, with my clients. It really is. That's what they've asked me to do. And I'm not only holding them accountable, but I'm making the business accountable. As I told you earlier, you know, mentoring has really been my passion. And I think my clients all know that if I call them on something, or if I tell them, you know, you really should think about this, you know, going forward, they know it comes from a place of love, and a place of trying to make them better. So, you know, I don't think I've ever really gotten, you know, negative negative with anyone. But, you know, I will, I will say, Wait, stop you, we need to look at this. Right. And I think they know that, that when I push back or when I hold them accountable, it's only for their own good. Yeah. And and, and that's one of the things that people don't realize is if you're asking somebody to hold you accountable, or you're holding somebody accountable, you've been given a treasure in that moment. You've been given insight you've been given authority you've been given You know, I get tickled at people going, Well, I just want to be an authority figure, I just want to have a voice into this area. And so, you know, I'll test out with people. I'm like, Okay, well, I'm gonna give you permission to challenge me in this area. And then they don't brilliant. And then they don't. And, I mean, the ones that do are awesome at it at all times, you know, and then I'll go, I'll kind of push back with them on in a joking way of, well, this was a test it was only a test. Like, no, not by, you know, I'll have some they'll go Nope, not buying it. If you you wouldn't have come up with that thought if you really didn't want to do it or, you know, so they'll, they'll push back and then there's the ones that, you know, you tell them to challenge you in an area and they just never hear from them again. Yeah, well, yeah. So you just say you sit there and you go, Okay, got it. Move on. right on to another accountability partner. I think we've all kind of been in now. masterminds and and, and what not nice still, to this day have a number of masterminds that I'm involved in, in an effort to learn more, and have myself grow as well as helping my other mastermind attendees. So, yeah, going forward. It's not only just the accountability function, but that have you thought about type function rail to give you another aspect that you may never have even looked at? And so I'm a big believer in the whole mastermind system. Well, whenever you're looking at your accountability partners, whether you're being the accountability partner, you're you're looking for somebody to be an accountability partner. And, you know, what are some of the boundaries that you look for? With accountability partners, do you set up phone calls? Do you set up appointments with them? What does having an accountability partner in your life look like? Yeah, well I have mentors which are those that are ahead of me in the business game that I tend to think that you know that we're such a virtual world. My meetings with them are usually zoom meetings. So that I get that one on one I can see what's landing and what's not. And or, you know, we can have a real you know, face to face. This is what's happening. What do I do now kind of thing? Because I will I'll be the first to admit, I don't know everything about everything. Amen. No, I am, I am. I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. So I believe in listening to everyone and although there are times when I can be a bit of an intellectual snob and I really am trying to work on that I have learned in my life that I can learn from anybody. And we need to take people's feedback and live in it for a sec. And either Okay, I see where she's coming from, you know, and and go with it or not. Yeah. And just as I tell my clients, well, here's what I think you should do, but it is still your voice, your message, your social media, whatever, it's still up to you. So here's what I think. But, you know, it is still you that is out there. And it's your presence so well, I think Yeah, I'm in a number of masterminds. I think I have the I think I know the answer you're gonna give to this but I'm gonna ask it anyway because I think the question needs to be asked and answered in a more in your face way, but when you have people that come to you. And we'll just use me as an example, say I come to you. And I'm wanting you to hold me accountable in these areas. And I'm just not pulling my weight in that relationship. And but you can see so much more potential for me that I'm really giving towards the effort that I'm asking you to hold me accountable for. So my question to you is this. Do you keep pushing them and challenging them? Or do you find a way to basically tell them or tell yourself to let it go until they're ready to come to that realization? Oh, yeah, I'll have all sort of have a come to Jesus with them. But if they still aren't getting it, I'll say, you know what, I'm here whenever you're ready to level up or to scale your business or whatever it may be. I'm here when you're when you're ready, but I cannot Be the one that cares the most about getting you to the next level, right? it you have to have that burning desire, you know, to actually make it come to fruition, if you are not passionate and have that burning desire, it's not gonna work anyway. Right? Even if I have the burning desire, right, right, you have to have it. So, I usually, you know, I do let it go in a way that I let them know why. Because you don't seem to be ready. Now I just had something pop in my head, you know, and it's, it's a wondering question. So I'm just gonna put it out there for those that are listening and those that are listening either live or to the, to the recording. You know, I want to ask myself this question and then also, as the audience are those that let me figure out how we're going phrase that those that are asking for you to hold them accountable and are not giving back the full weight of what she is so so you so let's just say I expect more from Susie q out here than she's actually

Hidden investing? What do the top 1% know that you do not?  The 99% Plan Holly Williams is a successful advertising professional who worked hard, and climbed the corporate ladder.  All during the climb, she did what she was taught to do; get a JOB, work hard, live below her means and save for her retirement.   As her parents aged, she experienced first hand the sad ending waiting for most Americans who follow the investment plan her parents taught her.  What she learned while watching her parents age, was that the plan is designed so that you die broke. Nobody ever talked about how the plan includes that you die broke.  Why is that? No one ever talks about how you get your money out of the 401k.  Most people know that when you sell, you have to pay taxes. But, nobody talks about what happens when your account goes down and you still need to sell your shares to get the cash you need to live.  How it is extremely unlikely you will ever make that money back. And as you get older, the government forces you to take the money out so that they can collect their tax.  Her parents aging combined with her increasing tax bill made her hyper aware of the government’s goal for the masses; die broke.  Her plan was broken. Hidden Investing Then she met fellow Texas Tech alumni & NYC advertising executive, Joe Fairless, who shared with her an opportunity to invest in commercial real estate.  She liked Joe, and wanted to help him, but did not expect anything to come of it. Wow, was she wrong! In the months that followed, she received income.  At the end of the year, she received a K-1 with depreciation which reduced her taxes.  She learned first hand how the tax code favored real estate. Then she found out what an accredited investor was, and that she was one.  She also learned about the private investment management advice resources available to the top 1% of Americans and family offices that are not available to the masses.   1% of Americans Eyes wide open!  Holly was making good money.  She thought she had an idea of how much the wealthy Americans made for an annual income.  Maybe a couple of million dollars per year and they probably paid 50% in taxes.   Then she learned the truth about how much the Wall Street fund managers make; $20million and more!.  The advisors who were advising her made no more money than she did, and only knew to tell her to stay invested in the market.  Investing in real estate is risky! Since she was an accredited investor, if she had a prior relationship, she was qualified to invest in sophisticated alternative investments like real estate syndications.  This is typical of the level of investment the 1% invest in. They get close to the source of the opportunity compared to the diluted returns available to the masses.    Real Estate Investing Real Estate investing is specifically encouraged by the tax code.   For accredited investors, when you invest directly, bypass all the middlemen, you are able to  lower your taxable income due to depreciation, and you have the ability to shield your gains from tax.  This is unlike investing in a REIT where you are a shareholder in a fund that most likely made a loan and receives interest payments.  When you invest as a limited partner in a syndication, you are an owner and entitled to owner benefits.  In addition to the tax benefits, you can benefit from a value add strategy.  This can be accomplished through improved management or actually improving the property.  The key is to find an experienced investor who can assess the situation and identify the opportunity others cannot see.   Income Versus Wealth Most Americans are focused on creating more income.  A bigger paycheck equals more taxes and a bigger lifestyle for most.  Earn more so they can spend more.   Real estate provides the opportunity to invest and create wealth.  You purchase a cash flowing asset with leverage. It grows in value, and allows you to shield both your income and gains from taxes.   Even though the IRS tax code favors real estate, most Americans are unable to break from the heard.  They welcome the opportunity to invest in a stock or start up, but real estate still seems risky. Buying from a name brand mutual fund seems less risky than investing directly with an experienced key principal who knows how to improve the property, create cash flow and reduce their taxable income.  Keep More Holly has learned a great deal about Hidden Investing and how the 1% is able to invest in more secure opportunities.  To share her new found knowledge with others, she has created a learning and investment platform, KeepMore.com where her motto is: Get more, Earn more and Keep more.   BIGGEST RISK  Each week I ask my guest, “What is the Biggest Risk Real Estate Investors face?”   BIGGEST RISK:  Oh, I know that's an easy answer. Because I had some real estate, but the majority of my net worth was in the stock market. The stock market is all about hope. It really is. If Trump tweets, it goes up. Tweets again, it goes down. You know, we can have a company with the best earnings ever and their stock goes down. It makes no sense. Unless you're really good at picking these stocks. I just think that that that hope is not a strategy.  With every investment that I make, I can tell you exactly what we're doing to mitigate that risk. How fast the area is growing. What's around the investment.  I can tell you all of that.  So I just feel more comfortable. Because I absolutely don't know in the stock market. And the people we give our money to don’t either. No idea. Not a clue. They just say, “stay in and don't panic”. Right? For more go to: Website: www.Keepmore.com Book: www.hiddeninvesting.com

Industry Acronyms! In this light hearted episode we unpack the use of acronyms by exploring the: Relevance and use of acronyms within the architectural communityHistory and difference between acronyms and bacronymsArch-i-slang acronyms challengeOur role as interior designers and how it relates to the use of acronyms To read the full show notes and see definitions from the Arch-i-slang challenge. https://www.milelongtrace.com/episodes/05-arch-i-slangSummary I challenging you too:Be conscious about how and when you use acronyms. Make sure to define the acronym if your using it in front of your clients or consultants. Double check you are not using an acronym that might have another meaning. Especially if its one that is unprofessional and inappropriate. Avoid falling into the pitfall of arch-i-slang when possible. Just cause others are doing it doesn’t mean you should. Right? For this week’s challenge please go to Mile Long Trace Instagram feed, respond to this podcast post and add a design acronym or two to the feed so we can build our professional interior design acronym list. https://www.instagram.com/milelongtrace_podcast/If you have any great war stories about using acronyms please email me at elizabeth@milelongtrace.com. Lastly don't forget to hit subscribe in your favorite podcast feed and leave a review. In order for Mile Long Trace to deliver you credible content that meets your practice we need to grow this platform.And above all don’t let acronyms pull you down, keep on designing ya'll.

What would strength training and conditioning with a pro be like? How do workouts of professional football players differ from the non-pros? Aaron Wellman knows, he's been with the New York Giants since 2016 as their head strength coach and has significantly decreased the number of season-ending injuries for the team. Before joining the Giants, he spent 20 years in the collegiate Division I level, including Indiana University, Notre Dame and Michigan.  Today on Awesome Health, he tells us some of the basic tenants he has found that make the most difference to the players on his team. We talk about a typical week in the life of an NFL professional strength and conditioning coach. Aaron says his team practices Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and they play Sunday. Monday is a weight training day, and Tuesdays are their days off. Saturdays are walkthrough days to prepare for the game on Sunday.  So there are four days of physical activity out of the seven, which means these athletes' nutritional needs are very different from the general public's needs. This is pretty obvious, but what wasn't so obvious initially was how the physical impact of the game on Sunday was affecting his players' ability to stay at a healthy weight. A lot of his guys were losing weight during the season, and it was from the blunt force trauma of the hits they were giving and receiving during their games. That was one of the tenants he found to make the most difference: adjusting the players' nutritional needs. Another was adjusting their sleep, players can volunteer to wear sleep trackers and share it with their coaches but it cannot be mandated they do so. There are about 20 guys on his team who wear trackers and talk to him about their sleep, how deep their sleep is and how much REM sleep they are getting, details like that and he helps them adjust as needed. Aaron breaks down the other tenants he has found to be most valuable, including different recovery modalities and why strength training and conditioning matters to the longevity of a player's season and career. We wrap up with Aaron sharing his experience adopting a keto lifestyle, his thoughts on how it might (or might not) benefit professional athletes, and what the future of strength training and conditioning will look like. Join us to hear strength training insights and more from Aaron Wellman on this edition of the Awesome Health show! Resources Aaron Wellman Dom D'Agostino on Awesome Health Underground Bodyopus by Dan Duchaine Read the Episode Transcript : Wade Lightheart: Good afternoon, good morning and good evening wherever you are. It's Wade T Lightheart from the Awesome Health Podcast and oh boy - I have been waiting for this interview for quite a while. We have the head strength coach with the New York giants, Mr Aaron Wellman and before we get introduced to the cause I want to talk about, he joined the Giants back in 2016. He did a lot of changes to the off season in season training routines. He's got a 20 year career at the Division 1 college level. He's a graduate of Indiana university, spent three years as a full time assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Hoosiers, and was probably involved with football, baseball and softball teams as well as developing individual nutrition programs for student athletes for the Giants. He was assistant director of strength and conditioning coach for the university of Notre Dame and he's the, he was the director of strength and conditioning, the university of Michigan and implemented athlete monitoring systems including GPS and neuromuscular fatigue assessments. I'm very curious about that. He has a wife and a son and a daughter. And what's an interesting, he follows a ketogenic cyclic or a cyclic ketogenic diet and he's always looking for ways to upgrade that. Aaron, welcome to the show. Aaron Wellman : Yeah, great, great introduction Wade. Appreciate you having me on. Wade Lightheart: Well, I see I'm fascinated by this interview. So for, for people who don't know, I studied exercise physiology back at the university in new Brunswick. I was a good athlete, not a great athlete and thought well maybe I'll get an opportunity to be a strength and conditioning coach. Life took me in a different direction and I ended up, you know, owning a supplement company. But today I'm excited because I want to know just the process first of how you got to become a strength and condition coach. So walk me backwards, like was you on an athletic career or is this something you always wanted? How'd that begin? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, I've always been involved in athletics and I think to your point, I wasn't a great athlete. I was a good high school athlete, played small, division three, college football. And I think a lot, I think a lot of coaches, particularly strength coaches, are guys who really weren't, weren't the best athletes but really had to work. And, and so we developed our own kind of training methodologies and, and really researched ways to get stronger ways to get faster and I think, and then, and then we grew to love that. We love the application. Then it's kind of let us, you know, just intimately down this path and the athlete development. And so I grew up as an athlete and, and got done play as I mentioned, division three, college football, Manchester university, little school in Indiana. And then from there decided I did an internship, had an internship experience at the university of Notre Dame my junior year in college. Aaron Wellman : And, and that's when I really got the bug for performance and, and really everything related to performance nutrition included and decided to go get a master's degree and became a graduate assistant at Indiana university with their football team and strength conditioning and really kind of gone from there. That was, I was hired in December of 1996 at Indiana. And so my career began there and as you mentioned, spent 20 years at the Division 1 level at six different universities. I've been very fortunate. You know, I think that, you know, luck has a lot to do with it and the people you surround yourself with. So a lot of people have helped me get where I am today, but I also like to think there's a lot of hard work that goes involved with it. There's a lot of hours just like any other profession that you want to get to the top of. And but it's, it's something that I'm not, I, I'm a continual learner, a lifelong learner, and I'm still learning every single day on the job. Right. And still making mistakes. I just like to think that after 20 years my mistakes are fewer and far between or less intense. And then they were, you know, 20 years ago. Wade Lightheart: So tell me, you know, at what would be.. I'm going to start, go right into this and then I'll ask some other specific questions. Is what is a day in a life of a strength coach at the professional level, which you are. Cause I mean it's very hard to kind of get into a professional team, especially one as well known as the Giants or something like that. I mean, I can't imagine the amount of hoops you got to jump through to get that position and also how demanding that position is. So walk us through, what's it like in the day of a life of a strength coach or as a week or how does that schedule workout on a year? So I'd be, I'm fascinated with this topic. Aaron Wellman : Yeah. And so we're in an end season right now, we're in week 11 of the NFL season. We began a Mar players reported the camp July 22nd, 23rd, something like that. And so we're pretty much seven days a week. From the beginning of the season to the end. We just had a five weeks a week. I got a Sunday off and, and we'll get some time post-season. But, but as you mentioned, it's a busy schedule, but it's just like, you know, I don't look at it as having to get to work every day or having to go to work every day. I look at, I have them get to work and I say I say this all the time that I've got the best job in the world. Not only do I get to pursue my passion, but I get to do it here in New York city with the New York Giants. And so I'm very fortunate. Aaron Wellman : I don't take, I don't take the position for granted. Certainly there's a lot of other people in the world who've worked as hard who are much more intelligent than I am, who can put together training programs that communicate with athletes who, who won't get this opportunity. So as you mentioned, there's, there's been some, some key points in my life that have kind of led to this. But, but a day is typically this, and I'll, I'll kind of walk you through the week. And so Sunday is obviously game day for us. And typically we will get to the stadium four to five hours prior to the game starting and players will start arriving and we'll just go through and players have some of their own routines or warm up routines and work systems with that. From, from early on in the locker room to pregame warmups all the way through the end of the game and part my staff, our director of performance nutrition, part of his role is, is that fueling process which begins, which you know, obviously doesn't just begin on game day, but since we're talking game, they begins that morning with the pregame meal and continues on through the conclusion of the game and really post game, you know, as you know, you're well aware of what they consume immediately. Aaron Wellman : Post-Game post-activity to begin the recovery process for the next week is critical. So, so we kind of oversee all that. We get through the game and certainly guys are banged up. It's an NFL game. There's, it's not a contest for, it's a collision sport. And so there's bumps, bruises, and he'd come out, some guys banged up. And so we get that injury report typically late at night. So I'll look over that and kind of prepare for the next day for the workouts. And so Monday, Monday our players are all in, every player. We all lift weights, we train, we meet, they watch film - our biggest hurdle on Mondays is administering a workout. And we do, we do our lower body workout on Monday. Some, some of the surprising and I think we can make arguments both ways for Tuesday's - a player day off, one day week has to be off for the players and across the NFL, most teams take Tuesday off and that's kind of, it's kind of been done for a long time and that's the standard most teams set. Aaron Wellman : So Monday, Monday's a big training they force cause there's, there is no practice, there are no other competing physical demands on Monday with, except for the weight training. So we get as much, we can't out them. But like I said, the, the biggest hurdle is, is these guys are banged up. So, so Monday becomes a day where we have to find a lot of alternative methods of training for certain guys. And so we get, we get the whole team in the weight room, practice squad included and certainly, and first thing I do when I get on Monday mornings, I look at all of our external loading variables from the game. We need primarily GPS variables. Wade Lightheart: What is a GPS variable? Can you explain that to people? Aaron Wellman : Global position systems we use every, every NFL city. It was outfitted with, with a radio frequency devices that determine max velocities on players, distance ran. Aaron Wellman : We look at number of plays, things like that. And so just, just markers, general markers of external loading from the game. Right. and so that's the first thing I do Monday morning. Who, who had the most plays on offense, on defense, on special teams, what kind of velocities that we hit that they, one of our receivers who they knew maximum velocity, where we know that there's going to be more eccentric stress on the arm stress from that we know there's going to be greater time to recover from that. And so, so we kind of, I kind of get a general gestalt overview of, of the entire team. And so I'll, I'll sit for the first two or three hours in the morning. Our first group comes in about eight o'clock and so Monday mornings, early morning we, I cover the data and I start making adjustments based upon the previous science into report and the numbers that, the number of plays and the, and the demands of the game the day before and kind of making just some best guesses on how certain guys are going to feel when they come in. And so when they come to the room, I try to have some alternative plans for those players. And I, and right when they come in the room, I grab them and we talk it over and we find out where they are physically from the game. And so that, that's, that's the, that's the challenge on Monday. How do we, how do we make it any efficient training day without setting back their ability to recover and working around any physical anomalies that have presented themselves from the previous day game. Wade Lightheart: That's got to be, I mean, now you've got all of the starters and all the backups and then you also have the practice team. Are you in charge of both sets of those? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, so we, so NFL teams have 53 active players and 10 practice squad. As we've got about 63 guys that come in that day. And yeah, so we oversee the training program of all those players and, and a lot of my time during the week and we individualized training programs. I mean that's, you know, not only by position but by chronological, chronological age within the position, previous injury history. And as I mentioned how many snaps were played on a Sunday. And so a lot of planning, the planning of the training program takes a lot of time throughout the week for, to individualize for that number of athletes. Wade Lightheart: There's so many variables here that you're dealing with. My mind is going off like all these different things. What is some of the differences that you notice between say the positions and then the effects of age as people go are, are ways of mitigating it? Cause we hear these stories, you know, with people like I, I saw an interview with James Harrison of course was the oldest linebacker ever was spending like $350,000 on his recovery program as he aged, you know, Tom Brady with the TV 12 story and all the stuff that he's got going on there. We do know of particularly in, in such a, as you say, a collision sport as the NFL age plays a big role in how successful they can. How does that, how do you deal with that or how do you manage that? Or what typically, do you see where athletes have a hard time keeping pace with the kind of level that you have to maintain rational level? Aaron Wellman : Well, the first part of the question positionally we see, we see the, well, we, when we turn the skill positions, the wide receivers and demons or backs certainly have a large amount of neuromuscular fatigue following games, but that net fatigue is built differently for those guys that's built through high speed running, through high intensity accelerations, high-intensity decelerations. Whereas linemen the offense alignment, the defensive line with some of the linebackers, they engage a little bit that high-intensity acceleration, but a lot of their fatigue stems from blunt force trauma, right? Just, just physical contact with the opponent, physical contact with the ground. And so, you know, as we know neuromuscular fatigue results every bit as much from blunt force trauma as it does from trauma sustained through heavy East center contractions of musculature evolved with high-intensity excels and decels and sprints. And so, so that's, that's a big difference. Aaron Wellman : So you see kind of a couple of different kinds of fatigue that come into the room on a Monday following a game, right? Age wise, you know, it's, it's I think all of us can attest, all of us that have grown older over the age of 40 can attest that our ability to recover just is diminished as we age. And so that's just, that's just part of the game. And the NFL is a young man's game. But we do have certain positions where we have 20 year olds and we have 35 year olds playing the same position. And so those 35 year olds training protocol is going to be completely different on a Monday following of game than, than the 20 year old. Also we see as we age, our ability, just the overall training program, our ability to maintain maximum spring diminishes, but it doesn't diminish edit as quickly as our ability to express force fats. So our rate of force developments are our speed and power diminishes a much faster than our maximum strength. We can hold on to those qualities longer. So again, you may have in season around season you have a young guy where the window of adaptation for maximum strength is still open and we can still gain somewhere that for the older athletes is closed down and now the window is becoming greater for rate of force development activities for power and speed activities simply because of the age of that athlete. Wade Lightheart: Yeah, that's what they, you know, of course they'd talk about that in boxing. It's like the, the powers is the last thing to go, but it's the speed, you know, and it's like, it's always a challenge with the, with the older athlete is, is the brain fires. But it's like the brain writes a check that the body can't cash. They're just that microsecond slower there that, you know, they're, they're half step behind a person. And of course that's the difference in that sport. Aaron Wellman : I mean this is when we lose our ability to move as athletes, we lose our ability as athletes. I mean that's, this is a movement game sure. There's a lot of strength and power involved in this, but, but simply being strong and powerful won't keep you performing at a high level. And, and the older guys are talking about and they, they, these are still the elite of the elite, but relative to younger guys, that's when you can see some of those detriments. Wade Lightheart: I, I was watching Shannon Sharpe on the Skip Bayless show and he was talking about his own career as he, he, his, he aged and it was dawning on him. He's like, yeah, yeah, I can't do this as fast as I used to or I can't recover as fast he said. He remembers that dawning on him and, and, and the impact on his psychology and how he approached the game stuff. So how do you approach the game with, Wade Lightheart: As people agent, how do you think that applies to maybe the real world if you know people who are just looking for maximum performance? Because right now we see this, there's this, all this energy particularly with males. And the biohacking stuff is like, how do I be a superman at 45, 50 years old? Right. And, and, and they're, you know, using some of the technologies that were developed in pro sports and stuff like that. Well, what's your real world experience in the bottom line? Aaron Wellman : Right. Yeah. I mean, I think there's a lot of crossover between a real world athletic population and real world, real world general population. I'd say, I still think the two biggest levels we can pull as athletes and non-athletes alike are nutrition, sleep. I don't think, you know, there, there's, there's, we talked about in training, there's very few absolutes, but there are fundamentals, right? And I think that's the same across the population is that there are very few absolutes, but the fundamentals are those two big levels of nutrition, sleep. You've got to make sure we're taking care of those first. Right. then, then after that, now that we can get into intricate details, but I would say that with an older athletes, they don't handle volume of training as well as younger athletes do. And again, I think that's a generalization we can make to a 40 year old bodybuilder versus a 20 year old bodybuilder, a 40 year old cyclist versus a 20 year old cyclists. Aaron Wellman : I think, I think those are, I think that as we age, our athletes can handle intensity and they need the intensity because when one of our athletes changed directions on the field, he's going to put three to five times body weight on single leg and have to change the rest and go the other way. So the training has to be intense to support the physical demands associated with playing the game, right? But the volume of training is what we have to be very careful of not only what we do in the weight room, but what we do in a conditioning setting and, and quite frankly, how much they do within a practice. And so, so we're always tracking and keeping an eye, particularly on an older players or guys who have have a significant injury history. Now they all have injury histories because it's football and we know that the greatest predictor of future injuries, previous injury, right. And so and so we keep a close eye on these guys and we, it compounds that risk with age. But, but, but the, but the volume lever in addition to nutrition, sleep is critical for those guys. Wade Lightheart: And with that, when you talk about nutrition and you talk about sleep, what are some kind of basic tenants that you've, you've found that make the difference, if you will? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, I think, and again, not now. I think there's a delineation between athletes and general public, right? Primarily with nutrition, right? The nutrition that I need for my daily job tasks and performance is different than what our athletes need. And we, and we just like, we have a whole spectrum of ages and abilities and recoverability within a position group, we have a whole spectrum of nutrition practices and education within a position group within the team. Because you've got several players who look, if we can just get them to have something for breakfast prior to practice, that's a win. Right? Right. And we have other guys on the complete opposite of the spectrum where they're, they're dialed in completely and they're just looking for what's one more thing I can add or what do I need to change my diet to give me a one percentage? Aaron Wellman : Right. And so to speak in general terms on athletes, it's tough because we have all, we have a broad range of number one education in nutrition depending on what college they went to. How much, you know, and a lot of, and a lot of times athletes, we've heard Kobe Bryant talked about this, is that, you know, as you age in your career, the nutrition is the one thing that I haven't locked in. And that's my, that's the last level I've gotten. I'm going to pull it now I'm older. Whereas if these athletes focus on this early on we don't have to wait until they're 35, 36 years old to pull that level. But yeah, so that's so, so we've got a lot, we have the nutrition, it's kind of meeting guys where they are and then moving them forward from that point. Wade Lightheart: That's great. Now I suspect also the calorie requirements of these types of athletes must be significantly higher than the general population. What would you say would be, or, or, or the variants between, I can imagine what an NFL lineman that over 300 pounds and you know, involved in hundreds of collisions every day, like what's his nutrition requirements to say someone like a speedster on the outside would, would, would they be significantly varied. Aaron Wellman : Yeah, significantly different just for simple, simple math of thermodynamics of just maintaining body weight. Right. So a 300 pound or that, that's 20% body fat, that has 240 pounds of lean body mass. It needs significantly more calories simply to maintain his weight and then 185 pound defensive back that we have. Right. But you mentioned something critical that, that I didn't have a great understanding of till I say five, six years into this profession, was that the blunt force trauma requires increased caloric needs. Wade Lightheart: Wow. Wow. And what, is there a like a kind of a scale about how much damage they have and how much food they'll need, you know, there probably isn't an order? Aaron Wellman : The only way to determine that as it's a real look at creating a kinase levels, which we don't look at because it requires a blood drop, but it hasn't been looked at in Division 1 football, creating kinase levels. And this has been a study well over 10 years ago where they looked at creating kinase before training camp at the end of training camp, then about every three weeks throughout the season. And they saw me creating kinase three weeks into camp, but really leveled off as the season went. However, it's anecdotally, right? We see this all the time every year with players who say, I don't know why I can't put the weight on. I don't why I can't keep weight on where they feel like they're doing less activity in season because we practice on it. I didn't even get through. I only got to Monday and we haven't got it right. Wade Lightheart: Yeah, we were all, we're all on Monday for pizza! Aaron Wellman : We practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and they play Sunday. So, and then Monday's a weight training day, Tuesdays - day off, Saturdays kind of a walkthrough day. So you've got four days of physical activity out of the seven. And so they feel like, jeez, I'm in the off season, I'm training five, six days a week. And it's easy for me to gain weight. Well in season that blunt force traumas added, added to that, that, that that is an increased caloric demand that must be accounted for with these guys. And we don't, you know, most of our athletes aren't. And we've got a Pratik Patel, our director of performance nutrition, he's outstanding. Best I've ever been. He does a great job, but even with that, we don't count macronutrients with our players. Because they're not that as interested in, we're trying to make healthy choices. And so we, we add and delete things from the diet, from the menu, from their post-workout shake as we see fit. Aaron Wellman : And and then you'll have certain guys who maybe you're a practice squad player and maybe someone gets hurt. Now you're called up tags a roster. Now your workload doubles, right? Well, your caloric demands increase too. And players have to understand that. And conversely you're a starter, you get injured and you're in a walking boot for three weeks. We'll look ahead and start caloric demands. Right now our core demands decrease. We cannot put on body weight coming back from a three week lower body and drusen. Now we have to focus in and educate them on taking some things out of their diet. And so it's a constant educational process. Wade Lightheart: You're constantly just readjusting to, you know, wow, that's, it's a, it's an incredible amount of work. You mentioned sleep. We'll get to Tuesday and Wednesday and beyond. What's the, the sleep requirements I think is fascinating. And I know Matt, my co-founder, he's, he's so far gone on sleep. What are you noticing as far as requirements for sleep? Is there variance between athletes and, but what are kind of the bedrock of things that you've observed as far as sleep or grade recovery? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, great question. And again, I think that there's individual various with, with all of these things, right? Some guys do great on seven hours and they've done very well on seven hours for five, six years, all through college and through their NFL career. Other guys, when they get seven hours, really feel rundown and require 8 to 10. A lot of our guys are able to take naps. You know, they're usually doing a long day. They're still done out of the building by five o'clock. And a lot of our guys would go home and take a nap from 5.30 to 6-6.30 and then, and then be in bed by 11. So I think guys handle it to varying degrees. But inevitably, if we're going to, if that's a lever that we think is important and we do nutrition, sleep, again, that has to be talked about every day. Wade Lightheart: Do you do you mind, do you have devices that you monitor the sleep cycles for people like you? Do you have technology that attracts deep sleep, REM sleep, all that sort of stuff? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, we used to. And the collective bargain room, the players used to have, have outlawed the players can do it on their own. I'll say that if they, if they are interested in their own sleep, we will, we will get them sleep trackers and they'll be able to do that and we'll point them in the right direction. We cannot provide a sleep tracker and then look at the data every day. Wade Lightheart: Oh, I see. Because that could, that could be a way of tracking them outside of work, I guess. Did they go to sleep at 3 in the morning or did they go to sleep at 11 or something? So they don't want to necessarily reveal that unless the player's comfortable doing that. Aaron Wellman : Right. I mean, I think they look at it and rightfully so. I was a freshman on their privacy. However, we do have 10 to 20 guys on the team who has sleep tracking devices who track their sleep each night. And again, it's, it's a conversation, Hey, how'd you sleep last night? And then they'll, they're happy to come in and, and have that conversation. Talk about how much deep sleep they've gotten, REM sleep they've gotten and that we make, try to make the adjustments and make some recommendations on how to improve those areas. Wade Lightheart: So we got to Monday, what happens after Monday? So we've done the individual workouts for people and made the adjustments based on injury or damage or how much load that they had. So let's take us through the rest, the next parts of the week for you. Aaron Wellman : Yeah, so as I mentioned, Tuesday's a day off, right? The day off for the players. So they offer us, so, and typically on Mondays we're going to be in here and I'll back up. We're going to be in here 6.30 on a Monday morning. Oftentimes we may not get home from a Sunday night game. If we have a, we may have a West coast Sunday night game and we may land at 7:00 AM as coaches. If that's the case, then we go on the bus and come right to the facility and just start work. So we, you know, whatever sleep we get on the plane is our sleep for the night. But on a home game, you know, we're in at 6.30 or 7 Tuesdays. They offer the players, that's the day for them to any, any appointments. They have any errands they need to run. Aaron Wellman : You know, guys on the team are married and have kids and they want to take their kids to school and spend, have lunch with their wife. And those are all great things. We do have a mandatory treatment session for guys that are injured. And so those guys will have to be here with our medical team to get evaluated, to have to get treatments. We give our players the option. If they want to get their Wednesday upper body lift in on Tuesday, they're welcome to do that. So, so the guys that want to work can still come in and work. But there is nothing mandatory on Tuesday. It's a time for them to get, stay out of the building, to rest, relax, to recover. A lot of them have own recovery modalities at home. They may get a massage. You may see guys come in and do a little sauna session or cold tub-hot tub contrast bath, some infrared light, an infrared light bed session. Aaron Wellman : So there's a lot going on on Tuesday and some guys take advantage of that day and some guys just use it to rest, relax and relax our mind at home. And then Wednesday now, now we're back at it and a players would start arrived in the building at 6.30 or 7 in the morning. We bring our offensive linemen and defensive linemen and all of our big skill and big scale determine big scope for us means linebackers, tight ends and our long snappers, our fullbacks running backs. Those guys come in and out. Now they do the lower body session, primarily lower, a little bit upper on Monday. Now they're heavier. Upper body session is on Wednesday and Wednesday, Wednesdays and upper body lift. It's a little bit of a hip mobility works and thoracic spine mobility work. You know, some proprioceptive activities to try to try to get on the front end, some ankle injuries. Aaron Wellman : It's about a 45 minute workout and those guys can come in and they have to be in the room by 7 o'clock that day. So you, we, again, we have guys on their own. A lot of guys like to come in at 6, workout, and they like to get in the sauna or they like to eat breakfast at 6.45 and watch some films. So we're available as a staff. Our staff usually gets in about 5 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday. We have a weight training session, we have team meetings, position meetings. We're on the field around 11 o'clock on Wednesday. They also have the opportunity to live post practice if they choose to. So the guys that don't lift in the morning, a lot of guys, you know, and, and we're fine with that because as much as we talk about sleep it would be contradictory for us to say, Hey look, sleep's important, but being here at 6, right? Aaron Wellman : So guys get enough sleep and our morning people that come in the morning, guys that aren't and want us to get another half hour sleep - great. We'll let, we'll get your way. Training session and post practice and we're usually done with the physical part of the day by 2-2.30, then we have, we have position meetings and staff meetings and typically my staff and I will get out of here around 5.30 or 6 on Wednesday night. So I'm at 5 out of here, 5.30 or 6 on Wednesdays, Thursdays kind of re repeat of Wednesday except a different position group list. So all of our skill players are wide receivers or defensive backs and our kickers and quarterbacks all get their second way training session on Thursday. And again, it's an upper body weight training session. We'll do it. Just a touch, you know, I spoke before about volume and how, how important is to manage volume, but also we want, we want, you know, this, this concurrent approach to workouts where yeah, we're developing max strength but we're also touching some power and certain guys aren't going to ever hit max strength throughout the week and older and older athlete for example, he will be geared more towards rate of force development activities, maybe some single leg activities if we've detected some asymmetries between the lower limbs, right and left. Aaron Wellman : So we do just a touch of explosive work on Thursdays. And when I say touch, I mean three sets of three sets of two of some explosive lower body activity. And again, that varies by individual, right? We've got, we've got an individual who's got some chronic knee tendinopathies or hip issues or low back issues that exercise changes, but inevitably we want to hit a rate of force development, higher velocity power movement on that Thursday. Okay. Just brief three sets of two. And then, and then we're on in quarterbacks, always looked after practice on Thursday. We don't want to fatigue upper body musculature prior to an on the field practice where they require a lot of throwing. So our quarterbacks always come in post practice on Thursday and again, kind of same thing, practice lifting meetings, staff meeting at the end of the day. And again for us as as a strength set, another coaching staff there, continued on into the night right there. Aaron Wellman : They're working on, on the, the tactical aspects of the game, preparing for the next opponent which requires firm mark and, and a lot of things. So those guys may be here till 9, 10, 11 o'clock at night. Our strength conditioning staff, which we try to put things to bed by 5.30 or 6 and, and get out of the building. Friday now are our big scale offensive defense. We'll, I'm going to have now looked at Monday, Wednesday and Friday they come back in for their third lift of the week, much briefer, 30 minutes, upper body lift, primarily nature some work for some core work. And then they're out of there in about 30 minutes. All of our players do have mandatory weigh in. We weigh in every Friday. So that we're tracking body weights. We also track body fats on a number of guys. Wade Lightheart: Do you use the DEXA scan for body fat? Aaron Wellman : We don't, we use a bod pod and we use combination bod pod and calipers. We don't use DEXA. Wade Lightheart: Can you explain why you don't use DEXA and you use the bod pod cause they have DEXA as being advertised as used in the NFL. So I'm curious about that. Aaron Wellman : Yeah. So at the NFL combine they do two measures. They do actually a bod pod and DEXA. And so every, every athlete becomes the NFL combine. I get both measures on so we can kind of see the differences between the two. Wade Lightheart: What do you see the difference? What do you see the difference between, what do you see in the difference between the bod pod and could you explain to people what the bod pod is? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, the bod pod is a really, looks like an egg shaped device, a big oval. Aaron Wellman : And the player sits in there with limited clothing and usually just compression shorts. And I'm kind of a tight beanie on to cover the hair. And it's about two 45 second measurements. And it really the calculation that uses Boyle's law of gas exchange to the terminal to differentiate lean body mass from fat mass. And the DEXA and the, the drawbacks of the bod pod are you shouldn't really should eat or drink too much within two hours of the measurement. If you do a workout and the surface of the skin is warm or damp, it does impact the reading. And so, so the drawbacks are typically that lends itself to our players having to do it first thing in the morning prior to eating, prior to physical activity. It takes about five minutes total from the time you begin an individual till the time they get out of the bod pod. Aaron Wellman : And so the number of players you can give in that short window prior to breakfast and practices is limited. Right? DEXA we can give an anytime a day. We can differentiate lean body mass from fat mass. We can look at bone mineral density, a lot of different things. The, the reason why we don't have DEXA and a lot of teams are going to the NFL combine is simply because state laws in New Jersey require us to have an extra technician or on the DEXA machine. Most States don't. The strength conditioning coach of the director of performance nutrition is performing DEXA stands. So that's, that's kind of the limitation for us. I think we'll work towards that. Wade Lightheart: Um, but right now do you see a difference between the two as far as readings? Are there variance between the two? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, there, there is a lot of variants and I haven't ran a statistical analysis on what that exact variance is, but you can kind of go down and listen. Typically DEXA measures body fat percentage a bit higher than a bod pod does. At least from the data that I've been able to look at from the NFL combine. Wade Lightheart: That's pretty much what we've seen. Also, like I've noticed it seems almost everybody comes out a little higher on DEXA than they anticipate. I don't know if that's a variance within the DEXA or it's actually it's more accurate in determining maybe fat a little bit lower or like brown fat or things like that. Aaron Wellman : Yeah, it's tough to say. I think you know, the validity is the validity on all. You know, we have so many technologies coming up that the validity is so critical to these, but with the body, with the, with the bod pod or any of these other measures, if it's the validity is a little bit off. If the equity's a little bit off, that the reliability is good, meaning meaning we take five measures, the reliability between measures. So if, if you've lost 2% body fat and indicates a 2% loss, even if the body fat, the absolute percent is a little bit off, we leave to know the athletes leaner or he's gained body fat or lost body fat. So that's, that's important. Wade Lightheart: Yeah, you're, you're, you're long as you can track the variance. That's the most important part in changing. And then you say you still use calipers as well? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, it was. So we still use calipers and we ISAK as a certification, so we're able to differentiate fat mass from bone mass, from lean muscle mass. Again, that, and again, the benefits of calipers are if you get an experienced person with calipers, it's fairly accurate. If you eat breakfast before, it's okay if you just worked out before, it's okay. The downside is, is the athletes who have larger skin folds, particularly in the abdominal areas, that's, that's tough when you have 320 pound line when you're trying to skin falls on the abdominal region, those guys generally have higher skin folds. If you're doing skill guys and and linebackers that are fairly, I mean our SCO guys are 5% body fat, 6% body fat. That's a pretty easy skinfold. Wade Lightheart: Oh yeah. There's not much there. Right. That's, that's, that's, well now when it comes to the training you mentioned, I think that's kind of interesting you're doing, I don't know if this is all a lot of, but you're mentioning like doing to set or to rep exercises as power step or what would you say is different about say how you train an NFL athlete versus how someone who's just trying to be bigger or leaner in the gym, what, what is the biggest difference between those? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, I mean I, I think, I think there's a lot, I think as an NFL athlete they're wired differently than the general population, right? Yeah. Yeah. When I say wired, I mean just, just neurologically neuromuscularly the ability to produce high levels of, of neuromuscular contraction a very short amount of times to produce fluid athletic movement. That's, those statements can't be made about most of the general general population. Certainly there are people in general population and we may term fast-twitch and more explosive than others, but we're talking about the elite of the elites. And so a lot of our athletes as high school athletes never had to train and they were still the best athlete on the field. Wade Lightheart: Right? There's just genetically superior, right. Aaron Wellman : Yes, genetically superior. And so and then in college they had to train because it was mandatory, but they didn't have to train extremely hard to be extremely disciplined eating because again, they were the best athlete on the field. Now, now in the end, now you're in the NFL, now there's a bunch of guys like you. Wade Lightheart: Yeah, everybody. Aaron Wellman : Everybody. But it's all relative. Right now in the NFL pond, there are some big fish. They're just outliers. But generally now you come to the NFL. If you want to have a long productive career, now you've got to dial some of these things in more. But again, it's like in your career as a bodybuilder, a career as a power lifter, as we come more advanced in training, you know, a power lifter may may only need to use 80 to 85% of his one rep max because he can call upon so many fibers. Right? And if he consistently trains higher than that, there's a, there's a certain level and now not only a central fatigue, but peripheral fatigue associated with training though. So neuromuscular fatigue our athletes are much the same way. They've got such high outputs that we don't need to see. Aaron Wellman : We don't have to see high outputs in the weight room as well. Their outputs, particularly in season, all their highest outputs are going to occur on Sunday. Right. And so what we do in a weight room is, is the things that we're doing here are means of supporting those outputs. You know, traditionally, you know, I spent 20 years in college and a lot of times in college our wide receivers and kind of our skilled players really don't see the value in training their lower body. All I have to do is run. I don't want to get tired. And one of the things you see in the NFL is those guys have an appreciation and will say, look, I have to train my lower body. They, they may not understand the implications of why they have to, but they understand that I feel better and I'm a better player when I do. Aaron Wellman : And how we explain to how we reconcile it is again, if I'm a, if I'm an Olympic sprinter and I'm spraying to full speed, I've got three to five times body weight every stride. So a 200 pound athletes, 600 a thousand pounds on every foot contact. So the weight training is a means of just supporting their, their position, specific demands on the field, right? Are stronger athletes will recover faster at a given workload than our weaker athletes. Because if you take those same athletes and we, you and I both undergo whatever 20 hard changes direction in the right leg, in 20 on the left leg and the same sprint distance at the same velocities, and I'm a stronger athlete, I can support those and recover quicker from those. It doesn't cause the muscle as much muscle damage and myself as it does. Does that make sense? Wade Lightheart: Yeah, that's, that's, that's that's an interesting point. Aaron Wellman : And, and so that's kind of how we explain that. Look, look, we're not, I'm not suggesting as a strength coach that if we improve your squat max by 20 pounds, you're going to be faster athlete. You're already a fast athlete. What I am suggesting is by getting stronger and maintaining your strength at season, we will support performance the entire 17 weekend FLCs right? And so, so that's kind of, that's, that's the angle with training training guys at this level. Right? And, and so it's so much different than general population, right? In general population, their workout is, they're tested today. Right? That's it. And so they, they have to recover from that. And, and of course stress that we know is stress. So psychological stress, emotional stress, physical. We only have one bucket to recover from stress. So the, the, the a 45 year old man or woman who doesn't like their job and spends 12 route hours at their job as a lot of stress from that. And it's tough to recover and just like an NFL player recovering from a game, but what the games are, are physically the most demanding days of the week. And, and so everything we do supports their ability to perform on those days. Wade Lightheart: That's, that's a pretty interesting. Now on the recovery side of things, what are some of the, the things that you guys utilize or leverage to kind of, cause it seems like recovery is such a big factor on that. I met, I think a lot of people are familiar, I remember years ago here in Vancouver I believe the Vancouver Canucks is one of the first teams to start using hyperbaric chambers and things like that. And it's kinda like, to me that was kind of when biohacking, if you will for quote unquote started to creep into professional sports. That was quite a long time ago. What are some of the things that you can talk about that, that teams are using in the NFL or the Giants are using or that sort of stuff, which are kind of common that definitely make a difference for them cause people would like if it makes different at that level it's tried, tested and true and I can trust that in my own life. Aaron Wellman : Yeah. And again, it's again, once the two biggest levers are pulled, we've got to pull those first nutrition and sleep right beyond that. Okay. I think there's, there's as much individuality with recovery modalities as there are with training modalities. Wow. you'll have certain players who love the cold tub. Other players got the cold tub and said, I just feel stiff for the next 24 hours now again. And I've found that the really high wire fast-twitch athletes don't do well in cold tubs. Um you know, and I always go back to this, I mean recovery, when all the dust settles, when we look at recovery, what, what systems in the body mediate the recovery response, primarily mediated by the autonomic nervous system, right? The sympathetic and parasympathetic branch. So if we take a sympathetic dominant athlete and put him in a cold tub and produce a higher level of sympathetic dominance and make the parasympathetic system withdrawal even more, is that what's best for them? So a lot of our players intuitively would just say, coach, you know, I, I, I just don't, I've never liked the cold tub. Okay, let's try something different. Right? So, so how can we leverage parasympathetic nervous system to promote that, to promote that recovery response? And so I think there's some, some general modalities and most teams use and most seems to have a hot tub and a cold tub. We have a sauna here. There's a lot of good evidence research on sauna use. Wade Lightheart: Do you use infrared or high temperature or combination? Aaron Wellman : We use, right now we have high temperature. Wade Lightheart: Yeah. Cause that's what kind of creates the shock proteins that seems to be temperature. Wade Lightheart: I appended on that. I know Dr Rhonda Patrick is talked about it extensively and she says the heat's a big factor. Aaron Wellman : Yeah, heat is a huge factor and actually you can, you can seem like he shock proteins and cold too. And Rhonda talked about that and I think the difference between infrared and high heat saunas is the duration you have to be in it. So an infrared sauna may take 45 minutes to to get the same response as opposed to 25 in a high heat sauna. We also have a near infrared light bed that I don't know if you, I don't know if it goes red. Wade Lightheart: The red belt chargers? Yeah. Those are great. Those are amazing. I was just on one a little bit ago. My skin is still a little red cause it was built in with a suntanning set. Aaron Wellman : It's phenomenal. I feel amazing on that thing. Our players love that. Our players love it. Pre-Practice pre-workout. They also love it post-breaks and post workout. And we've got a lot of coaches who, who use that as well. And I think right now that's probably the most utilized recover modally we have in the building is the infrared light light therapy. Some teams have sensory deprivation or float tanks. I'm sure you're familiar with those. We do not have one. But again, it's, it's what, you know, what are we doing that we're promoting a person but static response, right? I think if you're, if you're eating well and sleeping well and you focus on breathing, some breath work, some meditation, I think that can be just as powerful as any other recovery modality. Wade Lightheart: So the big thing is just flipping people, you want people flip that as sympathetic to parasympathetic. Is that the, is that the goal that you're after? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, and I think you'll hear people say, well, what if you're, what if you're too parasympathetic dominant? Okay, okay. We don't see that too much. Right. You know, when we, when you look at just some subjective markers of, of what sympathetic and parasympathetic dominance looks like. Most of our guys are, you know, strong guys to compete in a violent sport and a context sport and, and ufollowing games or practices. We just want to promote that relaxation response. Right? For some guys that might be, might be going out to dinner with their wives, other guys may be a hot tub, other guys that might be a and might be some breath work, some meditation. Ubut again, I think the, the, the responses of these modalities are as individualized as anything else. Aaron Wellman : I think when we, you know, in college we used to make like all of our players get in the cold tub after training camp practices. I mean, whenever you do, whenever you, it'd be like programming a weight training program for the masses and you're going to capture 30 to 40% of those and probably do what's about right for that. But the other 60 are going to respond to you. They're not respond or respond unfavorably to your recommendations. And I think, I think that's what, that's what, in my opinion, a good performance programs from, from great performance programs is that ability to, how much going to individualize not only the training response and the dose of loading we're getting our athletes, but then also on the backend, how do we individualize that recovery response to do what's best for that athlete. Wade Lightheart: That's it. That's fantastic. So what, any, any other recovery modalities that you find helpful? Aaron Wellman : You know, there's a lot out there. All right. I mean, a lot of our guys have their own, I mean, just touch physical touch, massage. Yeah. We offer, we offer massage store athletes. We offer breathwork and meditation for athletes. We offer acupuncture to our athletes. A light bed therapy, sauna, hot tub, cold tub. I think that's about it and a lot of our guys, but you have guys who have hyperbaric chamber. Yeah, yeah. You mentioned the term biohacking. A lot of guys on their own like this and, and so even some of the stuff, the science isn't strong on, right. But the placebo effect is so powerful that if you that if you feel better it works. Wade Lightheart: Right. So, so, so would you say that these high, many of these high performance athletes seem to have a better awareness of their biofeedback than say general population? Aaron Wellman : I think they do by large,I think they do. I've had athletes really high level skill players who, and I, and one of the things that differentiates NFL programs or my program in the NFL from colleges is I think in the NFL we really lock arms with our athletes, right? In college we have 18 to 22 year olds and we're making best practice decisions in the NFL. We're making best practice decisions, but I'm also going to lock arms with the athletes. Okay. Let's talk about how you feel in the field. What I can do to help you improve in those areas where you feel like you're deficient, you are running a running back to when he plans off his rifle. It doesn't feel as powerful as when he just left for example. But I've had these high level sprint athletes, skill athletes, they can describe what they're feeling. Aaron Wellman : They don't know what it is, but they're just, they're describing part of their anatomy that bothers them at high speeds for any, and they can point right to it and they can tell you exactly when it hurts. They don't know why it hurts. And then, and then if we dig, and if we worked with these guys, if we dig and dig and dig, we can usually figure this thing out. But they are so perceptive with how their body feels. Now, some guys are really perceptive to a fault, right? Right. They're going to, they're going to perceive everything and everything's a problem. But other guys are perceptive and just, Hey, look, how do I fix this? And, and, and we, we help them correct that. But, but I, I think you're right. I, I would, I would generally say that these, these athletes are much more in tune with their body. It's just like having a Indianapolis race car versus, you know, a 1970 Corvette you just driving around on the weekends. Wade Lightheart: You know, this brings up another topic on performance I think is I'm curious about and that is one of the things that you hear them talking about in sports is an athlete's vision. Their ability to see the field or see how plays are developing or are accompanied. And then I know a recent trend in the NHL is goalies taking different vision training. There was about four or five, four years ago there was a, a bunch of second string goalies that all became starters cause they went to these particular visual training stuff. Do you guys do any training on that or is that an end season or an off season thing or do you have any experience with that? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, that's a great question. I am not an expert in that area. We do, we have, we have several modalities. They would fall into the category of quote unquote vision training. Like a lot of things. I think that the evidence is strong for some and completely lacking for others. You know, there, there's a company that makes these glasses that kind of like stroke glasses where they flash in and out. So you can see. And so Claire, my stand Clare, my catch balls. So is it, is it the glasses or is it the extra half hour a day you spend catching balls that you didn't do before? Right. So I think, I think, you know, I like to refer to myself as an open minded skeptic. Wade Lightheart: Okay. Aaron Wellman : I don't have any answers. Right. You know, I have more than I used to. I don't, I don't have all the answers, but I am open to the idea that much of this stuff works, that we've only discovered maybe one or 2% about human performance and the things that we can do to improve. So, so I don't discount anything. And particularly the athletic things that works in when it works. I just don't know how many of these devices are, are validated and if we were to, would, would stand up to kind of a double blind placebo controlled trial. And I don't think a lot of them have been undergone this scrutiny. Wade Lightheart: Couple more questions around the training. So two things that come to mind is one of the things I'm so impressed about just, well just this sheer athletic ability of the NFL. I mean, I, I watch it. It doesn't matter who's playing, if I'm into the teams, just, just watching some every day that I watched that game, I'm, I'm just blown away by what somebody does on that field. You know, it's just mind boggling. But two of the things that I think is pretty interesting is the grip strength. Wade Lightheart: That some of these athletes have enabled to grab a one handed catch and you know, like, you know, hold onto the ball with a 300 pound man slamming the ball directly. That's a, that's a fascinating thing. And then the other piece I'd like to look at is the training in the off season. How that differs from in season? Aaron Wellman : Yeah. So the grip strength priests, do we train grip? Yeah, we do. I would never be I would never say the reason why they're able to do this cause we do grip training, right? These guys, again, are, are wired completely differently than the general population. And I've seen guys with their five foot 10 with enormous hands, right? And so obviously you're building to hold on the ball. Largely can be predicted by hand size with these players. And, and again, these, these guys physically physically are different, are mentally different, are, I mean they're, they're the elite of the elite, right? They're the Navy seals of the military, right? These, these guys are the best of the best. And so they are wired completely differently. So we do, we do a lot of group training, particularly with our offensive and defensive linemen because they're, they're handing in combat athletes essentially. Aaron Wellman : But what you're referring to are some of these catches, some of these skill guys are making. And it's, it's really a, it is a grip strength thing. It's a skill because they practice these don't, let's not underestimate the impact skill has on this, right? So big hands and strong hands doesn't mean you can make one handed catches. Correct. If it did, then we would just get bigger, recruit players with the biggest hands and train their grip and we'd move making these miraculous sketches. So skill is always going to trump strength and speed and power and so, and these guys put enormous amounts of time practicing one hand to catch. This isn't, this isn't an anomaly that you see on game day. I mean it's uyou know, the balls thrown outside the framework of the body and they've got to go get it. And that's, that's something that's a skill that has to be practiced and learned just like any other skill. Wade Lightheart: Well, and now going into off season training, how, how does that change change for your athletes and how much do you interact with the athletes? Cause you know, maybe they're not even in the city that you're in or they're outside or new people are coming in from other programs and all that sort of stuff. So what goes on there? Aaron Wellman : Yeah, it's a great question. And it's one that's, it's, it's a, it's one, it's a difficult obstacle with our yearly calendar here in the NFL. So I'll, and I'll kind of walk you through a week. Our last game was December 29th if you're not a playoff football team, the players usually there's a meeting the next day and I'm, I'm allowed to give them a 14 to 15 week. It's about a 14 week off season program. Ours is about 160 pages long. It got nutrition, all their speed work, their conditioning, all their weight training broken up by position. We'll have 10 to 20 guys who want individualized training programs. So we do that for them. But dictate that we, we are not to contact our athletes and have a conversation with regards to train. Right? So essentially an athlete may leave and you may not see him or, or speak with him regarding training for 14 weeks. Aaron Wellman : That's a huge obstacle. Right? Wade Lightheart: Can they reach out to you guys? Aaron Wellman : They can reach out to us. Uwe cannot, we cannot initiate the conversation. Our, our training facility is open every day throughout the off season. And our players can come in and train. We cannot,umandate they come in. We cannot mandate what they do when they're in the room. We cannot conduct the workout. We can simply supervise for safety, right? If the guy's bench press and we can spot and make sure he's not hurting. So, but we can't say, Hey, let's, let's do four sets today or five, or let's do this exercise. Uso they, so when they come in, our athletes bring in their off season program and work right off of that. Uthe other thing we cannot do is, is,uyou know, the, the weather in New Jersey in January, February is not sunny and nice. Aaron Wellman : So you're not going outside to run. So we have an indoor facility. Our athletes can go in there and run, they can use the facility. We can't go in there with them. Right. So, so we're loping hamstring. So, so the focus is on the player to, to quote unquote be a professional and take care of their body. And so, and that, that period goes from the end of the, the from the last game of the season until the beginning of a, what we term the off season program, which would be around the middle of April. Right? And so in the middle of April arise, most of our players come back, and again, this is not a, the off season program is not mandatory. It's an optional program. However, most guys are back and, and really the first two weeks of that program, I get the players. It's strength and conditioning. Aaron Wellman : I give them two hours a day, I give them four days a week. And that's kind of our time too. And then when they come back, you know, kind of put yourself in our place. When these guys come back, you're trying to program running loads, sprint distances to get them ready for two weeks from now when the coaches get them. But what you don't have is information on what they've done for 14 weeks. Right? So consequently you get a mixed bag, right? You got our guys, our guys are great, very professional. So they're all going to have done something. But some of them have been running four days a week for the last four weeks. Some have run one or two days a week, some have done high-speed runnie, some have just, you know, stable condition. And so the first week we're really trying to feel out where we are as a team. Aaron Wellman : If day one becomes heavy sprint work, we're going to have problems. Yeah. Right. Those, those, those chronic loads, chronic running loads have not been established with the athletes. And, and there's a, there's a lot in the research on these acute to chronic workload ratios. But it's common sense that, and I, and I use the analogy of, of being in the sun with our players. So there's no problem with being in the sun for three hours unless you've not seen sunlight for the previous eight months. Now you're gonna have a problem. Right. But if you, but if you go in the sun 10 minutes today, 20 minutes tomorrow, and that's no different with training and with sprinting that, you know, if you haven't sprinted for 14 weeks and we bring you back when we do ten one hundred yard sprints, certainly there's going to be a price to pay for that. Aaron Wellman : Yeah. And so, so we're very careful. We almost under-traine them in week one because we really don't know what we're getting and we just, all season program is only eight weeks long. We just can't afford to have the soft tissue injury. And for a guy to miss four or five, we should try. And so we're, we try to be very smart. We try to meet them where they're at. I have several conversations, just honest conversations. Talk to me about how you've trained particularly the last four weeks. Have you followed the program we've given you? Well, no, I did this. Okay. And so it kind of gives us an indication on where our players are and we want that. We want that communication to be open and honest. I, if you've done nothing, tell me. Tell me. You've done nothing. So it's so that I can make the best decisions for you. That's all. That's what this is, is that how do we put our players in a position to have, to have a long career, to stay healthy, to perform every Sunday. And how do we serve our players to meet their needs. Wade Lightheart: So for our younger listeners who may be aspiring to a career in professional sports or professional football, what would you say is maybe some of the patterns that you've observed or like earl

Ásatrú, an Old Norse paganism, has become the fastest growing non-Christian religion in Iceland. When most people think of this country, religion is not normally what pops into their minds. However, over 75% of the Icelandic population are registered as members of a religious organization. Later, in the random fact of the episode, I share the number of Icelanders belonging to the top five religious organizations in the country. When & Why Was Ásatrú Founded Paganism was once the norm in Iceland. In fact, the majority of the settlers that came to Iceland in the 900s were members of Ásatrú. However, the spread of Christianity drastically diminished its members and Christianity became the official religion of the country in the year 1000. While the Alþingi declared that Christianity would be the only religion in Iceland, people were still allowed to practice the old religion, just as long as they did it in secret. The re-recognition of Ásatrú in Iceland came about in 1973 and the journey to that recognition is quite fascinating. Four men named Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson, Jörmundur Ingi Hansen, Dagur Þorleifsson and Þorsteinn Guðjónsson met in a cafe in Reykjavík during winter in 1972. That is when they came up with the idea to found a folk religion. It is believed that the start of this religion was due in part to the counter cultural and religious sentiments at the time. Additionally, nationalism, and interest in spiritism and elves created a near perfect environment for the resurgence of Ásatrú. Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson, who later became the first high priest of the re-emerged Ásatrú, believed that the religion was based on a belief of hidden forces in the land. He also felt that Icelanders had a desire to have their own religion and that they should support it just as much as they do imported religions. Ásatrú, in many ways, was a movement back to nature in a time where the negative effects of being an industrialized civilization were rearing their ugly head. Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson The Road to Recognition To gain recognition of Ásatrú as an official religion in Iceland, Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson and Þorsteinn Guðjónsson met with Ólafur Jóhannesson, the minister of justice and ecclesiastical affairs, in Iceland, right before Christmas in 1972. At first, the minister thought they were joking but once he realized that they weren’t, he requested more paperwork. A funny occurrence that goes along with this story is that when Sveinbjörn and Þorsteinn left the minister, a thunderstorm caused the lights in the center of Reykjavík to go out. According to an article in Vísir at that time, the paper joked that Þór, the God of Thunder, was showing his dissatisfaction with the vague answers that Sveinbjörn and Þorsteinn had received. The most notable opposition to the re-recognition of the religion came from the Bishop of Iceland, Sigurbjörn Einarsson. He went on to publish his opinion in Morgunblaðið, which pointed out that the Icelandic constitution did grant everyone the right to “found organizations to serve god but that this assumed a monotheistic outlook.” The Bishop also criticized the organization for having vague teachings and no house of worship. He took his criticism even further by trying to connect the Ásatrú to the racial ideology of Nazi Germany and the re-emergence in the belief of German folklore during that time. The Bishop was essentially calling into question the moral teachings of the organization. Lastly, he felt that since there were only 21 people seeking recognition, they were quite small. Morgunblaðið, the country's biggest newspaper agreed with him and put out a very bold statement. They stated that Christianity was the “basis of Icelandic society” and that “Christ is enough, though he was not enough for Hitler, Stalin or their followers". Fighting for the Right For Ásatrú to Be Recognized The members of Ásatrú replied to the bishop’s criticism by saying that Christianity...

 Given the cost and what's at stake in choosing a college, perhaps, we are asking the wrong questions when we set about the process. Oh, there are a slew of books, rankings and resources which announce themselves as being definitive guides to making that choice.  But, are they? Using the ‘jobs to be done' concept … Continue reading EP 293 Choosing the College That's Right For the Job

Alex Villafranca, one of the founders of Arbeit Software, a company that empowers businesses with powerful contact solutions. From calling solutions to hosted VoIP office phone systems.Alex talks about how he uses video to prove Arbeit's expert status. And as a bonus, you'll hear more about how World of Warcraft can help you grow your network and business.https://www.arbeitsoftware.comCheck out the video here and be sure to subscribe to receive future episodes. If you prefer an audio podcast subscribe to the Smarter Business Podcast at this link - https://vidwheel.com/smarter-business-podcast/Our goal with this podcast to delivery high-quality, actionable tips and advice from business leaders. Advice that will help you succeed. Oh yeah and that video bent - we are going beyond the typical business tips, we are going to explore the use of video with these business leaders too, from marketing to sales, to internal communications - how they use it and how it impacts their businesses. Thanks for tuning in. _COMMENT BELOW if you have any questions about video marketing. We'd love to hear from you :) _SUBSCRIBE - https://www.youtube.com/user/nickelcitygraphics?sub_confirmation=1Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/vidwheel/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/vidwheel/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vidwheel/_Nickel City Graphics LLC is now vidwheel LLC. We wanted a new name, a new identity, a clear identity, and a new, clear voice, to go with a new focus and position. vidwheel LLC is an end-to-end video agency, which means we work closely with our clients to plan, execute, AND effectively implement high-quality video to help improve multiple aspects of their businesses. _Transcript:Neil Carroll [00:00:06]This episode of The Smarter Business Podcast features Alex Villafranca. Alex is one of the co-founders and CEO of Arbeit Software, which is a communications platform that allows modern and more efficient communication between businesses and consumers. Alex also produces video content for Arbeit Software, and he goes into how he uses video to prove Arbeit's expert status. Bonus, you'll hear more about how World of Warcraft can help you grow your network and business. As always, if you like what you hear, please subscribe wherever you're taking in this podcast, and please leave a comment. We're always looking for feedback, and it can help people find this show.Neil Carroll [00:00:49] Welcome to this episode of The Smarter Business Podcast. This month we have Alex Villafranca from Arbeit Software. And Alex, I'll give you an option to kind of introduce yourself and your company.Alex Villafranca [00:01:05] Yeah. So Alex Villafranca, one of the co-founders and CEO of Arbeit Software. We are a communications platform that allows businesses to communicate with consumers in a modern, more friendly way. And essentially what that is, is we make, I mean, we have a few different products, but we have an autodialer is our first product that we launched about five or six years ago. That's what got us into this. It's not the most friendly way of communicating with consumers, but that was our first product. We have a phone system for businesses. We have a compliant communications platform that eliminates the need for robocalls for businesses, but allows them to still reach consumers in just as a productive and efficient way. So, yeah, that's what Arbeit is and what we do.Neil Carroll: [00:01:56] That's excellent. And I think one of our first conversations we discussed your radio spots that you were doing. Right? For your phone system.Alex Villafranca: [00:02:07] With Duke Nukem as our voice over.Neil Carroll: [00:02:10] Which was excellent and memorable.Alex Villafranca: [00:02:12] Yeah, people loved it.Neil Carroll: [00:02:14] T

For more information, visit teachingstrides.caTo learn more about Otahpiaaki, check out their website.SHOW TRANSCRIPT:Meg Wilcox: I'm Meg Wilcox and this is Teaching Strides—MRU faculty daring greatly. In this episode: how fashion can fuel resistance reconciliation and entrepreneurship.The word “Otapiaaki” is a Blackfoot term for the moment the vamp and moccasin are sewn together, and it's this togetherness that the project hopes to promote. When Spirit River Striped Wolf and Patti Derbeyshire first got started with the project, it was in a Mount Royal classroom. But today we'll talk about how Otapiaaki fashionweek has expanded beyond a club at the Bissett School of Business and is now a space for talented Indigenous creators to show off their work and what reconciliation really means.MW: Patti, Spirit, thank you so much for joining me.Patti Derbyshire: Great to be here.Spirit River Striped Wolf: Yeah, thanks for having us.MW: So Otahpiaaki is coming up very shortly, for someone who maybe has never heard of it before, how would you describe the program?PD: So Otahpiaaki began as a classroom project and really quickly became a social innovation movement. Most folks know us for Indigenous beauty, fashion and design week, which happens every fall. So, this year we go November 5th through 9th. And during that week, we invite Indigenous designers and creatives to Mokinstis. And we put up a series of workshops and they can, be on everything from traditional beading and embroidery through to, we're doing digital sash making this, this year with John Corvette. And then our showcases—so this year on Friday night, um, our fashion showcases and we put up our first four designers and that'll be with the Calgary Philharmonic orchestra and Jeremy Dutcher. And so it's so exciting for us because this is the year of Indigenous language. So to be co-presenting with Jeremy Dutcher who essentially revived his language and he is a celebrated Polaris-winning and Juno-winning musician around that language project. And so what we've done is curate the designers with that project. And then on Saturday night we've got a dozen more designers from treaty seven, treaty eight, treaty six. We've got a couple of special guests coming in from nations the U.S., and that's down at our new central library. So we're looking at about 500 people that night. And if you think of a runway in or New York or France or anything like that Otapiaaki puts on that kind of showcase and these designers come with that caliber of work.MW: So you mentioned that this started as a classroom project obviously what you've described is much bigger. What was the original classroom project?PD: Well, Justin Lewis, who is you know, kind of a long-time friend to this project runs a label called Section 35, so he's based in Vancouver, but he came from [unknown] so kind of mid province here, Cree community. And he came in and did a social innovation presentation. And it's actually become a piece of research that I've gone deep on now, but I'll talk a bit more about that later. But Justin really, really inspired this group of students, by helping them understand that Indigenous design and fashion and producing street wear, which is what he does, is so important to indigenous youth at this point in time, that they can see themselves in their own clothing. They can see themselves in their own language and that design elements really reflect who they are.And this era that we're in right now around truth and reconciliation. So fashion in the context of Section 35 is about seeking truth and literally about young people wearing those truths.MW: And so Spirit, when did you come in on this project?SR: Yeah so I came in kind of as the project was starting, Patti came to me and talked to me about trying to figure out a name for the project. There are some words that I kind of knew, some words instead of thinking about, I know there are some terms in regards to like, you know, designing clothes and things like that. And I was just kind of, you know, skimming through the Blackfoot dictionary. And I found this word called Otahpiaaki. And so we talked about how that's analogous to reconciliation and coming together and connection. And so I, as a student in policy studies who is already working with Patti on another project called "Elder in the Making," where creating an academic lesson plans for kindergarten to grade 12. And that was kind of wrapping up. And then this new idea of Otahpiaaki kind of came in and I had a huge interest in it because in my degree in policy studies is a big part of it is economics and political science and legal studies. So for me it was really important to look at economic growth within Indigenous communities. How can this project best impact the Indigenous community? So I did a little bit of research in terms of how trauma can be a barrier to entrepreneurship. I've worked in my community and outside of my community since I was in middle school and I've worked on a range of projects with Indigenous people. So I already had an idea of kind of the barriers to these kinds of projects and the barrier for supporting Indigenous workers and families. So I was really excited to be able to kind of work deeper on these issues, which is what I've wanted to do with my degree since the very beginning anyways. So it was just a fun way of engaging economics and entrepreneurship and trauma, which I think are two things that aren't really connected as much in my degree and in economics to begin with.MW: And so for you, it wasn't necessarily a fashion interest that's happened to be the topic where you could explore all of these issues. Is there anything as you've been doing your research that's really surprised you or stuck with you?SR: Yeah, I think there's so many things. Like it's been about three years and I kind of looked at it like a puzzle. Like I felt like I knew some of these pieces and was trying to put them together. Some of the amazing things that really surprised me and made me really think about my own life is trust and connection. And a lot of, you know, political scientists have come out with these terms of how we have to connect trust to economic development. And for me, it was really important to look further into the barriers of entrepreneurship for Indigenous people. And it really, it really kind of became clear to me that trust and connection were one of the biggest casualties during the assimilation process of Indigenous people. And that is one of the largest barriers for growth in Indigenous communities. One thing that I learned on this project was that ethno-cultural minority groups thrive and support themselves in a predominantly white society through entrepreneurship. That entrepreneurship is actually a coping mechanism to exclusion from the labor market. And so for me, it was looking at these other minority groups and Indigenous folks and seeing what the difference was here where ethno-cultural minority groups contribute billions of dollars to the economy. And for Indigenous people, what we know is that there's billions of dollars that just aren't being pumped into the economy. And when document we look at is how there's $27 billion that is potential GDP from Indigenous workers. And so for me, I knew growing up what those barriers were from my own lived experience, but it was also using my degree to kind of translate that. And to write something in an academic kind of context that would help explain how trust and trauma certain things like intergenerational trauma and how that affects it. And for me, one of the other biggest surprises was disciplinary styles. So for me, I always hear things about like how intergenerational trauma, you know, it's the cause. Then for me, I think that I really prefer to look at facts and statistics and I think that's why I went into my degree to begin with. So for me it was like "hey, that's a little bit whimsical." When we looked at economics, we look at models, we look at, you know, numbers and we looked at equations. How can we account for that? Right? For me it was looking at how, we have to look at how humans talk to ourselves when we're creating something. And one of the most vulnerable things that a human could do is create something and showcase it to the world, which is what we're asking our designers to do, right? That's what being an entrepreneur is. And to be a resilient entrepreneur is to be able to have a resilient self. And so for me, it was looking at how a lot of Indigenous people that the intergenerational effects has been, how we talk to ourselves. That in Indigenous communities it was always how your behavior affects the community. But through residential school, school and the Sixties Scoop, a new narrative has really come into our families, which is, you know, "you're not good enough." Who do you think you are? You know, disciplinary styles. Like "you're a bad girl," or "you're a bad boy." And how that has really transformed the narrative that Indigenous people have for themselves and how they view themselves. You know, one story I always bring about is that when I was coming to university, some of my peers in high school, they'd say, "Spirit, you can go to university, I can't." And so there's this way of thinking on the reserve, which I think is really the root to a lot of issues in Indigenous communities such as addictions and violence and so forth. Because it's a painful feeling to always be questioning your worth constantly. And humans will find ways to cope with that type of pain. So that's, you know, it's such a deep situation. It's such a deep idea. But for me it was so important when it comes to entrepreneurship and supporting entrepreneurs and kind of diving deeper into how we talk to ourselves and how can we become a resilient entrepreneursMW: And looking forward for Otahpiaaki and other research in the future, Spirit, based on the research you've done and sort of with the new project coming up, what are you working on now or what are you hoping to expand this research into? Where do you want to take it?SR: Right now? The fashion show in November, making sure that we have our volunteers and our partnerships doing well and that their relationships are going well and so forth. For my research side it's interesting to be able to look a little bit deeper into economic development in macroeconomics. Which I've been undertaking within these last couple of semesters and trying to find those models. For me, it's been trying to find the language and finding the connection to classical economics and Keynesian and economics and trying to see how does something like this work. How do we integrate Indigenous economics into the broader conversation of economics, which is, like I had mentioned before, it's such a missing component of economics. It's usually about developing nations or developed nations like Canada. And there's just not a lot of room there for Indigenous communities that have been affected and how that works. Yea, and also the other thing too that we're working on is with Ryerson university. We're creating a chapter there, so someone that we've been working with, Riley Katrin, who is...I think he's undertaking his PhD. Is that correct?PD: He is, absolutely.SR: Yeah. And so he approached us with this project about putting our work and the conversations we've been having into a textbook that will be used for students in fashion. So that we can have a deeper conversation about fashion and entrepreneurship and barriers to entrepreneurship for Indigenous entrepreneurs, especially those that are in the fashion and arts. And so that's definitely one thing that I've been looking at for my work as well as this deeper research into economics and so forth.MW: Wow, well, it sounds like if you want, there's a whole career there if you really want it to.SR: Yeah. True.MW: Thank you so much for joining me you guys.PD: Thank you.SR: Thanks for having us.MW: That was Spirit River Striped Wolf and Patti Derbyshire, co-founders of Otahpiaaki. The fashion week returns from November 5th to 9th. And you can find out more at otahpiaakiweek.com. Teaching strides is produced by Hadeel Abdel-Nabi and me, Meg Wilcox, in conjunction with the Academic Development Center at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. We're proud to broadcast from the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3). We look forward to sharing the stories and experiences of the many people who live, learn, and teach in the treaty seven region. You can find us wherever you podcast and at teachingstrides.ca.

In today’s world, modern women have turned from “taboo” vices to things like self-help, meditation, yoga, prayer and special nutrition to alter consciousness. All in the quest to “feel good” at all times. But what we Femmefluencers really need is to see the big picture and learn how to be present with both the light and the dark emotions. I’m showing you how on this episode.   Your episode worksheet: Femmefluence.com/ep17   Key Points from this Episode The toxic brew women create to divide ourselves and play into a system called the patriarchy that harms ourselves, our relationships and our connection to other women and men who we could be instead linking arms with and building longer tables is called pink slime. Spiritual bypassing is a form of pink slime that’s highly visible on social media. I am a self-proclaimed personal development junkie. I’m obsessed with why humans behave a certain way. I've become fascinated with the ways in which we try to feel endlessly good. We've gotten progressively more skillful in our methods as humans, turning away from “taboo” vices like drugs or alcohol to alter our consciousness and turning towards things like self-help, books, meditation, yoga, prayer and special diets.  We are now spiritually distracting ourselves from our feelings, thinking that we're walking a healthy spiritual path as a result of calling these spiritual things better than who we were before. Now. This is why we as women have to get real with the level of influence we desire and acknowledge the pink slime in our lives because it is getting in the way. There is a myth that is causing a lot of harm goes a little something like this. ‘I have to feel good to be happy.’ Or another way to put it. ‘In order for me to do it, it has to feel good.’ Now straight up this is fucking up good women everywhere. Spiritual bypassing is a real problem in the personal growth movement and it's also part of the mindset and performance coaching industry that many of us invest our time, energy and money in. These things aren't bad things, but I'm here in this episode to show you all of the sides that it could be affecting you, and worse creating pink slime in you. How does spiritual bypassing show up? In quick fix inspirational quotes trying to summarize, complex issues in single pithy statements. It shows up in New York Times bestselling books. It shows up in people's advice to just be grateful. It shows up in self-prescribed gurus who according to their PR stories, suffer from depression and anxiety until they woke up one day, realized they didn't have to feel negative feelings anymore, and boom, all of those negative feelings went away. Spiritual bypassing is an experience of reacting to things that don't feel good. It’s a defense mechanism that looks prettier but still serves the same purpose, shielding us from the truth. It disconnects us from our feelings and helps us avoid the big picture. It's more about checking out than checking in, and the difference is so subtle that we usually don't know that we're doing it. Now the shorthand for spiritual bypassing is platitude rather than gratitude, arriving rather than being, avoiding rather than accepting.  Sometimes self-care is actually about taking care of ourselves, unplugging from too much work and plugging into more balance and harmony, right? But sometimes under the guise of self-care, we're really just checking out, denying what's happening and how scary it feels to show up for life on any given day. The idea or fantasy that one way or one thought or one blueprint will give us all of the things we need to get the things that we want. And we think especially in the form of spiritual practice, that these should afford us. The freedoms from the messiness of life as though perfection is an attainable standard, and that's especially true in social media overload and feeling the new mental concerns around Fomo or imposter syndrome, right?  Many times we’re falling for the idea or fantasy that one thought or blueprint will give us all the things we need to get the things we want. Oftentimes in the form of our spiritual practice. But what we’re really doing here is striving for perfection as if it’s an attainable standard. We need to remember instead that spiritual practice and emotional growth are not about achieving a particular quality of feeling, aka only feeling good. Being a human being on a spiritual journey isn't about getting cash and prizes all the time. It's instead about being in the present moment, whatever it happens to look like. There is something very necessary about being who and where you are. If I become present to who I am, all of me. There is a lot there that I usually don't want to see. Right? For most people, this consensus of shame, anxiety, anger, loneliness, self-loathing, are our dark side and the list goes on and on. Who really wants to be present to all of that darkness. But the more that I've tried to personally rise above it or turn my back to it, the more it has lingered. Waiting, almost growing in size, getting bigger and still feeling painful. Finally, I had to turn around and face it and the most amazing thing happened. I didn't die. That's the good news. It didn't swallow me whole like I thought it would. In fact, by recognizing that so-called dark stuff that was there, I could finally experience and own what was light and right about me. I believe there is discernment between what you share and what you keep for yourself. I'm a big believer in asking myself before I post anything, is there a lesson in sharing this with others? DoI have intention around sharing wisdom or am I just throwing a grenade for performative or selfish reasons?  An especially prevalent form of spiritual bypassing is saying that negative situation you've been through is there to teach you something. So get over it. Right? This is spiritual bypassing cloaked with personal development, transformation, and encouragement. It’s an example of pink sliming another person not acknowledging that those feelings are real. Spiritual bypassing also excludes solutions. I’m sharing 4 ways you can see spiritual bypassing in your own life, and instead of choosing apathy, how you can choose leadership femmefluence style instead! One - Avoiding Conflict. Think about the easy-going, nice guy or gal that you’ve met.. They're easy to spot when mistreated or insulted. They don't acknowledge the other person as being hurtful or even abusive towards them. They have a hard time accepting their own personal experience of being frustrated, disrespected, or hurt. Most of the time they ignore that experience by making excuses for the bad behavior. Solution: Say this out loud. “I am not a doormat. I'm a leader.” Two - Deferring to the guru or “other leader.” This behavior feeds our unconscious emotional needs to be validated, to feel special, to feel loved, and to feel important. It also denotes an irrational fantasy of the girl putting her capacities and her thoughts and ideas on a pedestal under the surface. The narrative that's running in the situation is that the ther leader has something special and unique to give you that you don't already have. And as such, you need to be seen as worthy to receive it. Solution: Girl, please stop putting Regina on a pedestal or thinking that you have to become Regina in order to gain respect or power. Three - Suppressing feelings and/or needs. There is a tendency to suppress needs to avoid being seen as needy or as having low spiritual development or being a source of bad or negative vibes. Solution: communicate them first, stop letting the wounded child run the show. Four - Seeking to be a more evolved leader means we aren’t evolved at all. These thoughts make us question our personal ambitions and whether we should be ambitious at all. I've had women challenge my ambition by judging it as not being feminine. I've actually had men do that to me too. Solution: Understand both sides are supporting your growth as a values-driven influencer. You can have a bad day and still be a spiritual leader, person, woman, fan, or influencer.

In this episode, you'll learn why winning is not always important.  the more you win the less you learn.  That seems counter-intuitive but when you are constantly winning it means that you are in your comfort zone.   Often, what we need in order to grow are opportunities where we don't win so that we can see where some of our week spots are.  Difficulties open your eyes to the facts of where you are at right now and what you need to work on in order to open the door to the next level. ------ Automated Transcript Below:   Dean Soto 0:00 Hey, this is Dean Soto founder of freedominfiveminutes.com. And we're here with another freedom in five minutes episode. Today's topic is this. It's not about winning. It's about learning that and more coming up. Alright, so while you're listening to this, I might have already completed it. I don't know, I don't know if I'm going to post it. But after before, whatever. But anyway, for those who've been listening for a while, I have a Brazilian jujitsu tournament. That's right, less than, what about two months ago, two months ago, I had set a 90 day goal a 90 day target, to compete in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament, this is something that I have never done, at least from the I've never done any type of Bry Brazilian jujitsu, I take that back, I did a little bit while I was in the military, very, very little. But one of the targets was to actually compete in a tournament, well, guess what? It is right around the corner, literally right around the corner, I will be heading out tomorrow. And then the next day is the tournament. And so by the time you hear this, I might be at the tournament or might just be after I'm not sure exactly when I'm going to post this one. But either way, it is very, very close. So So the thing about this, and it relates to business, big time is that we're put in positions where we are we have a lot of pressure. So this tournament is a lot of pressure. So it's down in San Diego, I got a I'm actually driving down with my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coach from from Fresno ultimate martial arts over here. And he is so kind to actually come down and do this with me. He made himself available. We're driving down together, we're staying in Airbnb, then doing the tournament and driving back that same night. So it's going to be a very interesting, interesting how my fingers are hurting from Brazilian jujitsu, jujitsu. It's going to be a very interesting next couple days. So one of the things that a lot of people keep on asking me is, Are you nervous? Are you nervous? Are you nervous? Are you? Are you nervous? And yeah, I'm a little bit nervous, for sure. But ultimately, this whole thing is I, I really do not expect to be the white belt, white belt, jujitsu tournament champion of the world. We've been doing this two months, yeah, I've gotten pretty good at it. But ultimately, it is to see what I have to learn to mainly to learn how, how to how to be how to work under pressure, how to how to act with acting in, in a way where, where you're, it's something completely new. Because this literally is something completely new, I've never really done tournament like this. I think I did it once when I was in karate back when I was really, really, really little. But I have not really done something like this before. And then on top of that, when you're when you are going against people in the same gym that you're in, you get used to how everybody works, right, and how everybody does, has their technique and everything like that. So you start getting used to those things. So this is somebody who is completely different. I don't know how that they, how they roll, literally, I don't know how they roll. And so it's going to be something completely new. And the cool thing is, they don't know how I roll either. So we're kind of coming in this completely blind. And so yeah, I'm nervous. But ultimately, this is going to be a really cool fun learning experience. And I actually get to spend time with my coach and, and talk and, and find out more about him and it will just be it'll be really good. But to get to this, I had to do a lot of different things. Namely, to cut weight, I actually ended up cutting between 12 and 15 pounds to get to a lower weight bracket. And that was one of the ultimate goals of this was to lose weight as well. So it's there, I'm actually under 200 pounds, which has I have not been under 200 pounds in a while. And so it's there, we're we're rocking, we're rocking and rolling everything like that. So why is this important? Dean? Why? Why are you even talking about all of this stuff? This is there, there really is not a This doesn't seem like it's a business application? Well, here is the reason why it's important. All right, is that when you set targets, specifically 3060 or 90 day targets, and you put them in a way that where they're going to hold you accountable. And they're very specific and very measured, you will end up either hitting the target exceeding the target or coming dang close to the target. I I'm about halfway to my financial target for the next 90 days, for 90 days, I still have about a month left to hit hit this, but but my financial target, I'm doing way better way better than I would have if I didn't set that 90 day target. Right? For for my spiritual target. I'm already set with that. That one, I just need to set my mic, I'm developing a ministry type thing. And then for my for my family, that one has been going and I just need to set I don't want to say what it is because if my wife listens to the show know what it is. But all that being said, this type of stuff, like when you put pressure on yourself. So say if say you tell a customer that you're going to do something by a certain time, or you you are set a target for yourself that you're going to have x amount of ads running by this this time or that time, you put yourself in a situation where you are forced to perform. Okay, you put yourself in a situation where you are forced to perform. And more often than not, you're going to needed that stress is good stress. It sucks, because it's nice to just hang back and do nothing. But this stress is good stress. Right? And so I challenge you right now, do you have 30 6090 day targets? Do you have measurable targets for those things, 90 day targets, something that's measurable. So for example, rather than something that where it's I want to go from 200 pounds to 180. Rather than doing that it's I want to compete in a Jiu Jitsu tournament, or I want to run a marathon within the next 90 days or doing Iron Man or do something like that. That type of measured target will get you to that desired outcome. Okay, if you don't have one of those right now, I challenge you to make one to make one, make the little five minute decision that hey, even if it's just one thing, know what I want to lose weight, I'm going to run a marathon in 90 days, I'm going to find a marathon and I'm going to register for it and go. For me it was I'm going to do a tournament, register for it and go, right. closest one was San Diego. And that was a long, it's a long drive but no excuses, right. And so, so this is where it becomes so important because it forces you to grow in a rate that you would that will blow your mind. Right? The simple decision, the simple target will force you to grow in ways that you never thought you could before. And will keep you from being static, and stagnant. Which is what is exactly what happens when you don't have a target when you don't have outcomes. You don't have goals and things like that that you want to set. Right. So I challenge you to do that right now to set set a target even if it's just one that might be a business target it might be it might be a body target, it might be a spiritual or a family target. Just set one made a decision right now to set one. Take the five minutes to write it down what it's going to be when you're going to do it and move forward with it. Alright, alright, so this is Dean Soto with freedom and five minutes. Man we got some awesome things that are going to be happening over the next few weeks. next few months as well going to have a lot more interviews from people already have interviews lined up. So there's going to be a lot more people who are joining us on this podcast. And of course we'll have a lot more stories and things to help you make some amazing business decisions strategic business decisions that you can implement that you can start going forward and moving in five minutes or less get it started let's go that's the biggest thing is to get it started. So is Dean Soto with the freedom in five minutes podcast. I will catch you in the next episode.

Introduction... On this week's episode of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry we have Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough, better known as America's Favorite Family Physician to bless the podcast with some wisdom and knowledge. As we take in another month of April we recognize National Minority Health Month and I figured who better to discuss the importance of focusing on minority care & physicians than Dr. Shanicka. As the medical director for BlackDoctor.org, she works tirelessly to connect culturally competent physicians to patients and vice versa. Dr. Shanicka recognized the need to act on this void of information between the willing parties and continues to be essential in bridging the gap. Her love to support those in need aren't just centered here in the United States as you will get to here about her many passport stamps over the years. Listen to the end as she discusses her love for growth & guidance and how it helped propel her to write not just one or two books but twelve in a year. This is definitely and episode that you will enjoy. Listen on Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, Spotify Sponsors: Lunch and Learn Community Online Store (code Empower10) Pierre Medical Consulting (If you are looking to expand your social reach and make your process automated then Pierre Medical Consulting is for you) Links/Resources: drshanicka.com www.herdailyjournal.com Facebook - @drshanicka and @drshanickaauthor Instagram @drshanicka Twitter @drshanicka BlackDoctor.org Social Links: Join the lunch and learn community - https://www.drpierresblog.com/joinlunchlearnpod Follow the podcast on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/lunchlearnpod Follow the podcast on twitter - http://www.twitter.com/lunchlearnpod - use the hashtag #LunchLearnPod if you have any questions, comments or requests for the podcast For More Episodes of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry Podcasts https://www.drpierresblog.com/lunchlearnpodcast/ If you are looking to help the show out Leave a Five Star Review on Apple Podcast because your ratings and reviews are what is going to make this show so much better Share a screenshot of the podcast episode on all of your favorite social media outlets & tag me or add the hashtag.#lunchlearnpod   Episode 104 - Bridging-the-Gap- Full TranscriptDownload [showhide type="post" more_text="Episode 104 Transcript..." less_text="Show less..."] Introduction: Dr. Berry And welcome to another episode of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry. I’m your host, Dr. Berry Pierre, your favorite Board Certified Internist. Founder of Dr. Berry.com as well as Pierre Medical Consulting. Helping you empower yourself with better health with the number one podcast, where patient advocacy helping you empower yourself with better health. This week we have an amazing guest. A good friend of mine, Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough who is going to educate us on how we bridge the gap. We get to talk about National Minority Health Month. We get to talk about a lot of her endeavors. Because she's a phenomenal woman who just does absolutely amazing things and is probably busier than me, right? And I know I know a lot of people say I'm busy. With this one, she is a busy one. Like this kind of doors and my works, like she makes me work a little harder when I see the amount of work that she gets done. So quick bio. I know you guys need that credibility boost so you know like hey, make sure Dr. Berry is just talking to anybody. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough a.k.a. America's favorite family medicine doctor. Graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 2009. She completed her family medicine residency program at Advocate Christ Medical Center in 2012. Since then she has gained invaluable experience as a board-certified family physician. She has had the privilege of owning and operating a private medical practice. She is a bestselling author with four titles including As the Wind Blows Vol. 1 and 2. As well as her Daily Journal Series where she emboldens women to take one step closer to Christ and a longtime physician entrepreneur where she teaches at a physician and physicians in training how to start her medical practice. Currently, Dr. Shanicka is the Medical Director of Black Doctor.org and works as a wound care specialist in Sacramento where she lives with her husband Pastor Darrell Scarbrough and their three rambunctious dogs. Dr. Shanicka mission is to be transparent about her life in hopes and share her testimonies will help bring others closer to God. Haven't been the featured MC of the Diva M.D. radio show on urban broadcast media as well as a variety of other platforms on television social media. She speaks in various educational inspirational settings travels internationally including Haiti and many countries in Africa to extend her knowledge skills and expertise around the globe and you do and you'll have the links to her website and her daily general series that I think you guys all need to pick up because it's absolutely amazing. And like I said you know this is amazing person right. And again weekly, we talk a lot about her work with Black Doctor.org or we talk a lot about her work with the international mission trips as she does. So you just got to sit tight and be ready for another great episode but remember before you do that make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you share this with a friend of yours. Tell them to hit the subscribe button and leave 5-star review. Dr. Shanicka 5 star review. Let her know she did an amazing job and you guys have a great take. You're ready for an amazing episode. Episode Dr. Berry: All right, Lunch and Learn community. Again, you heard amazing intro from not only a person I respect in the health community especially when it talked about minority health and it talked about physician empowerment. But a friend of mine, Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough, who is, you know, really helped educate us on, you know, obviously when rational minority health needs. You know, what the roadblocks of being an author. You know, why, as she kinda, taken upon herself to get physician out there, own way. You know, put the pen and paper. So definitely excited about today show. And again, Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough, thank you for coming. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Berry. Dr. Berry: Again, again, Lunch and Learn community, I can't hide this person enough. Again, I think, things were going on almost 3 years now I think and it's (Yes, sir). Quite some time and as see, we both see each other grow. Its pace is been absolutely amazing and I'm the biggest geek fan. I watch a lot of my colleagues from afar. Do amazing things. So I knew Lunch and Learn community, that I needed to get her, you know, to educate us a little bit and talk about some things I think is important. Especially in this month that we're in now when we talk about National Minority Health Month. Again, first of all, before that, Dr. Shanika, please tell Lunch and Learn community a little bit about yourself and you know, they may not know, they may not read the bio about of. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Absolutely. Again, thank you, Dr. Berry, for having me on your podcast, Lunch and Learn. This is an amazing platform. I am a geek as well, looking from afar (laughing). And all of you guys do some amazing things and watching you all, do your amazing things is actually what motivated me and some of the positions that I have now, to be able to amplify that. So, super excited about that and we can talk about that and just a bit. And I am back, Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough, formerly Dr. Shanicka Williams. Scarbrough came two and a half years. No. Yeah. Two and a half years. Now, my husband is a pastor. We are originally held from Chicago. Then we moved all the way to Sacramento, California. Our work, he has called to pastor church. My church, Homboss church in Sacramento. So I'm super excited about what God is doing in the city of Sacramento itself and our church community. I am a Board Certified Family Medicine Physician. I went to the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine (laughing), in hometown 2009. And did a residency in family medicine. I'm an advocate of Christ in 2012. Since then, I have a multitude of opportunities and things to do within the family medicine scope. That's really shaped to why become as a physician as well as some of the physicians that I currently have. I am currently the medical director of Black Doctor.org as of September of 2018. And I am a skilled wound care physician and that's a wound care specialist where I going to nurse and council. I take care patients who have wounds, all types of wounds, diabetic wounds, pressure ulcers, so any wounds that inspection, any wound that you can think of, I'm taking care of those, in the nursing homes. And over the past, since September, actually been able to prop of my lifestyle to fit the way I wanted to look. You know, as a physician. It's always a tough thing to do. (You're right about that). Yeah. (Laughing). That's always a tough thing to do but I think right now, I think I fit that sweet spot. So, yeah. I'm excited about what happens in medicine, what happens in the African-American community, as far as the physician, and the growth of physician in medicine, increasing the diversity in medicine. So all of that is important to me. Dr. Berry: Love it. So again, Lunch and Learn community until you see, some special. I usually, I guess. I got a lot of special friends and she's definitely one of them and you know, I thought of, depending on where you listen to his month of April, National Minority Health Month which obviously, I'm biased, right? Because a minority, as a physician, I’m keying to a lot of the different concerns that the, especially the African-American male faces on a daily basis when it comes to healthcare. Obviously, tell us, especially with the month going on as it is in your role at Black Doctor.org. What does national minority health month kinda mean to you? Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Yeah, absolutely. So, I've always had a passion for the African-American community, not just because I'm an African-American or I'm an African-American physician. But because of our inequality in health. I have a passion for any person or group of people that are marginalized, that is decent advantage, especially when it comes to healthcare because that's my profession. That is what I see the most. So, everything that I do is centered around career wise and education wise and getting the word out is centered around education, educating the minority population on health disparities, things that they need to know, to live a healthier life and that is ultimately how I became to be the medical director of BlackDoctor.org. So national minority health month is huge for me because I feel like, it is my duty (strong word). It is. It is my duty, not just in April, right? Not just in February, you know. It's my duty on a daily basis to educate and whatever that's look like. That's what I'm gonna do. Whatever capacity or rule that I'm in. That's what I'm gonna do. So I'm a first lady of the church. We have the first lady's health initiative where we are around the country. We have chapters around the country that focus on health in the African-American churches. So I didn't want just to be a pastor's wife. I didn't want just to be a pastor's wife right? I used my platform to educate and that it's all about. So National Minority Health Month has just been an exemplification of what my goal is to do on a daily basis, every day of the year. Dr. Berry: And it's so important, right? Lunch and Learn community. We talked about various diseases here in a podcast, where diabetes, heart diseases, and immortality and birth. You've heard them (Absolutely). And the minority seems to be more adversely affected by it, right? So it's definitely something that drives a lot of us to really want to do more because we need to do more, right? It's a duty. A lot of us really feel like it is our duty to do more because if we don't if we continue to trend, right? It's not gonna be good. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: It's detrimental to our community. Absolutely. Dr. Berry: I like. Actually, it's a first lady, what is that? Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: So a first lady is just a pastor's wife. (Right). If you are a pastor's wife, your pastor having a church, you are considered especially in the African-American community to be the first lady of that church. And if you can even see me but I'm putting up air clothes, as I'm talking. So you know, there are a lot of people like you know, that take that rule very seriously and you know, unfortunately, but fortunately, people, they follow you, like that. Because you have that rule. So I don't want to be, miss in my responsibilities and that's what God is calling me to do. Any opportunity, it's not just a title to me. Any opportunity that I have, I gonna push God's agenda, all the time, every time. (Love it). And He has a passion for the marginalized. Dr. Berry: Speaking of roles, as a medical director, again, I've always been familiar about Black Doctor.org has been, one of those websites, even as a medical student, as a student, oh ok, this is speaking to me, right? And I'm always, always keen to stuff that, kinda speech directly to me. SO that, I actually love the way website. Obviously, you have been the director. What's the rule kinda and tell them what some say that you know what, I can do this? Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: I'm always pushing whether act to do this. That is always the question of my life, am I qualify for this? Am I doing just fine? But, so, actually, Black Doctor.org, I became aware of them because they are Chicago-based company. Maybe a company. And I've always loved looking at their articles, receiving their newsletter, all of those things. So kinda develop he relationship with the CEO, over the course of many years. I did a few educational Facebook live for them while I'm living in Chicago and even came back. And you know, once I move, but because of that relationship, the rapport that I built with the CEO, I was able to relate to him some of my passions, some of my desires and some of my frustrations, about the way medicine was going and share with him some of the jobs I was working in frustrated me. And you know he's a business mind and ok, let’s create some solutions. All right! Let's do it. Officially, as of September of 2018, I became their very first medical director Black Doctor.org and my role is essentially is to create programs and services that ultimately connect positions with the patient. And one of my ideas was what we just launched last month. Web video connects directory. Is a directory, culturally sensitive positions. So that patients can go on our site. Our site already has over a hundred thousand kids a day where patients are looking for doctors. So we have to find a doctor feature. Now, we are building our list of African-American physicians that are culturally sensitive physicians. You don't have to be African-American to be a part of our directory, but it does mean that you have a passion for decreasing the health disparities in the African- American community. So yeah, so we're building that directory right now as we speak and positions across the nation are joining and we are hearing testimonials of a patient coming to the doctor office saying I found you on Black Doctor.org and I trust you. That in itself, ok look, we are on the right track. We are growing, we supposed to do. In the ultimate goal is to really bridge that gap and help disparities present patients with physicians that they trust so that they can get good access to care, that's the bottom line. That's our ultimate goal in any of the products and services that we create. Dr. Berry: Now was especially that first business of just connecting patients to physicians. Was that something that a lot of the viewers and people come to a website that ask for, hey, how do I found one in Detroit? How do I found one where I living? Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Absolutely, we would see that questions all of the time. Like our facebook page, in our customer support, asking where can they find physicians that look like them or as culturally sensitive. You would also see it. Even if some of our doctor's work. People don't know that we have a small community or even a large community of doctors where we talk to each other across the nation and we would get the question of, hey looking for African-American doctor in Philly, that you now, see OBG. We would have those conversations among ourselves because we want to refer our patients to people that we trust. So it was twofold, you know. Not only with the consumers asking but also the doctor. I wanna, need a doctor that I wanna send my patient too for, especially to care or happy is. I' m so, we are definitely trying to fill that void and make that easier for people to connect. Dr. Berry: And Lunch and Learn community, I wanna really stress on, I think we talked about this in the past. It's already been shown that if you're doctor shares similar characteristic like you, it kinda looks like you, you are one more likely to follow the direction, you're more likely to take the medication was supposed to and see them when actually supposed to. It adds to the cycle of becoming healthy and getting healthier. When you actually follow the direction of the doctor. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Absolutely, absolutely. Dr. Berry: I remember, there was a doctor, I forget, where the person I suppose to be while back where the family didn't speak in English, English were not there primary language and the physician actually upset that the person can't speak in English. Speaking of a non-culturally competent physician. Like that's where a lot of people run into. They run a lot of physicians who don't respect their culture, don't look like them and can't relate to them and this is no way they can possibly treat them to best of ability. So I'm definitely excited about this, the connection. That’s really it is. I know a lot of time when people talk about these disparities. They always say they would just go to, they can't really find them. It's not that they don't want to go to OB, they really don't want to go to PH, and they really can't. They don't know where they're at. (Exactly). Not a twofold part because again actually, me and Dr. Shanicka talked about all time, a lot of us physician, we don't do that a bit job, let folks over here, right? If you've heard Dr. Shanicka, she let you know she's in the building, when she's here. There is no question about it. But a lot of us, unfortunately, what we did during medical school, during our residency, we get to a place, we don't tell people, hey this is why you need to come to me. Definitely thankful for, Black DOctor.org just can able to say hey we gonna do the legwork for you. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Yeah. And we're also, our goal is to be able to offer cultural sensitive training as well. So hospitals and organizations can offer webinars or seminars or some type of didactic so that they are able actually to get culturally sensitive training, right. For all of the physicians. You know, we need it. I'm not just saying that just African-American. Listen. If I have Chinese patients or I have Korean patients, or I have Muslim patients, I wanna know culturally acceptable, right? (That's so true.) We can all use it, you know. That the United States is supposed to be united. (Talk about it). Laughing. Just say it. Dr. Berry: Speaking of United, again I want to, you know, Dr. Shanicka business right, before. For those again, if this is the first time you’ve heard of her. She does now only amazing work here in the United States, but she, let her said, her passport is full. She might already on the second book. I don't know even know. Right? She probably in the second book. Because she is, not only the Christian to the world of health care right? In the United States and try to get us together. But she does outside the country. Can you tell Lunch and Learn community, just a little about your international work, right? What's influenced you? Again I'm in awe in some of the stuff that you do. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Laughing. Let me just tell you. The guy blesses my feet. He's definitely blessed my feet. In the past year and a half, I wanna say. I have been to Africa five times. In Haiti in May, it would be at least three or four times. I try to lost count. But I go again, I go again in May. I was, actually really blessed to come across a young lady Sheryl Posla, a missionary for Christ, whose vision and the mission was so completely in line with everything that I stand for. That I have not on a mission trip without her and her team yet. So every trip that she's goes on that I'm able to go on. I just go. I just go. We've been in too many parts of Africa. We've been to South Africa with our church as well. We've been to South Africa, West Africa. You know, a lot of different parts. Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameron, like Kenya, it has been, which the other one, I trying to, I see it in my head and I can't, oh Ivory Coast. Dr. Berry: If you like Lunch and Learn, I tell you, you thought I'm playing if I said she's in the second book. I think you know, the first book is like, put away somewhere. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: No. Claim it, claim it. It's not yet but claims it. I'll take it. Yeah. So you know, her vision. I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of Christ. What we do is we spread the Word. Not only, will a lot of these countries not let you in. You know just to talk about Christ. Period. So she has few bringing medical care and treatment to countries all over the world and just so happen over the past two and a half, it's been, Africa. But she goes wherever she leads her. And you know also, try to save souls. We have awesome times. We were usually gone for 10 days. We usually go three or four times a year. It has been you know, be most. I don't even know how to describe it. Amazing experience. If any physicians, whether you are a Christian or Muslim. Whatever you know, whatever you are, that holds no bearing for what God is calling you to do. But if you are a physician and have not done a mission trip. It puts the United States healthcare system on the front line. Ok. When you see so many people that do not have access to care and the appreciation that they have for members to come and bring them medical care, to bring them to health education, to try to treat their diseases. I've seen miracles happened. I've seen patients who were ostracized by their country or by their tribe because of medical condition that they have that easily fixable, right? But they didn't have access to care. Just the stigma, you know, laid upon them. Just the feeling of gratitude to be able to assist them and to help them, to love on them. To come across the country for them. It just, it has been an amazing ride. If you are a physician and you have not done medical mission trips, you know, please, please, please. Get with the organization and go. Dr. Berry: Try to have Dr. Shanicka. (Get with me). And I think, you said a great point because I remember going to, I believe it is Jamaica and the act of gratitude. Like they were so happy that I was just saying hey, this is what you should take for blood pressure. Something that we take for granted. I'll be honest, we take for granted over it sometimes right? Just abilities, oh just take this medication, just do this here. And when you go to the country that you know. Yes, we have some resource unavailability here in the United States. Like it doesn't even compare, right? Doesn't even compare when you go to these countries and just as you see the look of their face and just happy to talk to them. Because they are happy because they know the work that you have do just to come to their country. You know what, thank you. I've never heard so many thank you when I did a medical trip because they were just so thankful that I was just there to take blood pressure and to do vitals. It's just an amazing thing, with that sentiment. So you have heard basically what does mean. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: I am, oh my gosh. Yes. As many times as financially possible that I can go, absolutely I am all over. And when I say it put the US healthcare system in the front line. I hear some of these surgeons that are going out and operating, for instance, like cataract surgery, there's a doctor out in Kenya who does cataract surgeries and it costs the patient maybe $20. Now $20 to them is a lot of money, you know, and they have to gather their resources and they have to do the things they have to do to get that $20 but what can you get? You can't get to get Starbucks by yourself and get free and a cup of coffee and a Donut, $20 you understand what I'm saying? That it costs, you know, thousands and thousands of dollars putting people in debt for surgeries that could be, you know, costs pennies on the dollar. So it, you know, it frustrates me the way our health, the direction our healthcare is turning to. It's really frustrating. And not only that and that's a whole another soapbox to get into. Dr. Berry: Well probably, we probably have to do a separate episode. Where do we upset about with them? Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Because you know, I can go in and I can go in all day long, (Yes.) on our healthcare system. Then I won't do it on this podcast Dr. Berry. Dr. Berry: No, that's a future one, that's a future one. Lunch and Learn community, she already says she'll come back for a second one so we don't, we gonna talk about the ills of our healthcare system. Just to get a look on our side. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Yeah, absolutely. I'm all for it. I'm all for it. We got to make a change. Right? If we don't talk about it, we can't do anything about it. Dr. Berry: I agree. It is speaking to talk about it. One thing that what I love about you as you love the document, right? One thing is people are gonna know what you're doing because you're going to let people know what you're doing. Right? Can you talk about just how important it is to really document one story and you know, get their truth out there? Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Absolutely. So I don't do it just so people can know what I'm doing. I'd do it because I want people's lives to be transformed. If I, if I could be honest with you, I’d transparent with you if I’d never posted again on a social media site. But if you were to look back from my post from 2010 where I was just posting to be posted versus you know, the posts that you see now, all of my posts have some transformative message. Then I want you to get that, you know, if you are not born to get it anywhere else, you scroll past my page and at least gave it for me. You know, sometimes people say that your life is, you know, maybe the only Bible people read, you know. So, and I want to be a testament. I want to be a testament to God's goodness. I want to be a testament of if it mobilizes you to do good for someone else. Awesome, I've done my job. So that's, that is the intent behind my content of sharing with people. Is, I really want people's lives to be transformed. Whether their health, whether it's spirituality, whether you know, whatever the case may be. I want you to be transformed. Dr. Berry: And speaking of that, can we, can we just, can we talk about the, your, your, your journal series just to bring the Lunch and Learn community, just kind of talking about it again. And that's where I really want to really, really dive deep. And because I think one thing about you that I love is that your word is so consistent. It's been consistent for three plus years. Through ups, through downs. It's, it's just been this like, I want you, and depending on who you are, whatever the subject is, I just want you to do better. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Yeah, no, that's that. That's it right there. You said it in a nutshell. That's how the Her Daily series, Her Daily Journal series was born. Um, I was literally in the car with my husband driving to you know, San Francisco or Oakland. Driving somewhere is fun . And God spoke to me and I said I needed to write a journal a month for the next year. And you know, see how that transform people's lives. And what it is, is every for the month or for the year of 2018. The beginning, the end of 2017 to almost the end of 2018, I literally live in front of everyone watching. Wrote 12 books in 12 months and each one detailing some biblical principle. That you know, that and it's mostly geared towards women. That they can use to help them in their everyday lives. And that was one of the most difficult but amazing journeys I've ever taken in my life. To be able to hear God speak one thing and then see Him bring it to finish 12 months later. And the close of the journals was at the death of my mom right after the death of my mom. So that final journal was, was dedicated to her. And actually, her death actually brought everything full circle for me and brought everything into perspective for me. And, and it just made me just love God more. So that was an amazing journal, that journal, you know, those journals are out and they can be used every, every month for the rest of your life. Yeah. I have people that are going through the journals for the second time. We're now doing a hard daily journal live online book club for women. So on the last day of each month, we go over the journal. That you know, what was going on for that month. For April, we're going up a prayer daily chats with God, how much talks about how to pray prevalently and what that means, what does it mean to pray. So yeah, it's, it's been exciting. I've been, you know, I get so many messages about, you know, women's lives are being transformed by these journals and it's just a blessing. I didn't write one of them. Okay. I didn't write one of them. It was the Holy Spirit that led me the entire way. I thought I had a list of topics I was going to cover and God was like, (I got this, I got this) Laughing. I got this. Exactly. And you can actually see as I'm going through them again, you can actually see my progression as I get close to Christ. And that's, that's the model. You know that these journals helped embolden women to take one step closer to Christ. And you can literally if you did journal by journal starting from December. December, what's the first one you can see my journal, my journey of growth. And that's what epitomizes for me is that I want women to grow as they continue to go through each of the journals. Dr. Berry: I love it. And, and, and it's so, so interesting, especially because again, we, we've known each other for a while. So, ah, you know, we used to watch, I used to watch and take care of your mom and I could just see the love that was there. I could see, you know, that I can see regardless of what was going on, you are there to brighten up her day. And she brightens up. And again, Lunch and Learn community, you know, we're fear at the logo, so leave it I guess to say we've actually been rocking the, again for a good time, but you know, pretty close. I definitely am happy for, for everything that's been going on, but especially the accumulation of the journal series. You know that. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: I appreciate that. Thank you for your support. You've always been very, very supportive and I'm very appreciative of that. Absolutely. Dr. Berry: So, so you've, you've taken, you've taken what God's kind of put your heart into your mind, right? And put it on paper. But then when I noticed, right, again, again, cause I get it, I'm watching from afar. You did channel that energy to get other people to do the same. What, what was, what was that motivation and how did, like, because again, you dropped 12 books, I figured you're like, Oh wow, (laughing). Oh, I'm bringing you along with me. (Yeah) It gets again, right? Because again, this the subject, you, the, you, the word you is always objective, right? But whoever that you is, I'm going to bring you along with me and I want you to tell your story. Like what was that thought process? And, and again, as I said, I'm always surprised at the stuff you do. So I just very you, regardless of whatever you want to do, you just go ahead and do it. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Hey, you know what? That's the whole point is to be obedient, right? If God gives you something, you want to be obedient in what He tells you to do. And that's what I've been and you know, really focusing on over the past couple of years is number one, being able to hear him clearly and then two, you know, acting on what he tells me to do. I don't want to just be a consumer, you know, I want to be able to give, you know, give what you told me to do and do it because it's not about me. It's about the fruit. It's about the people that are being blessed by it and the lives that are being changed by it. And that's basically the concept. Um, and I believe you're speaking of as the wind blows series. Yes. Yeah. So those are, those are two analogies that I've done and I'll probably continue those, but everybody has a story. Everybody has a testimony. Everybody has something that they have gone through that they have overcome. And you know, I want it to be able to share that with people. I want you to hear other people's struggles and let them know that you are an overcomer, that you can overcome this, that just because you're in the situation that you're in right now, it doesn't mean that number one, God doesn't love you. And number two, that he's not going to bring you out of it. You just got to trust him. So to be able to see people tell their testimonies and even watching them, watching them write it and the transformations that they had reliving it as they put their pens and paper and you know, the cleansing that came from releasing their stories. Some of these people, they never shared their stories with anyone before in life. So to be able to open up their heart on, on pen and paper and to share with the world is huge for them. And to see the feedback given to them because they were so transparent and because they were so open and willing to share their story of redemption. I think that's what it's all about. You know? How, how did God transform you? How did, how did he shift? How did he change you? You know what? What steps did you take to become, you know, who you are now? How did you overcome the abuse? How did you overcome the addiction? How did you overcome depression? Right? So those are, those are all stories that need to be told. Um, and I think if more people open up their mouths right, then more people will be transformed. Dr. Berry: Now, was it difficult to get them to put that on the paper to get them to open their mouth of that was, that was where they, in a way, it was there some issue, (No). That we caused them to say like, I've been, I didn't want to do it before. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Well, as some, sometimes some people didn't actually know that that's what they were supposed to do until they saw the calling. Does that make sense? (Yeah). So they were like, oh wait, I do have a story. Oh, oh wait, I did survive the abuse. He tried to kill me and I did survive that. Maybe I’m rape. Right? For some people, it was a revelation. Other people, this was the first step to the full book that they needed to, right? So one of them, my authors wrote just a, uh, a snippet of her story and we just finished her book. Lishel Evans, Breakthrough. We just finished her, but she completed her whole book. So it was a stepping stone and something that gave her the courage to say, listen, I want to tell more of my story and I want, I want people to hear it so that they can be transformed. Dr. Berry: Beautiful. Like I say it again. Let me, like we alluded earlier, Lunch and Learn community. When you know, when you have special guests like Dr. Shanicka and you can just kind of see the different facets of her life and her work. But you can always see at the end, right? It's always about, you know, becoming a better you. When we talk about national minority when we're talking about a National Minority Health Month. But how can we help our minority community to become better again? Right? When we talk about international work, like how can someone become better, right? So that's a theme that a, is such a sight to see. And sometimes I, and I, I like to, I always, I always like to get on my friend, right? Because a lot of times we're doing so much great work that we don't really have the time. Right. So like the lay it all out say, Oh wow, look at all the stuff I'm doing it right. So this is why I started to like to brag on because they, cause they won't brag on the cell. That too humble. Fortunately for me, right? Humility sometimes still working on it. Right. So like I can recognize like when I'm doing something and I could recognize when they're doing so again, that's why, you know, I said yeah she, we, she gotta be on the show because we got and we just got to talk about her and you know how she can help us become better us. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Oh, that's amazing. Thank you. Dr. Berry: Before I let you go, because I know I've been long talking to you. Right? I want, you know, just, you know, just some, some quick caveats like how is, I probably already said it right when I, how is what you're doing, you know, not only, you know, empowering other women really to the better, better excels and better control of their health and everything else. But like just like the world, how are you, how are you doing that? Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Oh boy. But no. That's, you know, to sum it all up, whenever you see me do, you may be in a different position, you know, next week or you might see me in a different country next month. Just know that everything that I do has a purpose. I'm still working on me. I'm still, you know, that still has some things in me that I, that needs to be ironed out and, and kicked out and punch that. (Laughing).It tells something. But I'd like to share that journey because the transparency on that journey, whether it's, you know, you know I have a post on my Vimeo right now that yeah, I gained, I gained 20 pounds. I like to be transparent and my journey to show that you know, number one I'm human. Number two, you are human, you know, and if you know God is still working on me, he's still working on you, (yes) right? So health-wise, mentally, physically, spiritually, however, I can get you to a place where you are healthier, you are smarter, you are spiritually field, and you, you know, you are everything to make your home, then that's what I'm going to do. I come to bear fruit. That’s it. Dr. Berry: Love it. We appreciate it. Where can others, you know, find you, right? Where can others find you, whether it be at, like a or where the media international or list them links out cause you know, they're gonna want, they're gonna want to read the books. They're going to want to read a series. Like, tell them. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Yeah. Absolutely. So everything can be found at www.shanicka.com. That is, um, that'd be www.shanicka.com. You can find some free gifts for health. You know, a free shopping cart lists that you can take to the grocery store to help you shop for better foods. And you'll also find my books. You'll also find how to join the Her Daily Journal. If you want to go directly to the book club, you just go to www.herdailyjournal.com and it has us, you can donate to mission partners for Christ, you know so that we can continue our medical missions. It has everything on that one site and finds out where, you know, all of my social media handles, everything is on that site. Oh d, oh wait! I used to do a radio show, The Diva MD show. (Laughing). Dr. Berry: Again. Honestly, regardless if she says she used to do blank. I'm a believer. Okay. There are no reasons. Like she's already shown me three years of work to say that she probably could do whatever, you know we put in front of her so it's a believer. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: That was a health show. So you know, if you want to go back into the archives and listen to some old health shows, we can do that as well. Dr. Berry: Perfect. And again, Lunch and Learn community, if you're driving, you know, at work, take a shower, whatever. All of these links will be in the show notes. Because again, you definitely, this is definitely a person. If you can only follow one person on a social media platform, this is definitely a person I think you should choose you guys. Absolutely amazing. Again, Dr. Shanicka thank you for coming to the Lunch and Learn community and you know, really blessing us, educating us, putting our thoughts into motion of how we can be better us. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: I appreciate you Dr. Berry for having me. This is an amazing opportunity and all of the work that you're doing is, is phenomenal. You know, I follow the blog, I follow, I get all of your emails. Yes, and the podcast. Dr. Berry: I apologize for this. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: But that great information, they'll make sure that you guys are subscribing to this podcast because you know we are movers and shakers and medicine so we want to make sure that you guys are aware and hanging out with Dr. Berry. Dr. Berry for Lunch and Learn. Dr. Berry: Yes, thank you. And again, Lunch and Learn community. See you guys next week. You have a blessed week. Dr. Shanicka Scarbrough: Take care. [/showhide] Download the MP3 Audio file, listen to the episode however you like.

Christmas! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Right? For several of us it is. And for several it is a hard season all around due to a plethora of circumstances. Join us on our last episode of 2018 as we talk about holiday traditions and ways to love extravagantly over the holidays! Also, we invited our listeners to share their traditions and expressions of Christmas! It’s going to be a FUN episode! Merry Christmas listeners!

Why Dave Decided to talk to Akbar: Akbar Sheikh is a best selling author internationally, speaker, and master of the 7 Ethical Principles of Persuasion. Prior to his success, Akbar was homeless and overcame many trials and tribulations in his life; he credits these hard times as the catalyst to his success. His core philosophical belief revolves around giving back.  Akbar believes that being an entrepreneur gives him the opportunity to give back to families, communities, charities, hence making the world a better place. He has now helped seven funnels hit seven figures by ethically injecting principles of persuasion into their funnel. Tips and Tricks for You and Your Business: The Power of Giving: (4:05) Income Earning and how to be Successful: (8:00) Sevenfigurebook.com (25:16) Entrepreneurial journey (25:40) Quotable Moments: "We help businesses scale to 7 figures by ethically injecting principles of persuasion into their funnel." "You need to have that giving mindset since day one, otherwise you will not be successful." "You don’t have to do all of it at once." Other Tidbits: Making it impossible to fail:  (11:10) Vision/Goal Board: (11:40) Links: FunnelHackerRadio.com FunnelHackerRadio.com/freetrial FunnelHackerRadio.com/dreamcar ---Transcript--- Speaker 1:     00:00       Welcome to funnel hacker radio podcast, where we go behind the scenes and uncover the tactics and strategies top entrepreneurs are using to make more sales, dominate their markets, and how you can get those same results. Here's your host, Dave Woodward. Everybody. Welcome back to a funnel hacker Speaker 2:     00:19       radio. This is going to be a fun, fun experience because we're kind of going back in time and Ford and time all at the same time. What I mean by that is rarely do I ever have someone who's been on our show more than once, but I wanted to kind of go back and bring someone back in. Gosh, it's been almost. It's been over a year now, but I wondered if you guys or reintroduce you to act chic. Ackbar. Welcome Dave. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to have you. This is a lot of fun. For those of you guys, you don't know his story. I mean, have you referred back to the first podcast? We did, and we'll put that down in the show notes, but real quick, I wish, again, I don't know how if we're going to have this on video or not, but let me just kind of tell you, this is a guy who went from having nothing. Speaker 2:     00:56       Basically it was living in a janitor's closet and I'm looking at the backdrop to his interview room here in mind. Just is absolutely garbage. I've got. I'm totally jealous. I'm looking here. He's got a picture of he and Russell. He's got a shelf with, I don't know how many awards because he's blocking half of eight or 10 awards there. He's got three different Co, two comma club plaques behind him. I mean the guy has been just crushing it and thought, you know, it'd be a ton of fun just to have. Haven't backed onto. The first time I had him on was because we'd met, Gosh, nick was to funnel hack live ago and at that time he just got his first two Comma Club award and so I thought it'd be really fun to bring them back on and kind of tell the journey from one, two comma club awards now three pushing forward to hit our, our eight figure water plaque in ring and everything. So all that said, I've said more than enough ackbar. Glad to have you on the show and tell it. Fill in the gaps of what I forgot. Speaker 3:     01:48       Oh Man. You know, we've just gotten a little gray since I first joined was I had two kids. I actually just got into, so two years ago and the first of all hacklabs when I first joined click falls and Dallas last year. So I've had two kids didn't since then. I've gotten some gray hair and we've got some clarity on how this whole Internet marketing world works. And you know, it's, it's, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing they have to really soak up, you know, Speaker 2:     02:17       you know, the crazy thing about it, we always, for some reason always comes up as far as two comma, club plaques, awards, all this craziness. And people think all these millions of dollars. The thing that I want people to understand about you, which is really kind of the weirdest thing, is you're not motivated by money at all. I mean, like Speaker 3:     02:35       at all right? It's funny because I'm in, I'm in Russell Brunson's inner circle, right? And um, you know, there's a coach, a life coach, a coach, Mandy. So you take these tests, you know, the disc test and it tells you what is, um, what do you value in life? And it's crazy because you think you know yourself, but you really kind of don't when you take this test. And everybody was kind of shocked when they found out that my, it's called the economy. Uh, money was not important to me at all. And everyone's kind of shocked because they're all a bunch of entrepreneurs. They're like, it was Kinda like a lot of people will hide money driven, impact driven. So yeah, that was kind of shocking, but it really helped me understand my purpose and why I do what I do and it's because of my love of entrepreneurs to really help them scale so they can take a portion of revenue, give it to their families, communities and favorite charities, hence making the world a better place. Speaker 3:     03:26       I love that part. That kind talks about that as this super theory type of thing that eventually I want to do. You have done it from day one. I mean it's crazy because it's. One of the things I love and it's really why I wanted to have you on the show is obviously we'll talk about the is you're creating and literally millions of dollars. You're helping yourself as well as for your clients. But I want to kind of help people understand what, when we talked about this idea as far as the one funnel away for you as one funnel away from giving and helping and restoring sight and and helping kids. So I want to kind of. We'll get to that other stuff, but this is a different side we typically don't address and I want to just dive right into that with you if you're okay with that. Speaker 3:     04:08       I'm so happy to talk about that because what not annoys me or frustrates me, but what concerns me is when people are like, Oh, when I'm successful then I will give. But the thing is like, I feel like you need to have a giving mindset from day one, otherwise you're not really going to be successful. Do you see what I'm saying? So it's like I was homeless. I didn't have money to give. So at that time I was giving time. Do you know what I mean? And there was a time I didn't have time and this was just calling my mom and my family members and just making them happy. Like, you know, you never ever call like your aunt for example, like your last and be like, Hey, I'm just thinking about you. Love you. I mean they'll literally cry by the way when you do that. Speaker 3:     04:47       So listen, my number one secret honestly is not a facebook pixel, is not some content or copy strategy or some webinars, secret formula. Honest to God, I swear to God it is giving because every time I get, matter of fact, I've been taking this month real easy. I've had a phenomenal month revenue wise for those people. Care about that. Do you know why? I believe that his earlier this month we built a well in Africa and they, believe it or not right now, we abuse water. It seems meaningless. It's nothing to us. They have to walk miles and miles. Big Buckets on their head just to go get clean water back half the day is gone. The poor get poorer. What are they going to work? Half the day is going to walk to get water. We built A. Well, they're solar powered, by the way. Now. Thousands of people every day are gonna have access to clean water, which is something they never had before. Is it a coincidence that like right away we did like we did 50,000 like this while I was honestly actually on vacation. Not to be cheesy and be like that, you know, on the beach it was just, it's just true. I was on a lake, but it's because of the giving. I can promise you that and when I get a little lazy because that happens because sometimes you get Speaker 2:     05:57       sick or not sick of writing the checks, but sometimes it's just, it just becomes another check and which is why I'm actually want to opening my own charity because I want to be more hands on. I want to take my kids to like a farm every weekend where we can feature, you know, when you, when you slow down a little bit. I noticed that my revenues less every time. Every time I forget to write a check or something, that always is less, but when I. The more I give, I swear, the more I make more happier. I am really. I love it. I've been a huge believer in the whole principle of tithing for years and years. Kind of grew up on that principle with my parents. Teach me, give away 10 percent of attempt and I've just. I've adapted that my own life and it's been fun since then, uh, where you can now get more than a 10th and other charities and do other things that you want to do with it. Speaker 2:     06:43       But I think what you said is probably the most important thing that is if you think you're going to give later and you don't know, you never, you just never will. I just, it just doesn't happen that way. So I wanted to make sure that we kind of started off with this and I'm sure if some people may have turned off the podcast by now, but that's okay. For those of you who are still with us, I wanted to make sure you guys understand there is a, a law. I'm a huge believer again, you know, there's a lot of irrevocably decreed and having before the foundation of this world upon which all blessings are predicated and I believe whenever you receive any blessings from obedience to those laws, you how much they're predicated kind of scriptural type of belief that I've, I've come to find out to be true for myself. Speaker 2:     07:26       And that is as you give more and if there's money, it's like a vacuum and when all of a sudden you start receiving stuff and you get more out, that vacuum has to be filled and you just get more kind of like what you illustrated that. But with that said, I'd like to now kind of divert more towards the money side of how do you help people actually earn the type of incomes where they can build wells and they can help those children who need eyesight. And let's kind of talk on the business side now. Let's make this transition. What I know you've got a book out your seven seven, what's the name of the book? It's a seven figure funnels and slap you in the face with a cold fish blueprint on how to generate a seven figure business online and just have an ethical steps. Speaker 2:     08:13       Smiley face always goes. I can't even repeat any of that. So just go to booking.com and you can see it. But here's the marketing title basically means there's a way of building seven figure funnels. And so with that said, tell me what are certain gifts some people, again, you've always been charitable giving. I want you to give like real nuggets, actionable steps that people can take right now to make that stuff happen. You don't, Dave, I'll tell you something interesting. Um, there's something that really I was talking about my hair getting gray, something that I'm realizing is that you can actually be really whoever you want to be and I don't want to get a little deeper in that meeting. I'll be a little vulnerable with you by nature. And I believe there were all tested. Like some people are just naturally Speaker 3:     08:56       have an addictive personality, so maybe they're being tested like that and maybe you know, it's tough for them to stay away from alcohol or something like that. Like we're all genetically a certain which way. And you know what test that way some people are addicted to all different types of me by nature. Dave, I, I'm a little bit of a naughty boy, you know what I mean by that is like if my hands are a little greasy, I'm at someone's house. I got a cheeseburger and no one's looking. I'm going to wipe my hands on their curtains. I found true and going to the table a certain things. I'm going to litter. I'm going to do all these things. I'm a little naughty. I guess I don't do any of these things because you can be anyone you want to be and I've chosen to be a better person even though by nature, you know, I want to put my feet up and smoke a cigar and have some, some Jack Daniels. Speaker 3:     09:40       I don't do any of that. You know what I mean? Now there are certain things you need to do to be successful in business. Right? For example, the number one thing is when I failed for 10 years, like, and I had that realization when I feel for 10 years over and over and over again, that time when I was homeless, I was first discovering a call line and funnels and 30 days went by and I didn't make any sales. I said to myself, dude, I don't care. I see all these guys making it. They don't seem any different than me, but they seem like a Weirdo just like me. It's like, I'm just not going to give up, right? I'm just going to make it happen. Or I'm literally gonna die trying in this, in this closet. So I didn't give up. And by nature, I'm a person who just gives up on, Hey, forget it. Speaker 3:     10:20       She was a good amount of diet, nevermind gave me a cheeseburger, but I'm not doing that. So I lost 70 pounds is by choosing to be a person that's not going to give up. Number one. Number two is the discipline. Uh, I wish you can see I have a daily three. It's very simple. Every single. Okay? So what it is, I have the goals written out, right? Okay. We want this funnel. Now what we're going to do is we want to converting webinar funnel, for example. That's what we're in now. We're going to dissect that into smaller goals. Okay? We need an awesome headline. We need awesome three secrets. We need some awesome pictures, okay? These are to do list. I gotta get a guy on Fiverr. I got to get an operator to look this over. I got to get the tech person that put this together, you know, and then you keep reading the. Speaker 3:     10:59       Now you've got a big to do list. Now I'll say this and I hold by with my heart and my soul. It is signed in my opinion, and correct me if I'm wrong, I think it is scientifically impossible on a molecular level to fail at this game. If you don't give up and you're doing at least three things a day to move your business forward, sounds good to me. No one's ever. I've said that a lot of people, no one's ever been able to say no, that's not true. So to me, that's the person I'm choosing to be. So for me success is not. What annoys me is when some people say, Oh man, you're lucky, or success is luck. I don't think so. I think success is an option and the good news is is that anyone can choose a. anyone can choose to be that person. Speaker 3:     11:43       I totally agree with you on that. So now that you've made the choice to actually be successful, what are the things? So right now, what are the three things on your board? What are the three things you're going to do every day? I'm a little bit right now because I ran. I have goals, I have goals and it's interesting. I'll just, I'll just mention this. I have goals on my board. The other day I was in, uh, I started kickboxing and I went to the locker room and I opened up my law firm where I had all my things. I saw my breitling watch, I saw my thousand dollars shoes, I saw my Bentley keys and I saw that. I'm like, okay. It was nice in the beginning, but now it's, it's meaningless. If you look at my goals now it's to get a farm for charity. Speaker 3:     12:25       It's to by my parents in a state where we can all be together. It's to be a philanthropy, a local philanthropist. It's about being near my community. It's about helping people. It's all about that. All the materialistic things. There's nothing materialistic. There's no Gucci purse or anything like that. There's nothing there. It's all about family, community and charity and that's, that's what drives me, but as far as my to do list, getting off Theoh my, here it is. I'm going to, um, we're going to talk to my accountant because I'm paying endless taxes and we need to see what's going on with that. I'm going to put up A. I'm going to do automated postings in my facebook group because I'm trading time for money, not automating that. So. Okay. So here's the big secret, by the way, I'm getting a little off topic, but when you're talking about content on facebook, you have to engage and when you engage, like if you put a cool content posts online and people are commenting and you don't respond, facebook just shuts you down. Speaker 3:     13:20       It gets a little weird because sometimes you're like awesome post. I'm just like, cool, I have to say something. Right? Because when you do that engagement, then you know, you keep getting more and more and more viewed as it's awesome. So I've put that into automating. I got to get like an assistant to that because I can't. It gets annoying for me. It's cool, thank you. Awesome. You know, it's like, what are you gonna say after a while. You know what I mean? Um, and then I'm working on a few projects. We're looking to build a software. We're looking to get into real estate. We're looking to open a, believe it or not, a mattress retail store. It's going to be very unique concept, but there's a lot of things on the I, I'm a lot more than three, but you just need three. So what are some of things for those people that are listening, they need action. Speaker 3:     13:57       Action steps right now. So typically are people are listening, are everything from people who are just getting started and just heard about click funnels to those people who are at seven figures like yourself and those who are approaching eight and even above eight right now. For those people who are just getting basically two or three, two or three versus just getting started right now, what are the things they need to focus on? What this. Check this out. I really feel as entrepreneurs, Dave, that we're artists and I feel like our mind is our canvas and it needs to be clear and it needs to be crisp us to to to create this, these phenomenal wealth generating funnel is right for that to happen. We need some systems from day one and I, and I'm only preaching what I did and when I was broke. You need an assistant right away from day one, no matter where you are financially. Speaker 3:     14:44       For example, if you can only afford a va now listening to get plenty of Va's for $10. If you can only afford them for a couple hours a week, get it and have the number I told you to break down all the tasks you the mind is a very particular thing. You can only do a certain amount of things and then it turns off. It's like I'm done. I'm done for the day. If you're filling it up with menial things, write down your day. What do you do? How long does it take you to get to work? How long do you spend in the bathroom? How long are you spending hours trying to figure out copy all these things? How much are you worth an hour if you're worthless, just say 100 an hour. Wait a minute. Why am I spending half the day doing things? I can pay someone $10 an hour to do. Speaker 3:     15:19       You're just messing yourself up because you're. You're. There's only so much you can do and then you're done. Get a Va. That va will make you more profitable. [inaudible]. IT'll free you up. Then you can spend your god given gifts are doing income generating activities that like, I started like that, a va for a couple hours a week. Now I have a full time in house, right hand man, but we built up that way organically. So that's number one is great tip. Yeah. So have a giving mentality from day one and have a. Have a team mentality from day one. This isn't a one man show like, I mean it depends on your goals really, but if you're trying to be in the seven figure world that it's really difficult to do it as a one man shop. So that's one thing. Another thing they have is really crystal clear clarity, and this is something really I learned in russell brunson's inner circle as well. Speaker 3:     16:04       If you're not working towards something, you're working towards nothing and it's like my goal is already there and I get to look. I remember that you have to have those goals so you know what you're working towards everyday. Otherwise you just on the treadmill, just running in circles are running in place all the time. You know what I mean? So if you have a crystal clear goals, you have help. You have the giving mentality. Okay? Now is now. Now you want to talk about specifically onto my funnels. Is your messaging clear? Are you going to pass what I call the dum bum test? If I show you my funnel immediately and closed the laptop, are you going to say, hey, what was that? What's in it for me? Uh, and how do I get it? I've had people talk to me about their funnels right all the time and asking, hey, what do you do 20 minutes later in the company? So what do you do? Speaker 3:     16:51       Clarity. Hey, watch this. Just do it, got milk. I mean, these are some of the largest camp marketing campaigns ever. People have their life story on their follow, right? Or they're missing everything. Just consent. What did einstein say? The beauty is in simplicity, the geniuses in taking something complex and making it so that the masses can understand. So for example, someone comes to you and say, so what is it that you do? What do you do? Um, well, I help entrepreneurs scale to seven figures by ethically injecting seven ethical principles of persuasion into their funnels. Oh, that's a long. That's a long regional. Yeah. Massive curiosity ways. There's a couple of hooks there. So what are some of those seven proven ethical steps? You know, there's a lot of different things. Um, there's scarcity, there's social proof, there's authority, there's like ability, there's tenacity, the tenacity. Speaker 3:     17:47       For example, you know, that the lion's share of a lot of revenue is done on the back end is done in followup. Guess what? Most people don't have any follow up. I'm like, hey, how's your emails? Emails? Where's, where's that? What's that? Hey, most people listen. Shiny object syndrome where, listen, hey, media, 4,000 ads a day, we're seeing our minds are like, it's a miracle. They're not melted. Honestly, you have to constantly, how are you going to come if they're looking at your funnel and they get distracted by the 8 million things going on and they don't go back to from you, they're done with you onto the next one, right? But if you're constantly engaging with them via email or facebook group or bought or what have you, then you stay on the top of their mind. Speaker 2:     18:29       So right now I'm opening it up your seven figure book.com funnel. And so when you go there, basically obviously you've got a ton of social proof over the top as featured nbc two comma club, yahoo finance, huffington post, fox news number one international bestselling book, and five, five different countries. You have five star ratings on there. All this again, it's $47 book. Grab your free copy of the number one best seller, seven figure funnels. So I think one of the things that I loved about your page was people, you have to understand, you have to sell even something that's free. And I had this conversation with russell the other day. I'm like the amount, I mean just to sell something free, like a free plus shipping offer. If you look at our expert secrets funnel. I gotcha. If we were print that out, I don't know, I think it's like 50, 60 pages, but it's just crazy. Speaker 2:     19:23       But I look at yours, it's that same thing. You've got to have social proof. You've got to be willing to. And I had this conversation with my son last night, a christian, he's 15, 16 years, seven gosh, 17 years old, 17 years old and he's going, he's just getting started with click funnels. He wants to do a affiliate contest. And he's like, well damn, I'm trying to find out. You know, what? What should be my. What's my hook, what's my offer? How do I get people and most of my often page and it's itching. Having these conversations with a 17 year old son who's understanding, you have to have a hook, you have to have an offer, you've got to have a story, you got to have something that's compelling, that's there. And I think again, what I love about, about your page is it's a super simple opt in page. Again, yes, I deserve this. Interesting. Not, not want this, but I actually deserve this. So tell me why you went with I deserve this. Well, it's interesting. Yeah, Speaker 3:     20:15       because people, uh, you know, it's basic psychology, right? That they're like, you know what? It's like giving them permission to succeed. It's like giving them permission. A lot of people are afraid of success. So this is allowing yourself to permit yourself to succeed. Now, what I really like about this page to one of my favorite things is when you opt in, you, I get obviously get your email address, but instantaneously you're taken right away to my body. Speaker 2:     20:39       That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Okay? So again, I want you guys, this is what I want you to check this out. Once you go to a seven figure book.com, opt in and usually Speaker 3:     20:48       what most of you guys are used to seeing is you're going to go to a thank you page. That doesn't happen. So tell me, how did you open up my facebook page? So by the way, the they're going to ask, you can say seven figure book back home. They're going to ask, do you spell it or is it the number of. We got both the urls, so yeah. Okay. So check it out. So you opt in and get your email, which is cool because like you know, people get opt in, you know what's a great open rate? Twenty percent, 25 percent. What's a great click through rate one to five percent. I mean like you know, these are very high rates. Okay. So I get your email then immediately I message you on your instant messenger on facebook. My wife does and says, and it's a video now, which is important. Speaker 3:     21:33       I'll get to them. Say it's a video saying, hey, awesome, you want me to book? That's so cool and it's me. It's kind of cool. I'm going to like a nice leather coat and like a cool background, like nice trees and stuff. Um, and that was like, you want my book? Awesome. Guess what? It's in my facebook group and my feet. It's my free facebook group where we give you ton of tips on how to scale your business to seven figures. It's a free group. Very exclusive. It's right in there. You want to eat. Would you like to go get that? Would you like to go get that now? And then they have to click. Yes. So now they've engaged in my boss and now they're on my bucket list and then now they're going and joining my group. So I've gotten their email, they're on my body and now they're in my group now by the way, emails are cool, but bots are freaking phenomenal. Speaker 3:     22:15       Kinda like 80 percent open rate, like 30 to 50 percent click through. Like it's like the numbers are ridiculous. Like we're going to be laughing at this in years to come to like, dude, we should have taken more advantages. This is like the wild, wild west. And then of course in the facebook group, you cultivate them regularly with, with regular week of daily content. So it comes to a point, dave, honestly, and this is important, it comes to a point where were I, where people come to me to work with me and they have no questions for me. They have no qualms about my pricing and they're just ready to join because they've been soaking in. They've been inundated with so much content from bots, from emails, from my facebook group. They're just like, dude, please take my money. Do you know what I mean? Speaker 3:     22:54       And, and it's. And that's how you do it. Know I love it. It's. So basically there's two clicks on the facebook messenger bot. First one basically says, yes, I'm in. Second one is joined my group. I joined the group. Very first thing there is, it's a pinned post where the actual download is. So the deliverable is actually in the facebook group. And then beyond that basically goes into your recent activity, which again just announced you get your new podcast. This went live on top of there. So what's your podcast? Nice hotel. Nice. We'll pitch that to secrets to scaling like you know, we're doing all the presidents. Men were trying to be everywhere. We're trying. We're listening. We started nowhere. Listen, when I joined clickfunnels, I didn't even have a facebook account because none of my friends are on facebook. I only joined facebook for click falls to be in the clickfunnels group. Speaker 3:     23:44       Really? Uh, enough flooding. Actually. Now we have a thriving facebook group. We have an instagram with over 10,000 followers. We have a facebook business page, we have linkedin, we have youtube, our youtube channel. We've got podcasts, secrets, the scale, and we were launching a blog next week. We've got a big email list. We got a bought list and all this started from, from really nothing, but it really. I decided to be that person who's going to have all this stuff. Why, by the way, why is because I wanted the audience. Why is because when I have a cool call is like, I want to help bind kids, get their vision back, or I want to sponsor orphans or I want to do something cool. I have a community of likeminded people who were with me that'll help me do it a lot, like russell's changing the world with the brother was helping those kids and the underground railroad operation. Speaker 2:     24:32       Well thank you and again, I think the part I hope you guys all listened to and really kind of catch your, some of the major value bonds that been mentioning here. One is you have to have a va. It's probably the biggest mistake I made was thinking I could do this myself and I was too cheap and I loved. It really was when I first started I was just too cheap and I think that the key is I don't care if it's for an hour a week or two hours a week. I saw the same thing happened in my life as far as getting assistance from my house as far as whether it's a pool keeper, someone cutting the grass, someone cleaning the house, so into the shop. What are those things they add up? It frees your mind. Now you have to do that. The other thing I really would encourage you guys to do is go through seven figure book.com. Speaker 2:     25:11       Take a look at the way in which the funnel works. Super, super simple. I mean it is literally just an optin page directly to a facebook group. That's it. And the great part about it is the other thing you just said and that is you don't have to do all of it at once, man. I think that's where people, they just get overwhelmed and just pick one. Just pick the one thing and do that one thing. So act, bargain, appreciate that a ton. I love seeing what you're doing as we get close to wrapping things up here. Any other parting words you want to make sure people know about? Speaker 3:     25:39       No. My parting words is really, um, you know, listen, it's very interesting, this entrepreneurial journey. I kind of, you know, I'm kind of, I'm still new. I mean we just started like not even two years ago. It's very interesting because we all started at. I think we all started at the bottom. Yeah, I think everyone started at the bottom. I know I started a pretty much a rock. I mean I was homeless, but then you start growing. You start growing an audience, then you start doing some things. You start scaling, okay, now you make, now you're making five figures, not even four figures, five figures, six figures, seven figures. I recently had a big, big mentor of mine. I found out recently from someone on the phone. They're on the phone. I was doing a sales pitch like, dude, stop those sales pitch. I've been around for a long time. Speaker 3:     26:18       I was with this so and so and this is a big, big, big guy making one of the biggest guys in our space is a and I was with his group two years ago and it costs like 10,000 and I got to talk to him personally like once a month. I'm like, that dude was talking to. That guy talks to no one right now and he charges 10 times a month. That was on him only two years ago. Everyone goes to the exact same journey. You can be anywhere you want to be. You just don't give up and you Speaker 2:     26:44       stick to the proven bath and it's just a big congratulate. I just want everyone to understand how truly, truly blessed we are. Uh, open the news for two. I don't watch the news by the open to use for two minutes. It is the most depressing thing in the world. We are blessed to be in a first world country and to have the internet and to have click funnels. Please take advantage of it. Well thanks, but always a pleasure talking to you. I love spending time with you today. Again, take out seven figure book.com. Having to listen to the podcast yet, but I'm sure it's good so I at that as well, but that will look forward to talking to soon, but likewise. Thanks so much. Pays. Speaker 4:     27:21       Okay. Hey everybody. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to the podcast. If you don't mind, could you please share this with others, rate and review this podcast on itunes. It means the world to me. I'm trying to get to as a million downloads here in the next few months and just crush through over $650,000 and I just want to get the next few 100,000 so we can get to a million downloads and see really what I can do to help improve and and get this out to more people at the same time. If there's a topic, there's something you'd like me to share or someone you'd like me to interview, by all means, just reach out to me on facebook. You can pm me and I'm more than happy to take any of your feedback as well as if people would like me to interview more than happy to reach out and have that conversation with you. So again, go to itunes, rate and review this, share this podcast with others and let me know how else I can improve this or can do to make this better for you guys. Thanks.

Join Mike Domitrz and Chris Clarke-Epstein Discussing Change and the Role Respect Plays, especially in today's turbulent times. From personal life to the workplace to the political landscape, they dive into each area in this episode. * You are invited to join our community and conversations about each episode on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/MutuallyAmazingPodcast and join us on Twitter @CenterRespect or visit our website at http://www.MutuallyAmazingPodcast.com**     Chris Clarke-Epstein BIO: Chris Clarke-Epstein, CSP is a change expert who has spent over 30 years challenging diverse groups including senior leadership teams, middle management supervisors, and health care professionals to apply new knowledge. Her presentations blend an innovative delivery of sound learning theory, activities that lead to practical solutions, and infectious enthusiasm that send participants home ready to apply what they’ve learned.   Author of and contributor to more than 15 books, Chris teaches and writes in critical areas such as understanding the dynamics of change, delivering effective feedback, dealing with conflict, and building high performance teams. Her skills have taken her around the world working for clients such as MGMA National and Chapters, Deloitte, AHA, Sherman Hospital, NML, Marshfield Clinic, and Aurora Healthcare System. Chris served as adjunct faculty at the Center for Telecommunication/USC, is a Certified Speaking Professional, a Certified Health Consultant from the BCBS Association, and is past president of the National Speakers Association.   Chris understands how adults learn together. Her expertise and style have been honored by her peers in both the ASTD and NSA. Her sessions are always highly rated because participants appreciate her combination of high content, purposeful activities, interaction, and fun. She knows that when speakers and groups establish rapport quickly, approach information creatively and work together enthusiastically – amazing results happen!   Please list all links you'd like us to share for contacting you (including social media)::  Skype: ThinkingChange Twitter: ChrisChange Websites: Change101.com BeyondthePlatform.com   Email chris@change101.com for regular email and type “thinking” in the Subject Line   Books Chris Recommends: “Beyond the Wall of Resistance” by Rick Mauer Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy  and then the entire series.   READ THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW (or download the pdf): **IMPORTANT: This podcast episode was transcribed by a 3rd party service and so errors can occur throughout the following pages: Mike:                       Welcome to the Respect Podcast. I'm your host, Mike Domitrz, from Mikespeaks.com, where we help organizations of all sizes, educational institutions, and the U.S. Military to create a culture of respect. And respect is exactly what we discuss on this show, so let's get started. Mike:                       Our guest is Chris Clarke-Epstein. This is so cool. I always love when I get to have a friend on the show who has been brilliant and an inspiration to me in this line of work. Chris is a change expert. She's a CSP. Mike:                       Now, if you're not aware what a CSP is, it's an earned designation in the speaking industry that we are pushing for more and more to get so you know you have a great speaker. If you get a CSP, it's a certified speaking designation. And it's earned and Chris absolutely has earned that. She's spent over 30 years challenging diverse groups including senior leadership teams, middle management, supervisors, and healthcare professionals to apply new knowledge. Her presentations blend an innovative delivery of sound learning theory, activities that lead to practical solutions, and infectious enthusiasm that sends participants home ready to apply what they've learned. In short, Chris is the change expert. She's the person you want to turn to when it comes to change. Not only that, she's won every award imaginable in the speaking industry. Chris:                       So here's the deal. You know when you rabble like that? Mike:                       Yeah. Chris:                       All the women in the audience are sitting there going, yeah, and I bet you she grows her own tomatoes and makes homemade spaghetti sauce too. You know, eh, eh, eh. And I do not grow tomatoes. I don't make spaghetti sauce. Otherwise, I've got a pile of dirty laundry waiting for me as soon as we're through with our conversation. So reality grounding is important to me Mike. Mike:                       It is important. And trust me, we would've got there. Chris:                       I know. I know. But, you know, I am a speaker ... Mike:                       That's right. Chris:                       ... so it's hard to be restrained. Mike:                       Yes. And it's really neat because you've won the [inaudible 00:02:00], which in the speaking industry is the ultimate. It's like their lifetime achievement award. The cool thing is, like the Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award, you get to see that you've gotten this while you're here instead of, sometimes, it's done afterwards. And then last, recently we were just together at an event totally recognizing you for our State's contributions that are incredible. You've had such an impact. What do you think is the key to having a life of impact built on a respect of something you believe in? Right? For you it was change. Chris:                       Uh-mm-hmm (affirmative). As I expected, our conversation would be running around important questions, and this is a very important one. I think it is a combination at a point in your life and it doesn't matter when the point is. Some people have it when they're very young. Others, it comes to them later but the real important thing is that you have it and it is the inner section of where your passion, your talents, and your values meet. And when you get to that place in your life, if it has to do with employment, that's when you find yourself saying, I would pay them to let me do this. It no longer feels like work, it just feels like an extension of your being. Chris:                       And, when that magic happens, when you recognize that in yourself ... And I don't think it's because your lucky, I think it's because you've been on a quest for having those three things being very clear in your mind. What are your talents? What is your passion? What are your values? You have to do work on yourself to understand those things. And then, when that all comes together, then the opportunities that you can avail yourself of become pretty remarkable. Mike:                       Let's think about two of those. The one is your passion and your values. Your passion has clearly changed. Chris:                       Yes. Mike:                       That's what you do. You live, you breathe it. In your values, how does respect play a role in this journey for you? Chris:                       Well, you know, that's again, another great ... I'm going to have to stop saying that so it's not redundant. My mother said to me once years ago when we were talking about the focus that my business was taking on change ... And by the way, it took me a number of years to settle on change being the bulk of my work. And, again, the process revealed itself that this was the place that I felt the most passionate. But my mother said to me, she said, "Do you really think that people can change?" And it sort of stopped me in my tracks. And I said to her, I said, "Quite frankly, if I didn't believe that, then I couldn't do this work." Chris:                       And, that's the respect, the respect for every human being summed up in a proverb ... a Turkish proverb that is my daughter's favorite proverb. "No matter how far you are down the wrong path, you can always stop and turn around." So every human being in my belief system has the capacity to change. So, knowing that, respecting that, it means that you have to approach everybody with that potentiality, seeing that potentiality in them. Mike:                       I've had people who say, "Well, Mike. What are the odds you're going to change someone's life in a one-hour speech?" And when I'm in front of, for instance, military leadership or organizational leadership, I'll say, "How many of you in the room can remember a time in your life where somebody said something to you that took five seconds, ten seconds? And they just were like, whoa, and literally altered a part of who you were and how you moved forward after that?" Almost everyone who's had some level of success or somehow progressed or grown in life is like, "Oh, I absolutely had that moment." Whether it was my parents or a teacher, or they said that one thing that I've never forgotten and it changed who I was. And then I stopped them and go, "And you think you can't do that in an hour? They did it in five or ten seconds." Chris:                       Right. I'm a long time Weight Watcher's person, and I lost 60 pounds a number of years ago, and I've kept it off for over ten. And I often say, losing the weight was easy. Keeping it off was the hard part. So to your point about, can you do it in a flash, the motivation, the desire to change happens in an instant. It is the sustaining of new behavior that is the hard work that takes a long time. And why it appears is that people can change, is most people make a New Year's resolution ... you know, I'm going to exercise and by January 5th they have stopped. You know, they bought the gym membership, but they've actually stopped. Oh, that was not cute. They stopped being a part of actually getting up off the couch and going to the gym. Chris:                       So the question that people really are asking you, can you do it in an hour? The answer is, the seed gets planted in the hour. The harvesting, whatever it is, or admiring the flowers that you planted is going to happen at some time in the future and, in that interim between planting and admiring, you have got to weed the garden, you've got to put fertilizer in the garden, you've got to water the garden, you've got to convince the deer that they don't want to eat what you've planted in the garden. I mean, there's lots and lots of hard work that goes on in that interim. And, in our business, this is the thing that is often frustrating with the organizations that we work with is, they're willing to invest in the seed planting part, but they don't think through how are we going to cultivate this garden to get to what we really want to be able to harvest. Mike:                       Yeah. Seeing the whole picture is so ... Chris:                       Right. Mike:                       ... so important. And do you think on an individual level and maybe on the organizational level too, there's a lack of people respecting their commitment, their value and why I made that commitment in the first place? Why is that important to me? Chris:                       Well, I go in two directions with that one. First of all, the ultimate motivation to say I'm going to change something, especially if it's, you know, a significant habit or a significant mindset. The first level of that has to come internally. Mike:                       That's right. Chris:                       So I have to believe that there's a reason. You know, it's I have the heart attack and all of a sudden I think maybe that exercise is a good idea. Or I'm presented with my first child or my first grandchild and I think, you know, maybe smoking isn't a really good idea. So there has to be something internal that's pushing you in that direction. Chris:                       And then, there has to be support for the change. Weight is a really good one to look at because there have been studies about this that says, if you look at your close circle of friends ... I mean, this is kind of a ticklish thing to even say out loud ... If your close circle of friends are overweight, there's a high probability that you will fail at a weight loss effort because the world does not want you to change. People want you to be predictable in the way that they know you. So it's amazing. You announce that you're going to watch what you eat, and your significant other brings home Ben & Jerry's ice cream in your favorite flavors. PART 1 OF 3 ENDS [00:11:04] Chris:                       Ben and Jerry's ice cream in your favorite flavors. Not because they're consciously trying to sabotage what's going on, not because they don't respect your endeavors, but quite frankly, if you're going to start doing all this healthy stuff, that's going to impact them having to do some healthy stuff. And it would be just easier for them if you just stayed the way you were. So both personally and organizationally if you come into your place of business and you announce to your leader, your manager, that you have made a decision that you really, this is one that I was really bad at when I was in the corporate world. I was terrible at filing my expense reports, which is stupid because it was my money. You know, I couldn't get my money back if I didn't file the reports. But on the scale of things that I wanted to do, it was always at the bottom. Chris:                       And so he was always coming in and saying, "You know, I got a call from the so and so department and you're behind on your expense reports, can you get those caught up?" Oh yeah, I will. And then I would do this monster thing and get them all in. And I know, I remember, going into his office one day after having one of those things saying, "You know this is ridiculous. I should just file these reports on time because it's such a pain when you let them go. And you get yelled at and then you have to yell at me and I just don't like it. So I'm going to do it differently." I had some internal motivation. I remember him looking me straight eye to eye and he rolls his eyes like yeah that's gonna happen. Chris:                       So I had the internal motivation, but I had no external support of, "Wow that would really be great. What can I do to help you make that happen?" Mike:                       Now what's interesting is your external motivation was him doubting. Chris:                       Right, exactly. Mike:                       Which is a lot of us. A lot of us as the friend or the family goes, "Yeah, right." And then we're like, "Oh yeah? Get ready. It's about to go down." Right? This is gonna happen. Chris:                       And sometimes, for some people, it works as that spur, I'll prove you wrong. For other people it's like why should I even bother? Because evidently they don't think I can do it. So I guess I don't think I can do it. So it's that curious combination and to our topic of respect, it's first of all you having respect for yourself. That you have this desired outcome. If I change my behavior, this is what I'm going to get for it. So that's I respect myself because that desired outcome feels good to me. And then it's the external, the respect of people around you who are willing to say, "Yeah, you can do this. I believe in you." So it comes from both those directions. And when you have both of that, you're more likely to see success. Mike:                       Without a doubt. And when you work with a trainer, speaking of health. When you work with a trainer they'll often ask, whoever your partner is or your spouse is, what are they making? If they're the one making the meal and you're not, what are they making? And you'll explain. They'll be like, "Have you told them what you're trying to do?" And so I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking, "Well my partner's not being supportive," instead of realizing well it's not their job to change their meals because of a change I'm trying to make. So there's also respect of just because I'm making this change does not mean the others around me have to be in this change process. So I need to start making my own meals. Chris:                       Right. But you also, and you ... I'm sorry I should have figured out how to turn those things off. You also have to know that you have to have enough respect for your partner in the situation we're describing to explain why you're doing what you're doing and what it really involves. We go through life assuming if you loved me you would just figure this out. Especially with our significant others in our life. And the fact that they're clueless as to what you're doing and why you're doing it has nothing to do with their level of affection. Mike:                       Or their ability to push back in a loving way. Chris:                       Right. Exactly. Mike:                       They'll push back thinking, "You don't need that. You don't have a problem with that." And they don't realize it's not whether you think I have a problem with it. I mentally struggle with this. You may not get that, but I do. Chris:                       Exactly. Mike:                       And so do you think organizations, this is one of their biggest failures, when they kick in change they fail to paint the vision? You know? People ask me all the time, "Hey, Mike, when you started doing the work you're doing, you took a lot of risk. And your partner, Karen, your spouse, had to be on board with that or you would have never gotten through those difficult first five years." And that's true. Karen was on board all the way because we kept painting the vision together. But what I often see organizations doing is a quick paint and then walking away from the painting, never talking about the painting again. But the painting is this change they want to have happened. They go, "Look at this beautiful picture we're creating for you." But they didn't ask me to be part of the painting. They did not ask me to keep painting after the first vision. Do you think that's part of the problem? Chris:                       I think that's part of the problem and I think it opens the door to some really interesting research that we know about why people in organizations resist change. And first of all, most leaders in organizations, when they feel resistance ... Step back. Okay, the leaders went away on a retreat. Or the CEO went on vacation, picked up the latest business book in the airport and read it on vacation and came back and said, "Oh we're gonna change all this stuff." So first of all, the leadership group is, if you think of change being a road, the leadership group has left the original location and has gone 150 miles ahead and has started figuring out what all the issues are. So they're 150 miles ahead and then they're turning back saying, "Come on guys, this is gonna be great." Chris:                       And the people who are still at home base have no idea. Have had no processing time. And most leadership teams don't understand that human beings are biologically predisposed to hate change. Because it requires ... To engage in change it means you have to engage your brain. And your brain then takes more oxygen and your body likes to conserve energy more than anything else so the initial reaction of human beings to change is, "I'd rather not." And what the leaders do when they get that push back at the very beginning is they start thinking, "Obviously there's something wrong with these people." Because remember, they're 150 miles down. They've already got some of the benefits of the change. And I'm sitting here thinking all I see are problems. Chris:                       So that's a disconnect at the very beginning. And the ability to paint the picture of what life is like 150 miles down the road, if you can't do that in a meaningful way, then you're making it even more difficult for what's going on. I was working with a company who was announcing that they were moving their headquarters from the downtown area to a suburban area. A beautiful new facility, less people would be driving, away from the traffic flow. So the leaders are all like, "Wow, this is really great." Now the leaders are all men, by and large, let's say 95%. The workers who are getting this announcement are 95% female. And they call me in and they said, "We had this beautiful presentation, we showed them the traffic flows, we showed them the new building, there's going to be a farmer's market in the parking lot once a week. It's all wonderful and everybody's sitting there with their arms crossed." Chris:                       And I said, "Here's what they're thinking. My entire life is built around driving from my house to downtown. My kids daycare is on the way, the cleaners, the grocery store, the drug store, the doctors, everything I do is plotted that I'm driving from this point to this point. My whole life is organized around that. You are now telling me that I have to drive from this point to that point. So this is not a change about where headquarters is, this is a change about all the routines of my life." And as long as that's what they're thinking, this can be the prettiest building, the greatest farmer's market, the easiest drive time, but they're still stuck in the how am I going to get my kids to daycare on time? Mike:                       Right. Chris:                       And so it's not only not painting a magical, if you will, enough outcome, but it's not explaining how we're going to make this transition from everything that is part of our routine now to the change that you're seeing as the new headquarters and encompass all the change that goes with it that you are doing upheaval in people's lives. PART 2 OF 3 ENDS [00:22:04] Chris:                       ... that you are doing upheaval in people's lives. And so if you don't understand what's really going on and you go to try to fix that resistance, you're probably going to do the wrong thing. Mike:                       And what's amazing there and how often this happens is, not respecting the journey of the people who would have to live that change, to not have early on brought in if we move how will this impact you. How would this impact you? And create the chain based on the respectful values and feedback of everyone involved versus I'm going to explore this. Mike:                       And I've made the mistake in my own organization about getting so excited about something that you almost over run everyone else. You're oh, we're going to do this and it's going to be amazing, it's going to be this. But they weren't part of the process and so they didn't get the journey, so now what you realize is you realize alright, I need those people in those phone calls as I think where I'm going to get excited, I need them in those calls because if they're getting excited too this is awesome. If they're not, I need to know why. Chris:                       Right. And from an organizational standpoint, so if we look at three levels. The people who actually do the work, the middle management people, and then the senior leadership who get to make the decisions. So ironically when they do studies, it's the people at the lowest rungs of the organization who have the highest stress levels because they're not involved in ... I don't get upset about decisions I make for myself. I choose what I'm going to have for dinner, I'm kind of happy about what I have for dinner. Somebody else chooses what I'm going to have for dinner and I start to get a little cranky. That wasn't what I had a taste for. Chris:                       But what you have is the people at the top of the organization who get to make the decisions, and then you have the people at the bottom of the organizations who have the changes announced to them. And then you have the poor people in the middle who neither get to make the decisions but have to implement the decisions, and they get squeezed and that middle management piece are where generally speaking change initiatives stand or fail. And- Mike:                       Right, and it all falls on ... fails on respect. There's a- Chris:                       Exactly. Mike:                       ... total lack of respect of everyone's voices. It's we're hearing our voices, not their voices kind of mentality that causes so much harm in those environments. Chris:                       Exactly. And the most recent statistic that I've heard about is it's still running at this. About 70% of all organizational change initiatives fail. Mike:                       Isn't that wild? But it makes sense because we fail to respect all the voices that need to be heard on [crosstalk 00:24:58] Chris:                       Exactly. Exactly. Mike:                       We don't teach people to do that. And speaking of failing to respect voices, I'm going to go in a totally different direction here but you're the change expert and our ... politically things are constantly changing. So it comes down to, with all the change going on in culture, politically, how do we learn to respect other people's voices because I know people go, I'm not going to respect what they're saying. But they then don't respect them as a human being. Mike:                       I believe every human being deserves a basic love of dignity and respect. That doesn't mean I want to hang out with you. That doesn't mean I want to spend time with you, but you still deserve that. How do you tread that water today with all the hostility, the vitriol feelings that are out there? Chris:                       One of the lessons, and I was doing some rearranging on a bookshelf the other day and I found my Bible from when I was a young girl in the Lutheran Church, and it's the ever popular King James version with all the things that Jesus said in red so you would really pay attention. And I opened it up ... I hadn't looked at it for a long time, and I opened it up and in my eighth grade handwriting in the back I had written, love the sinner, hate the sin which was one of the tenets of, evidently, eighth grade Sunday School when I was in Lutheran Sunday School. Chris:                       And it got me thinking down a whole path, and when I was a little girl and we would have friends over my mother would say, "Okay, so and so's coming over so look around in your room, and if there's anything that you don't want so and so to play with, give it to me and we'll put it up on the closet shelf." And so therefore, anything that's left was fair game, to be played with by this visitor. And now, while the visitor was there I couldn't play with the stuff on the shelf either. It was simply ... And this was part of my mother's philosophy, which was you don't have to like everybody but you have to love everybody. Back to our values that we talked about earlier, that's probably one of the most significant value statement of my life and I remember that from when I was five years old, my mother saying that to me. And this was not open to debate. Chris:                       So it seems like we've lost ... we've focused on the you don't have to like everybody, and we've switched it to and oh, by the way you don't have to love them either. Because if you have somebody who you don't like very much but you know that you have to love them, that's the commandment if you will, that's respect that says look, I don't agree with what you're saying. And quite honestly, I might never agree with what you're saying but I will respectfully listen to you and I will expect, even demand, that you respectfully listen to me. Chris:                       And I think we are in ... I was just reading an article before we connected about some new polling. How what happens when ... and using the parties as a dividing line. Excuse me. That when you ask Republicans what they think about Democrats and once you ask Democrats what they think about Republicans, the vitriol is so deep and it's so wrong, that there's just no place to start the dialog and that's where we are right now that is breaking my heart, because I don't ... It's very hard to see how we get ourselves out of this. Mike:                       I think one of the contradictions in my line of work is people say treat all people with dignity and respect, but they won't do that with their political ... people they disagree with politically. That's a contradiction. If we're going to say it we have to live it, and so I've loved this story you just shared there because that's so powerful. Chris, you're an amazing writer. For anybody who's listening or watching, you have an email that goes out. Just a simple little blurb and a thought at Change 101. It's awesome. Where would somebody find that? Chris:                       If you go ... I'm going to make this as easy as possible because it's a flaw in my website. It's buried too much, but if you send an email to Chris, C-H-R-I-S, at change101.com, and if you just put thinking in the subject line, I'll get you signed up. Mike:                       Love it. So I'm going to make sure that's in the show notes too, so that we have that. We'll have it that they can email and just put thinking in the subject line. Chris:                       In the subject line. Mike:                       Fantastic. Chris:                       Right. Mike:                       So Chris you're also a huge reader, and I love to ask my guests what is a one book that has had a major impact on your journey? Chris:                       That's a really ... That's coming close to which of your children do you love the most? It's sort of like what book did I read last? We have a professional colleague Rick Maurer, M-A-U-R-E-R, who wrote a book called Beyond Resistance, which is probably the most insightful book that I've ever read on change. And his work on change and resistance to change has been a model for me, so I would recommend that book very highly. Chris:                       I would recommend any book by P ... the initials P.J. Tracy, fiction. She writes a series. It's a mother daughter writing team. The first book in the series is called Monkeewrench. And if I was starting over again I would start at the first book and read them through because the characters develop. I love mysteries. I love mysteries that have a technology bent to them and these fall in that category and they're a seamless writing team which I find fascinating. Mike:                       Awesome. Thank you so much Chris for joining us. Chris:                       You're welcome. This has been a joy and I appreciate it. Mike:                       So thank you very much for all of our listeners sharing your brilliance. Chris:                       Thank you. It was my pleasure. Mike:                       Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Respect Podcast which was sponsored by the Date Safe Project at datesafeproject.org. And remember you can always find me at mikespeaks.com. PART 3 OF 3 ENDS [00:32:10]  

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.

Hello, welcome to the Katrina Ruth Show. I am the Katrina Ruth Show. Who are you and where are you from? Tell me, tell me, tell me. All right, all right, all right. Good old vibe on here. Let's get vibalicious for this show. Who's going to join me on this episode of The Katrina Ruth Show? I had to toy around with the title of this show for really quite an unreasonable length of time. I kept changing my mind about what I was going to call it, which is always infuriating when you do that, because then you start to question what the original [inaudible 00:00:48] title was supposed to be and you start to like think about it instead of just let it flow. It should always get to floor. Okay, I'm definitely having one of those days. Hello, from Canada. Hello, Nadia. Hello, Tamira. Hi, Hafron. Let me just share this one over to some of my other places and spaces where people get to come and hang with us. I'm definitely having one of those days where it feels weird that I'm the only one talking. Sometimes when I start to present on my show, I get, all of a sudden I get super self-conscious and I feel awkward and shy. Hang on, Cam, Jeremy, Lab. I'm just putting this over on my personal profile. Then, a lot of the time ... You're in Iceland. What's the weather like there? A lot of the time when I jump on I'm so in the flow zone right away that I couldn't even really notice or care what's going on around me or ... I don't know, I'm completely in my flow so I'm not thinking about myself I guess. But today I'm having one of those days where I feel kind of shy. I just feel shy. I don't know why. Do you know what? I do fucking know why. I can tell you why because I didn't livestream for like 48 hours, but that shouldn't be [inaudible 00:02:17] you should be allowed to not livestream for 48 hours without losing your flow zone. But I think because I was mentor yesterday, I could feel that it was aligned and divine for me to livestream yesterday and then ... What did I do instead? Oh, my goodness, I shouldn't even tell you what I did instead of livestreaming yesterday. I had like an hour to [inaudible 00:02:35] I thought I was going to livestream and what I did instead was watch Suits on Netflix, which I seemed to be watching all week long. I used to love that show a couple of years ago and I just haven't watched Netflix at all for at least a year. This week I've been watching Suits every single day, which is such a great show. Then my friend, Billie Jane, and I were Facetiming the other day and he was like, "Oh, you're just doing that because she's going to get married now." And I'm like, "What? I'm not up to that season yet. I'm still in season four." I thought he meant on the show. He said, "No, no. She's marrying the Prince." Which is how I ended up watching some of the royal wedding yesterday because I felt connected to it and engaged to the whole thing. Hello, everybody that's been jumping on. Yesterday I got the downlow and the intuition that I was supposed to livestream and instead I sat on that daybed up there and ate my food and watched Suits. Sometimes I just flat be a normal person for a minute and a half. Okay, I can't see the screen at all. It's gone completely dark. You get into a wealth mindset. Well, you know what? I don't know what mindset I get into from watching it, I just like the banter. I like the funniness. It's a great story and, at the end of the day, you learn so much about story writing and copywriting and selling from watching really well written show. Not that I fricking need to learn it anyway because I'm such a natural, it just comes to me, comes through me and flows forth from me, besides which I practise it all the time. That certainly doesn't hurt as well. Anyway, the screen is going super dark. Do you think that that means that the phone is having a little heat alarm meltdown? I'll just try to carry on anyway but I can't see the comments. I'm doing my thing. I'm going to sit here in my bikini and get my tan on. I figure if I'm going to livestream then the least I can be doing is getting a tan on at the same time. My face is already starting to sweat. Every time I start livestreaming out here I'm like, "What am I doing? I'm just turning myself into an in-person, Bikram yoga studio because it's so fucking hot sitting here. It is funny and I do love Harvey Spector, I've got a great quote on my phone from him. I feel like I know him personally. I feel like we're friends. I have a great ... You should always lis- ... Oh, now I wish I would remember what it was. I think it's a famous Harvey Spector quote but it's something like, "You would do anything for the person you love most in the world and make that person you" except it's funnier and most smart ass than that. I'm back. Am I back? All right, mother fucker. Okay, so then I got on to do a livestream today anyway and I was like, I don't know, something about revealing the real truth. Something about being courageous enough to follow your deepest truth and that's what was coming through me today. What did I end up calling it? Deepest truth and freedom versus a shallow and reactive life. "Actually, I need to have more Suits in my life" says Pete. We're going to assume you mean the show of course and not actual real suits. But why not? Have it all. You get to have it all, Pete. You get to watch the show, Suits, and you get to have suits in your wardrobe as well if you desire. Whatever you desire is yours. I granted it. I mean now I'm getting caught up in my reality thing again. I was going to say, "It's my reality anyway" but we already had that conversation the other day. The deepest truth thing. Actually the reasons that I came up with the title for this livestream was very much not like deep and spiritual and powerful and transformational, although maybe it's powerful and transformational. I came out of my hot yoga class this morning ... I actually went out last night and had a reasonably decent big night out. I went out 100% ... It wasn't that big. It was big enough. I went out 100% with people that I've never met before, even before I got there. I'm super proud of myself. I'm being very social. So putting myself in a ... Well, it wasn't awkward at all but what could potentially be an awkward or uncomfortable situation, going along, meeting new people that you never met before and then that kind of initial [inaudible 00:06:36] awkwardness and being surrounded by a group of people of which you know none of them, and then gradually getting into a flow zone through the evening. It's pretty cool. This morning I woke up and I had a little bit of a headache, let's be honest. I went to hot yoga. I came out of hot yoga and I was like, "Oh, I should probably go and eat because if I don't eat then I've got whatever that's going on through the day today and I probably won't get to eat until later." So I nearly went in and sat down to eat and I was thinking about having this chocolate protein smoothie that I have all the time, the café here, and some eggs and that sort of thing. Then I was thinking, "Or I could do this livestream instead" and I was kind of caught up in, "Well, I think I desire to eat. I think I desire to sit down and have my protein smoothie and do some journaling and eat." I kind of stopped outside the café and I was like, "Hmm, is that my deepest truth?" Hey, hey, Shannon. Say hi if you're jumping on, everyone, and do jazz hands, because why would you not? So I was like, "Is that my deepest truth?" I am literally standing there outside the café staring at the menu for ages which the staff were probably thinking super weird because I got there nearly every day, like I don't need to look at the menu. I was just tuning in. I'm like, "Is it my deepest truth that I desire to sit down right now and have a protein smoothie or is it my deepest truth that I desire to come and livestream?" And I was like, "Well, I don't know if I really feel like [inaudible 00:07:48] after this" and then I [inaudible 00:07:49] and blah, blah, blah, probably end up not eating. I kind of just stopped myself and I went into, "What is the deep truth here? If I was fully honouring my deep truth, what would it be?" And the deepest truth was, I don't actually really need to eat. I don't really feel like eating, it was more like I'm reacting to some sort of slight desire to eat or to have something in my body, coupled with a little resistance around doing livestream for some reason. Probably just because I feel like I got out of the habit because I didn't do a livestream. Okay, all right. Hey, hey, we're back. I think the Facebook gods are feeling my vibe that I'm not fully owning that I'm meant to be here. There's something in me where I'm not fully owning being here. I'm feeling disconnected. It's definitely partly I didn't livestream for two days, but then on Friday I livestreamed with my friend, Chris, and on Thursday I livestreamed with Patrick, so I haven't done a livestream by myself for like four or five days. It's just something that completely feeds and fuels my soul to do a live thing, livestreams for other people. Oh, my God. Super flow zone, particularly if you do it with the right person, obviously. But there's something in me where I need to be fully showing up and sharing my content with the world. I guess that's what this is about, right? I had that kind of vibe this morning like, "I don't really need to. It's Sunday morning, whatever. I was out last night. I'm going out again tonight. Like to just get my chill on. Have some food, chill out, then talk to my clients after that." And it was just that [inaudible 00:09:08] truth coming up inside of me that was like, "No, girl. You're going to get on and talk and you're going to share because you're a goddamn messenger and that's what you're here to do." Now I start to feel the flow coming over me. [inaudible 00:09:19] I just got a notification from one [inaudible 00:09:22] online who I love and I just feel like it's synchronicity that her name just popped up on my laptop computer down there right when I felt the flow come over me. When I talk about deepest truth, I didn't say honouring but I'll say it now, honouring your deepest truth. Honouring your deepest truth, having the courage to acknowledge and recognise and then live by your deepest truth ... Thank you for the press place stickers, guys. Use my little stickers. If you look inside the emoji box on the right hand side of your screen, just to the inside left of that, there's a sticker button. If you press that sticker button you'll see some cool, creative stickers that you can send that my team have made up for me, which is just kind of fun. It's like being in the audience and interacting at the Katrina Ruth Show. Having the courage to recognise, to honour, to give yourself permission around and then also to live by your deepest truth is so critical and it is something that applies in all areas, big and small. Like I was using this little, silly example of do I have a fucking smoothie or do I do a livestream? It's kind of silly, but it's also these small moments, my moment in day by day, of what make up our lives. Right? For me it's something where I've made it a must. I've made it a priority. I've made it a personal rule or philosophy I live by that I do honour my deepest truth. That I do take the time if I ever feel unsure about anything big or small, I'm going to stop, literally in the middle of the street just now staring at a menu, I'm going to stop wherever I am, whether physically in real life or just kind of internally, and I'm going to tune in. I'm going to be like, "Hmm, what is my deepest truth here?" Because, on the surface of it, it doesn't fucking matter. What does it matter whether I spend 11:00 am on a Sunday having a smoothie or doing a livestream? In the moment, for today, I could say it doesn't matter. But then again, maybe one person will hear this livestream right now who is going to have the rest of the course of their life changed because they got the key copy [inaudible 00:11:09] or the awakening or the wake up call that they needed, and how is that going to then impact the people that they're here to impact? Literally, me showing up here today impacts the entire collective and since this is my reality and I created it, it impacts the entire [inaudible 00:11:23] my reality as well. Right? So every small moment impacts every big moment and there's no way that we can say that it doesn't. It also destroys. Even if we choose inter-resistance, let's say .... Hey, hey, Lisa. Even if we choose inter-resistance. Even if we choose into something that was not aligned or we would look back and go, "Oh, that wasn't aligned and I know that what I should have done or what was aligned or what my soul was guiding me to do was to show up and to give my content or to put myself forward into that situation, or to go to the thing or not go to the thing or whatever it was." Well, that's still what we've chosen and everything's perfect and everything's meant to be, so I really believe there are no mistakes. There are no screw ups. There's never a possibility or an option for me to look back and say, "I should have done this." Like I could look back and say, "Well, the truth is that it wasn't aligned for me to put myself in that situation or to do whatever different thing I did or to not pursue another thing that I did kind of lean away from or have fear around" but it's still what I chose in that moment. So, therefore, it what I was aligned and maybe that was the growth pathway that I got to experience for that point of time in my life and maybe even for the remainder of my life. Right? So it's a really cool contradiction where there's never any right or wrong way because whatever you did choose was the right passageway that you were meant to choose. Then, at the same time, moment by moment, the question that I like to ask is always, "Well, what is aligned? What is right? What is it that I'm meant to choose? What is it that my soul is directing me to do?" And what I find is that when I allow myself to just trust in what I'm being directed to from within, that that's when everything flows in my life. Now, I guess I show a lot of kind of cool results or outcomes in my business in life on the internet and people see that I've done the work and that I've created epic results. But where it really flows and where I really know those results have come from is a series of moments, moment by moment, where I've said yes to my soul and where I've felt some level of, I guess, discomfort or ... God, I just keep moving because the shade keeps moving and I'm trying to keep the phone in the shade and myself in the sun. I'm just going to check my comments over here on the computer so I can see properly. All right, good. So, the series of like moment by moment, breath by breath, day by day of responding to flow, responding to what our soul is guiding us to do, responding to our highest truth. I talk a lot with clients and even in blogs and previous livestreams around this being something that comes from courage. I believe that courage is a huge part of living your life purposefully and living your life according to truth. Because, quite frequently, it's easier or it seems initially easier, it's more comfortable to do something that is like more following resistance. Right? So it's more comfortable, would it be more comfortable for me to just go to café and have a little Sunday morning brunch? Nothing wrong with that, but it's not what I knew my souls was guiding me to do. I knew that I was pretty mild, somewhat mild, pretty fucking mild form of resistance around doing a livestream, which is just like, "I do it all the fucking time". Either way I'd be fine. Whatever. Whether I livestream today or not really doesn't matter in this game of day, except for the fact that what if I believed that I always get to follow soul guidance and soul alignment. Right? It's just this really small kind of discomfort of, "No, I'm going to get over this weird, tiny resistance that I have and I'm going to get on and I'm going to do this thing." Then it kind of doesn't surprise me that then the wifi went out two or three times already on this livestream and froze and then the screen went dark and I kind of can't see your comments or what's going on. It's like, "All right. Yeah. I've seen like that pull is still" ... Do you notice that? Like the resistance will still come up and be like, "Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure you're really committed to this?" And it would have been really easy for me to be like, "Oh, well the wifi's not working." I actually had that thought like, "Fuck it. I'll just shut it down. I'll go eat something." Then it was like, "No. Stay with what's inside of you because you know you're here to share something with the world." Whatever that might happen to be in this moment in time, in this livestream right here, but in a broader sense and in a bigger sense as well. What I notice is that so many people out there, and I've certain been guilty of this so many times in my life, so many people out there who are creating their lives based on reactivity. Right? Maybe something happens and they feel fired up or triggered or upset or angry, so then they start to create even like their content. For example, in their business from that place or other aspects of their life. Literally, it's like, "Oh, here's the aligns pathway. This is staying on purpose and staying on alignment and staying on your truth and on your path" and then you allowed something to pull you off. Now you're like literally creating your life reactively to something that kind of got under your skin or got your back up or got you feeling reactive or got you feeling defensive, or whatever it might be. Then it's like, "Well, how does that then carry into the next thing and the next thing and the next thing? You literally see people carry it their entire lives going down this kind of segue pathway instead of staying on their true path. It could just be, "Oh, but I feel uncomfortable. I feel like awkward or I feel shy, or I'm not ready to put myself out there yet. Or what if people don't jump on this livestream?" Whatever stuff people have to do with showing up in their businesses. Right? In their industry? That sort of thing. You feel it all. You feel the fear and then what do you do when you feel that fear or resistance? Do you take a deep breath and act from soul guidance and act from your deepest truth? Because that's what creates fucking freedom. Or are you going to tell yourself a story like, "Oh, well. I didn't really have time. I didn't really feel that good and I really kind of wanted to do this other thing instead and the circumstances weren't quite right, so I just kind of couldn't" when actually you're just not following faith and you're not following your deepest truth and you're act-

This conversation lit a thought that had been intermittently sparking for months.  So, instead of introducing Gerra where no introduction could do the sheer unicornian awesomeness, I figured I'd share the thought.  Please stick with me now...and listen to the podcast after. I don't want it for just me, I want it for everyone. (It = The ultimate goal or achievement of a specific cooperative human endeavor) Say that phrase out loud.  Let it clank around in your consciousness for a moment. I don't want it for just me, I want it for everyone. Okay? Now place yourself in a religious/spiritual/ethics mindframe. For our purposes, I'll say that "It" regarding all three of those related mind frames is, "Pure, unaltered, and complete knowledge of that which is knowable, or ultimate Truth." Anyone can get behind that to some extent, I imagine. Do you have yourself in that mindframe? Now, I don't want it just for me, I want it for everyone. Is this statement true? Great, hold that answer in your brain. Now I'm going to present to you two different mind frames. Next, think about economics as you understand them.  (Few of us have advanced economics degrees but all of us have to contend with systems of economics.  Money, credit cards, debt, taxation, etc.  Right? For our purposes, I'll say that "It" regarding how economics pertains to any person is, "The ability to easily live the best life possible." Again, I feel like anyone can get behind this definition to some extent. Do you now have yourself in an economic mind frame? I don't want it just for me, I want it for everyone. Is that statement true? Okay, now hold that too!  One more endeavor. Get yourself in a political mindframe, whatever that means to you. For the final time, I'll attach what I believe to be an uncontroversial and general definition of "It" as it pertains to personal politics, "When government perfectly supplements and supports the natural social and cooperative tendencies of humans.  No more.  No less.  Perfectly." Can you dig that? Great, thanks.  Now, I don't want it just for me, I want it for everyone. Is THAT statement true? ... If you led with "yes" but countered with "no" for either of the additional two, I would only ask that you contemplate why the discrepancy. And I know, a comment might be, "Well of course I want IT for everyone.  But, I want my definition of IT." I would then ask you to contemplate...why your definition of "it?"  Are you certain that your definition of "it" is THE definition of "it?" Because if it's just your definition of "it," then I'd finally ask you to consider if you really do want "it" for everyone. ... Please join us for a conversation spanning all that seemed important at the time.  Still does.  Which is why I'm sharing it with you. -G&G Muzak Factory  

Having a baby is supposed to be the happiest time of our lives. Right? For many new moms, however, postpartum can pack a punch, with emotional changes ranging from the Baby Blues to depression to anxiety to, in extreme cases, psychosis. What role does trauma, including birth trauma, play in postpartum mental health? How do postpartum emotional changes impact dads and partners? And how can we overcome stigma to find the help we need after the birth of a baby? My guest, Kristina Cowan (http://www.kristinacowan.com), author of the powerful new book, "When Postpartum Packs a Punch," and I are discussing how to navigate the postpartum period, where to turn for support, and how to reach out and let that support and help in. Please visit my "Postpartum Depression Treatment" series for more on pregnancy and postpartum emotional health and healing (http://www.drchristinahibbert.com/postpartum-depression-treatment/).

Well Hello There! Some of you might not know who the hell I am. But that's okay, because I'm here to introduce myself! My Name is Cut Throat Cody. I'm a Professional Wrestler Based out of Las Vegas, Nevada that is on the shelf for a bit due to a Torn Rotator Cuff. To pass the time my Friend, Timothy Styles who is known in the Vegas Music Community as well as Hosting his own Podcasts over the last 10 Years has offered his knowledge (and Microphones ) to bring to you "I'm Hurt, with Cut Throat Cody. Moving forward in our Mini-Podcast Series, Steve from FrankenCulture has been kind enough to offer us hosting through his Blog that you're reading RIGHT NOW!!! Nifty, Right? For now we give to you Episode 3. TS and myself ramble about Road Rage, Why my Balls Hurt and other Ramblings on Pro Wrasslin' and the sort. Past Episodes will be out in due time! Thanks again to everybody involved here at FrankenCulture, we look forward to being around! Love, CTC and Timothy Styles

Can't wait for the official launch of the MTV Podcast Network next week? Neither could we, so here's a special sneak preview episode of NORTH MOLLYWOOD, in which hosts/co-creators/love & terror cultists Molly Lambert and Alex Pappademas discuss VINYL and AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE PEOPLE VS. OJ SIMPSON. I KNOW, RIGHT? For further instructions, follow @MTVPodcasts on Twitter, and thanks for listening!

Blessed: When You Care and Your Mind and Heart are Right For more information or visit us as www.connectioncc.org, or for sermon notes go to thisweek.connectioncc.org.