Podcast appearances and mentions of ryan hicks

In this episode Zack Fishman and Ryan Hicks break down a list of their top thoughts and six topics here in the month of April: 1) The Top Learnings From UnConference:
Game-Changing Insights on Value Creation & Growth. Featuring David Barr (Franchise Investor, Chairman of PMTD Restaurants, and former IFA Chairman) and Chris Dull (CEO of Freddy's Frozen Custard). 2) Sneak Peak: YoungCon Agenda Is Here! A quick thumbnail on what the event entails. Register here: https://franchiseyoungconference.com/ 3) Is Franchise M&A Heating Up?
 An industry update from Zack Fishman. 4) An Emerging Service Brand Growth Story. A great example for emerging and regional franchisors. 5) Zack's Advice On PR In 2025. As an expert on the topic he brings practical insights on PR for franchise organizations in the modern age. 6) Technology Corner: A discussion around 4 topical technologies to stay up to date on what's possible in todays fast pace world of technology advancements. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter: Get the Hottest Franchise News & Trends, Every Month Franchise experts Ryan Hicks & Zack Fishman will be sharing their personal thoughts on industry headlines & trends. https://share.hsforms.com/2QTZETnIPReacZuTlRmmRoAdisk2

In this episode, Ryan Hicks and Zack Fishman bring on guests Jamie Adams, (Chief Revenue Officer of Scorpion) and Ryan Combe (Managing Partner of Cornerstone Franchise Partners) to reflect on key winners and trends in the franchise landscape in 2024, and make predictions for 2025. We also explore significant leadership changes, lessons learned in 2024, and contrarian beliefs for the future of franchising, emphasizing the importance of franchisee profitability and the potential for franchising to grow as a percentage of GDP. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 03:12 - Reflections on 2024: Winners and Trends 05:58 - The Role of Institutional Investors in Franchising 08:53 - The Rise of Franchise Sales Organizations 12:06 - Predictions for 2025: Key Players and Trends 14:57 - Breakout Brands of 2024 and 2025 18:11 - Bold Moves and Disruptors in Franchising 21:06 - The Future of Health and Wellness Franchises 45:03 - Chick-fil-A's Bold Business Moves 51:10 - The Rise of Limited Service Restaurants (LSR) 57:54 - Innovations Shaping the Future of Food Service 01:09:32 - Leadership Changes and Their Impact 01:12:46 - Lessons Learned in 2024 01:17:00 - Contrarian Beliefs for 2025

The Incredible Story of Stephen Shields: The multi-unit Express Employment Professionals Franchisee put everything on the line at 26 years old. He moved to Joplin MO (where he knew nobody) and built the American Dream. Listen to this episode to hear his playbook. Share it with someone you know! This story needs to be told. Episode Summary: In this special edition of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks sits down in person with Stephen Shields, a multi-unit franchisee and area representative for Express Employment Professionals. Steven shares his incredible journey coming from a small town in Missouri, moving to Joplin with a loan from family and friends to buy the territory and build an empire. They discuss the importance of following proven systems, staying disciplined, and "doubling down on the hustle" during tough times. Key topics include: - The early struggles of entrepreneurship and how Steven overcame them. - The value of the franchise support system and how Express University shaped his success. - Insights into what makes a successful franchisee in both good and challenging times. - The importance of giving back to the community and the lives impacted by franchising. - Personal stories of team development and the pride of seeing employees grow. Sponsor Shoutout: This episode is brought to you by Voxie, a cutting-edge conversational texting platform designed for franchise businesses. Voxie offers two-way conversational texting, powered by AI, and has been a leader in the space since before most people even knew about OpenAI. "The only Texting software built for franchise systems to boost revenue" Learn more at www.voxie.com. Special Announcement: We're thrilled to announce the upcoming release of the Franchise America Docuseries! Ryan Hicks is diving deep into the world of franchising through the eyes of operators. Be sure to catch teaser clips with the full series launching in October. Follow Ryan on LinkedIn and Twitter at @RyanThomasHicks for updates. Register now for Franchise Springboard, taking place September 18-20 in Philadelphia. It's a can't-miss event for anyone in the franchise industry. Learn more at franchisespringboard.com.

In this Supplier Wire Series episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks chats with Morgan Smith, President of SalesDesk. SalesDesk provides lead generation for franchise development and commercial lead generation for franchisees. Ryan & Morgan discuss how SalesDesk drives success for franchise systems through innovative lead generation strategies and impactful email marketing campaigns. Connect with today's guest: franchisesuppliernetwork.com/featured-supplier/salesdesk/ Register for the Franchise “UnConferences” at www.franchisors.com

Both the NIH (National Institutes of Health) and the CDC (Center for Disease Control) have released studies showing that LONELINESS is the single, biggest predictor of premature death...of all causes. Americans are lonely, isolated, and spending lots of time online - but they generally report feeling depressed, anxious, and disconnected. What gives? In this message, Ryan Hicks makes the case for why we are made for community - and practical steps we can take to "be together."

In this Supplier Wire Series episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks chats with Raphael Rajan & Shray Mehra, Co-Founders of EZee Assist. EZee Assist is a platform that amplifies support and strengthens franchise relationships, by using AI to provide around-the-clock support to franchise owners and staff on all operational topics. Ryan, Raphael & Shray discuss why AI is the future of franchising, supporting franchisees better than ever before. Connect with today's guest: franchisesuppliernetwork.com/featured-supplier/ezee-assist/ VISIT EZEE ASSIST AT IFA BOOTH 330! Register for the Franchise “UnConferences” at www.franchisors.com.

In this Supplier Wire Series episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks chats with Dan Broudy, CEO of Clayton Kendall. Clayton Kendall's marketing supply chain program helps franchise communities and multi-location businesses scale rapidly, save money, and better manage their promotional products, signage, apparel, POP kits, and marketing collateral. Ryan and Dan discuss why it's more important than ever to centralize your marketing supply chain to help your brand succeed. Connect with today's guest: franchisesuppliernetwork.com/featured-supplier/clayton-kendall/ Register for the Franchise “UnConferences” at www.franchisors.com

In this Supplier Wire Series episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks chats with Romain Dudek, U.S. Business Developer of Smappen. Smappen is the quickest and easiest territory mapping software you've ever had. Their all-in-one online platform helps you choose the best location by providing detailed demographics and competitor analysis. Ryan and Romain discuss Smappen's cutting-edge territory mapping solution, and what your franchise development strategy should look like. Connect with today's guest: franchisesuppliernetwork.com/featured-supplier/smappen/ Register for the Franchise “UnConferences” at www.franchisors.com

In this Supplier Wire Series episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks chats with Aditya Varanasi, Founder & CEO of Awarity. Awarity is an AI-powered advertising platform that helps brands reach their ideal customers more efficiently than other forms of awareness advertising, driving industry-leading ROI. Ryan and Aditya discuss Awarity's cutting-edge franchise advertising solutions, and how they are using automation in a game changing way for the franchise space. Connect with today's guest: franchisesuppliernetwork.com/featured-s…-managers/ Register for the Franchise “UnConferences” at www.franchisors.com

In this Supplier Wire Series episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks chats with Ross Weisman, Managing Partner of Epic Managers. Epic Managers helps franchisees hire high-performing unit-level managers Ryan and Ross talk through how to find & hire great store-level and regional managers for your franchise brand. Connect with today's guest: franchisesuppliernetwork.com/featured-supplier/epic-managers/ Register for the Franchise “UnConferences” at www.franchisors.com

In this Supplier Wire Series episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks chats with Anthony Andre, Sales Leader of the Franchise Vertical for PandoLogic. PandoLogic is a global market leader in programmatic recruitment and generative conversational AI solutions that effectively source, qualify and engage job candidates through intelligent automation. Ryan and Anthony talk through programmatic recruitment for frontline workers, and how your franchisees can leverage conversational A.I. to give them a strategic advantage. Connect with today's guest: franchisesuppliernetwork.com/featured-supplier/pandologic/ Register for the Franchise “UnConferences” at www.franchisors.com

In this Supplier Wire Series episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks chats with Carl Udler, Sr. Director of Marketing from Hughes. Hughes is a global managed service provider with 50 years of experience in connectivity and communication that helps our clients thrive in whatever the future brings. Ryan and Carl talk customer experience and technology, specifically how to make franchisees more profitable while also protecting them on the cybersecurity front. Connect with today's guest: franchisesuppliernetwork.com/featured-supplier/hughes/ Register for the Franchise “UnConferences” at www.franchisors.com

Coming To The Stage, Comedy Dynamics' first original series, is back with an exciting 10th Season! Host Jamie Kennedy introduces a new group of up-and-coming comedians who people WILL be talking about tomorrow. This season features Cameron Peloso, Ryan Hicks, Django Gold, Felicia Folkes, Flip Schultz, Mike Lawson, Frank DeCaro, Shanna Christmas, Jodi Miller, Ahri Findling, Mookie Thompson, and Angie Stocker. Plus, Comedy Dynamics' very own, Mr. Microphone is back in action! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At IFA Convention 2023, Super Bowl Champion and multi-brand franchise investor Drew Brees joined Modrn Business Podcast with Stretch Zone CEO Tony Zaccario for an exclusive conversation to lay out a playbook for success in franchising. Modrn Business podcast hosts Ryan Hicks and Zack Fishman have published over 400 episodes featuring stories and learnings from prominent franchise leaders over the past 5 years. Resources mentioned: - www.modrnbusiness.com *get connected with brands* - www.franchisors.com *3 epic franchise events* - www.franchisesuppliernetwork.com *Find best-fit suppliers* Modrn Business is known for its laid-back discussions covering everything from rags-to-riches stories from franchisees and franchisors, year-end-reviews, and exploring next generation technologies, brands and trends.

This interview was conducted with Zack Fishman and Ryan Hicks, both of whom are partners of Franchise Supplier Network. They help franchisors discover the best fit supplier partners for their business and reduce their risk when doing so. A wide range of interesting topics are discussed, including how artificial intelligence can assist franchisees and franchisors in the franchise business, the most profitable industries, and much more. Enjoy this great talk! About Franchise Supplier Network: https://franchisesuppliernetwork.com Modrn Business Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/modrnbusiness/tracks Tired of your job? Thinking of starting or buying a business? Take our Biz Quiz to filter through over 10,000 business opportunities today! https://www.vettedbiz.com/quiz-test/ Need help finding the right franchise? Click here: https://www.vettedbiz.com/franchise-search/ 00:00 Introduction 00:15 About Ryan Hicks 06:42 About Zack Fishman 14:50 Q&A - Are there any applications That AI can help a franchisor or a franchisee? 29:12 Q&A - What are the industries that you are more excited about? 38:14 Q&A - Do you have any advice for a supplier that's got his feet wet in franchising? 43:04 Conclusion #HowAICanHelpFranchiseesAndFranchisors #FranchiseFindings If you are looking for more information, you can connect with us through our networks: https://www.vettedbiz.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/vettedbiz/ https://www.facebook.com/vettedbiz

In this episode of Modrn Business Podcast, Ryan Hicks hosts Jim Waskovich, Managing Partner of Princeton Equity Group and Lane Fisher, Partner at Fisher Zucker Franchise Law Firm. We discussed feedback and top highlights from the 10th annual Springboard event for emerging franchisors, and put a specific focus on talking through the key highlights from the day 1 lunch panel session on the topic of "Accelerating Growth Through 3rd Party Capital Investment". Topics Discussed: - Springboard Event - What is Private Equity - The different kinds of P.E. - When should I engage with a P.E. group - Should I hire an investment banker? - Who is Princeton Equity Group and who do you serve? - What are the common mistakes and how to best prepare to partner with 3rd party capital? - And much more. About Jim Waskovich: Jim co-founded Princeton Equity Group, co-leads its investment activities, and sits on the Firm's investment committee. Prior to co-founding Princeton, Jim spent nearly 20 years as a private equity investor at Summit Partners, ABS Capital, and our predecessor firm, Princeton Ventures (which he founded in 2006). Jim's current investments include Card My Yard, D1 Training, Five Star Franchising (the parent company to 1-800-Packouts, 1-800-Textiles, Bath Solutions, Bio-One, Gotcha Covered, Mosquito Shield, and ProNexis), HOPCo (the parent company to The CORE Institute), Princeton Medspa Partners (the parent company to AlluraDerm, Greenspring Medical Aesthetics, and medspa810), Radiance Holdings (the parent company to Sola Salon Studios and Woodhouse Day Spa), and Stellar Brands (the parent company to Bluefrog Plumbing + Drain, Restoration 1, Softroc, and The Driveway Company). His previous investment experience includes European Wax Center (acquired by General Atlantic) and Massage Envy (acquired by Roark Capital). Jim holds a B.S. in Economics and Politics from Washington & Lee University where he was a George Washington Scholar. About Lane Fisher: In private practice since 1989, Lane Fisher currently represents more than 200 franchised brands in business transactions and complex franchise litigation. Lane is the Past Chairman of the International Franchise Association's Supplier Forum, a past member of the IFA's board/executive board and serves on the IFA's Membership Committee. Fisher is a frequent speaker at franchise conferences and has written extensively on many aspects of franchising. Fisher has been identified both as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer by Philadelphia Magazine and a Legal Eagle by Franchise Times for every consecutive year since 2004. Since 2010, Fisher has earned the distinction of “Awesome Attorney” in Suburban Life Magazine. FisherZucker was also designated awarded as a top franchise law firm servicing the Entrepreneur Franchise 500 from 2018-2022. To give back to the franchising community, Fisher is also the co-founder of franchise conferences like Franchise Springboard, Franchise UnConference and Franchise SunConference. To connect with Jim or Lane, visit www.franchisesuppliernetwork.com to ask for an introduction.

In this episode we chat with honey producer and Alberta Beekeepers board member Ryan Hicks about the challenges and fun moments of raising honeybees.   For more information check out the Alberta beekeepers website here: https://www.albertabeekeepers.ca/ Find info about scientific beekeeping here: For more info about PCBFA check out our website at https://www.peacecountrybeef.ca  

You know the last voice I featured last week, during my tribute to Jerry Darnell, was Ryan Hicks, when he told us about how much time he spent during the past few years, his early years in franchising, being guided and mentored by Jerry. That got me thinking about how many others are fresh faces and rising stars in this business.  It got me thinking too, about how many of them  could also use a leg up from time to time, by some of us that have been at this for a minute or two. Emily George is one such Rising Star.  Emily has a clear understanding of the power behind building partnerships, be those with brand clients, professional organizations, or vendor partnerships, that enable scalable solutions for those that she serves.  At Franchise Business Review, Emily joins Michelle Rowan's team, working  with franchisors to measure and then use franchisee feedback, to make their organizations stronger and more successful. Emily is multi-talented and what will be abundantly clear, after hearing from her today, is her passion for helping franchise systems.  Emily wants to help brands grow the right way: by investing in people, creating a positive culture and measuring success so they can continue to grow better, faster.  Who better to feature in this initial episode of Franchising's Rising Stars, presented monthly, in memory of Jerry Darnell.     

Worried about Ai? Your emotions are your job security, and working with technology will be key to future success in voice over. In this bonus Voice & Ai episode, Anne chats with Ryan Hicks and Adam Fritz of Pozotron - an audiobook proofing service. Listen as they dive deep into the future of audiobook production, and discuss how the connections between human emotion & AI is a voice actor's greatest ally… More at https://voboss.com/voice-and-ai-pozotron-with-ryan-hicks-and-adam-fritz  Transcript >> It's time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Welcome, everyone, to the VO BOSS podcast, the AI and Voice series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I'm excited and honored to bring you very special guests Adam Fritz and Ryan Hicks of Pozotron, a powerful AI software that helps audiobook professionals make their audio productions more accurate, efficient, and profitable. Adam is the COO of Pozotron and leads the operations and business development arms of the company. And Ryan has a 10-year history in the audiobook industry, having spent eight of those years as a proofer and editor with Deyan before coming over to Pozotron. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me today. It's a pleasure. Both: Thanks for having us. Anne: So if you don't mind, I'd like to start off with serving the need for having a wonderful piece of software like Pozotron. So I'd like to ask, Ryan, since your background as an editor and proofer at Deyan probably gave you lots of reasons to want to have things that would make your job easier. So tell us a little bit about what you did on a day-to-day basis and what type of tools you use to do your job, and then what your pain points were. Ryan: Oh man. So proofing and editing at Deyan. So we, wow. How do I even turn that into something small? Anne: Well, so there were a lot of were a lot of pain points. I would imagine -- Ryan: I mean the whole thing, the whole thing is a pain point. So we would get professionally recorded material and try to make it more professional quickly, in the door, out the door. So we had a series of steps that we would go through to kind of standardize the process of editing and proofing at the absolute highest level. And we had some fantastically intricate manuals about spacing and noise floors and RMS and mastering techniques and what you had to use for all of these things. And then add that to the fact that we're just listening for everything that possibly could be going wrong. Misreads, noises, thunks in the background, wrong character voices, anything that you would have to give a note back to the narrator, that was my job for eight years was finding all of those notes and giving them back. Anne: Wow, so let's just say then for an average size audiobook, how long would it take back and forth between you and the author before you were able to resolve all of these issues? Ryan: So we were super compartmentalized at Deyan. I never talked to an author. I never talked to a rights holder. There was a production manager and a head of post that would take those projects and give them to us. And we gave those projects back to the head of post. Anne: Got it. So how long would you say, do you have an idea of how long it might take? Is there so many days of revisions back and forth or was it weeks before you would finally get the edited version that you needed? And that was correct? Ryan: So it happened a couple of different ways. If narrators were coming in house to the studios at Deyan, they would record during a six-hour session. And at the end of that session, they would send three hours of audio to the editors. And we basically had that day to try and get it done. Anne: Wow. Ryan: So three sessions from a narrator would be about a whole book. And so during that period, we would be editing, and then someone would be proofing after us. And then hopefully within a week, that would be back to that narrator to do the pickups and then finish it up. So we would have anywhere between a 14 and 21-day turnaround. Anne: Got it. Ryan: And we just kept trying to tighten that down further and further and further and make it as efficient as possible. Anne: And I think that there, this is my own experience. I am not an audiobook narrator, however I narrate corporate and long form narration. And so for me, my editing, I can only get it so efficient. There is an amount of time in terms of listening to it to make sure there's no errors as well as the time it then takes to edit those and then go back into the studio and rerecord and then come back and check it again. And so there's a certain amount of time, and I wish I could get it faster, but I just can't. And so I know it must be completely frustrating in terms of having, you know, hours of book material to be able to prove and edit. And I'm just talking, like, maybe my maximum would be, you know, an hour module at a time, and I would do maybe eight or ten modules, but still the process to me, I never got it to a point where I was as quick as I wanted it or needed it to be. And so fast forward to the future, how did you find Pozotron or how did they find you? Ryan: Jamie, my boss, and correct me if you know this part of the story, Adam, it was Jamie that found Jake, right, at a conference? Adam: I believe so, yes. Anne: And Jamie is Deb's right-hand man. And Jamie came to me and said, "oh my gosh, you have to look at this. You have to see what this company is doing." And when he showed me, I'm like, this is ridiculous. We don't need this. I've been doing this for seven years. I don't need some computer program checking my work. I'm fine at what I do. And we set it through dozens of tests. And this is early in Pozotron when they were still kind of working the kinks out. And I never beat Pozotron. I would check my work as soon as I did my foolproof, and I would run it through the software, and there was always things that I missed. Anne: Wow. Ryan: And so I finally, you know, as much as I shook my fist at it, suddenly I had a backup, right? I had a backup, and as soon as I was done, all we had to do was upload the files. And 20 minutes later, I would get a chance to scan through. And there it is, there's those three things that I missed. Anne: Wow. Ryan: There's those five things that I missed. And so we would add that onto my proofing report, and suddenly pickups that were coming back from the publisher, not just from me, but through all of our proofers were coming back in the single digits. And it was, it was awesome. That transition was great. Anne: That's incredible. So you were kind of a, you're a believer now. Ryan: Yeah. Having that safety net when you're -- Anne: Yeah. Ryan: -- when you're tired -- Anne: Absolutely. Ryan: -- when you've been working for eight hours already having that backup was fantastic. Anne: Awesome. Okay. So Adam, let's talk a little bit about Pozotron and how did the company come about? Adam: Like any good software company, you know, the, the core software is designed to solve a pain point. Anne: Yeah. Adam: So it's actually almost reversed. A lot of software companies see, okay, here's problem X, how do we create a solution to solve that problem? But in this case, it was almost backwards. Jake Poznanski, our CEO and founder, really wanted to get into AI. He'd exited a gaming, a mobile gaming company and was looking at AI and machine learning, and really liked some research going on about forced alignment. That's basically matching text and audio files together, and basically came up with the idea of the technology and then went about trying to apply that technology to a problem to solve. So he almost went around it backwards, um, came across the whole concept of audio -- he was a big listener of audiobooks and just how -- manual isn't the right word, but how time-consuming it was to prove an audiobook. Anne: Yeah. Adam: I mean, when I describe it to people who are not at all involved in the industry, you basically sit down with a PDF and headphones -- Anne: Yeah. Adam: -- and have to listen and read at the same time, which is tremendously difficult. So basically he designed it as not a way to replace a proofer, but designed this really fantastic and unique tool as a way to add that kind of extra set of eyes. So really the whole goal of Pozotron on the proofing side, that is our core technology, is to get the ratio of time spent proofing to the actual time of the audio or as close to one-to-one as possible. Anne: Yeah, right. Adam: So it should take an hour of time to proof and report on the pickups for an hour of audio. Anne: Makes sense. Adam: Without Pozotron, I think that's certainly a much higher, probably a two to one or three to one at least ratio. The goal with Pozotron is still -- Anne: Oh, absolutely. Adam: It's going to take you an hour to listen to an hour of audio, but instead of doing that, and then spending 20 minutes or half an hour putting together a pickup packet by copying things -- Anne: Yeah. Adam: -- out into an Excel spreadsheet -- Anne: Sure. Adam: -- you click two buttons, and that pickup packets ready to go, and you just email that to your narrator, and they start recording right away. So that's really the goal is to get that ratio as close to one-to-one as possible. Anne: Yeah. And I'll tell you, that's very interesting because, for as many years as I've been in the industry doing long form narration editing, I have never been able to get quicker than one to three, and I am a stickler. You know what I'm like, no, I can do it. I can, I can get better than that. And I just can't, and it's, it's frustrating. And it's time-consuming, and it's also, it's very tedious. It's one of the, I would much rather be in the booth doing the creative, doing, you know, what I like to think I do best, you know, the artistry of it all to be in the booth and do that. And many people will outsource their work to an editor, but I always like to have the first check for myself. And it's not that I wouldn't outsource it, but that still, even if I outsourced it to an editor, it would take the editor just as much time as me or probably a little less, if that's all they do. But there was always that time element. And I could never get things back as quick as I really needed them or my client wanted them to be. And also if I had like a quick pickup to do, and I had an editor and I had outsourced it to an editor, they usually put their own filters on it that they don't necessarily tell me, or they might be using a different software. And so therefore, if I needed a really quick pickup, it was one of the things where if I outsource to an editor, it became a little awkward if I couldn't get that editor like right away, you know? And a lot of times the client would be like, well, look, it's just one sentence. Why is it taking you two days to get me that sentence back? And it just might be because I'm trying to tie in the editor's time as well. So that just added to it all. So I can absolutely see the pain point of needing something, or it would be wonderful to have something that could get it down to a one-to-one ratio. So tell me a little bit about how your software does that or how it works, kind of on a step-back scale. Adam: Yeah. So basically the end goal is if you've never seen how Pozotron works, you press play, you upload your manuscript, you upload your audio, our forced alignment algorithm basically pairs the two and gives you essentially what -- to simplify it, it's kind of like a spellcheck for recorded audio. It gives you an output of what we call annotations, which are things Pozotron thinks are a missed word. So a word that you, in the manuscript, you didn't say it during the narration, an added word, which happens a lot. I have two young kids and I read them a lot of stories. And it's amazing how often I just add words for no reason -- Anne: Yeah. Adam: -- mispronounced words, as well as extra long pauses. So really the goal is what it does is it gives you an output saying, hey, you just put an hour of audio in. Here's the 32 things that Pozotron thinks are incorrect. What you need to do then is as you're going through, we recommend that people continue doing their full listen. So listen to every second recorded. Um, but what it does is allows people to decide, hey, Pozotron thinks that I mispronounced the word microphone because I'm looking at the word microphone on my computer right now. And you need to listen to that and say, yes, that's a mispronunciation or no, it's not. If you click pick up, it automatically goes onto your pickup report and eliminates all that manual time of creating those reports. But at its core, we have a forced alignment algorithm based on tens of thousands of hours of audio data that basically take the spoken word, compare that to the text word. And then using a probability matrix, says, we believe that this was correctly pronounced or incorrectly pronounced, as close to a 100% accuracy as you could ever get. Anne: Got it. How does it handle like words like names and how does it, how does it handle accents and different languages too? Adam: So I'll answer the last part first 'cause that's the easiest. Anne: Okay. Adam: Uh, we currently support English, Spanish, Swedish, and then French and German are in beta right now. Anne: Okay, okay. Great. Adam: So we do support them, but they're just not at the level of accuracy of the English or Spanish, primarily just because we don't have that volume of data -- Anne: Okay. Adam: -- to continue training our algorithm on. In terms of names, really, as long as it is a phonetically pronounced name, Pozotron will be able to handle it. In the name of like, what's a good example of -- a word that is spelled one way and pronounced something completely separate. Um, Pozotron will occasionally have trouble with that because what -- the way Pozotron works is, if it is phonetically correct, it will mark it as correct. But if it is, um -- Ryan, do you have a good example of a word, of a word like that? I can't think of one off the top of my head right now. Ryan: I mean, we keep using lagxoor as our sci-fi name. Anne: Lagxoor. Adam: So that would be spelled L-A-G-X-O-O-R, but pronounced L-A-G-Z-O-O-R. Pozotron will mark lag sewer as an incorrect pronunciation of L-A-G-X-O-O-R because phonetically it's incorrect. So that's why Pozotron a lot of the tools we have, our pronunciation analysis tool, our character voice guide is great to help narrators, authors, production managers, anyone involved do their preparation before the project even starts. So our proofing tool's designed to catch pickups after they happen. Our prep tools are designed to stop pickups from before you've even started recording. Anne: Can you train it for a specific name somehow or phonetically spell it so that it can then, I guess, mimic or figure out if that's correct or not? Adam: So there's a couple of things. One, yes, every time we retrain our algorithm, it gets more and more accurate. But what you can do is we have a -- let's say that Lagxoor, for example, say it's a main character, and Pozotron for the 200 times it's mentioned in the book -- Anne: Right. Adam: -- Pozotron thinks, "we think this is incorrect." Anne: Right. Adam: We have a filter out button that basically is like the ignore all in Microsoft word when you're doing spell check. "This is not a mistake. Pozotron, I know you think this is a mistake because it's phonetically wrong." You click filter out, and it will ignore every other mention of that word. Anne: Got it. Interesting now, okay. Here's a question just because I do a lot of work in medical, and a lot of times in medical, like, I don't know the word enough, so that each time it occurs in the instance of my script, that I can pronounce it exactly the same, unless I go, and I mark up my script, and I phonetically spell it each and every time, I might forget like that 10th time to emphasize the middle syllable, rather than the other syllable. Will it catch those? Or is that something that we have to just, you know, we're on the lookout for that? Adam: So again, two answers there. So the first one is we have a tool called scan occurrences, which we should probably rename it, something a little, a little better than that, but scan occurrence is what it allows to do. So let's say for example, "doliosolaphic," um, which I, I mispronounced, I butchered that, but I named that because it came up in a demo I did the other day. You can choose that one word and click scan, and it will play every single mention of that word in the audio, back to back to back to back to back. Anne: Nice! Adam: You can listen to that straight through for consistency. It's great for character names as well. Anne: Oh, that's fantastic! That'd make my life easy, a live. Adam: I have an example of a customer the other day, who was doing a book, and the word shaman, S-H-A-M-A-N, which could be pronounced "Shaw man" or "shay man". Anne: Right. Adam: He pronounced shaman nine times as "Shaw man" and one time -- Anne: Right. Adam: -- for "shay man." So he used that feature to catch that, and then you can select individual ones and either mark those individual examples of that, mark those as a pickup in your audio, or you can just export a DAW file to put a marker -- Anne: Sure. Adam: -- in every mention of that word in your, in your DAW file or your DAW session to help your editor. Anne: Got it. So then at the core of all of this is AI, right? Adam: Yes. Correct. Anne: That is, it's learning. So when we upload our manuscripts and we upload our audio, is that going into help the model become more intelligent, or do you have a model that exists already and you're feeding it other data? Adam: We started by bootstrapping with publicly available data, whether it's Librivox or any of those other things. Anne: Sure. Adam: But when someone uploads audio, it's very spelled out in our terms of service, and we're going to be redoing our website right around Halloween. We'll be launching a new, just explaining exactly what we're using data for. But essentially what we do is we take random snippets of audio, audio and text paired together. And we feed those into our algorithm to train it. And this is not training it to replicate the human voice. This is training it to better recognize the human voice and the exact thing that is spoken based on the text. Anne: Got it. Adam: So it's basically just, it's almost like every bit of audio is like another drop in the swimming pool. None of it is -- you can't identify a single drop of water in a swimming pool. It all gets aggregated. Yeah. That's what we do. We basically make it so it's completely non-identifiable from an individual voice or anything like that perspective or personal identified information. But what it does is it just continues as we feed more and more data in and retrain, it just makes it more and more effective because we have more examples, more different accents, more different dialects to improve the accuracy of our algorithm. Anne: Got it. So now, do you have any plans to ever like create voices at all in your software in order to like maybe help with pickups? Or is that something that you're not really looking at? Adam: So I'm going to start with what exactly what it says in our terms of service, which is we can never do that -- Anne: Okay. Adam: -- without the express written consent of the person who uploaded the audio. Anne: Got it. Adam: So currently it is not in our plans, even from, from a business perspective. Even if we wanted to, there are companies out there that have a four or five-year headstart on us. Anne: Sure. Adam: So it would be kind of a dumb, it would be a dumb business decision. Um, I could see a future where maybe there would be a feature where you could say, say, you said, Anne instead of V, you could have a, you know, basically copy and -- Anne: Paste. Adam: -- copy and paste that word. But from a, from an AI perspective, we have, we'd have to be pretty careful on how we manage that and negotiate that with our customers -- Anne: Sure. Adam: -- because we would never do it in the way that is looking to replace that customer in full. We'd just be using that -- or that narrator in full -- we'd just be using anything that we ever did, which is quite a ways out, based on the current product roadmap. Um, it would be an assist to that narrator and not be to replace that narrator. Anne: Got it. So, in terms of, let's say AI, AI in general, people fear it because I think for the most part, a lot of that fear is based on, they don't necessarily know exactly how it works or -- and they're probably very fearful that it's going to take their job away, which is not a surprise that people in the voiceover industry are afraid that AI is going to take their job away. And so what is your outlook on that? What do you, what do you say to that in terms of your software? And I know that you're not creating voices at this moment, but you are using AI technology. Adam: Yeah. So AI by itself is not Skynet from Terminator. It's not something to be feared. It's kind of like AI does what it is designed to do. So if it is designed to replace a narrator, that's what it'll do. In our case, if it is designed to be an assist to a narrator, that's what it'll do. So AI by itself is not something to fear. Reality is the companies that are creating AI voices are getting better and better. I've listened to a couple of samples lately, and some of them are really good, but the human narrator will always have that lead in terms of the humanness of the voice that -- Anne: Sure. Adam: -- no matter how much -- it's like that Tom Hanks movie, "The Polar Express" a while ago where it almost got to the -- the animation was so accurate, it got weird. It was -- Anne: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Adam: I think it's called the -- Anne: Uncanny valley, right? Adam: Uncanny valley, that's it. Anne: Yeah. Adam: It's the same thing with AI narrators is -- Anne: Sure. Adam: -- I don't think no matter -- it'll never get all the way there, but the advantages the AI narrators have over humans is they're faster, they're more accurate, and they're cheaper. So people -- we basically say, look, Pozotron is a tool. Anne: Oh wait! Say that again, please. That I, you know, how many people are going to love to hear you say that? That humans are cheap -- you know, in reality, I think they are. Adam: Yeah. So I think that's the advantage. The advantage is not that the AI narrators are better than humans, human narrators, because that's not. Anne: Exactly. Adam: But they're faster -- Anne: yeah. Adam: They're faster, they're more accurate, and they're cheaper. They're most of the time more accurate, I should say. Anne: Yeah. Adam: So using a tool like Pozotron, humans will always have that lead -- Anne: Yes. Adam: -- in the humanness of their voice -- Anne: Exactly. Adam: -- but using tools like Pozotron or many other things out there, or even just a better workflow, will help humans catch up to those AI narrators in terms of speed, accuracy and efficiency. So we kind of pitch our tool as it's almost a way for narrators to stay ahead -- Anne: Sure. Adam: -- of the AI voices that aren't going anywhere. So that's really what we're trying to do is, you know, use the same tools to help narrators rather than take over some of this stuff out there. But I will say one thing, I think, no matter how good these AI voices get, there will always be a place for human voices. Anne: Yeah. Adam: I think and a lot of these companies are saying, look, we're just narrating the backlist or, you know, it'll be great for a history textbook. Something that's a thriller or a romance that requires that human emotion -- Anne: Sure. Adam: -- to really make it a piece of art that audiobooks are rather than just something to listen to. One of -- our CEO said the other day, "look, if I wanted to listen to a cheaper, crappier audiobook, I'd say, 'Alexa, read me my book.'" Anne: Interesting. Yeah. And you expect it, and I think when you hit that uncanny valley where it becomes too human, you're right. It kind of, there's a point where you believe, you think it's human, then all of a sudden, maybe you'll hear that note that kind of doesn't sound right. And it'll be like, "ooh, did I just get duped? Is that a person? I thought that was a person." And then I think there's a whole trust factor when that hits. And so I agree that I think when you need that human element, I think we'll always need that. And I think in that respect, that is quicker than AI in terms of, you know, some of the companies that I've been talking to and what I've seen right now, out in AI, while these voices are great or they can sound pretty human, I think they're only human in one instance. So if you ever had to go back and redirect, right? Adam: Yeah. Anne: You know, that emotion that they just emoted, it's the same, no matter if you put it at the front of the script or the, in the middle of the script of the end of the script. And I think if you have a human that you can redirect and have a slightly different nuance of sad, I think that's where humans are quicker and can actually -- I don't know if you can say it can be cheaper because I think these AI voices, they're on computers. They basically are generated by engines. And so somewhere in the ethers, you know, there's a computer out there creating that job or creating that audio for the job, and there's money, you know. Adam: For sure. Anne: There's -- that costs money. And so I feel like the human will always be there. What type of audiobooks -- both, I'd like to get both of your opinions -- what type of audiobooks do you think an AI voice is appropriate for? Or is it not? Adam: Appropriate is a -- appropriate is a different word. Anne: Yeah. Adam: I think instead of using appropriate, I would say acceptable maybe. Anne: Okay. Adam: Anything that's not going to require huge conveyance of emotion or feeling. So that's where I think, you know, educational materials, textbooks, things like that, where you're just absorbing information, I think it is less problematic than if you're reading a book, and there's a scene where a family member dies, and it's really important that that narrator captures that sadness and all those emotions and the subtleness -- subtlety of emotions. Whereas, you know, an AI narrator probably -- or even if the AI narrator can do that, my understanding is currently there's a lot of manual work in the backend essentially saying on this syllable, AI narrator be sad, on this one, pick it up a little bit. Anne: Sure, sure. Adam: So my understanding is currently there is some manual stuff that needs to happen for it to work -- Anne: Yeah. Adam: -- entirely properly. Anne: Yeah. And I think that it starts to take as much time if you need to dial that emotion to a certain way or dial the speed or whatever, you're, you're changing in that AI, I think you're going to spend more time post-processing to get it to sound more human. And then it ends up taking possibly longer than a human, you know, utilizing something like Pozotron to help, right, proof and get their job done faster. Interesting. So what do you think then is the future of AI for, let's start with what would be the future of AI and how it's being used at Pozotron? And then also, how do you feel AI will ultimately be in five years or ten years? Will it take over the voiceover industry? Or what do you, what are your thoughts? Adam: I'd like Ryan to talk to his -- Ryan's got a really, I mean, we all share it, but Ryan's got an interesting vision on kind of the future of audiobook production with human, with human narrators. I'd like you to go into that, Ryan. Ryan: So as far as the future of AI in Pozotron, I don't even think of it in terms of AI, as I'm working through my day, as I'm doing my testing. That doesn't enter into much of my thought process. Having spent thousands of hours looking for misreads and doing reporting, those two things were the absolute worst part of my job. They are the hardest to do consistently. It's the easiest to make mistakes. And the fact that there's a tool, whether it's AI or not, that makes that part easier, that's my push. That's my function. The fact that AI is there helping make that part better for the proofing process, for the scanning of scripts, for all of that, it's that way to make things easier for people, and the, the AI part of it, the mechanics behind it, don't concern me all that much as a technician. And on the creative side, I would love to see AI be that tool that makes the performance go to that next level. You know that you have an AI behind you telling you when you make your mistakes. So you don't have to worry about it. Anne: Yeah. Ryan: As a narrator, okay, you have these seven pages to do and "oh, am I going to make any mistakes? How long is it going to take, you know, my engineer to get that back to me, who do I have to turn it into next? How do I note it?" All of those things are going to be in your head, but if you have a complete set of tools that look for those things, you can be absolutely peaceful and zenned out, knowing that you have this extra set of eyes and ears and knowledge behind you. And so the future to me as a performer, being able to come to their tools, their microphone and their computer, and do an entire production on their own and have it not just a one-to-one ratio with editing or proofing or -- but a one-to-one production of the whole thing, how they want it, how they love it, how it's supposed to sound. So that's what I see in a few years is a set of tools that allows you, Anne, to go up to your station and make an audiobook. Anne: I love that. Ryan: That's what I see. Anne: Yeah. Ryan: That's what I'm excited for. Anne: Yeah, it gives you the time and the peace of mind to go and be an artist -- Ryan: Yep. Anne: -- which is what you are meant to do, and not necessarily worry about how long it's going to take to edit. I love that outlook. That's wonderful. Thank you for that. Absolutely. Adam: From the AI side of that, it's really just taking either algorithms we built or algorithms we are building to basically make all of the work around audiobooks easier. So an example right now is in our next step of this character voice tool that we're using, we're building an algorithm that will score, yeah, every single mention of a character's name based on two attributes. One of them is that character. So let's take, for example, Sherlock Holmes links to a verb denoting speech also modified by an adverb. So it'll take every single mention of that character's name and the book, and give you an output of the top 20 examples of that character speaking, where there is a description about how that character spoke. So when you're putting together your character voice prep -- Anne: Wow. Adam: -- and deciding as a narrator, hey, this is the voice I'm going to use -- Anne: Yeah. Adam: -- you can use our tool scan to through the top 20 mentions saying Sherlock spoke aggressively, Sherlock spoke in a high tone, Sherlock spoke, exclaimed sadly, or something like that. Where you can basically use this tool to easily figure out all the cues from the book and then plan out your character's voice. Anne: Wow, that's great. Adam: And then the other side of it, so really instead of having to do what they're currently doing -- Anne: Yeah. Adam: -- which is reading the book with a highlighter and taking note of everything they're doing, you can parse an entire book and take all those cues in a fraction of that time while still getting the same high quality work. And then the next step of that, that we've already built into our pronunciation guide, is once you've done your work, you've created your pronunciation list. You've created your character voice guide. You can currently export that into a marked up PDF where every word in your pronunciation guide is automatically highlighted in your script with a call-out box saying this is the phonetic pronunciation -- Anne: Wow. Adam: -- or this is your note saying how, how that voice should sound. And then in the future, it's going to be a teleprompter where instead of just seeing a call-out box, you click play, and you listen to yourself speaking in that character's voice. You pause your recording, listen to yourself, and then click record again and start going. So removing all of those -- Anne: Oh, that's wonderful. Adam: -- switching between apps. Anne: Yup. Adam: And, you know, some people have their character list on their iPhone in a note -- Anne: Yup, yup. Adam: -- or something like that, everything is centralized and that takes -- gets us closer to that one-to-one recording time to finished hour of audio time. Anne: Right, so you can get right to the point in your wav file that you need to be. Because when I go back in and have to do pickups, I have to hunt for where was that? You know, where was that part in my, in my single wav file there that I said this particular thing that I have to do the pickup. So that's, that's phenomenal. I, I think what a wonderful tool. How can BOSSes out there get in touch with you, find out more about your software, maybe -- is that a subscription based model? Adam: Um, so first, uh, they can check us out at www.pozotron.com. That's P-O-Z-O-T-R-O-N.com. Um, or email us at hello@pozotron.com. Uh, we have a number of pricing plans from pay as you go, which has absolutely no subscription. You pay $10 per hour of audio you upload, all charged down to the minute, but it's easier to say $10 per hour than 16.667 cents per minute, but all the way up to, you know, we have some, some of the biggest publishers are putting six, 700 hours of audio a month, and you're getting, and you're paying a much reduced per hour rate based on whatever volume you're doing. So we have very flexible plans from literally you put in 10 minutes of audio a month up to thousands of hours of audio a month. Um, we're very flexible and our subscriptions are only ever month to month. So if you have a big, either increase in volume, you can jump up to a bigger plan. If you have a lull over the Christmas season or holiday season, um, you can go down, 'cause we never want people to be paying for something they're not using because we're a believer in, you know, we'd rather lower our revenues from a customer for a month to make a happier customer because that customer is going to stay with us over the longterm. Anne: Fantastic. And I'm going to push for anybody that does long-form narration, really. I can absolutely see this as being a tool that can really help us, so fantastic. You guys, thank you so very much for joining me today. It has been amazing, and BOSSes out there, make sure to check out Pozotron. I think it's going to really help you do your job better, and thanks again for sharing your time with us today. And I am going to give a great, big shout-out to our sponsor ipDTL that allows us to connect and network like BOSSes. Find out more at ipdtl.com. Thanks again, Ryan and Adam. It's been a pleasure. Ryan: Thank you. Adam: Thank you very much. This was, this was really fun. Anne: Awesome. Alright, BOSSes. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Adam: Bye! Ryan: Bye! >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.

Modrn Business hosts Ryan Hicks and Zack Fishman do a major deep dive into the impact 2020 had on the franchising industry and how that shapes what brands will be looking for in 2021. What is going to make your brand operate more efficiently on a unit-level? What types of marketing tools should you be using to cut through the noise? How can you capitalize on an enormous franchise development market in '21? Give it a listen to find out!

In this week’s episode, Luke discusses the OHL and WHL’s announcements on return dates and breaks down the possibilities of the NHL Draft Lottery Part 2 with Lawrence Lograno, Ryan Hicks and Justin Sorice.

In this episode, Ryan Hicks has a discussion to explore life before and after COVID with Scott Hoots, President of Pet Wants Franchising. From their approach to technology and the convergence of consumer desires and needs, Pet Wants is positioned perfectly in the growing pet retail sector.

Bullshit politics, hidden history, the conspiracy to turn us all into automaton slaves. Just your everyday, run of the mill conversation with Idiocalypse. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/idiocalypse/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/idiocalypse/support

As Host of Franchise Today, I'm accustomed to drawing out the stories, shared by my guests.  This week I actually share a story of my own.  It's about a personal and disappointing recent experience that I had as a customer, with a mega, global franchise brand, This experience was a train wreck in every possible way. As reputation management experts, Rallio's VP Ryan Hicks joins me as my subject matter expert today, as I describe the touch points and Ryan describes how THEY SHOULD HAVE gone, from the front line experience at the store, to follow up by the Operator and Management, the Agent from their Corporate Care Team and Executives, all of whom had every opportunity to do better, MUCH BETTER!  Lots of take home value will be shared here,  for start-ups, emerging brands and even senior brand executives. It' all coming up, this week on Franchise Today.

Ever dressed up in a T-rex suit and danced to promote your brand? That's precisely the kind of marketing that stuck in Ryan Hicks' mind when we spoke to him about franchise social media and is the unique approach that brands should be taking when trying to distinguish themselves in a competitive, busy market.  This approach might not work for every concept, of course, but in this episode of the Global Franchise Podcast, Ryan explains the multitude of ways in which brands should be putting themselves out there and the tools they can use to gain meaningful feedback from who matters most: their customers. To keep your finger on the beating pulse of franchising, sign up to our newsletter at globalfranchisemagazine.com, subscribe to our definitive magazine, and join the conversation with our experts today on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

This episode we are joined by friends and comedians Ryan Hicks and James Schrader. We talk about Britney's relationship with the gym. What age we lost our virginity, and read reviews for Auschwitz, Comic-Con, A Sherrif's Office, and more!

Jacques sits down with writer and comedian Ryan Hicks to discuss the right ways to use comedy in advertising, the importance of timing, and how collaboration is key when creating great work in marketing. 

On this special Star Wars episode, I am joined by guest Ryan Hicks as we review the entire Star Wars saga including The Rise of Skywalker and much more! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Another stop in Detroit Michigan takes us to the offices of Clarity Voice, a supplier sponsor who does business with a number of great brands that we’ve met along the way. In this interview, Ryan Hicks sits with Clarity Voice CEO Gary Goerke to discuss everything from personal stories of impact to how VOIP services and two way SMS technology can help businesses gain an edge by communicating with customers via text message. SPONSORS: www.Scorpion.co/mb Named the #1 franchise marketing company in America by Entrepreneur Magazine, Scorpion delivers all-in-one solutions for franchise brands looking to defeat disjointed marketing and increase revenue. As a marketing partner, Scorpion assists franchises in the management of branding, website design, online listings, paid advertising, and more, eliminating the need for multiple vendors. To learn more, visit www.Scorpion.co/mb

In this quick riff between co-hosts Ryan Hicks and Zack Fishman, we reflect on some of our awesome sponsors we had along the tour. 7 sponsors were in the Entrepreneur Top Supplier List, 6 of which were #1. Congrats to all of our sponsors and thank you for all of your support!

In the Front of the House, I talk with Ryan Hicks, about his 15 day, Multi-State Modrn Businss Podcast Road Show and tour, starting July 15th.  Then, my interview this week is with Brig Sorber, Chief Brand Officer and co-founder of Two Men and a Truck. He and his brother Jon started in the early 1980s as a way to make extra money while in high school. 30 years later, the company has grown to more than 350 locations worldwide.  This brand has a great story and a powerful culture.  It's all been born out of a great family's shared belief in focusing on giving.     Their mission:  Continuously strive to exceed customers' expectations in value and high standards of satisfaction.   Brig shares how his family built their brand through servant leadership.  He believes that this more than anything, is the fuel that has powered their growth.  From movers and office personnel, to franchisees and the communities that they serve, everyone is on the same page, at Two Men and a Truck.  

Finishing the Race

This week we’re joined by two marketing gurus:  919 Marketing's Founder and CEO, David Chapman and Rallio’s VP of Business Development, Ryan Hicks.  This promises to be a robust discussion about the intersection between traditional marketing and today’s digital world, as described by the ubiquitous Gary Vee and others.  In this conversation, David and Ryan will discuss the ingredients needed for the perfect recipe, to help you break through the white noise that assaults us all daily.  Tune in and learn, as these two pros help you make sense of it all.  David and Ryan will offer helpful tips on how to create interest, engage prospects and manage the top, middle and bottom of your franchise development prospect funnels.  It's all coming up next, on Franchise Today.

Finishing the Race

Finishing the Race

In this episode, Zack Fishman and Ryan Hicks chat all things millennials in franchising. We decided to just hit record and riff on a few topics: millennial values, industries we believe our generation will gravitate towards, what that all means for retail franchise brands and much more. Special shout-out to the many Millennial Monthly alumni (Carmelo Marsala, Landon Eckles, David Blue, Brooke Gagliano, Jami Stigliano, Ben Davis, etc). and to some of our franchise friends who got name-dropped in here. Some links to stats cited throughout: -https://dynamicsignal.com/2018/10/09/key-statistics-millennials-in-the-workplace/ -https://www.lexingtonlaw.com/blog/credit-cards/millennial-spending-habits.html -https://alexmcfarland.com/media/8-values-that-drive-millennials/ -https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/22-shocking-stats-millennials-help-chart-tomorrow-change-112531305.html The Inc. Article Zack Mentioned: https://www.businessinsider.com/top-100-millennial-brands-2018-9#4-target-103 Zack's Email: zack@franfunnel.com Ryan's email: Ryan@modrnbusiness.com MB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ModrnBusiness/ Thanks as always to Audio Engineer Ben Kliever!

Navigating the Admissions process is made simple when a student’s dream is understood and connected with the proper career choice. Listen to Isabel Monterrosa, Ryan Hicks, and Carly Barbour "Carly Bti" from Berks Technical Institute - Wyomissing, PA

Episode 1 of The Review Review with James Schrader and Ryan Hicks where we discuss reviews for: Parks Tinder Wings and other services and products.

The role of online bots in electoral politics, a Policy Options podcast. Online bots scan social media sites and then send out automatic messages to users. Political parties use them to get their messages out. So they have the power to shape public opinion, and they can even have an impact on elections. Fenwick McKelvey from Concordia University and Elizabeth Dubois from University of Ottawa recently wrote about bots for Policy Options. They found that the risks of this kind of digital campaign could soon outweigh the benefits. McKelvey sat down with journalist and McGill University law student Ryan Hicks at our Montreal studio to talk about why political parties should commit to using bots responsibly. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

On this short #OneQuestionShow episode, we catch up with Laura Rae Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Pit, and get her two cents on franchising and enabling technologies. Interview by Rick Tocquigny Sound Engineering by Ben Kliever Comments and hostd by Ryan Hicks

Put The Peace Back Into UN Peacekeeping Operations, a Policy Options podcast. Canada is rethinking the way it contributes to United Nations peacekeeping missions around the world. The federal government promised boots on the ground more than a year ago, and it has yet to deliver. But is that really where Canada should focus its efforts? Our host, journalist and McGill University law student Ryan Hicks, spoke to Lou Pingeot, co-ordinator of McGill’s Centre for International Peace and Security Studies. She and Vincent Pouliot are the authors of the recent Policy Options article Replacer la paix au cœur des opérations de l’ONU. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

Introducing the Modern Business Podcast and setting the stage for whats to come.

Walking The Talk On International Development Assistance, a Policy Options podcast. When Justin Trudeau’s government took office, one of the Prime Minister’s messages overseas was "Canada's back," which referred to Canada's perceived lack of leadership on the world stage under the previous, Conservative, government. Now that the Liberals are halfway through their mandate, it’s a good time to reflect on whether the government is living up to its rhetoric on international development assistance. Our podcast host, journalist and McGill University law student Ryan Hicks, spoke to economist and policy analyst Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Dhaka, Bangladesh, about Canada’s performance in this area. Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

Far-right extremist groups have long flown under the law enforcement and policy-making radar, but the events of the past year have made them impossible to ignore. The violent demonstrations of white supremacists and nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the planned protests by the anti-immigrant group La Meute in Quebec City this summer are just two examples of the alarming rise of far-right extremist activity. Barbara Perry, a professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, wrote recently in Policy Options about the phenomenon of far-right extremist groups in Canada. She joined journalist and McGill University law student Ryan Hicks to discuss the threat these groups pose and what policy-makers can do about it in the latest episode of the Policy Options podcast.

Kevin Power heads to Last Mountain Lake bird sanctuary and wildlife reserve for new music camp - "Songs for Nature".  A rare opportunity for high-school aged participants  to be mentored by musicians and ecologists; all to inspire them to compose music influenced by their surroundings. This is part two of a two-part podcast so be sure to listen to the previous episode 81 for the full story. These participants, are fun, passionate and eager to learn. The setting for this camp is nothing short of tranquil. Under the guidance of Saskatchewan's Megan Nash (singer/songwriter), Glenn Sutter (musical and research scientist), Kerry Hecker,(LML "rancher") and Ryan Hicks (music teacher) - this is a jam-packed, podcast full of great conversations, music, and bird calls. This episode is sponsored by Royal Saskatchewan Museum through the  generous funding from Environment Canada.  ================================================ SaskScapes is a podcast featuring the stories of arts, culture and heritage in Saskatchewan. The series is produced and hosted by Kevin Power.  To sponsor your own episodes contact SaskScapes via twitter, Facebook or by email for more information. Your reviews in the iTunes store help boost the ratings so be sure to have your say! Host: Kevin Power www.kevinpower.net Music provided by Jeffery Straker www.jefferystraker.com SaskScapes is also available through the iTunes Store on Stitcher Radio and TuneIn Radio. SaskScapes now has its own app for android devices available in Google Play. IF YOU ARE ENJOYING THE PODCAST WE'D LOVE YOUR SUPPORT http://bit.ly/1TSJw8C Follow SaskScapes on Twitter @saskscapes Follow SaskScapes on Facebook: Facebook.com/saskscapes Follow Kevin Power on Twitter @kevinpowerlive Thanks to SaskCulture for their ongoing support of SaskScapes

Kevin Power heads to Last Mountain Lake bird sanctuary and wildlife reserve for new music camp - "Songs for Nature".  A rare opportunity for high-school aged participants  to be mentored by musicians and ecologists; all to inspire them to compose music influenced by their surroundings. This is part one of a two-part podcast so be sure to listen to episode 82 following this episode. These participants, are fun, passionate and eager to learn. The setting for this camp is nothing short of tranquil. Under the guidance of Saskatchewan's Megan Nash (singer/songwriter), Glenn Sutter (musical and research scientist), Kerry Hecker,(LML "rancher") and Ryan Hicks (music teacher) - this is a jam-packed, podcast full of great conversations, music, and bird calls. This episode is sponsored by Royal Saskatchewan Museum through the  generous funding from Environment Canada.   ================================================ SaskScapes is a podcast featuring the stories of arts, culture and heritage in Saskatchewan. The series is produced and hosted by Kevin Power.  To sponsor your own episodes contact SaskScapes via twitter, Facebook or by email for more information. Your reviews in the iTunes store help boost the ratings so be sure to have your say! Host: Kevin Power www.kevinpower.net Music provided by Jeffery Straker www.jefferystraker.com SaskScapes is also available through the iTunes Store on Stitcher Radio and TuneIn Radio. SaskScapes now has its own app for android devices available in Google Play. IF YOU ARE ENJOYING THE PODCAST WE'D LOVE YOUR SUPPORT http://bit.ly/1TSJw8C Follow SaskScapes on Twitter @saskscapes Follow SaskScapes on Facebook: Facebook.com/saskscapes Follow Kevin Power on Twitter @kevinpowerlive Thanks to SaskCulture for their ongoing support of SaskScapes

In this special edition of the podcast I am joined by Ryan Hicks and Aiden Oakley for a wide ranging and free flowing round table discussion. The topics we cover [...] CONTINUE READING The post Podcast #31: Special Roundtable Discussion with elite coaches Ryan Hicks and Aiden Oakley appeared first on The web’s #1 provider of rugby strength and conditioning information..

Mike Tyson does not appear in this episode. Special guest commentary by the one and only Ryan Hicks. 

One of the bright new young stars of the comedy world is the nephew of Bill Hicks. I could not have enjoyed more watching him perform and talking extensively as a friend and that is why it is a pleasure to present you now the one and only Ryan Hicks! NY State Of Mind by NAS    

Today Headphone Commute features a second installment of a two-part mix by Floyd Kelley III, showcasing his selections from Dynamophone Records, a San Francisco based purveyor of cinematic, euphoric, and ethereal sounds. A perfect compliment to these mixes is the release Epitome: A Dynamophone Compendium which features soon-to-be-released tracks from Ryan Hicks and Grzegorz Bojanek. Get your FREE download by visiting the Dynamophone Bandcamp site. For full track listing and more information about this mix, please visit headphonecommute.com