Podcasts about Rubbermaid

It's our first regular episode of 2025, and we're off to a strong start with some inconvenient (though entertaining) challenges. The Aggies lost their bowl game, one of Mel's refrigerators has gone on to its eternal reward, and the Shankles have had some unexpected visitors in their laundry room. VIVA LA 2025! We also reflect on our words / phrases for 2024, discuss our words and phrases for the new year, and it's Melanie's turn for Five Favorites. - Join Us on Patreon - Our Amazon Shop - Fayetteville Live Show Tickets Show Notes: - Las Vegas Bowl - our Favorite Favorites episode on Patreon - One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson - Bagster at Lowe's - 2025 Low-Level Goals episode on Patreon - Cole at the Pop-Tarts Bowl - A Fine Sight to See  - Conair 2-in-1 steamer - Rubbermaid 28-piece storage container - OSEA Dream Night Cream - Grace for the Moment Daily Bible - makeup brush cleaner Sponsors: - AG1 - Dwell - LMNT - Zbiotics

Turns out a full Rubbermaid bin of clam chowder doesn't keep well overnight in a furnace room making for a shitty Tipsy Eve party at Martina's, Jon Angus is up on charges again after beating his boyfriend with a Wii remote, and Tracy gets approved for her adult education grant!  

Tupperware Brands Corp., the Orlando, Florida-based consumer goods company that produces the iconic line of containers, said it was seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling to revitalize its core business and failing to secure a tenable takeover offer. Despite enjoying the same cultural ubiquity as Kleenex, Teflon, and other brands whose trademarked names are eponymous with entire product categories, Tupperware has suffered from waning sales, rising competition, and the limitations of the direct-to-consumer marketing model that once defined its success. The company said in its bankruptcy filing that consumers are shifting away from direct sales, which make up the vast majority of its sales. The company also cited growing public health and environmental concerns about plastic, internal inefficiencies that made it challenging to operate globally, and the “challenging microeconomic environment” of the last several years for its financial straits. Financial analysts criticized Tupperware in recent years for sticking with the direct sales model and failing to evolve with the times, most notably the large number of women who work outside the home. The company's sales improved some during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when Americans were cooking and eating more at home. But overall sales have been in steady decline over the years due to rising competition from Rubbermaid, OXO, and even takeout food containers that consumers recycle. Vintage Tupperware also remains in demand as a collectible. Overall, sales for food storage supplies are up 18% compared to before the pandemic, according to figures from market research firm Circana. But despite that growth—and the ongoing popularity of food storage videos on social media—the troubles for Tupperware remained. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, explained that many consumers have migrated to less expensive home storage brands they can find at Target and Walmart. Amazon, the king of online retailers, also has its own line. Historically, Tupperware marketed its products as higher-quality durable items. But consumers who are looking for durability are interested in more sustainable materials, such as glass and stainless steel, said Jennifer Christ, manager of consumer and commercial research for the Freedonia Group, a market research company. “There's less brand loyalty than there used to be,” Christ said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

“And I do think CFOs have kind of fallen in love with performance marketers because they'll walk in and be able to talk about this dollar drove this conversion, this ROIs. And that's really a CFO's dream. But in my mind, it's one conversation. Because also like you mentioned, Paul, when a consumer sees an ad on Instagram, they don't know if they're receiving an upper funnel brand building ad or a targeted communication to drive conversion. They just know they're seeing a message. And that's why I feel so strongly that we really need to be one team.” Melanie Huet, President of Brand Management and Innovation at Newell BrandsIn this episode of Time For a Reset Marketing Podcast: Insights from Global Brand Marketers, brought to you by CvE Marketing Consultancy, host Paul Frampton connects with Melanie Huet, President for Brand Management and Innovation at Newell Brands, a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Coleman, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, and more.Join us as Melanie delves into the dynamic world of marketing within the CPG industry, where she highlights the critical need for a unified brand strategy that seamlessly integrates performance initiatives with top-of-funnel marketing. Additionally, Melanie explores how data and technology are strongly making their way into CPG marketing. Melanie also touches on the attributes of tomorrow's senior marketer and the challenges of staying relevant in the marketing industry.Here are some key talking points from the episode:The importance of strategically aligning brand and performance marketingWhy marketers need to be financial stewards of the businessLeveraging real-time data-driven insightsHow marketers can avoid the data trapHow generative AI can supercharge your insightsFuture-proofing your marketing careerMelanie brings over 25 years of commercial leadership experience from top companies like Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, and Kraft Heinz, where she successfully revitalized several iconic brands. Before joining Newell Brands, she served as the first Chief Marketing Officer at Serta Simmons Bedding, leading a transformation from a sales-driven to a consumer-focused approach. Her success in this role led to her promotion to EVP, Chief Commercial Officer, where she oversaw the enterprise revenue and reshaped the sales organization.Support the show

Dr. Brian Morin is currently CEO of Soteria Battery Innovation Group, a company that is developing and promoting broad adoption of a technology that will eliminate lithium battery fires, reduce weight of lithium ion batteries and reduce cost. The company has formed a consortium of companies to help mature the technology and bring it to market, whose members include NASA, Mercedes, DuPont, Teijin, Applied Materials and over 120 others. He is also President & COO of Dreamweaver International, a company that developed a piece of the Soteria architecture, a high performance battery separator that can dramatically improve the safety of lithium ion batteries while reducing costs. Brian has also served on several boards and foundations, including as Vice President and Director of NAATBatt International, the Technical Advisory Board of Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, the External Advisory Board for the Clemson University Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Foundation Board for the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Brian has over 200 international patents and applications on subjects ranging from advanced molecular metals to high performance fibers to plastic additives. He has several billion dollars in sales of products based on his inventions, which are used in brands such as Nike, Head, Freescale Semiconductor, Intel, IBM, Rubbermaid and others. He sees his strength as leading the commercialization of innovative technology. He has also written a novel, A Matter of Faith, served as a Guardian ad Litem for children in the foster care system in South Carolina and leads a small group of 12th grade boys at his church.

Andrew has to say goodbye to an object that has been by his side for years. Too many years, he now realizes. And Luke recounts his adventures trying to give away a refrigerator this weekend. 

How many Ordinary Items or Products do you use around your Reef Aquarium that were not made or intended for fish tanks? Today Levi Peterson The Oddball Reefer and I talk about 12 Ordinary Items not for aquariums that reef hobbyist use all the time! These are very helpful when it comes to taking care of your saltwater reef aquarium. New to the Reef aquarium hobby? Get Your FREE Reef Tank Start Up Checklist here! https://the-coral-reef-talk-24479470.hubspotpagebuilder.com/reef-tank-start-up-checklist Learn more about The Nitrogen cycle and how to cycle your reef aquarium with my free reef tank start up check list. Save 10% at check out by using code TheCoralReefTalk at https://www.printedreef.com/TheCoralReefTalk Get your Free Audible Trial, click here. https://www.audibletrial.com/TheCoralReefTalk #reeftank #thecoralreeftalk #aquarium Check out the items we talked about and help support TheCoralReefTalk amazon affiliate links below. Tooth Brush https://amzn.to/3HjbxFU (paid link) Red Solo Cups https://amzn.to/3vCxVHK (paid link) Rubbermaid food storage container set - tupperware https://amzn.to/47zGyzO (paid link) 5 gallon buckets https://amzn.to/3Hfky2H (paid link) cotton swab Q-tips https://amzn.to/48Ug0dV (paid link) turkey baster https://amzn.to/3tTRDOz (paid link) scalpel https://amzn.to/47yBZFS (paid link) super glue https://amzn.to/48wp34G (paid link) blue nitrile gloves https://amzn.to/3U09tu0 (paid link) hand towels https://amzn.to/3HhyjxL (paid link) water jugs https://amzn.to/3Hij9s7 (paid link) measuring shot glass https://amzn.to/3O1DvK5 (paid link) Need Music for your Video Project? Check Out https://share.epidemicsound.com/f2hm59 music by epidemic sound Assisted Edited with Gling AI: https://bit.ly/46bGeYv All information provided in this video is the opinion of The Coral Reef Talk based on experience in the reef aquarium hobby. There are many ways to approach the hobby. Please continue to research other sources on the topics and ideas expressed in this video. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thecoralreeftalk/support

Host Bex Scott welcomes guest Danielle of The Mid-Century Maximalists on Instagram to the show for Bex's very first interview episode. Bex and Danielle talk about all things Pyrex, why Danielle started collecting, her amazing ceramics collection, and the joy of being a vintage collector in a modern world.In a similar story to Bex's, Danielle came to her love of vintage and Pyrex through her grandparents. She inherited several sets of Pyrex, including the Friendship and Butterprint patterns, and many of those pieces that hold sentimental value remain on display in Danielle's house. She explains to Bex that many of her thrifted or purchased pieces, however, she uses on a daily basis. Danielle describes the eclectic maximalist decor she prefers, some of the many ceramics pieces her grandmother and great-grandmother handmade, and trades stories about favorite Pyrex and vintage items with Bex. This episode sheds light on why collectors love the hunt of collecting, the value of the pieces that goes beyond financial, and how to decorate with vintage finds.Resources discussed in this episode:Danielle on The Mid-Century Maximalists on Instagram‘Merry Mushrooms' collectors guidePyrex Love Pattern ReferenceThe ‘Pyrex and Corning beaker-decorated mug'English (JAJ) Pyrex Reference Guide“Pyrex Passion” by Michael D. Barber—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbexContact Bex on her website—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex With Bex podcast, where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:30] Hey everyone, this is Bex Scott and you're listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. In today's episode, I'm joined by Danielle, the Mid-Century Maximalists on Instagram. We chat about why she started collecting Pyrex and vintage, her awesome ceramic collection, and what it's like being a vintage lover. Okay, so hey everyone, I'm super excited for today's episode because I'm here with my very first guest and I'd like to welcome Danielle to the show. Thanks so much for being here. Danielle: [00:00:58] Thanks for having me. Bex Scott: [00:00:59] And you can find Danielle on Instagram at the Mid-Century Maximalists. And it was actually on Instagram that we met. And I was impressed right away by your amazing Pyrex collection. And then I read your first post all about why you started collecting and why it's so important to you. And I'd love to start off with that story here today. Danielle: [00:01:20] So my entire life I've always been a bit eclectic, and I spent a lot of my childhood at my grandmother's house. Wasn't one that wanted to just go out and party or anything like that. I just loved spending time with my grandmother, and her entire house was decked out in 70s garb, a lot of Merry Mushroom, a lot of Pyrex that has been handed down. And so it's things that I was familiar with my entire childhood. And then about three years ago, I lost my grandparents within two weeks of each other due to Covid. And since then, it's just kind of spiraled, collecting things that remind me of them because it makes me feel close to them. So it's been a hobby that kind of hit me out of nowhere, but it's fun. Bex Scott: [00:02:12] Definitely. And I love stories like that, where it's more than just going out and finding things that you like. It's some kind of memory that's brought up when you find things or when they're passed down to you, and it's a great way to keep people in your life, even after they're not with us anymore. And that's kind of similar to my story. I got into it because of my grandparents, but it was more that we were cleaning out my granny and grandpa's garage, and we found some of my great aunt's Pyrex in a Rubbermaid bin. And that's kind of what set things off for me. And it spiraled into an addiction as well. Danielle: [00:02:50] What pattern was it? Bex Scott: [00:02:52] It wasn't anything super exciting. It was the lime green lasagna pan. And then I had some primary bowls. But after I found the primary bowls, that was my very first pattern or set that I collected. And I think I ended up with about 5 or 6 full primary sets. Way too many. You don't need that many ever. But I ended up selling them eventually, and I think I kept two and then a reverse primary. So I have those ones still. But yeah, it's easy to get swept up in it. Danielle: [00:03:24] It really is. Every antique store you go to. Bex Scott: [00:03:28] Yeah. Yeah. Danielle: [00:03:29] It's the thrill of the hunt, though. Bex Scott: [00:03:31] It is. It's a huge adrenaline rush. And then you have huge boxes and piles, and - at least I do. I have, I think, 60 banker's boxes of vintage items in my basement. Now that's become me having to resell things because I have so much. But it's fun, so it keeps me going. Danielle: [00:03:53] Yeah, I wish I had a basement so that I could hoard some more things, but I unfortunately live in a ranch so I don't have that much for like room for storage. So whenever I cycle things out, I have to purge. Bex Scott: [00:04:09] That's probably a good thing. That's what my husband would prefer, I think, because he's the one who helps me pack everything to ship and then pack it away in the basement, and he's a very patient man. Thank goodness. Danielle: [00:04:22] We love to hear it. Bex Scott: [00:04:23] Yeah. So do you have a specific pattern of Pyrex that was passed down to you that you really love? Danielle: [00:04:31] So my family, I live in Georgia, but my family is originally from Pennsylvania and up there it was really prominent to have Pyrex, so there was a lot of patterns. And predominantly my favorite one that I've gotten is the Friendship pattern, but I've inherited the Friendship, there's several primary sets, there's the Amish Butterprint. There's quite a few that are within my family line. In fact, my mother still uses what she was gifted as a wedding present almost daily. She has this really neat, it's a complete yellow set, and I've been searching for one as I thrift because she won't give it to me. But she has that. And then she has this really cool casserole dish that's like a hunter green, and it has gold detailing on it. So there's quite a bit of Pyrex that I have inherited. My partner actually inherited the Sunflower pattern, so we have that too. So a lot of what we have on display in our cabinets at home are things that we inherited because of how sentimental they are to us. Bex Scott: [00:05:56] That's awesome. And do you guys use them every day as well, or do you display them and keep them there? Danielle: [00:06:02] We don't use the ones that were handed down, but we do use ones we have thrifted and antiqued simply because while they may look the same, it doesn't hold the same sentimental value. So we keep those put up safe. We've got a zoo of animals. You'll probably see a cat or two pop in here at some point. So because of that, we like to keep those types of things safe and away from the animals. Bex Scott: [00:06:34] That's a good idea. My cat has definitely knocked a few knickknacks off of tables and desks before, so it's a dangerous hobby when you have pets. Danielle: [00:06:47] Yeah, and we've got three large breed rescues. Bex Scott: [00:06:51] Oh, wow. Danielle: [00:06:53] A pit/boxer, a lab/hound, and a husky. So they're not well behaved. Bex Scott: [00:07:02] That's okay. They sound very cute. Danielle: [00:07:08] They are. Bex Scott: [00:07:09] Nice. Most of my collection I keep in china cabinets, and then we ended up using the Homestead pattern as our daily Pyrex dishes. So all of those ones, I find that they wash really well, and they just go with pretty much everything in our house. So that ended up being something that we use and my husband likes them. Danielle: [00:07:33] So we use the Corelle dish set, the ones that kind of match all a lot of the Pyrex patterns. So we use those as our everyday dishes, which is fun. That and I've also got my grandmother's, they're the cubist glasses, Indiana glass. Bex Scott: [00:07:53] Okay. Danielle: [00:07:53] I can't think of the name of them, but I've got her set, so we use those as our drinking glasses. Bex Scott: [00:07:59] Nice. I've always wanted to incorporate some vintage glasses or barware into our kitchen, but we have three kids and they're pretty young still, so right now it would be too dangerous, I think. Danielle: [00:08:14] Yeah, we're lucky enough, I guess lucky enough, that we don't have kids yet, so we can dabble in all that type of stuff. Once we have kids, I will have to be a bit more careful with where I place certain things, because I have a lot of ceramics that have been handed down to me, and if a kid hurts them, I will cry. Bex Scott: [00:08:35] Oh, I think I would too. Yeah. And those are the ceramics that, was it your grandmother that made them? Danielle: [00:08:44] My great grandmother and my grandmother. Bex Scott: [00:08:46] Okay. And what kind of ceramics are they? Danielle: [00:08:50] Oh, I've got some for every holiday. So right now I've got a little village out that has a tree with a vulture on it, and kids trick or treating, a ghost popping out of a casket, a little graveyard. It's super neat. Then I've also got a ceramic pumpkin that she, my grandmother, painted, made and painted, so that's pretty cool. And then I have a couple different ghost ceramics, a black cat ceramic, a house that's very similar to the village, but it's set up inside of a house. Things that I've never seen other people have, which is pretty cool. I've also got a turkey and a pilgrim and an Indian, which probably isn't kosher anymore, but my grandmother made them, so I hold on to them. And then for Christmas, I've got all sorts of things. But you name a holiday - Valentine's Day, Easter - I've got ceramics for it. Bex Scott: [00:09:58] That's awesome. I would love to decorate my house for every season with ceramics like that, and I think I saw them in the little highlight on your Instagram story. Danielle: [00:10:08] Those were the ones that I most recently was able to convince my mother to let me steal. Yeah, that's the little graveyard and the house. I've never seen anybody else have anything like that. So they're super special to me because I can remember just being little and thinking they were the neatest things and playing with them and then getting yelled at for playing with them. Rightfully so. So, yeah. Bex Scott: [00:10:37] Yeah, I think I crushed some little reindeer figurines that my granny had when I was little, and my dad always brings it up when we're at family functions. And he reminds me that he told me just for looking, not for touching. And then I took them in my hand and I squished them. And so... Danielle: [00:11:00] Oh boy. Bex Scott: [00:11:00] Hopefully my kids don't do that with any of, I have a whole bunch of little bluebirds that I collect because my great grandma collected those as well. So I have to make sure the kids stay away from those. Danielle: [00:11:12] Keep them up high. Bex Scott: [00:11:13] Yeah. So what's the thrifting like where you live? Is it pretty good, or...? Danielle: [00:11:21] I'm right outside of Atlanta. So unfortunately the market's kind of like saturated around here. It just doesn't seem like as many antiques. There wasn't as much Pyrex down here. There wasn't a whole lot of ceramics down here. So you do, like, bump into those things from time to time. But that just doesn't seem to be what people's ancestors down here had. So anything that is down here pretty much migrated with someone from the North. I find that when we travel, we have better luck. We went to Louisville to visit my partner's uncle and I found a ceramic wall hanging Christmas tree, and I was really pumped about that, like found it at Goodwill. That type of stuff does not happen down here. Unfortunately, our Goodwills are dumbly overpriced, like 20 bucks for a pair of pants and they're picked over and they're just not that great here. But we've got family all over, so we've got to travel quite a few times throughout the year. So we hit those places up. So like Florida and Pennsylvania and Ohio and Kentucky, just not, it's just not booming around here. I guess maybe too many resellers. Bex Scott: [00:12:43] Yeah, that's like my area as well. Everybody seems to be getting into reselling and collecting. And I'm in a small town between two large cities, and there's a nice little pocket of Salvation Army and a few other Value Village stores that are really nice for finding things. But the further out you get, the harder it is to find good deals, like you said, and especially with Pyrex, the price seems to be going up where they'll have a dishwasher damaged bowl for $20. And it's just, it's kind of ridiculous and it makes it not as fun in that sense. You have to start looking online for things that you want to add to your collection, but that's okay. It's all part of it. Danielle: [00:13:28] Yeah. I mean, I still enjoy the hunt. I still go to the antique stores. I've paid some stupid prices for things that I just wanted. Bex Scott: [00:13:37] Yeah. Me too. Danielle: [00:13:38] You don't see them every day, so, like, you know what? Bex Scott: [00:13:42] Yeah, it's worth it at that point. Danielle: [00:13:43] I'll take it. But whenever I try and purge things around here, like, I don't try and do that. Like, I'm not in it for the money. I just want to kind of get out maybe what I put into it or part of what I put into it. So I don't full blown re, like I wouldn't call myself a reseller. I just have to purge from time to time because I can't hoard everything. I know that I'm a maximalist, but, at some point... Bex Scott: [00:14:14] Yeah. What's the best piece of Pyrex you found thrifting? If there is one that you can think of. Danielle: [00:14:22] At an actual thrift store, I don't think I've ever actually found Pyrex, at least none that wasn't dishwasher damage, because I find, I find that kind of stuff all the time. I did find a pretty neat Corelle dish thrifting one time, but as far as like antiquing goes, the coolest one that I found, I'm trying to think, I've got several unique pieces, that I think the Pueblo pattern is the coolest one I've found out and about. It's probably my favorite piece in there. Bex Scott: [00:14:57] Yeah, that one's beautiful. And then I noticed you have the Kim Chee as well. Danielle: [00:15:03] I do have the Kim Chee. Bex Scott: [00:15:04] And then the Navajo. Danielle: [00:15:06] So the Navajo, fun story, we pretty much were given that one when we were in Ohio by someone we met. It was their grandmother's, and they made us swear up and down that we were gonna take care of it. Like absolutely! Brand new. Never used. And I was like, of course I will take care of this. It's in good hands. So I was pretty pumped about that one. Bex Scott: [00:15:32] Those are definitely ones that you would never find out in the wild here. That would be, maybe not even in an antique store. I don't think I've ever found any of those patterns. Danielle: [00:15:43] All three of those come from Ohio. Bex Scott: [00:15:46] Okay, I need to go to Ohio. Danielle: [00:15:50] My partner's father lives up there, and every single time we go up we make him take us to all of the antique stores. And he moans and groans while we have the time of our lives. Um, but good prices on them, too. The Pueblo we paid like 40 bucks for, it's pristine, was definitely never used. So we typically have really good luck when we go up there. So definitely hit up Ohio sometime. Bex Scott: [00:16:20] Yeah, I've never been. It's on my list now. We went to Portland, Maine just this past summer, and my aunt took me around to a bunch of different shops, and there was one, I still have regrets that I didn't buy way more at the store, but they had a whole bunch of the Pyrex Christmas mugs that were given to staff every year as gifts. And I only bought one, and this one mug was $54 US, which was way more because of the Canadian dollar. Our dollar is terrible right now, but I should have bought all five of them and I still have nightmares about it. Danielle: [00:17:05] Yeah, we have a pretty unique one that must have been only in-house, like Pyrex only gave it to their employees, but it has like beakers across it and it says it says Pyrex on one side, and then it says Corning on the other, which I thought was pretty cool. Bex Scott: [00:17:27] That is cool. I don't think I've ever seen that. Danielle: [00:17:30] I'll have to message you a picture of it. Bex Scott: [00:17:33] Yeah. That's awesome. Very cool. So do you have a specific style that you like to decorate your house in, or is it kind of just eclectic from the things that you've collected or...? Danielle: [00:17:46] It's very 70s. So the room I'm sitting in right now, obviously I've got this old Afghan, um, but we have a record cabinet, lots of vintage records, and our main living room is painted like a 70s bright orange, and it's all 70s garb. So pretty much anything that my grandmother would have had in her house, we have here, minus a couple things, because there were some things, like the Ivy dishes, that just never tickled my fancy. But we love cross-stitch. We have it all over our walls. Love ceramics, obviously love stained glass, love Pyrex, love... You name it, we probably have it. Bex Scott: [00:18:41] That's awesome. It sounds like I'd love your house. Danielle: [00:18:45] You'll have to come out sometime. Bex Scott: [00:18:49] My one room, my office that I'm in right now, is the one that I decorate. And the rest of the house is just... my husband doesn't have the same style as me, so we've kind of come to some kind of middle ground with decor. As long as I don't put brass in the house because he really doesn't like brass, which kills me because I keep finding some amazing brass pieces. Danielle: [00:19:12] Luckily, my partner and I have the same style. We both really caught on to certain things because of our grandmothers. So I mean, we've, I see you've got the Merry Mushroom canisters behind you, but we use ours. Bex Scott: [00:19:29] That's awesome. Danielle: [00:19:32] A lot of the things that we do collect, we try and make functional. If we can. Not everything, like some of the Pyrex obviously we don't want to touch, but yeah. Bex Scott: [00:19:49] If you had one, I guess, Pyrex pattern or dish and one just random vintage piece, what would you want? Like what's your unicorn or your holy grail piece of vintage? And then Pyrex? Danielle: [00:20:05] I'm going to stick with my Friendship dishes simply because those were passed down through my family. Like there was other ones, but for some reason I'm just stuck on those Friendship ones. I can remember, like my grandmother having them, I can remember my great grandmother having them. So it's one of those things that that would definitely be my Pyrex dish. As far as things that are hanging on the wall, I'm trying to think because there's several good things. Oh, I know what my other one would be. My cast iron cat that my partner hates. Bex Scott: [00:20:50] That's awesome. Danielle: [00:20:54] Yeah, I have, um, I have old vintage ceramic and cast iron cats almost in every single room. And my partner says they're creepy. Bex Scott: [00:21:05] Cats are great, and there's luckily a lot of vintage out there with cats. Danielle: [00:21:10] I actually just found a mug this past weekend, not this past weekend, two weekends ago, and it's an old piece of pottery and it has like cats painted on it. And my mom was like, oh God, please, no. And I was like, how much? And they were like $0.50. And I was like, done. Bex Scott: [00:21:28] Sold. Danielle: [00:21:29] Um, so yeah, no, I definitely would need to keep one of my cast iron cats. But that was also one of the things that my family members always had them. I have a great aunt, in Pennsylvania, and she's got quite a few of them. And I hate to break it to my partner, but they're all coming here. Bex Scott: [00:21:56] You can just start hiding things around the house. They'll just start appearing. Danielle: [00:22:01] She's tried to create, like a one item per room rule, that I can only specifically pick one item because I try and pick the most eclectic things. Bex Scott: [00:22:16] That makes it fun. Danielle: [00:22:17] If there's if there's a Bigfoot statue, definitely putting that in my house. So my partner has her opinions, but sometimes I get the veto. Bex Scott: [00:22:29] Yeah. And we have a running joke in the house right now. I have a horse cross stitch, it's huge, I don't know who made it, but it's in a massive wood frame and it keeps moving around our house. It started above our bed and then I think now it's above our toilet and I have no idea where it's going to end up next. But I have it listed for sale. But until it sells, we just keep moving it around because none of us like it. So. Danielle: [00:22:59] That's hilarious. Bex Scott: [00:23:03] Nice. Danielle: [00:23:03] Is that the only cross that you have? Bex Scott: [00:23:06] I have a ton of flowers and they're all listed for sale. I want to keep all of them because my goal was to make a big cross stitch, cruel needlepoint wall behind me at my desk here. But I have trouble committing to a certain style and a certain type of... Danielle: [00:23:26] You just got to throw them up like, turn mine, like ours doesn't match. Bex Scott: [00:23:34] Oh, that looks great. Yeah. I love that. Danielle: [00:23:35] But that we find things and we just throw it on the wall. Bex Scott: [00:23:39] Yeah. My hope is to find a mushroom needlepoint or cross stitch that will go with my theme that I have going on with the Merry Mushroom. Danielle: [00:23:48] That would be really cool. You could make one. Bex Scott: [00:23:51] That's true. I have to learn how to. Danielle: [00:23:53] My partner cross stitches. Bex Scott: [00:23:54] Oh, really? Danielle: [00:23:56] She loves it. Bex Scott: [00:23:58] Maybe she'll have to do one for me. Danielle: [00:24:01] I mean she would. She also sews. Bex Scott: [00:24:03] Oh, I'll hire her. She's hired. Danielle: [00:24:06] She's a jack of all trades. Bex Scott: [00:24:08] Nice. Yeah. I haven't gotten into the cross stitch yet, but I even have a bunch of kits that I could start. That might be my... Danielle: [00:24:15] We have a bunch of kits, too. Bex Scott: [00:24:19] Yeah, those ones are easy to collect as well. Danielle: [00:24:22] They are. You find them out and about quite frequently. At least I do around here, because I guess people will clean out their grandparents houses and they think that nobody knows how to do that type of stuff anymore. But like, there's plenty of people that do. Plus, it's pretty easy to like pick up if you put your mind to it. If you don't have ADHD like me because I started one and just haven't gone back to it. But maybe one day. Bex Scott: [00:24:56] It'll be there when you're ready. Danielle: [00:24:59] Yeah, it's how most of my projects go. I get about halfway and then I'm like, on to the next one. Bex Scott: [00:25:06] Yeah, next thing. Well, I picked up a bunch of Christmas cross stitch kits in an estate sale a couple of days ago, so maybe I'll do one for Christmas. Danielle: [00:25:17] That'd be awesome. You could also crochet some snowflakes to put on your Christmas tree. Bex Scott: [00:25:22] Yeah, I think I have some of those from my grandma. Those are nice. Danielle: [00:25:27] My partner's been on the hunt for a pink Christmas tree. Bex Scott: [00:25:31] Ooh, that would be amazing. Then would you do vintage decorations? Danielle: [00:25:35] We already have vintage decorations on one of our trees. We have a white one and then just a regular one. And I think, I think last year we put the vintage on the white Christmas tree. I can't remember, but we do have like vintage shatterproof ornaments. I actually have a bunch of ornaments my great grandmother handmade, but I'm too afraid with all of the animals that they'll get broken and they're kind of not replaceable. Our cats like to climb the trees and eat the trees, so we haven't found a way to stop them. We've tried all sorts of things to get them out, but because of that, I just keep them away safe. Bex Scott: [00:26:27] That's a good idea. Danielle: [00:26:31] Have you noticed any of your kids getting into, like, collecting? Bex Scott: [00:26:35] That's a good question. I've tried. My oldest son, he's 13, and he comes to Value Village and Goodwill and all the garage sales with me. He doesn't love anything vintage, really, but he likes coming and looking for things with me. And it's, I think it's the thrill of the hunt for him as well. And then when I go out and I come back home, he'll say, Oh, are those more bowls in that box, or Did you buy more bowls today? I definitely did, and then I threaten, we have a nine year old son as well, I threaten them that this will be their inheritance one day, that they're going to have all of these bowls and Pyrex bowls to give to whoever they want, and they can sell it if they want, but it's all coming to them. We have an 11 month old as well and I'm hoping that she'll be the one that kind of turns into the Pyrex vintage lover. So starting off early. Danielle: [00:27:33] I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure as they get older they'll get into it because it's something I never appreciated when I was younger. I was always like, why don't you, like, redo everything? Because this is kind of outdated. Bex Scott: [00:27:47] Yeah, yeah. And then you end up falling in love with the vintage items, and then you reverse time and then you don't go with the new, updated, renovated house stuff. It's like a blast from the past, which I really like. Danielle: [00:28:01] Yeah. My friends will come in the house and be like, whoa, these are some bright colors. And I'm like, you can go home to your agreeable gray walls anytime you want. Bex Scott: [00:28:13] Yeah, go home and stare at your white walls. Danielle: [00:28:18] Exactly. So, I mean, to each their own, I guess. Bex Scott: [00:28:22] Exactly. Danielle: [00:28:27] What's your favorite piece in your room? Bex Scott: [00:28:30] Oh. Good question. I have a cabinet on my right here that's full of all my pink Pyrex and my pink Gooseberry. So I'd say probably the pink Gooseberry. And then I have the glasses that go with the Duchess set. I think they're the Libby glasses. The Duchess casserole is my number one need to find one day Pyrex dish, so I'm always on the lookout for that. I found it online, but it's so expensive. Danielle: [00:29:02] Yeah, that one is rather expensive. Bex Scott: [00:29:04] Yeah, yeah. So maybe, maybe one day when I win the lottery, that'll be my next big collectible. Danielle: [00:29:15] When did you kind of get into collecting? Bex Scott: [00:29:18] I got into collecting at the beginning of the pandemic. So before that, I didn't really know anything about Pyrex. It was always just like the measuring cup that my mom had that I don't think was even very old. It just said Pyrex on it. And that's kind of what I thought it was. And then after we cleaned out my grandparents garage, that's when I realized that there was this whole world of vintage Pyrex out there, and it kind of just spiraled after that. And that's been fun collecting everything and finding new pieces. And at the beginning, when I first started collecting, I would essentially buy everything that I found, even if it was dishwasher damaged or it was way overpriced. So I was spending all of this money on things that probably weren't even in good condition or worth it. Now I'm way more selective, but it was, yeah, it's so easy to do when you're learning and trying to figure out what patterns are and what things might be worth, and if they're even Pyrex at all. So. Danielle: [00:30:25] Yeah, it really is, because, I mean there's some things that aren't even like marked Pyrex. I have one, I'm getting rid of it, but I have one that's I think it's from England. Bex Scott: [00:30:36] Oh yeah. The JAJ. Danielle: [00:30:37] It's their version, I can't remember what it says on the bottom, but it's their version of Pyrex. So like I have that and that's pretty cool. But I would have known nothing about it before I started getting into this. I would have been like, oh, that's not Pyrex, and just like, moved on from it. So the more you learn. My partner actually bought this really neat book off of Amazon, and it goes through like the history of each pattern and details it. We use that as a guideline at all times, because it tells you so much about different promotional pieces and stuff like that. Bex Scott: [00:31:20] Is that the Pyrex passion book? Danielle: [00:31:22] I think it is. Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:31:23] This one. Danielle: [00:31:25] Yeah, yeah, yeah, that is our Bible. Bex Scott: [00:31:30] Yeah, I have it on my iPad. And then I went and bought the the paperback version. And then there's a second one that came out as well that has even more in it. So that one's great. Danielle: [00:31:41] I do laugh at their like suggested prices because I'm like, yeah, try and tell, try and tell most people that. Like they're not, I think I was looking and it had like the Butter print as like the entire set for like $75. And I'm like yeah, okay. Bex Scott: [00:32:01] Yeah. Danielle: [00:32:03] Tell me where you can find that for that. Bex Scott: [00:32:05] That would be great. But yeah. Danielle: [00:32:07] That's what I'm saying. So I do find the prices they list comical. Bex Scott: [00:32:14] Yeah. Pricing is one thing that's always very controversial, I find. I'm part of a bunch of Pyrex groups on Facebook, and there's a lot of them that just flat out say you're not allowed to ask if you did good buying this, because if you like it, it's worth it. And we can't tell you if the price is good or not. Danielle: [00:32:36] I am not a part of them on Facebook because I don't really have Facebook, but I am a part of a couple Pyrex groups on Reddit and some of the finds they post on there are insane. Bex Scott: [00:32:52] I haven't looked at Reddit for Pyrex groups. That's a good suggestion. Danielle: [00:32:58] On Pyrex groups and Animal Crossing groups. Gotta love it. Yeah, my partner actually named her Animal Crossing Island Pyrexia. Bex Scott: [00:33:11] That's great. Danielle: [00:33:13] Is there anything else that you collect other than, like, the mushrooms and the Pyrex? Bex Scott: [00:33:17] Mushrooms, Pyrex, little bluebirds. What else do I collect? Secretly, I collect brass. It's in a box that my husband can't, well, he found it the other day, but there's a bunch of - I thought he couldn't find it, but it was in a cereal box, I talk about this in one of my other episodes, but it was packed away in a cereal box in our basement, and he found it and opened it, and he said, What is this? I said, oh, that's just my brass. I'm selling it. Don't worry, it's going on Marketplace. But I do like brass. Danielle: [00:33:51] That's funny. I don't think we have much brass around here. Bex Scott: [00:33:55] It's heavy and it takes up space. Danielle: [00:33:58] Yeah, it does, it does. And we don't have, with all my ceramics we don't have that much like shelving. I know you said you had that horse. Do you have any other ones? Bex Scott: [00:34:14] No, none that I've really kept. I have one that's a little girl on a toilet reading a book, and it says something really funny. I think it's like a potty training needlepoint or cross-stitch or something. Danielle: [00:34:31] I have a cross-stitch. I have a cross-stitch in my bathroom that says, please don't do coke in the bathroom. Bex Scott: [00:34:38] That's awesome. Danielle: [00:34:42] And everybody always is like, did someone do coke? And I'm like, no, no, no, not to my knowledge, but... Bex Scott: [00:34:49] Yeah. Danielle: [00:34:50] It's a warning. Like please don't. Bex Scott: [00:34:53] And they won't now because that's up there. Danielle: [00:34:55] Yeah. I asked nicely. Bex Scott: [00:35:02] I'm trying to avoid getting into all the art glass and like the vases, and that's another thing that I really can't do because I don't have space. Danielle: [00:35:15] I think we have one swing base, but I haven't gotten a whole lot into that. But we do have quite the collection of nesting hens. Bex Scott: [00:35:29] Oh, I love those. Danielle: [00:35:32] And my partner insists on putting candy in every single one of them. Bex Scott: [00:35:36] That's great. Do you have a favorite one or a favorite color? Danielle: [00:35:42] So blue is my favorite color. Oddly enough, since most of the house is done in like yellow, orange, green, but we have a cobalt blue that has like the oil slick on it, almost like carnival glass. And it is my favorite. And it just so happened to be given to us by my partner's grandmother, which just makes it that much more special. Bex Scott: [00:36:11] Yeah, those are beautiful, I love them. I've had a few of them in the past, and it's always hard to tell if they're actually vintage or not. That's my biggest struggle is what year they were from and who made them. So I do a lot of research when I find them, and I think there's even some jadeite ones too that I've seen that are really pretty. Danielle: [00:36:34] Yeah, we have a small jadeite one, but we have quite a few. They're all over the house. Bex Scott: [00:36:41] What's the biggest one that you have? Danielle: [00:36:45] A turkey. Bex Scott: [00:36:47] Amazing. Danielle: [00:36:48] Yeah, it's a nesting turkey. And it's like orange and yellow and... It's pretty cool. I mean, I just think it's so funny, you go into most people's houses that are, you know, around our ages, and it's minimalist and boring and gray. Like, there's just not a whole lot of personality. Bex Scott: [00:37:17] Mhm. Danielle: [00:37:18] So, you know what? If I'm a hoarder, so be it. Bex Scott: [00:37:23] Yeah I agree, it's great for people coming over and starting conversations and especially like with our kids growing up, I'd rather them live in a house with memories and things to look at and ask questions about. Where is this from, and What year was this from, then see everything from, I don't know, we have, I don't know if you guys have HomeSense where you are. It's like a mass produced store or home decor store where people get just the run of the mill stuff, but I'd rather have all of the memories and the fun items. Danielle: [00:37:59] Yeah, I mean, I think, I think that's a lot of what the newer generations are missing out on. Like they're not going to have the things that have been handed down generation after generation because so many people get rid of them. They're like, oh, this is ugly so I don't want it. But it's like, I don't know, these are my family's ceramics. So there might be some that I don't love. But my grandmother made it, and for some reason that means I can't get rid of it. Bex Scott: [00:38:33] Yeah. I'm the same. Yeah. All of the things that I keep, even if I don't like them, I keep them because they came from somewhere special. Danielle: [00:38:40] Yeah. So I just think that this next generation is going to be missing out on a lot of that. Bex Scott: [00:38:48] Yeah, I agree, and that makes it even more fun to hunt for items and just love vintage. Danielle: [00:38:57] It definitely does. It's definitely something that I want to be able to pass down. My brother doesn't have quite the same enthusiasm as I have about certain things, but he has asked for a couple of different things we have. Like my great great grandmother, we have her cookie cutters, which is probably weird because they have just been passed down. When I went down, I split the bucket with him and he has, like my grandfathers and my great grandfather's vices, which is like, I don't know if you do much woodworking, but he has that out in his garage, which is really neat because my brother does some really amazing woodworking, creates a lot of custom pieces. So it's pretty cool that he's able to incorporate my relatives vices into his work, which he definitely wouldn't have to. Like, he has other other ones, but when he was able to get those, he retired the other ones that he was using and just put those away so that he could keep using our family's. So I know that he doesn't have quite the same love for the ceramics as me. But, you know, hopefully one day when my niece and nephew are a bit older, I'm able to teach them about this kind of stuff and maybe they'll have an interest in a piece or two. Bex Scott: [00:40:34] Yeah, yeah, that would be great. Same with my family. My brother's not into all of the the same kind of things that I like. And he's more into the tools that our family had for woodworking and construction and that kind of thing. So that's his stuff. And then I've taken all of the the other stuff, so it's nice that way. Danielle: [00:40:58] That's been the divide for us. My brother's biggest one is like my father currently has a pool table that's been passed down. Why we have such, like, random things that get found in my family I don't know, but my brother is insistent on the pool table and the light that hangs above it that those are his. And I'm like, I don't even have space for them, so go for it. But it's just funny the things that you kind of get attached to. Bex Scott: [00:41:33] Mhm. Perfect. Thank you so much for coming on the episode today and for chatting about vintage. It's really great to be able to talk to somebody else that loves similar things and understand what it's like to be a hoarder. Danielle: [00:41:52] Yeah, it was great jumping on and getting to chat with you. Yeah, it's definitely nice to talk to people that are like-minded. Bex Scott: [00:42:00] Yeah. 

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Pyrex With Bex with host Bex Scott. Bex talks about vintage Pyrex, of course, but also all things in vintage housewares. You'll hear about her thrifting adventures, learn about reselling, and hear interviews with other enthusiasts. Today Bex introduces her “gateway Pyrex”, the item that inspired her passion for collecting.Bex came to Pyrex because of her grandparents. In cleaning out their garage at the beginning of the pandemic, she discovered a box full of carefully wrapped dishes and glassware. Three of the items were a lime green lasagna pan and two mixing bowls, one green and one red. That discovery got her hooked and sent her into research and collecting. It was her “gateway Pyrex”. In this first episode she explains the significance of the pieces she found in the garage, what collections they belong to, and which book has become her “Pyrex Bible”. Bex also shares vintage ads and recipes that may just inspire you to get your own Pyrex bowl to try baking in. Avid Pyrex enthusiasts, vintage collectors, and interested newbies alike will thoroughly enjoy embarking on this Pyrex podcast journey with Bex.Resources discussed in this episode:“Pyrex Passion” by Michael D. BarberContact Bex on her website—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey, everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex With Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey everybody, you're listening to the Pyrex With Bex podcast. My name is Bex Scott and I am so excited that you're tuning in. I've been wanting to record this podcast for quite some time. I am a full-on Pyrex addict. I am self-proclaimed. But also if you were to ask my friends and family, I'm sure they would say exactly the same thing. And I wanted to take this episode to explain to you a little bit about why I got started, give you a backstory, and tell you a little bit about my addiction. So I started collecting Pyrex back in 2019, and this was when the pandemic had just started and we were on lockdown. We had started to lose our hobbies, things that we loved, we couldn't see family and friends. And for many of us, it was a time where we were looking for new things to do and new hobbies to have and Pyrex became that hobby for me. I loved being able to research bowls and patterns and what years things came out and going to the thrift store in hopes that I'd find my next favorite bowl. Bex Scott: [00:01:46] And the whole reason that I found Pyrex was because of my grandparents. I remember at the beginning of the pandemic, we had decided to help my granny and grandpa clear out their garage and they had a full single garage full of we weren't sure what, but I knew there would be a lot of vintage clothes, jackets, dresses in there. And at the time that's mainly what I was interested in. So we went over and started unloading boxes and I remember my mom took down this Rubbermaid bin. It was full of dishes and glassware that was all wrapped up in linens and tablecloths and even some old needlepoint. And I remember seeing this lasagna pan and it was lime green. And at the time I had never heard of Pyrex outside of the measuring cup that I'm sure everybody's mom or even that you have in your kitchen. I unwrapped it and I saw that it was this lime lasagna pan and I instantly fell in love. I kept unwrapping and I also found a green mixing bowl and a red mixing bowl. And I was hooked. They looked like Christmas to me. And right after we left, I immediately went on Google and started looking into what these Pyrex bowls were, what year they were from, and started asking my grandparents questions about where they're from. Bex Scott: [00:03:18] It ended up that they're from my mom's aunt, so my great aunt, and it was all items that they had saved from when she had passed and they ended up in their garage. So this was just a few of the items of Pyrex that she must have had. And to this day, I think about what her kitchen must have looked like and how amazing it must have been. And I wish that I could go back and see it now, knowing what all of these vintage items were. So I'm doing some research and nothing that I had was really, now knowing, hard to find or rare but it was still beautiful to me. I had the lime 232 oblong baking dish. Lime was launched with Flamingo Pink in 1952. It's not my favorite color, but I have to say when you pair the lime with the flamingo pink, it really looks great in a China cabinet or on a countertop. The lime and the flamingo pieces are the ones that we use in our house on a regular basis to bake cakes. So they've seen a lot of birthdays. And trust me, if you've never baked a cake in a Pyrex dish, it's amazing. We've used the brownie dishes, the lasagna pans, and the round cake dishes or the cake pans to do them and they pop out easily and the cakes are delicious and moist, so definitely give it a try. Bex Scott: [00:04:44] If you like the lime color, there's also a complete line of lime green, solid border, opal dinnerware. And this is pretty cool. They have a 22 karat gold band on them. So if you're into dinnerware, give that a search and check those out. So the green mixing bowl that I mentioned ended up being part of the primary set. And the primary set made its debut in 1945 and was the first time that Corning ever sold opal glass to the consumer market using the Pyrex name. And I can see why they decided to start with this primary set because it's beautiful. It's yellow, green, red and blue, and it just, it looks great in your kitchen, I think, and it stands the test of time with the colors. I also had the 404 red mixing bowl, and after doing a bunch of research, I've found that starting in the 1950s, the 404 was sold individually in either yellow or red. So if you know the primary set, it's usually the 404, the biggest bowl, starts off with yellow. But you can also get this alternate red bowl. And to me, I think I like the big red bowl a little bit better than the yellow just because it's such a nice, rich color. The downside to the red is that I've found it is the hardest to find in good condition. Bex Scott: [00:06:11] I don't know whether it's that people just use the red more often. I've also heard, this might just be a rumor, so don't quote me on this, that there's something in the red paint that made it so that it couldn't withstand the test of time like the other bowls did when they were being washed. But like I said, it could be a rumor, I heard it in a Pyrex group, but if you know otherwise or if you know if this is true, make sure you let me know because it's something I've been wondering about. So I would love to know which bowl was the first bowl that you ever collected or as I called the ones that started it off for me, the Gateway Bowl for you. Which do you love the most? Which pattern are you collecting? Let me know. Find me on Instagram at Pyrex With Bex. Send me a DM. I'd love to chat about what got you started with Pyrex collecting or vintage collecting. So back to 2019, I had started my collection with these three bowls, and this kicked things off full steam ahead for me. I started buying bowls like crazy, but the primary set was the main one that I had focused on, and I think that I had ended up with maybe 5 or 6 primary sets. Regardless, way too many Pyrex dishes. There's no reason I needed five full sets of them, so I did end up selling them on Marketplace and finding homes for them. But to this day, the Pyrex primary set is still one of my favorites. Bex Scott: [00:07:47] And if you're a new collector, you need to go out and grab the Pyrex Passion book. It's by Michael Barber. You can buy it online. This has been the biggest help for me as a collector. It goes through all of the colors, the patterns, when they were released, and descriptions for all of them. It will be your Pyrex Bible. And I remember getting it for the first time on my iPad, I bought the online version of it, and it was so cool being able to flip through and see all of these bowls. I not too long ago invested in the paperback copy, which I think is a lot better than doing the online version because you can put sticky notes in it, you can mark it up as you collect bowls, you can check things off in pencil if you want, and just carry it with you and have that paperback copy that you can just hold in your hands. But in this book, Pyrex Passion, I remember seeing one of the very first Pyrex ads for the primary set. It said special $3.50 Pyrex ware color bowl set only $2.49. You save $1.01 limited time only. World's most famous mixing bowl set at almost a third off just in time for Mother's Day. Here's your chance to get America's favorite mixing bowl set at the lowest price in history. And just in time for Mother's Day, think of all the help these big colorful bowls will be for mixing, baking, serving and storing. Think how bright and gay they'll be on the table. Easy to wash clean, too, and they nest together to save space on your shelf. This special bargain offer ends June 30th, so don't wait. Get your Pyrex ware color bowl set and save $1.01 at any housewares store. Bex Scott: [00:09:40] I thought this was pretty incredible to get a whole set for $3.50. Think about how much prices have gone up since that time. I know for where I live, I'm in Canada in a small town in Alberta and a primary set goes for around $100. That's for all four bowls in great condition, no dishwasher damage. Another thing I found really cool, which kind of ties into the primary bowl set or any mixing bowl, is in this vintage Pyrex prize recipes book that I have. I was flipping through and I saw a picture of somebody tipping a 404 red mixing bowl over and a full on angel food cake is coming out of it. So I've used the regular brownie or lasagna or cake pans to do cakes, but I've never baked a cake in a mixing bowl. And this is something that I'm definitely going to have to try. Bex Scott: [00:10:38] So the recipe says, Angel food cake in a hurry with strawberry frosting. One package prepared angel food cake mix, prepare cake mix in a Pyrex mixing bowl according to the directions on the package, being sure that egg whites are beaten so stiff they do not slide when the bowl is tipped. When folding dry ingredients into egg white foam, have spatula or spoon reach the very bottom of the bowl. Leave the batter right in the Pyrex mixing bowl and bake. Turn the bowl upside down on rack to cool before removing cake from bowl. Ice inverted cake with strawberry frosting or sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Time bake about 35 minutes. Temperature 350°F. Moderate oven. Amount one cake 9.75 inches in diameter. 12 servings. Dish Pyrex four quart mixing bowl. So I don't know if any of you have ever used a mixing bowl to bake a cake, but please let me know because this is something that I think is really cool. Bex Scott: [00:11:38] You know a little bit about me and my Pyrex addiction. I'd love to know about yours. What was the first bowl that you ever collected or the first Gateway Bowl, as I like to call it, that started your Pyrex collection? Feel free to find me on Instagram at Pyrex With Bex or check out my website PyrexWithBex.com. Shoot me an email on there and check out some of the vintage items that I have for sale. 

Here are the 14 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD. When you have ADHD and have decluttered, avoid the 14 biggest mistakes. Find out about the 15 Biggest Myths About Organizing With ADHD in this video: https://youtu.be/cavSExUjDqMADHD Organization Helpful Items:Containers:1. Rubbermaid 10-Piece Brilliance Food Storage Containers for Pantry with Salad Dressing and Condiment Containers and Lids: https://amzn.to/3M6s9nF2. 24-Pack Airtight Food Storage Container Set - BPA-Free Clear Plastic Kitchen and Pantry Labels:1. Sticky Notes: https://amzn.to/3ZHgWxv 2. Labels: https://amzn.to/3mlBFbLVertical Space Help (Hanging and Shelf Organization):1. Command Hooks: https://amzn.to/3jayAtS 2. Sorbus Floating Shelf Set — Rustic Wood Hanging Rectangle Wall Shelves: https://amzn.to/3XMU1Af 3. Hexagon Floating Shelves: https://amzn.to/3wyOd1v Change Your Room Vibe Items:1. White Noise Machine: https://amzn.to/3FjwyPV 2. Young Living Air Diffuser: https://amzn.to/3HUqJu1 3. Noise Canceling Headphones: https://amzn.to/3kNX0KE Shoe Racks:1. VASAGLE INDESTIC Shoe Rack, Shoe Organizer for Closet with 4 Mesh Shelves: https://amzn.to/3M9AaZ22. VASAGLE Shoe Bench, 3-Tier Shoe Rack, 11.8 x 28.7 x 17.7 Inches Shoe Shelf: https://amzn.to/42SLCOR3. SONGMICS Shoe Rack, 2-Tier Stackable Shoe Storage Shelf https://amzn.to/3M6jthjAdditional Room Organization Items: 1. 6 cube storage organizer: https://amzn.to/3WMQ6SXKitchen Organization:1. Lazy Susan: https://amzn.to/3wCtc5X 2. Pot Racks - Deco Bros - https://amzn.to/3W2h0php As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.00:00 14 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD00:10 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #102:38 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #205:26 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #308:06 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #409:07 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #510:29 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #611:55 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #714:16 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #815:21 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #915:54 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #1017:38 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #1119:30 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #1221:27 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #1323:42 Biggest Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD #141. All Wavy by tubebackr https://soundcloud.com/tubebackrCreative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3u39uiRMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/NtF0l4beA_s2. Destiny by tubebackr https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr Creative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3Uid8ky Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/mccqngGfqkg3. Falling — Declan DP [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: • Falling — Declan ... Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/falling-declan-dp4. Let go by LiQWYD https://soundcloud.com/liqwydCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3LrwVbIMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/b0ezKk7JC745. Morning Sun by LiQWYD https://soundcloud.com/liqwyd Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3zkcKsu Music promoted by Audio Library • Morning Sun – LiQ... 6. Silk by tubebackr https://soundcloud.com/tubebackrCreative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC...

I'll never forget the first time I heard Jamie Milam's story. It gave me chills and ignited a spark of admiration within me. Her journey of resilience, from the throes of teenage pregnancy, addiction, homelessness, and domestic abuse to the heights of entrepreneurial success, is nothing short of awe-inspiring.Jamie joins us today, opening up about her life's most testing chapters, laying bare the despair, the struggle, and ultimately, the triumph. She shares her process of harnessing self-awareness that was instrumental in helping her navigate through life's choppy waters to reach the shores of peace and success. The conversation is punctuated with deep insights into how she rebuilt her life, how she embraced her trauma, and the role of self-awareness and communication in personal growth.Her strategies for creating a fulfilling life are not just theoretical but born out of real-life experiences. They are practical and tangible, grounded in the needs and emotions of the individual. We explore these strategies, focusing on setting boundaries, understanding our worth, and acknowledging our emotions - all powerful tools in shaping a fulfilling and balanced life. Jamie's story is a testament to human resilience and the extraordinary potential of self-awareness. It's not just a story of survival, but a tale of a woman who, despite all odds, continues to thrive.About Jamie: On her own at the age of 15 and overcoming drug addiction when she learned she'd become a mother at 19, Jamie lived a self-reliant life, filled with pressure to build a better life for herand her son. Her figure-it-out mentality helped her rebuild her life from a single Rubbermaid tote and went on to build 3 businesses that she runs today.She learned that strategic systems were instrumental in her financial success but it was learning to practice deep self-awareness that allowed her to genuinely break free from pressure and value herself so deeply so she could navigate challenges with feelings of peace and align her strategies with her true self. Now she utilizes this powerful tool in all areas of her life and is on a mission to help others do the same.Episode Chapters:00:00 - The Power of Self-Awareness05:05 - Rebuilding Life18:29 - Embracing Trauma and Owning Personal Growth29:14 - Navigating Personal Growth and Communication37:06 - Self-Awareness and Aligning With One's Journey47:09 - Developing Self-Awareness and Entrepreneurial Skills54:15 - Mastering Self-Awareness and Personal Growth01:56 - Empowering Self-Worth and Personal GrowthThis powerful conversation with Jamie Milam is a testament to the strength within us all, illuminating the extraordinary potential that lies within self-awareness.Stay Connected:Need to learn how to lead with BIG CEO Energy but don't know where to start? Let's Connect HereVisit the website to learn how I can serve your business as a Fractional COO  www.thekalandco.comDo you have broken systems and processes and need help STAT? Check out my 1:1 Project Intensive where I come in like Superman and leave you with the cape! https://thekalandco.com/servicesLet's be friends on social:Follow me on Instagram @_kalandcoConnect with me on LinkedInI would be really grateful if you left a review on iTunes so that others can find and turn on  their CEO Energy  too! Just Support the show

Here are 12 Underrated ADHD Organization Rules That CHANGED My Life. I am sharing these 12 ADHD Organization rules because I believe they will help you too. You can watch the video of this episode on YouTube. Watch another helpful video on YouTube as well: 14 BIGGEST Mistakes After You Declutter With ADHD: https://youtu.be/GiD23C-SqIAADHD Organization Helpful Items:Containers:1. Rubbermaid 10-Piece Brilliance Food Storage Containers for Pantry with Salad Dressing and Condiment Containers and Lids: https://amzn.to/3M6s9nF2. 24-Pack Airtight Food Storage Container Set - BPA-Free Clear Plastic Kitchen and Pantry Labels:1. Sticky Notes: https://amzn.to/3ZHgWxv 2. Labels: https://amzn.to/3mlBFbLVertical Space Help (Hanging and Shelf Organization):1. Command Hooks: https://amzn.to/3jayAtS 2. Sorbus Floating Shelf Set — Rustic Wood Hanging Rectangle Wall Shelves: https://amzn.to/3XMU1Af 3. Hexagon Floating Shelves: https://amzn.to/3wyOd1v Change Your Room Vibe Items:1. White Noise Machine: https://amzn.to/3FjwyPV 2. Young Living Air Diffuser: https://amzn.to/3HUqJu1 3. Noise Canceling Headphones: https://amzn.to/3kNX0KE Shoe Racks:1. VASAGLE INDESTIC Shoe Rack, Shoe Organizer for Closet with 4 Mesh Shelves: https://amzn.to/3M9AaZ22. VASAGLE Shoe Bench, 3-Tier Shoe Rack, 11.8 x 28.7 x 17.7 Inches Shoe Shelf: https://amzn.to/42SLCOR3. SONGMICS Shoe Rack, 2-Tier Stackable Shoe Storage Shelf https://amzn.to/3M6jthjAdditional Room Organization Items: 1. 6 cube storage organizer: https://amzn.to/3WMQ6SXKitchen Organization:1. Lazy Susan: https://amzn.to/3wCtc5X 2. Pot Racks - Deco Bros - https://amzn.to/3W2h0php As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.00:00 12 Underrated ADHD Organization Rules That CHANGED My Life00:10 ADHD Organization Rule #101:20 ADHD Organization Rule #203:19 ADHD Organization Rule #3 04:52 ADHD Organization Rule #406:43 ADHD Organization Rule #508:55 ADHD Organization Rule #610:28 ADHD Organization Rule #713:02 ADHD Organization Rule #815:26 ADHD Organization Rule #917:28 ADHD Organization Rule #1019:29 ADHD Organization Rule #1121:32 ADHD Organization Rule #121. All Wavy by tubebackr https://soundcloud.com/tubebackrCreative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3u39uiRMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/NtF0l4beA_s2. Let go by LiQWYD https://soundcloud.com/liqwydCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3LrwVbIMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/b0ezKk7JC743. Destiny by tubebackr https://soundcloud.com/tubebackr Creative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3Uid8ky Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/mccqngGfqkg4. We Got Something by LiQWYD https://soundcloud.com/liqwyd Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/we-got-something Music promoted by Audio Library • We Got Something ... 5. Silk by tubebackr https://soundcloud.com/tubebackrCreative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3TVxQ9c6. Time Out - Atch https://soundcloud.com/atch-musicCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-time-outMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/NPnLxESfv507. Track: Odessa — LiQWYD & Scandinavianz [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/jNy-Dp3lgcg Free Download / Stream:...

From her early days as a teenager coding and pioneering business growth, Sheevaun Moran's journey as a Transformational Coach and Business Growth Strategist is a rich tapestry of experiences that have defined her unique path.  At just eleven years old, she ventured into entrepreneurship, setting the stage for a career marked by innovation and leadership. Sheevaun's Midas touch played a pivotal role in propelling a small business to a staggering $140 million valuation, eventually leading to its acquisition by Rubbermaid.  But her extraordinary impact didn't stop there; she continued to play a key role in the exponential growth of three more businesses, each reaching hundreds of millions in sales. Sheevaun Moran is also the visionary behind the ascent of a startup restaurant from obscurity to having its products grace the shelves of major supermarkets. Over the years, she has served as the guiding light for over 100,000 individuals, empowering them in the realms of energy, health, and business. Her diverse clientele mirrors her diverse skill set, encompassing tech companies, entrepreneurs, inventors, creators, physicians, coaches, lawyers, marketing agencies, and healthcare practices on the brink of collapse. With an unwavering passion for unlocking human potential and a wealth of knowledge in business development, Sheevaun Moran is on a mission to help people break free from stagnation and realize their epic life success. Experience the synergy of business prowess and spiritual wisdom with Sheevaun Moran. Join her on a journey that transcends limitations and leads to extraordinary success, both in your professional and personal life.

Steve joined Amway over 20 years ago, as a young naive man, looking for a steady income. Back then he was focus on building his products business, eventually making it to Emerald, but not seeing the same profits from others around him who had more of a "Tools" focus. It wasn't until Steve started asking questions nobody wanted to answer that he started taking a closer look at where the money was coming from. Show Notes Amway Systems - https://www.amwaywiki.com/Active_Amway_Business_Support_Systems Amway in the 1990's - https://amwayconnections.com/amway-celebrates-60-years/amway-in-1990s-magic-begins/ Rubbermaid & Amway - https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/07/business/rubbermaid-amway-deal.html MCI & Amway - https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1985/10/15/amway-representatives-sell-mci-door-to-door/5e20d214-7ac6-4bdf-a9ee-0f5a1c175a3f/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2d168a3565d8 Amway in the 90's : Organic Farming - https://amwayconnections.com/amway-celebrates-60-years/amway-in-1990s-acquiring-certified-organic-farms/ Out of MLM - https://outofmlm.info/ Cultish by Amanda Montell - https://amzn.to/3Q7owx9 Dr. Steven Hassan's BITE Model - https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model/ Ponzinomics by Robert L. FitzPatrick - https://amzn.to/3q16oJb How can you help? Report false income and health claims here: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ Or go to: https://www.truthinadvertising.org You can also report to your state Attorney General's office! https://www.naag.org/find-my-ag/ Not in the U.S.? Go here: https://www.ftc.gov/policy/international/competition-consumer-protection-authorities-worldwide Support the Podcast! Join the Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/robertablevins Buy me a Taco and leave a note!

In this episode of Money Talkies, once again we speak to the vibrant, the youthful, the amazing Jamie Milam. Jamie is an Alignment Coach, a Strategist, Speaker, Realtor, and a Podcast Host. On her own, at the age of fifteen, she overcame drug addiction wehn she learned that she became a mother at nineteen. She lived a self-reliant life, filled with pressure, built a better life of for herself and her son.  Her figure-it-out mentality helped to rebuild her life from a single Rubbermaid storage tote and went on to build three businesses that she runs today.  And today we're speaking to Jamie about how to create awareness around your finances. Let's find out! And if you want to upgrade your money mindset, then click on the link https://www.millionairefoundations.com/ and watch my free training. Connect with Jamie here: Website: https://jamiemilam.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msjamiemilam/ Self-Awareness Guide: https://jamiemilam.com/selfawarenessguide/view Ready to rewrite your money story? Register to my Five Day Millionaire Mindset Makeover Workshop here: https://www.abundancemindsetmakeover.com/ Visit our website for more information: http://gullkhan.com/

Today we're on another episode of our Friday Feature where we talk with astounding entrepreneurs and their success stories. In this episode we're speaking to Jamie Milam. Jamie is an Alignment Coach, a Strategist, Speaker, Realtor, and a Podcast Host. On her own, at the age of fifteen, she overcame drug addiction, and she learned that she became a mother at nineteen. She lived a self-reliant life, filled with pressure, built a better life of for herself and her son.  Her figure-it-out mentality helped to rebuild her life from a single Rubbermaid storage tote and went on to build three businesses that she runs today.  Let's speak to Jamie and find out how she changed her life by changing her mindset. Let's find out! And if you want to upgrade your money mindset, then click on the link https://www.millionairefoundations.com/ and watch my free training. Connect with Jamie here: Website: https://jamiemilam.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msjamiemilam/ Self-Awareness Guide: https://jamiemilam.com/selfawarenessguide/view Ready to rewrite your money story? Register to my Five Day Millionaire Mindset Makeover Workshop here: https://www.abundancemindsetmakeover.com/ Visit our website for more information: http://gullkhan.com/

Kvothe experiences some setbacks. We talk about plastic containers, the intricacies of the Yllish language, and some discourse in the Discord! @pageofthewind pageofthewind.com Join the community on Discord at https://discord.gg/tCZc6kXQcg To support the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike as they battle for a living wage and decent working conditions, visit one or more of these links: https://www.wgacontract2023.org/strike-hub https://entertainmentcommunity.org/ https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/the-snacklist-support-striking-workers

Our guest on this episode is Sheena Russell, founder and CEO, Made with Local - and she is raising the bar on sustainable snacking!  Sheena is based in Halifax and joins us to share the origin story of her tasty and healthy product, how she built a brand and achieved distribution across Canada and the path to success in a crowded category.  In other news, we look at the implications of the Bank of Canada's rate increase, review the ongoing baby formula shortage (again), recent positive results for the Canadian restaurant industry, the surprising future for Rubbermaid, and the blue wonder of World Ocean Day. About MichaelMichael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada and the Bank of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, Today's Shopping Choice and Pandora Jewellery.   Michael has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels. ReThink Retail has added Michael to their prestigious Top Global Retail Influencers list for 2023 for the third year in a row. Michael is also the president of Maven Media, producing a network of leading trade podcasts, including Remarkable Retail , with best-selling author Steve Dennis, now ranked one of the top retail podcasts in the world. Based in San Francisco, Global eCommerce Leaders podcast explores global cross-border issues and opportunities for eCommerce brands and retailers. Last but not least, Michael is the producer and host of the "Last Request Barbeque" channel on YouTube, where he cooks meals to die for - and collaborates with top brands as a food and product influencer across North America

Living on her own since the age of 15, overcoming meth addiction when she learned she'd become a mother at the age of 19, and rebuilding her life from a single Rubbermaid storage tote, Jamie Milam now runs 3 businesses as a single mom and earns a multi 6-figure income year over year. Through the years she's learned that with awareness, determination, and strategic planning you can achieve whatever your goal may be. She's on a mission to help entrepreneurs build a business of consistency and simple systems so they can live a life of freedom & flexibility. By helping entrepreneurs truly dig into their deeper vision for their life and their business, they can then reverse engineer their goals and develop a simple and strategic plan that is aligned with their goals and supported by systems of automation and leverage.  IG: @msjamiemilam www.JamieMilam.com Determined AF Podcast Download Your Free LinkedIn Profile Infograph here: www.scottaaron.net

Disrupting Publishing with Simply Media Deaver Brown, Simply Media   – The Sharkpreneur podcast with Seth Greene Episode 885 Dave Deaver Brown Following several decades of management and executive experience, Deaver Brown matriculated at Harvard College. Majoring in history, he graduated Magna Cum Laude and set his sights on graduate school. Deaver Brown continued on at Harvard, entering the Business School with a focus on marketing and business. In 1968, he attained his MBA. Entering the workforce, Deaver Brown accepted a position in Product Management at General Foods. He oversaw the Cool Whip, Awake, and Birds Eye Vegetables products, which contributed to increases in the company's overall sales. Armed with education and hands-on experience, Deaver Brown then founded Cross River, maker of the Umbroller stroller, as Co-CEO with his co-founder Alexandre Goodwin. Shortly after launching the company, Deaver Brown premiered the nation's first stick folding stroller, propelling Cross River to the number one market share in both Canada and the U.S., among other countries. Cross River was sold to Rubbermaid, now Rubbermaid Newell. In 1977, he founded Deaver Brown & Associates, a consulting and sales firm. As President, he worked closely with Petersen Baby Products to spin off various physical and real estate properties, preparing the company for sale to Cosco, Inc. Deaver Brown was instrumental in landing Ames, Hills, Toys“R”Us, Zayre, TJ Maxx, and Caldor accounts for Cosco as well as participating in their LBO from Walter Kidde and later the sale of the company to Dorel of Montreal Canada. In 1982 Deaver Brown joined the 3 co-founders of American Power Conversion (APCC-NASDAQ) as the first VP of Sales; assisted to get the venture capital investment to assist the company making the transition from solar inverters into UPS's power protection devices for the emerging PC business. APCC went on to ride the growth of the PC market as the leader in that market due to the brilliant engineers from MIT and Lincoln labs who created the best products at the lowest prices in the marketplace. APCC became one of the most successful companies in the 1990s after their IPO in 1988. It was later sold for over $6 billion, with no secondary stock offering required to get there, other than for current shareholders to liquidate some of their shares in an orderly manner. While consulting for his own company, Deaver Brown was welcomed as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at American Power Conversion. As the first to hold that position at APC, Brown found himself charged with numerous responsibilities: Deaver Brown wrote a business plan and raised money for the company, played a pivotal role in transitioning from solar inverters to internal uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and installed a specific beep sound effect in machines to alert the users to conditions such as low power. Following six years at Pride Retail Systems, an automator of retail systems, as CEO, Deaver Brown helped sell the rights to Digital Equipment (DEC) before becoming the publisher of Simply Magazine in 1997, where he has increased revenue to more than 12 times its previous amount since joining.   Listen to this informative Sharkpreneur episode with Deaver Brown about disrupting the publishing industry with Simply Media. Here are some of the beneficial topics covered on this week's show: - How products with lower prices make more in sales. - Why it's important for serial entrepreneurs to listen to their customers. - How people learn more from shorter lectures, speeches, and courses. - Why entrepreneurs must have a vision and follow through on it to be successful. - How to create and foster good relationships with giant retail companies.   Connect with Deaver: Guest Contact Info   Links Mentioned: simplymedia.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ravi Saligram, CEO of Newell Brands, is focused on keeping the company young and relevant. Some of its brands are more than 100 years old. Newell Brands makes products under the Sharpie, Rubbermaid and Mr. Coffee brands. When he joined the company in 2019, sales were sagging. Not anymore. Last year, net sales topped $10.6 billion.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we welcome Matt Hansen. He is an experienced apartment investor with 2,200 units and the founder of Hansen Holdings. Matt shares how he started investing as a side hustle and became a full-time investor. His advice for anyone who wants to get started is to become a limited partner before becoming a general partner to gain an understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in multifamily. He also highlights vetting your partners, being transparent with your investors, and getting educated in order to be successful. [00:01 - 04:05] Supply Chain Director Turned Investor Matt talks about working as an executive in a supply chain company He transitioned to real estate because, for him, it's simpler and more fun Initially, he only invested in stocks but realize it was difficult to protect his portfolio Investing in single-family and then going bigger to multifamily   [04:06 - 08:56]  From Limited to General Partner: What You Need to Know He strongly recommends coming as a limited partner first in order to learn the ropes The main lesson Matt learned from being a limited partner was the value of vetting, good communication between partners and investors, and going beyond the primaries He became a GP behind the scenes for a time and went full-time in real estate after retiring   [08:57 - 23:25] Building Processes, Building Relationships How he leveraged his supply chain and business expertise as an investor Operating with discipline and creating a control plan Doing due diligence Being a part of a mastermind has been an advantage for him Matt explains why sellers and brokers love their team The future is uncertain but it's important to factor that in underwriting Currently, his focus on raising capital Education and investor relations are keys to success in this industry   [23:26 - 24:42] Closing Segment Reach out to Matt!  Links Below Final Words Tweetable Quotes   “I have a hundred percent of my investments in Wall Street. No control over it. Those guys are running their own show out there.” - Matt Hansen   “I treat my investors that bring a hundred thousand as I did my multi-billion dollar clients, and I think that's something people lose sight of a little bit.” - Matt Hansen “It's really vetting, vetting, vetting. You're investing in a deal. You should be doing due diligence as well. Take a look at the market. You can Google anything, right?” - Matt Hansen -----------------------------------------------------------------------------   Connect with Matt Hansen at HansenHoldings.com!   Connect with me:   I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.     Facebook   LinkedIn   Like, subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you listen on.  Thank you for tuning in!   Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below:   [00:00:00] Matt Hansen: Well specifically for, say, due diligence. We have phenomenal property managers that we work with, but we still help confirm what they do. They look at every single lease. They walk every single property. They keep a track of all that, but we help keep track of them as well to make sure, okay, you know, did you do all these things? And they always do, but we still have the responsibility to our investors that we did check every single lease agreement in the 227-unit apartment. We did walk every property. We did look at all the contracts for all the third-party providers to make sure are those tier and conditions favorable.  [00:00:46] Sam Wilson: Matt Hansen is a retired corporate executive that transitioned to full-time real estate investor. His portfolio includes over 2000 units of multifamily apartments. Matt, welcome to the show. [00:00:57] Matt Hansen: Thanks so much for having me, Sam. Glad to be here.  [00:00:59] Sam Wilson: Absolutely. The pleasure is mine. Matt, there are three questions I ask every guest who comes from the show. In 90 seconds or less, can you tell me where did you start? Where are you now, and how did you get there?  [00:01:08] Matt Hansen: Well, I started, as you know, a retired corporate executive, which prepared me really well because buying multifamily, basically you're buying a business. So that was my background. And then how I got there, I joined a high price mastermind out of Dallas. I live in Michigan and that's how I started to really passively invest initially for a couple of years. Then I started running deals as a general partner, and now we're just doing, having fun. I partner with all my friends. We buy properties in Texas, Florida, Arizona, Georgia a little bit, some of the Carolinas, and that's kind of where we're at. We're just looking at growing our portfolio and helping as many people as possible get their money out of Wall Street and put it into Main Street in apartments.  [00:01:47] Sam Wilson: I love it.  Absolutely love it. That's it. That's certainly a topic that is near and dear to my heart, especially, you know, helping people go from crud, what do I do with my money to then, I had somebody recently call me and they're like, hey, wait, so is this a return on my investment or return of it? I'm like, That's a return on it. They're like, wow, and these just keep coming. I'm like, yeah, it's fun, isn't it? So good for you for helping people out with that. That's awesome. What was your corporate career?  [00:02:13] Matt Hansen: I was a global supply team director, so it was a Fortune 100 company, so we have products at 86 countries around the world. And my job was to make sure these hazardous materials got in planes, trains, automobiles, barges, you name it, we shipped it. And I was a global director, so I had teams stationed all in every area of the world that were responsible for that. Pretty high-stress stuff. A lot of cost-benefit analysis, risk analysis. That was my job. So that's why I transitioned to multifamily, running business was so simple for me and fun.  [00:02:44] Sam Wilson: That's what I was going to ask. Is this easy for you?  [00:02:47] Matt Hansen: So much easier. The moving parts are pretty minimal here, compared to moving chemicals, you know, around the world in containers and vessels and all sorts of stuff. So, yeah, this is fun stuff. It's really fun to me because the stuff I had to deal with before. I retired. kinda in the middle of COVID. So I avoided a lot of that supply chain stuff, so it worked out pretty well 'cause I know it's a nightmare to be in supply chain.  [00:03:09] Sam Wilson: I can only imagine, can only imagine. That's fantastic. What was the impetus to get involved in commercial real estate, specifically multifamily.  [00:03:19] Matt Hansen: It was really 2008, 2009. I lost about $300,000 in the stock market. My wife and I have always done single-family home flipping here and there just as a side hustle, but that's when the light bulb went on. Hold it. I have like a hundred percent of my investments in Wall Street. No control over it. Those guys are running their own show out there. And I worked for a large corporation so I kind of know how things operate. So that's when I kind of light went on. We did a little bit of more of single family flipping. And then about six, seven years ago, I got into large multifamily and it's no work at all. It's just running a business and that's stuff I was trained to do. That's kind of what it was, is to get out of Wall Street, protect my, and now my portfolio, 60% of it's in real estate, right? 20% still in the stock market stuff I can't get out and the other 20% venture capital stuff. So it was really, Wall Street pushed me out, said, hey, you are going to do something else. [00:04:05] Sam Wilson: Right. Yeah, no, no. There's nothing like the pain of a large loss that you go, oh, okay. I need to change my approach here. You came in as a limited partner. That was kind of your first experience. Would you recommend that to anybody else looking to get in or is another path you should, you would recommend they take?  [00:04:23] Matt Hansen: Strongly recommend coming as a limited partner. I did a lot of limited partner. Well, I had some 401k money that I was able to eventually roll over into a self-directed IRA. But yeah, because that way you see what's really going on without having any skin in the game. You're a limited partner, you're not liable for anything, thinking let's go sideways. But you learn, how does a good general partner manage? How do they treat you? And I learned just as much what not to do as what to do, and I've invested in probably a dozen deals or so. So that was a great learning, so before you go, it's kind of before you go off and be a general partner, you need to know what it's like to be sitting in the limited partners position, and are you feeding them information or keeping them updated on what's going on with the property? Are you letting them, What's going on the market? Those are the types of things that I really value and I make sure all my investors, full transparency. There's no hidden stuff. I tell you what's going on at all times. I think that's pretty critical.  [00:05:14] Sam Wilson: Absolutely. Yeah. And it sounds like maybe that was one of the things that you aspired to do well after being involved as limited partner. It sounds like maybe communication was one of those things that you wish you had more of.  [00:05:26] Matt Hansen: Exactly. Yes.  [00:05:27] Sam Wilson: That's a great piece of advice. Was there anything else that you took away from the limited partnership experience that you said either I want to repeat or I want to do better? [00:05:36] Matt Hansen: Mostly, the communication really was the number one thing. The markets, do your own due diligence. I had one deal that went sideways that I passively invested in, and it's cause I didn't vet all the partners and I should've. I just vetted the primary one I was investing with. But the other two ended up running the show and he stepped away. Again, that was a lesson learned. Vet everybody, all the partners, who are the asset managers, who's going to run that asset, who's their backup, most importantly. And that's what I didn't check, that was one of my biggest lessons was. Vet all the partners that you're investing with.  [00:06:05] Sam Wilson: What do you say to that? Who is their backup? Like, how do you guys handle, because I asked to sponsor this a couple of years ago on a deal I was investing in. I said, so what happens if the two of you get run over by a bus? Like, then who's running the show? And they didn't really have a good answer, which was fine. I mean, it was a good buddy of mine. I invested anyway in the deal, but we made a lot of money on it. It was great. But even so, it's a question that's still lingered. That was like, well that's, I wonder how that works out. What do you guys do today?  [00:06:31] Matt Hansen: We do have two people that are the primaries at all times. They're on the calls with the property manager once a week, so there's two people that are already fully in the loop and knows what's going on. And then there's usually four or five people that are general partners and all of us could step up and run it, asset manage, no problem. We all have, one of my partners has 10,000 units. The bench strength is so strong that if the two primaries walk away, there's probably three more that are just as good as them that can step up to run the show. And that's why I say vet all the primary partners, not just one and two. That's great. But the third, Yeah, we've got third and fourth there in our deals.  [00:07:05] Sam Wilson: Right. That's a great piece of advice and probably something as I passively invest with other operators around the country, I don't spend enough time probably going beyond the primaries. Like, okay, this is who I know I'm working with. But getting into the bench and figuring out who the entire roster is is, you know, probably an important part of that. You went from the LP side of things to where you then said, hey, we're going to launch into the general partnership side. What was the driver there for you? Were you bored, you were in retirement? Why become a general partner even?  [00:07:34] Matt Hansen: Yeah. I was moonlighting, so I was a side hustle and still working as an executive, but I got to the level where I wasn't, wasn't really working that hard. I didn't really have a full-time job. I was there for what I knew, not what I did. So I would show up for meetings and things like that, but I still have a lot of extra time in my day. And then it's when I thought, well, I'm doing this limited partner thing, I got time I could start doing general partner. So what I did though is I would run the deal from LOI, letter of intent to close. I didn't do any of the fancy stuff outside. I didn't do any outside marketing. I created the marketing materials, but I didn't market it as myself because there was a little, I didn't want to get in trouble with my corporate gig. So for about four years. I did that behind the scenes stuff, and then when I retired about two years ago, then I could openly say, hey, this is what I'm doing, you know, which was a real, created a deficit because I've been doing this for six years, multifamily, but nobody knew it until recently, so I had to kind of start developing my track record with these people that don't know me, even though I've been doing it for six years. I've done great deals that went full cycle. So that was a bit of a challenge, keeping it secret, if you will. And then eventually, I don't want to retired, I could just talk openly. So it was creating a runway. So when I did retire, I had another business. I'm never, I'm like you, Sam. I know, I can tell already you're going to, the person's going to work until you're 80, 'cause that's the type of person you are. You're not going to sit and do nothing. You got to do something. And this is fun.  [00:08:56] Sam Wilson: Right. That's absolutely right. No, I think that's great. So you went into the general partnership role. What were some of the things or some of the methods maybe that you have used to take down deals? I guess I'm really curious when someone steps into this with a brand new perspective of, like, maybe you weren't brand new 'cause you were a limited partner, and you're GP behind the scenes. But now you're coming on the guy in charge of the show. So what did you do maybe differently than other people were doing? Or what did you repeat that you would say, hey, this is how we're going to, the method we're going to use to acquire, own, and operate assets?  [00:09:30] Matt Hansen: It really came from my corporate experience. So I'm a Green Belt Sigma trained, so I have this methodology of, you know, measure, analyze, improve, and control. And so you just implemented this, so you're buying an apartment complex. It's just a project and I used to work on billion-dollar projects where we're putting in a new supply chain plan. We have to figure out what the supply chain network looks like. Same thing for this. We're buying an apartment. You need to make sure your attorney's on board, your insurance company, your tax person, you know, your property manager. You assign those tasks with deadlines and specific action plans. So there's a formula. So the group that I belong to had a pretty good formula that we just kind of followed, but I made sure we had the operating discipline to follow that. You check every single box. You don't leave one out, but you're buying a $40 million apartment complex. You've got to do your due diligence, and you check the due diligence of other people as well. So I think my corporate experience was priceless for this 'cause it was easy to step in and say, I run a literally a billion dollar project. This is a 40 million. And it's much simpler. So that's really what it is. It's processes, systems, and a control plan, which most people aren't familiar with. If you're going to do it, follow up and measure, measure, measure to make sure it's getting done.  [00:10:41] Sam Wilson: Can you define that maybe more clearly when you say a control plan? [00:10:46] Matt Hansen: Well, specifically for, say, due diligence, we have phenomenal property managers that we work with, but we still help confirm what they do. They look at every single lease. They walk every single property. They keep a track of all that, but we help keep track of them as well to make sure, okay, you know, did you do all these things? And they always do, but we still have the responsibility to our investors that we did check every single lease agreement in the 227-unit apartment. We did walk every property. We did look at all the contracts for all the third-party providers to make sure are those tier and conditions favorable. Was there a kickback that they had gotten earlier that applied to this year? Did we get that money? There's all these little things that if you don't have a process in place to double check it and to make sure it happens, it might not and it could be catastrophic. [00:11:34] Sam Wilson: What did you do? Did you build those processes or when you came on board, were there other team members that had kind of already, you know, because that takes time? That takes time and experience to build those. How did you perfect those?  [00:11:48] Matt Hansen: Our team, our mastermind had a, like a 42-line item checklist, and then that's really most people just kind of gloss over the whole thing was, did you implement it? That's what my job was, to make sure. So a lot of it was kind of done for me. Yeah, I would tweak some things here and there, but 90% it was already ready for me. And that's why I paid all this money to be part of this group, this elite group. And they really did a good job. And I'll say it, it's Think Multifamily out of Dallas, Mark and Tamiel Kenny, I'm going to go ahead and say they're phenomenal. It's a small group of people, like there's over a hundred. It's not one of those big groups that there's thousands and thousands. I personally know every person in this group, and Mark and Tamiel have our backs with expertise. I've been doing it for six years, but every single deal, you know, something new comes up that you haven't seen before. Well, Mark's been doing this for 20 years. He's seen everything. He's been through every cycle, so I've got that back. He's always got your backs, and that's a big advantage of being part of a group like that. I'm not off on my own doing that.  [00:12:41] Sam Wilson: Absolutely. How are you guys finding right now? I mean, multifamily has been on a tear for a while. What are you guys doing that separates you from all the rest of the people out there buying multifamily assets?  [00:12:55] Matt Hansen: Well, we do a lot of deals. I think in the last few years we've done 103 deals, and brokers love us. Sellers love us. The deal we're doing in Florida right now, we bought from the same seller earlier this year, and I don't think we're actually the highest, highest offer, but they knew certainty of close, we're great to work with. We're going to do what we say we're going to do. We're not going to retrade at the end and all that stuff. So our track record. My partners in my group, it's so strong. There's a little town called Decatur, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. We've got like, I think eight or 10 deals there now because the brokers just love us. So they feed you deals if you're, if you prove you can close and you're easy to work with. So that's really, and again, it's an unfair business as you know. It's a relationship business. And our relationships are so strong because we perform so well, we get deals that other people don't. [00:13:46] Sam Wilson: Right, right. Yeah, that's absolutely simple. Talk to me about interest rate risks, what you guys are doing to hedge that. How are you funding and arranging the capital stack maybe differently now than what you were even 12, 18 months ago?  [00:13:59] Matt Hansen: You know, this, it's a leading question now. You've got to have your your rate locks and all your other cap locks and all those things. So things that we're costing us two years ago, $40,000 to, you know, say, okay, when we have to have a bridge loan, in three years, we're going to refinance it. It's going to control the rate. It's not going to go up. You know, 3%, it controls that. So you kind of prepay it. Well, a few years ago, we have a deal in Memphis that I think we paid $40,000 for our rate lock, a rate cap, and now it's like, hundreds of thousands of dollars. The future's so uncertain. But we factor that into our underwriting. Interest rates have went up now, you know, a couple of percent, but it's surprising. When we rerun the numbers and it's like a fraction of a percent return impact to our investors typically. The numbers have changed a lot. We're not saying, you know, when I did do deals two years ago, it was 10 to 14% cash on cash returns. Now we're saying seven or eight. So we have had to adjust that and it's tough for investors to take that, but it's the market. We're not going to say we can do 10% 'cause you can't anymore. You know, you've got to say the range has gone down because the market has changed. That's what we've done. We've adjusted our expectations of the investors along with the market. And then just do everything possible to control that number and try to predict what's going to happen the future. [00:15:11] Sam Wilson: Absolutely. And that's something I was actually working on a spreadsheet this morning. And it was kind of a little bit of a head-scratcher. It's like, gosh, as we watch inflation skyrocket, As we watch interest rates go up, the unfortunate reality is that returns go down. It's like, oh, man. Like you'd kind of think you'd want 'em to like track in parallel in some weird way to where it's like, oh, okay, well I know that everything costs more. And I know that we could, but look, hey, we're all making more money along the way, so it evens out. That's just simply not the case. And we were even working on arranging a debt deal and it was like, okay, well, gosh, like, anyway, I won't bore you with the deal specifics, but it just, I guess, I'm just agreeing with your point there. It's like, oh, we just have to reset investor expectations. How has your business for you personally changed and why? In the last 24 months,  [00:16:03] Matt Hansen: I've really focused on capital raising and putting earnest money into deals and because it's so much work to run a deal now. Like, two years ago, pre-COVID it was so simple. It seemed like it 'cause now you have insurance are going up crazy and then interest rates with the lending brokers and, and all of those things. So I've actually chose to say, okay, my partners are stronger than that, stronger than me and that, and they really enjoy it. And I've known them for years and years so I know I can trust them with the process in place that I've kind of taken a backseat to it 'cause I'm retired, I don't want to work that hard. So that's how I pivot Sam, is like I backed off a little bit then I'm allowing the people that are much younger than me, you know, in some cases that want to really, really work that hard. And then I of course work with them on, you know, counseling to make sure things done right. But that's kind of how I pivoted 'cause it has make it more challenging to find deal. It is really has been.  [00:16:53] Sam Wilson: What has that process been like for you? I know you said that you had to kind of keep what you were doing under wraps until you retired, probably, if I can find the word here today, once you retire. But then once you got out, you're like, hey, you can tell everybody what you're doing, which is critical to raising capital, is being able to tell their people what you're doing. What's that process been like though, as you've kind of stepped away from the deal? What did you call it? LOI to close and now it's, hey, I'm going to focus on capital raising. Talk to me about that a little bit and just the fundraising, capital raising side of your business.  [00:17:23] Matt Hansen: It's really about education, education, education. I remember when I was new to investing that some of the general partners I had invested with didn't really disclose everything to me. They didn't, you know, I read through the PPM 120 pages and all that stuff, but they didn't tell me, like, the distributions aren't going to start for six months to a year because we have to renovate the units. I had my first three deals. Nobody told me that. It was like, so I make sure that I'm overly transparent with my investors or potential investors 'cause I know what that was like sitting in that position, and I walk them through moving their money from an IRA to a self-directed IRA. I get on the phone with the financial institutions with them and help them do those things because I know how challenging it is. But I think that's the limited partner in me. It was like, okay, I handhold everybody with white glove treatment through the whole process because I was that guy, six, seven years ago. So I think that's really what the big advantage is that I know all that stuff and that I know what it's like to be that individual. So it's really education, and just recognize it may take two years before somebody's willing to take the leap to invest. And sometimes it's two days, you know? It just depends and everybody's different. And I'm just accepting of that because I want them to be comfortable with their investment. [00:18:32] Sam Wilson: That's exactly it. Yeah. And I think the funny thing is that the more comfortable I think I've become with just letting people do what's in their own time, the more money comes in easier. It's like, you know what, hey, if this is for you, get in. If it's not okay, don't. It doesn't bother me one way or another. This is the opportunity. And the bus is leaving, so if you want to go over the ride, I'm driving. So let's go. And if you don't get in, no problem. And I think that what's been funny is just watching people pile in. It's like, oh, yeah, it all went in on. They're like, okay just the more you relax, the easier this becomes. And, you know, you want people to do what's best for them. I mean, that's the whole point of bringing limited partners on is to do great things for them along the way. So that's fantastic. Tell me this, Matt, when you think about risk in the marketplace, when you think about what you guys are buying, when you think about things that could go sideways, is there anything that comes to mind? And if so, how are you guys mitigating that?  [00:19:25] Matt Hansen: We're still buying the Class B, C plus properties and you know the saying that, well, when the economy's bad, the people in the A's move down to the B's. When the economy's good, the people in the C's move up to the B's. So we still stay in that medium value, light value add in the Class B stuff. But I know people that are buying class a's properties, but your returns are not going to be the same. And we've got the model in place, we've got large construction companies that will travel anywhere around the United States for us to do the exteriors for us. So they come and boom, do that quickly. We know like in trust. And we know the markets, we only play in the markets with high population growth and high employment growth, so Florida, Texas, Arizona. It's still almost not, it's not, say, dumbing proof. You have to have the systems in place and the connections. But you know, I love Michigan, but I don't invest in Michigan. And I have investors here like, why don't you buy something to Michigan? Well, there's negative population growth and there's really not the place where I want you to put your money. Does Edward Jones going to tell you to invest in your local town? No, they're going to put you in whatever stocks they think are going to make the most money. And it's not in your hometown probably. But try to relate to that. So we've got a system in place. We've been doing this long enough that we stay in markets that even though the market goes rough. I think we're going to be fine. Our properties in Florida, there's still strong, strong demand. We're projecting, you know, $200 to $300 month rent growth after we've renovated the units just ‘cause there's so many people moving there. So if that's how we protect our investors. We don't invest in markets that we don't have the data to prove that, for next 10 years, this is going to be a great market. This is where we want to put money.  [00:20:53] Sam Wilson: Right. Yeah. And Florida is one of those places where people are just going in droves. So that's certainly a great leading indicator for a place to buy apartment complexes. That's awesome. Matt, one last question for you. If you could go back through your investing career and if, or actually two last questions. They're both sides of the same coin. First question is there anything that you feel like you've done really well that other people should emulate?  [00:21:19] Matt Hansen: I would say running a deal and really the investor communication and that's so critical. And people, like, are worried about the deal and they don't worry about their clients. And again, I worked for a corporation. My early years I was a customer service manager at a chemical, large chemical company. So I dealt with, Rubbermaid were my customers a big huge was multi-million. You took care of them. I treat my investors that brings a hundred thousand as I did my multi-billion dollar clients, and I think that's something people lose sight of a little bit. They worry about the deal and they're not, they're forgetting about their investors. I think that's my secret sauce is I really take care of mine because they make it possible. They're the ones bringing in the down payment.  [00:21:52] Sam Wilson: Correct. Correct. Absolutely. Now, if there's anything you could do differently, or a mistake you could help our listeners avoid, what would that be? [00:21:59] Matt Hansen: It's really vetting, vetting, vetting. You're investing in a deal. You should be doing due diligence as well. Take a look at the market. You can Google anything, right? Take a look at the crime rate. Take a look at the population growth. Don't take everything at face value, particularly when you are new. Like, now I invest in all sorts of venture capital stuff. I invest in a vineyard with one of my close friends. I didn't even read anything 'cause I've known her so well that I just signed the documents and sent it in. But that's a situation where this is something I've personally known with, known for a long time. But do you do diligence, particularly when you're new, and even if you're not, you know, make sure you're just double-checking things here? [00:22:36] Sam Wilson: Absolutely, and that's always amazed me when people are willing to spend a hundred thousand dollars with me, but don't spend the 500 bucks in a daytime to fly out there and actually see it. It's like, come see this with me anytime, any day. It's 500 bucks in a day your time, and you might find out you hate the project and walk away and that's okay. That's okay, but at least you did your due diligence and so I've actually made that a personal rule until this year when again, going back to the who I'm investing with is more important than what I'm investing in. Yes. This I kind of broke that rule a few times and I'm just like, just send me the docs. It's fine. We're just go, go.  [00:23:14] Matt Hansen: But you know their track record, Sam, right? You do have a comp and your expertise is so high that you look at something real quick and say, Yep, this is good. So there is a difference. And if you're new in somebody or you're a veteran investor like you.  [00:23:25] Sam Wilson: Correct. Yeah, there is that differentiator there. But still it is amazing what people will or will not do when it comes to spending that amount of money or investing that amount of money in the due diligence part of it. So that's really fantastic. Matt, I've appreciated having you on the show today. Thanks for coming on. It's been great learning about you, your corporate career transition to limited partner and then to a general partner. And even how within the general partnership side of the business, you've even transitioned now to focus almost exclusively on the capital raising side of things and working with your investors. So certainly appreciate your insight, your market insights, and how you guys are finding opportunity and value today. If our listeners want to get in touch with you, learn more about you, what is the best way to do that?  [00:24:02] Matt Hansen: Just go to hansenholdings.com.  [00:24:05] Sam Wilson: That's H A N S E N holdings.com for those of you who are listening. We'll also make sure that's included there in the show notes. Matt, thank you again for coming on today. I certainly appreciate it.  [00:24:15] Matt Hansen: My pleasure, Sam. Thank you. 

Well. Against all sense or reason, we did it. Our final episode of intense coverage of Marvel's "Inhumans" comes to lengthy conclusion as we try to figure out what is happening and why and to whom and if anyone might care. We'll ponder Rubbermaid storage on the Moon, moonquakes, and trying to use the same hallway set over and over. Let's ponder a royal family you might just want to rise up against yourself.

No es el objetivo más común de los pilotos colombianos, pero este bogotano saltó de los karts en Colombia a los legends en Estados Unidos. Corre en círculos, aprende rápido, tiene un magnifico equipo de personas al rededor y tiene sus ojos puestos en la Copa NASCAR. Antes de su carrera en Irwindale nos sentamos a charlar para conocernos, para entender mejor qué es correr en círculos y cómo es el camino hacia la máxima categoría del automovilismo norteamericano.

Our conversation for "United Way Day" featured Jenna DeHaven, Director of Advancement for United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley and Beth Ogle, Executive Director of Response, a partner agency at UWNSV. Response is a Shenandoah County community organization dedicated to preventing and helping people overcome the problems of sexual and domestic violence and other forms of abuse through outreach, advocacy, education and supportive services. Beth talked about their recent obstables serving clients without a home base. Their building suffered a water main break in January and flooded leaving their space uninhabitable. She explained the difficulty in finding contractors that are available to get the work completed and how that has impacted their housing needs for clients. She explained all the different services offered by Response to those in the community - including men - and gave us details for several upcoming fundraisers and event. You can get more information about Response on their website: https://www.responseva.org/ and by following them on Facebook. Jenna gave us a quick rundown of some upcoming UWNSV events like the Rubbermaid sale happening on Saturday, August 27 in the Belk parking lot at Apple Blossom Mall. The event happens from 9am - 12pm and will benefit the Salvation Army this month. She also told us about a Teacher Supplies Drive that is happening this weekend at the Walmart in Woodstock. People can bring teacher supplies to the Walmart and drop them off Friday - Sunday this weekend. Click here if you'd like to volunteer. For more information about United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley, visit their website: https://www.unitedwaynsv.org/ and follow them on Facebook.

How long has it been since you cleaned out your fridge?  A survey commissioned by Rubbermaid finds that the average refrigerator has five food items that are “expired” and probably should be thrown out!  So, is it too much of a stretch to compare our refrigerator with our retirement portfolio?  Could that also benefit from a little reorganizing, to make it work more efficiently for us?  Call Steve today for a Portfolio Review!   

It was the summer of 2002 that would change Kara Robinson Chamberlain as a person for the rest of her life. Instead of enjoying a fun day at the lake, while she was out front watering the plants, a strange man driving through her friend's neighborhood deceived her with a lame magazine excuse and abducted her.She would be shoved into a Rubbermaid container and driven to his apartment where she would endure 18 hours of sexual assault and abuse. Tune into to hear Tiffany tell her harrowing story of survival, and how Kara helped two other families solve cold cases for their daughters just by her simply surviving her abductor's clutches. To say her story is courageous is an understatement, and we are in awe of Kara's resilience and determination to live every day like the survivor she is rather than becoming the victim.Kara has her own website where she is a victim's advocate: www.kararobinsonchamberlain.comSources:People.comThecasualcriminalist.comTruecrimedaily.comFacebook: Search Cola City CrimeInstagram: @ColacitycrimeEmail your case suggestions and listener stories: colacitycrime@gmail.com

Why do some teams work well together and others don't? When your team works well together, they are more productive, deliver better results, and have more fun. When your team doesn't, there are often delays, finger pointing, and lots of escalations to HR and upper management. I hosted Kris Malkoski on the show, who has been an international business leader for more than 30 years as CEO, COO, President and VP/GM in public and private branded CPG (consumer packaged goods) and hardlines companies. She shared terrific insights on how to make your team work more effectively for the long haul. Then she backed it up with incredible stories for product innovation that you won't want to miss! In 2020, Kris Malkoski joined Newell Brands (NASDAQ: NWL) as CEO, Home Solutions, managing global iconic brands including Rubbermaid, Calphalon, Ball, Food Saver, and Yankee Candle, and driving over 50% revenue and operating income growth, despite COVID headwinds including inflation, labor and supply challenges. As a member of the Newell Executive Team, Kris oversees $2.6 billion in revenues and over 8,500 employees. She's also served as CEO of the Americas for Arc International and President and COO at World Kitchen, transforming global revenue and profit from a seven-year decline to five years of significant growth! She began her career at Procter & Gamble and previously served on the boards of Fluidmaster; Trustmark Mutual Insurance Company; and Banfi Vineyards. Kris has also participated on not-for-profit boards, serving as President for the Hinsdale Center for the Arts and University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and as a board member for the Cincinnati Ballet (marketing committee chair), University of Nebraska Foundation (governance committee) and CARE Women's Advisory Committee. Kris graduated from the University of Nebraska. Kris received Six Sigma certification from Villanova. LinkedIn Profile http://linkedin.com/in/kris-malkoski-2346122 Company Link: https://www.newellbrands.com/ What You'll Discover in this Episode: What her first paid job at 5 years old taught her about leadership. The one saying that's driven her professional and personal success. What it's like becoming the fourth female VP/GM at Proctor and Gamble. An amazing story of how curiosity led to two blockbuster products. The one thing she looks for in great business ideas. How to truly become an indispensable leader at work. A strategy for creating a winning culture. Quotes: "Live, Laugh, Love, Let Go." Resources: Playing to Win - AG Lafely https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= (https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) ----- Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben Fanning https://www.benfanning.com/speaker/ (Speaking and Training inquires) https://my.captivate.fm/followbenonyoutube.com (Subscribe to my Youtube channel) https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/ (LinkedIn) https://www.instagram.com/benfanning1/ (Instagram) https://twitter.com/BenFanning1 (Twitter)

Newell Brands (NWL) stock price was higher Friday, April 29, 2022 after the company released better-than-expected 1Q earnings and reaffirmed guidance. Newell Brands CFO Chris Peterson joins Nicole to discuss the company's quarterly performance and plans for future growth. Notable brands under Newell's umbrella include Rubbermaid, Ball, Crockpot, Elmer's, PaperMate and Mr. Coffee.

A Fortune 500 CEO and a former Fortune 500 CEO, Ravi Saligram is the CEO of Newell Brands, the parent company of some of America's best-known brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, and Crockpot. Ravi was previously the CEO of Office Max. Ravi joins Adam to share his journey and best advice on a wide range of topics. Adam and Ravi discuss career development, leadership, branding, personal branding, turnarounds, trust, diversity and inclusion, hiring, and much more.

Hi all, there's been a lot of concerns about water restrictions coming this summer and I think most people are going to see them at least along the Wasatch Front. And if it's going to be possible to actually grow a garden with severe water restrictions. I know that Weber Basin water has announced you will only be watering once a week, and that includes both your lawn and your garden. In a garden situation, you can't just water once a week, once you put your vegetables in, because they need a month to six weeks to get established. What I would recommend doing is on the day of the week that you water, that's the day you plan to and you get some containers whether they're Rubbermaid containers, five gallon buckets, or even something bigger like a rain barrel, if you can find them, and fill those up on the day that it's your turn for irrigation. Those seeds a new plants that you just put in can be hand watered then on the days that is not your turn for irrigation. new plants actually don't require a lot of water to get established where something like a new pepper or a new tomato would be fine being watered three or maybe four days a week with around three or four cups of water. And over a period of a month or six weeks as the roots expand into the soil, you will need to water less often and things like tomatoes, and peppers, especially with use of some mulch of some sort will only need to be watered about once a week in most soils. I wanted to talk briefly about how to use mulch in the garden, you can put it around the plants and in between the rows and it not only helps hold water in the soil, but it actually does a great job of holding down weeds. Now the best free mulch I have ever seen are actually my grass clippings, I'll put two to three inches of fresh cut grass down on the soil and over a week or so at browns out and then it seems to compact just a bit. And it's a great barrier for most weeds. With the exception of something like maybe field bindweed which you're going to have to hand pull, the mulch that you put in will benefit the soil as it breaks down. And as I mentioned earlier, hold water in. And so with the use of mulch like grass clippings or bark, then you can get away with watering once or twice a week and your garden will actually be in really good shape. And that's assuming that it's established. I wanted to give a brief mention to what's called plastic mulch. And this is where you see gardeners putting down drip irrigation or drip hose stretching plastic over a row. And then they will go ahead and grow their plants up through the plastic by putting holes in it and then putting the seeds or transplants in there. The black plastic is very available from local hardware stores and box stores. You just want to make sure that is UV resistant. You also made need some landscape staples to help peg the hose down that you put under the plastic and to help hold the plastic in place. After I get the plastic placed. What I will do is then put soil on the sides of the plastic to hold it down. Now some concerns about plastic mulches. There are a few concerns about plastic mulch one is is that the plastic is not recyclable, and so you do need to send it to the landfill at the end of the season. The other concern is irrigation. Let's say you have drip hose underneath your plastic mulch but you need to water more than once a week. In that situation, you'd have to have that saved water in your rain barrels or five gallon buckets or whatever. And you'd have to be able to water through the plastic and so you might need to make a bigger hole and even then make some sort of a basin around the plant. So as you carefully poured water in during the period, you can't irrigate, it's just a little bit more difficult to do. My other concern with plastic molter in the areas such as Sandy in the Leighton bench that have really sandy soils, this would include Clearfield and that little portion of West Point also, I would

Jay Orbin lived to be exactly forty-five years old. He was murdered on September 8, 2004, which was his forty-fifth birthday. It was just over a month later when his decomposing torso was found in a Rubbermaid container in the Phoenix desert. Everyone would agree that Jay had been kind and hard-working. He was a self-made man and a loving father. Unfortunately, he was married to a conniving and cold-hearted woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Jay met his future wife, Marjorie, while she was working at a Phoenix strip club. She was just Jay's type-- a beautiful, blonde, big-breasted, exotic dancer. Soon he was calling her “the love of his life.” Join us at the quiet end for What She Wanted: The Plot to Kill Jay Orbin. Jay and Marjorie married and eventually had a child together. But Marjorie wasn't cut out for long-term monogamy. She had multiple extramarital affairs while married to Jay and she soon wanted him out of her way. But leaving him was not an acceptable solution for Marjorie, who wanted to keep all of Jay's money for herself. So, she decided that murder was the only solution.

Jay Orbin lived to be exactly forty-five years old.  He was murdered on September 8, 2004, which was his forty-fifth birthday.  It was just over a month later when his decomposing torso was found in a Rubbermaid container in the Phoenix desert. Everyone would agree that Jay had been kind and hard-working.  He was a […] The post What She Wanted: The Plot to Kill Jay Orbin appeared first on Tiegrabber.

It's finally here, the finale of the Matt Ruff novel Fool on the Hill. We did it. With Preacher dead, George and Aurora Borealis Smith return to Cornell to attend the wake, where George is asked to read a story, since apparently he's the only person who matters in the world even though he's never shown to have even so much as spoken to Preacher. Luther, meanwhile, is traveling back on foot and having hallucinations about Dragon, who has escaped from a research facility and is murdering his way towards Blackjack to get revenge for some reason. Also meanwhile, sprites have started going missing (which no one seems to care about) and after he's attacked, Hamlet pretends to be dead along with Puck, which they inexplicably think is a better idea than just telling the other sprites that Rasferret's probably back.Jinsei and Ragnarock have reconciled as friends and are spending time together when they're attacked by a semi-truck full of pigs being possessed by Rasferret who just really wants to kill Jinsei for some reason. Some fancy motorcycle work by Ragnarock allows them to escape, but not without some trauma. As the Ides of March approach, Mr. Sunshine decides to wreak havoc with a magical cloud of chaos inducing rain which leads to Jack Barron (remember him?) smashing up Ragnarock's house and motorcycle with a sledge hammer which causes Ragnarock to go into a murderous rage that actually doesn't lead anywhere for a while (we swear, we're making this as clear as I can). First, though, the dogs on campus have to deal with purebred/mutt tensions caused by a mysterious murder of a dog on campus. Also, Aurora Borealis Smith bites into a magic apple left in a basket of rotting fruit at George's house and is immediately Snow Whited into a deep sleep. Distraught, George is summoned to the Boneyard where Mr. Sunshine reveals himself as the "storyteller" orchestrating everything, and George seems pretty cool with it to be honest. With the Day of the Green Dragon Parade upon them can George defeat the dragon and save the princess? Will Dragon (the other one, the dog) kill Blackjack and Luther? Will Ragnarok ever get to fight Jack Barron? All that can be said for sure is that, while none of these story elements will meaningfully interact, at least we get the joy of the return of the Rubbermaid!

Newell Brands (NWL) CEO Ravi Saligram explains their organic growth on revenue was up 12.5% and market share is up, among other things. Newell Brands names include Rubbermaid, Mr. Coffee, and Crock Pot. We are obsessed with gross margins, he says. He explains their employee engagement went up from 45% to 75% and says their best days lie ahead. He says they are stressing productivity. Tune in for the full discussion.

Newell Brands (NWL) stock price surges higher after beating on earnings and issuing guidance. The NWL earnings report indicated $0.42 in EPS and $2.81B in revenue. Newell Brands include Rubbermaid, Crock-Pot, Mr. Coffee, Oster, and Sunbeam. Next, George Tsilis weighs in on Carpenter Technology (CRS) stock as it was up over 16% today. JPMorgan recently raised CRS price target to $53.

In this last episode in this collection we go primarily to the US and Middle East, where we meet with some seasoned as well as newer directors to hear their thoughts on the evolution of the role and the power of diversity. We also hear from two guests, Dr. Rania Azmi and Kimberly Smith, who will feature in the first series of our 2022 Fiftyfaces Podcast. First we hear from Jan Nicholson, who is president of two private family foundations, the Nicholson Foundation in New Jersey, and the Grable Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She has held board positions at Rubbermaid, Ball Corporation and Radian Group, Inc., from 1990 to 2015. I asked her about how her investment experience fed in to her Board roles, and how even without specific industry experience it is. possible to add value by leveraging her own expertise – e.g. on the Audit Committee of a board. Staying in the US we then hear from legal legend, former Michigan Supreme Court Judge and Mayor of Detroit, Dennis Archer.  Dennis has committed his life to lifting up people behind him on the ladder, and he reflects on the levels of diversity within Board level roles and why diversity has such value. We hear then from Gerald Chen-Young, who was formerly CIO of the United Negro College Fund as well as holding numerous board roles and now running his own consultancy.  He is candid about his reflections on his time in the executive role and how he wishes he had done even more to promote inclusion. Moving then to our 2022 guests we hear from Kuwait-based Dr. Rania Azmi about her Board Roles and how she has seen value in thinking outside the box to add value.   The outstanding Kimberly Smith rounds out this podcast and the entire series by distinguishing between having a seat at the table and having a voice, and the importance of ground rules to establish Board norms. Setting the tone, starting as we mean to continue.  I hope that you found these insights useful across the Next Chapter Series. I hope you found some food for thought here in this episode of FIftyfaces focus – The Next Chapter.This podcast series was made possible by the kind support of Darwin Alternatives.Darwin Alternative Investment Management Limited offers innovative, alpha-driven investment solutions that are uncorrelated with traditional asset classes and feature business areas which have not previously been considered by investment funds. The firm aims to create new opportunities for investors to further diversify their portfolios and achieve stable absolute returns. 

Newell Brands (NWL) is a worldwide manufacturer, marketer and distributor of consumer and commercial products. President and CEO, Ravi Saligram, weighs in on the recent earnings report that indicated $0.54 in EPS and $2.79B in revenue, beating estimates. The stock hit a 52-week high on May 10th. Some Newell Brands include Rubbermaid, Crock pot, Mr. Coffee, Elmer's, Paper Mate, Sharpie, Coleman, and Yankee Candle. What should investors know about Newell Brand's (NWL) "Project Ovid"?

Our conversation for United Way Day with Elise from United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley featured her guest, Lt. Jared Martin from Winchester Salvation Army who told us about their shelter for men/women/children and all the great works they do not just in our community but internationally. Lt. Martin talked about the thrift store, bell ringing and the need for volunteers. He explained what it's like to ring the bell each holiday season and told us about some of the recent successes they've seen with their clients. Learn more about Winchester Salvation Army on their website: https://salvationarmypotomac.org/winchestervacorps/ and/or follow them on Facebook. Elise gave us a rundown of all the events happening in the next few weeks for United Way NSV including the Rubbermaid sale on October 30, 2021 as well as a paint party and upcoming online charity auction. She also gave us about the Ride 75 Challenge. Get more details for all of those on their website: https://www.unitedwaynsv.org/ and/or follow them on Facebook.

Bill's quest to help grow the impact of businesses and nonprofit organizations began in 1994 when he brought years of big agency and big brand experience to the table in co founding Hanon McKendry – a nationally-recognized advertising agency that had dedicated up to 50% of its efforts annually to working with nonprofits. Since then, he and his teams have created and implemented marketing campaigns and branding efforts for a diverse mix of regional, national and international nonprofit and corporate clients, resulting in over 1,000+ award-winning programs. Corporate clients of Bill's have included: Target Stores, Meijer, Rubbermaid, Rayovac, Owens Corning and Harper Collins | Zondervan. Nonprofit clients include: Alliance Defending Freedom, Ark Encounter, Focus on the Family, Young Life and World Vision. In 2015, JDA Worldwide acquired Hanon McKendry and Bill served as Vice Chairman + Chief Creative Officer overseeing all creative efforts in the firm's six offices (Atlanta | Colorado Springs | Grand Rapids | Indianapolis | Traverse City | St. Simons Island). Seeing a growing need in the idea generation space, Bill has launched HAVEN | a creative hub in 2018 and is now independently running this specialty shop. HAVEN is a one-stop destination for strategic and creative ideas where a large network of agencies, alliances and freelance talent are custom-matched and blended uniquely by Bill for specific client needs and challenges. Bill started his career in Denver, Colorado working for Tracy-Locke/BBDO and he cut his teeth on national brands such as American Express, Dodge, Kohler, and Taco Bell. He has marketing and advertising degrees from the University of Denver. Nonprofit Startups: In 1997, Bill helped to form the Compass Arts and, later, Compass Film Academy (which is now Compass College of Cinematic Arts), a 501(c)3 nonprofit film school located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is currently on the Board of Directors and originally served as its Founding Chairperson. In 2019, Bill was the driving force behind the formation of DO MORE GOOD – a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization that provides workshops, seminars, curriculum and content on the power of branding and marketing to capture, keep and grow support for nonprofit missions. Purchase Dave's book The Self-Evolved Leader here- https://www.amazon.com/Self-evolved-Leader-Elevate-Develop-Refuses/dp/1626346801 Get in touch with Dave: Website: https://www.davemckeown.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/davemckeown Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davemckeown1/?hl=en

Episode 2:  Today, Molley and Chad discuss what types of food to bring on the boat, as well as what to avoid.  Everyone thinks about the beverages they want to bring, but there are reasons you should avoid certain foods.  Oh, and did you know there's a superstition about having a banana on the boat?  They're joined again by their son, Tristen, for this episode. Growing up, Molley's parents typically brought some chicken tenders, but now that she's older, Molley and Chad have come a long way. Foods You Want to Avoid on the Boat Cheetos – The orange dust gets everywhere! This also applies to nacho cheese-flavored Doritos, cheesy puffs, etc.  The dust gets into the carpet and is very difficult to get out, especially after the dust or the chip itself has gotten wet.  The other issue is the orange handprints from kiddos and guests that get all over.     Anything Red – Kool-Aid and/or Cherry vodka, while not foods, can be problematic. Instead, consider a Capri-Sun.  Red dye can stain the seats and carpet if you can't remove it.  We mention avoiding red pomegranates later in the conversation. Chocolate Chip Cookies – The chocolate will melt in the sun and make cleaning up very difficult. Bananas – There's a legend that bananas on a fishing boat is considered unlucky. This is especially true for fishing boats.  Mustard – We'll mention it in a minute, but it's a stain-risk. Ranch Dip or Beer Cheese – If you spill it on the carpet and forget to clean it up, thoroughly, the next time you get ready to take out your boat, you'll definitely smell what you had left behind. The beer cheese is also a stain-risk. Foods to Bring on the Boat Sandwiches – Lunch meats and cheese are fine for the cooler, but avoid mustard. Some people make them in advance, while we prefer to make them on the boat. Chicken Salad or Pimento Cheese Sandwiches – Always good with pita chips, but remember to keep them on ice. Snacks – Pretzels and fruit are good for tiding you over until lunch is served. Beef Jerky – Always a great idea. Wraps & Pinwheels – Tortilla wrapped sandwiches are easy and clean. Smoked Sausage Slices in BBQ Sauce – Prepare before you leave the house/cabin. Hot Dogs, Burgers and BBQ – You can keep these warm in a wide-mouth thermos until you're ready to serve them. 30-Piece Chicken Nuggets – Place groups of them in zip-lock bags and enjoy. Shrimp Ceviche – Put it in small containers and serve with Tostito Scoops. Veggies and Fresh Fruit – These are good for you and can hydrate you on the water. Remember to avoid the bananas! Tips to Protect Your Food on the Boat Buy tons of zip-lock bags or Rubbermaid-type containers. They can keep lake water, river water or melted ice from getting into the food and ruining your day (not to mention your meal). Make sure you bring plenty of ice or frozen cool-packs to keep your food chilled. Remember to pack some baby-wipes or other napkins to clean hands and containers. Slice your breads or rolls before you leave. Kings Hawaiian rolls are a great option. Bring a spoon! Trust us, you don't want to have to use your fingers. Bring plenty of hand-sanitizer. ProTip:  Before you leave the dock, don't be afraid to go over the “rules of the boat” with family and friends.  Everyone is there to have a good time, but in the end, it's your boat and you'll be the ones who end up cleaning up the leftover mess. Thanks for Listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider sharing it with your friends.  We hope to see you out there soon.  Until next time, here's to warm weather and calm waters! Don't forget to subscribe!

Christine Heenan serves as Flagship's senior partner and chief communications officer, overseeing communications, external affairs, brand and marketing for Flagship and its enterprise companies. She also serves as an advisor to the dozens of Flagship-founded companies in its broader ecosystem. She is the founder and former president of Clarendon Group, a consulting firm focused on social impact, communications, advocacy, and leadership voice. While at Clarendon she advised clients including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Broad Institute, the Whitehead Institute, the Social Science Research Council, CARE USA, University of Miami, the Rockefeller Family Office, philanthropist Donald Sussman, and other notable organizations, leaders, and philanthropists. She served as Senior Vice President for Global Policy & Advocacy at The Rockefeller Foundation, where she led the Foundation's policy, program influence, partnerships, and communications teams, as well as its regional teams in Asia, Africa and Italy. She also oversaw the Bellagio and Fellows unit.  While at Rockefeller, she led the creation of #Solvable, a global platform for highlighting the UN Sustainable Development Goals featuring more than 45 mini-films, an acclaimed podcast, and an award-winning documentary film. She also helped conceive and launch the “Without Mom” campaign, a multi-country effort to raise awareness for preventable maternal mortality launched during Mom Congress on Capitol Hill in 2019. From 2008 to 2015, Heenan was Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for Harvard University, overseeing its communications, government relations, and digital strategy teams in Cambridge, Boston, and Washington, DC. During the Clinton Administration she served in the White House as a Senior Policy Analyst and speechwriter, focused primarily on health care policy, women's issues, and other areas of domestic policy. Heenan was an adjunct assistant professor of public policy at the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University and a Freshman Seminar instructor at Harvard College, teaching on communications in policy making. In 2010, Heenan was awarded a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Derek Bok Center at Harvard. She was previously a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, and now serves as Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, where she is part of the teaching team for a new and highly participatory class at HBS called “Conversations on Leadership.” Heenan began her career in business strategy consulting for Telesis and SJS – spinoffs of Boston Consulting Group – working on business process analysis, cost analysis, market strategy, and strategic planning for national and international corporations including Corning, Rubbermaid, Ahlstrom, and IKEA. She has served on a number of boards focused on child development, education, and economic policy, and now serves on the boards of the David Rockefeller Fund and the University of Rhode Island. She and her family live in New York and Rhode Island. Don't forget to check out my book that inspired this podcast series, The Caring Economy: How to Win With Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/toby-usnik/support

We pre-recorded our conversation for United Way Friday with Elise from United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley and her guest, Sara Schooner-Martin, Executive Director for Healthy Families of Northern Shenandoah Valley. Sara explained the history & mission of her organization which was established in 1998. They offer support, in a positive and productive way, for the process of parenting - especially among first-time families. We talked about April as Child Abuse Prevention month and the partnership with Families Forward VA. Elise reminded us that Saturday is the monthly Rubbermaid sale from 8am - Noon in the Belk parking lot at Apple Blossom Mall. This month is a "double trucker" and will benefit ARE & Blue Ridge Housing Network.

We pre-recorded our conversation via Zoom for United Way day to chat with Elise Stine-Dolinar from United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley & her guest, Brooke Grossman, Chief Mission Officer for Horizon Goodwill Industries. We talked about the programs and services offered by Horizon Goodwill Industries - specifically the job training programs that help those train or re-train for new career opportunities. Brooke also explained how Horizon Goodwill has begun a new in-house program to offer many of their programs/services to their own staff to facilitate advancement withing the organization. Elise told us how important these programs are to the clients that UWNSV serve and reminded us about the Rubbermaid sale happening on Saturday, February 27, 2021 from 8am - 12 in the Belk parking lot at Apple Blossom Mall. For more information about Horizon Goodwill Industries, visit their website: https://horizongoodwill.org/ For more information about United Way Northern Shenandoah Valley, visit their website: https://www.unitedwaynsv.org/

We pre-recorded today's conversation via Zoom with Elise from United Way of Northern Shenandoah County and her guest, Andy Gail. Andy is the Executive Director of Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area. Andy explained how the pandemic has affected their ability to serve the community and told us about the various services and programs his organization offers that include: The Adult Basic Education program is designed to help adults improve their reading, writing, and math skills, while achieving specific goals they want to accomplish as part of their learning experience. Basic Computer Literacy trainings for adults seeking to secure employment and opportunities to advance in their career, communicate with a child's school and teacher. Tutoring for English Language Learners (ELL) provides English language skills to adults at varying levels of learning, from beginning to advanced. In order for a person to become a naturalized U.S. citizen they must pass the naturalization test. LVWA provides citizenship and naturalization tutoring for legal permanent residents throughout the region. To support the Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area mission and/or find more information about their programs, visit their website: https://lvwa.org/ and follow them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LitVol We also talked about the role United Way NSV grants play in the continued success for LVWA, plus Elise reminded us the Rubbermaid sale will happen on Saturday, January 30, 2020 from 8am - 12 in Belk parking lot at Apple Blossom Mall.

Shawn Johal is a scale up expert, entrepreneur, business growth coach, author, and leadership speaker. Hack into the key leadership and personal success habits with Shawn on this show including: Scaling up mentality is a mindset The four laws for “The Happy Leader” Habits at the start and the end of the day Unlocking the value of “community” Plus load more habits to hack! Join our Tribe at https://leadership-hacker.com Music: " Upbeat Party " by Scott Holmes courtesy of the Free Music Archive FMA Transcript: Thanks to Jermaine Pinto at JRP Transcribing for being our Partner. Contact Jermaine via LinkedIn or via his site JRP Transcribing Services Find out more about Shawn Johal below: Shawn Johal Website – https://www.shawnjohal.com Elevation Website - https://elevationcoach.ca Shawn on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnjohal/ Shawn on Twitter – https://twitter.com/Shawnjohal Shawn on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shawnjohalcoach/   Full Transcript Below ----more---- Steve Rush: Some call me Steve, dad, husband or friend. Others might call me boss, coach or mentor. Today you can call me The Leadership Hacker. Thanks for listening in. I really appreciate it. My job as the leadership hacker is to hack into the minds, experiences, habits and learning of great leaders, C-Suite executives, authors and development experts so that I can assist you developing your understanding and awareness of leadership. I am Steve Rush and I am your host today. I am the author of Leadership Cake. I am a transformation consultant and leadership coach. I cannot wait to start sharing all things leadership with you. Shawn Johal is a special guest on today's show. He's an entrepreneur, business growth coach, author, and leadership speaker on a mission to help you find the keys to a happy and successful life. But before we get a chance to speak with Sean, it's The Leadership Hacker News.   The Leadership Hacker News Steve Rush: In the news today, we explore the theory of gratitude. Now the pandemic has made us wary, and while it might be cathartic to make a list of all that we've lost, all that we've tried and all that we want to leave behind. Expressing gratitude is actually a better idea. And it's a powerful, positive force. Far from a fluffy or frivolous concept. It has real impact on physical health, emotional wellbeing, motivation, engagement, and performance. So, here's why gratitude is good and how to bring more of it into your day.   Most of us are impatient with the pandemic and 2021 has arrived and the pandemic is still here. We're thrilled to usher in a new year, but we're going to need to wait a little bit longer to get life back to something closer to what it was before. The good news is that gratitude itself can actually reduce impatience and a study published in the Psychological Science found that when people focused on being thankful, they were more likely to able to demonstrate patients. In addition, the study published in The Review of Communication found that gratitude has a positive impact on our mental health and emotional state. Optimism, as an example, as well as physical health, it also predicts behaviours such as helping others and exercising. All of this means that gratitude may just be what we need at the moment while we're either hanging on to what comes next or we're attracting towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Regular listeners who have listened to episode 18 with Nic Marks, Hacking Happiness. We've also found that gratitude is the root of all happiness. It tends to focus on what you have and replace a sense of what you might be lacking. According to some philosophers, you can't feel both grateful and unhappy. So, when your mind focuses on all, you're thankful for, you're more likely to feel joy. In addition, when you're more grateful, you tend to focus on being more present, appreciating them now, and this of course can reduce to a sense of yearning and anxiety about the future.   Philosophers have also suggested that it's a gateway emotion and it's suggested as the greatest virtue because it tends to lead to so many others. For example, an appreciation of someone can grow into love, gratitude for what you have can lead to greater satisfaction over you, loving your work and can lead to improve performance. So, here's my five top tips and how you can build and cultivate gratitude.   Number one, begin and end with intention. Start each day by thinking about all you appreciate and expect from the day. And as you go to bed at night, think and consider all you're grateful for.   Number two, give continuous attention. Throughout each day, find those small things that you can be thankful and grateful for. Perhaps you've made yourself a great cup of coffee, or you've had a really nice conversation and avoid taking those things for granted, make everything count.   Number three, be expensive. Ensure you're focusing on being grateful and not just grateful for things, but for people and the environment and conditions around you. Perhaps you particularly appreciate the headphones that you might be wearing to listen to this or the ability to walk, see, the senses that we take for granted around you.   Number 4, write it down. Research at Kent State University found that when you write down the elements that you're grateful for, that simple act can foster the happiness and wellbeing in itself. And this is probably true, because it causes us to pause, focus, reflect, and reinforce our positive experiences.   And number five, express yourself. Gratitude is both an individual and a team sport. So, when you share what you're grateful for in a team environment, it holds even more power. Thanking a co-worker in a team meeting or providing positive feedback to colleagues during the project as an example. So, when gratitude is expressed and shared, it helps both you and the group.   And let's just remember gratitude is good, it has plenty of positive effects. It could be what you, your family and your team need just to stay present, be attentive through the next stretch of this pandemic marathon that we're all experiencing, so here's a challenge. Head over to our social media and let us know what you're grateful for today. So that has been The Leadership Hacker News. If you have any insights, stories, or information, please get in touch.   Start of Podcast   Steve Rush: Our special guest on today's show is Shawn Johal. Shawn an entrepreneur, a business growth coach, a leadership speaker and author of The Happy Leader Guide. Shawn, welcome to The Leadership Hacker Podcast.   Shawn Johal: Thank you so much Steve. Very excited to be here today.   Steve Rush: Me too. We've had an opportunity to get to know each other over a couple of conversations, and I'm incredibly excited about sharing some of those conversations with our wider listeners, but before we do that, perhaps you'd give them a little bit of a backstory as to how you arrived to doing what you are doing?   Shawn Johal: Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Excited to talk about it. Basically, on my end, I immigrated from England over to Canada when I was a much, much younger. I bring it up because I think it's important to put it into context. And I grew up with a family who was very much believing in loyalty, staying at the same company for many, many years. My father worked for Rolls-Royce, England, and he transferred to Rolls-Royce Canada. My mother worked for Nortel before the big crash. And I remember my parents always telling me when I was growing up, that it would be very important for me to find the very stable job, something that I can stay at for, you know, 25, 30, 35 years. And I even remember my dad showing me his gold watch when he had done 30 years of service at Rolls-Royce. Saying that, you know, one day son, you may have the opportunity to have, you know, get the same type of watch as I have if you stay at the same company forever. And so, I kind of grew up with the mentality that I needed to find a stable job and work in the corporate world and not necessarily adventure in through entrepreneurship. So that was my mentality growing up, you know, trying to find something a little more stable. And then I met my wife, my future wife, we're married to now and her family were very, very entrepreneurial. And they started teaching me a lot about business. You know, being a business owner, understanding how to launch a business, how to own a business. And that was really where things took off for me. And I started realizing there was this whole other world out there. And so basically, after leaving the corporate world, I was working at Rubbermaid. I'm sure that a lot of listeners know about Rubbermaid, pretty large global company, $8 billion dollars. I was a district manager there.   I was invited to join the family business and it was and led lighting business. My father-in-law had taken it public and it was fast growing, very fast growing, mergers and acquisitions. And so, I came in there as a sales manager and not part of ownership, but really having more of an entrepreneurial feel to it. Unfortunately, what happened was that during the 2006, 2007 recession, my father-in-law bought a company that probably wasn't the perfect fit for the business. The recession hit, which was terrible for the business and for the family. Within a year, our business that I've grown to 50 million in revenue, came from a crashing down. It was a very, very tough time for the family.   Steve Rush: Wow.   Shawn Johal: But the good thing was that during, you know, in every big challenge there's opportunities and my brother-in-law and I, at that point had a chance to buy back three of the different divisions. We were able to relaunch this led lighting business in our own way, and we've been growing ever since. So that was in 2009 and the businesses are continuing to go strong today in 2020.   Steve Rush: It's through that kind of scaling up mentality that you've really started to deploy all of your learning. But now also share that as an entrepreneurial and business growth coach with other people, right?   Shawn Johal: Exactly. In 2013, we hit a really bad wall as a business, so many things were going wrong Steve, I can't even tell you. We had no processes. We had the wrong people in the wrong seats. We had absolutely no strategy, no product development. And it really became ethically clear to me one day when we were sitting in our office and we had two customer service people who were working at a desk, but we didn't have enough money to afford a receptionist. And basically, they would look at each other when the phone would ring and neither one wanted to answer it because they were both really disgruntled employees and not, you know, at the right seats. And so, phones would ring. I knew they were customers and the phone would ring 10, 12 times, and neither person was willing to answer it. And that's when my business partner and I looked at each other and said, you know what? We have a really big culture problem in this business. At the same time, our biggest competitor launched a product line. They basically took our catalogue, stole all 150 products that we had in the catalogue and priced them at a dollar less in the market using the same suppliers as we use. And these were people that were part of the previous business. So, it was probably the worst backstabbing feeling I could ever have imagined in my life. These people are like brothers to me.   Steve Rush: I bet.   Shawn Johal: Yeah, and that was when we decided to take on scaling up. And we had an opportunity to read the Rockefeller Habits. In those days the scaling of book hadn't come out yet. And we found a coach and then we implemented the methodology successfully in our own business.   Steve Rush: And it continues to grow to this day, and as part of that Shawn. One of the things I've known about you for a while and come to really respect is the discipline, rigor and habits that you apply in order to make your life successful. And I wanted to get into a couple of those. So, in terms of scaling up. There are kind of four pillars to that, aren't there? That's strategy people, execution and cash. Maybe just tell us a little bit about how that plays out in your business today and how you coach others?   Shawn Johal: Absolutely. What we noticed is that those four pillars really represent every business. The four key things every business owner should be really paying attention to. When we go into businesses, as much as my business, as any other business, we'd like to do a diagnostic where we go in there and really understand, okay, what's going well and what's not going well, you know, do you have a long-term goal that's nonfinancial? Do you have the right execution in class with being methodologies and processes? You know, how's your cash flow? Do you have good liquidity and everything that you're doing? Really those are the types of things that we go in and we analyse right from the beginning. And most importantly, do you have the right people in the right seats? And that's something that becomes incredibly clear very easily. So, once we get in there, we do that diagnostic. It's really easy for us to understand where the business is strong and where the business has certain weaknesses. And usually, we'll start off with a couple of strategic days to really build the vision of the business. You know, we'll go with that BHAG from Jim Collins, the big, hairy, audacious goal. We'll build that really cool vision long-term then get into three-year capacities, one-year priorities and the 90-day plan, really helping the business focus on execution the right way. And we'll start fixing things little by little, you know, we can't take it all in one big bite. We've been doing scaling up for seven years in our business, and we're still going strong. I've never seen a business not succeed by doing scaling up. The only times it doesn't work is when a business owner is either too stubborn to let other people share and have their own ideas or the business owner doesn't have the discipline required to implement the methodology. So those are the only two times where it doesn't really work.   Steve Rush: And of course, scaling up will never stop if you have the right mentality and the right disciplines and right approach.   Shawn Johal: Exactly, you can just keep going and going. Now, obviously it really depends on what you're looking for. I think some entrepreneurs get a little afraid when they see scaling up. Everybody wants to grow, but I don't believe in growth for the sake of growth. I think you need to have what I like to call profitable growth. I really believe in profitable growth since we've been doing scaling up in 2013, we've never had a month in the red. We've never once in those seven years.   Steve Rush: Wow, that's great.   Shawn Johal: For us, that's what's most important. But even though we're growing at a really great pace, you know, anywhere between 10, 15, 20% a year, depending on the year. We're very careful to make sure that bottom line is always staying where it needs to be.   Steve Rush: That's consistently 15, 20% growth every year, which for many businesses, they can only dream of that. If you have to kind of peel that layer back and peel all the layers back, is there maybe one thing that is the standout action activity that you would maybe apply to that success? Shawn Johal: 100% and it's going to sound familiar. I'm sure your listeners have heard this, but I cannot emphasize it enough. You absolutely have to have the right people in your business. I've noticed that systematically, I go into companies and I see right away from the strategic team all the way down, I can pinpoint right off the bat, how many people are not the right people in those businesses. And you and I spoke about this in an earlier conversation. I always ask this one key question. Would you enthusiastically rehire every single one of your team members? And it's shocking that the percentages I get, you know, you would think the percentages would be fairly respectable because these are business owners who have built their own business, right?   Steve Rush: Right.   Shawn Johal: But the percentages are always closer to between 20 and 50%, which means that there's more than half the company that the business owner would not rehire enthusiastically. So that means you have about 50% of the people that are not the right people in your business. It's just kind of shocking when you think about it, right?   Steve Rush: Stark, isn't it? Really stark.   Shawn Johal: So that to me would be the number one thing. I have a very specific methodology when I go into businesses and it's been based a little bit on the whole top rating and Who methodologies for anybody who wants to read those books, the two great books, both the top rating and Who, their based a lot around talent and how to hire. But a lot of the people spend time on how to hire the right people, but they don't spend enough time on development and retention and development and retention are the two, what I would say most overlooked superpowers is that every business owner has, are you developing your people internally? And what are you doing to appreciate them? Show them recognition, make sure they feel really, really welcomed and you know, recognized every single day of the week. And what are we doing to make sure that they 10X their development and leadership and get to the next level, because if your team is not taking that next step, your business never will. That's for sure.   Steve Rush: It's one of those things that sounds pretty obvious when you say out loud, but still many businesses. And in fact, many of the clients that I speak to still fall into the trap of not developing their team and retaining and growing their talent. What'd you put that down to?   Shawn Johal: Business owners, you know, this cash with liquidity, there's so many different things that could happen in a business that are problematic. And I think that what happens is we end up taking our people for granted because our people are coming in, you know, our amazing employees or team members are showing up every single day. And we just assume that they're happy. When I go into businesses, I always ask the business owners, are your people happy? Do they feel recognized and appreciated? I always get the same answer. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're good. You know, we do a few little things here and there and I'm sure they understand what we're trying to accomplish and I'm sure they're happy. When I asked the employees and the team members, the same question, I get a very different answer. The majority they tell, well, no, I don't know what the vision is of the business. No, one's really communicating that to me. I'm not sure what we're trying to accomplish. I'm not sure exactly where we're going. So, I get very, very different answers from the employees than I get from the business owners. And so that's why it's so important for every business owner to understand, who are my A-players and how am I going to recognize them systematically?   Steve Rush: Yeah, definitely so. And you've taken your learnings and you've pulled that together and you've written The Happy Leader. Tell us a little bit about what The Happy Leader is?   Shawn Johal: Absolutely, and thanks for asking Steve. The book is a book that's written over eight years, believe it or not. I started writing this book a long time ago. I think it's really the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life, not being a natural writer or author. I really put a lot of time and heart and soul into this book. I wanted to write something that was written a fable format, you know, because I feel like some of the amazing authors out there like Patrick Lencioni and Robin Sharma, you know, some really, really great leadership speakers and authors. I was always very much impressed with the way they wrote their books. And Bob Burg comes to mind as well, The Go-Giver. And so, I decided to write a book that's written in a fable format. And what I realized Steve, being surrounded by entrepreneurs over the last decade is that entrepreneurs in general seem to be a pretty unhappy bunch. It's shocking, right?   Steve Rush: Yeah.   Shawn Johal: Because we all have businesses. And you think that the dream is to be a business owner, but I speak to business owners and the most of the time they're unhappy. And I'm part of the entrepreneur's organization. We have something called, you know, Forum. A Forum is a time where we get together between 8 and 10 entrepreneurs every month. And we share business ideas, opportunities, challenges. We always start with a thing called the one word open and that one word open is always the one word of where you are today, just in your mind. And the words that we hear are stressed you know, stretched too thin, overwhelmed, can't keep up, unbalanced. It's almost never positive words. And I really realized over time that entrepreneurs are really, really stressed out. So, my goal was to write a book about someone who is also, you know, a business leader who was very stressed out and whose life was kind of falling apart. And, you know, who meets a really incredible person. Who's going to teach him how to become a happy leader, really changed his life around so that he really could find happiness, joy, and success in everything that he does. Understanding that it's the journey and not just the destination.   Steve Rush: Yeah, and you've created 12 steps to help people on that journey. And within those 12 steps or surrounding those 12 steps, you have four laws. Maybe we can spend a little bit of time around each of those four laws.   Shawn Johal: Absolutely, I always believe that the first thing that we need to do as human beings is take care of ourselves first, you know, a great friend and colleague Kevin Lawrence calls it, Put Your Oxygen Mask First, which is a great book that I would recommend everybody to read as well. Are we taking care of ourselves before we take care of others? Because if you're not at the right place in your mind and your heart and your soul, it's going to be very, very challenging to have the type of success and be able to lead others as well. And so, the first law of happiness is what I call the law of self-awareness. And what that means is you have to be self-aware of where you're at yourself in your life. And so, the first part of that law is really comes down to what I consider the greatest superpower that we're not using right now, which is meditation.   You know, meditation has taken a lot more space over the last couple of years. We're hearing more about it. We're hearing a lot of incredible business leaders and incredible artists and athletes and people doing meditation. But the reality is that it's still associated with being something very spiritual. And although I have nothing wrong with spirituality, I'm a very spiritual person myself. I like to bring it back to science. And science has proven that meditation has incredible benefits on focus, on creativity, on energy levels. It literally changes our genes and the inside of our brains. And it's shocking to me how little people, even in this day and age, when it's becoming more popular, actually do it.   Steve Rush: It's very true.   Shawn Johal: Yeah, that'd be something I'd really encourage people to do. Something else that I think is really important that we don't do enough of is actually what I call, you know, circular reciprocation. And what that term means for me is what are you doing to practice gratitude, appreciation, and kindness every single day and everything that you do? Again, scientifically, they've done lots of studies and both writing down the things that make you happy and that you appreciate in your life immediately released the right type of chemicals in our bodies to bring that next level of happiness. And so, you know, doing things like that. Meditation, gratitude appreciation are really part of the first law, which is a law of self-awareness.   Steve Rush: Got it. What's law number two?   Shawn Johal: So, law number two, now you've really taking time to be more aware and you're taking care of yourself. Law numbers two is the law of self-improvement. So now you're aware, you know, where you're at and you know, where your kind of the foundation of your mind, body and soul, and now you need to take things to the next level. And so, the law of self-improvement for me has a lot to do with barrier breaking, which is for me, meaning to commit to a stretch goal in your life, something that's way beyond what you've ever accomplished. This could be anything, it could be, you know, it doesn't have to be necessarily a physical goal. It could be, you know, some type of goal where you want to maybe write a book or you want to run a marathon, but you want to do something that stretches you beyond the obvious. And the reason that's important is that, is only when we push ourselves to that next level, that we really get to see our true potential. And I think there's a lot of people that are not meeting their true potential. And there's a tremendous amount of self-limiting beliefs out there that we seem to put on ourselves. Everybody does it, you know, the old imposter syndrome and that, oh, you know, it's not, I can't do that. That person can do it. It's just not true. You know, the reality is that human beings are incredible race and we have so much energy and so much potential. And, you know, we shouldn't be limiting ourselves. And so, by putting a stretch goal of some type that really forces us to go further than we believe possible when you achieve that goal happens is you open up a new world of possibilities, right? Where now you start thinking, well, if I could do this, I could do a whole lot of other things, right?   Steve Rush: Right. Shawn Johal: So, yeah. So that's really comes down to the law of self-improvement, within that law I also have, I like to call habit hacking. So, habit hacking, that's an important concept that you and I have spoken quite a bit about together in the past.   Steve Rush: Sure, yeah.   Shawn Johal: Whereas you're going in there and you're completely revamping all of your habits from morning routines to evening routines to all the way you eat to the way you sleep to the people you speak with, you know, really changing pretty much the you know, the dynamic of your everyday routine.   Steve Rush: Some of it is about unlearning what you've already learned. That's not serving you well and relearning and creating new hacks and habits to create the right foundations, right?   Shawn Johal: Absolutely, Steve. It's so important. you know, I speak to so many people and you know, business leaders are all different scopes of life on that. I noticed that the majority of them don't have a very good morning routine, you know, I asked them, okay, you know, what's happening when you start your day? You know, I wake up and right away, started looking into my phone and I started trying to see what's happening with emails to get caught up. And, you know, it's literally the absolute worst way you can possibly start a day. Like you want to start your day where you're giving yourself the intention of what you want to accomplish in the few hours that you have ahead of you. And once you've figured out that intention, you need to take on a few key activities when you wake up that are going to set you up for success and give you a lot of energy.   Steve Rush: Right.   Shawn Johal: So, you should either again, be doing some type of meditation, very quickly reading some positive literature, maybe writing in a journal, really setting yourself up for success before you become a slave to technology, which unfortunately seems to be what a lot of us do.   Steve Rush: You have this approach called 10, 10, 10, don't you?   Shawn Johal: Yes, this was taught to me by my mentor, Warren Ruston, the incredible, incredible human being. Warren has this concept of 10, 10, 10, where he, you know, 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 minutes. That's what it represents. You would do three different activities for 10 minutes each. It would be 10 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes of journaling, and 10 minutes of reading, positive literature. When I teach this to people, I get a lot of pushback because a lot of people tell me the same thing. You expect me to take on 30 minutes to start my day. I don't even have, you know, three minutes. And so, it's a little bit of a challenge at first. So, what I explained to people to do is say, listen, you can take the 10, 10, 10, which is super impactful. If it's too much for you, what I want you to do instead is do a five, five, five. So, you could just cut it in half and do five minutes of each. And then when I get pushed back on the five, five, five, I tell people, okay, listen, if you can't even do the five, five, five, just do one time five, pick one of the three activities, do one of them for five minutes. Even that starts your day, so substituting, checking email, and you running right away into fires, you know, fire extinguishing, as I like to call it. And instead doing something much, much more intentional, such as a meditation or journal is completely going to change the way your day is approached and the way you're going to take on you know, the activities that you have that day, it really makes a huge difference.   Steve Rush: It switches on the prefrontal cortex. It creates you your strong foundations for the day, rather than being emotionally triggered by other stuff that could impact on you, right?   Shawn Johal: Exactly. It really switches the script where now you're in control of your day. Whereas when you're just becoming a slave to technology, you no longer control it. And you're no longer in that circle of influence that you know, was so well taught to us by Stephen Covey, you have to make sure that you can control your own destiny. And if you're not taking those steps in the morning, you're always going to be chasing your day and chasing your day is obviously not the type of place you want to be mentally. You want to be in a place where you're deciding what's going to happen next, and you're not really having someone else decide for you   Steve Rush: Exactly, right. And of course, if you're not in control, that's when stress starts to creep into the workplace and into our world, which is so counterproductive.   Shawn Johal: Exactly, and I think, you know, as you know, very well, Steve. Stress right now is probably, you know, especially in the virus here, it's the biggest culprit of most businesses.   Steve Rush: Definitely.   Shawn Johal: Right now, recent surveys have said that, you know, over 40% of employees are currently stressed out and they're not telling their employer. Stress levels are rampant around the world. They've been going up every single year, over the past 25 years. People are really stressed. People are really, really stressed, and we have to find ways to reduce that stress for them.   Steve Rush: So, what's law number three?   Shawn Johal: Law number three is what I love to call the law of self-giving. So, what that means is, now you've made yourself fully aware of where you're at in your life. You've taken on new stretch goals. You've changed your habits, you're visualizing your success, and now you need to help others, you know, to do the same. There's a concept that I read a really long time ago from an amazing author, and the book was called The Dream Manager, Matthew Kelly. And basically, that book is incredibly powerful because it really explains, it's more in a business concept, but it really explains how you can go into a business and do, you know, dream facilitation and help people really achieve their goals and their dreams, because each one of us, you and I included Steve, we all have certain skill sets and we have certain connections. And if we use those and help others, we would definitely be able to help them take that next step in their journeys and their success. And so, for the law of self-giving, I like to have people do that, that dream facilitation concept for people around them, you know, it could be for family, it could be for friends, it could be for peers.   What you want to do is you want to find someone and you want to sit with them and figure out, okay, what is it that they are trying to accomplish in their lives? Is it something professional? It could be something personal? Now what is a dream that they wish they could really pursue and they're struggling with, and then you make it a point to actually go and help them accomplish that dream, you use it. I'm not saying it's financial. You know, I'm not telling people to go out there and, you know, give ten thousand dollars to this person, but you have unique skills and contacts that could probably help this person some way somehow. And so, you want to use those so that you can go and help that person accomplish their dreams, and then you become a dream facilitator for them. And so that would be, you know, one part of the law of self-giving, you know, another part of it for me, which is really important is gifting people every single day in a specific way. That's something that we just don't do enough of this. This is one idea that I think people could use really easily. One of my really good friends, Rob Murray, and he's an entrepreneur in Canada. He sent me an email last week and his email was just entitled. Thank you for being you. And the email was just three lines, very quick and short, telling me why he appreciated me as a human being for no reason, just absolutely out of the blue. And that's something that I've been encouraging people to do a lot, you know, pick people in your network and send them a quick email, just telling them why you appreciate them so much. It does not to be crazy long, does not have to be this whole love letter. Just very simply, you know, telling the person why they mean a lot to you and why they're important in your life. And just realize that the impact that will have on that person on the other end is unbelievable. It really, really is, and we don't take enough time to realize the impact our words have. And the intention has when you do something like that.   Steve Rush: It's very true. One of my previous guests on the show actually, who will remain nameless so they don't feel overly embarrassed while I share this story. Sent me a note just a few weeks back saying, Steve, you are amazing. I just felt the whole world lift around me in that moment because nobody does that or rarely people do that. And it felt so special to get that message.   Shawn Johal: Absolutely. I mean, it's just so important. It has to be authentic, obviously, that's the key, but the reality is that people are amazing and there's so many people around us that are always doing so many great things and they have so many friends and colleagues. And do we take the time to appreciate them? We, don't and why?   Steve Rush: Exactly. It's one of those things. If you think about how we've become matured in our ways and our thinking, we've unlearned some of the things that weren't natural and organic as we were growing up, such as saying, thank you, or showing gratitude to people. Dreaming big, as you just talked about it and that facilitation of dreams. As children, we would have naturally done that. But as we become older, we've unlearned how to do that effectively. And I think that's a quite neat reframe that you put there around that whole giving law.   Shawn Johal: Yeah, I think you're right, Steve, it's very unfortunate. I don't know why that happens. It's a very bizarre thing that society and the world seems to always be pushing us down. And it's like, dreaming is only now reserved for those very, very select few like 0.001% of people in the world that are, you know, these successful athletes or entrepreneurs or artists, but every single one of us has that creativity within us, we really do. Why are we not using it? I think sometimes beats us down a little bit, trying to get yourself out of that, you know, that little bit of a prison of our minds that we're thrown into and trying to find that creativity again and everything that we do.   Steve Rush: I agree Shawn, and what's law number four?   Shawn Johal: So, ending on number four, you know, now you've gone through self-awareness, you're starting to do go through self-improvement and now you're into self-giving and you're giving back. Finally, its self-belief. Now is really where you're taking the time to say, okay, you know I'm going to take things to the next level. I'm really no longer going to have the imposter syndrome. I'm an amazing human being and I can do anything that I want. And so, the law of self-belief as, you know, a few different elements to it, for me, one of the most important things is what I call spinning positivity. We owe it to ourselves to eliminate those things that are energy drains in our lives. Those things that are really negative, those could be people, it could be situations. It could be the environment, whatever things in your life. Should make a list of all the things that drain your energy.   You know, I like to call them energy vampires and really make sure that you're just getting those out of your way as quickly as possible. And then what I like to call the next step is really the belief building. So, where you're really building your belief system around the new you, because now you've really developed a new personality really, and everything that you've done in the first three steps. And now you can take your own personal success, whatever that means for you. It doesn't mean financial. It means whatever you think, however, you define success for yourself and you can take that to the next level. And then that final step of that last law is really what I like to call, just go big, which again, comes back to the point that we talked about earlier about creativity a few minutes ago. It's just, why are we thinking so small? Like I just don't understand it. We have so much potential, any one of us. This is for all of us you know, and again, it's relative to your own life into what you're trying to do, but I really encourage people now to really think as big and as bold as possible. You know, it's funny yesterday, Steve, I was working with my digital marketing coordinator. We were rebuilding our vision and our business on a few different levels. And we were just looking at the why our company exists and we kind of changed it yesterday. And we really put it as empowering business leaders to create and to accomplish their most audacious goals. And we really spent a lot of time on that because for us, the audacious part, we debated it quite a bit. And we said, you know what? Why not? Like, you know, people need to be a little more audacious. Like you got to, you got to think bigger. When you think about something, I think what you're going to accomplish you should immediately like double two X that and say, okay, now what I'm going to try to do double what I just thought.   Steve Rush: It's often our worldview that holds us back though, right? Those biases, those limiting beliefs that we give ourselves that stop us really thinking big?   Shawn Johal: Exactly. I see it all the time going into businesses and with companies, when I work with them, they've already given them the cells like a ceiling. They've already, most of the time told themselves, okay, we can only accomplish this much as a business. Or I meet individual people who say, this is as far as I can strive for. And it's just disappointing because I know that they can do more, I can see it. They have so much more potential. So yeah, it is almost getting out of our own mind.   Steve Rush: Which in itself is another habit that takes practice and repetition, right?   Shawn Johal: Absolutely. You just have to be working on yourself constantly. And that's why things like meditation and journaling and visualization are so important. And again, they're scientifically proven to work. It's not spiritual. It's really science-based.   Steve Rush: Yeah, love it. So, Sean, this part of the show now, we get the opportunity to hack into your mind as a leader, and to really start to think about some of the great things that you can share in addition to what you've already shared. So, the first place I'd like to go with you is to find out what you think your top three leadership hacks might be?   Shawn Johal: I would say to you, the first one is the community. When I say the community, we all have access to some type of community around us. I'm an entrepreneur. I have, you know, the entrepreneur's organization. I have, you know, a lot of friends that are entrepreneurs as well. And so, I'm always, you know, hacking into this amazing network and community of peers that I have, but that applies to everyone. You know, you could be, you know, a business leader, you could be a manager, you could be a frontline employee, you have a community available to you out there some way, somehow. You just have to look, there are like-minded peers that you can share ideas with and surround yourself with to help you take that next step. So, I'm always encouraging people to really get out there and make sure that they're networking and they're finding a community for themselves that could really help them take things to the next level. So, for me, that's definitely number one, number two would be mentorship. And so, there's a community of peers that can help you a lot. We all should have some type of mentor in our lives. And you know, we'd probably take a whole other podcast to talk about how to go find the perfect mentor, but I know a lot of people are intimidated by it. At the same time, it's not as hard as you think. You know, there are a lot of different ways to find a mentor out there. A mentor could be, again, it could be professional, it could be personal. There are probably some people out there that have a lot of wisdom and knowledge to give to you. And it's not just a take, take, take situation. A mentorship relationship is very much give and take. And so, the right type of mentor will also be getting a lot from that relationship.   And so, you know, when you can find the right type of person to help you out there, it will make a world of difference. I've had several different mentors and most recently I've been working over the last few years with Warren Ruston, as I mentioned just the amount of learning that I've gotten from Warren and the guidance and being challenged on my different ideas has been absolutely inspiring. So that would be an absolutely massive element to look into. And finally, hack number three would be habit hacking. We spoke a little bit before we didn't spend a lot of time on it. You absolutely need to change how you wake up and what you do before going to sleep. Those are the two most important times of the day when you absolutely need to master your habits. You need to wake up, have a very, very specific way, whether it's working out with doing the things I mentioned earlier with meditation, visualization and the same thing before going to sleep, you know, I see people are falling asleep to writing emails or to watching Netflix. This is not how you want to go to sleep. You want to go to sleep, you're preparing your brainwaves because you're getting into that Theta brainwave. And then you're going into the deep Delta brainwave. It's a time of day where we have the most impact on our subconscious mind. And so, do you want to be going to sleep or you're stressed out and you're thinking about what you have to do the next morning. Now you're marinating in those thoughts for about eight hours, you know, maybe five, maybe six, maybe seven, and you're not putting your brain at the right place because most of the day, 95% of the time we're living in our subconscious mind. And so, what you put into your subconscious is incredibly important. And so, I always encourage all of my business leaders that I work with, make sure that you have an incredible morning routine, but just as important, make sure you have an incredible evening routine before going to sleep as well.   Steve Rush: Yeah, I love that. It's really, really powerful, and if you do it every day, then before, you know, it's just the way it happens for you. It becomes part of what you do, rather than a routine.   Shawn Johal: Absolutely.   Steve Rush: Brilliant. The next part of the show we call Hack to Attack. So, this is where something hasn't worked out as planned, or indeed hasn't worked out at all in some cases, but as a result of the experience, we now use it as a positive in our life. What will be your Hack to Attack?   Shawn Johal: It's funny, this is something that's happened to me very recently. I've been following, you know, I've been coaching a lot of businesses and when COVID hit a lot of the businesses that I was coaching, you know, had to take a back seat and I basically had to work for free for about three months. Now things have come back to normal, but during that time, I learned a lot about online marketing, online courses, you know, launching virtual summits. And I jumped deep. I deep dove into a lot of these, and I followed a lot of influencers. And what happened is that I realized that a lot of these digital influencers make it sound so easy, right? Because apparently the whole world is going digital. And so therefore it's just so easy to have success in the digital world, which is just not the case.   Then recently I launched an online course. And my first online course, you know, it did not have the success that I was really hoping for and really expected. And it really hit me hard because you know, that kind of lived through that failure and to have to deal with it, was tough for me. You know, it's not something that I'm used to. I encourage my kids to fail all day, but when it happens to you, it's actually really hard to deal with. And so, you know, I looked at it and what I realized is that I had completely built it the wrong way. I'd also launched it the wrong way. And it's giving me a tremendous amount of learning. I'm going to continue pursuing that route and launching an online course over the next year, for sure. And I now have the tools necessary to do it the right way. So, I think I needed that first failure to know how to do it properly in the future.   Steve Rush: And it's how you frame it, that's the most important thing, right? To have this principle that there's only a win and learn, there is no fail, and it's that framing of the experience that's going to make you successful in the future.   Shawn Johal: Exactly, and I think most people get caught up in the emotions of a failure.   Steve Rush: Definitely.   Shawn Johal: I do that myself, you know, it's really tough. I'm not someone who's had a tremendous amount of failures in my life without a few here and there, and they've been tough to deal with. And this one recently hit home pretty hard too, and it stopped, while there is an emotional aspect to it, and you have to be able to get over that emotional aspect as quickly as possible.   Steve Rush: The last part of the show, we get to give you a chance to do some time travel, bump into Shawn at 21, and give him some advice or some words of wisdom. What's it going to be?   Shawn Johal: It would be so many Steve, so many, but I'll pick one. I would've said master the arts of meditation and visualization at an earlier age. And for some reason it seems to come later in life where we start having more introspection. I think those are incredible tools that allow us to have so much better control of our emotions and of our own vision. And by doing both meditation and visualization for me, it's been in the last year only where I've started doing it. It's changed my life completely. And I'm trying to teach my kids now how to do it at a very early age, because to me, those are two super powers that are free and that we're just not utilizing much.   Steve Rush: 100%! Great advice. Great advice. So, if folks want to get in touch with you and learn a little bit more about the work that you do with Elevation and indeed how to get hold of some of your insights, where's the best place for us to send them?   Shawn Johal: I say two places where I spend a lot of time, obviously my website, which is shawnjohal.com, so S.H.A.W.N-J.O.H.A.L.com and I spend a tremendous amount of time on LinkedIn as well. You'll always find me posting a lot of things on LinkedIn, trying to provide a little bit of ideas and learning to the community out there. And so those would be the two best places to find me for sure.   Steve Rush: Awesome. We'll make sure that those links are in the show notes and that anybody who's listened to today can literally just click on over and get straight to find more about you. So, it's only left for me, Shawn, to say, thank you for joining us on our community here. It's been amazing talking to you. You're truly inspirational guy. I've learned loads in just listening to you today. And every time I listened to speak with you, I always pick up a couple of nuggets. So, thank you for being part of our community on The Leadership Hacker Podcast.   Shawn Johal: Well, thank you, Steve. It's been a real pleasure. I love what you're doing and keep it up. It's really inspiring, honestly.   Steve Rush: Thank you Shawn.   Shawn Johal: Thank you.   Closing   Steve Rush: I genuinely want to say heartfelt thanks for taking time out of your day to listen in too. We do this in the service of helping others, and spreading the word of leadership. Without you listening in, there would be no show. So please subscribe now if you have not done so already. Share this podcast with your communities, network, and help us develop a community and a tribe of leadership hackers.   Finally, if you would like me to work with your senior team, your leadership community, keynote an event, or you would like to sponsor an episode. Please connect with us, by our social media. And you can do that by following and liking our pages on Twitter and Facebook our handle there is @leadershiphacker. Instagram you can find us there @the_leadership_hacker and at YouTube, we are just Leadership Hacker, so that is me signing off. I am Steve Rush and I have been the leadership hacker.    

This week we go over Legion of Superheroes #9, Giant-Size X-Men Tribute issue, Avengers #36, Falcon & Winter Soldier #3, Shang-chi #1 and X-factor #4! Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel has been cast in the MCU, Jamie Foxx is returning as Electro and what is up with the New X-Men/Academy X characters?? They deserve more! Also, Keenan and LZ relaunch some of their favorite female characters! Explicit language. Thank you so much for listening! We really appreciate the support! Twitter - @AnotherRelaunch -@KeenanLance_ -@UncannyLZ Email - anotherrelaunch@gmail.com

Jan Nicholson is President of two private family foundations, The Nicholson Foundation in NJ and The Grable Foundation in Pittsburgh PA.She recently retired from a Board Role at MDRC, a non-partisan research organization based in NYC, and has held Board Positions at Rubbermaid, Ball Corporation, and Radian Group, Inc. from 1990 to 2015. She has an extensive background in finance having worked at Citibank and follow-on firms for 25 years and our conversation tracks how she transitioned from thinking like a banker to thinking like an investor. Jan shares her experience in investing in emerging markets and lessons learned from investing through the years. She also shares what she brings to her Board and Committee roles and what makes an effective Board and Committee member in her view.

Plenty of people want a pond on their property, but those special few have an innate desire to learn how to do it themselves. Part of being a member of the DIY community is going through the growing pains of learning a new trade. It's not your expertise, so failure is unavoidable. Eric's special guest today, Ron Yelenich, knows all about DIY disasters when it comes to building ponds, being a member of the DIY community himself, and he started before YouTube! Don't let disaster and failure deter you from building your own pond. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day!   Eric shares his insight on: Ron's inspiration for getting into the pond world Discovering the pond building DIYers on YouTube Setting the stage for what DIY really means Digging the pond to the correct depth for Koi How Ron and Eric came to meet each other Not knowing where to put the UV lamp in the pond Making a disastrous homemade sieve filter Running two bottom drains with a stiff pipe Using a large Rubbermaid trash can as a settlement tank The tricky thing about leaking Deciding to start over and build a pond the right way How Ron's family has coped during the long building process What has changed as life has continued moving forward Things that originally came from that DIY mentality Advice from Ron about doing too much DIY   Links to resources: Rubbermaid Home Depot YouTube Find Ron on Instagram! The Pond Digger   If you're looking for inspiration and tips for your pond, be sure to follow The Pond Digger's Instagram!   You can also check out The Pond Digger's products at: http://helixpondfiltration.com/   And follow his adventures in the pond world at: Instagram @theponddigger Facebook @theponddigger   If you have any questions, feel free to email Eric with the subject line “Persuasive Pond Design” at: Eric@theponddigger.com