Podcasts about ROI

AI is bringing massive changes to our industry, but it's not just about how fast you can write code or use agentic flows. In this episode, I explore how AI is fundamentally shifting the economic bottleneck of software development, and how you can use your systems-thinking engineering mindset to adapt and thrive in this new era.

The Dental A-Team Podcast has been around for seven years, if you can believe it! Kiera reflects on her original goal with the pod, how that goal (and dentistry in general) has changed since. It's been an evolution of leadership, systems, culture, and growth, and the ball is still rolling. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:02) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and happy birthday to the Dental A Team podcast. guys, gosh, if this was a child that I would have had, Dental A Team podcast today is seven years old. We started this back in 2019. So is that right? 2020 would be one, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, seven. Guys, seven years. We've been hanging out together. Like gosh, I would have a seven year old child. Like that's insane. And I just think like, thank you.   is what I is my biggest piece of ⁓ if I was blowing out the candles today, which I usually actually do. ⁓ That thank you for going on seven years of a journey. Thank you for listening to me when I used to car cast and I didn't have video and I was so new. I remember like one of my first ones was like nailing jello to a wall. And like, gosh, I just think back to don't break up with me and so many of the podcasts over the years and the guests that we've had and the   people that I've met because of this podcast, like I get emotional, I get grateful of, gosh, like we just think that these things happen. We think that, it was just right time, right place, but I believe that there's something far greater than that to where all of us were working, we were being prepared, we were being put into place where it didn't just slip into place and happen. It was something that was magical, it was euphoric, and it was meant to be able to reach each other, to be able to talk to each other, to be able to serve you.   to be able to have you implement and put things into your place in your practices, to be able to be right time, right place, but due to lots of preparation to be here. So if you're new to the podcast, welcome, I'm Kiera Dent. I had this crazy idea to create a podcast that helps dentists and teams come together. Being a team member myself and being a business owner, guys, like this is the perfect platform to bring that together. And I think I have such a special vantage point to be able to share with you doctor and team members perspectives. And so today I just wanted to think about like,   growth doesn't happen overnight. And what the podcast was versus what the podcast has become, it's crazy to see how far we've come and how much we've evolved. You guys, have like 1100 plus episodes, never in my wildest dreams that I think I would hit record that many times and talk to you for this many years and hang out with you and travel across the globe with you. But it's one of those things of today is going to be reflecting back and a forward looking episode. And this I think very much applies to practices, team member evolution and how it goes. And I think   days often feel long and years seem short. And when we can do this, we're gonna look at like, gosh, what the journey has been in seven years and how fast it goes and how slow it goes and hurdles and challenges. But you guys, this is about how we reflect on the growth we've had on our practices and how it's gonna be able to serve you guys moving forward. So as we go through this truly, I hope that today, I don't know, just wrap your arms around yourself, give you a giant hug and pretend that's me giving you a hug.   a hug for listening, a hug for sharing, hug for ⁓ leaving reviews, a hug for ⁓ giving ideas, a hug for sharing in Facebook groups where we glean information, a hug for ⁓ being a pen pal to me, a hug for ⁓ allowing me a space to share my life to the podcast. It's been something where I will wake up in the middle and I'm like, my gosh, I got a great idea. I'm gonna go like podcasts this of sharing tips and tricks and things that I feel you guys would really benefit and serve. So just giving you like,   Just give a squeeze because I adore you. love you and I'm so grateful for this. So as we reflect back, ⁓ I think oftentimes we see growth as much easier if we look back, right? Like little kids, you don't see them growing day on day and day. But when you measure on a wall, you're able to see the growth. And it's like, wow, we have this. And so when I started the podcast, my goal was like, let's give teams, let's give tactical. And we stayed that stayed true. ⁓   But over time it's expanded and I recognize the needs of practices. mean, hashtag COVID, things changed, it became radical. We went through the great migration together. We've gone through team members and the evolution of hiring and firing and culture and going from like dentists and to where it's like, wow, we aren't just here at Basic. We're now looking at CEOs and we're running these multimillion dollar businesses. We've got startup practices. I've got practices doing 30, 40, 50 million in their locations like.   It's an evolution of leadership and systems and culture and growth. like, all of this is like, we can't say stuck. I mean, now we've got AI introductions. It's like, gosh, like the crazy cool stuff. And so it's something to see like how both industry and conversations have matured over time. And I think also for you and your practice, think today, one of when you started that might be this year. Kudos. There's some of you I know that just bought your practices and I'm so freaking proud of you. Hashtag my Midwestern students. I'm so proud of both of you ⁓ and you both know who you are.   You might be on day one of your practice ownership. You also might be on day like, I don't know, a thousand. Gosh, like, is it crazy to think that day a thousand's only about three years in? You might be on day 20,000. Shoot, how many years is 20,000? I'm gonna do some math, because 20,000 divided by 365 days, you'd be at 54 years. Some of you actually might be there. Some of you are maybe like 10 years in, so you're on day like 3650. I don't know, that was so hard for me, okay?   3650, 10,000, what'd we say on that? If you're at 10,000 days, you're at 27 years in the practice. A thousand, like just think about that. Sorry, I know my math earlier was a little off. A thousand days, that'd be about like just over three years. That's what I meant by the 10,000. 10,000, shoot, you're in 27 years plus. But when we look at this, we think about how everything's evolved. And I want you guys to really look at like.   How have things evolved in dentistry, even since the time you became a dentist? And if you're a dentist in school, like look back, it's an evolution. And so I think it's like, the goal is always like growth, but I think it's expansion and impact more than it's growth. Like we can just grow, but we can be unhappy. But expansion is not just about size, it's about reach and influence. And it's one thing like we could have thousands of followers, which honestly, you guys, I'm blown away when I look to see where our podcast reaches and the countries and the international impact and the...   the state side impact and the number of offices. You guys like that is such a blessing to me. That was the goal. The goal was how can I have a voice, a positive impact of tactical of being your friend in the industry that's always going to go out and always about the best companies and bet the best practices and be on the cutting edge of things. That's what it is. And it's about reaching influence and impact. Like in every one of my vision boards, impact is in the middle. I want to impact your life in the most positive way. And so when you're looking at it for you,   It's not just about growth, it's about expansion and impact and influence. And so it's, what does it look like in a practice? Like as we grow, you're going to have stronger teams, you're going to have cleaner systems, you're going to have healthier leadership. Think back to day one of practice ownership, to day 10 of practice ownership, like it's very different. Dental A team as a company this year hits 10 years old. Can you believe that? I was three years in when I started this podcast. Kiera Dent has evolved. We have a stronger team. We have clearer systems. We have healthier leadership, but I'm still evolving. Is there an out as like...   me and a couple of people, Tip was like almost like employee number one. And those are two girls who wanted to make an impact in this world. And while that has stayed the same, there has been maturity because we've had to, we needed to have cleaner systems. We have to navigate the change. We have to have different challenges, different opportunities. And it's something where it's like, we want to create, I think you go from like rapid fire excitement to keeping that into this more mature of what's the legacy, what's the impact, what's the expansion that we're going to go to. And so   ⁓ I think it's a space for you and your practice of what do I want my growth, aka my expansion, which is going to be about influence and expansion. That's my growth. What do I want that to look like? What do I want my teams to look like? What do I my leadership to look like? What do I want our reach and our impact in our community to look like? What do I my legacy to start to feel like? And I remember I was like on a plane and I was filling in what my 10 year vision of my business looked like. And I remember being like,   gonna be? I said it in 2019. you know, that's three years away and I was like, I'm gonna be 43. I was 33 at the time. I was like, my gosh, I'm gonna be so old. Now I'm getting close to that and I'm like, wow, that wasn't too bad. But it was so hard for me to imagine 10 years from now. But I think that exercise forced me to really get crystal clear of what do I want my life, my expansion, my growth, my impact to be? And then what kind of a team do I need around me?   What kind of ⁓ clients are we going to attract? You guys, I don't want all clients. I want the nice ones. I want the ones who are obsessed with their teams. I want those who are obsessed with giving back and growing and being the best. want people who are obsessed with giving to a community and taking from a community. I want people that want to their standards, rise to the next level. I want those people in our community. And if that's you, you better join us. Denali team.   is the place for you. And it's not just about growing and elevating your practice. Well, yes, we're all about ROI. It's about ROI on your life. It's about making you have a better life, a happier life, a more fulfilled life. So join us. That's what we're about. And if your practice feels that way, and that's the expansion and growth you want to have, it's a let's reflect back on who we were, and then let's focus on where we want to go and who we want to become. And so really truly having that of, I just want you to think of A, what's a podcast that you've implemented since listening for seven years? And B,   What's an area or an idea that if you look back, truly has shaped and changed the way you've done dentistry or run your practice? I know for me, hiring a coach is truly one of the most impactful times of my life. Liz, I will sing her praises forever. I met her in 2019, basically right when I started the podcast. Liz has been so influential for me and she's guided me. She's matured me. She's made me into a stronger leader. I've cried with her. I've argued with her. We've had to have timeouts together.   She's the person who like just a couple days ago. I called crying and I was like Liz I don't know what I'm doing again I sometimes feel like a child and she's just that like nurturing loving woman to me that has given me guidance has given me direction and I will tell you that that is something that I heard people like you need a coach you need a guide and I was like yeah, yeah, know what I'm doing I'm so good at this she has like I think steered me away from so many wrong decisions I could have made and helped me make better decisions. She helped me be profitable. She helped me learn number she   And she did it with no judgment. And I think giving that gift back to so many offices is so radical. But when you look at it, what is something that you are really proud of that was a decision you made that radically improved your practice? That's something that I want you to focus on. And then when I look ahead to where I need to go for us, like our next 10 years, I realize like, I need to hire a COO. Do you know how scary of a decision that was? I was like, yeah, I recognize I need someone who's been there, done that in corporate like companies like we.   We coach dental practices, but running a consulting company is so much different than a dental practice. And that was a decision. And that's what our 10 years needs to have. I needed somebody much stronger than me that could pair with me. And we're hiring that we've had somebody amazing in place for that. And we're bringing on our next full-time person for that. And I just think that's my next 10 years. That's what I need to hire. That's what it is. It's not an overnight change, but it is an evolution. It's an evolution of how we do our systems and our processes.   That's going to be an evolution. Our patient experience, our client experience, those are evolution. So looking at it of what was one that you implemented and then what's one that you're going to implement for your next 10 year stint. And then that goes into our next piece of how we look ahead with intention. And I think when we go into that expansion and that growth, it's going to require clarity and not urgency. And to me, I think that this has been the most maturity of like going from the podcast where it was like, Hey, I'm Kiera. And I just want to talk to you about like all these cool things too.   Hey, what does the podcast really need? And hey, what are the industry trends and what are things you're not thinking about that me on the podcast is a voice and a wisdom to guide you through? I need to be delivering for you. That's looking ahead with clarity and not urgency. That's morphing and evolving. And so looking to see how your practice can move forward and expand and grow with clarity and not urgency. Sometimes you need urgency, but what I found is as you go through the process, you actually stop making as many urgent decisions   and you move into more sustainable, ⁓ we're getting ready to do a say to the company. And what's great is I can share this with you because guess what? ⁓ My team will have heard of before this releases, so I can share it with you. ⁓ But Britt did a really awesome thing. And I loved her play on words of how we kind of are doing this. Like we're going ⁓ when we change our, like what we've been focused on. And we were on a rapid growth era.   And now we're moving into a consistent results era. And like the difference of that urgency zone, like just what it kind of feels like is like the focus and the urgency is focusing on fires and tasks. Our decisions are driven by urgency and gut instinct. Our leadership roles is that the owner is involved in everything. Our accountability is top down and reactive. Our growth and results, results fluctuate with effort and energy. Okay, so that's kind of that urgency. And we move into more of this consistent and having a bit more clarity on there, right? So it's gonna be   We have it on clarity. And what that looks like is our focus is outcomes over activity. So results over tasks. Like, what are we trying to achieve? What are the KPIs? What do we need to do? Yes, we've got these tasks, but like, I can make 50 phone calls, but not fill a schedule. No, the outcome is I fill the schedule, not just make the phone calls. Our decisions are driven by data priorities and long-term impact. So what's going to impact us the most? There was a doctor who talked about this the other day and he said like, how, like what takes up 80 % of my front office is time.   And how can I alleviate so they have like 80 % of their times on patient care? And I was like, that's freaking brilliant. Like asking questions by that leadership roles, ⁓ leaderships now lead, manage and hold accountable. They remove obstacles for their team and they elevate performance before it was like owners involved in everything. Now it's having a leadership team that's doing it. Accountability is shared systems driven and focused on outcomes. Growth and results are predictable, repeatable and driven by proven systems rather than like effort and energy. So like, if we get tired on that, our results dip down.   but we've got predictable, repeatable, and driven with proven systems. That's going to be that next level of how do you look ahead with intention? You move away from this urgent to this more clear zone ⁓ and really get that clarity that your team needs. Even just saying that and driving a practice into that, you feel calm, you feel connected, you feel centered, you don't feel this like constant panic, but getting from point A to point Z does take intentionality.   does take clarity, does take time. We didn't start the podcast on day one and get it to where it is today. That was an evolution, just like looking back at this. And this is something of like, we are focused on freedom, not from new stress. We're on intentional growth, not more growth. We start to prioritize our time, our needs, and you start to realize less is more. That's how it is. And I think when practices do this, they start out crazy. They should, that's how it is. And then we morph and we move into like, perfect, we're gonna have leadership teams and we're gonna have   ⁓ direction and we're gonna have numbers and data and we're gonna make decisions based on that. And then we're going to move into what does this look like for all of us of how are we getting there? And we roll out visions and we have a vision for the whole team and a mission that we're all rallied behind and every person's contributing to that. And we start to have more ⁓ awareness to the teams and departments and we have more outcomes and less burnout with less effort. And I think about the podcast, I used to podcast.   like a freaking beast guys. I'd be doing it on my drives. I'd be doing it in the middle of the night. I'd be doing it on planes. I'd be doing it like when I'd wake up at the hotel. That was very chaotic for me. And now we have like set days and we have a marketing team and we talk about ideas and we talk about you guys and we come up with plans for you. It's so much different than what it was. And I'm able to be my best self for you on the podcast rather than my frantic like, oh, I got to these podcasts done. It's something that I can look forward to. And I think the question for you to say of like, again, remember we went through this. had   Number one, reflect on the journey so far. Then we said celebrate expansions and impact. And then we look ahead with intention. And I think that the question for you is as you're evolving, even if you're on day one of practice ownership, or you're on day 27, or like 27 years, or 54 years, or 60 years, ask yourself, what does the next version of my expansion and impact look like for me in my practice?   And I think for us with the podcast, we just did this and I'm really excited. You guys are going to start to notice there's going to be a little bit of different vibe, a little bit of a different scene. What's been, it was not like so many of the things, the tactical, the practical, the giving you all of it, but there will be an evolution of things that you need. And I think when we look at our practices, what's the evolution that your practice needs to get to that next amazing version that's less is more, more outcomes over activity.   more clarity over urgency that you'll be able to really take to your team. You guys, this is how, like when we reflect back and I think about the podcast and I think about practices, this is how we're able to get clarity and how we're able to get impact and how we're able to get intentional growth that actually lasts and it's not like short spurts. You guys, I've done the short spurts. It's like, won't grow. we gotta retract. We won't grow again. We gotta retract. We didn't have it built. It's more intentional growth done with plans, with reflection, with learning from the past.   and going into the future. guys growth for me is a journey. And I think that celebrating milestones and sharing and doing birthdays and all of that is really fun. And I hope you celebrate the birthdays of your business. Britt asked me the other day, she Kiera, when are we at 10 years? And I was like, oh my gosh, like November 16th, 2026, 10 years, a decade of business ownership and the lessons I've learned, the opportunities, the lives, seven years on the podcast. You guys, that's so many incredible people.   that have been a part of this journey of growing me, of evolving us, of being a part of my life. And I just want to say thank you and celebrate these milestones, celebrate you. I think so often I can be like, cool, high five. And now onto the next one versus like, we freaking hit seven years guys together. That's a seven year relationship. A lot of people don't even make it that far. And yet we're in this together. So even if you want to share my like birthday gift wish would be.   Send me an email. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com of what's been a podcast that's inspired you or changed your life or a ⁓ tool or something that just really made you think because then I'm able to even get more contextual contact from all of you. This podcast built for you. It's built by an obsessed person for dentistry for you to make sure that you're living your best life, that things are the absolute best that they can possibly be for you. And I am so grateful for you guys. This podcast truly exists to support your growth, your leadership, your practice, your team today.   and in the future. And I cannot wait. Leave us a review, send me a note. A review would mean the world to me. A note. ⁓ I'm such a geek. I really do love like little letters and notes. I love to read reviews. I think those are ⁓ very public personal notes and they just mean the world to me. So thank you for being a part of this. Happy birthday to the podcast. I'm here for you guys today and in the future. And as always, I adore you. And if we can help you in any way, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast.

What if one of the most overlooked business strategies could unlock high-value partnerships, accelerate growth, and put your brand directly in front of decision-makers—all in just a few days? In this episode of the 365 Driven Podcast, host Tony Whatley sits down with trade show expert Jennifer Hoff to pull back the curtain on the powerful—and often misunderstood—business of trade shows and conventions. Together, they explore how these large-scale events quietly drive billions in economic impact while creating unmatched opportunities for networking, deal-making, and brand positioning. Jennifer shares her journey from unexpectedly "falling into" the industry to becoming a leader responsible for launching and managing major events, offering listeners a rare insider perspective on what actually goes into producing successful trade shows. Business owners will gain practical insights into how exhibiting or attending the right event can deliver both tangible and intangible ROI—from closing deals to building long-term relationships that fuel sustained growth. The conversation also dives into how trade shows are evolving in the age of AI, why face-to-face connection is becoming more valuable than ever, and how even small businesses can compete and stand out on the show floor. Whether you are considering your first trade show or looking to maximize results from future events, this episode delivers actionable strategies, real-world examples, and a fresh perspective on leveraging live experiences as a powerful business growth tool. Key highlights: Trade shows are a multi-billion dollar industry driving real business and economic impact. In-person connection is more valuable than ever in today's digital world. ROI comes from both sales and long-term relationships. Focus on providing value, not just self-promotion. Events create massive efficiency by bringing entire industries together. The future is interactive, experience-driven events. Get your tickets and learn more about the High Performance Expo at thehpx.com and secure your spot today. Connect with Jennifer Hoff: LinkedIn: Jennifer Hoff Connect with Tony Whatley: Website: 365driven.com Instagram: @365driven Facebook: 365 Driven

If you feel busy but not effective, this episode is your intervention. After a rapid growth phase in the company, Samantha realized something confronting: she wasn't lacking ambition, she was lacking ruthless time clarity. More demand, more visibility, and more opportunity forced her to upgrade how she manages her time, energy, and attention.In this solo episode, she breaks down her practical CEO time management system that gave her the biggest ROI and will give you the same.Connect with Sam / Work with Voice and Visibility• Website: www.voiceandvisibility.com• Newsletter: https://voiceandvisibility.myflodesk.com/optin• Follow Samantha on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesamanthawarren• Follow Samantha on Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/voiceandvisibility

In this episode, Dr. Mark Mabus, Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Parkview Health, shares how his team rapidly scaled generative AI across clinical and revenue cycle operations, driving efficiency, reducing burnout, and strengthening ROI. He also discusses governance, provider adoption, and expanding equitable access to AI tools across rural communities.

FACE FOUNDRIÉ was born from a deeply personal need and built with a sharp entrepreneurial lens. After founding and scaling PRIMP to eight locations and styling nearly a million women, Michele Henry saw firsthand how underserved women felt when it came to accessible, effective skincare. Following the birth of her third child, she experienced hormonal shifts and skin changes that the market simply wasn't addressing—so she created the solution. Designed from day one as a franchise model, FACE FOUNDRIÉ empowers other entrepreneurs to build scalable, community-driven aesthetics businesses with proven systems and brand power behind them. Under Michele's leadership, the company has become one of the fastest-growing private companies in the Midwest, ranking #35 on the Inc. list. Michele's impact has earned her recognition as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year, a Forbes-profiled founder, and a Minnesota 40 Under 40 honoree. With a proprietary product line and curated partnerships, FACE FOUNDRIÉ delivers results-driven services in a modern, approachable environment—bridging the gap between luxury aesthetics and everyday accessibility. In this episode, Michele also discusses: Transitioning from fashion to skincare Franchise marketing secrets: brand cohesion and local market dominance Designing fully customizable facials tailored to individual skin goals The no-downtime facial clients can't stop booking The most requested add-ons, including dermaplaning Building a seamless brand experience from retail roots to skincare studios Why successful founders pivot fast–and don't dwell on missteps Strategic nationwide expansion and scaling with intention We hope you enjoy this episode and gain valuable insights into Michele's journey and the growth of Face Foundrie. Don't forget to subscribe to the Glam & Grow podcast for more in-depth conversations with the most incredible brands, founders, and more. Be sure to check out Face Foundrie at www.facefoundrie.com and on Instagram at @facefoundrie Rated #1 Best Beauty Business Podcast on FeedPost This episode is brought to you by Wavebreak Leading direct-to-consumer brands hire Wavebreak to turn email marketing into a top revenue driver. Most eCommerce brands don't email right... and it costs them. At Wavebreak, our eCommerce email marketing agency helps qualified brands recapture 7+ figures of lost revenue each year. From abandoned cart emails to Black Friday campaigns, our best-in-class team manage the entire process: strategy, design, copywriting, coding, and testing. All aimed at driving growth, profit, brand recognition, and most importantly, ROI. Curious if Wavebreak is right for you? Reach out at Wavebreak.co

This is an Audio Edition episode—originally published on YouTube and optimized for audio listening.Does networking feel overwhelming? Let's fix that. In today's market, 40–80% of roles are filled through referrals, not online applications. But building and maintaining those relationships is hard. In this video, I'll walk you through how to automate your entire job search networking system using n8n and ChatGPT. You'll learn how to auto-track every connection, generate personalized follow-up reminders, and use AI to create summaries and next steps…All based on the exact system that helped me land roles at Google, Microsoft, and Twitter after getting 0 replies from 300 job applications.You'll also get a free copy of my networking tracker template, n8n automation workflow, and all of the ChatGPT prompts I used. This automation isn't just theory. It's part of the system we use with our job search coaching clients. Whether you're pivoting careers, bouncing back from a layoff, trying to break into big tech, or anything in between, this is a step-by-step job search strategy that works.

Today's show features: - Rob Dell, Vice President of Bob Ruth Ford
 - Frank Zombo, Vice President of Sales at Auto Hauler Exchange

 - John Murphy, Used Vehicle Director at Holler-Classic Automotive Group This episode is brought to you by: Great America – Planning a new service lane, collision center, or showroom refresh? GreatAmerica finances dealership build‑outs and remodels—including service equipment, collision & repair, body & paint, EVSE, car wash, signage, and software. Our fast credit decisions keep projects on schedule, while flexible financing structures are designed to support growth, efficiency, and long‑term ROI—without tying up cash needed for inventory, staffing, or daily operations. Visit https://carguymedia.com/4l4uK13 to learn more! AutoHauler Exchange – Auto Hauler Exchange is the vehicle transportation marketplace connecting shippers and carriers directly to remove inefficiencies, cut delivery timelines in half, and save 15-20% on transport. Visit https://www.autohaulerexchange.com/ to set up your free account today. Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠ CDG News ➤ ⁠https://news.dealershipguy.com/⁠ CDG Jobs ➤ ⁠https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/⁠ CDG Recruiting ➤ ⁠https://www.cdgrecruiting.com/⁠ My Socials: X ➤ ⁠https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠ LinkedIn ➤⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠ Facebook ➤⁠ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠dealershipguy.com

What happens when AI moves from a standalone tool to a teammate that works inside the flow of your organization? In this episode, I'm joined by Mick Hodgins, General Manager for EMEA at Notion, to explore how the idea of a connected AI workspace is reshaping the way teams collaborate, make decisions, and measure productivity. With a career that includes more than a decade at Google scaling growth across multiple countries, Mick brings a unique perspective on what it takes to build technology businesses across diverse markets and why this moment in AI feels fundamentally different from previous waves of innovation. We talk about Notion's journey from a flexible, block-based collaboration platform to an AI-native workspace where context is the real differentiator. Mick explains why AI performs better when it understands how work actually happens, and how embedding agents directly into shared workflows allows teams to move from prompting tools to orchestrating outcomes. From automated reporting and knowledge management to self-improving agent loops that learn from their own performance, the conversation brings to life how organizations are already using AI to remove the "work around the work" and focus on higher-value thinking. A major theme throughout the discussion is return on investment. In a world where many companies are still stuck in pilot mode, Mick shares how leaders can reframe ROI around productivity, speed, and the elimination of repetitive tasks rather than treating AI as a single project with a fixed payback period. We also explore how roles, org structures, and hiring priorities are beginning to shift as agents become extensions of team capability rather than experimental add-ons. Because Mick leads the EMEA region, we also dive into the differences in adoption between the US and Europe, from regulatory considerations and cultural attitudes to the growing strength of the European startup ecosystem. It's a balanced view that recognizes both the caution and the creativity emerging across the region. This is ultimately a conversation about friction. What happens to an organization when coordination overhead disappears, when reporting builds itself, and when knowledge stays current without human intervention? So as AI agents move from novelty to infrastructure, are businesses ready to redesign how work gets done, and what becomes possible when teams stop managing tasks and start compounding impact?

There comes a point in your business where the next business growth investment is not about tactics. It's not even about strategy. It is about investing in the right rooms that give you access. You may be considering a mastermind, a coach, or a high-level room that looks impressive on paper. And yet something inside you pauses. Not fear. Not scarcity. Just awareness. Because when you have built real experience, you know that the wrong room does not just cost money. It costs momentum, confidence, and clarity. In Episode 480 of Amplify Your Success Podcast, I share the leadership filter I personally use when deciding whether a growth container is aligned. Not based on bold income promises. Not based on urgency. But based on the stage of growth, leadership maturity, and the version of you that is emerging. I outline the three distinct stages of an expert-based business and why each stage requires a different type of support. A room that stretches one leader can overwhelm another. A container that once expanded you can quietly start to constrain you if you have outgrown it. I also walk through the red flags that signal misalignment, the green flags that reflect integrity and stability, and the difference between healthy stretch and pressure that pulls you off center. If you are evaluating your next investment and want to choose from sovereignty rather than emotion, this episode will help you make a grounded decision that protects your authority and supports your expansion.   Key Takeaways: [00:00] Why investing in the wrong growth container often comes down to evolving discernment, not failure. [06:48] The three stages of growth in an expert-based business and what kind of support each stage truly requires. [07:56] Stage One: Why foundational clarity and skill-based coaching matter more than high-level strategy rooms. [10:57] Stage Two: The hybrid model that supports scaling peer mastermind plus strategic advisory. [14:29] Stage Three: Why curated proximity and leadership-level conversations become essential. [20:07] Red flags to watch for when evaluating a mastermind or coach, including income promises and emotional manipulation. [23:38] Green flags that signal alignment, transparency, and real track record. [26:38] The real fear behind high-ticket investments and how to evaluate ROI beyond the price. [27:47] Why being in the right room accelerates growth  but only if you take ownership of implementation.     Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Previous Episodes in This Series: Episode 477: ​​Why Growth Requires Better Discernment, Not More Strategy  Episode 478: The Four Factors That Protect You From Misaligned Collaborations Episode 479: When to Say Yes (and No) to a Speaking Opportunity Visibility Velocity is a free 3-day live online experience where established experts, coaches, consultants, and thought leaders learn how to turn visibility into real authority, premium clients, and momentum that compounds. Over three focused days, you'll discover how to stop chasing exposure and start building visibility that converts, positions you as the obvious choice, and opens doors to higher-level opportunities. If you're ready to move from being known by some to being recognized and referred consistently, register at VisibilityVelocity.com  The Rising Tide Collective is an online community where experts and leaders come together to co-create visibility opportunities and aligned collaborations that lift everyone up. Each month you can participate in our signature mini-minds, a curated connection space, showcase your business, and gain access to tools to build powerful, profitable partnerships. If you're ready to lead at your next level, apply for membership at MelanieBenson.com/Collective.   

1 Timothy 4:8 NIV “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”   *Transcription Below*   Brian Smith, author of The Christian Athlete: Glorifying God in Sports, is a staff member with Athletes in Action and a cross-country coach at Lowell High School. A former collegiate runner at Wake Forest University, he earned a BA in Communications and Journalism before completing his MA in Theology and Sports Studies at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. Brian lives in Lowell, MI with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @BrianSmithAIA.   Ed Uszynski is an author, speaker, and sports minister with over three decades' experience discipling college and professional athletes. With a heart for reconciliation and justice, he also works as a racial literacy consultant and marriage conference speaker, blending Biblical wisdom with practical living in the midst of complex cultural realities. He has two theological degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and live in Xenia, Ohio.   The Christian Athlete Website   Thank You to Our Sponsor:  Sam Leman Eureka   Questions and Topics We Cover: What is one of kids' greatest game day complaints?  Is it true that young athletic success is a predictor of adult athletic success? What are a few tips for instilling a heart of gratitude in our young athlete, rather than entitlement?   Related Savvy Sauce Episode: 230 Intentional Parenting in All The Stages with Dr. Rob Rienow   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:51) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   The principles of honesty and integrity that Sam Leman founded his business on continue today, over 55 years later, at Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka.   Owned and operated by the Bertschi family, Sam Leman and Eureka appreciates the support they've received from their customers all over Central Illinois and beyond. Visit them today at lemangm.com.   Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski are my guests for today.   They are co-authors of this recent amazing book entitled, A Way Game, A Christian Parents Guide to Navigating Youth Sports. And from the very beginning, I was captivated, even with one of the endorsements from Matt Martens, who's the president and CEO of Awana, and he summed it up this way, A Way Game provides a much needed perspective shift on one of the most sacred idols in our culture, youth sports. So, Brian and Ed are all for youth sports, and yet you're going to hear there's a different way to approach it than what we've been trained in culture.   And they're going to share some wonderful and very practical insights. I can't wait to share this with you. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ed and Brian.   Ed Uszynski & Brian Smith: (1:51 - 1:54) Thanks for having us, Laura. Yeah, good to be here, Laura.   Laura Dugger: (1:54 - 2:04) So, excited about this chat. And will the two of you just start us off by sharing your family's stage of life and your involvement in sports?   Brian Smith: (2:05 - 3:29) Yeah, there could be a lot on the back end of that question. I'll start with sports, then get into family. I've been involved in sports my entire life, played every sport imaginable growing up, got cut from just about every single sport my freshman year of high school, ended up running track and cross country because it was the only sports that you could not get cut from at my high school.   And I ended up being pretty good at it by the time I was a senior, won some state championships, ended up getting a scholarship to run at Wake Forest University. So, I did that for four years right out of college. I coached a little bit collegiately.   Soon after that, I joined staff with a sports ministry called Athletes in Action that Ed and I have a combined 50 years with Athletes in Action. And really, that's been my life ever since. I've been ministering to college and pro athletes, discipling them, helping them figure out what does that actually look like to integrate faith in sport.   Even today, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I coach high school cross country while I'm still on staff with Athletes in Action. I have a middle school Bible study that I run on Wednesday mornings.   Been married to my wife, who I actually met in high school. She was a distance runner too, and she ran at Wisconsin. So, we've been married for 20 years.   We have three kids, a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler who are all involved in sport at some level, some way, shape, or form.   Laura Dugger: (3:30 - 3:34) Wow, that's incredible. Thank you, Brian. And Ed, what about you?   Ed Uszynski: (3:34 - 5:04) Well, my story is very parallel to Brian's, just different sports and some different numbers. Just tack on 15 years. Yeah, I was a basketball player.   Grew up on the west side of Cleveland with a high school football coach. My dad was, but I was a basketball player. I played at high levels all the way through my 20s, got to play overseas.   I mean, this was a long time ago, but I got everything I could out of that sport. And as soon as I graduated from college, though, I started to work with that Athletes in Action ministry that Brian mentioned. So, I've been working with college and professional athletes for 34 years now.   And same, coached at different levels, have four kids. Amy and I have been married for 26 years. We have four kids, three are in college, and one's in ninth grade, who has a game this afternoon, actually.   So, we've just been going to games and have been involved in going to sports stuff for the last 20 years with our kids. And really what happened with Brian, and I is that we looked up a decade ago and realized this youth sports thing was a fast train that was moving in directions that we weren't used to ourselves, even though we've been around sports our whole life. It's like, there's something different happening now.   And then thinking about it as Christians, like, how do we do this well as Christ followers? We don't want to separate from it. We don't want to just go for the ride. How do we do this as Christian people? And that's what got us talking about it and eventually led to this book.   Laura Dugger: (5:05 - 5:23) Well, the book was easy to read and incredible. And I'd like to start there where you begin, even where you go back before going forward. So, when you're looking back, what are the factors at play that changed youth sports over time?   Ed Uszynski: (5:26 - 6:17) Well, I'll say this and then Brian, maybe you jump in and throw a couple of them out there. I mean, youth sports is a $40 billion industry today, which is wild to think about. It's four times how much money gets spent on the NFL, which is just staggering.   I can't even hardly believe that that's true, but it is. And it's really just in the last 20 years that that's happened. I mean, 50 years ago, you couldn't have had the youth sport industrial complex, as we refer to it.   You couldn't have had it. There were a bunch of things that had to happen culturally, as is true with any new movement or any paradigm shift that happens in culture. You've got to have certain things be true all at the same time that make it possible.   So, Brian, what were a couple of those? Again, I'll throw it over to you. There's six of them that we talk about in the book. And I think it's really fascinating because I'm a history guy.   Brian Smith: (6:18 - 8:40) Yeah. And we can obviously double click on any of these, Laura, that you want to, but we talk about how the college admissions process became an avenue where youth sports parents saw, man, if we can get our kids involved in some extracurriculars and kind of tag on high level athlete to their resume, it actually helps with the college admissions process. And so even the idea of college scholarships became an opportunity for youth sports parents to get their kids involved.   And then, yeah, maybe sports can actually get them into college. We talk about the economic shifts that happen, the rise of safetyism and helicopter parenting. ESPN was a massive one in 1979.   This thing called ESPN starts, and we get 24-7 coverage of sports, which they started exploring even early on. What does it look like to give coverage to something like Little League World Series and saw that it didn't really matter how young the sport was, it's going to draw a national audience. And so, we've almost been discipled by ESPN really over the last 50 years with this consistent coverage.   We talk about the rise of the sports complex. This one to me is like the most fascinating out of all of them. In 1997, Disney decided to try to get more people to come to their parks.   They built a sports complex, just a massive sports complex. The idea was, are the older kids getting sick of the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Disney princesses? So, let's build a sports complex and maybe it'll be something else that will draw this older crowd too.   And what happened was, I mean, a lot of people started coming to it, but kind of the stake in the ground game changer was when 9-11 hit. In the months and years after that, they saw a lot less people go to their parks, but population actually doubled going to the sports complex, which is wild to think that people were afraid to go to theme parks for a vacation, but they were willing to travel across state lines to play sports at the Disney complex. So other cities and municipalities took notice of that.   Today, there's over 30,000 sports complexes like Disney's, which again, this is all adding to the system of the youth sports industrial complex. Did I miss any, Ed?   Ed Uszynski: (8:41 - 10:47) Well, no, and that's good. And the reason why we even put all that on the table, again, everybody kind of intuitively knows if you're involved, you know, something's not right. But I think it's important to say this is not normal what's happening.   It's a new normal that's been manufactured by a bunch of cultural trends, by a bunch of entrepreneurs that are doing what entrepreneurs do, and they're taking advantage of the moment, and they are generating lots of money around it. So, it should be encouraging. If it's not normal, that means actually there's a counter way of going about this.   There really can be reformation. But when all this money gets involved, the two biggest consequences that come out of that is our kids start getting treated like commodities, which they are, and we could talk the whole time even just about what that means. But maybe even more importantly, or what comes out of that is that beyond their physical development, most coaches and clubs are not paying any attention to their emotional development, their psychological development, their spiritual development, all the different aspects of what it means to be human that, frankly, used to be paid quite a bit more attention to in youth leagues when I was growing up.   I'm 58 now, so I was playing in the 70s and the 80s. And it used to be expected, at least at some level, even among non-Christian people, that you would take those aspects of a kid's life seriously. And now those just aren't prioritized.   And so, what do we do about that? Again, that's kind of our whole point is, well, as Christian people, we're really supposed to be our kid's first discipler anyways. And part of that role and part of taking on that identity is that we would be asking, what is God trying to do in the wholeness of their life, the entirety of their life, even in the context of sports?   So again, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but that's why we're trying to poke into that to say, oh, we could actually make change. We may not change the whole system. In fact, we won't. Most of us won't be expected to do that, but we can make significant change in our corner of the bleachers and what happens with our kids.   Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:05) That's good. And just like you said, to double-click on a few places, first of all, real quick, the 30,000 number, I remember that shocking me in the book, but I'm forgetting now, is that worldwide, the amount of sports complexes or is that just in America?   Brian Smith: (11:05 - 11:06) That's domestically in the US.   Laura Dugger: (11:07 - 11:52) Yeah. That is staggering. And then one other piece, all of this history was new to me as you brought it all together, but it was also fascinated.   This is from page 32. I'll just read your quote. The American youth sports ball began rolling when a British movement fusing spiritual development with physical activity made its way across the Atlantic Ocean at the turn of the last century.   And Ed, that's kind of what you were touching on, that they were mixing, I'm sure, spiritual, psychological discipleship, physical. Can you elaborate more on what was happening and where it originated? Because we've come very far from our origins.   Ed Uszynski: (11:53 - 13:18) Yeah. And there's been a bunch of really great books written about this topic called muscular Christianity. This idea, like you just said, Laura, of wedding physical activity through sports with our spiritual development and expecting and anticipating that somebody that was taking care of their body and that was engaging in sport activity, that was the closest thing to godliness.   That opened up the door for you to also be developing spiritually. And there was an expectation that both of those are going on at the same time. A bunch of criticism about that movement, but it was taken seriously.   The YMCA is actually a huge byproduct of the muscular Christianity movement. The Young Men's Christian Association created space for sports and for athletic activity to take place under the banner of you're also going to grow spiritually as you're doing this. So again, that was a hundred years ago.   And that's not really what AAU stands for today. The different clubs and leagues that we get involved in just don't talk that way anymore. Of course, culture just in general has shifted away from sort of a Judeo-Christian ethic guiding a North Star for us.   Even if we're not Christian people, that used to be more of a North Star. That's gone now. And so, it really is not expected in sports anymore.   Brian Smith: (13:18 - 13:55) And what we're saying is we cannot expect organizations to own that process for our kids. We can't outsource the discipleship of our kids to the youth sports industrial complex or the YMCA or the AAU. It really does start with us as Christian parents to be the primary discipler of our kids.   And there is a way to take what's happening on the field or the court or the pool and turn it into really amazing discipleship opportunities. But it means, and Ed is starting to tease this out, it means we need to change our perspective as parents when we sit in the bleachers or on the sidelines of what we're looking for and even the conversations we have with our kids on the back end.   Laura Dugger: (13:57 - 15:29) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka has been owned and operated by the Bertschi family for over 25 years. A lot has changed in the car business since Sam and Stephen's grandfather, Sam Leman, opened his first Chevrolet dealership over 55 years ago.   If you visit their dealership today though, you'll find that not everything has changed. They still operate their dealership like their grandfather did, with honesty and integrity. Sam and Stephen understand that you have many different choices in where you buy or service your vehicle.   This is why they do everything they can to make the car buying process as easy and hassle-free as possible. They are thankful for the many lasting friendships that began with a simple welcome to Sam Leman's. Their customers keep coming back because they experience something different.   I've known Sam and Stephen and their wives my entire life and I can vouch for their character and integrity, which makes it easy to highly recommend you check them out today. Your car buying process doesn't have to be something you dread, so come see for yourself at Sam Leman Chevrolet in Eureka. Sam and Stephen would love to see you and they appreciate your business.   Learn more at their website, LemanEureka.com or visit them on Facebook by searching for Sam Leman Eureka. You can also call them on 309-467-2351. Thanks for your sponsorship.   Laura Dugger: (15:30 - 15:31) And I want to continue getting into more of those practicals. Do you want to give us just a taste or an example or story of what that might look like?   Brian Smith: (15:32 - 16:54) We keep saying, we keep talking about the importance of the car ride home that it's tempting for us and not us broadly in the U.S., tempting for us, Ed and I, as people who have done this for 50 plus years and who should know better, it's tempting for us as discipled by an ESPN over analyzing everything culture and want to talk about sports to get in the car ride home with our kids and all we want to talk about is how game went, what they did right, what they did wrong, what they could fix next time.   Maybe instead of passing to Tim, they should take the shot next time because they're wide open. They just hit three in a row. So, and what our kids need from us in those moments is less coaching, less criticizing, less critiquing, and they just need us to connect with them.   The stats on kids quitting youth sports is crazy right now. Its 70 percent are quitting before the age of 13, in large part because it's not fun, and a lot of kids are attaching this idea of it not being fun to the car ride home with their parents who, let's say this too, most of us are well-intentioned parents. We're not trying to screw our kids up.   We want what's best for our kids, but the data and the research and the lived experience continues to tell us what our kids need from us is just to take a deep breath, connect with them, less coaching. Ed keeps saying less coaching, more slurpees.   Laura Dugger: (16:55 - 17:07) I like that. And that ties in. Is it called the peak-end principle that you discovered why kids are resisting that critique on the way home?   Brian Smith: (17:07 - 18:17) Yeah, absolutely. The peak-end rule in psychology is known as this: we, just as humans in general, not just kids, we largely remember things in our lives based on the peak moment of that event, but also how the event ends. And so, the peak moment in sport can be anything from something that goes really well, like they scored a goal or made a basket or something that did not go well, just like a massive event that took place that they're going to remember.   But then it's also married to how that event ends. So, if you think for kids, how does every youth sport experience end? It ends with the car ride home.   So, if they're experiencing the car ride home as I did not live up to mom and dad's standards, or there's fear getting into the car because they don't know what their parents are going to say, how are they remembering the totality of their youth sport experience? It is, I didn't, I didn't measure up. I wasn't enough.   It felt like sports was a place that I needed to perform for my parents or my coach. And I always feel a little bit short. We want to help parents see like there's a different path forward that can be more joyful for you, but hopefully more joyful for your kid as well.   Ed Uszynski: (18:17 - 21:37) Well, and, and I'll just, let me keep going with that, Brian. I thought you really articulated all that so well. I can just imagine a parent maybe thinking, was there never a time to correct?   Is there never a time to give input? And we would say, well, of course there, there is, they need far less of it from us than we think they need when it comes to their sport. And again, we can talk about that.   They need far less of that from us. They need us to be their parents, not to be their coaches. Even if we are their coach, they need us to be more their parents.   But there is a time to do it. We're just saying the car ride home is the worst time to do it. And that's usually the time that most of us, you know, we've got two hours of stuff to download with them.   And that's just, it's not a good time. But the other thing that Brian and I keep talking about is how about, what if we had some different metrics that we were even trying to measure? So, most of the time our metrics have to do with their performance.   Like what, what are we grading them on? Again, depending on what the sport is, there's these different things that we're looking for to say, how you did today is based on whether you did this or you didn't do that and whatnot. And we're saying as parents, and again, starting with us, we needed some other metrics that were actually more concerned about what was going on in their soul.   So again, I'm sure we'll talk more about this, but the virtues, how did love show up in the way they competed today? Where that usually is tied to them noticing somebody else. Do I, am I even asking them any questions about that?   Are they experiencing peace in the midst of all this chaos and anxiety that shows up at every game? How do we teach them to experience peace? How do they become other-centered instead of just self-centered all the time in a culture, a sport culture that's teaching them to always be the center of attention and try to be?   So, we just have needed to exchange some of what we had on that performance list, like tamper that down a little bit and maybe expand the list of categories that we're looking for that actually will matter when they're 25. And we keep saying this, our goal is that they'd come home for Thanksgiving when they're 25. And so, we need to stay relationally connected to them and how we act on the car ride home day after day after day after day, year after year is doing something to our relationship.   But we also are recognizing that it's really not going to matter whether Trey finishes with his left hand at the game today when he's 25, it's not going to matter. It's not going to matter probably a year from now, but how he goes through the handshake line after the game and the way he addresses other people, and whether or not he's learning to submit to authority, whether or not he's learning to embrace other people's humanity. Yes, even in the context of sports, that's really going to matter when he's 25.   It's going to matter when he's married. Those are the things that will matter. And we say that as people who are older and have been involved in ministry and have worked with college athletes and see what happens in their lives even after they're finished, and they have no idea who they are anymore.   And this thing that's dominated their life has not actually prepared them well to do life. And that's a problem that we say, let's start changing that when they're six and not hope they're figuring it out when they're 22.   Laura Dugger: (21:38 - 22:11) I love that because that's such a theme throughout those virtues that you talked about, but discipleship and sports are a tool or a way that we can disciple our kids. I also love that you give various questions throughout the book and even quick phrases. So to close that conversation on the car ride home, if we say, okay, that's what I've been coaching the whole way home, what is a question we could ask our child afterwards and a statement we could say and leave it at that and do it a better way?   Brian Smith: (22:12 - 23:56) The question I have consistently asked my kids after learning that I've been doing this the wrong way for a long time, I tweet my question to they get in the car and I say, is there anything that happened today from the game that you want to talk about? And it's frustrating to me because 99% of the time they say, no, can we listen to the radio? And we listen to the radio, or they play a on my phone, but I'm respecting their desire that they're done with what just happened and they're ready to move on to the next thing, even though I really want to talk about what just happened.   And then the statement that I want to make sure that I'm consistently saying that they're hearing is I love you and I'm proud of you. So, game didn't go well. Yeah, you did play well today.   That's okay. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you. Game went well today.   Awesome. Great job. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you.   So I want that to be the consistent theme that they're hearing for me, which is hopefully going to help them better understand the gospel later in life, that as they get older and older, hopefully they'll begin to realize it seemed like the way that my mom and dad interacted with me when I was performing in sport, but their love was not attached to my performance. That seems really similar to what I'm learning more and more that Jesus does for me, that I'm trying to do all these things that are good. But from what I'm understanding about the gospel, it seems like Jesus loves me in spite of what I do.   He loves me just because He's connected to me, that God loves me because I'm a son or daughter, not because I'm performing as a son or a daughter. So, in a very real way, I really am hoping that I'm giving a good teaser for my kids now for when they fully experience the gospel as they go through the life.   Ed Uszynski: (23:56 - 24:47) Another really good connecting question. I love how you said all that, Brian, is if they don't want to talk about the game, is it okay, did you have fun today? And they can only go in one of two directions.   No. Well, tell me about that. Why not?   And it opens up the door to talk about, well, because I didn't get to play or because something bad happened. And again, tell me more about that. Tell me more about that.   Or they say, yes, great. What happened that was fun? And it creates a very different conversation in the car.   And it opens up, again, relational possibilities that go way beyond, why do you keep passing it when you should be shooting it? Wow. And just all the different ways that that comes out of us, depending on sport, depending on their age.   But those are great questions. Go ahead, Brian.   Brian Smith: (24:47 - 25:41) I just asked my son this morning. He's a freshman. His wrestling season is almost done.   And I just asked, like, what has been most fun for you in wrestling this year? And his first thing was, I feel like I'm learning a lot. And that's really fun for me, which he's on a really good team.   He's had a lot of success. He's made a lot of good friends. But even that gave me a window into his characters.   My son enjoys and I knew this is true about him. But my son enjoys learning, which means he enjoys the process of getting better and better and better, which can happen in school, it can happen doing stuff in the yard, it can it can also happen in sport. But for me to remember moving forward, yeah, he he's probably going to have a different metric for what's fun in sport than I often do for him.   Yeah, like I wanted to learn. I want him to win though, too. He's happy with learning right now.   So, I need to be happy with that for him.   Ed Uszynski: (25:41 - 26:34) If I can say this, too, again, I don't want to be vulnerable on your behalf. But then knowing this, he's lost a lot this year to really good kids. Yeah.   And so much of the learning has been in the context of losing. So, you as a dad, actually, you could be crushing him because of those losses and what he needs to do to fix that and what he needs to do so that that doesn't happen again. And it's like he's already committed to learning.   How do you just how do you celebrate the loss? Like he took the risk to try something new in this movie. He tried to survive an extra period.   That's a process when and it's we just need to get better at that. Like you genuinely can celebrate that. That's not just a that's not like a participation trophy.   It's acknowledging now, do you're taking you're taking the right steps that are actually making you a winner, even if you don't have more points at the end of the game right now.   Laura Dugger: (26:34 - 26:54) Yeah. Yeah. And that long term win that you're talking about, even with character and you've talked about fun and asking them about fun.   Is it true that that's the main reason kids are dropping out of sports at such a rapid rate before age 13 is that it's just not fun anymore?   Ed Uszynski: (26:55 - 28:58) Yeah. Yeah. And why is it not fun?   And again, this is where Brian and I are always getting in each other's business. And we know that this conversation gets in all of our business as adults. But why is it not fun?   It's not fun because of the coaches and it's not fun because of the parents. We are creating stress. We are creating again collectively because we're all in different places on the on the spectrum on this in terms of what we're actually doing when we show up at games.   But if you even just go to any soccer game and you be quiet and just listen to what's happening and everybody's shouting and screaming things and there's contradictory messages being sent and there's angst at every turn and there's an incredible celebration because this eight year old was able to get the ball to go across the line for another goal. And what that's doing inside the kids is it is creating a not fun atmosphere. Let's just say it like that.   That's a not fun atmosphere when you're eight, when you're 10, when you're trying to figure out how to make your body work. You're trying to learn the game that you're unfamiliar with and you're trying to do what this coach is telling you to do. And you're also trying to do what all the parents are telling you what to do.   And if it's a team sport, you're trying to interact and play with other kids who are all in that same state of disarray, which is very stressful and frustrating. And we're just adding to it. So instead of removing it, instead of playing a role that says, we're going to keep diffusing that stress.   And again, I'll speak for myself. Too often, I have been the one that's actually adding to it. And so, kids are just like, why would I do this?   Why would I want to get in that car again with you? It's not fun. This is a game.   And so, there's a million other things that I can do with my time where I don't have everybody yelling at me and I don't have to listen to you correct me for two hours.   Laura Dugger: (29:00 - 29:21) Well, and one other thing that surprised me, maybe why kids are dropping out, you share on page 47, a quote that research reveals a strange correlation. The more we spend, the less our kids actually enjoy their sport. So, did you have any more insight into that?   Brian Smith: (29:21 - 30:50) Yeah, this was a real study that was done at Utah State. Researchers found that the more money parents are spending, again, let's say well-intentioned parents, the more we're spending in sports, the less our kids are enjoying. And the more they have dug into it, they're finding, and intuitively it makes sense.   If you buy your kid a $600 baseball bat, what's the expectation that they're supposed to do with this really expensive bat? When they swing, they better hit the ball, and they better get on base. If we're going to buy you this expensive of a bat, you can't just have process goals with it.   You better swing and hit it. And that's causing stress for kids. If you travel across state lines and you go to Disney to play at their sports complex, you're not there for vacation.   You're there to perform. So even if parents are saying we're trying to have fun, kids know when you're traveling and you're getting all this good equipment and you're on the elite team and you're receiving the best of the best stuff, they know it comes with some sort of an expectation. College athletes can barely handle that type of pressure and expectations, but we've placed this professional on youth sports from fifth five-year-olds to 15-year-olds, and it's just crushing them.   It's crushing them. Again, college athletes and professional athletes can barely handle it. They need mental health coaches for sports, but we're expecting that our five-year-olds can handle it, and they can't.   Ed Uszynski: (30:51 - 31:19) And they may not even be able to articulate it. So that's the other thing. They may not be able to identify what's actually going on inside and put it into words.   So again, that's why we're trying to sound the alarm for ourselves and for others who are listening, because we can do it different. Again, just to even keep spinning it back in an encouraging direction, we can do this different. We can change this this week in our corner of the bleachers.   We can start over again.   Laura Dugger: (31:21 - 31:48) Absolutely and make a difference. And before we talk about even more of the pros with sports, I think it's also necessary to reflect and maybe even grieve a few things. So, what would you say are some things families are missing out on when they choose youth sports to overfill their calendar, that that's all that they make time for?   What do you think they're missing out on?   Brian Smith: (31:51 - 33:16) Yeah, I think a couple that come to mind are family dinners are a big one. That's big for us in the Smith house, is just having the ability after a long day to sit at the dinner table together, to eat food together, and to process the day and be with one another. But when my kids' practice goes late, it means we're either eating almost towards bedtime or we're eating in different shifts.   And so that's something that we grieve. I think for me, when my schedule is full, I'm tempted to adopt the mindset that what's happening on the wrestling mat or on the track matters more than it actually does. And it robs me of the ability to just take a deep breath and smile and enjoy watching my kids play sports.   That without an intervention or a pregame devotional in the car for myself, I risk sitting in the stands or being on the sidelines, being stressed out and putting pressure on myself and pressure on my kids and gossiping about why the coach didn't put this kid into the people next to me, instead of just enjoying the gift that is sports and watching my kid try and succeed and try and fail. That is a gift available to me as a dad to watch my kid do that. But the busyness often robs me of that perspective.   Ed Uszynski: (33:17 - 36:06) Well, and the busyness robs, again, if you're married, that busyness eventually wears away at your relationship. And it's not just sports. I mean, busyness, we can fill our schedule, overfill our schedules with any number of things.   We can overfill our schedules with church stuff to a point where it becomes detrimental to our relationship. If we don't set boundaries so that we're making sure we're doing what we need to do to be face-to-face and to be going to areas beneath the surface with each other in our relationship and being able to do that with our kids as well, eventually there's negative consequences to that. It may not happen right away, but I've definitely experienced that.   We've experienced that in our home where it's easy to maybe chase one kid around for a while, but what happens when you add three into the mix and you haven't really done a time budget or paid attention to the fact that when we sign up for all these things, you get a month into it and you realize, oh, we have to be in different places at the same time. So, we're not even watching stuff together anymore. We're just running.   I can endure anything for a season, but what youth sports wants now in every sport from the youngest ages is that it becomes a year-round commitment. So, you're not even signing up to play a season anymore. You're signing up for a year in most cases because after the games, then they're going to have training.   They're going to have this other thing going on. And so again, can we say, well, we'll play the actual season, but then we're not going to do the additional training over these next three months. Again, we want to give parents' permission that you can say no to that.   Well, we paid for it. Well, it's okay. If you want your kid to be on that team and you like this club or whatever, then you pay the money and you just say, we're going to sit those three months out and we're going to use those three months actually to have people over our house for dinner.   Again, whatever's on the list, Laura, that you said about being more holistic and not letting sport operate like an idol in our life where it's taken on, it's washed out everything else in our life. We can get back in control of that by just saying no a little bit. You can go to church on Sunday.   Even if there's tournament games going on on Sunday, you can go to the coach early and say, hey, we just, in our family, we just don't want to be available before 12. Are you okay with that? And most of the time coaches will be.   The kid might have to sit extra maybe for not being, whatever. Okay. That's not going to be the end of the world that they had to sit out an extra game or had to sit out a half because they weren't available on Sunday morning.   It might actually make a huge difference that they weren't at church for two and a half years in the most formative time of their life.   Laura Dugger: (36:07 - 37:36) And a lot of times the way of wisdom includes reflection, getting alone with the Lord and asking, have we overstuffed our schedule this conversation today? Let's talk specifically with youth sports. Is that trumping everything else?   Because what if we're putting it in a place it was never intended to be as an idol where we sacrifice hospitality or discipleship or community or even just a more biblical way of life? I think we have to bring wisdom into the conversation for what you've mentioned. Whether it's worth it, if they're even enjoying it, how much we're spending on it, and do we have the budget to allocate our finances that way and evaluating the time just to see and make sure that it's rightly ordered.   Did you know you could receive a free email with monthly encouragement, practical tips, and plenty of questions to ask to take your conversation a level deeper, whether that's in parenting or on date nights? Make sure you access all of this at thesavvysauce.com by clicking the button that says join our email list so that you can follow the prompts and begin receiving these emails at the beginning of each month. Enjoy!   But if we flip that to if youth sports are rightly ordered, then what are some things that we can celebrate or reasons that you would want families to give this a try?   Brian Smith: (37:37 - 40:09) The massive positive that we keep coming back to is we have a front row seat to see our kids go through every possible emotion in sport, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And then if we have the right perspective, we are armed with awesome opportunities and awesome information that we're seeing. We get to see what our kids are really good at.   We get to see their character gaps. And then we get to be the ones who, again, who are their primary response, primary disciplers. It really goes back to like, are we trusting youth sports for too little in our kids' lives?   Like many of us are trusting that our investment is going to get them a spot on a team, or maybe they get an opportunity in high school, maybe in college. And what we're saying is, yeah, that maybe. And that's not a bad end goal.   But if that's everything that you're investing into youth sports, it's not enough. Like what you have available to you every single day is to ask your kid if they showed somebody else's dignity on the field. You don't know if your kid's going to hit a home run today.   That may not be available to them their entire life. What's available to them every single day is to ask a question to their teammate, to see somebody and show dignity to them. And that's really, it's like, it's almost the opportunity of a lifetime for us as parents who, when our kids get home from school, we really don't know what happened most of the day.   We asked them how it went and we get the one-word answer. In sports, we don't have to guess. We get to see everything that happens.   And again, if we are actually trusting youth sports for discipleship investment, that's a good ROI. That's a good return on our investment. But we need a consistent intervention almost daily to say, no, this is why they're in sports.   Yes, I want to see them get better. I want to see them have fun, but Holy Spirit, would you help me see things today that I normally don't see? Holy Spirit, would you put them in circumstances and relationships today and in the season that's going to help them look more and more like Jesus by the time the season's done?   Holy Spirit, would you convict me in the moment when I am being a little too mouthy and saying things that I shouldn't? Would you help me to repent? And God, in those moments where I'm actually doing wrong on behalf of my kid, would you help me to humble myself and apologize to them?   And God, would you repair our relationship that way? So again, all of these options are available just because our kid's shooting a ball or they're on the field with somebody else tackling other people. We're trusting youth sports for too little.   Ed Uszynski: (40:10 - 41:10) That's all big boy and big girl stuff. It just is. I don't normally naturally do any of that.   I have to be coached into that. I have to be discipled myself. I have to work through my own issues, my own baggage, my own fears about the future, my own idolatrous holding onto this imagined future that I have for my kid, irrespective of what God may or may not want.   I've got my own resentment. I've got my own regrets from the past. I wish things had gone differently for me, so I'm going to make sure they go different for you when it comes to sports.   And it's hard to look in the mirror and admit that I have anger issues. I mean, youth sports create a great opportunity for me to get up all my pent-up frustration from the day. We've given ourselves permission to do that, in most cases, to just yell and yell at refs and gripe about coaches and yell at kids.   Brian Smith: (41:10 - 41:31) Because that's what we do at the TV, right? When our favorite team is playing, we've conditioned ourselves to say, awful call, that was terrible. Then we get on social media and we complain about it.   We are discipling ourselves to this is how it's normative to respond within the context of sports. Then we carry all that baggage to our six-year-old soccer game.   Laura Dugger: (41:33 - 42:02) Well, I love how you keep pointing it back toward character and discipleship. You clearly state throughout the book, sports don't develop character, people do. But could you maybe elaborate on that a little bit more and share more now that we've listed pros and cons, you still list a completely different way that we can meaningfully participate while also pushing back?   Brian Smith: (42:04 - 43:49) I'll start with the first part, and then you can answer the second. We use the handshake line as a great example of why character needs to be taught to our kids. If you just watch a normal handshake line left without coaching, the kids are going through it, especially the ones who lose with their head down, they have limp hands, there's no eye contact, and they're mumbling good game, good game.   Sometimes they don't even say it, they'll say GG stands for good game. They don't just learn character by going through the handshake line. If anything, that's going through it like that without any sort of intervention or coaching, that's malforming their character.   That's teaching them when things don't go well, that it's okay for them not to be a big boy or a big girl and look somebody in the eye and congratulate them. What needs to happen? An adult needs to step in and say, hey, as we go through the handshake line, whether you win or lose, here's how we do it with class.   We shake somebody's hand, we look them in the eye, and we say good game. Even if in those moments we don't actually mean it, we still show them dignity and honor. And then when we're done going through the handshake line, guess what we're going to do?   We're going to run down the refs who are trying to get in their car and get out of here, and we're going to give them a high five and say, thank you so much for reffing today. That stuff needs to be taught. Our kids don't just come out of the womb knowing how to do that.   We have to teach them how to do it. Sometimes good coaches will do that, but the more and more we get sucked up into the sports industrial complex, we're getting well-intentioned coaches, but we're getting coaches who care more about the big W, the win, than the character formation stuff that happens.   Ed Uszynski: (43:49 - 45:27) They need to keep hearing it over and over again. I have a ninth grade Bible study in my house the other day with athletes and a whole bunch of my son's basketball team. Exactly what Brian just said, I actually was like, wow, I've got them here.   There was a big blow up at a game the other day, and we wound up talking about it. I said, I'm going to take this opportunity actually to say what Brian just said. When you go through a handshake line, this is how you go through it.   I watched what happened in the game a couple days later. Basically, they did the exact opposite of what I told them to do, and they lost. It was just what Brian said.   They went through limp handed. They didn't look anybody in the face, and they weren't even saying anything. I just chuckled to myself, and you know how this is as a parent.   They may or may not do it. Of course, those aren't my kids. I have more stewardship over my child, who actually, he is doing what I've asked him to do because I've re-emphasized it across time now.   It's not a failure because they didn't do what I said. Again, the pouty side of me wants to be like, forget it. I'm just not even going to try anymore.   It's like, no, they're kids. That was the first time they've heard that. They're going to do what their patterns have, the muscle memory that's been created by their patterns, just like we do as adults.   The next time I have a chance to bring that up again, I'm not going to shame them. I'm just going to go over it again with them. Here's how we do it.   It's super hard to do this, guys, when you just want to be violent with people or you want to cry. You got to pull yourself together. That's what big men do.   That's what big women do in life. They pull themselves together in those moments and do the right thing.   Brian Smith: (45:28 - 46:01) You don't know whether the fifth time you say it is going to stick or the 50th time. Your responsibility as the Christ-following parent is to do it the sixth time and the seventh time and the seventh time and trust that God is going to take those moments and do what he does. We're ultimately not responsible for our kids' behavior.   We're responsible for pointing them in the right direction, and then hopefully, yeah, the Holy Spirit steps in and transforms and changes and convicts in those moments, but it might take some time.   Ed Uszynski: (46:02 - 47:47) Tom Bilyeu So that's how you push back, Laura. You were asking that. How do we push back without being just completely involved in it or going for the same ride that everybody else is going for?   There's just little moments like that scattered throughout. Literally, every day that my kids are involved in youth sports, the car ride over, what happens on the way home, how we talk about it, what happens during the game and what we wind up talking about out of that, the side conversations that happen that just get brought up apart from games of how we interact with people and so-and-so looks like they're struggling. What do you know about that?   That's how we push back, that in our corner of the bleachers, oh, how we interact with other parents. We haven't even talked about that yet, that I can take an interest in more than just my own kid in the bleachers and spend way more energy actually in cheering for other kids and just trying to give them confidence and spend way less time trying to direct that at my own child who knows that I'm there. In fact, my side kid has said he doesn't want to hear my voice during the game.   It distracts him. He's like, I'd much rather that you cheer for other people. It's like, okay.   Having questions ready for other parents during timeouts and as you sit there for hours together, what do you talk about? Well, I could be the one that actually initiates substantive conversations over time with them and asks them about what's going on in different parts of their life. And in having done that, people want to talk.   They want a safe place actually to share what's going on in their So let me be the sports minister. Let me take on that identity and actually care about other people.   Laura Dugger: (47:49 - 49:47) I love that. Even that practical idea of just coming to each game, maybe with a different question, ready to open up those conversations. And I'll share a quick story as well.   Our two oldest daughters recently just gave cheerleading a try at a local Christian school that allows homeschool kids to participate. And this is an overt way that somebody chooses the different way. So, it's the coach of the basketball team.   His name is Cole. And at the end of every game, we saw him consistently throughout this season when it was a home game, whether their team won or lost, he would ask them, okay, shut off the scoreboard. It's all blank.   He gathers both teams. As soon as the game is over teams, cheerleaders, the stands stay filled with all the parents. And he says, this is not our identity.   The world and Satan, our enemy, who's very real. He wants us to put our identity here, but it's not here. You made us better tonight by the way that you played and you were able to shine Jesus.   And we're going to go a step further and we're going to do what we call attaways. So, he's like, all right, boys, you open it up. And his team is trained.   They say to the other team, Hey, number 23, what's your name? I loved how you pushed me so much harder tonight and says, my name's Ben. And so, their Attaway is, Hey, Ben.   And everybody goes, Hey, Ben. Yeah, Ben. Yeah, Ben Attaway.   And everybody just erupts in clapping. And the other team is always blown away and they are just grinning, whether they just lost. So, the boys go through that for a while and then they open it up to the other team and they start sharing Attaways.   And then they open it up to the crowd and the parents are able to say, I see the way you modeled Jesus by being selfless with the ball or whatever it is. So, Cole said that his college coach did that many years ago and he's passed that on. And I love that's one way to redeem the game.   Ed Uszynski: (49:47 - 51:39) Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful.   Yeah. That's amazing. And, you know, I, so Brian and I talk about this too.   And I coached at a Christian school. So, we, we think that it's really important if you're going to play sports and you're going to be a Christian coach that you actually take the game seriously. And that we actually are here to compete and we are here to try to win.   There's nothing wrong with that. And we're going to pursue excellence when we show up with our bodies, and we train for this sport and we're going to try to win. Cause I think sometimes we end up kind of going all or nothing, especially within our Christian circles.   We're uncomfortable with that. And it's like, yes, do that. And on the backside of that to do what that coach did is amazing.   It's that, that is, that is exactly what we're saying. We're also going to try to form our souls in the midst of this. We're going to try to win on the scoreboard.   Okay. The game's over, we lost, we won, whatever. There's more going on here than just that. And can we access that together? And again, that's so rare. Probably everybody listening has never even heard of anything like what you just said.   It would be amazing if a bunch of people did, but that's what we're saying. Let's do more of that. Let's find ways to have more of those conversations in our sphere of influence.   Maybe we're not the coach, but we can do that in our car. We can do that when we're at dinners with the other, with other players and other team, you know, we, we can do that. We can take that kind of initiative.   If we have those categories in our mind, instead of just being frustrated that my kid didn't get to play as much tonight. And I'm that bugs me. It's like, okay, it can bug you.   And now I gotta, I gotta be a big boy and get more out of this than just being frustrated that he or she didn't get to play as much. It's hard.   Laura Dugger: (51:40 - 52:11) Absolutely. Well, and like you guys are doing having Bible studies outside of the, the team that you can instill values in that way and share scripture that they're memorizing to go out there with excellence for the Lord. So, I love all of that.   And I've got just a few quick questions, just kind of for perspective. I want to draw out something from the book. Is it true that young athletic success predicts adult athletic success?   Brian Smith: (52:13 - 53:51) It is not true. This is, this is not a hot take. This is researched back more and more research they're doing on this.   And they're finding that there's not a direct correlation between a young elite athlete and them continuing that up into the right trajectory and being an elite athlete later in life in large part, because when puberty hits, like everything is a game changer. So, this is, I found this fascinating and this is probably going to be new to you too. This just came out today.   At the time we're doing this podcast, the winter Olympics is going on in Norway. It's just like, they're killing it. Nor Norway's youth sports system.   This is wild. They give participation trophies for all the kids. They don't keep score until 13 years old.   They don't do any national travel competitions, no posting youth sports results online. So, there's no online presence of youth sport results. And their country motto is joy of sport for all.   And they're, they're killing it right now in the Olympics. So, like, that's not to say, like you got to follow their model and then you're going to win all these gold medals, but it is, there is something to just let the kids have fun. And the longer they play sport, because it's fun, the better opportunity you're actually going to have to see them blossom and develop some of these God-given gifts that they might have.   Don't expect it to come out before they're 13. Even if it does, there's no guarantee that it's going to continue on until they're 23. Just let them have fun.   Ed Uszynski: (53:52 - 55:55) Brian, we, Brian and I got to speak at a church the other day about this topic. And there was a couple that came up afterwards and they asked the question of what, so when do you think we should let our kids play organized sports or structured sports? And so again, Brian and I are careful.   Like I, there's no, there's no one size fits all answer to that. We would suggest as late as possible, wait as long as possible. Because once you start doing structured sport where there's a coach and you have to be at practices and the games are structured and there's reps, it just cuts away all the possibility they have to just play and just to go up to the YMCA and just play for three hours at whatever it is that they like to do.   And they said, well, it's encouraging to hear that they said, because we, we actually are way more into just developing their bodies physically. And so, we do dance with them, and we do rock climbing and they were kind of outdoorsy people, and they just started listing off all these things they do because we want them to become strong in their bodies, and learn to love activity like that. And I just thought, again, that's, that probably would cause a lot of people to freak out to hear that, that they have eight, nine-year-olds that aren't on teams yet.   They're just, they're training their bodies to appreciate physicality and to become coordinated and to, you know, to get better at movement. And it's like, what sport is that not going to be super helpful in five years from now, even when they're 12, 13 years old. And now they really do want to play one sport, and they do want to be on a team.   They're going to be way ahead of the kids actually that just sat on benches or stood in the outfield, you know, day after day after day at practices. Again, that's maybe hard to hear, but maybe there's some adjustments that need to be made again; to give ourselves permission to say, we don't have to get on that train right now. You don't have to, your kid's not going to be behind.   They actually could be ahead. If you do the kinds of things we just talked about.   Laura Dugger: (55:56 - 56:11) I love that. And even that example with what it looks like played out with Norway and also, do you have any other quick tips just for instilling and cultivating a heart of gratitude and youth sports rather than entitlement?   Brian Smith: (56:13 - 57:33) I'm a high school cross country and track coach, and I have kids on my team who want to get faster at running, but instead of running, they want to lift weights and they want to do plier metrics. So, there's, yes, there's a spot for that. But the way you get better at running is to run.   You got to run more miles and more miles. And I think gratitude is similar. That gratitude, part of it is a, it's a feeling, but it's also a muscle that we can flex even if we don't feel it.   And so, I would encourage parents who are trying to instill gratitude into their kids to give them practical things like, hey, after practice, just go shake your coach's hand or give them a fist bump and tell them, thanks for practice today, coach. That that's a disciplined way to practice gratitude that will hopefully build the muscle where they're, they're using it later in life. After a game, I taught my kids this when they were young and they still do it today.   Go shake a ref's hand. I mentioned this earlier, just a really, really practical way to show thankfulness and gratitude to somebody who really doesn't get a whole lot of gratitude pointed at them during a game or after a game. If anything, they have people chasing them through the parking lot for other reasons.   I want my kids to be chasing them down to give them a fist bump or a high five. And so, gratitude is something that we can just practice practically. And hopefully the discipline practice will lead to a delight and actually doing it.   Ed Uszynski: (57:34 - 59:39) And how do we cultivate an inner posture? Cause I tend to be a cup half empty type person. I'm a, I'm a whiner by nature and a continuous improvement.   There's always something wrong. And I'm, it's easy for me to find those things just as a person. I'm not even saying that as a dad or a coach or anything.   And it's been super helpful to me in the last decade, even to just like, I can choose to shift that. There, there is, there's a list of things that are broke, but there is always a list of things that are good. There's always something good here to be found.   And even as I've tried to like, again, tip the scales more in that direction, I can keep pushing that out of my kids. So, so this, you know, my ninth-grade son tends to just like, he doesn't like a whole bunch of what's going on in basketball right now. So, I keep asking him if he's having fun.   He says, no, like, why not? Or like, who did, why did you not have fun today? So, it's just the same thing every day.   I'm like, okay, who did you enjoy even being with today? Nobody. And I'm like, dude, I don't believe that actually.   I just, I don't believe that. There was somebody that you had some moment with today that you enjoyed, or you wouldn't want to keep going back up there because, and he does. So, give me a name.   Okay. Lenny. What happened with Lenny that was fun? And I make him name it. Like I'm, I'm, I'm trying to coach him through it. And sure enough, he does have some sentences of what was fun today.   And it's like, good, let's, let's at least hold onto that in the midst of all the other stuff that's not right. Let's choose to see the thing that was good and that you enjoyed and that we could be thankful for. Not everybody got to have that today.   Again, I have to have my, I have to be the parent. I have to be the discipler. I have to be in, you know, in charge of my own soul that wants to be negative all the time and say, nope, we're going to, we're going to choose gratitude today because the Bible tells us to do that.   There's something about that posture that opens the door for the gospel to be expressed through us. So, let's practice.   Laura Dugger: (59:40 - 59:50) Well said, and there's so much we could continue learning from both of you. Where can we go after this chat to learn more from each one of you?   Brian Smith: (59:52 - 1:00:14) Yeah, we do a lot of our writing online at thechristianathlete.com. And so, if you go there, you can see articles that are specifically written for parents, for coaches, for athletes, all around this idea of what does it look like to integrate faith and sport together? So, the

In this deeply personal episode of the podcast, we explore what it really means to break up with comfort—in relationships, careers, and life. After ending a nine-year relationship, Amelia shares how staying “comfortable but stagnant” was like dragging a 250-pound anchor while still building a real estate portfolio.We discuss:How real estate investing became the tool to design an audacious, abundant lifeThe difference between being comfortable vs. stagnantHonoring your intuition in relationships, money, and investing decisionsThe power of female investor communities and support systemsTaking messy action, finding “quick wins,” and living in the solutionThis episode is for women in real estate who feel called to something bigger—but are scared to leave what's “fine.”Follow us on Instagram and share how this episode resonated with you.  Resources:Simplify how you manage your rentals with TurboTenantGet in touch with Envy Investment GroupMake 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

Generative AI is moving beyond the lab and into the production environment. But for many enterprises, "pilot fatigue" is becoming a major bottleneck to real ROI. In this episode of AiR (AI in Retail), Top AI Leader, Barry McGeough (Group VP, AmeriCo) and Top Retail Expert, Michael Zakkour (Top Expert) deliver a masterclass on Applied Innovation. Through a real-world case study, they reveal how brands are using generative design to collapse the distance between a creative spark and a finished product. Key Takeaways: - The Text-to-Design Workflow: How designers are using text prompts to bypass traditional CAD bottlenecks, moving from 2D patterns to 3D assets and video in record time. - Crossing the Uncanny Valley: Why high-fidelity realism is the prerequisite for consumer trust and digital transactions. - Applied Innovation vs. "Big I" Innovation: The framework for ensuring AI projects solve core business problems rather than staying stuck in the lab. - The AI Super-Cycle: Why AI is a foundational layer for the next decade of retail, not a temporary financial bubble.

You wrote the book. You poured your expertise, your stories, and your strategy into every chapter. Now it's published—and while that's a huge accomplishment, it's not the end of the journey. It's the beginning of your book's real impact. Because a book on its own doesn't build a business. That comes from how you share it, how you talk about it, and how you use it to spark conversations with the right people—readers who can become clients, collaborators, and champions of your work. That's the work I do as a book launch strategist. I help entrepreneurs design book launches that aren't about going viral—they're about building visibility, credibility, and connections. We focus on the right systems: launch teams, virtual events, personalized outreach, and strategic content—all built to make your book work for your business. If you're ready to treat your book as a serious asset, not just a finished project, let's talk. Schedule a complimentary 30-minute book launch brainstorming session at www.BookLaunchBrainstorm.com. And now, let me introduce today's panelists: Tissa Richards wrote “Rethinking Resilience: Fueling Your Competitive Advantage,” a bold and practical guide that reframes resilience as a leadership asset—empowering executives and entrepreneurs to lead with clarity, confidence, and impact in high-stakes environments. Laurie Seymour wrote “Unconditional Remembrance: Your Connection to Source,” a reflective and deeply spiritual book that helps readers access their inner wisdom and reconnect with their true essence, inviting a more grounded, purpose-driven way of living and leading. Susan Schramm wrote “Fast Track Your Big Idea! Navigate Risk, Move People to Action, and Avoid Your Strategy Going Off Course,” a results-oriented playbook for mission-driven leaders ready to turn bold ideas into real outcomes—without getting derailed by uncertainty, resistance, or overwhelm. Please join me in welcoming Laurie, Susan, and Tissa.  In this episode, we discuss the following:

In this episode of The Science of Flipping, I sat down with Jason from MotivatedSellers.com, one of the top lead generation companies in the game. We got real about what it actually takes to convert a motivated seller lead—spoiler alert: it's way more than a couple calls and a text. Jason breaks down why 27% of their leads close within a year, but 64% of those don't go under contract until 90+ days after the lead comes in. We dive deep into real data, proper expectations, why follow-up is everything, and how you can stop blaming the leads and start closing more deals. If you're running PPC, buying pay-per-leads, or thinking about lead gen in any serious way—this episode is your wake-up call. Key Topics Covered: What separates real lead converters from amateurs The “30-touch” rule to get a contract Why 64% of leads don't close until after 90 days Cost per lead and how to budget effectively The ROI of proper follow-up systems Why speed-to-lead and nurture systems win How solopreneurs can compete with big acquisition teams Why flexibility in exit strategies (Novation, Subto, Burr) changes everything How to treat every lead like gold—even the $30 nationwide ones Tips for getting started with motivated seller leads Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS, pulls back the SEO truths curtain on the world of SEO agencies. Joined by a panel of experts, Favour reveals the questions you should be asking your SEO provider to ensure you're getting the most out of your investment. The discussion covers a wide range of topics, from the true cost of SEO to the importance of a long-term strategy. Favour emphasizes that SEO is not a one-time fix, but an ongoing process that requires continuous effort and adaptation. This episode also explains the four pillars of SEO success — search, find, click, and save — and how they can be used to create a powerful connection with your target audience. Whether you're a business owner looking to hire an SEO agency or a marketing professional seeking to deepen your understanding of the industry, this episode is packed with valuable insights and actionable advice. Tune in to learn how to take control of your SEO destiny and drive sustainable growth for your social business.Book SEO Services? Save These Quick Links for Later>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book SEO Services with Favour Obasi-ike⁠>> Visit Work and PLAY Entertainment website to learn about our digital marketing services>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our exclusive SEO Marketing community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Read SEO Articles>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the We Don't PLAY Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Purchase Flaev Beatz Beats Online>> Favour Obasi-ike Quick LinksKey Takeaways1. SEO is a long-term investment, not a quick fix. Sustainable results require a consistent and evolving strategy.2. The cost of SEO varies, but the focus should be on value and ROI, not just the price tag.3. Ask your SEO agency about their team, workflow, strategy, and reporting to ensure transparency and alignment.4. The four pillars of SEO are search, find, click, and save. The goal is to create valuable content that resonates with your audience.5. Don't be a passive client. Educate yourself, ask questions, and take an active role in your SEO strategy.6. Certifications and partnerships (like with SEMrush) can be an indicator of an agency's credibility and expertise.7. Competitive analysis is crucial. You need to understand who your competitors are and what they're doing to succeed in the search rankings.Memorable Quotes[08:20 - 08:34] "There's this illusion of SEO being a genie that just comes and wipes your problems away and then you rank all day. It's not like that."[08:51 - 08:57] "Yes, it's technical, but the fundamental value of SEO is to connect."[25:08 - 25:16] "These agencies will just sell you snake oil and tell you all these things about what to do, what not to do. And then they leave you stranded, high and dry, pay thousands of dollars and you've not received one click or one lead."[30:37 - 30:47] "SEO is about search, find, click, and save."FAQs1. How much should I budget for SEO services?The cost of SEO can range from $500 to $5,000+ per month. For serious results, a budget of at least $1,000 per month is recommended.2. How long does it take to see results from SEO?SEO is a long-term strategy. While some quick wins are possible, significant and sustainable results typically take 6-12 months to achieve.3. What are the most important questions to ask an SEO agency?Ask about their team, their process, their strategy, and how they measure success. It's also important to inquire about their experience in your industry.4. What is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO?On-page SEO refers to optimizations made to your website, such as content and technical aspects. Off-page SEO involves activities outside of your website, such as link building and social media.5. How can I learn more about SEO?There are many resources available online, including blogs, courses, and certifications. Following industry experts and listening to podcasts like We Don't PLAY! can also be beneficial.Timestamps[00:00] Introduction: What SEO agencies won't tell you.[05:55] How much does SEO cost?[07:33] The importance of a long-term SEO strategy.[08:10] SEO is not a one-time fix.[24:04] How to get into SEO.[25:30] The importance of certifications for SEO agencies.[26:51] The role of competitive analysis in SEO.[30:29] The four-wheel cycle of SEO: search, find, click, and save.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As we prepare for the 2026 Player Development Summit in Detroit, Michigan (May 29–30), this episode takes you inside the movement.This isn't just a conference recap.This is the story of how a virtual gathering of 28 people turned into a national in-person summit with leaders from the NFL, NBA, MLS, collegiate athletics, and beyond.In this episode, you'll hear:• The origin story of the Player Development Summit and how it started in 2023• What made the 2025 Kansas City in-person summit different from any other sports conference• Why collaboration, not competition, defines this community• A powerful speaker spotlight featuring a leader from Monumental Sports & Entertainment• A real attendee reflection from someone who experienced the summit firsthand• A direct invitation for strategic partners looking for real ROI in 2026If you work in:Player developmentAthlete engagementPlayer careStudent-athlete developmentAthletic administrationOr leadership development in sportsThis episode will show you why this summit exists — and why it matters.The Player Development Summit isn't about titles.It's about impact.It's about enhancing the athlete experience through holistic and intentional programs.It's about the people who serve athletes being served themselves.Whether you want to attend, speak, or sponsor the 2026 Summit in Detroit, everything you need is linked in the show notes.BOOK - Get YOUR copy of the Beyond The Field Player Development Guide: https://amzn.to/3TtnaA8 2026 Player Development Summit - https://www.btfprogram.com/pdsummit2026 Player Development Summit Sponsorship - https://forms.gle/vPucKVKaZmTVcLDq9Player Development Newsletter → https://substack.com/@btfprogram

Youth sports can feel like a treadmill you can't step off—more time, more money, more pressure, and a nagging fear that if you don't start at age six, you've missed your chance. In this episode, Ginny Yurich sits down with Pure Athlete co-founder and Parenting the Pure Athlete author Britt Lee to zoom out and ask the question parents rarely get to ask: what is this really all for? Britt unpacks why most kids quit organized sports by early adolescence, why “early dominance” doesn't predict much before puberty, and how the real ROI isn't a scholarship—it's the transferable stuff: resilience, belief, coachability, leadership, and learning to handle nerves when it matters. They talk time audits, parental body language, why the car ride home can make or break a kid's love of the game, and how to keep sports from stealing family culture while still letting it build something lasting. Learn more about Britt and all he has to offer here Get your copy of Parenting The Pure Athlete here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mastering the Human Connection: Networking Secrets from George DubecIn this episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur Podcast, host Josh Elledge sits down with George Dubec, the founder of Ultimate Networking and a man widely recognized as "The Ultimate Networker." George shares his transformative journey from being a high-level athlete to a business leader who realized, later in life, that his greatest asset wasn't his technical skill, but the depth of his relationships. This conversation dives deep into the tactical and philosophical shifts required to move from transactional "business card swapping" to becoming a high-value resource center. Whether you are looking to scale your business or enrich your personal life, George provides a masterclass on why your fortune—and your fulfillment—truly lies in who you know and how you treat them.Transforming Relationships into Your Greatest Business AssetNetworking is frequently misunderstood as a purely professional endeavor, but George explains that it is actually a foundational life skill that should permeate every interaction. True mastery begins with the transition from a passive participant to an active "connector," where the primary goal is to create value for others without an immediate expectation of return. By intentionally seeking out common ground—whether through shared hobbies, sports, or family experiences—leaders can build a level of trust and rapport that far outlasts a standard elevator pitch. This human-centric approach turns a cold database into a living, breathing ecosystem of support that can provide everything from strategic business advice to personal introductions.The difference between a mediocre networker and a world-class connector often comes down to the rigor of their systems for collecting and managing information. George advocates for a disciplined approach to contact management, suggesting that one should never settle for just a name or a LinkedIn connection. By taking detailed notes in real-time about a person's passions and needs, you signal a level of intent and respect that immediately sets you apart from the crowd. This data then serves as the fuel for a consistent follow-up routine; the real "fortune" is found in the days and weeks following an initial meeting, where personalized messages and thoughtful introductions turn a brief encounter into a lasting alliance.Furthermore, George makes a sharp distinction between passive education and active training, noting that networking is a muscle that requires consistent exercise and professional coaching to develop. Most entrepreneurs are "educated" on the importance of networking but lack the "training" to execute it at a high level. By treating networking with the same strategic importance as sales or product development, business owners can identify their blind spots through honest self-assessment and targeted skill-building. Ultimately, when you master the art of the warm introduction and consistent follow-through, you elevate your personal brand and become an indispensable hub within your industry.About George DubecGeorge Dubec is an author, entrepreneur, and the visionary behind Ultimate Networking. Known as "The Ultimate Networker," he has spent decades refining a system that helps professionals bridge the gap between knowing people and knowing how to build life-changing connections. His work focuses on the intersection of human psychology, tactical organization, and the long-term power of the "follow-through."About Ultimate NetworkingUltimate Networking is a training and resource platform designed to help entrepreneurs and professionals master the art of relationship building. Through George's books, workbooks, and specialized self-assessments, the company provides a structured framework for improving networking ROI. Ultimate Networking helps individuals move beyond surface-level interactions to develop the high-level communication and organizational skills required for a successful, connected life.Links Mentioned in This EpisodeUltimate Networking Official WebsiteGeorge Dubec on LinkedInKey Episode HighlightsNetworking as a Resource Center: Why the goal of networking is to become the person everyone goes to when they need a problem solved.The "Fortune is in the Follow-up": Tactical strategies for turning initial meetings into long-term professional partnerships.The Connector Mindset: How making introductions for others increases your own value and influence within your industry.Collecting High-Quality Data: George's system for capturing detailed contact notes to build deeper rapport.Training vs. Education: Why networking is a skill that must be practiced and coached, not just learned from a book.ConclusionThis conversation with George Dubec highlights that the most successful leaders are those who prioritize human connection above all else. By implementing rigorous systems for follow-up and focusing on being a connector for others, you can unlock opportunities that go far beyond what any marketing budget could provide.More from The Thoughtful Entrepreneur

In this episode, I sit down with Zach Arbucci for round three, and we go deep on what actually matters if you're serious about making it in prop firm trading.Sponsor:

This week's stories: Sinclair's This Is the Test: Are we about to see age reversal in humans? At the World Governments Summit 2026 in Dubai, Harvard geneticist David Sinclair told world leaders that ageing could soon be reversible and said the first human clinical trials of epigenetic reprogramming therapies are moving forward. The core idea is that ageing is partly an information problem, how cells read DNA, not just cumulative damage, and that partial reprogramming could restore youthful function without turning tissues into tumors. Dave frames this as a rare binary moment for longevity: either early, localized human trials (starting with tightly controlled tissue targets like the eye) show meaningful functional rejuvenation with acceptable safety, or the field has to recalibrate fast. Either way, the next couple of years will heavily influence where money, regulators, and serious researchers place their bets. • Sources: – World Governments Summit: https://www.worldgovernmentssummit.org/media-hub/news/detail/ageing-could-soon-be-reversible-says-harvard-scientist-at-wgs-2026 – NAD / Life Biosciences coverage: https://www.nad.com/news/fda-greenlights-life-biosciences-human-study-setting-up-pivotal-test-for-aging-theory-from-harvards-david-sinclair AlphaFold 4 in a locked box: DeepMind's private AI drug design engine Isomorphic Labs, DeepMind's drug discovery company, unveiled a proprietary drug design engine that outside scientists are comparing to an AlphaFold 4 moment, but for designing drugs, not just predicting structures. The big shift is that this system is closed: no public weights, no open database, and access appears to flow through partnerships with pharma companies. Dave breaks down why that matters for the longevity world: if AI makes early discovery cheaper and faster, we might see more serious shots on ageing targets over the next decade, but a closed model can also mean less transparency, bigger IP moats, and no guarantee that faster discovery leads to cheaper drugs. • Sources: – Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00365-7 – Isomorphic Labs: https://www.isomorphiclabs.com/articles/the-isomorphic-labs-drug-design-engine-unlocks-a-new-frontier Peptides in the freezer: El Mencho's anti aging stash and the dark side of wellness After reports and images from the final hideout linked to Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (El Mencho), coverage highlighted a detail that feels uncomfortably familiar to anyone in the modern wellness internet: injectable vials stored in a freezer with a schedule attached, including Tationil Plus, a glutathione based injectable marketed in some places for “cellular health,” cosmetic effects, and anti ageing. Dave uses the absurdity as a narrative wedge, not cartel gossip, to talk about how normalized gray market injectables have become, and how marketing (“detox,” “cellular reset”) often outruns evidence and safety. The segment pivots into a practical filter: which compounds are real therapeutics under medical supervision, and which are expensive folklore with sourcing risk and unknown long term downsides. • Sources: – New York Post: https://nypost.com/2026/02/25/world-news/inside-the-luxurious-love-nest-where-mexican-drug-lord-el-mencho-spent-his-final-days/ – Sky News (Reuters photos referenced): https://news.sky.com/story/inside-the-mexican-villa-where-feared-drug-lord-el-mencho-spent-final-hours-13511954 – Reuters photo gallery: https://www.reuters.com/pictures/el-menchos-last-hideout-inside-villa-where-cartel-leader-spent-final-hours-2026-02-25/W7DK5WEXS5IMLLZQO2P3CXGXFM The disease we thought was dead: measles comes roaring back Measles cases have surged in early 2026, with reporting citing at least 588 cases in the U.S. by late January, already more than many full year totals, and additional updates showing continued acceleration into February. Dave reframes this as a healthspan floor issue: you can argue about peptides and mitochondria all day, but measles is so contagious that once community immunity drops, outbreaks move fast and hit the most vulnerable first, especially infants and immunocompromised people. He also flags the systems problem: many clinicians have never seen measles, which increases the odds of delayed recognition and wider exposure in waiting rooms. The actionable move is boring and high ROI: verify MMR status for you and your family and close gaps before outbreaks get closer to home. • Sources: – AMA Morning Rounds (Week of Feb. 2, 2026): https://www.ama-assn.org/about/publications-newsletters/top-news-stories-ama-morning-rounds-week-feb-2-2026 – ABC News (CDC case count coverage): https://abcnews.com/Health/588-us-measles-cases-reported-january-cdc/story?id=129699078 – CIDRAP (case tracking context): https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/us-measles-cases-soar-588-so-far-year-south-carolina-confirms-58-new-infections DC vs your health: Trump's State of the Union health reset President Donald Trump's 2026 State of the Union included a cluster of healthcare themes that function as a directional signal for agencies and payers this year, including drug pricing rhetoric, price transparency, and broader coverage and affordability framing. Dave translates the politics into a practical heuristic for biohackers: federal posture quietly determines what becomes easy versus painful to access in the legitimate system, from GLP 1 coverage rules and prior auth behavior to how friendly the environment is for telehealth, at home diagnostics, and eventually whatever “real longevity medicine” looks like. You do not need every policy detail in a weekly rundown, just the weather report: reimbursement and enforcement trends shape what stays niche, what scales, and what gets friction. • Sources: – Advisory Board: https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2026/02/25/health-policy-roundup – Healthcare Dive: https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/trump-state-of-the-union-healthcare-2026/812962/ – This Week in Public Health analysis: https://thisweekinpublichealth.com/blog/2026/02/25/the-2026-state-of-the-union-what-it-means-for-health-and-public-health/ All source links are provided for direct access to the original reporting and research. This episode is designed for biohackers, longevity seekers, and high-performance listeners who want mechanism-level clarity on circadian biology, neurodegeneration signals, cognitive training, caffeine strategy, and supplement regulation. Host Dave Asprey connects emerging science, behavioral data, and policy shifts into practical frameworks you can use to build a resilient, adaptable health stack. New episodes every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Keywords: David Sinclair age reversal, epigenetic reprogramming therapy, Yamanaka factors OSK, Life Biosciences clinical trial, human rejuvenation trial 2026, biological age reset, longevity breakthrough news, DeepMind Isomorphic Labs, AlphaFold 4 drug design, AI drug discovery engine, geroprotective drug development, peptide gray market risks, injectable glutathathione Tationil Plus, GLP-1 regulation FDA warning, wellness industry regulation, measles outbreak 2026 US, MMR vaccine status adults, vaccine trust public health, health policy 2026 State of the Union, GLP-1 access and reimbursement, telehealth longevity care, biohacking news, anti-aging research update Thank you to our sponsors! Resources: • Get My 2026 Clean Nicotine Roadmap | Enroll for free at https://daveasprey.com/2026-clean-nicotine-roadmap/ • Get My 2026 Biohacking Trends Report: https://daveasprey.com/2026-biohacking-trends-report/ • Dave Asprey's Latest News | Go to https://daveasprey.com/ to join Inside Track today. • Danger Coffee: https://dangercoffee.com/discount/dave15 • My Daily Supplements: SuppGrade Labs (15% Off) • Favorite Blue Light Blocking Glasses: TrueDark (15% Off) • Dave Asprey's BEYOND Conference: https://beyondconference.com • Dave Asprey's New Book – Heavily Meditated: https://daveasprey.com/heavily-meditated • Join My Substack (Live Access To Podcast Recordings): https://substack.daveasprey.com/ • Upgrade Labs: https://upgradelabs.com Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:30 - Story #1: David Sinclair 2026 2:13 - Story #2: Google Drug Discovery 3:48 - Story #3: El Mencho Biohacking5:30 - Story #4: Measles Outbreak 6:51 - Story #5: Trump State of the Union 8:00 - Weekly Roundup 9:10 - Closing See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hoy Paco y Roi hablan sobre acusaciones de tongo.

In How TV Leads Print Big Checks, the host dives into a high-volume real estate business built on TV, PPC, and direct mail with Green Bay investor Corey Reyment. Corey breaks down how shifting from network marketing to real estate set the foundation for 220+ deals a year, 130+ rentals, and a lean wholesale operation that stays profitable in a fluctuating market. He shares how belly-to-belly appointments, transparent seller reviews, and third-party inspections build trust, why direct mail currently delivers the best ROI, and how TV consistently drives the highest volume of motivated sellers. From market shifts and deal size to hiring, masterminds, profit per hour, and even using AI to coach call reps—this episode shows exactly how strategic lead generation can print big checks and build real wealth. _______________________________ If you want to learn how to run your business in 5 hours or less.... Go to https://www.5HourBusiness.com Subscribe to my YouTube channel:    / @tonyjavierbiz   And if you're into flying and want to follow my Aviation journey, check out my other YouTube channel at    / @tonyjaviertv   _______________________________ Follow me on Social Media: Tiktok -   / tonyjavier.tv   Instagram -   / tonyjavier.tv   Facebook Personal -   / tonyejavier   Facebook Business -   / realtonyjavier   ________________________________________ If you want to dominate your Real Estate Market with TV commercials, go here: https://www.ClaimMyMarket.com If you want to connect with me and my network, go to https://tonyjavier.com/connect If you want to check out Tony's Real Estate Resources and Vendors go to https://www.TonyJavier.com/resources ________________________________________ Tony is the owner of an INC 5000-rated Real Estate Investment Company. He has been featured in Bigger Pockets, Wholesaling INC, Steve Trang's Real Estate Disruptors, Joe Fairless' Best Ever Podcast, and many other top podcasts and platforms. When Tony is not working on his business, he enjoys flying his plane. You can see videos on that and how he uses airplanes to save money on taxes. Don't forget to like the video, comment, subscribe to my channel, and share this with a friend if I'm doing my job and providing value to you and your network. If I'm not doing my job please let me know in the comments how I can be better, your feedback is greatly appreciated. See you in the next video!

John Corcoran is a recovering attorney, an author, and a former White House writer and speechwriter to the Governor of California. Throughout his career, John has worked in Hollywood, the heart of Silicon Valley, and run his boutique law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, catering to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Since 2012, John has been the host of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where he has interviewed hundreds of CEOs, founders, authors, and entrepreneurs, including Peter Diamandis, Adam Grant, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Marie Forleo. John is also the Co-founder of Rise25, a company that connects B2B businesses with their ideal clients, referral partners, and strategic partners. They help their clients generate ROI through their done-for-you podcast service. In this episode… A podcast can open doors, spark relationships, and quietly become your most powerful business development tool. But in a world where anyone can hit record on their phone, what actually separates a show that drives growth from one that fades into the noise? According to John Corcoran, the difference comes down to intention and execution. Professional production is not about fancy studios or overproduced edits, but about clean audio, thoughtful structure, strong branding, and a strategy that supports relationship-building and thought leadership. When you treat your podcast as a core part of your business development strategy rather than a side project, it becomes a powerful engine for networking, credibility, and long-term growth. Tune in to this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast as Chad Franzen of Rise25 interviews John Corcoran about mastering podcast production for business growth. They discuss what separates professional podcasts from DIY efforts, how video has become essential for reach and SEO, and why over-editing can actually hurt authenticity. John also shares advice on leveraging thought leadership and short-form video to expand your impact.

Thanks to our Partners, NAPA TRACS, Today's Class, KUKUI, and Pit Crew Loyalty Watch Full Video Episode In this episode, Melissa Parker, Amy Bartel, and Sara Abrecht join Carm Capriotto to discuss why women are the automotive industry's “secret weapon.” The panel explores the concept of automotive hospitality, focusing on relationships, empathy, and customer experience as key drivers of trust, loyalty, and profitability. They share how hospitality driven environments, strong listening skills, and hiring from service focused industries elevate the customer experience and strengthen shop performance. Sara also reveals data showing female-led shops achieve higher average repair orders, highlighting the business impact of communication and relationship building. The conversation challenges outdated industry perceptions and calls for a shift toward hospitality centered operations, encouraging shop owners to embrace these principles and inspiring more women to pursue leadership roles in this evolving, people first profession. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Introduction and Guest Welcome (00:03:15) - Defining "Automotive Hospitality" (00:06:00) - The "Ritz-Carlton" Standard (00:09:45) - Men vs. Women: Fixers vs. Listeners (00:14:15) - Hiring Outside the Industry (00:18:20) - The Role of the Customer Service Rep (CSR) (00:21:00) - The "Anytime" Presentation (00:27:45) - The Financial Case: Women Drive Higher ARO (00:30:15) - The "Secret Weapon" & Workplace Culture (00:34:30) - The Household Decision Maker (00:37:45) - Rebranding: From "Trade" to "Skilled Career" Melissa Parker, COO, Harrell's Tire and Auto Amy Bartel, Owner, Bartel's Auto Clinic Sara Abrecht, CFO, Dynamic Automotive 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 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmcapriotto/ - Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/remarkableresultsradiopodcast/ - Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RResultsBiz - Visit the Website: https://remarkableresults.biz/ - Join our Insider List: https://remarkableresults.biz/insider - All books mentioned on our podcasts: https://remarkableresults.biz/books - Our Classroom page for personal or team learning: https://remarkableresults.biz/classroom - Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/carm - Special episode collections: https://remarkableresults.biz/collections - The Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/ - Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: Advancing the Aftermarket by Facilitating Wisdom Through Story Telling and Open Discussion. https://remarkableresults.biz/ - Diagnosing the Aftermarket A to Z with Matt Fanslow: From Diagnostics to Metallica and Mental Health, Matt Fanslow is Lifting the Hood on Life. https://mattfanslow.captivate.fm/ - Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: Understand the Numbers of Your Business with CPA Hunt Demarest. https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/ - The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: Marketing Experts Brian & Kim Walker Work with Shop Owners to Take it to the Next Level. https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/ - The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: Weekly Inspiration with Business Coach Chris Cotton from AutoFix - Auto Shop Coaching. https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/ - Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: Develop Interpersonal and Professional Communication Skills when Speaking to Audiences of Any Size. https://craigoneill.captivate.fm

“I don't think there's a generosity crisis. What I think we're seeing is less about the heart of people and more about the struggles people are going through right now.” –Jaclyn JonesOngoing retention decline has nonprofits chasing quick wins and short-term ROI. But when you believe without question that humans are generous like Jaclyn Jones, you play the long game.As the Chief Philanthropic Economist at Masterworks, Jaclyn is exposed daily to the economic trends behind giving. But in the face of downward trends, she doesn't panic. She pivots. Jaclyn believes that sustainable giving is hidden behind short-term ROI numbers. And as nonprofits, it's our job to create the conditions, and build the relationships, that reveal it. In this episode, Jaclyn shares:How to look beyond immediate ROI numbers when analyzing retention and other success metricsWhy she thinks today's economic trends actually disprove a “generosity crisis” in nonprofit givingHow to innovate your channel strategy to connect with donors in ways that are actually meaningful to themFind links to resources mentioned and key takeaways in the show notes for this episode: https://www.futurenonprofit.com/jaclyn-jones/

In this episode of The New Warehouse Podcast, Kevin chats with John Wirthlin, Senior Product and Marketing Manager at Sonaria, about why RFID is finally practical for real-world warehouse operations. The conversation explores how Sonaria turns raw RFID data into operational visibility that warehouse teams can actually use. Rather than focusing solely on hardware, Wirthlin explains how clear business outcomes, operator-friendly workflows, and measurable ROI are driving wider RFID adoption across warehousing, manufacturing, and beyond.Learn more about Sonaria here. Follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube.Support the show

We wrap up our coverage of Commodity Classic in San Antonio, sponsored by the United Soybean Board. We talk about the Soy Checkoff's 35th anniversary, accomplishments, modern priorities, and ROI with former chairs Don Latham of Iowa, Jerry Slocum of Mississippi, and Steve Reinhard of Ohio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most freelancers don't have an income problem. They have a reinvestment problem. Once you start making money in your business, that revenue is no longer a salary. It's fuel. And if you want to hit consistent $10K, $20K, $30K+ months, you have to learn where to pour it.In this episode, I'm breaking down the only three investments that have actually shifted the needle in my business over the last seven years. If you're serious about growing a real business, it's not about buying a better camera. It's about building better infrastructure.

Welcome to episode 320 of Grow Your Law Firm, hosted by Ken Hardison. In this episode, Ken welcomes back Seth Price, founder of BluShark Digital and managing partner of Price Benowitz, LLP, a rapidly growing multi-office law firm. Seth brings a rare perspective as both a legal marketer and a practicing attorney who has scaled his firm to more than 50 lawyers by consistently executing on fundamentals rather than chasing marketing fads. The conversation focuses on what actually drives predictable case growth in 2026, why local search remains the highest-ROI channel for small and midsize firms, and how law firm owners should think about AI, reviews, satellite offices, and authority signals without falling for "shiny object" distractions. Seth shares real-world examples from competitive markets, breaks down Google's proximity update, and explains how disciplined execution compounds results over time. What you'll learn in this episode: 1. Why Local Search Still Wins   - How Google's proximity update changed the rules for competing in local markets   - Why reviews, offices, and authority still drive the majority of digital case volume 2. The Right Way to Use Satellite Offices   - What qualifies as a legitimate office in Google's eyes   - How to choose locations that reduce competition and improve visibility 3. Reviews as a Revenue Multiplier   - Why review count and score directly impact intake volume   - How poor ratings quietly remove firms from the three-pack 4. Separating Fundamentals From "Fairy Dustfai" Marketing   - Why chasing AI visibility without strong basics hurts ROI   - How to evaluate new channels based on revenue, not hype 5. Building Authority That AI and Google Both Recognize  - The growing importance of directories, backlinks, and trusted third-party signals  - Why bios, awards, and credible mentions now matter more than ever     Resources: Website: https://blusharkdigital.com Website: https://pricebenowitz.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sethprice Facebook: facebook.com/PriceBenowitz Additional Resources:    https://www.pilmma.org/the-mastermind-effect https://www.pilmma.org/resources https://www.pilmma.org/mastermind https://calendly.com/jenna-pilmma/strategy-session-with-pilmma AI for PI Expo:   www.pilmma.org/ai-for-pi-expo

This week, we sit down with Mark Ey, Jade Ranger, and Hashim Zaibak for an honest look at the current landscape of independent pharmacy and the role NCPA plays in supporting owners across the country. Together, they share how advocacy, networking, and shared experience make a real difference—whether you're managing a single location or multiple sites. The guests open up about how NCPA shaped their journeys, the challenges they face each year, and why staying connected to other owners is critical. Become a member now: https://ncpa.org/membership 00:00 – Introductions & Opening the Conversation 02:00 – Meet the Pharmacy Owners 04:00 – What NCPA Really Does for Independent Pharmacies 06:00 – The Path to Joining NCPA 08:00 – Why Independent Pharmacies Need a Unified Voice 10:00 – Understanding the ROI of NCPA Membership 12:00 – Real Financial & Operational Benefits 14:00 – The Power of Networking Across States  Hosted By: Johnathon Duhon | VP of PMS Sales, RedSail Technologies Guest: Mark Ey | SVP & COO, NCPA Jade Ranger | Owner/Pharmacist, The Prescription Shoppe Hashim Zaibak | Founder, Hayat Pharmacy  Looking for more information about independent pharmacy? Visit https://www.redsailtechnologies.com 

Conference season is one of the most energizing times of the year for financial advisors. From fresh marketing ideas to meaningful connections and leadership growth, the upside can be huge. But without a plan, it can just as easily turn into overwhelm, shiny object syndrome, and a notebook full of ideas that never see the light of day. In this episode, I walk you through a simple four-phase framework — before, during, after, and six months later — so you can actually measure ROI from the events you attend and make sure they move the needle in your business.In this episode, you'll learn:How to schedule the right debriefs and CEO time before you even leave for a conference so you don't waste the momentum when you return How to set a clear conference goal that filters sessions, networking, and opportunities through what actually matters to your businessA smarter way to take notes that prioritizes action over inspiration so you leave with a plan, not just a pile of quotes How to protect your team from idea overload and bring back focused, strategic priorities instead of a firehose of changeWhat to measure six months later so you can determine whether a conference truly delivered ROI — in time saved, revenue gained, relationships built, or friction reduced Conference season does not have to equal overwhelm. With the right structure, it can become one of the most profitable and strategic investments you make all year. When you approach events with intention before you go, discipline while you're there, and measurable follow-through afterward, you stop attending based on vibes and start attending based on results. Choose one action from this episode and put it on your calendar today — your future self (and your bottom line) will thank you.Learn more about the Group Coaching & Mastermind HERE! Check out The First 100 Days Course: The Advisor's Blueprint for a Remarkable Client Experience HERE!Learn more about Asset-Map financial planning software HERE! Learn more about our sponsor Beemo Automation HERE! Check out the Efficient Advisor YouTube Channel HERE!Connect with Libby on LinkedIn HERE!Successful businesses don't get built alone. You need community! You need collaboration! Join us in The Efficient Advisor Community on Facebook.

Frazer Rice and Bram Weinstein, the “Voice of the Washington Commanders,” discuss the shift in sports media for entrepreneurs. The current state of sports journalism is in flux, especially with the decline of the Washington Post’s sports section and its implications for local coverage. We explore the opportunities that come from this void. (Including the potential for new media ventures and the challenges of monetizing content in a fractured media landscape). The discussion also touches on the future of the Washington Commanders, the importance of audience engagement, and the evolving nature of podcasting and digital media. https://youtu.be/O0syDGcSkvU https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Ut9QRj7X9QD1pGEA6y6qt?si=39nLO2reQ8SK_nj0zenzDA Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠) Takeaways The Washington Post’s sports section closure is seen as a significant loss. There is a growing opportunity for new media companies to fill the coverage void. Monetizing media ventures requires innovative strategies and diverse revenue streams. Podcasters face challenges in gaining audience traction and monetization. The Commanders’ future depends on effective roster changes and health improvements. Engagement with the audience is crucial for media success. Digital platforms like YouTube provide exposure but limited revenue. The media landscape is rapidly changing, requiring adaptability. Local sports coverage is essential for community engagement. The importance of maintaining journalistic integrity in a changing media environment. SPORTS MEDIA FOR ENTREPRENEURS CHAPTERS 00:00 The State of Sports Journalism 02:59 Opportunities in Media 06:07 Monetizing Media Ventures 09:05 Navigating Podcasting Challenges 11:59 The Future of the Commanders 15:06 Engaging with the Audience DISCOVERING BRAM, THE COMMANDERS, AND AMPIRE MEDIA BRAM on SPOTIFY AMPIRE MEDIA ON YOUTUBE AMPIRE MEDIA WEBSITE Transcript of “SPORTS MEDIA FOR ENTREPRENEURS” Frazer Rice (00:00.686)Welcome aboard, Bram. Bram N Weinstein (00:02.551)Hey, Frazer, how are you? Frazer Rice (00:03.736)Doing great. The last time we spoke it was about three days before the Chicago Hail Mary, so I’m viewing that as good luck. That must have been something having to call that game. Bram N Weinstein (00:14.071)That was part of the most magical season I’ve ever been a part of. Not only first ever for the franchise, but 12 and five, NFC championship game, hadn’t done that in a generation. It was pretty incredible, yeah. Frazer Rice (00:28.652)No, as a skins fan, now commander’s fan, it’s been a long time, but it was a wild ride. One of the things that’s happened recently, which I know strikes near and dear to your heart, and frankly, for people who grew up sort of following it, has been, I guess, kind of the evisceration of the Washington Post sports section. And it’s got all sorts of impacts. But from your perspective, How do you make sense of that and what does it look like going forward for a city essentially that has all the major sports and the major paper not really covering it? Bram N Weinstein (01:09.719)I don’t make sense of it. I don’t understand it. I think at its core, The Washington Post is two things. It’s one of the most important publications in the world as the paper of record in the most powerful city in the world and the democratic center of the world. But it also is a local newspaper for one of the top 10 markets, top five markets in the country. And the idea that it would not cover its sports teams, or Metro desk, which, I know, you know, for our purposes, we focused a lot on the sports desk being shuttered. The Metro desk is too. So the Washington Post not covering the mayor’s office, city council meetings like in especially in these political times where, you know, the district budget is held by the federal government. To me, it doesn’t even it doesn’t compute that that wouldn’t exist. as far as like the sports section goes, which I think is like the lesser of the two real problems with this, but obviously is a real problem is, you I think for me, it feels like a death. I grew up reading the Washington Post. A lot of the reasons why I wanted to do what I wanted to do was through osmosis of reading Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon and Tom Boswell and all of the great writers that came through the Washington Post. And I just don’t really understand how it’s not within the business model to be part of this. At the same time, you know, it does open opportunities for entrepreneurs like myself who have media companies and are always looking for new talent and always looking for openings. And I can tell you that void is going to get filled. But I do think it is sad that the Washington Post could not figure out a way to modernize itself to allow its coverage to continue for its loyal readership. This is a local paper that isn’t covering local news. That is astoundingly terrible in terms of a business practice to me. Frazer Rice (03:14.317)It’s weird because from my perch here in New York, I work across the street from the New York Times building and there’s a little bit of sort of guffawing that the New York Times has turned into a gaming company and sort of a media company second, which has helped to subsidize its continued commitment to long form journalism. But even then, I mean, it’s really focusing on arts and leisure and cookbooks and wordel and all sorts of things like that. And it’s a shame that the Washington Post either couldn’t pivot in that direction or otherwise make sense of things. Bram N Weinstein (03:48.727)Is the business model of media the same that was no. so there are a few things that play here to be fair. I’m not asking Jeff Bezos to lose money. You know, like, or just be the beneficiary to subsidize something, but you do bring up a point, which is. And I read this quote recently from, the old ownership group, the Graham family, who basically said. “You know, the newspaper is a grocery store. Like you are supposed to go in there and pick all the different things that you want. And hopefully there’s something for everybody or hopefully a number of things for everybody. And in modern times, the New York Times has done a very good job of putting together a new modern grocery store for people. So there’s a variety of different things that does subsidize the important work that it does. And in the end, like to me, the New York Times and the Washington Post and maybe the Wall Street Journal. Are the three most important newspaper entities, if you can call them that, in the United States of America. And for one of them to not understand their role in protecting democracy, in covering our world, in informing the readership, whether it’s locally or nationally, to me is an absconding responsibility. So I don’t know what the answer is. Again, I’m not like demanding Jeff Bezos just…money to keep things subsidized. Like it is a business and I understand that, but there must have been better ways to go about it or maybe, you know, sell it to someone who does have ideas because it’s important for its foundations to remain intact. And so I just, you know, for me, it’s, been hard to digest, honestly. And like to your original question of like, like, how do you make sense of it? I really don’t. I don’t make any sense of it. Frazer Rice (05:39.692)Well, you also now have a fledgling media company and I’m a devourer of yours and Kim’s and Standix podcasts and I learned something from it each time. I see an opportunity there if major component of the media establishment in the area is abdicating its role, not only to the major sports that aren’t getting covered as much. There’s an opportunity there. But even like the local hotbed sports like lacrosse, they’re completely ignored, I would imagine. And that might be a way to sort of get some grassroots component going. Bram N Weinstein (06:17.195)Yeah, we also here with my company Empire see the opportunity, unfortunately, but we do. And there’s a lot of talent that is available. There is a void in coverage. We know, you know, the size of our community, the appetite for sports. And so, you know, I don’t want to say too much, but we are actively seeking partners to expand in a pretty large way if possible. So Frazer Rice (06:24.045)Right. Bram N Weinstein (06:46.067)We’re working towards that and I’ve been working towards that and moving very fast in the hopes that we’re not the only ones thinking this like you. There’s a lot of people thinking there’s an opportunity here. I wish it wasn’t the opportunity that it is, but it has presented itself and it’s an opportunity that we intend to see through. So we are actively speaking to a number of different interested parties about funding a major expansion of what we’re doing. Frazer Rice (07:11.379)Really cool. Well, I’ll be sure to keep an eye on that as it develops. When you’re thinking about sort of the money making aspect of it, we don’t do things for free and it’d be lovely if we all had time and disposable income to do that without giving away the playbook because you’re raising money and you don’t want to give that up necessarily. But how do you think about that in terms of delivering value for sponsors or advertisers or the general audience? Have you made any…sort of commitment strategy-wise there. Bram N Weinstein (07:42.197)Yes, digital audio video forward. You know, I also believe in enterprise journalism. I also very much believe in long form journalism, but the audience appetite for it is limited. And so you do have to subsidize it. And that comes in the form of a number of different properties repurposed for different platforms in various ways, podcasts, video shows, YouTube. All offer opportunities to monetize the same content. I have been studying very closely the things the New York Times has done and thought about what kind of engagement tools would be necessary to be an added perk for those who would end up probably subscribing to a situation like this. So there are a lot of different types of financial models. One is subscriptions. in a variety of different ways, whether it’s premium content, newsletters, one of them is obviously advertising, which would come with YouTube or different streaming channel, streaming network, podcasts, obviously, sponsorship, which could go across the board for all of the different categories. And, lastly, live events. And this is something that we are very capable of doing as well. So there are a tremendous amount of different models to make money. None of them are easy. And because the audiences are so fractured, I think you have to find ways to make financial streams in the same content in various different forms. But we’re willing to do that. And we’ve already kind of done that with what I’ve done with Empire on a very limited role, which is why we think we’re ready to make this expansion and move. But we need an investor to buy in and to the investors, I would say to them, we intend to make you money and we intend to be something that could be purchased in a three to five to 10 year plan. So we understand the importance of making sure that the investment is paid off in the end as well. Frazer Rice (09:52.205)Cool. Are you thinking about expanding into other subject matter areas? you’re in DC, so politics, guess, would be a natural fit. Right. Bram N Weinstein (09:59.965)Not really. And I wouldn’t personally, like, I just don’t feel like that’s my expertise. So no, but like, could we be something like the ringer where you’re looking into culture, you’re looking into arts, music, dining, those types of things? Yeah, I think like that’s something I’m not sure that I would move fast into a realm like that. Like we see the void in sports coverage for this marketplace. We would like to fill that void. And whatever we do after that would be dabbling in those spaces to try to, again, find new ways to find new audiences. But we want to go with our core products first. And certainly for me personally, the politics world is completely above my pay grade. So I’m out of that. Yeah. Frazer Rice (10:46.028)It’s above everybody’s I think if anybody could figure it out It’s it’s one of those Rubik’s cubes that it’s not worth solving oftentimes So, you know one of the things I don’t know if I’d struggle with or I’m Would like to expand on my front is just getting my podcast out to more people and the concept of discover ability and one of the strengths that I think you have Is you know your current position in traditional media with the commanders? Keim has it a little bit with ESPN, Ben Stendig has it with his Substack, which isn’t traditional media, but there’s different outflows on that front. How do you view that competitive advantage in terms of getting the message out and almost having a bit of a head start over some of the other possibilities out there? Bram N Weinstein (11:30.175)Yeah, well, I think there was always like, you know, for the podcast world. Yes, anybody can do a show and you know, they could be good. The reality is, though, you know, the people who already have stakes in the marketplace, at least from name value, are always going to have a head start. It’s going to come down to how you market yourself and how you go about getting your show out there as much as possible. The reality is you need some level of a robust social presence to get to as many eyeballs or ears as possible. And if you don’t, then you typically have to kind of go down a paid route of making sure that it gets into algorithms. And so it’s a hard climb, like for sure. You know, like when podcasts and kind of open the gates for everybody, same thing with YouTube, like Frazer Rice (12:14.54)Mm. Bram N Weinstein (12:23.444)You know, there’s going to be a lot of success stories. There’s going to be a lot more people who are either doing it for love of the game, but not for money. And that’s just the reality of how much time any person has to give up to content. And secondarily, who can get to enough of an audience to make it worthwhile? As you probably know, you need thousands of downloads to really make any kind of real money at all on a podcast episode. Getting to thousands of downloads. doesn’t sound like a big, like if I said, you have to get to a thousand, like a thousand doesn’t sound like a lot for one episode, but it’s way harder to do. wager a guess that 90 % of podcasts do not reach 1000 downloads per episode. So it’s a very hard number to reach. And if you really want to make money, money on it, we’re talking about getting 10,000 an episode. Sure, anybody like myself that has various different platforms I can use to promote my own shows has a head start in that manner. And that would always have been for anybody in traditional media who had a following to start with, if they were willing to jump into the digital side quickly, they were always going to have a head start because they already had an audience that was built in. It was just converting them. Frazer Rice (13:39.572)You know, and for me, the conversion isn’t so much, you know, buying pillows or mattresses from the advertising that comes on the show. I don’t have any advertisers. The ROI for me is, in a client, one client, maybe listening to it and then calling up. And all of a sudden that pays for everything, in sort of my day job. Bram N Weinstein (13:52.992)Yes. Bram N Weinstein (13:57.813)Yeah, well, I think you’re actually looking at it the right way. Like, could your show end up having a big audience? Yeah, of course it could. But like, the reality is for most people who are doing podcasts for the other purpose, which is either marketing, client curation, branding, like those have extraordinary value to like my company’s done a lot of B2B type podcasts. And I explained this, you know, to them, and most of the people I work with aren’t looking, they don’t think they’re going to be Pat McAfee. But like, they understand that like, The value in doing this well is going to get paid back exponentially in client curation, marketing, entering new market spaces, expanding business opportunity, because it done well, it can really have that kind of benefit for you. Frazer Rice (14:43.563)How do you make sense of all the different platforms that are out there? You know, I converted to video because ignoring YouTube meant basically ignoring Google and I was like, well, that’s dumb. I know, Spotify’s out there. iTunes has just converted to video. And then you’ve got all the different podcasts, platforms, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. How do you, it just seems like it changes weekly in many ways as to what’s in favor, what’s not. When you’re making a bet on your company, how do you deal with that? Bram N Weinstein (15:06.996)Yeah. Yeah, think. Yeah, it’s hard. Things have changed a lot. Like, for the most part, we double up our podcasts now and they’re taped on video. So they’re disseminated with not a tremendous amount of production value behind them. And of course, you know, used as audio podcasts as well. So it’s a two in one situation. And we find that YouTube. The advertising dollars there are very small, but the exposure, not unlike when we were talking about kind of marketing yourself, the exposure of being there, if you can get thousands of views, often offers up a lot of different opportunities. Sponsors prefer to be visually seen than just audibly heard. So like in both of those cases, they can be beneficial. like we don’t frankly make a lot of like we have on YouTube. We only have two primary shows with Empire Media that are on YouTube on our channel. We have about 18,000 subscribers now and we get on an average month like 127,000 views between just the two shows, which is a lot, know, especially for like a niche thing where we’re really just talking about one thing, the commander. So we’re like, we’re not expanding out much more than that. So it’s a very niche thing and yet we’re getting a really, really sizable number. Frazer Rice (16:11.787)That’s good. Bram N Weinstein (16:25.15)If I told you how much money we get paid for that, you’d laugh like it’s it’s pennies on the dollar. But the exposure of having it and the amount of views and impressions that it generates gets us sponsorship opportunities because people want to be part of that. And that’s where the real opportunity comes with YouTube. As far as like using Facebook Live, IG, like TikTok, I suppose. Like. I don’t know, like I don’t think you can be everywhere. I think the idea is to try to be, I think you’re talking to different audiences on each of these things. So I don’t think it’s one size fits all. And it has to be worth it. For me, it has to be worthwhile. Like, is there a reason why we’re there other than we’re just trying to get people but if there’s no benefit of a carryover beyond it and it just happens to hit their feed, but we’re not getting any sponsorship money out of it or any activation out of it? Well, then what was the point? So I’m always looking for right places to be. But there has to be an incentive structure that makes sense, either true carryover audience growth or obvious sponsorship opportunity. Frazer Rice (17:32.076)The cost of coordination of all of that too starts to overwhelm. I know you’ve got a schedule to keep here. I would be silly not to ask about my commanders a little bit. Two new assistant coaches, offensive and defensive coordinator, lots of changes coming in terms of personnel and hopefully sort of a rethink of Jaden and hopefully a lot better health going into next year. But… Bram N Weinstein (17:36.17)Yes. Yeah. Frazer Rice (17:59.84)Potentially better division in many ways, how do you see things going forward? Bram N Weinstein (18:04.71)I don’t know what their team looks like yet. So this is like a hard question to answer because I think they’re going to be very aggressive in free agency and then obviously they have the seventh overall pick. I kind of need to see what their roster looks like before knowing. I you know, David Blough been here the last couple of years. He is one of these very young, very impressive people. I’m glad they kept him in the building. It’s a big ask to jump from where he was to go to offensive He at least is talking a big game like he’s ready for this and I hope he is, you know, like we’ll have to see. I think a lot of it will have to do with the quarterback stays healthy and that just didn’t happen a year ago and the whole team didn’t stay healthy. So they fell apart and you know, like I don’t think health was the only reason they had the record they had, but I think the health made it worse than it could have been like their record probably would have been a little more respectable if the health wasn’t as bad as it was. Hopefully Jayden stays healthy. He’s fine now. So hopefully he stays healthy and on defense Deonte Jones. This is his first opportunity doing this but he’s actually been in the league for 20 years and he’s worked with every almost every major defensive coordinator up until this point So he feels like someone that’s been overdue for an opportunity. I like the system He’s coming out of does he have the personnel to win with I don’t think right now and that’s why I’m like Let me see what they do in free agency. How much money do they spend at what positions? How are they looking to upgrade that side of the ball? And if they bring in what I think will be two, three, four new starters, whether it’s via the draft and free agency combined, then I think we could have a different conversation about what I think it’s gonna look like, because I kinda need to see what the roster looks like first. Frazer Rice (19:44.691)No, there’s so many holes in the free agency component. Not to pin you down on a record going into next year, because we don’t even know what the components are going to be. To that end, as you said, the injuries were a real problem. Everything that possibly could go right in 2024 didn’t in 2025. How does that work over the course of time in terms of regression to the mean? Is just every season completely different or is there something that carries over? Bram N Weinstein (20:19.542)So 2023 was nothing like 2024, which was nothing like 2025. So we’ve had a roller coaster for sure. Um I last year was a surprise like. If you had told me the beginning of the season look like the schedules too hard. They had too many injuries. They went 9889 didn’t make the playoffs. I would have believed you. You know, like it’s just things were just harder to try to replicate. I didn’t expect what ended up. So can they flip that back around and be more competitive again? I do believe so. I also agree with something you said, which was. Right now and again don’t know what the teams look like exactly yet, but I do think the division on the whole will be better. The Giants will be better coached for sure. They have a lot of defensive talent and we’ll see if Jaxson Dart takes another step. And if that’s the case, the Giants may be more formidable than they’ve been in 10 years. The Eagles are still going to have a very, good roster. No matter Frazer Rice (21:04.938)Mm-hmm. Bram N Weinstein (21:16.106)Whatever they do this off season, even if it includes moving off of a couple of primary people, they still have an extremely strong high level roster. And I like how the Cowboys pivoted from Micah Parsons. I know it hurt them last year, but I do like what they did in the return that they got since. So they play their cards right. They could be in line to really make a jump back this year. Like they’re the ones that feel kind of ready to me. If they play their cards right and if they don’t end up, which is the second part, which is never they avoid, they never avoid this. They turn themselves into a circus. So if they could ever stop turning themselves into a circus, I think it would serve them. You know, I think it would be a very positive outcome for them, but their owner doesn’t live in that world. He likes to be a ringmaster. And, you know, I think that that’s probably more than anything been the hindrance to them winning a Super Bowl over the last. Frazer Rice (21:55.004)You Bram N Weinstein (22:14.422)30 years, they’ve had good enough teams to do it. They just don’t and I think they get in their own way. But you know, maybe this year’s a little different for them. Frazer Rice (22:21.364)No question. Alright, how do people find Ampire and sample all the different media that you’re putting out there? Bram N Weinstein (22:31.766)YouTube is Empire Media AMPIRE. We have our YouTube page. You can find that there. My show is under my name, Bram Weisside Show. John Keim Report covers the commanders and Last Man Standing is Ben Standing’s show. And who knows, maybe in four to six months, we’ve got some new offerings. I’m hoping that’s gonna be the case pretty soon. Frazer Rice (22:51.466)Terrific. Thanks for coming on, Bram, and rootin’ for your success. Bram N Weinstein (22:55.414)Thanks a lot. Take care BRAM on “WEALTH ACTUALLY” three days before the JAYDEN HAIL MARY Keywords: sports journalism, Washington Post, media opportunities, podcasting, Commanders, monetization, audience engagement, digital media, sports coverage, media landscape Titles The Decline of Sports Journalism Seizing Media Opportunities https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT/

Part II: How Telehealth is Redefining Clinical Practice and Patient Access Join us for part two of a two-part interview with Dr. Brandon Welch, founder and CEO of doxy.me; a platform that has facilitated over 8 billion minutes of care across 1 million providers in 176 countries. With the administration signing the Consolidated Appropriations Act on February 3, 2026, extending Medicare telehealth flexibilities through December 2027, and patient demand driving unprecedented adoption, virtual care has moved from emergency response to fundamental transformation of clinical practice. Brandon examines how the proliferation of telehealth is reshaping medicine itself: clinical workflows, patient-provider relationships, access equity, and sustainable practice models. Drawing from his book Telehealth Success, he delivers actionable strategies for healthcare leaders navigating the five pillars determining telehealth ROI: patient engagement, clinician efficiency, technology scalability, financial viability, and regulatory compliance in an era where patients expect care everywhere. • Five-pillar framework for achieving sustainable telehealth success across organizations • Financial sustainability models leveraging the two-year Medicare telehealth extension through 2027 • Clinical practice transformation reshaping how medicine is delivered and experienced • Provider success strategies addressing burnout, workflow integration, and practice transformation • Access and equity insights from 176-country, 1 million+ provider implementation Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen/

Steve Reynolds didn't start TripBam to disrupt the global hotel industry—he simply noticed that corporations weren't getting the discounts they negotiated, and no one was checking. After 30 years in travel technology, he saw a broken system hiding in plain sight. What began in 2013 as a consumer hotel re-shopping tool quickly revealed a much bigger enterprise opportunity. When a corporate client offered to pay a subscription fee, Steve pivoted from B2C to B2B—and never looked back. TripBam went on to serve 250 of the world's largest companies, saving clients 5–10% on existing hotel bookings and up to 30% when switching properties.  TripBam grew to $8–10M in revenue, with 50 employees across the U.S. and Europe, and operated as a Rule-of-60 SaaS business. Then COVID hit, transactions dropped 95% in two weeks, and the company had to prove its resilience before ultimately selling in 2023 to Emburse. In this episode, Steve shares why pricing for 8x ROI made sales easy, how profitability and subscription revenue protected the business during crisis, what it's like selling into private equity, and why founders should think carefully before raising multiple VC rounds. Key Takeaways Disrupt Carefully – TripBam aligned with corporate buyers while disrupting hotels and agencies. Price for Stickiness – Targeting ~8x ROI made approvals simple and customers loyal. Profit Is Protection – Strong margins helped survive a 95% revenue collapse during COVID. Avoid Over-Dilution – Limited funding preserved founder ownership at exit. Deep Expertise Wins – 30 years in travel tech created a defensible moat. Quote from Steve Reynolds, CEO and Founder of TripBam "Fortunately for me, since I didn't take additional funding, I wasn't diluted multiple times. I've met so many founders and they go through rounds A, B, C, D, E, F, and next thing you know, they end up with 5%, 10 % of the company. And it just doesn't work.  "You might actually get to a rare big exit, but it's really not going to be all that meaningful for the founders, at the end of the day. I've never kind of fallen into that trap of just getting out in front of your skis. I tend to follow the cashflow and look guys, you know, we got to make it happen on the revenue that we're generating.  "We're not going to go out and bet the farm and borrow a bunch of money and create these crazy expectations, right?  Once you start taking outside money, you get someone else starting to make those decisions for you, whether you like them or not." Links Steve Raynolds on LinkedIn TripBam (now Emburse) on LinkedIn TripBam (now Emburse) website Podcast Sponsor – Designli This podcast is sponsored by Designli, a digital product studio that helps entrepreneurs and startups turn their software ideas into reality. From strategy and design to full-scale development, Designli guides you through every step of building custom web and mobile apps. Learn more at designli.co/practical. The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app or view on our YouTube channel. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. Practical Founders CEO Peer Groups Be part of a committed and confidential group of practical founders creating valuable software companies without big VC funding.  A Practical Founders Peer Group is a committed and confidential group of founders/CEOs who want to help you succeed on your terms. Each Practical Founders Peer Group is personally curated and moderated by Greg Head.

Lewis Weiss hosts another Manufacturing Round Table with economist Cliff Waldman and Chris Kuehl to compare the January Federal Reserve industrial production release and the ISM report. After a year-long manufacturing slump, they point to improving signals: manufacturing within industrial production rose 0.8% month over month with broad-based gains, and the ISM index climbed to 52.7, moving above the 50 expansion threshold. The discussion widens to global uncertainty affecting supply chains, shifting trade patterns as China routes production through other countries, and concern that U.S. policy risks damaging critical trade and supply-chain ties with Canada. They also highlight workforce shortages, demographics,  and unclear ROI from rapid AI investment.   00:00 Welcome and Agenda 01:45 Why These Reports Matter 02:22 Fed and ISM Show Uptick 03:24 Caution and Tariff Drag 04:54 Capital Spending on Hold 07:11 Global Uncertainty and Supply Chains 10:02 China Trade Shifts and Workarounds 13:28 Canada Risks and North America 17:48 Looking Ahead to 2026 19:05 Workforce Shortage and AI Hype 21:02 Training Pipelines and Demographics 27:24 Financing Manufacturing Startups 28:42 Wrap Up and Final Takeaways   Reports: January 2026 ISM® Manufacturing PMI® Report: https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/reports/ism-pmi-reports/pmi/january/ January Federal Reserve Statistical Release: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/g17.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Terry Blachek is Managing Director at Franvest Capital Partners and a veteran fitness and franchise executive with more than 35 years of experience scaling businesses. An original partner of Orangetheory Fitness corporate, he helped shape the brand's signature pre-sale model and built Austin Fitness Group into one of the largest franchise groups in the system. Today, he shares his insights as a keynote speaker, industry presenter, and host of the popular Tuesday with Terry podcast. Top 3 Value Bombs 1. A great franchise solves a real, urgent problem; not just a "nice to have." 2. Strong unit economics mean clear ROI, predictable margins, and investment payback in three to four years. 3. Proof of concept requires repeatable success across multiple geographic markets, not a single standout location. Check out Terry's podcast and learn how to navigate business peaks and valleys with experience - Tuesday with Terry Sponsors HighLevel - The ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies. Learn more at HighLevelFire.com. Thrivetime Show - Make 2026 your best year yet! Start your transformation by attending the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark, featuring Football Star and Entrepreneur, Tim Tebow, and President Trump's Son, Eric Trump, at ThrivetimeShow.com/eofire!

I just turned 44, and we just had our second daughter. Double girl dad. Let's go. This episode is a mix of life lessons, AI experiments, and some questionable investing decisions. I talk about what having a second kid taught me, why self-belief matters way more when revenue is down, and how getting older has made me care less about awards and more about meaning. I also tested OpenClaw, gave it real access to my life, and asked it to tell me what to say on this podcast. It lied. Then it admitted it lied. Which honestly felt very human. In this conversation you'll enjoy 3 BIG things: What becoming a dad (again) is teaching me about fear, confidence, and second reps Why picking the right partner and calling your parents might be the highest ROI decisions of your life How to ignore hype cycles, invest in boring things, and zag when everyone else zigs Enjoy these 3 things plus many nuggets along the way. My book Million Dollar Weekend breaks down how to start a business in simple steps you can do in one weekend. I also send brutally honest emails about business and life. Join 350k people reading them at noahkagan.com.  

Industrial Talk is onsite at MD&M West and talking to Brandon Neer, Tait Stensrud and Matt Redden at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence. The Industrial Talk podcast, sponsored by MD&M West and News and Brews, features a discussion with Brandon, Tait, and Matt from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence. Brandon manages portable devices sales, Tait oversees stationary device measurement, and Matt focuses on production software. They discuss the importance of measurement in various industries, including automotive, aerospace, and medical, emphasizing quality control and automation. Hexagon's solutions integrate AI to enhance efficiency and accuracy, reducing costs through automated processes. The team highlights the significant ROI from integrating quality into manufacturing, leveraging AI to assist programmers and improve production. Listeners are encouraged to connect with them on LinkedIn for more information. Outline MD&M West and News and Brews Introduction Scott introduces the episode of Industrial Talk, sponsored by MD&M West and News and Brews, highlighting the event's focus on medtech automation, packaging, plastics, and design.Scott reiterates the podcast's mission to celebrate industrial professionals and the solutions they bring to manufacturing.Scott mentions the importance of attending MD&M West to connect with industry leaders and discover innovative solutions. Introducing the Guests: Brandon, Tait, and Matt Scott introduces the three guests: Brandon, Tait, and Matt, and suggests using their first names for ease of conversation.Brandon shares his background, mentioning his 16 years with Hexagon and his role in managing the portable devices sales team.Tait introduces himself, stating his 26 years with Hexagon and his management of the stationary device measurement team in the southwest.Matt shares his experience, mentioning his three and a half years with Hexagon and his expertise in production software and CAD CAM solutions. Hexagon's Role in Manufacturing and Quality Control Brandon explains Hexagon's role in manufacturing intelligence, focusing on measurement, sensors, and software.Tait emphasizes the importance of quality control and measurement in critical industries like aerospace and medical devices.Matt discusses the role of production software in driving CNC machines and ensuring part quality.Scott shares a personal anecdote about his brother-in-law's CNC shop, highlighting the precision and quality of the manufactured parts. Future of Automation and ROI in Manufacturing Brandon discusses the future of automation in manufacturing, aiming for full cycle automation in inspection and reverse engineering.Tait highlights the significant ROI in automating quality control, reducing future rejects and costs.Matt explains how Hexagon integrates AI tools into production software, assisting in automating programming processes.The discussion touches on the importance of AI as an assistant to programmers, leveraging decades of data for high-confidence results. AI Integration in Hexagon's Solutions Matt elaborates on the integration of AI tools in production software, using partnerships with companies like Microsoft Copilot.Tait emphasizes the role of AI in assisting programmers and measuring features with high confidence.Brandon adds that AI can visualize geometric features in parts, driving programming accuracy.The conversation concludes with a discussion on the necessity of human interaction in manufacturing and the efficiency gains from AI tools. Contact Information and Closing Remarks Scott asks the guests how listeners can connect with them, suggesting LinkedIn as the best platform.The guests agree, mentioning their individual LinkedIn profiles and the Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence page.Scott thanks the guests for their flexibility and participation, mentioning the importance of building a network in manufacturing.The episode concludes with a reminder to attend MD&M West and connect with the News and Brews crew for more insights and solutions. If interested in being on the Industrial Talk show, simply contact us and let's have a quick conversation. Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2026. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy! BRANDON NEER'S CONTACT INFORMATION: Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonneer/ Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hexagon-manufacturing-intelligence/ Company Website: https://hexagon.com/company/divisions/manufacturing-intelligence TAIT STENSRUD'S CONTACT INFORMATION: Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tait-12a366234/ MATT REDDEN'S CONTACT INFORMATION: Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattredden1/ PODCAST VIDEO: https://youtu.be/B4eLqv_zzWs THE STRATEGIC REASON "WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST": OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES: NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us Hexagon: https://hexagon.com/ Arduino: https://www.arduino.cc/ Fictiv: https://www.fictiv.com/ Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/ Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/ Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/ We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/ YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX: LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/ Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/ Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader): Business Beatitude the Book Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES...The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES! TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES! Reserve My Copy and My 25% Discount

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning workplace podcast where behavioural science meets organisational culture. In the corporate world, we are obsessed with personality. We use DISC, Myers-Briggs, and Enneagrams to "colour-code" our colleagues and predict who will be a great leader. But what if we've been looking at the wrong data? In this episode, we sit down with Juliette Alban-Metcalfe, a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and CEO of Real World Group. Juliette is at the forefront of leadership research, building on the groundbreaking work of her mother, Professor Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe. Juliette argues that personality only explains a tiny fraction of leadership success. Instead, the real "magic sauce" is behaviour—the specific, observable actions that leaders take to engage their teams and foster success. In this episode, we discuss: Personality vs. Behaviour: Why what you do matters infinitely more than who you are according to your personality test results. The "Accidental Manager" Trap: Why founders and technical experts often struggle to transition into leadership and how 360-degree feedback can bridge the gap. Predictive Validity: The science behind why leadership behaviours can predict up to 60% of a team's motivation and fulfilment. Psychological Safety: How to use assessments to build trust and development rather than fear and judgement. Actionable Advice for Leaders: Two simple things every leader can do today to immediately improve team engagement. If you've ever felt like you're "not a natural leader" or if you're an HR professional frustrated with the lack of ROI from personality workshops, this episode is a masterclass in the science of what actually works.

Welcome back to the Rent To Retirement Podcast with hosts Matthew Seyoum and Zach Lemaster.In this episode, Zach reveals one of the strongest builder incentive opportunities we've seen — brand new, A-Class construction rental properties in Texas that are already leased and cash flowing from day one.Because some builders' fiscal years end in Q1, they're offering aggressive incentive structures to move excess inventory — including over $40,000 in incentives on select properties.These are limited-time deals ending Friday, March 13th at 5PM Pacific, and once the inventory is gone, it's gone.If you're looking to maximize ROI, reduce upfront capital, or buy down interest rates significantly, this is an episode you don't want to miss.⏱ Key Timestamps00:00 – Introduction from Zach & Matthew00:32 – Why Q1 creates unique builder opportunities01:15 – $40,000+ incentive structures explained02:00 – How institutional buying power benefits individual investors02:50 – Using incentives: cash back, rate buy-down, price reduction03:30 – Rates potentially in the 3s or 4s depending on structure04:15 – Brand new A-Class Texas properties already leased05:00 – No vacancy, no leasing fees, cash flow from day one05:40 – Incentives expire March 13th at 5PM PacificThese properties offer:• Brand new construction• Tenant already in place• Immediate cash flow• No lease-up risk• Massive incentive flexibility• Economies of scale typically reserved for institutionsThis is how individual investors can access institutional-level buying advantages.If you're serious about scaling your rental portfolio and taking advantage of limited inventory opportunities, now is the time to act.

Reflections from host Sarah Olivieri ... Fundraising Should Feel Like the Most Enjoyable Thing We Do - But I Bet You Don't Feel That Way

Dr. Kevin Christie hosts a solo episode of Modern Chiropractic Mastery exploring why evidence-based chiropractors may resist business coaching. The main discussion outlines seven reasons for coaching resistance:(1) the “coaching paradox,” where clinicians demand evidence clinically but reject proven business mentorship(2) the “I can figure it out myself” trap and trial-and-error costs(3) imposter syndrome and vulnerability around sharing business details(4) bad industry coaching experiences, hard sales, and cookie-cutter protocols, with a call for frameworks over forced systems(5) ROI skepticism, citing research showing ~6–8x returns and strong small-business impact(6) isolation and lack of peer sounding boards(7) the “timing” excuse Christie encourages aligned, values-based coaching and points listeners to modernchiropracticmastery.com.

AI is now a core requirement, not a side project. In this episode of the AiR Podcast, Top AI Leader Kimberly Morgan sits with Sameer Sharma and CK Wang from MediaTek, to discuss how edge AI and AIoT platforms are delivering measurable ROI across retail operations The conversation explores why intelligence is moving closer to the device, how edge AI supports real-time decision-making, improves cost efficiency, strengthens data privacy, and enables scalable AI deployment across stores. Key themes include shrink reduction, checkout optimization, infrastructure strategy, and the practical realities of adopting AI at scale. If you are defining your retail AI roadmap, this episode offers a grounded, execution-focused perspective.

Meet Your All·in·One Creator Store (Stan)https://join.stan.store/the505podcastUnlock your first product and start getting paid as a creator (FREE download)https://the505podcast.courses/paidofferplaybookWhat's up Rock Nation! Today we're joined by Matt Gray, creator of Founder OS, who's built multiple eight-figure businesses and published over 36,000 pieces of content. In this episode, we break down the battle of longevity, why your leadership is the real cap on your success, what scaling from $1M to $10M actually demands, the hard lessons of hiring and firing, and how to build systems that let your personal brand become a real company, not just a content page.Check out Matt here:https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@realmattgray⁩  https://www.instagram.com/matthgray/Timestamps00:00 – Intro00:01:07 – Paid Offer Playbook00:01:22 – First System That Changed Everything00:03:24 – Scaling Content While Traveling00:05:10 – Early Content Was Messy00:07:00 – Systems Born From Frustration00:08:03 – How the Content Waterfall Works00:10:25 – Generating Endless Content Ideas00:11:49 – Why Founders Burn Out00:13:14 – Founder Doubt: Quit or Push Through00:14:07 – Think Like an Investor, Not Founder00:15:19 – $1M vs $10M Systems Shift00:15:29 – Stan Store Sponsor Break00:16:02 – Scaling Requires Real Infrastructure00:17:16 – Hard Hiring Lessons00:18:17 – Moneyball Hiring Strategy00:19:37 – Hiring for ROI and Values00:23:09 – Firing 23 People in One Day00:26:20 – Slow Growth over Hyper Scaling00:27:30 – Defining Success as Peace00:28:10 – Are Systems Only for Big Teams?00:29:02 – Systems Create the Success00:30:16 – Simple Way to Document Systems00:31:20 – Using AI to Build Systems00:33:17 – Is Personal Branding Optional?00:35:19 – Disrupting Your Business Every Year00:37:00 – AI Is an Opportunity00:41:43 – Minimalism and Experiences Over Things00:43:44 – Why He Started His Personal Brand00:44:29 – Low Testosterone Wake-Up Call00:45:52 – The Artist's Way Changed Everything00:48:05 – Why Storytelling Scales Your Brand00:49:44 – Emotional Connection Beats Tactics00:50:35 – Why Most Brands Aren't Unique00:51:26 – Caring Is the Differentiator00:59:07 – Trust Takes Time and Touchpoints00:59:59 – The Skeptic Buyer Mindset01:00:25 – Are Founders Looking for Exits?01:01:04 – Why Exits Are a Lottery Ticket01:02:18 – Cash Flow vs Chasing Liquidity01:04:02 – Building for Freedom, Not Headlines01:06:11 – Why Most Founders Stay in Operations01:08:27 – The Real Goal is Time Autonomy01:10:03 – Escaping the Founder Bottleneck01:12:14 – Designing a Business That Runs Without You01:14:49 – Revenue vs Lifestyle Alignment01:17:06 – When Growth Becomes a Trap01:19:32 – The Hidden Cost of Ambition01:21:18 – Identity Tied to Your Business01:23:07 – Building Something You Don't Resent01:25:41 – Systems as Emotional Insurance01:28:10 – Why Simplicity Wins Long Term01:30:55 – Complexity Kills Margin01:33:22 – Founder Energy Is the Constraint01:35:48 – Scaling Without Losing Soul01:38:16 – Trust Compounds Over Time01:40:07 – Why Distribution Beats Perfection01:42:33 – Obsession With Craft01:44:58 – Caring Is a Competitive Advantage01:47:21 – Playing the Long Game01:49:39 – Building a Brand That Endures01:52:12 – Peace Is the Real KPI01:54:49 – The After Party If you liked this episode please send it to a friend and take a screenshot for your story! And as always, we'd love to hear from you guys on what you'd like to hear us talk about or potential guests we should have on. DM US ON IG: (Our DM's are always open!) Bfiggy: https://www.instagram.com/bfiggy/ Kostas: https://www.instagram.com/kostasg95/

How do you scale AI in a regulated enterprise without risking trust, compliance, or credibility? In this episode of Technovation, Nick Colisto, CIO of Avery Dennison, and Sathish Muthukrishnan, Chief Information, Data & Digital Officer at Ally Financial, share how they are moving from AI pilots to measurable enterprise impact. From governance-first implementation inside a federally regulated bank to CFO-grade ROI tracking across a global manufacturing enterprise, this conversation focuses on the discipline required to operationalize AI at scale. Key highlights include: Why one AI misstep can set a regulated enterprise back years How to win over risk, audit, and compliance before scaling Embedding “human-in-the-loop” safeguards from day one Measuring AI-enabled initiatives using EBIT and IRR Taking credit for AI embedded in SaaS platforms If you’re leading AI in a regulated or board-visible environment, this episode offers a pragmatic blueprint for scaling responsibly. 🎧 Listen to learn how CIOs are turning AI experimentation into enterprise value.

In this episode, we explore how advanced magnet manufacturing is transforming electric motor design. With the ability to produce magnets in custom shapes and precisely controlled magnetization patterns, designers can unlock entirely new performance possibilities.The podcast highlights AML's innovative process, which enables magnets with a rotating magnetization vector. This breakthrough creates a smooth, sinusoidal magnetic field—delivering motors that run quieter, more efficiently, and with improved overall performance compared to traditional block-magnet designs.https://mitusmagnets.com/Munro Live is the media division of Munro & Associates, an engineering consulting firm with a design-first approach. At Munro, we specialize in costing, benchmarking, and product & manufacturing optimization, helping our clients reimagine their products and processes to achieve better business outcomes—driving down costs while increasing efficiency, performance, and quality.At the core of our work is Lean Design®, our proprietary methodology that optimizes design efficiency and consistently delivers exceptional ROI for our clients.Munro - Home of Lean Designhttps://leandesign.com/

Hey Community family! In today's episode, Kristina sits down with Rebecca Ogilvie, the incredible Founder of The Detour Co., a Canadian face care brand that's turning everyday skincare into soul-nourishing rituals.They are discussing how to show up, stand out, and get even more value than you paid for, from an event vendor or sponsor experience!Tune in to hear:Why face care became a sacred ritual for Rebecca, and how it sparked a thriving business.What to look for when choosing the right events to be vender at.How to build relationships at your booth that build brand loyalty.Why swag bags and pre-event promotion matter more than you think.The power of intentional follow-up and staying top of mind after the event.Rebecca's vendor must-dos for maximizing ROI.If you are running a small business and are interested in investing in live events, this episode gives you the mindset and the strategy to maximize your investment and get the return you want to see!Make the most out of your investment by showing up as the best version of you and  the founder and representative that your brand needs! Want to shop The Detour Co.? Enjoy free shipping on any size order within Canada using code ‘HIGHVIBE'Check out The Detour Co:WebsiteInstagramMentioned in this Episode:Find Your Next Bestseller on Faire and get 10% off with the code ‘HIGHVIBE10'Join the High Vibe Women Online CommunityDownload Our LinkedIn Starter PackWork with The Social Snippet!Send me a text!PodMatchPodMatch Automatically Matches Ideal Podcast Guests and Hosts For InterviewsSupport the showFor Your Information: • Host your podcast on Buzzsprout! •Join The High Vibe Women Online Community! • Join our favourite scheduling platform Later • FLODESK Affiliate Code | 25% off your first year! Don't forget to come say hi to us on Instagram @thesocialsnippet, join the Weekly Snippet or follow us on any social media platform! Website . Instagram . Facebook . Linkedin

Good news! You don't have to wait for a "lucky break" or a better economy to find financial security. There is one specific skill that, once mastered, ensures you will never be broke a day in your life. In this episode, I'm joined by Shelby Sapp, sales expert and founder of She Sells Academy, to break down the mindset, language, and energy shifts that make the most powerful skill a woman can learn. We talk about the "Organized Psychopath" framework for handling rejection, the psychological shift required to move from being a victim of your environment to the driver of it, how learning to sell gives you control over your income, opportunities, and MORE. Get ready to rethink everything you thought you knew about sales! Check out our Sponsors: Northwest Registered Agent - Don't wait, protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/EarnFree Shopify - Try the ecommerce platform I trust for Glōci, Sign up for your $1/month trial period at http://Shopify.com/happy Brevo - the all-in-one marketing and CRM platform built to help you connect with customers, boost engagement, and grow your business smarter. Get started for free today, or use code HAPPY50 to save 50% on Starter and Standard Plans for the first three months of an annual subscription. Just head to http://www.brevo.com/happy Working Genius - If you're a CEO, an entrepreneur, or anyone who wants to level up, Working Genius helps you drop the shame around your weaknesses and focus on what you naturally do best. Take the Working Genius assessment and get 20% off with code EARN at http://workinggenius.com Indeed - Spend less time searching, and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Indeed is giving Earn Your Happy listeners a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to help get your job the premium status it deserves. Just go to http://Indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on Earn Your Happy. HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 Why learning sales gives you lifelong financial security. 06:45 How do you create content consistently?  10:00 The data behind why women naturally outperform men in high-ticket environments. 13:15 Why traditional rapport building is actually wasting your time. 16:30 What are the ways to establish rapport? 19:30 What makes a good salesperson? 26:00 How to create a character that protects you from rejection. 33:15 Shelby's story of choosing "the hard way" against family advice. 38:30 The ROI of getting into sales. 41:00 How to win an investor's heart by selling the experience, not the AI. 46:45 Are you a victim of your environment or the driver of it? 49:30 The mathematical formula to create urgency without being "sleazy." 56:00 How to find the one thing your client is willing to pay for. 01:03:45 How to overcome the 6 most common sales objections. 01:07:00 The A-A-A-R Framework to neutralize tension and close the deal. 01:14:30 The #1 way to kill your cash collection. 01:18:45 How to increase your worth based on your overhead and impact. 01:21:00 The only skill that guarantees you will never be broke again.  01:23:30 How to use your 5-to-9 to replace your 9-to-5. 01:28:45 The story of a single mom who went from $0 to buying investment properties in 30 days. 01:32:15 Why never addressing drama is the only way to win against the "haters." RESOURCES Join the She Sells Academy HERE! Apply for the Elite Entrepreneur Mastermind HERE! Get on the waitlist for Mentor Collective Mastermind HERE! Try glōci for 40% off your first order with code HAPPY at checkout - head to getgloci.com FOLLOW Follow me: @loriharder Follow glōci: @getgloci Follow Shelby: @shelby.sapp