Podcasts about ROI

In this episode, real estate CPA Katie Ripp joins us to reveal crucial tax strategies for female real estate investors. Katie debunks persistent myths—like the need for an LLC for more deductions—and explains why understanding depreciation is vital to avoid costly mistakes. She breaks down how to qualify for Real Estate Professional (REP) status and leverage it to offset income, details the “short-term rental loophole” for maximizing Airbnb tax benefits, and simplifies the 1031 exchange for deferring capital gains taxes. Whether you're overwhelmed by taxes or seeking proactive strategies, Katie offers clear, practical advice to stay organized and optimize your wealth. Listeners will also learn about the ongoing support and resources available through the WIIRE Community's quarterly CPA calls, designed specifically for real estate investors. If you're ready to master the tax game and grow your portfolio with confidence, this episode gives you the knowledge and encouragement you need.   Resources:Simplify how you manage your rentals with TurboTenantGet in touch with Envy Investment GroupConnect with KatieMake sure your name is on the list to secure your spot in The WIIRE Community Leave us a review on Apple PodcastsLeave us a review on SpotifyJoin our private Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Most people wait for life to slow down… it never does. Everything changed for me when I started taking one weekend a year for a personal strategy retreat. No phone, no noise, no inputs… just time to think and reset. That silence exposed what mattered, what didn't, and where I was lying to myself. It became the single highest-ROI habit of my year. In this episode, I break down the simple structure I use, why it works, and how it's reshaped my goals, my energy, and my direction. If you're tired of drifting, this is the reset you've needed for a long time.Love This? Leave a ReviewHelp more pros find us and just take 10 seconds: • Apple Podcasts: [https://shorturl.at/Jhlez] • Spotify: [https://shorturl.at/8IeVM] Connect with Stephen Website: lifebuilder.co | LinkedIn: [linkedin.com/in/stephencourson] | YouTube: [youtube.com/@stephencourson] About Lifebuilder The Lifebuilder Podcast helps ambitious entrepreneurs and leaders gain clarity, eliminate distractions, and achieve their goals faster. Each episode gives practical strategies for personal growth, productivity, and building a meaningful life. If you want clear direction, better focus, and proven frameworks to win at life and work, this show gives you the tools to get unstuck and move forward.

You won't build a successful gym by guessing what people want. You just can't read minds—but every entrepreneur tries to do that, and it's costly.Today on “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper provides the simple fix: Start using the “just ask method"—a proven way to boost every single metric in your gym.Chris walks through exactly which questions you must ask to improve your gym's marketing, sales, retention, pricing, ROI on expenses, staff development and net owner benefit.The key insight: Don't guess; just ask.For example, you might assume clients want a kettlebell class because you love kettlebells. If you meet with clients and ask what they want, you might discover 10 of them are training for running events, and you have a prime opportunity to boost average revenue per member with a race prep program.Or perhaps you can't hold onto staff people. What if you ask what they want to earn and accomplish, then show them how to do it? They'll stay longer and allow you to focus on building the business as the CEO.Watch to discover the questions top gym owners ask to improve every key performance indicator and build incredibly profitable businesses.Get Coop's “Exactly What to Say” guide in Gym Owners United, linked below.LinksGym Owners UnitedBook a Call0:01 - Stop guessing & just ask5:17 - Improve your marketing & sales13:25 - Boost client retention & value17:53 - Cut expenses & pay yourself more25:13 - Payoff of the “just ask” method

We talk about confidence like it's a vibe. But the truth is, belief isn't a mindset hack—it's a leadership skill. In this episode of Your Big Next, I'm talking about one of the biggest bottlenecks I see in high-capacity founders (and yes, I've lived it too): deep, unconscious self-doubt.We're talking about belief at the cellular level, because the ROI of belief touches everything: → The way you lead → The way you sell → The way you partner, parent, and buildI'll walk you through:The CEO beliefs that silently stall growthWhy we can't “strategize” our way out of misalignmentHow to install new beliefs with what I call the Belief Installation ProtocolAnd what happens when you finally start leading from overflow, not overcompensationI want to help you see the cost of old belief systems and show you how to shift into a new era of conviction and clarity. If you're done being your own growth ceiling, let's go there.Resources from this episode:Your Big Next Book is Coming SOON! Get on the waitlist https://yourbignextbook.com/Leadership Advantage Assessment https://luminaryleadershipco.com/styleWatch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@elizhartkeShow notes: https://luminaryleadershipco.com/episode305Connect with me:Website: https://luminaryleadershipco.com/If there's a topic, a question or a guest you want to hear on the show or an idea you have for us, just reach out and share that at marketing@luminaryleadershipco.com. We'd love to chat!Connect with me on Instagram!Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here!

Ryan Connolly, Head of Marketing at Hidden Iceland, shares how his company transformed from serving all market segments to focusing exclusively on premium and luxury private tours. The pivotal decision to cut small group tours (which represented 50% of departures but only 10% of revenue) allowed Hidden Iceland to grow by 5% while improving quality and profitability. Ryan discusses how relationship marketing drives 70% of their bookings directly (without OTAs), why they lead with education when working with travel advisors, and how PR outperforms paid advertising for luxury sales. He also reveals his background working in finance before a three year journey across 40 countries led him to become a glacier guide in Iceland, where he met his wife on a tour and co-founded the company with two partners.Top 10 Takeaways for Tour Operators1. Cut unprofitable segments ruthlesslySmall group tours accounted for 50% of Hidden Iceland's departures but only 10% of revenue. After eliminating that segment, they grew 5% by focusing resources on premium and luxury private tours where margins are higher.2. Partner with competitors instead of viewing them as threatsWhen customers can't afford Hidden Iceland's luxury pricing, Ryan personally introduces them to partner companies that serve the budget segment. This maintains relationships and positions them as helpful experts rather than pushy salespeople.3. PR drives better ROI than paid ads for high ticket salesOver 450 articles in publications like Condé Nast, Forbes, and CNN have driven 70% direct bookings. For luxury trips ($20,000+), earned media builds trust better than Facebook or Google ads.4. Lead with personal story in first customer contactRyan's initial email starts: "Hello, my name is Ryan. I'm originally Scottish. I've lived in Iceland since 2016. I originally trained as a glacier guide..." This builds immediate trust and differentiates from transactional competitors.5. Educate travel advisors. Don't just sell to themHidden Iceland runs webinars teaching agents about Iceland's seasons, distances, and what each time of year offers. Not sales pitches. The education first approach builds meaningful advisor relationships that generate 30% of bookings.6. Vet activity partners on safety and environmental standardsBefore partnering with snowmobile companies, helicopter tours, or other providers, Hidden Iceland shares their own safety and environmental policies first, then asks partners to reciprocate. This creates collaboration, not just transactions.7. Train guides to be themselves, not follow scriptsInstead of teaching guides what to say at each stop, Hidden Iceland tells them: "Be yourself in the most authentic way possible and create genuine connections." This leads to reviews that praise the guide more than the destination.8. Choose conferences strategically. Avoid the herdRyan skips luxury travel conferences if more than 2 or 3 other Iceland companies will attend. Less competition means easier differentiation and more meaningful conversations with travel advisors.9. Keep the sales process low tech and high touchDespite having a CRM (LEMACS), Hidden Iceland puts key itinerary details in the body of emails and offers phone calls early. For luxury clients, human connection trumps slick automation.10. Build the business with partners you trust implicitlyRyan emphasizes: "Don't set up a company with anyone you don't trust inherently and that you believe will communicate effectively during the hardest times." Through pandemics and volcanic eruptions, Hidden Iceland's three owners have never shouted at each other because they chose partnership carefully.

Dave Schwartz had all the signs of worldly success. He was a high-level officer with a Fortune 500 company in the insurance and financial services industry for 25 years before starting a breakaway firm with a friend which grew to a hundred employees in three different states. Life was good. But after some deep, personal valleys—including two open-heart surgeries—God got Dave's attention in a powerful way and helped him to see that a check-the-box religion wasn't cutting it and something needed to change. Inspired by his now-wife's deep contentment and relationship with God, Dave also began to pursue a deeper relationship himself.   Selling interest in the company he helped start, Dave transitioned to the nonprofit sector where he vetted partners and handled donor funds. He then was invited to lead the missions programs at their church. Little did Dave know that this was laying the foundations for a God-sized vision on the other side of the world.   Dave and his wife became close with a Liberian family from their church, and in 2021, they had an opportunity to travel to Liberia, the eighth poorest country in the world. Experiencing the extreme poverty at an orphanage there planted a strong desire to do something to uplift the children of Liberia without just giving out hand-me-downs.   Now, after a few years of divine connections and miraculous generosity, ground will soon be broken for the Agape Empowerment Center, a 15-acre campus designed to raise Christ-centered Liberian leaders through housing, education, and holistic care. If you've ever wondered what it's like to build a vision from scratch, this episode is for you.   Major Topics Include: Becoming envious of contentment How the God-sized vision came together Governance, structure, and transparency  Giving a hand up without creating a cycle of dependency Building a culture one grade at a time Involving locals in the mission A hopeful view of the next 5 to 10 years How this experience has deepened Dave's faith The vision for agricultural and manufacturing enterprise zones Building community through collaboration Examining the ROI of philanthropic dollars QUOTES TO REMEMBER “Laying in the hospital in 2012, recovering from my second open-heart surgery, I realized it was time to make a change.” “What is a true relationship with our Savior versus a religious ‘check-the-box'?” “As I started to change from religion to a relationship with Jesus, contentment started to creep into my life and I had never really experienced that before.” “Liberia is the eighth poorest country in the world. Per person income on an annual basis is $530 USD.” “I made the very Western throw-away comment of ‘Gosh, Honey, someone's gotta do something about this.' Without missing a beat, my wife says, ‘What about us?' And that's how the Agape Empowerment Center got started.” “If we want them to become the best and to be Christ-centered children, well-educated, then let's start treating them like the best and stop just giving them our hand-me-downs.” “In five or ten years, I see children with joy and hope in their lives.” “I have learned that I absolutely have no control. I think I do, but I don't. And at the end of the day, this is God's plan or it's not. I just hope to be able to help implement it.” “I'm not going to retire, I'm going to re-fire.” LINKS FROM THE SHOW Agape Empowerment Center When Helping Hurts (see our interview with coauthor Brian Fikkert) Convoy of Hope The Finish Line Community Facebook Group The Finish Line Community LinkedIn Group WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! If you have a thought about something you heard, or a story to share, please reach out! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also contact us directly from our contact page. If you want to engage with the Finish Line Community, check out our groups on Facebookand LinkedIn.

Send us a textYour next contract is already researching vendors on LinkedIn, and today we show you how to be the profile they trust. We sit down with author and strategist Al Kushner to break down a practical, repeatable playbook tailored for builders, steel dealers, and manufacturers who want qualified leads without living on the phone. The shift is simple but powerful: speak to outcomes, not offerings; educate instead of pitch; and make your profile the clearest answer to a buyer's biggest questions.We dig into what actually moves the needle: outcome-based headlines and summaries that signal expertise, content pillars that balance education, project results, team credibility, and light promotions, plus the underrated force multiplier of LinkedIn newsletters that land in inboxes and bypass spam filters. You'll hear concrete examples—how to frame a 60x100 build as a schedule win, why decision makers respond to “how we saved three weeks” more than “look at our building,” and how one video can spawn ten posts when you slice by challenge, result, and process.Then we get operational. Al maps a lean weekly cadence any small team can sustain: 20 minutes a day for engagement, one to two hours a week to batch content, and simple analytics that prove ROI. We cover targeting by role, industry, and geography; using lead gen forms for higher conversion; and tagging sources in your CRM to see shorter sales cycles from pre-educated buyers. Along the way, AI shows up as a draft partner—not a replacement—to help you articulate value faster and keep your voice clear.If you've wondered whether LinkedIn is worth the effort, this conversation gives you the numbers, language, and steps to make it your always-on sales engine. Subscribe, share this episode with a teammate who needs the nudge, and leave a review with one LinkedIn question you want us to tackle next.Find his book at: The A.I. Linked AdvantageFor more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.Would you like to receive our weekly newsletter?  Sign up here.Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube at the handle @shedgeekpodcast.To be a guest on the Shed Geek Podcast visit our website and fill out the "Contact Us" form.To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at info@shedgeek.com.This episodes Sponsors:Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC

If you've been looking for a way to hit or exceed your annual quota, qualify for President's Club, or simply earn a bigger paycheck or bonus, focusing on helping business owners reduce their tax burden by investing in your product, service or software in the final weeks of the year can give you the edge you need get more sales closed. Business Owners are Motivated to Reduce Taxes In the United States there are millions of SMBs and the vast majority of these businesses are what we call pass-through organizations for tax purposes. This means that the owners or partners in these businesses report the profits on their personal tax filings. Unlike big companies, small companies don't have the luxury of rolling profits over to the next year. So whatever they made this year, they have to pay taxes on. As the calendar winds down business owners are often motivated to invest in products, services, and software solutions in order to reduce taxable income. In other words, if a business has shown strong profits throughout the year, its owners might be keen to spend some of that money on improving their operations, expanding their capabilities, or streamlining their processes—right now—rather than hand over a large chunk of their profits to Uncle Sam come tax season. Business Owners Hate Paying Taxes To understand why this year-end period is so critical, let's get into the mindset of a small or medium-sized business owner. Unlike large enterprises with multiple departments and complex accounting strategies, SMB owners are often personally invested in the company's financial results because those results are essentially their income. It's how they pay their mortgage and put food on the table. For this reason, they watch their revenue and expenses closely. As the year comes to an end, they're looking at their bottom line and thinking about the upcoming tax bill. For many of these business owners, profit is a double-edged sword. Don't get me wrong, they want to make a profit. But at some point, too much profit triggers a much higher tax bill. If there is one thing I know about small and medium sized business owners its that they hate taxes. They are always looking for ways to legally minimize their tax liability. One easy and productive way to do this is to make fully or partially depreciable investments in the business before December 31st. That could mean buying new equipment, software, training packages, or services that will not only improve the business long-term but also reduce taxable income for the current year. An Urgent Need to Spend As a salesperson, the key takeaway here is that your prospects have a natural, time-bound incentive to spend. If you can position your product or service as the right investment at the right time, you might find it easier to close those deals that seemed just out of reach during the rest of the year. And by the way, if you are dealing with decision-makers who are pushing off decisions to next year, this is a great way to get past that objection. Framing Your Business Case I want to be clear though that most businesses are not going to spend money for the sake of spending money. Savvy business owners want to reduce taxes and do the right thing for their company. Therefore, you can't just be transactional. You still must follow the sales process and build a bridge to the value of tax savings AND business improvement when making your business case. It's all about framing your product or service as a strategic investment rather than a mere expense. For example: If you sell software tools that improve operational efficiency, make the case for how your solution will help them save on labor costs, reduce errors, and streamline workflows. If you're selling advertising, highlight how a year-end launch of a new campaign will lead to immediate results that set the stage for a strong Q1. If you sell capital equipment walk them through how the new equipment will make them more productive and help them expand their business in the new year. The key is to connect the value of your offering directly to the timing. Consider messaging like: “This is an opportune moment to upgrade your systems, so you'll enter the new year with a competitive edge and potentially lower your tax liabilities this season.” “By getting your campaign locked in before the year closes, you can reap immediate tax benefits while ensuring your advertising starts generating leads in January when you need them the most.” If we get the equipment ordered now it will be delivered in Q1 giving you plenty of time to get a high ROI next year. When you can tie the ROI of your product to both tangible improvements and the financial perks of year-end spending, the business case becomes much more compelling and you will sell more. Tailor Your Approach While the end-of-year tax incentive is a common denominator, not every SMB is identical. Some might be profitable but cash-constrained, while others have capital burning a hole in their pockets. Some may be in sectors that had a booming year, while others are just recovering from a difficult market. The more you understand the unique challenges and goals of each prospect you're targeting, the better you can tailor your approach. Before you pick up the phone, walk through their door, or send an email, do some research. Check out their recent announcements, whether they're hiring or expanding. Look into trends in their industry. Understanding these nuances will help you fine-tune your messaging. If you know a business is tight on cash, emphasize flexible payment plans or financing options. If the business is flush with profit, reinforce the immediate tax advantage and the strategic value of reinvesting those funds. Empathy and relevance are your allies here. Show that you understand their position and that your solution aligns perfectly with their current goals. That personal touch, combined with the natural urgency of year-end, is a powerful recipe for closing the deal. Lead With Urgency: Clear, Direct, Compelling I don't want to sweep under the rug how important timing and urgency are with this tactic. While you don't want to be completely transactional, you do want to be direct. As we approach the end of the year, many SMB owners have a long to-do list: Finalizing paperwork, inventory checks, reviewing vendor contracts, preparing for holiday promotions, and on and on. They're busy. They have limited time to spend on sales pitches. This means your outreach needs to be respectful of their schedule and also clear, direct, and compelling. Say right away: “I'm reaching out before the year ends because I have a solution that can help you maximize your tax benefits this year and help you grow your business next year." Being direct and to the point respects their time and sets the context immediately. If you need more help with direct and to-the-point messaging, grab your copy of my book Fanatical Prospecting and review Because Statements. It's crucial that you create and maintain a sense of urgency. Not the aggressive, pushy kind, but a natural urgency rooted in a real calendar event: The year-end. The clock is ticking, and if they don't make their purchase by December 31st, they miss out on the potential tax advantages. This deadline isn't artificial—it's a reality. Use it to frame your conversations. Urgency helps prospects prioritize your offer over other distractions in their busy schedule. Handling Objections You might encounter objections like: “We're too busy to consider new solutions right now,” or “We don't have enough budget.” In these cases, it's wise to highlight the cost-saving and tax benefits again. Stress that investing now can actually put them in a better position financially. Remind them that waiting until next year could mean missing out on an opportunity to reduce this year's taxable income. If time is an issue, propose a quick and efficient implementation plan. Show them that you can be agile and help them integrate the solution without massive downtime. If budget is a concern, consider promotions, discounts, or favorable financing terms. Sometimes, offering a small year-end incentive can tip the scales in your favor. The Five Keys to Selling More to SMBs at the End of the Year SMBs have a natural incentive to invest before year-end: They want to reduce their taxable income and set themselves up for a strong next year. Frame your product as a strategic investment: Highlight the value, ROI, and tax benefits that come with a year-end purchase. Avoid being transactional: Follow the sales process and position yourself as a partner who can help them navigate this critical period. Tailor your approach to each SMB's situation: Research their needs and adjust your prospecting message accordingly, showing empathy and relevance. Create urgency with a real deadline: The calendar itself is your ally; emphasize that the benefits come from acting before December 31st. Here's the deal though. Do not wait. Start this process now. The low-hanging fruit is out there but it will rot on the vine if you fail to pick before the sand runs out of the hourglass this year. Check out the BRAND NEW Jeb Blount Ultimate Sales Success Box Set. It's the perfect gift for the sales professional in your life!

In this episode of Innovation Meets Leadership, host Natalie Born welcomes back Ron Crabtree—founder and CEO of MetaOps and MetaExperts, global process improvement leader, and one of the most respected voices in Lean and operational excellence. This conversation takes a deep dive into value stream mapping, a powerful visual methodology that helps leaders uncover hidden inefficiencies, reduce cycle time, improve quality, and identify the smartest opportunities for digitization and AI.If you want a clearer view of where your business is wasting time, losing money, or missing value, this episode is your blueprint.[00:00 – 03:00] Why Value Stream Mapping Still MattersRon returns to discuss deeper layers of process improvement and Lean thinking.Deming's foundational principle: If you can't describe your work as a process, you don't know what you're doing.Value stream mapping as a visual + data-driven methodology to understand workflow end-to-end.[03:01 – 07:00] Defining the Mission: What Problem Are We Solving For?Understanding the organizational challenge: cost, quality, speed, or customer experience.Toyota's SQDCMP hierarchy (Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, Productivity, Morale).Selecting the scope and granularity of a mapping effort based on the business challenge.[07:01 – 10:00] Where Digitization and AI Fit InWhy not all automation opportunities are equally valuable.Using value stream mapping to identify high-ROI areas for digitization and AI.[10:01 – 14:00] Beyond Manufacturing: Value Stream Mapping for Any IndustryHow even non-technical environments—like historical sites—benefit from mapping their visitor and customer journey.[14:01 – 17:00] Swim Lanes, Roles & the Hidden Complexity in HR ProcessesUsing swim lane diagrams to visualize handoffs, approvals, and compliance requirements.A real-world hiring example showing a six-month cycle time inside a government agency.[17:01 – 20:00] The Power of Hard Numbers in Decision MakingWhy mapping requires both visuals and data to measure true performance.Ron's example from a defined benefits company: identifying the percentage of time spent on rework, verification, and corrections.[20:01 – 23:00] When Processes Are Physically InefficientHow spaghetti diagrams expose unnecessary movement, travel time, and equipment downtime.Distinguishing internal vs. external activities to reduce waste during machine setup or maintenance.[23:01 – 26:00] The University Email Story: From 17 Steps to ZeroA university's onboarding process involved 17 steps and two weeks of delays.A powerful demonstration of innovation + efficiency working hand in hand.[26:01 – 27:00] Efficiency vs. Innovation: Why Leaders Need BothMany companies over-index on either efficiency or innovation—but not both.Understanding your value stream helps leaders see where inefficiencies hinder innovation.Ron shares where listeners can find his work, his podcast, and how to connect.Quotes“If you can't describe what you're doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.” – Ron Crabtree“Value stream mapping helps you see where to apply digitization and AI with laser focus.” – Ron CrabtreeConnect with Ron CrabtreeWebsite: metaexperts.comLinkedIn: Ron Crabtree, MetaOps & MetaExpertsPodcast: MetaExperts Workforce ExcellenceIf this conversation inspired you, leave a review and share this episode with a leader who's ready to rethink how their organization creates value.

L'histoire commence le 23 février 1981 à Madrid en Espagne lorsque des militaires pénètrent dans les Cortès où siègent les députés. Après quelques coups de feu, les députés sont pris en otage, ça ressemble à un coup d'état. Ce soir là, la couronne du roi d'Espagne vacille mais Juan Carlos 1er ne flanche pas. Il a payé trop cher pour monter sur le trône, pas question de se laisser faire par des généraux en mal d'autorité. En réalité, le règne de Juan Carlos 1er commence réellement ce soir du 23 février 1981 alors qu'officiellement, il a été proclamé roi en 1975. Le générique du podcast c'est toujours David Nilsson. Plus d'infos sur notre label Podcut et notre patreon : podcut.studio Merci pour vos contributions !sourcesdiscours du roi https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/caa8100329301/discours-juan-carlos (INA)Secrets d'histoire https://www.france.tv/france-3/secrets-d-histoire/saison-19/7762815-juan-carlos-la-gloire-et-l-exil.htmlHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

In this episode, Ben Lorica and Evangelos Simoudis of Synapse Partners explore the complex reality behind AI-driven layoffs, from automation and upskilling gaps to strategic shifts in R&D. They also dive into the massive capital investments in AI, discussing the growing pressure for ROI and the emergence of LLMOps as a form of financial management. The conversation highlights practical strategies for enterprises, emphasizing the need to break down organizational silos to succeed in the AI era.Subscribe to the Gradient Flow Newsletter

Send us a textWhat if authority wasn't about being the best closer, but about creating the safest decision for your buyer? Grant sits down with Doug Brown—CEO of CEO Sales Strategies—to explore how shared context, credible associations, and personal ROI can transform ordinary sales conversations into trust-driven commitments. From New England roots to global brands, Doug shows why familiarity is a strategic lever, not a vanity metric.We dig into the gap between “good” sales teams and those viewed as market authorities. The surprise: status and positioning can tilt the field before price is ever discussed. Using vivid examples—from first-class optics to iconic venues—Doug explains how perception amplifies pricing power. But he also grounds it in craft: speak to the business ROI and the personal ROI driving real human decisions, whether that's safety, reputation, or career risk. Buyers sign when they feel both the numbers and the nerves are addressed.The heart of the conversation is resilience. Doug recounts a costly client pivot that vaporized roughly $2M, then shares the mental and operational playbook that pulled him forward: stop treating symptoms, remove root causes, and take one meaningful step every day toward a clear North Star. We also get practical with a 90-day revenue plan that works without heroics—set a truthful target, do the math on KPIs, reengage dormant clients, increase touchpoints, and define your ideal right-fit buyer to align message and market. We close with a grounded take on AI: use it to accelerate research and outreach, but never outsource the human-to-human moments that make complex deals possible.If you're ready to sell with authority, protect your margins, and build pipeline you can trust, this conversation gives you the mindset and methods to start today. Subscribe, share with a teammate who needs a boost, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—we read every one.Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com. And don't miss Grant McGaugh's new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

Send us a textWe share a blunt playbook for leaders: stop chasing an all‑knowing AI, design for adoption, protect sensitive data, and turn time savings into measurable growth. Hunter Jensen explains why he pivoted from services to product and how to deploy AI safely at small and mid‑market companies.• framing AI for leadership, not hype• risks of the “oracle” model and access control• adoption as the driver of ROI• designing copilots for knowledge workers• small vs medium strategies for starting• using 365 Copilot and Gemini safely• defining success beyond hours saved• reinvesting time in revenue and innovation• building a cross‑functional AI team• Compass by Barefoot Labs for secure deploymentFollow Hunter Jensen at ...His websitehttps://www.barefootsolutions.com/Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/barefootsolutionsTwitterhttps://x.com/barefootsolnsLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/hunterjensen/Support the showFollow your host atYouTube and Rumble for video contenthttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUxk1oJBVw-IAZTqChH70aghttps://rumble.com/c/c-4236474Facebook to receive updateshttps://www.facebook.com/EliasEllusion/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliasmarty/ Some free goodies Free website to help you and me https://thefreewebsiteguys.com/?js=15632463 New Paper https://thenewpaper.co/refer?r=srom1o9c4gl PodMatch https://podmatch.com/?ref=1626371560148x762843240939879000

Hoy Paco y Roi comentan la canción de Rosalía, la Perla.

You don't need another strategy. You need to trust the truth that's already in you.In this soul-stirring conversation, George sits down with Gabriel Pinto, entrepreneur, author, coach, and soul-searcher, to explore what it really means to live and lead from alignment. This episode isn't about adding more noise to your head. It's about listening to what your heart already knows and learning to follow it with clarity, compassion, and courage.If you've ever felt like you're checking all the boxes but still feel off inside, this conversation is your compass.What You'll Learn in This Episode:How to shed inherited identity and step into your truthWhy slowing down is often the fastest way to growThe role of legacy, intention, and presence in leadershipHow to recognize and release survival-based patternsWhat to do when you know you're meant for more but feel stuck Key Takeaways:✔️What got you here won't get you there… Especially if it was built in survival.✔️You don't have to earn worthiness, it's inherent. Operate from that truth.✔️Honor your own internal pace. Someone else's timeline is not your truth.✔️Identity is a tool, not a cage… Let go of roles and titles that don't serve you.✔️Authenticity is your advantage. The most powerful strategy is your actual self. Timestamps & Highlights:[00:00] – Gabriel's origin story: from external success to internal search[07:30] – Realizing that the old version of you no longer fits[12:42] – Identity, approval addiction, and the role of self-awareness[18:25] – The danger of surviving success[24:33] – Why slowing down can lead to more aligned growth[32:50] – Living and creating from values, not validation[40:18] – The “remembering” process and reconnecting with truth[47:03] – How to hold legacy, identity, and ego with love, not shame[56:44] – Integration, peace, and the real ROI of doing the inner work[1:02:30] – Closing thoughts: it's already in you, just remember Connect with Gabriel Pinto:Website: https://www.gabrielpinto.io/Instagram: @glpintoYoutube: @GabrielPinto3Your Challenge This Week:What's one part of you you're ready to come home to?Tag @itsgeorgebryant and @glpinto on Instagram with your favorite insight or quote.Reflect: If you weren't trying to be “enough,” what would you create today?Join The Alliance: The Relationship Beats Algorithms™ community for entrepreneurs growing aligned, connected businesses.Apply for 1:1 Coaching: Ready to stop building someone else's dream and start living yours? mindofgeorge.com/coachingLive Events – Get in the room. Grow with heart: https://mindofgeorge.com/retreat/

Thanks to our Partners, NAPA TRACS, Today's Class, KUKUI, and Pit Crew Loyalty Watch Full Video Episode Recorded live at AAPEX 2025, ASE President Dave Johnson and AAPEX Shop of the Year winner Tom Palermo discuss the value, impact, and future of ASE certification. A major highlight: the U.S. Secret Service joined ASE on the AAPEX show floor, promoting technician careers and showcasing armored vehicles. Johnson notes that the Secret Service requires ASE certification for maintenance roles—proof that if it's “good enough for the president's car,” it matters for the whole industry. Key topics include ASE's updated test content based on real shop feedback, powerful data showing certification improves productivity and reduces comebacks and attrition, and the ongoing challenge of boosting consumer awareness. They also discuss increasing industry requirements for ASE, new certification efforts for Vehicle Security Specialists, and the continued push for professionalism in today's high-tech automotive field. Dave Johnson, President, ASE, National Institute For Automotive Service Excellence Tom Palermo, Preferred Automotive Specialists in Philadelphia, PA. Tom's previous episodes HERE Thanks to our Partner, NAPA TRACS NAPA TRACS will move your shop into the SMS fast lane with onsite training and six days a week of support and local representation. Find NAPA TRACS on the Web at http://napatracs.com/ Thanks to our Partner, Today's Class Optimize training with Today's Class: In just 5 minutes daily, boost knowledge retention and improve team performance. Find Today's Class on the web at https://www.todaysclass.com/ Thanks to our Partner, KUKUI Stop juggling multiple marketing tools. KUKUI's integrated platform delivers 4x better website conversions, automated follow-up, and real-time ROI tracking. Get industry-leading customer support with KUKUI at https://www.kukui.com/ Thanks to our Partner, Pit Crew Loyalty You're probably tired of chasing new customers who never return. We understand. Pit Crew Loyalty ends the one-and-done cycle, turning first visits into lasting, reliable revenue at https://www.pitcrewloyalty.com/ Connect with the Podcast: - Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RemarkableResultsRadioPodcast/ - Join Our Virtual Toastmasters Club: https://remarkableresults.biz/toastmasters - Join Our Private Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1734687266778976 - Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/carmcapriotto - Follow on...

How much money has water damage cost your owners? How much time and money could you save if you were able to detect issues within a property before they became a larger problem?  In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth expert Jason Hull sits down with Nadav Schnall to explore how innovative water and gas leak detection systems are transforming residential property management and to share how these technologies can prevent costly damage, protect tenants, and streamline maintenance operations for property managers. You'll Learn [1:14] Nadav Schnall's Background in Property Management [05:06] Innovative Solutions for Leak Detection [11:07] Understanding the Technology Behind Pro Sentry [17:25] Implementing Smart Detection Systems Quotables "If something goes unchecked, somebody's out of town, there's a water leak, I mean, it can just do massive damage." "The responsibility of a property manager is to make sure the building is operating properly, to make sure it's operating efficiently, to mitigate damages, to mitigate risks." "Time is of the essence when something like this happens." Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Nadav Schnall (00:00) No need for displacement, no need to wake up in the middle of the night, come back to a flooded home. So we can solve all that   Jason Hull (00:05) All right. Welcome everybody. I am Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. We have spoken to thousands of property management business owners, coached, consulted, and cleaned up hundreds of businesses.   helping them add doors, improve pricing, increase profits, simplify operations. And we run the leading property management mastermind with more video testimonials and reviews than any other coach or consultant in the industry. At DoorGrow, we believe that good property managers can change the world and that property management is the ultimate high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. We are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry.   eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now, let's get into the show. Today, my guest is Nadav Schnall. Welcome, Nadav   Nadav Schnall (01:14) Thank you for having me, Jason.   Jason Hull (01:15) All right, so your company is called ProSentry. We're going to be getting into that. But before we chat about our topic today, which is protect, prevent, perform smart leak detection for modern property managers, tell us a little bit about your background, how you got into entrepreneurism and what finally led you.   Nadav Schnall (01:33) Sure, happy to provide some background. So my background is actually in property management. I was a property manager for about a decade for First Service Residential in New York City. I had their kind of luxury.   group or luxury division. So I did a lot of consulting for developers and lot of property management, opening buildings, know, placing staff, making sure buildings kind of transition from construction to operation. So that was really the lion's share of my background as it relates to property management. Then I went into and opened another company that had to do with the service industry, kind of fire suppression systems, mechanicals, kind of the   the heart of a building, so to speak. And that led me to connect with my co-founder and business partner, John Russ, who is a builder in New York City. I've known him for probably about 15 years. And we came together to do this idea. So really very much so kind of experiencing firsthand.   what we are trying to solve and that's kind how I got into the world of entrepreneurship and into the world of ProSentry   Jason Hull (02:35) Got it. All right. Thanks for the background. So you're an expert. This is your bio, an expert in smart building monitoring. We're going to chat about exploring how innovative water and gas leak detection systems are transforming residential property management and maybe share how these technologies can prevent costly damage, protect tenants, streamline maintenance operations for property managers from boosting safety to increasing operational efficiency.   And in today's episode, you'll get to learn how smart monitoring is reshaping the way you care for your properties and your bottom line. So cool. I'm excited to get into this. So, so now, Nadav, where, where do we start?   Nadav Schnall (03:15) Well, we can probably start in property management. And I can tell you how many times I would wake up in the morning and I'd be checking my phone and then find that I have emails from last night that there was a leak in the building or my super calling me at two o'clock in the morning saying, hey, we had a flood or someone, there was a construction going on and someone left a window open and some pipe froze.   Jason Hull (03:19) Okay.   Nadav Schnall (03:42) And so that's kind of where it started for me, kind of really looking into these operational issues, which in today's day and age with technology, you are able to solve. And so that's where the journey started for me is really trying to look at properties and saying, how can we help common day-to-day occurrences? More so you look at the insurance industries and that's one of the...   biggest pluses that we try to bring to the table is trying to helping buildings with insurance. Water leaks are non-weather related water leaks are typically the top three causes for insurance claims.   And many times it's the number one reason for insurance claims. And so you look at these things and you're saying, there is technology out there. There is ways to substantially reduce that. How do we do that, improve the day-to-day work of property managers?   reduce insurance claims for buildings, reduce insurance rates and premiums, and also improve the life of the residents and tenants that live within. No need for displacement, no need to wake up in the middle of the night, come back to a flooded home. So we can solve all that and we focus in the multifamily. That's kind of our main focus.   Jason Hull (04:53) Yeah, Yeah, I mean, if something goes unchecked, somebody's out of town, there's a water leak, I mean, it can just do massive damage. Yeah, so how do we mitigate that?   Nadav Schnall (05:04) Yeah, so I can tell you a little bit about the technology and what we do and how we do it. first of all, traditional systems that existed so far were really based on Wi-Fi, which is a big difference. And they were more geared towards maybe something that you would do for your house or maybe something you would do for your apartment.   But how do you resolve that in a multifamily world, right? Where even if I am the most responsible resident in the building and I put water leak detection and temperature and humidity and maybe gas, you put all detection technologies in your apartment, you can still get leaked on from your apartment above. Something can still happen. And you just said it, right? A resident that may be away. And we have this actually. is an actual...   know, claim that we were able to avoid. In a building, someone, you know, it was a vacant apartment, a realtor came in to show the apartment, walked out to the terrace. It was a classic wintery day. Didn't close the door all the way.   Realtor left, came in, blew the apartment door open and the temperatures started going down and going down and going down. Luckily that building had ProSentry and that building was notified when the temperatures hit about 50 degrees and the resident manager of that building got the notification today that doesn't sound right. Of course, checked the records, found out there was a vacant apartment, ran upstairs, saw that the door was open, was able to close the door, turn on the heat before frozen pipes. But otherwise you would have had frozen pipe and that could have easily knocked out 10 apartments   insurance claims and so on and so forth. So I think that's kind of one of the biggest areas where we can save. And the nice part about that is insurance carriers are starting to recognize us and starting to recognize that we are actually reducing claims inside buildings. We're doing that across the board. We recently did a study across 18 months. We took a bunch of properties and we wanted to see what happened in those properties across an 18 month period.   we alerted those properties to over 6,000 different types of water events, right? Whether it's water or, you know, could be some, some of it can be just be drizzling. Some of could be, you know, a condensate drain and an HVAC unit overflowing, right? So different types of leaks. And then we followed up with the properties. Not one of those buildings and any of those water events resulted in an insured claim.   And so we were able to actually prove to the insurance world that this is a risk mitigative tool and actually the service that we provide, we like to call it risk mitigation as a service. ⁓ And by doing that, we've been able to help several buildings either move from kind of E &S, Excessive Surplus insurance policies over to admitted carriers, which of course are substantially cheaper.   Jason Hull (07:27) Yeah.   Nadav Schnall (07:41) or just simply being able to reduce insurance rates, right? You presented a certain risk before, now you present this risk. And so it can help properties both on the operation side, the maintenance side, but also on the insurance side. And I know I said a lot.   Jason Hull (07:53) Yeah.   No, that's, no, that sounds very fascinating. So I can see how this would be very important. So if the insurance companies are not having to do anything on these claims, then you would think they would be very incentivized to get people to implement this.   Nadav Schnall (08:10) That's 100%. So in New York State, for example, where we have a lot of presidents, especially in New York City, we work with a number of carriers that provide anywhere from, this is on the homeowner side, but anywhere from 3 % up all the way up to 12 % premium reductions.   year over year on your homeowners insurance policy. So if you have a building and let's say there's 100 apartments, if you happen to be insured with one of these insurance carriers, you will receive a discount on your premium year over year. their ROI is right there. And then of course we can help on the underlying building insurance policy as well.   Jason Hull (08:50) Got it, okay. So what are the benefits for the, that's obviously a benefit for the property owner, right? What are the benefits for the property manager?   Nadav Schnall (09:00) So, I mean, the obvious would be peace of mind, right? Because at the end of the day, the responsibility of a property manager is to make sure the building is operating properly, to make sure it's operating efficiently, to mitigate damages, to mitigate risks.   And so the advantages of property managerial, first of all, you're able to see what happens in your entire building. So you'll have a dashboard. You'll be able to see each one of our sensing technologies. And I think we've heavily focused so far on water leak detection and maybe temperature detection, which is really, you know, these are one of our biggest sellers, but we do anything from water to gas to oil leaks, to mechanical malfunctions, environmental issues, even rodents. So we have a lot.   know, thermostat. So we have different types of technologies all surrounded under our platform. And so the property manager will be able to see all these sensing, all these sensors across this entire building on one, on one dashboard. It will substantially reduce damages, right? So from a...   to do share responsibility to the building. is very important, but more so it also gives peace of mind, right? That you know that this apartment or this building or this area, because a lot of our installations are mechanical equipment, right? We have a building that had a couple of leaks coming from the mechanical systems. Every time there was a leak there, it leaked into the elevators. The elevators went out, had to call the elevator company out, had to file another insurance claim. And every time that's there, the amount of time the property managers have to spend   to deal with an incident like this, right? It doesn't only start with mitigating the damage itself. You gotta mitigate the damage, you gotta communicate with all the apartment owners, you gotta let them know what's going on. Then they have repairs, they have to coordinate with contractors, they have to file insurance claims, they have to file reports, they have to talk to their boards or their building owners. So there's a lot there. By installing a system like this, it gives you lot of peace of mind and saves you a lot of time.   Jason Hull (10:46) So less damage, less work for the property manager, less stress in having to deal with frustrated owners, frustrated tenants. Yeah, so win-win all the way around. So you had mentioned a few things that this equipment can send for.   So could you go over all those for us?   Nadav Schnall (11:04) Yeah, sure. It's 100%.   So we have, you maybe I started off a little bit in the beginning, we talked about Wi-Fi, but I really complete that thought. So I can start high level. So.   First of all, what we use is use a technology called LoRaWAN. LoRaWAN stands for long range wide area network. So it's very similar to Wi-Fi in the sense that it is a wireless technology that we can communicate over this wireless network that it creates. But indifferent than Wi-Fi, has a couple of major differences, which is huge for buildings, huge for properties, right? Especially existing buildings where you're trying to retrofit a system, which of course you're very sensitive to, right? Because if you're...   You know, if you're doing property management in a multifamily residential building and you have to access every single apartment, no one wants to like start running electricity or opening walls. It has to be really easy to deploy. You come in and come out under 10 minutes. That's what you're looking to do. So this technology, LoRaWAN, what it does is it is a very strong frequency. So the advantage is it can penetrate brick, mortar, you know.   concrete, steel, whatever, whatever inside a building. And you can use one of these gateways. Gateways are similar to what we would call in the Wi-Fi world as like a router. So you would install one of those every maybe three to six floors, I would say, as opposed to a traditional router where you put it in an apartment, you have one for the entire apartment. The downside to it is that you can stream a lot of data on it.   So it's great for the world of IoT and the world of sensors because you don't have to put on that. You just need to say, what is the temperature? I having a leak? Do I have this or do I have something else? So that is a very, very important advantage that this technology has over traditional systems, which rely on Wi-Fi. The other big thing it has is that it's extremely energy efficient. So each one of our sensors will last for about 10 years on battery life. Whereas traditional Wi-Fi systems, probably have to replace the battery once a year, once every two years, depending on the system.   As far as our offering, so we have different liquid sensing technology, so oil and water. We also have gas detection. And for example, in New York City, they passed a law which was now tabled again, but they passed a law called Local Law 157. Every, you know,   apartment or building in New York City that had gas, had to have gas detection. So we were able to help those buildings as well. And so buildings that already had our system had to now comply with a new law, easily just put it on the system, no problem. Temperature humidity, we spoke about. We have rodents. We have different types of sensing. For example, if you want to see the levels of different tanks. So for example, you have a big water storage tank or you want to know what the capacity is of trash or different. So we have devices that can sense distance.   different sensors for different types of mechanical equipment to see where they go, what the status is, are they operating, are they not, are they in movement? Steam traps, we can tell you if a stream trap open. So there's a lot of stuff there. And I think one of the unique parts about ProSentry is that both me and my business partner, John, really come from the world.   And so we meet with supers, we meet with property managers and they say, hey, you know, I really want to understand how I can better see this or how I can do that. And that's what we developed. And so we go out and we figure out what sensing to cloud booth exists for the world and we customize them for the buildings themselves.   Jason Hull (14:15) Got it. Is this system also tie into some of the other sort of catastrophes besides water, like fire, smoke? ⁓   Nadav Schnall (14:23) So   we have a smoke and vape detector, but it is not what you would call your traditional carbon-fiber monoxide type of sensor. And that is because, first of all, it's a very saturated market. There's a lot of companies out there that provide. We have the ability to interface into it. It was just a conscious choice not to get into that yet.   Jason Hull (14:38) Yeah.   Nadav Schnall (14:47) Just because you know, it's more of a niche market and that's more of a very wide market. There's also a lot of regular   Jason Hull (14:52) Figure out smoking and   vaping is another thing. Like, maybe four terms, stuff like this.   Nadav Schnall (14:55) Yeah.   So that we do have on the property, on the platform. that is a great sensing technology, especially for like rental buildings or buildings that have passed no smoking laws in the building. So it can do vaping, it could do marijuana, it could do cigarette smoke. And so we've had that. actually, one of the reasons we developed it, again, speaking to property managers and building owners,   This is a West Coast property owner. he said, you know, one of my main reasons for non renewing leases in my building is because people smoke and people don't want to renew. And so that was one of the reasons we went out. came out with this, with a sensing technology and it can, you know, it kind of tattles on the smokers, but it works with that kind of building. Right. So if you sign into a building, which is a non-smoking building, you should have that same with hotels, et cetera, et cetera.   Jason Hull (15:45) Cool. So I'm going to read a word from our sponsor and then I some more questions we'll get into. So this episode is sponsored by Vendoroo So many of you tell me that maintenance is probably the least enjoyable part of the property manager and definitely the most time consuming. But what if you could cut that workload by up to 85 %? That's exactly what Vendoroo has achieved. They've leveraged cutting edge AI technology to handle nearly all your maintenance tasks from initiating work orders and troubleshooting to coordinating with vendors and reporting.   This AI doesn't just automate, it becomes your ideal employee, learning your preferences and executing tasks flawlessly, never needing a day off and never quitting. This frees up you to focus on the critical tasks that really move the needle for you and your business, whether that's refining operations, expanding your portfolio, or even just taking a well-deserved break. So over half the room at last year's DoorGrow Live.   conference signed up with Vendoroo right then and there after hearing about it. A year later, they're not just satisfied. They're raving about how Vendoroo has transformed their business. Don't let maintenance drag you down. Step up your property management game with Vendoroo Visit vendero.ai. That's V-E-N-D-O-R-O-O.ai slash door grow today and make this the last maintenance hire you'll ever need. All right, cool. So back to...   Back to what you were talking about, Nadeav. I'm curious, this sounds like a no-brainer. Is this expensive to get set up? Can this be turned into a profit center for property managers in some way? How does this typically work for property managers?   Nadav Schnall (17:20) Yeah, sure.   So, excellent questions. As far as the cost goes, it is very competitive in the marketplace. Sensors start at about $70 a sensor, depending on what it is. There is a cost for the network, but again, it is not a significant cost. The costs kind of vary based on the size of the building, and obviously there's volume discounts. But, you know, I think it, you know, from a   Profit center, it's an interesting question, right? Because I don't know if you're actively going to make money from the building, from activating the system. However, you will get a return on your investment because again, you're able to, first of all, reduce repair costs. There's no question about that, right? we have...   Examples examples examples of buildings that have installed our system and have caught dozens of water leaks some of which may have turned into Small things or maybe you and an overflowing club, but you caught that and you mopped that up But others are like these slow leaks behind walls and all kinds of areas like that that you otherwise would have not noticed and before it became mold and stuff so hundred percent you save money on that from a repair across perspective and   Jason Hull (18:09) Yeah.   Nadav Schnall (18:24) on insurance front, is really one of our biggest areas that we're focused on is trying to help buildings reduce insurance costs. And so in that sense, it does turn into a profit center, maybe not the traditional profit center as a fee for it, but you do save on other repairs on insurance costs. So in that sense, yes, you do make money on that.   Jason Hull (18:42) So, Nadav, a question. So you've mentioned multifamily. There are a lot of people that listen to this podcast that also do single-family residential, or maybe they do individual condos, or they do short-term rentals or Airbnbs. Do you find that this makes sense for those scenarios as well?   Nadav Schnall (19:03) 100 % it does. We focus...   only on multi-dwelling, in other words, we're a B2B company in that sense, unless maybe there's a situation where there's someone who manages multiple individual condos, let's say, right? Or multiple Airbnbs and they want everything on kind of a dashboard and maybe that would make sense. There are solutions out there that focus on the single-family world, that are Wi-Fi based and they're meant for that. We are really more of a commercial grade.   solution, right? And that's kind of how we set ourselves up. And that is really the big differentiator with us is that we're really focused on whole building solutions. We have automatic border shutoff valves, for example, which I haven't even mentioned before. But for example, we have a commercial building.   where the building owners have no one at the building over the weekend and actually no one in the building after I think it's 7 or 8 p.m. till they come back at like 6 or 7 in the morning. So they proactively shut the water to the building when they leave and no one's there. So they don't even want to take the risk. Of course all of our sensors can connect to the automatic shutoff app and say hey if there is a leak we'll shut that off, we'll shut the water off. They just want to they just put it on a schedule and proactively shut it. So in that sense if you   have single family or Airbnb managers, cetera, et cetera, you can all control it even from the app. You don't even have to be at the property. And you can just shut the valve off and shut the property. So if you're going to go away and let's say you want to winterize the property and shut the water off for a prolonged amount of time because you're not going to be there going on vacation. So you can do that with the system quite easily.   Jason Hull (20:35) Interesting. for somebody that's like an Airbnb and they wanted to get this set up, and they wanted like maybe water, auto water shut off, some gas detection, you know, a couple of the most obvious important ones, what would it roughly cost for them to get that property outfit?   Nadav Schnall (20:53) I mean, if it's a, if let's say we're talking about a single apartment, maybe like a one or two bedroom, you're probably talking about a one time cost of anywhere between 300 to $500. If you're in, if you're in that kind of situation, if it's slightly bigger, it all depends on the number of sensors. But again, if it's about $70 a sensor, how many points of water do you have in your, in your apartment? And then that's how you do the math.   Jason Hull (21:18) Got it. So typically sensor per maybe bathroom or water.   Nadav Schnall (21:22) Yeah, you'd put   one to two per bathroom, right? Depending on how many, if you have a tub or a shower, we typically catch that with another sensor that would be placed nearby, maybe behind a toilet. Sensors are very sleek, non-invasive. They don't actually, many of them, this is actually a sensor. They don't even look that way. So it's good. They're discreet. They go behind toilets, under sinks and so on and so forth. And so it's very easy to deploy them as well.   Jason Hull (21:48) Got it. And these don't have cameras on them, right?   Nadav Schnall (21:51) No   cameras. And as I mentioned, because we use LoRaWAN and it is unable to communicate or transmit large packets of data, it is impossible for me to record someone because the data packets are so small. The amount of data that would need to be transmitted just to record a sentence would take days and days and days. So it is impossible for us to do that.   Jason Hull (22:04) Hmm.   Got it.   Got it. Okay, very cool. Well, what else should people know about this solution or whatever questions that people ask, maybe about ProSentry and then how can people get in touch with you?   Nadav Schnall (22:29) So first of all, think the most important thing is, you know, we were built by real estate professionals. And so we really understand the industry and we're happy to consult.   and speak to anyone who has any questions. There's no strings of ties. There's no cost for that. We're happy to give proposals. And every building is unique and every building has their unique set of challenges. And so I think it's important for your listeners to know that that's the world that we come from and we actually enjoy having conversations with real estate professionals. And so if anyone has any questions or wants to discuss, just feel free to reach out. Our website, which is www.prosentry.com.   prosentry.com. Contact us or request a proposal. Very easy to get in touch with us. Or also info at prosentry.com.   Jason Hull (23:14) Very cool. So one last question. If somebody goes to your website, they decide they want to get some of this stuff set up for the property, who actually comes out and gets all this stuff set up and installed? Do they have to get a contractor to do it? How does that work?   Nadav Schnall (23:27) No, so it is extremely, extremely simple. So we have designed the system so that it is easy to be deployed by the building itself. And while we can provide recommendations for installers, 100%, I think there's one, I wouldn't say 100, I think 99%, I think it's one property that actually hired someone to do that. All of our properties, and I'm talking about hundreds of buildings, have installed the system by themselves. It is extremely easy. The system comes pre-configured.   So the gateways are the only component that gets plugged in. Those are the routers, right? So you start by plugging those into the wall into regular outlet. They turn on in about a minute or so and start communicating. They automatically connect to cellular antennas. They automatically...   create this internal private network only to that building. So there's no configuration, nothing else to do. And then you take the devices, the sensors themselves, you download our app, you scan a QR code on the device and all you do is you have a drop down menu and you say, I am in apartment 22B, it's already pre-configured, we'll configure the apartment, everything will be there. And you'll say, I'm placing it by the kitchen sink. That's it. That's all you gotta do. It automatically connects, the sensors automatically connect. And so,   We do speak to some buildings and they're like, yeah, we don't want to take on. so I call it deployment because it's not even installation. It's not invasive. There's no drilling. There's nothing to do there. So we say, OK, we can give you a proposal for installation or connect you with someone who can do it for you. But then once they understand how they get a little bit of a demo and see how it's done, go, oh, this is it. It's very, very easy to install.   one of the features that I neglected to, to, to, to mention, I think is important is we offer, live operator calls to buildings. And so a lot of providers out there will send you like an app notification or maybe an email or a text message, right. say, Hey, but again, property managers, right. We realize that at two o'clock in the morning, no one's looking at their phone to see if you got a text message. So we use an underwriter, laboratory certified call center with live people, not some robo call.   Jason Hull (25:19) and   Nadav Schnall (25:33) and they will actually call you and say, Jason, you have a leak in apartment 22 B in the kitchen.   under the dishwasher, right? And if you happen not to be answering, we will call the next person online. We can have multiple people. And so we'll call the front desk. Front desk doesn't answer. Maybe the handyman, handyman doesn't answer. The resident manager, the property manager, the hotline, the board president, whoever you need. We can put that all under the platform. So that is an important feature and a differentiator, by the way, because there are not many companies that do that. But we do recognize that because time is of the essence when something like this happens, you need to make sure you can get in touch with   Jason Hull (26:01) Mm.   Nadav Schnall (26:09) someone before damage becomes something very small into something really big. ⁓   Jason Hull (26:13) Yeah,   well, it sounds like a no brainer. Sounds very cool. And yeah, I recommend everybody check it out at prosentry.com. cool. Well, Nadav, thanks for coming and hanging out with us here on the DoorGrow show. Yeah, I appreciate it. So for those of you that maybe felt stuck or stagnant in your property management business, you want to take it to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com. We can help.   Nadav Schnall (26:27) Thanks for having me, Jason. This was fun.   Jason Hull (26:40) And for a free training on how to get unlimited leads for free for your property management business, text the word leads to 512-648-4608. That's the word leads to 512-648-4608. Also be sure to join our free Facebook community just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com. And if you would like to get the best ideas in property management, you can join our newsletter.   at doorgrow.com slash subscribe. And if you found this episode even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on whatever platform you saw this on. We'd really appreciate it. And until next time, remember the slowest path to growth is to do it alone. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.  

Welcome to episode 309 of Grow Your Law Firm, hosted by Ken Hardison. In this episode, Ken sits down with Seth Deutsch, founder of Samson Partners Group, a seasoned operator, board member, and growth leader with deep experience in private equity, alternative business structures, and multi-market professional services. Seth has architected nine buy-and-build platforms, executed more than 70 acquisitions, and served as CEO and operating partner across public, private equity-backed, and founder-led companies. His firm advises legal organizations on the evolving ABS landscape across seven submarkets, helping practices navigate consolidation, competition, and long-term value creation. What you'll learn about in this episode:   1. Differentiation in Competitive Markets - Why "yelling louder" or copying competitors fails - How authentic brand positioning can outperform large market spenders 2. Understanding What Clients Actually Value - Extracting insights from real client sentiment - Identifying the traits that truly set your practice apart 3. Avoiding the "Gimmick Trap" - Why catchy nicknames and flashy identities rarely sustain long-term value - Ensuring your brand reflects who you really are 4. Smarter, Not Louder, Marketing - Building a media plan that generates revenue, not just impressions - Choosing channels based on audience, message, and ROI 5. Growth Through Mergers & Acquisitions - How to evaluate whether and how to merge brands - When to integrate two practices and when to keep identities separate Resources:  Website: samsonpartnersgroup.com Book: a.co/d/08LZUUB LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sethdeutsch Additional Resources:    https://www.pilmma.org/the-mastermind-effect https://www.pilmma.org/resources https://www.pilmma.org/mastermind AI for PI Expo:   www.pilmma.org/ai-for-pi-expo

In this episode of Wharton Tech Toks, Kirk Hachigian (Wharton MBA '27) sits down with Justin Hannah, Senior Director of Marketing Technology and Automation at FanDuel Sports Network. Justin shares his career journey from a 40-person ad tech startup to leading MarTech at Hulu and FanDuel, breaking down the complex world of marketing technology.The conversation explores how customer data platforms and CRM systems power modern marketing, the challenges of multi-touch attribution in a privacy-first world, and FanDuel's innovative approaches to measuring campaign ROI. Justin discusses transitioning from streaming entertainment to real-time sports, balancing aggressive personalization with responsible gaming, and where AI is actually delivering value versus hype in MarTech today.

Send Rita a text with your thoughts!Finally work on your travel business at Summer Camp at Sea: https://strategictravelentrepreneurpodcast.com/summer-camp-at-sea/Want to know exactly what I'd be looking at if you hired me as your Chief Marketing Officer? I'm walking you through my complete audit process, from reviewing your messaging and voice of customer research to evaluating your ROI and figuring out what's actually driving results in your travel business. This isn't about throwing spaghetti at the wall or doing all the marketing things because someone in a Facebook group said so. We're getting strategic, intentional, and making sure every marketing dollar and every hour you spend is actually moving the needle toward your 2026 goals. Questions this episode answers:What does a Chief Marketing Officer do for a travel business?How do I conduct a marketing audit for my travel agency?What should I review first when evaluating my travel business marketing?What is a Voice of Customer audit and why does it matter for travel advisors?How do I evaluate which marketing channels are working for my travel business?What marketing metrics should travel advisors be tracking?How do I know if I'm spending money in the right places for marketing?How do I audit my website copy and messaging as a travel advisor?How often should I update my brand photos and marketing assets?What should I include in my marketing matrix as a travel advisor?How do I evaluate my marketing ROI in my travel business?Which marketing investments are worth it for travel agency owners?How do I know when to stop using a marketing strategy that isn't working?How do I identify my ideal client for better marketing results?Should travel advisors attend marketing conferences or industry events?Enjoy (and take action)!---------------------------------------------------------------Check out EVERYTHING I offer to support your travel business journey: https://strategictravelentrepreneurpodcast.com/everything/Say HI on Social:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritaperez19/Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/takethehelmvbsFB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/529490048073622 Direct EMAIL:rita@steeryourmarketing.com

Avoiding simple mistakes with the IC-DISC can mean the difference between maximizing tax benefits and leaving money on the table. In this episode of The IC-DISC Show, I sit down with Brian Schwam, National Managing Director of International Tax Services at WTP Advisors, to talk about the most common IC-DISC misconceptions that trip up practitioners and the underutilized opportunities many businesses are missing. Brian walks through the critical timing rules that confuse even experienced CPAs, including the 60-day and 90-day payment requirements that many practitioners misapply. He explains how the reasonable estimate safe harbor actually works and why paying the minimum amount can accidentally cap your commission at twice that figure. We cover the ordering rules for distributions, the often-misunderstood $10 million threshold, and why the transactional calculation method isn't nearly as impossible as people think. Brian also clarifies that IC-DISC dividends are subject to the net investment income tax, despite what some practitioners might believe. The conversation shifts to creative structures most companies never consider. Brian explains how multiple DISCs can fund executive bonuses at qualified dividend rates instead of ordinary income rates, saving both employment taxes and up to 17% in federal tax for recipients. He describes evergreen dividend resolutions that eliminate the stress of year-end cash movements and shared-DISC structures that make the strategy economical for smaller exporters with under $3 million in sales. These approaches work for both flow-through entities and C corporations looking to avoid double taxation. After more than three decades in international tax, Brian brings clarity to a strategy that looks deceptively simple on paper but contains hidden complexity at every turn. This episode delivers practical guidance you can use immediately, whether you're a practitioner helping clients or a business owner evaluating your own structure.   SHOW HIGHLIGHTS Paying the minimum 50% under the 60-day rule accidentally caps your total IC-DISC commission at twice that amount, limiting flexibility. Companies with export sales over $10 million can still use an IC-DISC—the cap only limits income deferral, not eligibility. Multiple DISCs can fund executive bonuses at qualified dividend rates, saving up to 17% in federal tax versus ordinary income. The transactional calculation method isn't impossible—most companies in 2025 can pull the data needed to maximize their IC-DISC benefit. Evergreen dividend resolutions eliminate 60-day and 90-day payment stress by automatically distributing commission rights on December 31st each year. Shared DISC structures let exporters with under $3 million in sales split compliance costs while each partner keeps their full tax benefit.   Contact Details LinkedIn - Brian Schwam (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-schwam-b6026a3/) LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance Brian SchwamAbout Brian TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dave: Hi Brian Welcome to the podcast. Brian: Hi Dave. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here. Dave: Yeah, my pleasure. So quick intro, Brian is, what's your title with WTP? Brian: National Director of National Managing Director of International Tax Services, which encompasses export incentives as well as more general international tax consulting. Okay, Dave: And that's at WTP advisors? Brian: Correct. Dave: And you and WTP advisors are founding members of the IC-DISC Alliance along with my firm and myself. Brian: That is correct. Dave: And so are you brand new to this international tax business? Did you pick it up last year or something? Brian: That's funny. I don't think I look like I picked it up last year. I've been been full-time international tax since 1992IC, and prior to that I spent a few years as a generalist, which I think makes me a better international tax person, but it's been a few years, been around the block a few times. Dave: Well, I think it makes you better. I always introduce you as the IC-DISC guru. Now that Neil Block has retired, I think you can now take over the mantle of godfather of the IC-DISC, Brian: Right? Or the step godfather. I don't know if anyone can ever replace Neil. He had a lot of knowledge, has a lot of knowledge in this area and a lot of experience, and I'm just kind of flattered to be compared to him. Dave: Well, Neil was, I think my inaugural or second guest, and I think he's only been on the podcast once. So I think you're trumping Neil with this either your second or third visit. Brian: I think it's the third visit. And Neil's retired and joined the Good Life and I'm not, so that's probably why I've beaten them as far as number of appearances. Dave: There you go. Well, today I want to talk about IC-DISC. I want to talk about misconceptions and maybe underutilized opportunities. So the IC-DISC is straightforward as can be cut and dried. Anybody can prepare the return, anybody can do the calculation. Easy peasy. There's nothing to your toe on. Is that accurate? Brian: That's far from accurate. Okay. Strength. Yeah. A lot of practitioners think that is the case, but I've seen more than a handful of IC-DISC returns and IC-DISC calculations done by generalists that definitely have a flare for not knowing what they're doing or not understanding the rules. And for a six page tax return that looks very straightforward. You'd be surprised how many of them are completely incorrect. Dave: Yeah, it's kind of deceiving, right? Because even the instructions for the return are only a handful of pages, right? Like six or eight pages. Brian: And then there's a couple of lists of codes and things that make 'em a little longer. But yeah, there's not much to it. But I mean, initially there are some statutory and regulatory things that have to be done, have to be done the correct way, and the rules are very draconian. If you don't do it the correct way, there's really no way to remedy the fact that you set up, you just deal with the consequences of having a disqualified IC-DISC, which means you've lost your IC-DISC benefits prospectively and you set up a new one or you forego the benefits No in between, really? Dave: Yeah. Brian: So some of these misconceptions that I've run into could lead to a IC-DISC being disqualified. Dave: So what's the first one that comes to mind? Brian: The first one that comes to mind really for me in practice is how does the 60 day rule and the 90 day rule work, this has to do with when do I have to move money to the IC-DISC? And some people don't understand it and they do things that make it not a problem. Other people do things, they don't understand it and it becomes a problem. So the 60 day rule basically says you must fund a reasonable estimate of the IC-DISC commission to the IC-DISC within 60 days after the end of the IC-DISCs year. It sounds very straightforward, but some people ignore that rule and some think they have to pay it all before the end of the year, but they don't have a 60 day window after the end of the year to accrue that IC-DISC commission and pay a portion of it. The other thing I see people do with the 60 day rules, they don't have all the information. They estimate a number. They say, oh, let's say the commission's going to be a thousand dollars and they pay $500 to the IC-DISC by the end of the 60th day. Well, what have they just done? Well, the 60 day rule says, yeah, you have to pay a reasonable estimate in the regulation. There's a safe harbor that says a reasonable estimate is at least 50% of the final IC-DISC commission. So by moving the least amount of money possible, they then limit their potential IC-DISC commission to two times that number. So rather than saying, oh, I think my IC-DISC commission's going to be a thousand and I'll pay 800 so that I have flexibility to go up to 1,600, they pay 500 and it can never be more than a thousand because there's a lot of information that's going to come out after the end of the year that's going to affect taxable income. And they generally don't know those things within the first 60 days after year. Dave: And what about for, I think this is for accrual basis taxpayers or accrual basis related suppliers. What about if it's a cash basis related supplier? Brian: Well, if it's a cash basis related supplier, now we're outside the DIS rules, but we're in the tax accounting. And in order to get a deduction, the payment does need to be made before the end of the year. If the payment is made after the end of the year, within that 60 day window, you've now pushed the deduction to the subsequent year, which really most people wouldn't be happy with. They want the production in the year that the exports arise, not in the subsequent year. So the other rule having to do with the moving of the cash is the 90 day rule, which says that you have to pay the IC-DISC any remaining commission within 90 days after the commission has been finalized. Well, finalized really means when did I file my IC-DISC return? And so it's an original return. It can be filed as late as eight and a half months after the end of the year. So you really have 11 and a half months from the end of the year to pay the remaining amount. So if we assume calendar year, that's a September 15th filing and a December 15th funding deadline for the remaining commission. I see a lot of practitioners out there that think the 90 days ends on the filing of the IC-DISC return, not starts on the filing of the IC-DISC return. So then they rush to pay that money and then they think they have a problem if they haven't paid it by the time they file. So I mean, there's no harm in paying it early, but that's not how the rule works. And then if someone's determining and amending a IC-DISC return and they owe more funds to the IC-DISC, they have 90 days. So when they file that IC-DISC return, amended IC-DISC return to make that extra payment to the, now, the other misconception is, well, what happens if my 60 day payment was greater than the final commission? I overestimated. So then the 90 day rule says if the IC-DISC received too much under the 60 day rule, it has 90 days that same 90 day window to pay back the overage back to the related supporter. So most people don't understand those rules and they do things that either potentially cause a problem or they create a lot of self-induced anxiety. They think they have to do something sooner than they have to do it. Dave: And speaking of the due date, if somebody wants to file their IC-DISC return in September, do they have to file an extension like to do their corporate return by March 15th? Brian: Nope. That is no, eight and a half months is the due date. There's no extension for a IC-DISC return. That is just the due date. Dave: And then what about if somebody wants to electronically file the IC-DISC return? How does that work? It doesn't. Okay. Brian: And why is that? Dave: Can't you electronically file Brian: Everything? Unfortunately not the IC-DISC, the 1120 IC IC-DISC is still a return that requires a paper filing. And sometimes clients don't realize that and they forget to file. And the good news is there's only a hundred dollars penalty for a late filing. But the bad news is if you keep continually don't file the IRS could. They could terminate your IC-DISC election. But yeah, there's no electronic filing. And then there's, there's another form. You also can't electronically file that relates to the IC-DISC, that it's the form 84 0 4, which relates to an interest charge that a taxpayer who owns a IC-DISC may have to pay if income is deferred to the IC-DISC and not distributed out as a qualified dividend to that shareholder. There's a lot of misconception around that form. And the first misconception is sometimes they think the IC-DISC needs to file that form and pay the interest. That is not true. That is not true. And so many times I'm asked to file that and I'm like, I can't file it. I can't prepare it. I don't know the information that goes on. And it's based on the shareholder or the disk. And if the shareholder is S corporation or a partnership, it's not based on that entity, it's based on its shareholders or partners. And there could be multiple 84 oh fours filed. And then oftentimes there's a surprise like, oh, I have to pay interest. I didn't know I had to pay interest. Well, it is called an IC IC-DISC, and the IC stands for interest charge. So that should not come as a surprise, but it often does. Dave: Okay. Wow, Brian: Go ahead. Yeah, so we're still on moving cash around. So there's also timing of when the shareholder of a picks up dividend income. So a lot of people think that if they pay the IC-DISC within that 60 day window after the end of the year and pay the dividend in the same 60 day window, somehow the dividend is recorded as though it happened on December 31st, and there's no deferral of the income in the IC-DISC. That's just flat out wrong. A dividend is taxable when it's declared, and most likely it's not going to be declared as of the end of the year. Dave: So that's like a miss application of the age old matching principle in accounting? Brian: Yes. Yes, definitely. Or a misapplication of someone thinking they have a evergreen dividend resolution, which I won't get into at the moment, but it's something that is used to accelerate dividends so that they do match the deduction of a IC-DISC. And you can't just match it because you have to match it because there's some reason to match it or there's action that's taken that would cause it to be matched. Dave: And I've heard some professionals maintain that because they're basically accelerating the dividend income to the current year, thereby bypassing the inherent deferral. That's okay, because why did the IRS care if they got paid a year early? Do you think that's, what's your opinion of that? Brian: I think that's a nice practical approach to that issue. I use it myself. I don't think that the IRS would audit a taxpayer and say, oh, by the way, you picked up that dividend too early. I'm going to write you a refund check. Dave: Yeah. Brian: Plus interest, I don't think, Dave: Now what if there was an audit though, and you had an issue where the audit period it covered had a mismatch so that if there was a year that you say it was the 2022 tax year and the dividend income should have been recognized in 2023, but they recognized it in 2022, and then let's just say they did an audit from of 2023 in isolation, and then let's say in 2023, the client didn't use the IC-DISC or had a much smaller commission amount, could the IRS potentially say, we don't care about 2022. In 2023, you should have recognized the dividend income. Brian: They they certainly could. And then they'd say, well, 2022 is closed. We can't adjust that. So it's always better to not fall into that fact pattern, but it happens. Definitely happens. Dave: So it Brian: Sounds like the good news is there's not a lot of IC-DISC audits that go, Dave: Yeah. So you're saying it sounds like when in doubt, just follow the rules, it sounds like. Brian: Yeah. Dave: When Brian: In doubt follow the rules, don't make up your own rules, for Dave: Sure. Yeah. Well, and I think part of the problem is people may not be aware of the rules. Brian: They're not, and then they just fill in the blank. Their brain fills in the blank with what they think makes sense. Dave: Yeah, because a lot of be a lot of differences between the IC-DISC and say an S corp, right? Like the election to be treated as an S corp does not have the same deadline urgency as the election be treated as a IC-DISC. Is that correct? Brian: I'm not a hundred percent sure, but there might, yeah, I am a hundred percent sure. Because if you miss the deadline for the S selection, there's automatic relief available for the S selection to be made late. There is no automatic relief available for a IC-DISC election. Either you've met the requirement to file it within the first 60 days of the corporation its existence, or you haven't. Now, there are exceptions, and we have written some private letter ruling requests in the past to get be granted relief for missing that 90 day window, but that's an extensive Dave: Miss. Yeah, understood. And then some other, Brian: And you may not know for two years whether you're going to get the relief or Dave: Yeah, I know I've had CPAs tell me that they frequently will just include the form 25 53 S corp election with the filing of the initial S corp return. Brian: That's allowed. And that's allowed, Dave: Yeah. Obviously you can't do that with the IC-DISC return. Brian: No, no. So then on the topic dividends, there's also some misunderstanding or misconception of whether a dividend from a IC-DISC is subject to the net investment income tax, the 3.8%. Dave: Oh, yes. I've heard people take that position that it's not subject to. What are your thoughts? Brian: Well, my thoughts are that many years ago, like 11 years ago, the IRS came out and said, it's definitely subject to the commission IC-DISC paying a dividend. That dividend is definitely subject to the net investment income tax. So I personally don't get involved in individual returns, so I don't know what people are doing, but if I'm ever asked, that's what I'll tell somebody. And I say, you can take whatever position you're comfortable taking, but this is the position I know the IRS would take. Dave: Okay, that makes sense. What other pitfalls do you see or misconceptions Brian: People have? So when I see IC-DISC, there's a $10 million, let's call the $10 million deferral cap with regard to a IC-DISC. And what that means is any IC-DISC commission related to export sales made by the related supplier, which are greater than 10 million above that $10 million threshold, create what's called a deemed dividend. You're not allowed to defer any of that income in the IC-DISC. Well, in practice or in the real world, people think, oh, I can't have more than 10 million of export sales. If I go over 10 million, I can't use the disk. That's clearly not true. I have clients that have seen clients that have billions of dollars of export sales. They just have a very large deep dividend that goes along with the IC IC-DISC commission. There is no limitation on the amount of export sales, the limitations on how much of the income you can defer the IC-DISC if you have more than 10 million of export suit. Dave: Okay. Brian: I've also seen related to that issues where someone's exporting military property. So military property, half of the income is a deemed dividend automatic under the rules. And then I've seen where they then add, and let's say the sales were over 10 million, they've added, they made an additive, they took half of the commission on the military property, and they said, oh, my sales are more than 10 million. I have additional deemed dividend as well. That's not how it works. The way it works is you compute your deemed dividend on the sales in excess of 10 million, and then from that you subtract the deemed dividend related to the military property. And so the most your deemed dividend can be is related to that $10 million cap. Dave: Okay. Yeah, I was less familiar with the military aspect of it. I don't think any of my clients are exporting military property. Brian: That's just an example. I mean, there's other things that give rise to deemed dividends as well. For example, one way you can defer income in a IC-DISC is to loan the money back to the related supplier. Under a producer loan arrangement, there's very specific facts that support the ability to use a producer loan. But then each year, the interest that's earned on that producer loan is a deemed dividend. Dave: Oh, sure. Brian: Whether it's paid or not. So whether the interest is paid, and then when the dividend is actually paid, it's not taxable because we've got a lot of ordering rules in the IC-DISC about when things get paid out and how they get paid out, and I don't have all day, but that's another area where I think there's a lot of misunderstanding. Dave: Okay. Brian: Oh, well, so I can focus on one small part of that is the IC-DISC in year one has the income of a hundred. In first quarter of year two, they pay out the 100 to the IC-DISC and the DIS pays the dividend. And in year two, it earns $300, and that gets paid in year three. Well, I hear all the time, well, I don't have any income deferred to the DIS because I earned the a hundred dollars in year one, I paid it in year two, and I paid the dividend in year two, and then I had income for year two of $300 that I paid in year three. Well, it doesn't work that way. In the DIS world or in the tax world in general, current earnings are always considered to be distributed first. So that a hundred dollars that gets paid out in year two is really coming from the year two earnings. And the year one earnings are still sitting in the deferred, thus giving rise to the interest charge that someone thinks they're avoiding. Dave: Okay. Brian: So there's some misconception about how that works. Dave: So I have one I just thought of, and I've heard this is the one, the misconception I've probably heard the most. Under no circumstances can the IC-DISC commission create a loss at the related supplier level? No matter how you do the calculation, it's Brian: Impossible. That's a big misconception. Dave: Yeah, Brian: There's no rule. There is no rule like that. Okay. So the rule is actually applied at the level in which you're computing the IC-DISC commission. So if you have exports with a profit, but overall your company has a loss, you can still compute a IC-DISC commission on those export sales because they have profit. Now, you can't cause the profit on the export sales themselves to become a loss. So let's say your export sales are making 2% bottom line, but overall, your company loses 3% bottom line. Some people will think, I can't get a IC-DISC commission. I have a loss. That's not true. You can claim a IC-DISC commission, but it cannot be more than 2% of the export profit because then makes the profit on the export zero, but it can't go below zero. Dave: And that's if you're using what we would call the standard or simple calculation. Brian: That's the simple calculation. Now, if you're doing something more detailed and you're calculating a IC-DISC commission on a product or product line or a transaction, you apply that no loss rule at that level. So you can have a number of transactions that are profitable, you can have a number of transactions that are not profitable, and then different rules apply. There's really people think, oh, there's two methods to compute a IC-DISC commission. That's probably another big misconception. There's really 18 methods to compute a IC-DISC commission, and you can choose one that allows you to get a commission but doesn't create a loss, and in some cases does actually allow you to create a loss. Dave: And is that methodology difference? I can't think of the technical accounting term, like where if you change your inventory method, you have to notify the IRS or you make an accounting change. This isn't like that, right? You don't have to each year notify the IRS. We used the 4% method last year, we're using the 50% this year, or we're doing other methodology. Correct. Brian: So you technically notify them by checking various boxes on the IC-DISC return, but it's not like a change in the accounting method where you have to apply for a change and have it approved or have an automatic change. This is considered a change in facts. And however your facts bear out, you can claim whatever commission you're allowed to claim. Dave: Now, when you do that transactional calculation, another misconception I hear is that it's just impossible because there's all this data that the company doesn't have, and it's so complicated to do it that just nobody has the ability to do it. Nobody can do it. Nobody wants to do it. Talk to me about that. Is the data really impossible to get from the clients? There no client that can provide any data that can be used. Brian: There may be handful that can't, but by and large, most companies have the ability in 2025 to obtain that data. When the rules were written in 1972, I'd say it was probably flipped where only a handful could probably get that information. And the vast majority of companies would never be able to get that information. But somebody wrote the regs that way back in the early seventies, and with the idea that you could get transactional information and compute the dis commission transactionally as opposed to at a higher level where everything's grouped together or a simple calculation. But in 2025, it's very, I have a hard time determining conceiving of a company that can't get some information pulled together. And that's the other, there's a related misconception. Oh, I have to tie out every dollar of my cost of good sold before I can tell you I have cost of good sold data for a transaction. Well, that's just not true because in the real world, companies make journal entries adjusting the cost of good sold. They don't do it at a transactional level. There's other things that schedule M'S on a tax return that affect cost of good sold. And so no, you don't have to nub that out to the last dollar to say, I have transactional data. You have to be able to identify what you can and what you can't identify gets allocated or apportioned across all the transactions. And if you think about it, if you say, I can't get anything, you're really apportioning all of the costs over everything anyway. That's the ultimate in apportionment. There's not even any allocation. You're just saying, oh, every one of my transactions has the same margin as a result, which is really factually never the case. Dave: Well, and I just thought of another one, and this isn't maybe a misconception as much as it is a misinterpretation. I can't tell you how many IC-DISCs I see that the related supplier is a flow through entity, yet they have the individuals own the IC-DISC. Have you seen this before? Brian: I've seen it. And sometimes they think that's the way it had to be. Sometimes they hadn't really thought of. It depends how they're using it. But the real downside to that is the IC-DISC commission reduces the income of the flow through entity, thus reducing the basis they have in their shares of that flow through entity. And then the dividend gets paid to the individual and there's no basis increase the dividend income. And unless they contribute the funds back to the business, they're eroding away their basis stock, which ultimately will result in a higher gain if they ever sell their business. Dave: When the ownership of the IC-DISC matches the ownership of the related supplier. Can you think of a scenario where it is actually beneficial for the individual shareholders to the IC-DISC instead of the related supplier? Brian: Yes. There are situations depending on where this shareholder lives. So let's say the shareholder lives in, say the company is operating in a state with a state income tax, but the shareholder lives in a state that doesn't have a state income tax. It's possible to get that dividend to the shareholder tax free, where maybe if it went through the S corporation or the partnership, it would not be tax free. Dave: I see. And you're talking about tax free at the state level? Brian: Yes. Federally, I don't really see in a regular IC-DISC that's just been used to pay dividends to the owners of the supplier. I don't see, unless it's a C corporation, in that case, you don't want the IC-DISC owned by the C corp, but if it's a flow through entity, you generally get the same tax answer, whether it's owned directly by the flow through entity or directly by the shareholders. Dave: Okay. Oh, I just thought of another misconception. It's funny, when we started this column, I only had a handful of misconceptions. But the more we talk, the more we think of. So here's another one. Say you have a flow through as the related supplier yet for whatever reason, you want the IC-DISC to be owned by the individual shareholders. Well, I've been told several times that the ownership of the IC-DISC must match the ownership of the related supplier. There is no option to do otherwise. Is that accurate? Brian: That's a fairly strong statement. So the answer to that is no, it's not absolutely not required. Now, if the shareholders are related to one enough FAMILIALLY related, and there appears to be donative intent. So if mom and dad own a company and set up a IC-DISC and transfer it to the kids, there is some old IRS guidance out there that says, Hey, when a IC-DISC commission's paid to that IC-DISC, mom and dad are making a gift to kids. So that's a pattern you want to avoid, which is pretty easy to avoid, frankly. Dave: And you would avoid that by just setting up a new IC-DISC that the children would Brian: Set up initially and not get transferred by Dave: To the right and where the kids are making the capital contribution to Bible stock and Brian: Right. Exactly. But that's the one little gray area. Otherwise, there are some people out there that set up a IC-DISC to fund bonuses for executives. And we've kind of transitioned here away from misconceptions to underutilized opportunities because really that's an opportunity where you can use a IC-DISC to fund bonus payments to key executives and owners, or not owners, and it doesn't save the company any money, but it certainly saves the recipients a good amount of tax because if they get bonuses, they're paying tax, whatever their ordinary rate is, let's just say 37%, where plus there's payroll tax of 3.8%, whereas if it's funded through a IC-DISC, they pay tax at the qualified dividend rate plus the 3.8%. So it's a 17% rate differential on that type of income between the wages and the qualified dividend for the recipient. Dave: And I guess it would also save the employer portion of the employment taxes as well, right? Brian: Well, it saves the employee and the employer, but it's replaced by the Obamacare net investment income tax. So they're both 3.8%. Dave: But if you had a simple example where an employee had a base salary of a hundred thousand dollars and they had a $20,000 bonus that was paid through the IC-DISC, that would've been subject to Brian: Fica. I'm thinking about people that are making more than Dave: Understood, Brian: But you can save FICA tax as well, Dave: And the Brian: Employer and the Dave: Employee, and that's kind of what I was thinking of. And even when they get above that limit, there's still the 1.45% that I think has no cap. Brian: Right. But again, that's the employer portion. Then there's the employee portion together that's 3.80, Dave: Right, which is the, Brian: So you've got the Obamacare tax. Gotcha. Dave: Well, that reminds me of another misconception that you had alluded to, and that is that a related supplier can only have one IC-DISC affiliated with it. Is that true? Brian: That is not true. Related supplier could have a thousand IC-DISCs if it wanted to. Dave: In fact, that option you mentioned of the employee owned IC-DISC, I usually see that as that being an additional IC-DISC kind of in addition to the primary IC-DISC. Is that usually how you see it? Brian: I see that way as well. Yeah, for sure. Or I see IC-DISC A is going to fund bonuses for the C level executives, and then IC-DISC B is going to fund bonuses for middle management. And so middle management IC-DISC has a targeted amount, and the upper level IC-DISC may not have a targeted amount. It might just be unlimited. Dave: Now, the drawback is if you have multiple disk, the combined commission amount for all of them cannot exceed what it would've been if you had just one IC-DISC. Right. It's not a mechanism to create larger combined Brian: That definitely can't, doesn't work. Yeah, it definitely would. But yeah, you can definitely set up different structures to fund bonuses for different people, or if it's a C corporation, and we don't see a lot of C corporations with IC-DISCs. But if you're a closely held C corporation, you can have a shareholder owned IC-DISC, and if you're in the habit of paying dividends, you can pay commissions to a DIS instead of paying those dividends, Dave: Avoiding the double taxation in Brian: The corporate layer. Exactly. So that's an underutilized opportunity in my opinion, because there's got to be more closely held C corps out there than the amount that are using IC-DISCs. Dave: And I guess another one, we touched on this earlier, but the evergreen dividend resolution, what's this all about? Why is this an opportunity? What are the benefits of Brian: It? So the evergreen dividend resolution basically says the IC-DISC is going to distribute, its right to receive a commission each year on the last day of its year. So that accelerates the dividend into the same year as the commission expense. That alleviates the need to move money under the 60 day rule and 90 day rule. There's no reason to move the money if you're not trying to qualify a receivable. That's what those rules relate to, whether you're as receivable as qualified or not. So that's a benefit. It also can guard against the law change where the rate on the dividend income would go up in the subsequent year. You can avoid that. But a lot of practitioners treat their IC-DISC like they have an evergreen, but they don't actually have it. And that's a problem in my mind. But if you have it, it just makes everything a lot easier. You don't have to try to figure something out by the end of February. You figure it out once and you just treat it like it all happened at the end of the year. And I know that that works because I had a client years ago that was in tax court in the great state of Texas. The issue came up. I wrote up a brief for the client, and the tax court accepted the evergreen as a viable dividend resolution Dave: Because in a way, didn't the tax court almost defer that to the state rules? Brian: Well, they just fall under. So you can have a dividend, you can create a dividend under state corporate law just by writing a resolution, but you have to have the income to support the dividend, to have a dividend for tax purposes. So if you have the resolution that says, I'm declaring a dividend on December 31st every year, then based on facts, you either do have a dividend or you don't for tax purposes depending on how much income you have. So it just falls back on that probably one other underutilized Dave: Opportunity. Well, Brian, before you move, I just wanted to talk about the evergreen, I guess is the biggest drawback that the taxpayer would miss out on the deferral. Brian: That's one of the drawbacks. The other drawback has to do with the interplay between all of this and this 4 61 L limitation, which limits how much of a flow through loss a taxpayer can deduct in a year. So you could have a situation where the IC-DISC dividend on a transaction by transaction basis becomes so large, the commission becomes so large, it creates a loss and the flow through entity, the shareholder can only deduct a certain amount of that loss, but they would have to potentially pick up all the dividend income Dave: And then Brian: Deduct that loss at a later point in time. Now, personally, I'm still getting a permanent rate benefit out of it. So if I'm not going to sit on this loss for years and years, I think it's okay. But if I'm going to sit on that loss year after year after year and not utilize it, then I don't want to be picking up those dividends that I can't utilize the losses. So it just requires some additional coordination between the CPA and us and the client to determine exactly what the right commission should be. Dave: Okay. So you're about to, Brian: And that's another misconception. Dave: Yeah, go ahead. Brian: Yeah, like, oh, my commission has to either be whatever I compute or zero can't be anywhere in between. That's a misconception because I can target an amount, and as long as my IC-DISC commission agreement gives the related supplier the unilateral power to include or not include a IC-DISC export sale in the IC-DISC calculation, I can pick and choose whatever number I want that to be so that I don't have a 4 61 L problem, or I don't have the number be bigger than I can utilize. In other words. Dave: And that's because the IRS does not require you to capture every export sale. So that's basically limit the IC-DISC commission to a specific amount and back into which of the export sales you'll basically exclude from the calculation. Brian: Right? Right. Exactly. Exactly. But again, also we like to see that supported in the IC-DISC commission agreement. And then the last underutilized opportunity has to do with G there. Having a IC-DISC does have some cost. So if I don't have at these 3 million of export sales, it might be questionable whether I can really benefit economically benefit from a IC-DISC. When I look at the cost and the benefit, well, there are structures out there that we'll call a shared ING IC-DISC where partner like small exporter can invest in a partnership. That partnership owns a IC-DISC. Maybe there's five or six investors in the partnership. They're all unrelated. They all have, let's call it a million dollars of export sales. And on a standalone basis, there'd be too much cost for setting up the disk compliance to offset the tax benefits, but it'd be greater than the tax benefits. But if I can use a shared disk, then I only have to share a portion of the cost, the annual cost of the IC-DISC, but I still get my tax benefit. And really what happens with the other partners? So the partnership owns the IC-DISC. The IC-DISC earns that commission from the related supplier, then the IC-DISC pays all of its dividends to that partnership, and the partnership can then allocate the dividends back to the individual exporters based on their contribution. So it's a way for smaller companies to still get a tax benefit out of it. And I seen very few of these out there. So there's got to be thousands of companies that export that just don't export enough to have their own IC-DISC. Dave: Yeah, yeah. No, that's an interesting opportunity. And I agree based on my experience. I mean, I've talked to so many people in the past, or I did talk to so many people who exported $2 million or less, and I'd have to say to them, it's probably not worth the time and the cost because there's time on their end and then there's hard cost to have the work done. Brian: Yeah. I've had the same conversation countless times with companies as well. It's really something that both exporters and their CPAs should be aware of because the CPAs are in the best position to know that their clients are doing some level of export. Dave: And I just thought of another misconception, and that is that the virtually from the day after the IC-DISC rules were enacted, prognosticators started saying that the IC-DISC is going away. It's just going to be a short-lived thing. And even in the two decades I've been involved in IC-DISC work, I've heard this from so many tax practitioners, oh yeah, this thing's going away anyway, why bother? Brian: Yeah. Well, it really, for it to go away would fly right in the face of current policy in the administration. So I don't think it's going away anytime soon. Some of the benefits have been whittled away over time with some of the other provisions that are coming into play, but it's really not going to get repealed anytime soon. Certainly not in the next four years after that, who knows. But certainly it's good for the next four years. But it's funny, in 2003 with the Bush tax cuts, they brought in this concept of qualified dividend income, which really revitalized the use of the IC-DISC for a lot of pass through businesses. One of the big four firms said, oh, it's going to be a technical correction, and the qualified dividends are not going to include the dis dividends. Well, here it is 22 years later, I'm still waiting for that technical correction out of Congress, but I guarantee you that they've advised their clients to use the IC-DISC, even though they were out there saying, oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is an error. It's going to go away. Dave: Well, I had this conversation, I think it was in 2009. I think the preferential dividend rate was IC-DISCussed going away at the end of 2010. If I have my time horizon. And I remember it was late summer of I believe oh nine, talked to the potential client, they connected me to the CPA, and this was the international tax partner of a top 50 CPA firm. And she said to me, quote, I think you're being reckless even bringing this idea up to my client. I said, why is that? She said, are you not aware of house resolution such and such that hadn't been passed, but the resolution was going to ever go away? And she said, if this is passed, then this will not be usable beyond the 2010 tax share. And she said, we think it's reckless and not even sure why you'd want to bother with it if you can only at max use it for a year and four months. And I remembered saying, I appreciate that. You may not think it's worth it, but I wonder if the client, when he does the ROI calculations, if they might think it's worth it. Because even if they only used it for a year and a half, it still might be worth the cost to set it up, the compliance cost and the cost to shut it down. Brian: That whole analysis took place in 2007, 2010, 2012. I remember, I'm not proud of this, staying up late on New Year's night of 2013, so I could watch Congress vote because they let the qualified dividend rate lapse and then they had to reenact it the next day. And they did it on January 1st, and I sat in front of the TV watching. I was fairly invested in whether they were going to vote for it Dave: Or not. Yeah. Well, I think that's appropriate. You're a little bit like the soup Nazi from Seinfeld. He is got such passion for his customers. Brian: There you go. Yeah, I definitely am passionate about what I do because I love what I do. I couldn't imagine not doing it. Dave: Yeah, I find the same. Brian: And I love helping taxpayers legitimately reduce their tax burden. Dave: Well, and the clients that we help tend to be entrepreneurial type companies, they're not Fortune 500. And I've seen where this can legitimately make a difference in freeing up cash to buy more equipment, hire more people. It's quite a stimulus. Brian: Also not a misconception is Fortune 500 companies can't use a IC-DISC. It's really for private companies. Dave: Yeah. Brian: It's not something that you'll see a lot of or any private public companies utilize. Dave: Okay. Well boy, we've covered a lot. Anything left to cover? Any other misconceptions or opportunities you can think of? Brian: Nothing that I don't think we've IC-DISCussed. Dave: Okay. Well, I have one final kind of fun question. So with the benefit of hindsight, if you could go back in time and give advice to, say your 25-year-old self, what advice might you give to yourself? Brian: It's going to be completely non-tax related. Dave: That's okay. Brian: If you tear a ligament to your knee, get it repaired. I did that and I didn't get it repaired. And ultimately I got a new knee, which works just as well as the original with a lot more probably pain in the interim. Dave: Gotcha. Okay. Well that's good advice. So the takeaway, if you're 25 years old and you have a ligament tear, don't wait 30 years to get it fixed Brian: Or to not get it fixed at all and just get an artificial knee. Dave: Yeah. Understood. Well, Brian, thank you so much. This was really fun. I mean fun by a couple of IC-DISC nerds. I guess not everybody would consider this conversation fun, but I thought it was a lot of fun and I appreciate the expertise that you bring to this matter. Brian: I appreciate the opportunity to be here and chat with you about it. And maybe in the future there'll be some more topics we can talk about. Dave: Yep. I would enjoy that. We should make it an annual tradition. Brian: That sounds like a good idea. Dave: Alright. Hey, have a great day, Brian. Brian: You too, David. Dave: There we have it. Another great episode. Thanks for listening in. If you want to continue the conversation, go to ic IC-DISC show.com. That's IC dash D-C-S-H-O w.com. And we have additional information on the podcast archived episodes as well as a button to be a guest. So if you'd like to be a guest, go select that and fill out the information and we'd love to have you on the show. So it we'll be back next time with another episode of the IC-DISC Show. Special Guest: Brian Schwam.

We've been seeing lots of videos and promotion on MSKUS training for PTs.We all love new toys. And let's be honest, showing a patient their supraspinatus in real-time looks cool. It builds buy-in. It feels high-tech.But does it change what you do Monday morning?Does seeing the calcification actually change your loading protocol? Does the image change the fact that you need to treat the person in front of you, not just the tissue?In this week's episode of Untold Physio Stories, we're breaking down the ROI of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound.We discuss:The steep learning curve (it's harder than it looks).Diagnostic accuracy vs. Clinical utility.When it's a "Game Changer" and when it's just a "Nice to Have."If you've thought about or gone through the training leave a comment or reach out! We'd love to hear from you!Untold Physio Stories is sponsored by⁠Comprehend PT⁠- Leave Comprehend PT running in the background or record audio when you have time. The AI based SOAP note generator does the rest! No need for accuracy or exact wording! It's a game changer and will give you more time with your patients! Use code MMT50 to save 50% off your first month. Free trial available at sign up!⁠⁠The Eclectic Approach Network⁠⁠ - Check out Dr. E's all new private, non tracking and ad free network for rehab pros! It's free to join, has chat, feed, and all the features of other social networks without the creeping tracking.Check out ⁠⁠EDGE Mobility System⁠⁠'s Best Sellers - Something for every PT, OT, DC, MT, ATC or Fitness Minded Individual https://edgemobilitysystem.com

Com a chegada da IA, um novo ativo ganha mais valor nas empresas: a experiência das equipes que vão lidar com ela. Se você já conhece ROI, EBITDA e NPS, chegou a hora de conhecer o ROEx - Retorno sobre Repertório Acumulado - uma métrica inovadora que permite calcular o valor do conhecimento e da experiência das equipes e indivíduos. CONVIDADOS: Fran Winandy, CEO da Acalântis Services, e Martin Henkel, fundador e diretor da SeniorLab.Links do episódioA página do LinkedIn de Martin HenkelA página do LinkedIn de Fran WinandyO artigo "ROEx: O retorno sobre repertório como capital estratégico", publicado na HSM ManagementO filme “Um Senhor Estagiário”, com Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway e Rene Russo, direção de Nancy MeyersO livro “A revolução da longevidade”, de Alexandre KalacheO blog “etarismo.com.br”O site do IBGE com dados demográficos e populacionaisO livro “Longevidade - Uma breve história de como e por que vivemos mais”, de Steven JohnsonO livro “A Trilha Da Longevidade Brasileira: Os segredos de quem alcançou a vida longa, plena, saudável e feliz”, de Martin Henkel e João SengerO livro “Sempre Repórter”, de Lilian Ross, traduzido por Jayme da Costa Pinto  A The Shift é uma plataforma de conteúdo que descomplica os contextos da inovação disruptiva e da economia digital.Visite o site www.theshift.info e assine a newsletter

Dive into what's next for enterprise AI in the latest episode of Tech-Driven Business. Mustansir Saifuddin welcomes SAP expert Andrea Haupfear for an in-depth conversation on how SAP is helping organizations turn AI from hype into measurable business value. If you're navigating transformation across finance, supply chain, or operations, this episode is a must-listen. Andrea breaks down what makes enterprise AI different—why trusted data, business context, and governance are non-negotiable—and how SAP is embedding AI directly into business processes to improve speed, accuracy, and ROI. Tune in for a real-world example and practical guidance on how organizations can start small, prioritize high-impact use cases, and prepare for what's coming next with Agentic AI. Andrea Haupfear is a Business Process Architect with over a decade of experience driving digital transformation through artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. She specializes in designing and implementing AI-powered solutions that enhance operational efficiency, decision-making, and adaptability across diverse business environments. Andrea is recognized for her strategic leadership in translating complex technologies into scalable, real-world applications, making her a trusted advisor in navigating change and unlocking value through innovation. Connect with Us: LinkedIn: Andrea Haupfear Mustansir Saifuddin Innovative Solution Partners X:  @Mmsaifuddin YouTube or learn more about our sponsor Innovative Solution Partners to schedule a free consultation.    Episode Transcript [00:00:00] Mustansir Saifuddin: Welcome to Tech Driven Business, brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. I'm honored to have Andrea Haupfear of SAP. Join me today to break down how SAP is helping organizations leverage AI to drive efficiency, reduce risk and deliver measurable ROI. We'll also look ahead at what's next and how you and your team can prepare as AI moves from experimental to essential for enterprises to thrive. [00:00:35] Hello Andrea. How are you? [00:00:37] Andrea Haupfear: I'm good. How are you? [00:00:40] Mustansir Saifuddin: Doing well, doing well. I'm so excited to have you on our show. So thank you for coming on. Today we would like to talk about the latest SAP's AI journey and the business transformation. And what it really means for SAP customers. How does it sound? [00:00:57] Andrea Haupfear: Sure. No, it sounds great. This is one of my passions that I love to talk about, and so you know, happy and excited to actually share a little bit about what we're doing with AI at SAP and what we've seen in the field with our customers. So, super excited and it's a pleasure being here. [00:01:14] So thank you again for inviting me here. [00:01:17] Mustansir Saifuddin: Awesome. Awesome. Let's get into it, we know we are at an inflection point, right? AI is moving so fast and it's actually turning from experimental to essential, right? For in a lot of different cases. So let's focus in how is SAP's AI strategy fundamentally different from consumer AI? And why does it really matter for enterprises? [00:01:39] Andrea Haupfear: Yeah, absolutely. So a couple of things that I wanna kind of touch on here. So oftentimes, and you mentioned this, right, we, we've used, we've used AI in our personal and daily lives for, you know, the last decade plus, right? I mean, when you think about AI, a lot of people think about Siri or Alexa or ChatGPT, right? [00:02:01] And you know, when I personally think about AI you've got your broad and creative tasks. What we've done in our personal lives, you know, everything from creating a grocery list to, editing a, a photo, right? A family photo. But from a business perspective you know, an enterprise AI, it really has to change those business outcomes. [00:02:26] And really when you think about this, think about, you know, everything from could be closing the books faster or. A faster on time delivery rate or reducing risk in my supply chain. And how do we ultimately do it with the highest level of governance, auditability, cost control. And so SAP's approach is really built around that flywheel of applications, data and that additional layer of artificial intelligence on top of it. [00:02:58] So there's, there's that aspect to it, but then also thinking about it in a couple of other ways of how we're doing this. Is, you know, yes, we're embedding it where your business or where the work happens. So making it easier for our end users to be able to leverage artificial intelligent capabilities and even machine learning capabilities, not just [00:03:23] from a digital assistant or a chat perspective, but how do we integrate it and infuse it within their specific business, day-to-day business processes to make their lives that much easier? But then also thinking about it from a strategic perspective, how can I obtain that high level of ROI by leveraging artificial intelligence. [00:03:47] So we're seeing it in a couple of different flavors from our customers. And then also what we're developing from a, from a product perspective as well. So we're thinking about it from a couple of different angles. [00:04:00] Additionally, thinking about it from a AI operating system for our developers and for our consultants, leveraging the AI foundation on the business technology platform. [00:04:13] So think about what used to be our developers would have to generate thousands upon thousands of lines of code. Now that's no longer the case, right? It can take them you know, a, a minute or so now to develop the, these applications and these lines of code to where it's, it's easier for them to go about their day-to-day jobs and their, their tasks where now they don't have to spend days upon days trying to develop these different applications and agents. [00:04:45] It also lets you and I just mentioned around agents, it also lets you create and govern custom agents to read and write back to SAP and non SAP systems. Thinking about this automation and accountability, not just getting those pointed answers, right? And then last but not least, kind of how I think about this is, yes, you've got your trust. [00:05:09] Think about trust not only in the data from looking at it in your SAP systems, but also think about non SAP systems. Think about your third party applications that you're going in and looking at the data, whether it's geographic information customer sentiment information, or it could even be, asset related sensor information, right? So bringing in that data as well as looking at it from your SAP business data context but then also looking at it with responsibility. So SAP has that responsible AI program in place really aligned to the UN UNESCO principles and the ISO 4 2 0 0 1 certification to really prioritize [00:05:57] those ethics and compliance and human oversight within our, our AI applications such as, you know, AI core and our digital assistant juul. So really taking it from a full spectrum approach and looking at it at the holistic level and how we can bring in artificial intelligence within these, these areas. [00:06:20] Mustansir Saifuddin: I love the way you kind of package it all together, from an overall perspective, especially, you know, the two things that really stuck out to me was. Again, coming from a business side, what is in it for a customer, right? What is the real value? [00:06:35] And you touched upon two things, embedding it. So a person who is currently doing a job and they're used to doing it manually. Now you can. Embed these ai component to their daily work streams, right? And how they can, you know, utilize that. And the second part I really loved it is you talked about ROI really what is the return I'm getting on this investment, right? And then lastly, you talked about data. So let's, let's talk about that. You know, here's the uncomfortable truth. AI is only as good as the data it learns from. We all know that. We all talk about it. And we have always heard this term garbage and garbage out, but what that sort really mean when we are talking SAP AI, making recommendations to customers and we are talking the effect in terms of millions in revenues or supply chain decisions. How would you like to address that? What is, what is SAP's approach on that? [00:07:33] Andrea Haupfear: Yeah, so a couple of things and you know, I've heard that term many times and coming and being an ex consultant. It's, it's definitely right. You're only as good as, as I've heard, you know, as the data that you have. So my thought on this is really when you have an AI agent that recommends, say for example, expediting a shipment or reclassifying a receivable, the truth that it relies on, [00:08:00] is your master data. [00:08:01] It is your transactional history and any sort of process constraints that lie in between. So ultimately, when I think about this, it's not just your, your master data. It's a, it's a multitude of things that ultimately will help the AI model in the end. In the end game to take those three pillars and turn garbage in into good decisions out. [00:08:27] The other piece that, how I think about this are semantics and not necessarily just schemas. So think about when we have some of our solutions such as Business Data Cloud, which carries those semantics and lineage into your AI workloads. So say for example, the customer, the plants, or an open po, it means the same thing everywhere. [00:08:51] And that's really critical for explainability and audit purposes. That's another way how I think about this. And then also just looking at this from a context perspective. So I also think about, you have to train a model when at first go, right? And be able to provide it some context, some instruction, some understanding that says, this is where this particular business process lies. [00:09:17] This is how the process should look and feel. What does good look like? And that's ultimately what we explain and tell our customers is we need to train our model to understand what does good look like, and this is where you have that context, rich retrieval and not just kind of that blind prompting that just says, go do this. [00:09:36] But the model will try to establish what it thinks good looks like, which may not necessarily mean what you think good looks like. This is where SAP HANA Cloud will bring in that vector engine, so those semantic retrievals and documents and notes and images. [00:09:53] Think about a knowledge graph. So it brings in those specific facts and relationships from your ERP, but then also thinking about a rag model as well, reducing those hallucinations and making those citations explainable. So why did the model or an agent be able to go through the process that it did? [00:10:16] Well, that's because there's multiple steps and instructions that the model has to take in order to provide an accurate response. Those are some of the things in, in which we leverage today with our customers and really making it so that way it's, yes, they may not always have the best data, but let's provide additional context to really help, again, make those good decisions coming out. [00:10:41] Mustansir Saifuddin: I liked the way you tied it together, right? We talk about business semantics being so important, BDC, the business data cloud. How is that coming into play in this conversation? And then coming from business semantics into a context. A context really is required for the answers to make sense and be business relevant. [00:11:03] So I really love the way you kind of connected together. Let's zoom in. Let's pick an industry. And there are so many examples that manufacturing, retail, financial services. Can you walk us through one compelling use case where SAP AI is really creating these breakthrough value? [00:11:21] What was the business problem? And how did AI solve it differently? [00:11:26] Andrea Haupfear: Yeah, absolutely. Mentioned at the beginning, SAP is investing heavily within artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, not just from an embedded AI perspective, but also think about it from a tailored AI perspective. So I mentioned [00:11:41] Business Data Cloud, being able to pull information and data not only from your internal SAP systems, but also external and third party information. And I wanna give you an example in a use case real world use case of a dairy co-op out of Wisconsin that is actually doing this today [00:12:00] from a very innovative approach. [00:12:02] Their challenge was around their performance at the subcontracting level. Ultimately these guys have a dairy co-op with their local farmers or farm base. They bring in the milk to not only from an internal manufacturing perspective to process out milk cheese, butter whey, et cetera cream, but they also subcontract it out as well. [00:12:28] And so this is really where they wanted to be able to get a better understanding, not just insights perspective on their data at their subcontractors from a yield output perspective. How much dairy, how much cheese was being was an output or yield, but what was going in and then going in versus going out. [00:12:50] And so ultimately what they wanted to be able to do was, yes, be able to look at the yield perspective from an insights, but they wanted to be able to leverage and infuse artificial intelligence from this process to ultimately help with their reduce of shrink. And contributing to a 1% KPI, which ultimately makes up to you and I roughly 10 to $15 million. [00:13:16] Okay. So just to kind of put it in perspective here of how much we're talking about. And so what they did was, yes, we have the insights from an analytics perspective, they wanted to be able to make it easier for their dairy supply chain planners to be able to, in real time through natural language processing, be able to chat with a digital assistant to gain insights around, Hey, what is my yield output for specific plant? [00:13:42] Tell me my highest and lowest plants that had the yield output. Tell me un understanding from a scrapping perspective how much waste is going out. So they wanted to be able to look at these specific metrics and be able to get a better understanding, hey, which particular plant is performing the best versus the worst. [00:14:03] So that way they can help to be able to retain and possibly improve some of these plant relationships going forward. Additionally as kind of that part two, what they wanted to be able to do is they receive manual yield output reports on a weekly basis from these subcontractors. It's typically in a PDF format, Excel, PDF format, and oftentimes these can be miskeyed into their S4 system. [00:14:35] And what they wanted to be able to do is be able to have an a little bit more of an automated process. Of, yes, not only uploading these reports that they, they have to manually key in today, but they wanted to be able to provide some intelligence behind it. And so this is where we've put in outlier detection on these attachments to where now I can see, okay, was there a miskey or an oversight that says, okay, you know, this should have been 2,622 versus 6,222. It can detect those mis keys in real time to say, Hey. For my supply chain planner, this doesn't necessarily look right. It's way outta whack compared to what was previously entered in, in the previous weeks. [00:15:24] You should triple check this, right? So it's, it's being able to provide a little bit more of, think of like big brother watching over you before it actually goes and hits into their ERP system. This is ultimately contributing to their supply chain process and has a direct impact on their KPI metrics that they're leveraging. [00:15:44] In this case, it's it's within shrink, so really getting a, a better handle on that. [00:15:50] Mustansir Saifuddin: No, I think the, the way you explained it, it is a great example 'cause now I can see not only does it apply to this particular industry, but it can cut across multiple industries. [00:16:00] Right. Because the example talked about production at a plant level. At the same time, the supply chain mishaps that can happen. [00:16:08] And usually a human eye can take so much [00:16:11] or can detect so much, but you can't try and put it together in a way that you guide your, your workforce to look at anomalies that can really help you steer the ship in the right direction quickly and efficiently. So that's great. [00:16:26] That really leads into my, my next question is, all of this is great, right? This is happening right now, we can see like the example you use, [00:16:35] right? It is in action. It is in motion, and customers are seeing value. Let's fast forward, where is SAP's AI development heading? You know, let's take a time horizon, 18 to 24 months. What capabilities should organizations be preparing for? Because it is all about future proofing ourselves, right? And how should they architect the solutions today to be ready for that feature, you know, coming up so quickly? [00:17:02] Andrea Haupfear: Yeah, absolutely. So a couple things that that come to mind. So number one and we've all been hearing kind of the next and elitist buzzword is around agents and agentic AI. So really how. I think about agents is how do we provide some of those tasks that, you know, may not necessarily whether they're they're still important, but, you know, maybe take up a lot of our time [00:17:29] but being able to provide and have a AI model behind that. To really free up some of the workload and provide some of our end users more on the strategic front. Freeing up some of that time. So I think in my humbled opinion, Agentic AI but Agentic AI at scale. So a lot of our customers are looking at what we have and this is where we're embedding. [00:17:54] Within our SAP applications agents within each one of our lines of business, but also custom agents. So this is something that is going to be released here in the next next several months, is looking at I have my embedded agents, but if I have very specific and unique, maybe differentiated business processes, how can I be able to integrate and infuse custom agents or an agent within this particular process? [00:18:23] And so this is really where I think is gonna we're really gonna see a lot of value coming in from our customers that says, yes, I can use agents in a multitude of different ways. Second is thinking about as an organization, we're becoming more dynamic and, and open source for data and how we can process it in a business context. [00:18:47] So thinking about, yes, I mentioned the Business Data Cloud, but also you know, strong partnerships. That was just announced with Snowflake as well. Right? So bringing in, yes, not only our internal data, but also our external data as well. How can we take that data and be able to normalize it? As far as from an architect's perspective, here are a couple points that I was kind of thinking about in my mind as we were going through this. [00:19:13] Was around keeping the core clean, right? So making sure that, yes, we're using our, our business technology platform various extensions and agents and skills from from JUUL studio and avoiding really those those drastic upgrades. And also kind of how I'm thinking about this is adopting that data product mindset. [00:19:40] So looking at, and I mentioned this as well, like Business Data Cloud, from looking at semantics and lineage, but also looking at retrieval methods. So vector engines and knowledge graphs. But then also thinking about it from a process perspective and [00:20:00] designing agent guardrails. So making sure that you have a much more standardization of an understanding of those roles and permissions. [00:20:10] Understanding human in the loop checkpoints at what point should be automated versus, okay, we need to have a set of eyes on this to actually be able to say, yep, this looks correct. I think that that's extremely important. [00:20:25] Mustansir Saifuddin: Yeah, for sure. And I think a couple of things that really stuck out for me. One is very near and dear to me, is the data part. And you talked about the partnership with Snowflake coming out recently, and I think it's important, especially when we talk about data for an organization. It's not just SAP data, it's like the overall, right? [00:20:42] You know, this, what does it really make up my organization? So [00:20:45] great approach from SAP, how it's trying to bring in like a business context around it, right? You have information within your ERP, outside of your ERP and then using the BTP platform. and the BDC platform to kind of bring it all together. So I think great segue, especially when we talk about agents and you know, we've all been talking about agents you know, for quite some time now, but now we can see the real value, how we can customize it and bring it together from a data perspective. So great conversation. On a personal note, how are you staying up, you know, on top of all these changes taking place in technology and business? What is your secret sauce? [00:21:26] Andrea Haupfear: Yeah, no, it's tough 'cause it's changing daily, weekly, right. And so being able to stay, have it stay top of mind. This is something that is part of, yes, not only my passion and what I do day in and day out, right, but also looking and getting, keeping educated not only from a process perspective by virtue of, you know, our internal processes, what we have in our products and our product offering, but also external with our clients. [00:21:54] To say, okay, what are they doing today with their processes? And then how can we leverage AI within that? So yes, not only from an internal knowledge sharing perspective, from a functional and technical perspective, but also external as well. And then thinking about external blogs, news sources, those are just kind of some of the things that I try to stay up to date. [00:22:16] You know, as best as I can. [00:22:18] Mustansir Saifuddin: No, I hear you on that. It is, it is a constant learning and I think that's the key, right? Educating [00:22:23] and educating and educating and be able to find your sources. I think that's the key. Great conversation. I know we are at time, what would you take out of this conversation that we just had and want to leave a particular takeaway for our listeners and folks who are interested in this topic? [00:22:42] Andrea Haupfear: Sure. Absolutely. So AI is not just like, and, and I meant we mentioned this earlier on, right? AI is not just in our personal lives, but it's also in our workplace and it's very, very real. We are seeing our companies and our customers take advantage of infusing AI into their business processes and receiving the high ROI in their processes. [00:23:05] The key is to start small. Strategically and identify which areas will have AI and will have that high ROI, but then also have the highest value when it comes from an impact perspective. We see this to where we run this as, as ultimately an ideation sessions with our customers and from the takeaway out of those sessions is they can start to craft an internal roadmap that will lead them to AI success. [00:23:38] And ultimately our organization can help them get there along the way, even whether they're just dipping their toe in the AI pool or some, some customers that we deal with already have strong partnerships with large language model providers or they're partnering with universities, things like that. [00:23:57] The end goal in net net is that [00:24:00] our organization can help to not only help identify those high value AI use cases, but also investing in you to create those. We offer a free proof of concept in as much as eight weeks. You mentioned this, you know how frequently this is changing. [00:24:18] AI is changing. Right? And this is where we can develop these proof of concepts to where you, our customers can be able to realize those value in a very quick and short amount of time. And so that's ultimately where I wanna leave the audience with is that we're, we're seeing AI not just in our personal lives, but also in the workplace. [00:24:39] And we're actually showing them and, having them realize it in real time. So you guys can, can feel free to reach out to me. I think we'll have my contact information at the end of the podcast here. But you know, happy to have further conversations with you and your organization. [00:24:55] I wanna thank you again personally for inviting me to the podcast and to discuss a, a very, very close and passionate topic for me. [00:25:04] Mustansir Saifuddin: It's a pleasure to have you, Andrea, and really, I think it was a great conversation. You touched upon so many different things and I think that was the purpose of this, was to kind of bring light to exactly what's going on in, you know, we talk about AI in general, but what is really happening at the inter-enterprise level [00:25:21] and what is the real value when folks are looking at, from a business perspective. How to increase ROI in this new technology and what does really mean in terms of increasing business revenue and across the board improving efficiencies. Right? So it's all together. But thank you so much for coming on our show. [00:25:42] Andrea Haupfear: Absolutely. Thank you for having me. [00:25:44] Mustansir Saifuddin: Thanks for listening to Drug Driven Business, brought to you by Innovative Solution Partners. SAP is helping customers move from AI experimentation to enterprise value by embedding AI where work happens, grounding it in trusted data and business context. And ensuring governance, auditability, and control. [00:26:10] Andrea's Key takeaway? Start small. Focus on the highest ROI use cases and build a clear roadmap because when AI is tied to real processes and real outcomes, SAP customers can unlock faster decisions, lower risk, and measurable impact. We would love to hear from you. Continue the conversation by connecting with me on LinkedIn or X. [00:26:36] Learn more about innovative solution partners and schedule a free consultation by visiting isolutionpartners.com. Never miss a podcast by subscribing to our YouTube channel. Information is in the show notes.        

In this highly practical episode of the SpeakersU Podcast, James Taylor and Maria Franzoni share the essential tools they use every day to run successful, scalable speaking businesses. From payments and scheduling to CRM systems, international banking, SEO, video production, writing, and travel management, this episode delivers a full behind-the-scenes tour of a modern professional speaker's tech stack. Maria reveals how she automates coaching bookings end-to-end using Stripe, Calendly, Zapier, Xero, and Zoom, plus the browser tools she relies on for productivity, documentation, and client management. James shares the marketing, SEO, video, writing, and travel tools that power his global keynote career including Kajabi, SEMrush, Ecamm Live, Scrivener, eSpeakers, and TripIt Pro. If you want to save time, increase your efficiency, improve your marketing, streamline your finances, and stay sane on the road, this episode is a must-listen.     Key Takeaways Automate your bookings and payments to remove admin friction using Stripe, Calendly, Zapier, Xero, and Zoom. Choose your ecosystem wisely with an all-in-one platform like Google Workspace or a diversified stack for redundancy. Kajabi is a powerhouse for speakers running courses, memberships, websites, and email marketing in one place. Scribe creates instant SOPs by recording your screen and auto-generating training documentation. Wise saves thousands in international banking fees for globally travelling speakers. eSpeakers simplifies lead tracking, contracts, and inquiry management for professional speakers. TextExpander massively boosts productivity with smart text shortcuts across all devices. Scrivener is ideal for long-form writing including books and keynote research. Pipedrive offers a clean, mobile-friendly CRM with real-time proposal tracking. TripIt Pro is a game-changer for global travel management with live itinerary updates and travel analytics. SEMrush reveals keyword gaps and competitive SEO strategy for authority positioning. Ecamm Live enables professional virtual keynotes and multi-camera live broadcasting.     Memorable Quotes "Stripe, Calendly, Zapier, Xero, and Zoom all talking to each other changed my life." – Maria Franzoni "Why are we paying five different companies when one system can do most of it?" – James Taylor "Scribe builds your SOPs while you work. It's magic." – Maria Franzoni "Wise saved me an absolute fortune in international bank charges." – Maria Franzoni "If you want to rank number one in your topic, you have to invest in SEO tools." – James Taylor "TextExpander gives you your time back in the smallest, smartest way." – Maria Franzoni "TripIt Pro is my mission control for global travel." – James Taylor     Episode Timestamps 00:00 – Welcome and why tools equal ROI 01:27 – Maria's automated booking stack: Stripe, Calendly, Zapier, Xero, Zoom 03:05 – Dropbox vs Google Workspace debate 06:25 – Fathom AI meeting notes and cloud backups 08:44 – Kajabi for courses, memberships, websites, and email 11:35 – Scribe for instant SOP creation 13:12 – Tea etiquette and British cultural detour 14:23 – eSpeakers for speaker CRM, contracts, and inquiries 16:08 – Wise for international payments and currency accounts 18:41 – Ecamm Live for virtual keynotes and livestreaming 20:27 – GoFullPage for capturing entire web pages 21:31 – SEMrush for competitive SEO tracking 23:57 – TextExpander for instant productivity gains 26:31 – Scrivener for book writing and keynote creation 28:40 – Pipedrive CRM with email, LinkedIn, and pipeline tracking 31:18 – TripIt Pro for global travel stats and itineraries 34:00 – Wrap-up and future episode on physical gear    

When Matt Aulsbrook moved to Fort Worth, he was riding the bus to DWI classes and sleeping on a blow-up mattress. No license. No law degree. No safety net. Today, his firm is one of the most active trial teams in Tarrant County, with an eight-figure practice built on profit discipline, not vanity metrics. In this episode, Matt breaks down how he bootstrapped growth, survived the lean years, and uses a simple KPI stack to keep his PI shop healthy in a brutal market. You'll learn: The real ROI timelines behind digital, radio, and TV (and how to know if your spend is actually working) The simple KPI mix that reveals whether your firm is healthy, overstaffed, or running too thin What high-performing intake teams focus on to consistently convert wanted leads Ways firms are using AI and mass-tort diversification to stay resilient in unpredictable markets If you like what you hear, hit subscribe. We do this every week. Get Social! Personal Injury Mastermind (PIM) powered by Rankings.io is on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Experts say that word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing channels—but in today's world, publishing a book uniquely establishes credibility and authority by showcasing your expertise.A book can work for you 24/7, build trust before you ever meet someone, and open doors that would otherwise remain closed. Yet most entrepreneurs delay writing one because they think they don't have the time, clarity, or expertise. Today's guest is an expert in eliminating those excuses and will show you why writing a book may be the highest-ROI move you can make for your business.Chandler Bolt is the founder & CEO of Self-Publishing School and SelfPublishing.com, one of the fastest-growing companies in the Inc. 5000. He's helped publish over 7,000 books, has become a multi-seven-figure entrepreneur, and built his entire business by helping people turn their ideas into authority-building books that generate leads, sales, and long-term assets.In our conversation, Chandler explains why a book can be the #1 leverage tool for entrepreneurs and investors, how self-publishing gives you all the upside and the freedom to release updated versions, and the biggest mistakes people make when marketing their book. In this episode, you'll learn: 1.) Why writing a book is the #1 authority-builder for entrepreneurs and investors—and how it can generate leads, sales, referrals, and high-quality deal flow on autopilot.2.) How Chandler scaled SelfPublishing.com into an eight-figure company and his framework for helping busy founders publish a high-impact book faster than they thought possible.3.) The hard money investing lessons Chandler learned, both wins and losses, that every entrepreneur should hear before partnering on deals and deploying capital.Show Notes: LifestyleInvestor.com/268Tax Strategy MasterclassIf you're interested in learning more about Tax Strategy and how YOU can apply 28 of the best, most effective strategies right away, check out our BRAND NEW Tax Strategy Masterclass: www.lifestyleinvestor.com/taxStrategy Session For a limited time, my team is hosting free, personalized consultation calls to learn more about your goals and determine which of our courses or masterminds will get you to the next level. To book your free session, visit LifestyleInvestor.com/consultationThe Lifestyle Investor InsiderJoin The Lifestyle Investor Insider, our brand new AI - curated newsletter - FREE for all podcast listeners for a limited time: www.lifestyleinvestor.com/insiderRate & ReviewIf you enjoyed today's episode of The Lifestyle Investor, hit the subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, so future episodes are automatically downloaded directly to your device. You can also help by providing an honest rating & review.Connect with Justin DonaldFacebookYouTubeInstagramLinkedInTwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do you make sense of an industry that is changing at a pace few predicted, especially with SIGNAL London still fresh in our minds and Twilio unveiling the next stage of its vision for customer engagement? That question sits at the heart of today's conversation with Peter Bell, VP of Marketing for EMEA at Twilio, who joined me to unpack what the past year has taught both companies and consumers about AI's role in shaping modern experiences. Peter begins by grounding everything in a single, striking shift. Only a year ago, AI-powered search barely registered in global traffic. Today it accounts for around a fifth of all searches. That leap signals a broader behavioral shift as consumers move instinctively toward conversational interfaces, which, in turn, leaves brands with a clear message. The clock has moved on. AI is no longer a nice-to-have. It is a direct response to how people now choose to discover, question, and buy. Our conversation turns to the gap between customer expectations and the experiences they receive. Peter discusses why brands often struggle to integrate channels, data, and AI coherently. He explains how first party data has become the anchor for any serious AI strategy, why generic public models cannot solve brand-specific tasks, and why the most successful teams start with simple, tightly scoped problems. A password reset may not sound glamorous, yet it is the kind of focused use case that teaches teams how to govern data, automate safely, and build confidence in the process. We also spend time on branded calling, RCS, and the evolution of voice. Peter breaks down what modern messaging now looks like and why trust sits at the center of every interaction. His explanation of Conversational Relay shows why natural voice exchanges finally feel within reach after years of frustration with rigid IVR systems. The thread running through all of this is clear. Consumers want speed and clarity, but they want reassurance too, and brands need to honor both sides of that equation. Later in the conversation, Peter makes one of the episode's most compelling points. Brand visibility has become harder, not easier, because much of the early research now occurs within AI tools. Buyers form opinions long before they speak with a sales rep. That shift explains why so many B2B companies are returning to high-impact brand channels, whether that is F1 sponsorships or other standout moments that keep them in the initial consideration set. We close with the topic that Peter believes will define the next stage of enterprise AI. Model Context Protocol. MCP has emerged as a quiet breakthrough, enabling LLMs to access data across CRM systems, files, and other software through a standard protocol. This removes one of the biggest blockers in AI projects: the practical challenge of connecting disparate data to a model built for a specific purpose. As Peter puts it, MCP gives companies a realistic way to make the special-purpose models that deliver reliable ROI. It is a wide-ranging conversation shaped by SIGNAL London's announcements, the evolving customer journey, and a year in which AI moved from curiosity to expectation. I would love to know what part stood out most to you. Are you seeing the same shifts Peter describes in your own business, and how are you preparing for the year ahead? Useful Links Interact with the Inside the Conversational AI Revolution report. Learn more about the Signal event Connect with Peter Bell, VP of Marketing for EMEA at Twilio. Tech Talks Daily is sponsored by Denodo

What happens when a career-ending injury becomes the catalyst for a completely new life? In today's episode, Ted Stern (@fitresponder) shares how snapping his ankle on duty pushed him into the online world — and how that single moment transformed him from a frustrated first responder into a multiple 6-figure fitness entrepreneur. Ted breaks down the exact steps he used to scale from making a few thousand a month to consistently hitting $100K+ months, why niching saved his business, how first responders sabotage their own potential, and what it really takes to build a winning culture and team in 2025. We also dive deep into limiting beliefs, environment, accountability, and the mindset every first responder needs if they want to level up their health, income, and identity. Whether you're in law enforcement, an entrepreneur, or someone ready for a transformation — this episode is loaded with real, tactical value. In This Episode You'll Learn:

In this Healthy Waves conversation from the Healthy Mind By Avik™ ecosystem, host Sana and guest Kristen Crabtree deconstruct the usual script on mental health, mental strength and resilience. They unpack what happens when you are praised for holding everything together while silently disappearing behind roles like good wife, good mother, good employee. Kristen shares how 22 years in a psychologically abusive marriage, a bipolar diagnosis and trauma therapy in 2021 forced a complete reboot of her inner operating system. Together they explore how real mental strength starts with identity excavation. Not more grinding, but finally hearing your own voice under family rules, cultural conditioning and performance masks. They talk about privilege and survival, why telling people to just align with their true self can sound unrealistic for single parents and people in unsafe situations, and why boundaries can be a pragmatic first step when you have zero capacity. If you are tired of confusing survival with living, this episode gives you a sharp, honest lens on mental health, women's resilience, boundaries and rebuilding life on your own terms. About the Guest: Kristen Crabtree is an author, creator of the Paramore Paradox ecosystem and a certified trauma informed divorce coach. After decades in a psychologically abusive marriage and a long journey with bipolar disorder, trauma therapy and meditation helped her reclaim her voice and identity. Her book Be the You That is More You Than You Have Ever Beenoffers a structured framework for excavating your own story, identifying the roles and artifacts that shape you and stepping into what she calls your True You 2.0. Today she helps people move from invisibility and self doubt into clarity, self trust and aligned decision making. Key Takeaways: Mental health often erodes when we shrink behind roles and expectations. Kristen explains how constantly performing as the responsible one while ignoring your own needs creates inner chaos and long term psychological strain. Most people mistake mental strength for holding everything together and never asking for help. Kristen reframes true mental resilience as hearing your inner voice, accepting it and making decisions that align with who you really are. Kristen's turning point came through trauma therapy and meditation. Both helped her recognize the psychological abuse in her marriage, process earlier sexual trauma and reconnect with a self she had buried for decades. Her book uses an excavation metaphor. You audit the artifacts of your life, roles, traumas and stories, then intentionally design your True You 2.0, a future identity that expresses your real values instead of inherited scripts. The conversation names privilege directly. Kristen acknowledges that some people do not have the time, money or safety to do deep identity work, and that telling them to just align with their true self can sound tone deaf. Boundaries show up as a practical first lever. Kristen describes learning to feel in her body when a boundary is crossed and how protecting that line built self worth, self respect and the stability required for bigger life changes. Both Sana and Kristen emphasize that humans are messy by default. You are not broken or something to fix. The work is stripping away noise, shame and other people's blueprints so you can design a life that actually fits you.   If you're in immediate crisis, contact local emergency services or your regional suicide prevention helpline. Here are reliable, widely used crisis lines by region: United States  :   988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org (24/7). SAMHSA+1 Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 (24/7). Crisis Text Line LGBTQ+ (The Trevor Project, youth) — call 1-866-488-7386 or text START to 678678 (24/7). The Trevor Project+1 Trans Lifeline — US (877) 565-8860 (hours vary; peer support). translifeline.org+1 Canada  :   9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline — call or text 9-8-8 (24/7). 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline+1 Crisis Text Line (via Kids Help Phone) — text 686868 (24/7). Crisis Text Line Trans Lifeline — Canada (877) 330-6366 (hours vary). translifeline.org United Kingdom & Ireland:     Samaritans (UK & ROI) — call 116 123 (free, 24/7). Samaritans+1 Shout (UK) – Crisis Text Line affiliate — text SHOUT to 85258 (24/7). Shout 85258+1 50808 / “Text About It” (Ireland) — text HELLO/TALK to 50808 (24/7). Text About It+1 Australia  :   Lifeline — call 13 11 14 (24/7) or chat online. Lifeline New Zealand  :   1737 “Need to talk?” — call or text 1737 (24/7). How to Connect with Kristen Crabtree Website and community. Paramour Paradox ecosystem and free community: https://www.paramourparadox.com/  Work with Kristen. Learn more about her trauma informed divorce coaching and identity excavation work via the site. Book: Be the You That is More You Than You Have Ever Been is available through links on https://www.paramourparadox.com/  and on Amazon. Facebook Instagram Want to be a guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life? DM on PM. Send me a message on PodMatch DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik Disclaimer: This video is for educational and informational purposes only. The views expressed are the personal opinions of the guest and do not reflect the views of the host or Healthy Mind By Avik™️. We do not intend to harm, defame, or discredit any person, organization, brand, product, country, or profession mentioned. All third party media used remain the property of their respective owners and are used under fair use for informational purposes. By watching, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer. Healthy Mind By Avik™️ is a global platform redefining mental health as a necessity, not a luxury. Born during the pandemic, it has become a sanctuary for healing, growth, and mindful living. Hosted by Avik Chakraborty, storyteller, survivor, wellness advocate, this channel shares powerful podcasts and soul nurturing conversations on: • Mental Health and Emotional Well being • Mindfulness and Spiritual Growth • Holistic Healing and Conscious Living • Trauma Recovery and Self Empowerment With over 4,400 plus episodes and 168.4K plus global listeners, join us as we unite voices, break stigma, and build a world where every story matters. Subscribe and be part of this healing journey. Contact Brand: Healthy Mind By Avik™ Email: www.healthymindbyavik.com Based in: India and USA Open to collaborations, guest appearances, coaching, and strategic partnerships. Let's connect to create a ripple effect of positivity. CHECK PODCAST SHOWS and BE A GUEST: Listen our 17 Podcast Shows Here: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/healthymindbyavik Be a guest on our other shows: https://www.healthymindbyavik.com/beaguest Video Testimonial: https://www.healthymindbyavik.com/testimonials Join Our Guest and Listener Community: https://nas.io/healthymind Subscribe To Newsletter: https://healthymindbyavik.substack.com/ OUR SERVICES Business Podcast Management. https://ourofferings.healthymindbyavik.com/corporatepodcasting/ Individual Podcast Management. https://ourofferings.healthymindbyavik.com/Podcasting/ Share Your Story With World. https://ourofferings.healthymindbyavik.com/shareyourstory STAY TUNED AND FOLLOW US Medium. https://medium.com/@contentbyavik YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@healthymindbyavik Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/healthyminds.pod/ Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/podcast.healthymind Linkedin Page. https://www.linkedin.com/company/healthymindbyavik LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/avikchakrabortypodcaster/ Twitter. https://twitter.com/podhealthclub Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/Avikpodhealth/ SHARE YOUR REVIEW Share your Google Review. https://www.podpage.com/bizblend/reviews/new/ Share a video Testimonial and it will be displayed on our website. https://famewall.healthymindbyavik.com/ Because every story matters and yours could be the one that lights the way. #podmatch #healthymind #healthymindbyavik #wellness #HealthyMindByAvik #MentalHealthAwareness #comedypodcast #truecrimepodcast #historypodcast #startupspodcast #podcasthost #podcasttips #podcaststudio #podcastseries #podcastformentalhealth #podcastforentrepreneurs #podcastformoms #femalepodcasters #podcastcommunity #podcastgoals #podcastrecommendations #bestpodcast #podcastlovers #podcastersofinstagram #newpodcastalert #podcast #podcasting #podcastlife #podcasts #spotifypodcast #applepodcasts #podbean #podcastcommunity #podcastgoals #bestpodcast #podcastlovers #podcasthost #podcastseries #podcastforspeakers #StorytellingAsMedicine #PodcastLife #PersonalDevelopment #ConsciousLiving #GrowthMindset #MindfulnessMatters #VoicesOfUnity #InspirationDaily #podcast #podcasting #podcaster #podcastlife #podcastlove #podcastshow #podcastcommunity #newpodcast #podcastaddict #podcasthost #podcastepisode #podcastinglife #podrecommendation #wellnesspodcast #healthpodcast #mentalhealthpodcast #wellbeing #selfcare #mentalhealth #mindfulness #healthandwellness #wellnessjourney #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthawareness #healthandwellnesspodcast #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #viral #trending #tiktok #tiktokviral #explore #trendingvideo #youtube #motivation #inspiration #positivity #mindset #selflove #success    

Chris, Anne, and Chad Lusk from A&M Consumer and Retail Group call out 2025's most overhyped retail technologies in this segment sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso. Anne criticizes smart carts' misleading deployment numbers and questionable ROI, while both Chad and Chris agree agentic AI commerce is overhyped despite being transformative… pointing to Target's rushed ChatGPT integration as proof retailers are moving too fast without strategy. Can technology be both the future and overhyped simultaneously? For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/ApiGWRByxIY #overhypedtech #smartcarts #agenticai #targetchatgpt #retailtech #technologyhype #retailstrategy

Cette semaine dans Demain N'attend Pas, on parle d'un angle trop souvent ignoré de la transition : la donnée.Car, si nos entreprises veulent réduire leurs émissions, elles doivent d'abord comprendre d'où elles viennent. Et ça, c'est un vrai défi de data Pour en parler, j'ai invité Rachel Delacour, une entrepreneure visionnaire et cofondatrice de Sweep, une plateforme Saas qui rassemble – enfin – toutes les données carbone d'une entreprise, de l'extraction des matières premières jusqu'à l'usage final des produits. Sweep, c'est un outil conçu pour que les entreprises disposent d'un vrai reporting carbone et surtout, pour qu'elles passent à l'action.Ce que j'ai aimé dans notre échange :Rachel n'était pas destinée à “faire de l'impact”. Elle venait de la tech, du SaaS, des startups. Puis à 40 ans, la réalité climatique lui tombe dessus — littéralement dans un avion, en lisant les rapport du GIEC.Elle se demande alors comment contribuer. De toutes les voies possibles, elle choisit celle qui lui permet de s'appuyer sur ce qu'elle a appris dans sa vie professionnelle passée et, au vu de l'urgence, d'être la plus rapidement efficace. Ce qu'elle sait faire : monter une entreprise, dans le secteur BtB, en aidant les grands groupes à comprendre leurs données et piloter leurs actions. Mais cette fois-ci, elle le fait au service de la décarbonation des grands groupe.Rachel a une ambition assumée : elle lève 100M€, recrute les meilleurs, et part convaincre les comités exécutifs partout dans le monde. Ca tombe bien, il faut de l'ambition pour réduire les émissions carbone à l'échelle !Elle ne moralise pas avec les entreprises, ne leur parle pas de leur responsabilité et de leur héritage. Elle parle business : réduction des risques, performance, avantage compétitif, ROI. Et ça marche.Un épisode qui rappelle une évidence : sans innovation, sans données, sans outils, la transition restera un slogan. Avec des entrepreneures comme Rachel, elle devient un chantier concret. Et je rajouterais : pour embarquer les entreprises, il faut qu'elles y voient leur intérêt économique et il faut parler leur langage.A l'heure des reculs écologiques, cette discussion nous rappelle que, si le chemin est étroit, il existe encore. A nous tous de nous y engager ! Je vous souhaite une très bonne écoute, ✍Vous voulez en savoir plus sur Sweep ?Allez voir leur site internet ici 

Episode SummaryIn this heartfelt and deeply practical episode, Kelli and Cyndi are back together and kicking off December with the reset every travel advisor needs. From navigating hard seasons to redefining success, they share real stories and the exact framework they use every year to build clarity, intention, and momentum for the year ahead.You'll learn how to get out of hobby mode, step confidently into business ownership, and map your goals in a way that actually moves your life and business forward. Plus, the big announcement inside Careers on Vacation — including major 2026 upgrades and the launch of the brand-new Skills Lab and WanderBots.This episode is your first step toward a grounded, aligned, and wildly abundant 2026.In this episode, we cover:• Why December is the most important month for travel advisors• The reflection process that helps you leave behind what no longer fits• How to get crystal clear about the life you're building• Why clarity shifts fear, increases momentum, and attracts opportunities• The real difference between a dream and a goal• How goal mapping works (and why advisors swear by it)• What's new inside Careers on Vacation• How the WanderBots help you master real-world client situations• Why investing in education is one of the highest ROI moves you can makeLinks & Resources Mentioned:• Create your free Wanderlust Campus account: wanderlust-ceo.com• Find the complimentary Goal Mapping Workshop inside your free account• Learn more about Careers on Vacation® certification• Explore the new Skills Lab + WanderBotsIf you loved this episode, make sure to subscribe and share it with another travel advisor who needs clarity for the year ahead.

Blake Grayson, CFO of Docusign, joins CJ Gustafson to discuss how a company that redefined e-signature and became a verb is now navigating its next chapter in intelligent agreement management. Drawing on more than a decade at Amazon—where he helped forecast AWS and worked inside some of the company's most operationally demanding businesses—Blake explains how financial discipline, operational depth, and clear narrative-building shape his approach as CFO. The conversation explores how to evolve a beloved product without diluting the brand, why pricing is as much about positioning as revenue, how to communicate go-to-market mechanics without losing the room, and why effective capital allocation accepts that not every big bet needs to land to shape the leader you become.—SPONSORS:Fidelity Private Shares is the all-in-one equity management platform that keeps your cap table clean, your data room organized, and your equity story clear—so you never risk losing a fundraising round over messy records. Schedule a demo at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com and mention Mostly Metrics to get 20% off.Sage Intacct is a cloud financial management platform that replaces spreadsheets, automates workflows, and keeps your books audit-ready as you scale. It unifies accounting, ERP, and real-time reporting for finance, retail, logistics, tech, and professional services. With payback in under six months and up to 250% ROI, and eight years as the customer-satisfaction leader, Sage Intacct helps you take control of your growth: https://bit.ly/3Kn4YHtMercury is business banking built for builders, giving founders and finance pros a financial stack that actually works together. From sending wires to tracking balances and approving payments, Mercury makes it simple to scale without friction. Join the 200,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Mercury and apply online in minutes at https://www.mercury.comRightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo.Tipalti automates the entire payables process—from onboarding suppliers to executing global payouts—helping finance teams save time, eliminate costly errors, and scale confidently across 200+ countries and 120 currencies. More than 5,000 businesses already trust Tipalti to manage payments with built-in security and tax compliance. Visit https://www.tipalti.com/runthenumbers to learn more.Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run—LINKS:Blake on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-grayson-3197043/Docusign: https://www.docusign.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:“Steal Your Boss's Job”: Calendly CFO John McCauley on Leadership, Ownership & Growthhttps://youtu.be/VRpTNDIfzPY—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:39 Sponsors – Fidelity Private Shares | Sage Intacct | Mercury00:05:09 DocuSign as a Top CFO Tool00:07:33 From E-Signature to Intelligent Agreement Management00:09:09 Complexity Before and After a Signature00:11:02 Cost of Poor Agreement Management00:12:30 Agreement Oversight and CFO Risk00:13:28 Pricing: Usage to Seat Models00:14:12 Enterprise vs SMB Pricing00:15:00 Sponsors – RightRev | Tipalti | Aleph00:19:18 Simplicity, Tiers, and IAM Value00:20:36 Forecasting New Products in a Renewals Base00:22:13 Modeling Mix Shift and GTM Enablement00:23:56 Faster Time-to-Value With Intelligent Repositories00:25:06 Building GTM Muscle for a Platform00:26:29 Launching IAM in Commercial First00:27:31 Forecasting Growth vs Cost00:28:41 Company-Wide Alignment on Priorities00:30:02 Aligning Investor Messaging With Operations00:31:20 Staying Focused on Long-Term Outcomes00:32:27 Customer-First Decision Making00:33:41 Transparency and What Not to Disclose00:34:52 Asking Better Metric Questions00:36:28 Avoiding Data Paralysis00:38:52 Amazon's Weekly Business Reviews00:41:07 Bezos Meetings and the Silent Read00:45:09 The “Question Mark Email” and Customer Anecdotes00:50:22 Unit Economics of a Server and Early AWS Bets00:53:42 Handling Nonpayment Risk00:55:07 Operational Chaos: Perishables and Regulation00:57:04 The “No Eggs in California” Story00:59:31 Treating Escalations as Company Problems01:00:59 Biggest Career Mistake01:02:44 Advice to His Younger Self01:06:34 Tools Finance Uses: Oracle, Bots, IAM, Salesforce, Workday01:09:21 Wildest Expense Attempts01:12:32 Closing Thanks and Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #Docusign #CFOInsights #SaaSLeadership #AIManagement This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

Bob Evans sits down with Will Grannis, Chief Technology Officer at Google Cloud, to unpack how AI is reshaping both technology stacks and corporate culture. They explore Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise platform, the newly upgraded Gemini 3 models, and the rise of agentic AI. Along the way, Will shares customer stories from industries like finance, healthcare, retail, and travel, and even talks about how his own team had to change its habits to benefit from AI.Inside Google Cloud's Agentic AI The Big Themes:Models vs. Platforms in the AI Stack: Grannis draws a sharp distinction between AI models like Gemini and the broader platforms that operationalize them. Models determine how intelligent and capable AI workflows are “out of the box,” across tasks like reasoning, multimodal understanding, and conversation. Platforms, by contrast, are how a business injects its own data, processes, and rules to build differentiated IP, brand experiences, and competitive moats. In practice, that means thinking beyond a single chatbot to agentic workflows composed of models, data, tools, and multiple agents working together.Culture and Discipline: Grannis describes how even his own team initially struggled to build an internal ops agent to automate sprint reviews, status updates, and reminders. It was only after leadership pushed them to be an exemplar that the agent became reliable and valuable. Things as simple as putting status information in the same place on every slide suddenly mattered. The lesson: AI exposes hidden process chaos. To get leverage from agents, organizations must tighten their operating discipline and be willing to change how they work, not just bolt AI onto old habits.Rethinking ROI and Metrics: Traditional, siloed ROI metrics can kill transformational AI efforts before they start. Grannis cites research about AI projects dying at proof-of-concept stage and contrasts that with companies like Verizon, which used AI in the contact center to simultaneously lift revenue, reduce cost, and improve customer satisfaction by turning support calls into sales moments. Instead of chasing a single metric in isolation, he advocates for “bundles” of outcomes anchored in customer experience.The Big Quote: “We had to be more disciplined about how we conducted our own work. And once we did that, AI's effectiveness went way up, and then we got the leverage.”More from Will Grannis and Google Cloud:Connect with Will Grannis on LinkedIn or learn about Gemini Enterprise. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

The agricultural industry faces unprecedented challenges, from shifting commodity markets to labor shortages and automation. In a recent AgNet News Hour interview, Nick Foglio of Foglio Commodities shared timely insights into hay markets, wine trends, raisin and nut production, and what California growers must do to stay competitive. Hay and Dairy Market Trends Foglio opened with a look at the 2025 hay market, where soft commodity prices and oversupply have shaped the season. Favorable canola and soybean meal pricing allowed dairies to supplement feed at reduced costs, while wet winters added cheaper dry-land feed, softening the market further. The first half of the year saw resistance due to imported hay inventory, but the second half required price corrections and higher volume movement. One bright spot was dry cow alfalfa, which outperformed 2024 thanks to less low-quality weed hay available. With milk prices softening and exportable inventory staying in-state, Folio expects continued pressure on hay pricing going into winter. Wine Market Shifts Alcohol consumption continues to decline, particularly among older drinkers and younger consumers who are increasingly health-focused or shifting toward cannabis alternatives. Foglio sees single-serve packaging as a strong opportunity for drawing new wine consumers by reducing the commitment of a full bottle. His advice for new wine drinkers: Choose California wines for quality and local support Explore flavors to identify their preferred white or red Visit local wineries for tasting and education For the wine market to grow, Foglio says the industry must shed its elitist reputation and present wine as casual, accessible, and versatile for everyday dining and gatherings. Raisins, Almonds, and Pistachios: Vertical Integration Required Discussing raisins and permanent crops, Foglio stresses that the future belongs to vertically integrated operations. Modern, profitable raisin production now requires: Growing one's own fruit Owning and maintaining equipment Controlling storage and processing Managing direct-to-retail sales Without this structure, staying competitive becomes difficult. Foglio highlights Sun-Maid and National Raisin as examples of operations thriving through innovation and strong marketing. Almonds and pistachios remain profitable markets, but Foglio warns that overplanting could soften pricing. Growers must carefully assess whether to maintain current orchards, replant, or diversify into alternative crops based on return-on-investment outlooks. Labor, Automation, and Rising Costs Labor remains a top pressure point. With California's minimum wage increasing, more farms are turning to automation and mechanization. But Folio warns that growers must evaluate ROI carefully: expensive tech with a short lifespan—much like wind turbine investments—may not justify its cost. Growers must make immediate, ROI-positive decisions, balancing labor shortages with the need for efficiency and long-term operational sustainability. Managing Change in Agriculture Foglio's closing message is clear: agriculture is at a crossroads. Success in today's environment requires: Flexible sourcing and pricing in soft hay markets More approachable marketing to grow the wine industry Strong vertical integration for raisins, almonds, and pistachios Careful, ROI-driven adoption of automation Growers who adapt, innovate, and invest wisely will be best positioned to meet the evolving challenges of California agriculture.

In this episode of the Sleeping Barber Podcast, Marc and Vassilis reflect on their conversation with Ty Heath. Together, they discuss the complexities of B2B marketing, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer relationships across various departments. They also dive into the significance of physical availability in B2B marketing strategies, the need for a holistic view of the customer journey, and the challenges of measuring ROI. The conversation also touches on the necessity of simplifying the buyer experience and the evolving landscape of marketing channels.Enjoy the show!TakeawaysSales and marketing must work together for a holistic view.Physical availability is crucial for B2B success.Understanding customer relationships is key to effective marketing.The power of three dimensions: presence, prominence, and portfolio.Channel strategies should focus on de-duplicated reach.GEO is becoming increasingly important in marketing.The traditional ROI formula is flawed and needs reevaluation.B2B marketing is becoming more creative and opportunistic.Simplifying the buyer's journey is essential for success.Navigating the complexities of product offerings is a challenge. Chapters00:00 - Introduction02:53 - Understanding Customer Relationships Across Departments05:50 - The Importance of Physical Availability in B2B Marketing08:57 - Reframing Marketing Strategies: The Power of Three12:00 - Navigating Channel Strategies and Frequency in Marketing14:56 - The Role of GEO in Modern Marketing17:58 - Challenges in Measuring ROI and Simplifying Buyer Experience

It's mid-December and we're still talking fungicide. Why? After what we saw in 2025, it requires a deeper dive before 2026 decisions are made.Fungicides are a valuable tool for raising high yielding corn. The benefits include increased yield, improved plant health and better standability at harvest. All hybrids can respond positively to a properly timed fungicide application, especially in environments that favor the development of leaf disease.On today's podcast, the Wyffels agronomy team reviews multiyear data, explores best practices for ROI, and offers thoughts on strategy for 2026. Links discussed in this episode:Between the Rows® - Fungicide Use on Wyffels HybridsWyffels Hybrids Trial ResultsBetween the Rows® - Southern RustWe want to hear from you. Have questions you want us to address on future episodes? Ideas for how we can make this better? Email us at agronomy@wyffels.com. Wyffels Hybrids. Fiercely independent, and proud of it.►  Let's ConnectFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/WyffelsHybridsX: https://www.x.com/WyffelsHybridsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/wyffelshybrids/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wyffelshybrids

Send us a textRecorded live at IT Nation, MJ Shoer (Chief Community Officer, GTIA) breaks down how the newly branded Global Technology Industry Association is delivering practical wins for MSPs. We cover the GTIA ISAO (built with ConnectWise) for actionable threat intelligence, the cybersecurity Trust Mark that validates your internal controls against your chosen framework, and how GTIA's unbiased research can be co-branded for QBRs to boost credibility and close rates. MJ also unpacks workforce strategy with “NowGen”—supporting both youth and mid-career changers—plus global mentorship, learning libraries, and why ConnectWise-sponsored memberships are a fast on-ramp. We close with GTIA's growing foundation work and MJ's personal take on discipline, recovery, and building routines after injury. If you run an MSP and want immediate ROI from a trade association, this one's loaded with specifics you can apply this quarter.Top 3 highlightsClear, fast ROI: GTIA ISAO access, co-brandable research, and ConnectWise-sponsored memberships for partners.Security you can show: the GTIA Cybersecurity Trust Mark validates your practices against your chosen framework.Talent + growth: NowGen pathways, global mentorship, and a learning library spanning soft skills to leadership.  #JoeyPinz #MSPInfluencer #ForzaDash #ITNation #ITN25 #MSP #GTIA #Cybersecurity #ThreatIntelligence #CompTIA #Mentorship #QBR --- Join us for enlightening discussions that spark growth and exploration. Hosted by Joey Pinz, this Discipline Conversations Podcast offers insights and inspiration. 

In this episode of the Tax Smart REI Podcast, Thomas Castelli and Nathan Sosa sit down with cost segregation expert Edward Griffith to break down what investors really need to know about cost segs—why engineering-driven, in-person studies deliver superior results, and how relying on cheap or software-only reports can quietly cost investors tens of thousands and increase audit risk. You'll learn: - What a cost segregation study actually is, why it matters, and which properties generate the biggest ROI - Why in-person, engineering-driven cost segregation consistently produces higher ROI and stronger IRS defensibility than software-only reports - How the timing of a study (including pre- and post-renovation) affects your tax strategy and bonus depreciation opportunities - What the full cost seg process looks like from start to finish, and how to ensure deductions actually show up on your tax return To become a client, request a consultation from Hall CPA, PLLC at go.therealestatecpa.com/3KSEev6 Subscribe to REI Daily & Enter to Win a FREE Strategy Call: go.therealestatecpa.com/41JuQBX Get the Year-End Tax Checklist: go.therealestatecpa.com/4pj63id The Tax Smart Real Estate Investors podcast is for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Information on the podcast may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. No reader, user, or listener of this podcast should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information on this podcast without first seeking legal and tax advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. Only your individual attorney and tax advisor can provide assurances that the information contained herein – and your interpretation of it – is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation. Use of, and access to, this podcast or any of the links or resources contained or mentioned within the podcast show and show notes do not create a relationship between the reader, user, or listener and podcast hosts, contributors, or guests. Any mention of third-party vendors, products, or services does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. You should conduct your own due diligence before engaging with any vendor.

Most companies don't have a lead problem, they have a follow-up problem. In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene interviews Jason Kramer, Founder & CEO at Cultivize, who breaks down how smart CRM strategy can transform “maybe someday” prospects into real revenue. Jason shares how his team helps manufacturing, roofing, finance, and home service businesses design, implement, and actually use CRM systems like HubSpot and Pipedrive so salespeople stop dropping the ball. With real-world case studies, including a roofing company that turned old quotes into seven-figure sales, Jason shows what's possible when technology, strategy, and authentic follow-up finally line up. Key Takeaways: → Why most growing businesses don't really know which marketing efforts are working, and how a properly set up CRM changes that. → The three simple criteria that define an ideal client for a CRM overhaul and why company size and sales team count matter. → The common problem shared by manufacturing, roofing, finance, and home service companies is that they send hundreds of proposals a year. → A behind-the-scenes case study of a roofing company that revived ignored quotes with a thoughtful, automated follow-up sequence. → How to design automated emails that feel genuine and personal, not robotic or canned, while still running on autopilot. Jason Kramer is the founder of Cultivize, a consulting firm that builds smart CRM strategies for business consultants and growth advisors. With over 20 years in marketing and business development, he helps experts transform their lead management systems into scalable growth engines. His process integrates CRM automation with email nurturing to create trackable, ROI-focused results for B2B and consulting clients. Jason's background includes work with global giants like Virgin Atlantic and Johnnie Walker, but today his focus is on supporting strategic advisors and fractional leaders who need visibility into what's working—and what's not—in their sales process. When he's not helping clients streamline their revenue systems, he's on the Hudson River with his family. Connect With Jason Kramer: Website: https://cultivize.com/ X: https://x.com/cultivize Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultivize/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonleighkramer/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having helped grow Duckhorn from $5M to $500M in revenue and the sales team from 1 to >100 people, Pete Przbylinksi, former Chief Sales Officer of The Duckhorn Portfolio for nearly 30 years, has a deep understanding of managing US wholesale markets. In this two-part episode, Pete dives into every aspect of managing a wholesale sales team, including incentive structures and collaborating with distributors.Detailed Show Notes: Duckhorn went from 50k cases / ~$5M in revenue / 14-15 employees (1995) to ~$500M revenue (2024)The Duckhorn PortfolioDuck themed: Duckhorn Vineyards (1978), Decoy (2nd label originally), Paraduxx (1994), Goldeneye, Migration, CanvasbackAcquisitions: Calera (2017), Kosta Browne (2018), Sonoma Cutrer (2024)Keys to Duckhorn's successBrand equity - focused on Merlot, which was hot in 1980s-1990s and catapulted wineryKey assets - #1 people, #2 brand equityThe French Paradox (1991) created big demand for red wineTable stakes are good scores, showing up in the market, hosting guestsSales team grew from 1 person to >100 (~85 in the field)No perfect way to calculate ROI for sales people1st method: too many cases & distributors to manage, needed more people2nd method: quantified expected incremental sales from more people (data was full of holes)Final method: managed to target of 8-10% sales opex / revenue, because a KPI for SLT and BoardSales team rolesRegional Managers, over a series of states (50-60% of time working w/ distributors, the rest out in the market or internal analysis and reporting)District Managers, geographically concentrated, go into accounts you want to be inNational Accounts, on and off-premise; a challenge to determine which accounts are national vs regional, ended up doing it case by case and assigning accountsDistributor consolidation led to wineries needed to do the work they cannot doE.g. - identifying underrepresented accounts and coming up with action plan by regionIdentifying top salespeopleLook at overall contribution margin for the regionShare of business in market (using IRI, distributor reports, account base)Gross Profit%, identifies amount of trade spend usedHow responsive they are, their handle on the market, their decision making#1 method: do they bring new ideas to the tableIncentivizing salespeopleBonuses must be meaningful (25-35% is meaningful), higher for higher levelsLook at contribution margin relative to budgetUsed a curve (

Most authors stop at “bestseller.” That's cute. But if your book isn't building your brand, landing clients, or breaking open locked doors… what's the point?This week, Amber Gaige brings her experience as a third-generation entrepreneur and StoryBrand expert to show you how smart authors turn books into revenue-generating assets.She's flipping the usual marketing fluff on its head and showing you how to weaponize your book with real strategy.Inside This Episode:Books Don't Build Authority—Smart Authors Do Get blunt about what it really takes to turn pages into power and why media exposure isn't optional.Funnels Aren't Sleazy—Yours Just Sucks Learn how to build a funnel that actually converts without feeling like a spam bot.Repurpose or Be Irrelevant If your content dies in your book, you're wasting gold. Here's how to cut it up, spread it out, and stay top of mind.Marketing Before the Launch or Don't Bother Stop scrambling post-publish. Amber breaks down how to lay the groundwork before your book ever drops.Clarity Is Currency If you don't know who you're talking to or what you want, no tactic will save you. Let's fix that.This isn't another “book launch tips” episode. It's a wake-up call for authors who want real ROI.Here's how to connect with Amber:Want Amber's free gift - her special marketing planning documentWebsiteLinkedInFaceBookInstagramBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.*************************************************************************How to Turn Your Ideas into Endless Content Feeling stuck every time you try to write for your business? Lisa Bloom's free training, AI Storytelling for Business Growth, is here to change that. She'll show you how to tap into the stories you already have, build a reusable content vault, and use AI to stay creative and authentic. No more blank pages or forced ideas. Three live sessions to choose from. Grab your free seat now and make storytelling your easiest growth tool.

In this episode of Govcon Giants, Eric sits down with Justin Vianello, CEO and equity partner at SkillStorm, to unpack how federal agencies and large integrators can stop recycling the same expensive talent and start building net-new cleared technologists. Justin shares his global journey from chartered accountant at PwC to scaling multiple companies and exiting, and how that experience led him to a "hire, train, deploy" model that develops new talent instead of bidding up the same résumés. He breaks down why traditional degree requirements are outdated, how certifications and apprenticeships are creating better ROI, and where the real opportunities are in cybersecurity, AI, cloud, and platform-specific roles like Salesforce, AWS, and Palantir. You'll hear Justin's take on why big consulting firms and government need to rethink workforce strategy, how SkillStorm pays people during training to focus on learning, and why soft skills—communication, leadership, and presentation—are the real differentiators in an AI-powered world. Eric and Justin also explore the gap between college promises and reality, the power of apprenticeships and military "cool"/GI Bill pathways, and what agency heads must do now if they want lower costs, better teams, and faster delivery on critical missions. Key Takeaways: Upskilling & reskilling are the real moat: certifications + platform skills (cloud, cyber, AI) + soft skills beat generic degrees in today's federal tech market. Custom-built teams > resume recycling: Skillstorm's "hire, train, deploy" model creates new cleared talent, reduces costs, and gets billable teams productive on day one. College is optional, not mandatory: for many roles, apprenticeships, technical certs, and on-the-job training now offer better ROI, especially for veterans and career changers. Learn more: https://federalhelpcenter.com/ https://govcongiants.org/  Encore Funding: https://www.encore-funding.com/  Join the bootcamp: https://govcongiants.org/bootcamp  Justin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-vianello/  Justin's Twitter/X: https://x.com/justinvianello

If you've ever wrestled with the tension between being donor-centered and community-centered in your fundraising, today's episode is going to feel like a deep exhale. The incredible Tammy Zonker, founder of Fundraising Transformed, has helped raise more than $1 billion over her career, including facilitating a single $27 million dollar gift!We dive into Tammy's hands-on case study from the Children's Center in Detroit, where her team tripled philanthropy in three years and doubled it again before her departure. You'll hear what it actually looked like on the ground: auditing revenue channels, analyzing cost-per-dollar raised and ROI across events, grants, and direct response, strengthening monthly and planned giving, and expanding donor engagement.This episode also explores why many nonprofits thrive with younger generations, offers in-the-trenches advice for leaders navigating busy giving seasons, and how to thoughtfully affirm everyone who contributes their time, talent, and resources.Resources & LinksConnect with Tammy on LinkedIn and learn more about her book, Calling All Heroes. Already have a monthly giving program? The Mini Monthly Giving Mastermind starts in January and is just for you. Register now for the FREE Monthly Giving Summit on February 25-26th, the only virtual event where nonprofits unite to master monthly giving, attract committed believers, and fund the future with confidence. Let's Connect! Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show! My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to build, grow, and sustain subscriptions for good. Want to book Dana as a speaker for your event? Click here!

Guest: Dan Fineberg, CTO and Co-founder, The Fusion Syndicate About the Guest: Dan Fineberg is a veteran technologist with over 40 years of experience working at the intersection of technology and marketing, including leadership roles at Intel Corp. and FEI Co. As CTO of The Fusion Syndicate, Dan now specializes in leveraging emerging technologies, particularly generative AI, to accelerate content productivity and drive measurable business results for customers. In This Episode: Beyond the Prompt — Building Strategic AI Workflows Many organizations are still viewing AI as a simple tool for generating text with a prompt. Dan Fineberg breaks down why that's the biggest misconception and shows us how to transition from basic experimentation to a reliable, scalable system that dramatically improves content production and delivers significant ROI. Key Discussion Points: The Biggest Misconception: Dan tackles the most common myth he hears about using AI in the enterprise and shares his simple "signal vs. noise" test for identifying true business value. Moving Past Prompt Engineering: Learn why focusing only on the quality of a prompt is a limited approach, and how The Fusion Syndicate's approach goes beyond simple inputs to structure a robust, end-to-end system. The AI Content Workflow: Dan walks us through the typical, repeatable steps teams should implement, covering the entire process from initial research all the way through to a validated, ready-to-publish output. Measurable Impact (Before & After): What practical, tangible differences have teams seen once they put this structured AI system in place? Dan shares real-world stories of accelerated productivity and transformation. The Next Wave of ROI: Where should businesses look beyond marketing and content creation for the next high-value applications of AI workflows? Strategic Fit: For listeners trying to understand the competitive landscape, Dan explains where this AI workflow approach fits in—is it meant to replace agencies, internal teams, or dedicated point tools? Getting Started: For founders and teams ready to adopt this approach, Dan recommends the first high-impact workflow they should pilot to ensure early success and build momentum. Resources: Recommended materials for anyone who wants to learn more and begin experimenting with AI content acceleration. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are for informational purposes only. They do not constitute financial or legal advice, nor do they necessarily reflect the views of Finalis Inc. or Finalis Securities LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC.

How do you transform events from memorable moments into measurable business impact? In this episode, Sara Rosas, Director of Partnerships at Innovate Marketing Group, breaks down why experiential ROI is so difficult to quantify and introduces a smarter, layered way to measure success.Sara shares the real client moments that inspired the creation of the Experiential ROI Playbook, a behind-the-scenes look at the 3-layer measurement framework, and a powerful case study featuring TikTok Beauty Unwrapped, an activation designed to drive both IRL and URL results.You'll learn:Why traditional event metrics fall shortThe biggest gaps marketers face when reporting experiential ROIThe core elements of IMG's 3-layer ROI frameworkHow TikTok Beauty Unwrapped generated massive organic impactThe key emotional and behavioral metrics marketers often forget to measureWhether you manage brand activations, pop-ups, summits, or creator events, this episode will help you communicate ROI with more clarity, confidence, and strategic alignment.Download the free Experiential ROI Playbook: https://na2.hubs.ly/H02tZh30

Our Head of Research Product in Europe Paul Walsh and Chief European Equity Strategist Marina Zavolock break down the key drivers, risks, and sector shifts shaping European equities in 2026. Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Paul Walsh: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Paul Walsh, Morgan Stanley's Head of Research Product in Europe.Marina Zavolock: And I'm Marina Zavolock, Chief European Equity Strategist.Paul Walsh: And today – our views on what 2026 holds for the European stock market.It's Tuesday, December 9th at 10am in London.As we look ahead to 2026, there's a lot going on in Europe stock markets. From shifting economic wins to new policies coming out of Brussels and Washington, the investment landscape is evolving quite rapidly. Interest rates, profit forecasts, and global market connections are all in play.And Marina, the first question I wanted to ask you really relates to the year 2025. Why don't you synthesize your, kind of, review of the year that we've just had?Marina Zavolock: Yeah, I'll keep it brief so we can focus ahead. But the year 2025, I would say is a year of two halves. So, we began the year with a lot of, kind of, under performance at the end of 2024 after U.S. elections, for Europe and a decline in the euro. The start of 2025 saw really strong performance for Europe, which surprised a lot of investors. And we had kind of catalyst after catalyst, for that upside, which was Germany's ‘whatever it takes' fiscal moment happened early this year, in the first quarter.We had a lot of headlines and kind of anticipation on Russia-Ukraine and discussions, negotiations around peace, which led to various themes emerging within the European equities market as well, which drove upside. And then alongside that, heading into Liberation Day, in the months, kind of, preceding that as investors were worried about tariffs, there was a lot of interest in diversifying out of U.S. equities. And Europe was one of the key beneficiaries of that diversification theme.That was a first half kind of dynamic. And then in the second half, Europe has kept broadly performing, but not as strongly as the U.S. We made the call, in March that European optimism had peaked. And the second half was more, kind of, focused on the execution on Germany's fiscal. And post the big headlines, the pace of execution, which has been a little bit slower than investors were anticipating. And also, Europe just generally has had weak earnings growth. So, we started the year at 8 percent consensus earnings growth for 2025. At this point, we're at -1, for this year.Paul Walsh: So, as you've said there, Marina, it's been a year of two halves. And so that's 2025 in review. But we're here to really talk about the outlook for 2026, and there are kind of three buckets that we're going to dive into. And the first of those is really around this notion of slipstream, and the extent to which Europe can get caught up in the slipstream that the U.S., is going to create – given Mike Wilson's view on the outlook for U.S. equity markets. What's the thesis there?Marina Zavolock: Yeah, and thank you for the title suggestion, by the way, Paul of ‘Slipstream.' so basically our view is that, well, our U.S. equity strategist is very bullish, as I think most know. At this stage he has 15 percent upside to his S&P target to the end of next year; and very, very strong earnings growth in the U.S. And the thesis is that you're getting a broadening in the strength of the U.S. economic recovery.For Europe, what that means is that it's very, very hard for European equities to go down – if the U.S. market is up 15 percent. But our upside is more driven by multiple expansion than it is by earnings growth. Because what we continue to see in Europe and what we anticipate for next year is that consensus is too high for next year. Consensus is anticipating almost 13 percent earnings growth. We're anticipating just below 4 percent earnings growth. So, we do expect downgrades.But at the same time, if the U.S. recovery is broadening, the hopes will be that that will mean that broadening comes to Europe and Europe trades at such a big discount, about 26 percent relative to the U.S. at the moment – sector neutral – that investors will play that anticipation of broadening eventually to Europe through the multiple.Paul Walsh: So, the first point you are making is that the direction of travel in the U.S. really matters for European stock markets. The second bucket I wanted to talk about, and we're in a thematically driven market. So, what are the themes that are going to be really resonating for Europe as we move into 2026?Marina Zavolock: Yeah, so let me pick up on the earnings point that I just made. So, we have 3.6 percent earnings growth for next year. That's our forecast. And consensus – bottom-up consensus – is 12.7 percent. It's a very high bar. Europe typically comes in and sees high numbers at the beginning of the year and then downgrades through the course of the year. And thematically, why do we see these downgrades? And I think it's something that investors probably don't focus on enough. It's structurally rising China competition and also Europe's old economy exposure, especially in regards to the China exposure where demand isn't really picking up.Every year, for the last few years, we've seen this kind of China exposure and China competition piece drive between 60 and 90 percent of European earnings downgrades. And looking at especially the areas of consensus that are too high, which tend to be highly China exposed, that have had negative growth this year, in prior years. And we don't see kind of the trigger for that to mean revert. That is where we expect thematically the most disappointment. So, sectors like chemicals, like autos, those are some of the sectors towards the bottom of our model. Luxury as well. It's a bit more debated these days, but that's still an underweight for us in our model.Then German fiscal, this is a multi-year story. German fiscal, I mentioned that there's a lot of excitement on it in the first half of the year. The focus for next year will be the pace of execution, and we think there's two parts of this story. There's an infrastructure fund, a 500-billion-euro infrastructure fund in Germany where we're seeing, according to our economists, a very likely reallocation to more kind of social-related spend, which is not as great for our companies in the German index or earnings. And execution there hasn't been very fast.And then there's the Defense side of the story where we're a lot more optimistic, where we're seeing execution start to pick up now, where the need is immense. And we're seeing also upgrades from corporates on the back of that kind of execution pickup and the need. And we're very bullish on Defense. We're overweight the issue for taking that defense optimism and projecting out for all of Europe is that defense makes up less than 2 percent of the European index. And we do think that broadens to other sectors, but that will take years to start to impact other sectors.And then, couple other things. We have pockets of AI exposure in the enabler category. So, we're seeing a lot of strength in those pockets. A lot of catch up in some of those pockets right now. Utilities is a great example, which I can talk about. So, we think that will continue.But one thing I'm really watching, and I think a lot of strategists, across regions are watching is AI adoption. And this is the real bull case for me in Europe. If AI adoption, ROI starts to become material enough that it's hard to ignore, which could start, in my opinion, from the second half of next year. Then Europe could be seen as much more of a play on AI adoption because the majority of our index is exposed to adoption. We have a lot of low hanging fruit, in terms of productivity challenges, demographics, you know, the level of returns. And if you track our early adopters, which is something we do, they are showing ROI. So, we think that will broaden up to more of the European index.Paul Walsh: Now, Marina, you mentioned, a number of sectors there, as it relates to the thematic focus. So, it brings us onto our third and final bucket in terms of what your model is suggesting in terms of your sector preferences…Marina Zavolock: Yeah. So, we have, data driven model, just to take a step back for a moment. And our model incorporates; it's quantum-mental. It incorporates themes. It incorporates our view on the cycle, which is in our view, we're late cycle now, which can be very bullish for returns. And it includes quant factors; things like price target, revisions breadth, earnings revisions breadth, management sentiment.We use a Large Language Model to measure for the first time since inception. We have reviewed the performance of our model over the last just under two years. And our top versus bottom stocks in our model have delivered 47 percent in returns, the top versus bottom performance. So now on the basis of the latest refresh of our model, banks are screening by far at the top.And if you look – whether it's at our sector model or you look at our top 50 preferred stocks in Europe, the list is full of Banks. And I didn't mention this in the thematic portion, but one of the themes in Europe outside of Germany is fiscal constraints. And actually, Banks are positively exposed to that because they're exposed to the steepness – positively to the steepness – of the yield curve.And I think investors – specialists are definitely optimistic on the sector, but I think you're getting more and more generalists noticing that Banks is the sector that consistently delivers the highest positive earnings upgrades of any sector in Europe. And is still not expensive at all. It's one of the cheapest sectors in Europe, trading at about nine times PE – also giving high single digit buyback and dividend yield. So that sector we think continues to have momentum.We also like Defense. We recently upgraded Utilities. We think utilities in Europe is at this interesting moment where in the last six months or so, it broke out of a five-year downtrend relative to the European index. It's also, if you look at European Utilities relative to U.S. Utilities – I mentioned those wide valuation discounts. Utilities have broken out of their downtrend in terms of valuation versus their U.S. peers. But still trade at very wide discounts. And this is a sector where it has the highest CapEx of any sector in Europe – highest CapEx growth on the energy transition. The market has been hesitant to kind of benefit the sector for that because of questions around returns, around renewables earlier on. And now that there's just this endless demand for power on the back of powering AI, investors are more willing to benefit the sector for those returns.So, the sector's been a great performer already year to date, but we think there's multiple years to go.Paul Walsh: Marina, a very comprehensive overview on the outlook for European equities for 2026. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk.Marina Zavolock: Thank you, Paul.Paul Walsh: And thanks for listening. If you enjoy Thoughts on the Market, please leave us a review wherever you listen and share the podcast with a friend or colleague today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has often proclaimed that the country must lead the world in artificial intelligence, yet the country is currently stuck on the sidelines as other nations pull ahead. Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent Georgi Kantchev explains why. Plus, the arrival of AI agents is transforming work already—debugging code, designing products, and delivering ROI. Steven Rosenbush, chief of the enterprise technology bureau, details how companies like Walmart and BNY are already seeing results. Julie Chang hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices