Podcasts about Separate

There's a cognitive trick our brains play whenever we face a hard question or a difficult decision: we quietly swap the hard thing for something easier to answer. It's called substitution, and we do it constantly — usually without noticing, and sometimes to our detriment. In today's episode, I make the case that you can take this same shortcut your brain already runs automatically and start using it intentionally to break decision paralysis and get moving. The Substitution Heuristic: Understand the mental move at the heart of this episode — when "How are you?" becomes "Is there anything I urgently need to say?", your brain isn't being lazy, it's compressing. It runs a quick calculation: what's the downside of the substitute? Usually it's low, so the shortcut holds. Code Review as Substitution: See why you almost never review a big PR line by line. "Was it tested? Does it follow our best practices? Does anything look obviously wrong?" are all stand-ins for the harder, mostly-unnecessary work of reading every line — and most of the time, they're enough. Performance Reviews Are a Best Guess: Recognize that your rubrics, metrics, and frameworks are themselves substitutes. You can't deterministically rate a person on a scale, so every measure you use is an approximation of an immeasurable question: how much value is this person really generating, and where are they headed? Turn the Trick Around on Purpose: Learn how to use substitution deliberately to defeat paralysis. Instead of "I'm deciding to leave my job and chase something new," substitute "I'm going to send an email." The weight of sending an email is tiny — and the dream job is just a series of small, iterative steps like that one. Unbundle Your Big Decisions: Notice how we fuse trivial mechanical actions with heavy imagined meaning. Merging a branch isn't "declaring this production-ready and putting my name on the line" — it's moving bits into the cloud. Separate the labeling from the action and the action gets a lot less intimidating. Lower Your Commitment Threshold: Swap "this code is great" for "I believe this code is shippable." Swap "this is the perfect hire" for "this is a good bet we can course-correct." The actions you take are identical — but the internal stakes, and the fear, drop dramatically. Favor Reversible Moves: We consistently overestimate the risk of acting and underestimate the risk of doing nothing. Most decisions aren't permanent — you can roll back the deploy, divert from a bad hire, find an exit path. Look for the way back, and the decision gets easier to make. Episode Homework Next time you feel a big decision looming, break it into its most fundamental pieces. Ask: what am I actually doing here? What are the physical actions, the words, the mechanical steps? What's the true worst-case downside — and do I really have to attach all of my worth to it? You're likely already substituting easier questions without realizing it. This week, try doing it on purpose.

The ability to channel isn't a superpower, although many would argue that recognizing and embracing that gift, living it fully and sharing it with others may be one…Barbara With wanted to be a rock star and spent nearly two decades pursuing it until one day she spontaneously began to write for no reason. And, when she wrote the question, “Who are you?” the answer was Sound.Barbara shares her experiences as a psychic and channel, connecting with Albert Einstein and The Party from the Afterlife to provide a better understanding of the operating system of life based on working with three dimensions — emotion, intuition and intellect — that help us align as humans with compassion this week on Spirit Gym.Learn more about Barbara and her work at her website, Synergy Alliance and The Music of Barbara With. Look for her on social media via Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.For Spirit Gym listeners: Save 40 percent on a 1-hour reading with Barbara, Albert Einstein and the Party by going to this link and using the promo code EINSTEIN. (Special offers from Spirit Gym guests are time-sensitive and at their discretion to top redeem after 30 days.)Timestamps4:02 Barbara's first experience with channeling in high school showed her how to love herself better.10:29 A lot of cool things happen in the afterlife.22:10 Three human dimensions: Emotion, intuition and intellect.27:32 What Compassion does.31:19 “God is the name of the blanket that wraps the mystery.”37:48 “Is everyone a reflection of you, including whomever you are channeling?”45:44 Healing old wounds.1:02:55 The hardest thing for most people to do: Stop and take care of themselves.1:09:49 “Synergy: One plus one equals three.”1:16:09 Separate your fears and handle them differently, not as one whole thing.1:26:25 You can't cheat or fake empathy and compassion.1:38:55 Know that emotions like anger and sadness can fuel thoughts of joy, happiness and peace too.1:47:38 The Psychic Sorority.1:54:10 The first baby steps toward self-love and its reciprocal responses.2:05:05 Conflict REVOLUTION.2:08:38 “No one is going to save me.”2:15:35 “We work for the good of the whole.”ResourcesDiaries of a Psychic Sorority: Talking With the Angels by Kimberly Lilith Phelps, Barbara With and Teresa McMillianConflict REVOLUTION: The Workbook by Barbara WithSound: Native Teachings and Visionary Art by Joseph RaelThe Ojibwe/Anishinaabe/Chippewa Indigenous tribeBarbara's appearance on the Metaphysical Hippie Chicks 2.0 podcastThe Serenity PrayerThe work of Jean HoustonPaul's podcast conversations with James Carse and Anne HelferThe Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Dr. Bessel van der KolkVoices of the First Day by Robert LawlorHealing With Haiku: A Poetic Exploration of Self by Anne HelferFind more resources for this episode on our website.Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear MusicThanks to our awesome sponsors:PaleovalleyBIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15Organifi CHEK20Wild PasturesSpirit GymCHEK InstituteWe may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

To date, Trump 2.0 has been defined by everybody appearing to be on the same page and by a sense that the administration kept moving its priorities forward. You might not have liked what those priorities were, but the priorities did get done. The one big beautiful bill was described as an administration's worth of priorities getting done too soon, and it seems like that might have been prophetic. Trump 1.0 returns when internal fights spill into public view, aides leak against one another, major spectacles vanish with nothing much changing, and the president treats factional drama as fuel rather than a problem to solve.Go back to the beginning of 2025, when Trump 2.0 very much was aligned. The coalition was locked in. The administration had momentum. USAID dismantled in a split second. The one big beautiful bill pushed over the finish line in record time. Again, the point isn't that these were good things that happened. It's that they kept happening. But no momentum is made to last forever. Maybe the coalition was always doomed to splinter. The cracks began to show as people were fired, as Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi went down for various different ICE shootings and Epstein, accelerating distrust and leaving Dan Bongino back on the radio airwaves. Either way, the drama that Trump 2.0 kept outside the tent has now fully moved back within it.How do we know? Because they're telling us.Politics Politics Politics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Take the address that happened last Thursday night. We knew officials were fighting over how much information the president should share when he was speaking to America. Acting DNI Bill Pulte pushed for a more aggressive version, but senior White House aides intervened. Separate reports said the speech might have claimed that Georgia's two Democratic senators were elected illegitimately because they both came in during the 2020 runoff. The final address didn't go that far, meaning somebody pulled something back — or at least that's what the reports would lead us to believe, which means somebody inside the administration is telling a reporter. The 24-minute speech eventually focused more on election interference and intelligence findings as a way to get to the idea that the Save America Act should be passed. But even that's telling, because the speech was quickly swallowed by the news cycle. That's another hallmark of Trump 1.0: a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, or at least nothing that's remembered more than 48 hours later.The biggest Trump 1.0 tell is Iran. From the very beginning, the administration has said the Iran strategy has two hands. Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth are the closed fist, the violence that will come down on the regime, while J.D. Vance, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff are the open hand of diplomacy. If you want to make a deal on our terms, we're always welcome. In the meantime, we'll punch you in the face. Trump has actively encouraged a rivalry between Vance and Rubio, asking people all the time who they think should be the next president. And now the proxies of both men are in out-and-out war online.Alex Bruesewitz is on the J.D. Vance side, making it a priority to talk about how much foreign influence, including Israel, is affecting the discourse. Meanwhile, Israel hawks, including Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro, are attacking Vance, saying he's surrendering to Qatar and he's mostly a socialist. The damage is falling most heavily on Vance because he's become the face of diplomacy. If the memorandum of understanding had worked, he would've gotten the credit. Since there's now a lot of violence happening in that region again, he gets the blame. Instead of all of this being part of one big rolling ball that is the Trump administration, we now have winners and losers, which means people inside that sphere are playing the game. Very Trump 1.0.The reason this happens in both instances is, well, Big Chungus. Trump 2.0's advantage was that the drama stayed outside the tent and the team inside was united. Now we're getting a clearer view of exactly what the war behind closed doors looks like, and in my opinion, it goes hand in hand with priorities not being enacted. You hear a lot about the Save America Act, but it's stalled and doesn't have the votes to become law. Iran is different because the consequences are immediate. Trump has to show that either pressure or diplomacy can produce a successful end state. If neither path works, he'll have made a very big bet without a clear conclusion, and he'll have to define a win for himself even if it's not very clear to the American people. We might already be in the lame-duck phase for Donald Trump, which may make all of these problems worse.Chapters00:00:00 - Intro00:03:44 - Trump 1.000:11:36 - Darlene Graham00:16:05 - Reconciliation, Again, Again00:19:38 - Andy Burnham00:25:03 - Interview with Michael Cohen01:13:55 - Wrap-up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/subscribe

Most hunters spend countless hours shooting their bow, buying new gear, and watching hunting videos. But are those the skills that actually lead to consistently killing mature bucks?In this solo episode of Before the Echo, I break down the skills I believe truly separate great deer hunters from everyone else. From observation and decision-making to reading sign, adaptability, emotional control, and learning from failure, we'll discuss the habits that have had the biggest impact on my own hunting over the years.Whether you're getting ready for opening day or simply looking to become a better woodsman, I hope this conversation challenges you to spend your time practicing the things that actually move the needle.I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments:What do you believe is the single most important skill a deer hunter can develop?If you enjoy these conversations, be sure to subscribe, leave a like, and share this episode with another hunter. It truly helps the channel grow and allows me to continue bringing you these weekly podcasts.

If checking your bank balance leaves you with a tight knot in your chest, or if paying the monthly bills feels like a battle you can't win, this episode is your sanctuary. Financial anxiety is not a personal failure; it is a natural response from an overwhelmed nervous system reacting to a perceived threat. In this episode of Calming Anxiety, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin guides you through a powerful 10-minute somatic relaxation practice.You will learn how to settle your nervous system, untangle your self-worth from a number on a screen, and quiet the mental overwhelm of money worries. Discover how to soften the physical tension of stress, find stillness between your breaths, and take back control of your peace of mind—one small, manageable step at a time. Episode Chapters00:00 – Understanding Financial Anxiety as a Nervous System Response 00:41 – Welcome to Calming Anxiety with Martin 01:14 – Somatic Breathing Exercise for Panic and Stress Relief 02:17 – Releasing the Weight of Money Worries 02:41 – Finding Stillness: The Nervous System Reset 03:46 – Guided Visualisation & Positive Affirmations for Abundance 07:26 – 3 Daily Caring Tips for Managing Financial Stress 08:49 – Bringing Awareness Back & Grounding 09:20 – Outro, Sharing the Sanctuary & Closing Thoughts Episode AffirmationsRepeat these words silently in your mind or softly out loud during the practice to let them settle as truth: "My bank balance is a number, it is not a measure of my worth." "I am capable of handling my finances one small step at a time." "This worry is a feeling passing through me, it is not a forecast of my future." "I release the need to solve everything about money right now in this exact moment." "I am safe in this moment, even while my finances are still being figured out." 3 Daily Caring TipsThe One-Look Rule: Avoid compulsively refreshing your banking apps, which only feeds the anxious loop. Choose one intentional moment today to check your balance, close the app, and let it be enough until tomorrow. Separate the Maths from the Meaning: A fluctuating number is just data. Notice when your anxious mind starts spinning stories around that data—such as feelings of being "behind" or "not enough." The One-Step Rule: You don't need to fix your entire financial future today. Take just one small, completed action: open one envelope, write down one expense, or send one message to quiet the overwhelm. Social Media Outro & ShareIf financial anxiety is sitting heavily on your shoulders today, please know that you are not alone. If this 10-minute sanctuary helped you breathe a little easier, please consider sharing this episode with a friend, loved one, or colleague who might be quietly carrying the exact same weight. You could be the reason someone else finds their peace today. Thank you for your continued faith and trust in my work. Don't bury your head in the sand—one small step is all it takes. Be positive, smile often, and above all, be kind.

Episode Description Most leadership books focus on the individual, their style, their skills, their presence. What rarely gets named is the leadership structure itself, the actual model your organization runs on. Sarah would argue that structure is at least half of good leadership, and without it, even a strong visionary creates whiplash instead of momentum. In this solo episode, Sarah breaks down why leadership structure matters, why the org chart tends to make things worse, and what a distributed, outcomes-based model looks like inside a nonprofit. In This Episode, You'll Learn Why leadership structure is at least half of leadership, and why most training skips it How visionary founders unintentionally create whiplash when the structure can't hold the pace The uncomfortable history behind the classic org chart, and why sticking with it by default is worth questioning How a distributed, outcomes-based model gives decisions to the people accountable for the outcome Why the "where we're going" seat and the "optimum speed and capacity" seat need to be held by two different people over time Who This Episode Is For • Founders and executive directors who feel like decisions are bottlenecking around them • CEOs whose teams are running to keep up with the next new direction • Boards or leadership teams sensing the current structure is holding the organization back Practical takeaways • Name the outcomes your organization needs to run well, then assign accountability for each one • Separate the visionary seat from the "optimum speed and capacity" seat before both get worn down • Picture your structure as a trellis on a moving wagon, enough support to hold the mission, not so much that nothing can grow • Question any process that only exists because "we've always used an org chart" About Your Host, Sarah Olivieri Bold, strategic, and refreshingly human… Sarah Olivieri is the go-to expert for conversations on aligned leadership, outcome delegation, and sustainable growth.She brings wit, warmth, and real-world wisdom to mission-driven founders, visionary CEOs, and change-makers who want more clarity, more joy, and more results. Most leaders hit a wall when success depends on them holding it all together. Sarah helps them change that by redefining leadership around outcomes instead of activity, empowering teams to own results that scale and freeing leaders to focus on the vision that drives them. A former director of three nonprofits and founder of five businesses, she has a rare ability to spot opportunity where others see chaos, shift stuck patterns, and build organizations that support both legacy and life.   Sarah leads with the same mindset that made her an award-winning sailor: iterate on what works, stay focused in the storm, and never forget the joy of the journey. Links Website: saraholivieri.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarah-olivieri Be sure to subscribe to Inspired Nonprofit Leadership so that you don't miss a single episode, and while you're at it, won't you take a moment to write a short review and rate our show? It would be greatly appreciated! Let us know the topics or questions you would like to hear about in a future episode. You can do that and follow us on LinkedIn.

Sources:https://substack.com/@returntotradition1Contact Me:Email: return2catholictradition@gmail.comSupport My Work:Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/AnthonyStineSubscribeStarhttps://www.subscribestar.net/return-to-traditionBuy Me A Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/AnthonyStinePhysical Mail:Anthony StinePO Box 3048Shawnee, OK74802Follow me on the following social media:https://www.facebook.com/ReturnToCatholicTradition/https://twitter.com/pontificatormax+JMJ+#popeleoXIV #catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicprophecy#infiltration

SPECIAL GUEST G.H. CLIFF author of SERIAL CITYAt the turn of the twenty-first century, Detroit investigators faced a nightmare few police divisions ever encounter: multiple serial predators operating at the same time, in the same city, often targeting vulnerable victims in overlapping neighborhoods.To the public, the crimes appeared scattered. A schoolgirl attacked on her way to class. A woman assaulted before dawn. A victim deceived, coerced, or ambushed. A body discovered. Separate incidents. Separate headlines.Inside Detroit's Major Crimes Division, a more disturbing picture began to form. As detectives compared reports, victim statements, timelines, geography, and behavior, the investigation became something far more difficult than a search for a single suspect. The city was not hunting one predator.It was hunting several.G. H. Cliff, Ph.D., is a former police chief, law enforcement commander, and investigative analyst specializing in complex investigations, behavioral risk, compliance, cybercrime, and exploitation dynamics. He has directed national white-collar crime research, supported DOJ compliance work, co-authored true crime books, and published on investigative methodology, public safety, and organizational behavior.

Am I Separate?

  What Does This Week’s Market Volatility Mean for Your Retirement Portfolio? By Tom Dupree, Founder, Dupree Financial Group Inflation cooled. The big banks beat expectations. And somehow, it was still a wild week in the market. If you’ve been watching your account balance bounce around and wondering whether any of it has anything to do with the actual value of what you own, here’s the short answer: usually not. Most of what moved the market this week wasn’t new information about businesses — it was leverage, technical trading, and forced selling. That distinction matters more for your retirement than almost anything else you’ll read this month, because it tells you when to act and when to simply hold on. This week’s episode of The Tom Dupree Show walked through four separate stories — cooling inflation, strong bank earnings, a leveraged-ETF blowup on the other side of the world, and a regulatory fight over how often companies should report earnings — that all point to the same lesson: know what you own, know why the price is moving, and don’t confuse someone else’s forced selling with your own emergency. Key Takeaways Inflation cooled to 3.5% year-over-year in June, but the Fed’s new chair has questioned whether the 2% target is even the right one — the ground rules for bonds and rate-sensitive investments could shift. Bank profits this quarter came mostly from paying less on deposits, not from a borrowing boom — a reminder that cash flow, not headlines, tells the real story. A leveraged single-stock ETF collapse in South Korea forced hundreds of thousands of retail accounts into liquidation — a case study in what daily-compounding leverage does to a portfolio. Semiconductor stocks have swung hard on technical signals, not fundamentals — which can create real opportunity for patient, long-term owners. A federal proposal to let companies report earnings twice a year instead of four times has reignited a real debate about transparency versus short-termism. Why Does the Market Feel So Unpredictable Right Now? If you’re 55, 65, or 75 and watching a retirement account that’s supposed to fund the next 30 or 40 years of your life, a week like this one is unsettling. The headlines contradict each other: inflation is cooling, but chip stocks are getting hammered one day and ripping higher the next. Banks are thriving, but somewhere on the other side of the world, hundreds of thousands of retail investors just lost their entire trading accounts overnight. It’s a lot to hold at once, and it’s reasonable to wonder whether any of it should change what you do with your own money. Here’s the honest answer: for most retirees holding a diversified, income-producing portfolio, almost none of it should. But understanding why requires pulling apart what actually happened this week — and separating the noise from the signal. What Actually Happened This Week — The Data Start with the good news. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that headline inflation cooled to 3.5% year-over-year in June, with core inflation (which strips out food and energy) coming in at 2.6% — both below what economists expected, and producer prices actually declined for the month. That’s a meaningfully better inflation picture than markets were braced for. But the Fed’s target isn’t necessarily fixed anymore. Kevin Warsh, who was sworn in as Federal Reserve chairman this spring, has openly questioned the assumptions behind the central bank’s longstanding 2% inflation goal and launched a broader review of how the Fed operates. For retirees who own bonds or rate-sensitive income investments, that’s not a footnote — it’s a reason to pay attention to what “the target” even means over the next few years, rather than assuming the old rules still apply. Meanwhile, bank earnings came in strong — but not for the reason most people assume. The lift came primarily from banks paying less to fund themselves (short-term deposit rates have fallen faster than the loans on their books have repriced), not from a fresh wave of borrowing. It’s a good environment for financial stocks, but it’s a funding-cost story more than a booming-economy story, and that distinction matters if you’re trying to judge whether the rally has legs. Then there’s the semiconductor sector, which has been the market’s most volatile corner. Taiwan Semiconductor, the company that manufactures the vast majority of the world’s advanced AI chips, reported June revenue up nearly 68% year-over-year, a genuinely extraordinary number driven by AI infrastructure demand. And yet chip stocks broadly have been whipping up and down for reasons that have very little to do with numbers like that one. A lot of that action is technical: when a stock breaks below a widely watched moving average, institutional trading algorithms are programmed to sell, regardless of what the underlying business is doing. That selling then triggers more selling. It looks like panic. It’s often just mechanics. The starkest illustration of what leverage does in a downturn came out of South Korea this month, where a wave of new single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to semiconductor giants Samsung and SK Hynix triggered margin calls on more than 1.2 million retail trading accounts, with roughly 320,000 to 360,000 of those accounts fully liquidated in a matter of days. These products were designed to move twice the daily price swing of a single stock — which sounds appealing on the way up and is devastating on the way down, because the losses compound daily rather than tracking the stock’s actual return over time. It’s an ocean away from Lexington, Kentucky, but the lesson travels: leverage doesn’t just add risk, it changes the math entirely. Finally, there’s a quieter but genuinely important story developing in Washington. The SEC has proposed letting public companies choose to report earnings twice a year instead of four times, a change championed by President Trump and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins as a way to reduce short-term pressure on management teams. The idea splits reasonable people: less frequent reporting could free executives to run their businesses for the next several years instead of the next ninety days, but it could also mean investors — including retirees who depend on knowing exactly what they own — get less information, less often. This week’s news cycle also included a primetime presidential address in which Trump alleged that newly declassified intelligence showed foreign interference — including from China — in the 2020 election, along with claims of voter registration fraud in Michigan. Election security officials, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have said they’ve found no evidence that any votes were altered in past elections. Whatever your read on the speech, it fed into a broader theme running through the whole hour: how much can you trust the numbers an institution hands you, whether that’s a vote count or a government inflation report? It’s why we do our own research instead of relying solely on government statistics or Wall Street’s sell-side analysts, and it’s the same instinct that should guide how you evaluate any claim, official or otherwise. The Reframe: Manufactured Volatility vs. Real Risk Here’s the framework we come back to on nearly every episode of the show, and it’s the one thing we want you to take from this week’s news: there is a real difference between manufactured volatility and real risk, and confusing the two is one of the most expensive mistakes a retiree can make. Manufactured volatility is what happens when a stock’s price swings because of leverage unwinding, algorithmic trading around technical levels, or funds racing to exit ahead of a quarterly number — not because the underlying business got worse. The Korean ETF collapse is manufactured volatility in its purest form: a Samsung or SK Hynix shareholder holding actual shares, with no leverage, watched the same news and the same earnings power, just without the forced-selling spiral. Real risk is different. Real risk is a company losing its competitive position, cutting its dividend, or piling on debt it can’t service. Real risk should change what you own. Manufactured volatility, more often than not, should not. The trouble is that from the outside, both look identical on a stock chart. A share price falling 10% doesn’t come labeled “manufactured” or “real.” Telling the difference requires actually knowing the business you own — its cash flow, its dividend history, its balance sheet — well enough to judge whether this week’s headline changed anything about that story. That’s the diligence part of the job, and there’s no shortcut around it. How Should Retirement Investors Respond to This Kind of Volatility? At Dupree Financial Group, this is exactly why our approach centers on dividend-paying stocks and bonds rather than chasing whatever sector is moving fastest. When you own a company for the income it generates — not for a price target — a week of manufactured volatility becomes far less threatening, and sometimes it becomes an opportunity. When institutions are forced to sell a good company for reasons that have nothing to do with its fundamentals, the price drop that scares one investor is simply a better entry point for another. That’s not a guarantee of a favorable outcome — all investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal — but it’s a fundamentally different posture than reacting to every headline. Seven Steps to Retirement-Proof Your Portfolio Against Manufactured Volatility Know what you own, line by line. Pull up your statement and be able to explain, in one sentence each, why you own every major holding. If you can’t, that’s the first thing to fix — not the market. Separate the headline from the business. Before reacting to a price move, ask whether anything actually changed about the company’s earnings, dividend, or balance sheet — or whether it’s a technical or leverage-driven move like the ones described above. Keep leveraged and single-stock ETFs out of retirement money entirely. These products are built for daily traders, not long-term holders. The Korean ETF collapse is a real-world example of what daily compounding leverage can do to an account in a matter of days. Read past the quarterly headline number. Whether or not the reporting-frequency rules change, judge a company on multi-year cash flow and dividend trends, not a single quarter’s beat or miss. Keep a watchlist of quality companies for when panic creates a discount. When forced selling knocks a good business down for reasons unrelated to its fundamentals, that’s the moment long-term investors get paid for their patience. Revisit your income plan, not just your account balance. A retirement portfolio’s job is to produce cash flow you can live on for 30 to 40 years. Judge a volatile week by whether your income stream held up — not by the number on the login screen. Get a second set of eyes on your portfolio. If you’re not sure whether what you own is built to withstand this kind of volatility, or whether you’re carrying more leverage or concentration risk than you realize, that’s exactly what a portfolio review is for. Frequently Asked Questions Is a leveraged ETF a good way to boost my retirement returns? No. Leveraged ETFs reset and compound daily, so their long-term return can diverge sharply from the underlying stock’s actual performance — including large losses even when the stock has technically risen over time. They’re built for short-term traders, not retirement accounts. Does cooling inflation mean the Fed will cut interest rates soon? Not necessarily. While June’s cooler CPI reading supports the case for rate cuts, the Fed’s new chairman has signaled openness to rethinking the central bank’s approach to its inflation target, adding real uncertainty to the timeline for any rate decisions. Why do stock prices swing so much when a company’s earnings didn’t change? Much of the day-to-day movement in popular stocks comes from technical trading, algorithmic strategies tied to chart levels, and leveraged funds being forced to buy or sell — not from new information about the business itself. That’s manufactured volatility, not real risk. What does the debate over quarterly earnings reports mean for individual investors? If the SEC’s proposal is adopted, some companies may report financial results only twice a year instead of four times. That could reduce short-term pressure on management, but it may also mean investors get less frequent, less detailed information about what they actually own. How do I know if my retirement portfolio is built to handle volatility? Start by confirming you can explain why you own every major holding and that none of your retirement money sits in leveraged or single-stock products. A complimentary portfolio review with a fee-only fiduciary advisor is the fastest way to get an honest, unbiased answer. The Bottom Line Weeks like this one will keep happening. Leverage will keep building up somewhere and unwinding somewhere else. Traders will keep reacting to chart levels instead of cash flow. What won’t change is the difference between a business that’s actually worth less than it was last week and a stock price that simply got caught in someone else’s forced selling. Learn to tell those two things apart, build your income around companies you understand, and a volatile week stops being a threat to your retirement — it starts being background noise, or even opportunity. Schedule a Complimentary Portfolio Review If you’re not sure whether your portfolio is built to take advantage of volatility like we saw this week — instead of getting knocked around by it — we’ll take a look. No charge. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about what you own and whether it’s working for you. Call: 859-233-0400  |  Visit: dupreefinancial.com You Might Also Like Catch up on past episodes of The Tom Dupree Show — our full podcast archive, updated every week. Meet the team at Dupree Financial Group — learn about our fee-only, fiduciary approach and the people behind it. [PLACEHOLDER — link to a prior show notes/blog post on dividend investing fundamentals once a confirmed URL is available] About the Author: Tom Dupree is the founder of Dupree Financial Group and host of The Tom Dupree Show, heard weekly across Central Kentucky radio and podcast. With 47 years in the investment business, starting in municipal bonds in 1978, Tom built DFG’s investment philosophy around one idea: retirement money should generate income you can see, not just a balance you hope holds up. Dupree Financial Group is an independent, fee-only fiduciary Registered Investment Advisor based in Lexington, Kentucky. REGULATORY DISCLAIMER: This material is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice, nor is it a solicitation to buy or sell any security. All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance of any market index or security is not indicative of future results. Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only fiduciary and does not receive commissions on any products or securities discussed. Please consult a qualified financial, tax, or legal professional before making any investment decision. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "PodcastEpisode", "name": "What Does This Week's Market Volatility Mean for Your Retirement Portfolio?", "url": "https://www.dupreefinancial.com/market-volatility-retirement-portfolio/", "datePublished": "2026-07-18", "description": "Cooling inflation, strong bank earnings, and wild swings in chip stocks — what this week's market moves mean for retirement investors.", "partOfSeries": { "@type": "PodcastSeries", "name": "The Tom Dupree Show", "url": "https://www.dupreefinancial.com/podcasts/" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Dupree" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Dupree Financial Group", "url": "https://www.dupreefinancial.com" } } { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is a leveraged ETF a good way to boost my retirement returns?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "No. Leveraged ETFs reset and compound daily, so their long-term return can diverge sharply from the underlying stock's actual performance — including large losses even when the stock has technically risen over time. They're built for short-term traders, not retirement accounts." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Does cooling inflation mean the Fed will cut interest rates soon?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Not necessarily. While June's cooler CPI reading supports the case for rate cuts, the Fed's new chairman has signaled openness to rethinking the central bank's approach to its inflation target, adding real uncertainty to the timeline for any rate decisions." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why do stock prices swing so much when a company's earnings didn't change?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Much of the day-to-day movement in popular stocks comes from technical trading, algorithmic strategies tied to chart levels, and leveraged funds being forced to buy or sell — not from new information about the business itself. That's manufactured volatility, not real risk." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What does the debate over quarterly earnings reports mean for individual investors?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "If the SEC's proposal is adopted, some companies may report financial results only twice a year instead of four times. That could reduce short-term pressure on management, but it may also mean investors get less frequent, less detailed information about what they actually own." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How do I know if my retirement portfolio is built to handle volatility?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Start by confirming you can explain why you own every major holding and that none of your retirement money sits in leveraged or single-stock products. A complimentary portfolio review with a fee-only fiduciary advisor is the fastest way to get an honest, unbiased answer." } } ] } The post What Does Market Volatility Mean for Your Retirement Portfolio? appeared first on Dupree Financial.

Treating people as enemies in negotiation guarantees failure. This book summary reveals how principled negotiation achieves mutual gain.

Your workout has a job, and burning calories isn't it. In this solo episode, Angela breaks down the real difference between training for muscle and training for strength, and why blending the two with a calorie-burning agenda quietly sabotages both. She walks through why load matters far less than effort for muscle growth, why strength has only one real lever, and shares a practical band-assisted progression for building toward an unassisted pull up. The conversation then turns to protein, unpacking why so many midlife women are chronically under-fuelled, what the research shows happens when that's corrected, and the precise per-kilogram target worth aiming for. You'll come away with a clearer, less complicated framework for structuring your training and your plate, so fat loss becomes a byproduct of good decisions rather than a constant uphill fight. If you've ever wondered whether you're lifting the "right" way, or whether you're eating enough protein to actually see results, this episode gives you a straightforward answer. KEY TAKEAWAYS Train close to failure, not to a specific weight — muscle growth responds to effort near failure regardless of whether you lift heavy, moderate, or light, so choose the load you enjoy most. Separate your goals before you plan your workout — if strength is the priority, only heavier loads will get you there; lighter loads won't build meaningful strength no matter the effort. Don't ask your lifting sessions to burn calories — use diet or aerobic exercise for a calorie deficit, and keep resistance training focused on quality, near-failure sets. Build toward an unassisted pull up with band-assisted reps and eccentric (lowering) practice — both let you rehearse the actual movement while gradually shifting more load onto your muscles. Aim for roughly 1.6g of protein per kg of bodyweight (about 0.75g per pound) — benefits taper sharply past this point, so hitting even a partial increase toward that target still delivers meaningful gains in lean mass and fat loss. QUOTES "It really doesn't matter if you lift heavy, if you lift moderate, or if you lift light, as long as you take each set to near failure." "I like to look at resistance training as a path towards an anabolic stimulus on the body to increase muscle and strength." "The only way to maximize strength is to lift with heavier weights." "Protein is anabolic for muscle, and it happens to be catabolic for fat." "After you pass 0.75 grams per pound, there is still an anabolic benefit, but the more and more you eat, the less and less that benefit becomes." Want to go deeper? Start here:

What?

What does it really mean to build bridges that last for decades? I want you to meet Bircan Unver, whose lifelong commitment to responsibility, creativity, and global citizenship has shaped more than 25 years of meaningful work through Light Millennium. From growing up as the eldest of seven children in Turkey to creating an internationally recognized nonprofit connected with the United Nations, Bircan shares how art, public media, and open dialogue can bring people together across cultures. We explore why responsibility begins with each of us, how local communities can help solve global challenges, and why issues like water security, environmental stewardship, and human connection matter more than ever. I believe you'll enjoy hearing how one person's unstoppable mindset continues to inspire collaboration, education, and hope for a better future. Highlights: 06:55 - How growing up with responsibility shaped Bircan's lifelong commitment to serving others. 18:30 - Why public access television became the foundation for sharing voices and building community. 26:15 - The story behind founding Light Millennium and creating a nonprofit built on dialogue and education. 36:55 - How local communities can play a meaningful role in advancing United Nations goals. 49:45 - Why water security, cybersecurity, and gender equality are becoming deeply connected. 55:40 - Bircan reflects on preserving ideas through books, creativity, and lifelong learning. About the Guest: Bircan Ünver is the Founder-President of The Light Millennium, a Charitable Global Human Advancement Organization (LMGlobal.Org, 2001, New York); Executive Producer of the LMTV Programs; Multi-Media and Event Producer; Host, Author, Publisher, Public Speaker; [Head] NGO Representative of The Light Millennium to the United Nations Department of Global Communications since 2005 (formerly, UN.DPI); and Chair, Outreach and Partnerships Subcommittee at Global NGO Executive Committee and director for the 2021-2023 term. She has been also a Content Provider at QPTV since 1992, and she is the editor and co-founder of the U.S. Turkish Library & Museum Project. She has undertaken the Organization's e-publications, public programs since its inception in August 1999, and #LightMillenniumTV Series and Specials in all aspects of it since January 2000; along with, the LMGlobal.Org's all UN-related activity and programs since 2005. Bircan is the author and director of the Compulsory Peace & ICTs Education from Kindergarten to K-12, and Beyond Campaign, which she launched it through the Light Millennium Global in support of the Summit of the Future in 2024. The Campaign has delivered its 8th session along with the Coalition for the Campaign, which contains 22 organizations and educational institutions including The Light Millennium Global as the leading organization. Further,  she is also author of the bi-annual international high school project, “J.U.C. Media, Research, Writing & Innovation Awards”. The third of its kind was dedicated to the “Water Action Decade” and was delivered  (virtually) on the World Water Day, March 22, 2025. Bircan served as a mentor to the GPODS for three consecutive terms in Winter'22, Summer'22, and Fall'22 Fellowship Programs; and delivered lectures on “How to associate with the UN-NGO”, Public Access TVs in the U.S., and the latest one was on the #WaterActionDecade and the #2023UNWater Conference. To attach that, on behalf of LMGlobal.Org, she organized and hosted an Outside-UN Side Event ID #W175, titled, “What Is Your Commitment To The #WaterActionDecade? ~ Seven Core Ideas Toward #WaterAwareness, #WaterConscience and #GameChangers” in NYC on March 21, 2023, and was the head delegate of the LMGlobal.Org at the #UN2023WaterConference. Based on LMGlobal.Org's Commitments to the #WaterActionDecade, she launched #OneMinuteWaterActionCommitment during the #W175 Side Event, along with continues to work toward #WaterAwareness toward building up #WaterConscience.  She served as the chair of the ATAA Committee on UN Relations, guided its association to the UNDGC in 2020, and also served as the New York Regional Vice-President of ATAA (Assembly of Turkish American Associations) from October 2019 to January 2022. Furthermore, she served on several Planning Committees of the UN-Civil Society Conferences, and the Planning Committee of the High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace (HLF-CoP). She has been a strong advocate of the UN Vision, Programs & Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) along with the relevant UN Days, which are in line with the LMGlobal.Org's Mission/Purposes since its association with the UNDGC (formerly, UN.DPI/NGO) in December 2005. Currently, Bircan is on the Advisory Board of the Turkish Forum (based in Germany). She encourages and guides interested civil society organizations and members of academia toward their educational institutions' associations with the UN, along with engaging them with the UN Programs that are within her networks and beyond. Further, she is an Ambassador of Peace and Goodwill for Anuvrat (Anuvibha) Global Organization (Jaipur, India, since 2014); and a Member of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace (GMCoP, since 2012). Bircan is also the founder and president of the IsikBinyili.Org Association based in Istanbul (2010), which is a sister organization and counterpart of the LMGlobal.Org. Author of the following four book titles in print (Turkish): “En Kutsalı Yaratmak” (The Most Sacred is to Create) (1995, 2022), “Sanatın Labirentlerinde” (The Labyrinths of Arts) (2016), and “Işık Yollarında (“The Ways of the Light”) (poetry, 2017), and “Bin Yıl Daha…” (2020, A Thousand Years More…). Also, she is the author of the concept and compilation of the “Hope Never Fades” (English) book (Istanbul, 2023). Bircan initially received her local and studio television production certificates at QPTV.Org in 1992. Based on this capacity, she produced and broadcasted near to 260 television programs through local channels in New York City, which are also available online through www.vimeo.com/channels/LightMillenniumTV including 36 #OneMinute #WaterAction PSAs. Bircan celebrated her 30th Anniversary at QPTV.Org through a video profile, titled, “A Turkish Experience in America” (Duration: ~9 min. Production Year: 2022). Her works through The Light Millennium Global is a recipient of various national (U.S.) and international awards and recognitions including two awards from the Foundation of Alliance Community 2023 Hometown Media Awards (F-ACM-HMA for her “GroundWater” Light Millennium TV program in Web-based Programming and Online Events / Independent Producer categories (received at Brick TV, New York), the Anuvrat Ahimsa Award For International Peace-2023 (received in Mumbai, India), and the 2023 International Volunteer President Award by Institution of Green Engineers (received in Chennai, India), and ashe is also the recipient of the 2024 Best Web-Based Program – Independent Producer for the #HopeNeverFades program by F-ACM-HMA, which was produced based on the 2023 J.U.C. Media, Research & Writing Awards (ACM HomeTown Media Awards, San Jose, CA). Bircan holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree from the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (Istanbul, 1988) and a Master's Degree (M.A.) from Media Studies of the New School University (New York City 1999). Ways to connect with Bircan**:** Websites: www.lmglobal.org  (active web site) | www.lightmillennium.org (serves as the organization's web archive)#LightMillenniumTV | www.vimeo.com/LMTV | www.vimeo.com/channels/LightMillenniumTV Social Media: Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bircan-ünver-7353207 X@lightmillennium Instagram@lightmillennium About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Well, hello everyone, and I want to welcome you to another edition of Unstoppable Mindset, and today we get to talk to a very interesting person with a with a lot of roots in Turkey, but she is also doing a lot of work with the United Nations here in the U.S. and other places. Her name is Birchan Umfer, and I hope I got that right. And Bircan Unver  01:23 thank you. Michael Hingson  01:24 Oh, good. And Berjan is is with us, and is going to talk about a number of things that she is working on. She's working on, and for years has been involved with a program called Light Millennium, and we'll we'll talk about all that, but let's just start and and as usual we'll have a great conversation. So, Bir John, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're here. Bircan Unver  01:50 Thank you so much, Michael Hingston. It's great honor and privilege to have your guests. Especially, I love the title Unstoppable Minds. It's really inspiring and triggering the mind. Thank you. Michael Hingson  02:08 Well, my pleasure. We're glad that you have the time to to spend with us, and we will we will we will do it and make it work. Well, let's start. I love to start this way because I really want people to learn about you. Tell us kind of about the early Birchan growing up, and then we'll go from there. So tell us about Birchan and growing up, and and and all of that. Bircan Unver  02:32 Thank you. This will be a little bit different than most people know about me, my work. Well, we'll get to Michael Hingson  02:38 your work. Bircan Unver  02:40 Yeah, I know. I mean, the people who already know my work. What I'm gonna say now is completely too different from Berja. So I am a elder of seven siblings, and I was born in an ancient village in Mid Anatolia, actually nearby the Black Sea region, and I'm proud with my age, 1959, and my family moved to town first from the village, and then Istanbul for our educations for their kids, and but I don't know really as a girl child growing up with seven kids, as especially with a traditional family, being older girl is not a good idea. But but maybe it was a kind of tough childhood as a girl child. I I don't feel that I never been a child. That's really what I feel. But on the other hand, and that was you know when you are growing up, living through like I was a kind of second mom, and also our home was kind of everyone our guest from the village town and stay over not only one night, like or a week, like sometimes months, even years. You won't believe that, and it was not because either. So, but those kind of build up maybe my feeling to be responsible, so I consider myself a responsible person because I was responsible for my sisters, brothers, and also washing dishes, making helping my mom to prepare the meal, lunch, breakfast, and clean up. Like you know, I was kind of second person, second mom at home. So those early things, all those stolen my childhood, but at the same time, provide me being able to do everything from very early age. Even though I remember several times at the time. The bread wasn't, you know, you you weren't buying the bread from the market, but from the bakery, real where they were baking the bread. So she was, and time to time also she was making the the bread at home, and then she she wasn't sending me to school because then I had to stay with my brothers and kids so she can make the you know breads a big amount for a couple days. So that said, also gave my idea. I want to suddenly want to work as soon as you know I'm 17, 1617, So and then I started early working at a bank, and it was my first eight years. I worked at a bank in Istanbul. It is called Istanbul Bank, and then my graphic is like life graphic is a little bit different, like curvy, not like straight line. Then after eight years working at a bank, I started to university and fine arts, and then I had kind of interest art history, especially TV production, art history, arts in in the concept is producing art documentaries. That was kind of my vision. Also, it was also my reason initially coming to the U.S. learning TV production. Of course, English as first. So that was very much my childhood until you know 18 until starting at the bank, and then the rest is another story. I have, I must say, I would have three different life. Michael Hingson  06:48 Well, you had certainly an interesting childhood, needless to say, and I, I can understand what you're saying about being the oldest and all the challenges. I was not. I was the youngest, but we only had two siblings, and neither of us we were we were both males, and so we we did not do a lot in terms of preparing meals and all that sort of stuff. Except my brother and I were both in the Boy Scouts, and so when we went camping and other things like that, we learned how to cook on an open or an open fire and and things like that. But still, I understand that you you had a a lot that you had to do. What lessons did you learn by being the oldest child? What kinds of things do you think that you you carry over to what to your life today, because you were the oldest. Bircan Unver  07:44 I think two different components of that. One is also because it wasn't only I was the as a kid at the home and as a girl, girl, but also at the time there wasn't that kind of awareness which we have today. Which I mean, my mom got married with my dad at the age of 15, and she had birth. She had given me birth at the age of 16, the reason I'm bringing up this, when we were going to shopping Kapolechar, Grand Market of Istanbul, when I was 1516, and literally we were halfway age difference between my mom and myself. And when I was saying mom, and the people were surprised, and she and isn't your sister, other sister? They were asking me, and she was my mom. So, but this is in the long later years. I always become the best friend with my mom, and even my brother was saying, "Oh, now I understood that she, you are the joy of my mom because she can kind of a joke, and the others, my kids, like they are kids, but I'm her friend because they kind of feel similar. That is one, you know, lifetime developed feeling and strong connection, different connection with my mom, and the other also, as I mentioned at the beginning, it really this whole, you know, not selected, but where you, which house you born, which condition you grow up, that build up for me early high level responsibility. I feel responsible to do everything, and I, you know, that's a little bit tiring because that's what I want to say here. You say something in our after our initial Zoom meeting. It's really very inspiring. You say something. I just took note. We can solve all the worst problem. We can. You say you don't say we cannot. You say we can. Solve all the world's problems. So, like, it wasn't possible. It's not possible, but you know, as if I could solve the problems or I could carry everything. So it's kind of you know build up my bricks in my life. Michael Hingson  10:18 One of the things that you certainly, it sounds like you learned as you were growing up, though, was was all about responsibility and and and learning to take charge, but learning about responsibility and and feeling that it was okay to be responsible for others in your family and so on. And I think a lot of people don't necessarily learn a lot of lessons about responsibility, like they should. But you were put in a position where you had to do that, which is is certainly a good thing because you clearly have have done that in your life. Bircan Unver  10:54 That's very true, and also it goes with everything. Let's say sometimes some people think maybe unnecessary action when people cut trees, even in their you know backyard or front yard, whatever trees or any type of trees or fruit trees. I really get mad and upset because it is irresponsible to nature, to their own environment, just feeling they're responsible to trees, loving the trees, loving the you know, for instance, if when I was it was two weeks ago, I was working on at my desk, a bees was you know flying around me, and I don't like you know trying to hit and chase the bees, and I just left the window open, moved the room two hours, and it's gone. So I don't want to hurt things, even though if it bites, it would hurt me, right? So to kind of find a way, being responsible, because also I have a subconscious thinking that if I try to chase a herd, if an insect, any of them, they you know they react sharp. So I'm not a threat to them. So they are not threat to me. So I kind of make a subconscious connection, communication. Michael Hingson  12:22 Well, and it's it's better to to learn to love than than not. So I I hear what you're saying. Now you didn't go to college or university, right? Or you did? Bircan Unver  12:35 Of course, I did. That's what I was just briefly brought this stair at that level. That after eight years working at at Istanbul Bank, from literally actually 17 to 24 or 23 late 23 early 24 then I started at the Fine Arts University in Istanbul, and I mainly study both as major Turkish tradition arts and also along with as a minor. We didn't have a minor, but we had we didn't have the minor degree, but we had a selected course. So I was following up several like four years in a row and also whole year around, not a quarter semester base artist troy and contemporary art. So I started writing on art and exhibit and interviewing artists while I started study at the Fine Arts University, which is top university in Fine Arts in Istanbul, Myanmar, Sinan Fine Arts University. Michael Hingson  13:44 So you learned a lot about fine arts, and Bircan Unver  13:47 yeah, Michael Hingson  13:47 and you had obviously learned about finance from the bank, which Bircan Unver  13:51 is didn't learn that Michael Hingson  13:53 much, huh? Bircan Unver  13:53 Not at all, and I didn't like it. That's why I, you know, I changed all my life line. Michael Hingson  14:00 Right, but but you enjoyed art. Bircan Unver  14:03 Yes, and because also art always for me, and it as it is today. Whatever the life problems we cannot be resolved, art is always for me a branch to hold on and to kind of feel strength, connect with the nature, with the art culture, whom I never might met, or maybe you know through art, through music, through books. So it's kind of really, I think the the best human conscious and what we leave behind is what we produce. Creative might be a little bit another discussion. What is the term defined? And now everyone using like creative for everything, but creativity is like really what stays, you know, central. And something as what is already before, and what you brought it something new, that new perspective, like cubism and faism and expressionism and all that different genres or pop arts and another one Dali's movement. So all the Dadaism, so each of them brought something what is already existed, and then you know moved to different level, and also technology and communication brought where we are today. So and music, I'm not any degree. Degree train or understand, but I love music as most people about music and arts and literature and writing is always for me. Also taking pictures. I don't trust my memory much, but this is not new, not because of my age now. But I somewhat I always like take the pictures, whether I have cell phone, the oldest, you know, digital or the manual photo photographs. So even though when I run into where where was it, where I was, who was with, who next to me? I can't remember. But why I love that? Because really, it brings, it captures your life, even you don't remember, and then reconnect. Also, I I come up with a new concept. I haven't done anything yet, but it's kind of developing in my mind, that we can, we are able to capture the past, but we cannot capture the future, because you know whether you know unexpected the one photo comes up, or an audio recording, or all those movies, musics, and documentaries and paintings throughout artistry, you can really capture the past depending on what you know your background or interest and education, but you cannot capture the future. But you can imagine, we can imagine the future. We can invest into the future. Michael Hingson  17:16 Well, and and the the reality is that that the future is based on so many things that happen in the past, and so you can learn to to use some of that information and and have a better idea of what the future might be like, and that's that's pretty fascinating too. So so, how long did you go to college Bircan Unver  17:42 in in Turkey the basic four university education is annual base, not semester base. It's a four years, and actually when I started it was five years. Then later on they the system education board changed it to like four years plus two years. So I graduated from a four years fine arts, and then I have a master's degree based in New York News School University. Michael Hingson  18:20 Ah, in New York. Bircan Unver  18:21 Yeah. Michael Hingson  18:22 Okay. So that was was that two years. Bircan Unver  18:27 Yes, but it was a little bit different again. Yeah. See, because first when I was here for the first time, 18 919, 89 to 1994, I started and I took to six credits and I love it. But I had to go back to Istanbul, so then I got the you know absence live of absence, and then but coming back three years later, I readmitted, and then I finish it. I got my graduate diploma in 1999 May 1999 Michael Hingson  19:12 Okay, so Bircan Unver  19:14 you've been dealing late. You've been Michael Hingson  19:17 dealing with school for a while, but but while all that was going on, you got interested in, and you started to to do things regarding public access television. And you started that, if I read your biography correctly, in in 1991, you started doing things with public public access TV. Tell us a little bit about that, and why did you do that? Bircan Unver  19:41 That's really the kind of key point in my life. In as for the initial one of the two reasons that I came to the U.S. as the first time, I was you know the first aim to learn English. The second also. To learn the TV production, and then my first year was in the U.S. was in L.A. and then I was looking for the schools and just I'm I I'd like to get the formal education, formal training, and then one of my friends there, whom I met there, she said my aunt is TV producer at Queens Public TV in New York, and she is looking for someone like you who really wants to get in and all that. And then I think a couple months later, I had a very brief trip to New York, and I met with her, and then I met with her at QPTV. Now she is unfortunately not with us, but she was also she was the first Turkish producer at QPTV, and I'm forever grateful in memory of her. She was the one who introduced me QPTV, so I met Victor at QPTV in 1990, and then when I went back to LA, I decided to move to New York. So as soon as I moved to New York and I registered to QPTV's both field production and studio, and at the time, there were seven, eight months waiting list. Eventually, I got it on the list, 1991, and first I got the field production certificate, and it was I think six months something, and we had a group project and solo project, and then studio and studio production. It's when the same group project after you are learning all the equipment and then shooting and everyone is crewing everyone is helping each other within the same group of the class and then also producing group project and then the individual project that it is the similar step for the field production and the studio, that also provides a certificate to enabling us to use QPTV equipment, studios taking out the equipment, inviting studios, studios. Unfortunately, after COVID 19, there has been a long dragging issue. They haven't opened the studios. This is I don't want to get in because it is beyond our concept, but because that was my initial reason also moving to New York. And then once I started producing program and airing, I really loved idea from one idea, just idea, and then put paper and develop it. Bring yes, bring the crew, especially with the manual three-inch tapes, and to present, put everything in a tape, and then submit it an ARC schedule. I really love that. So then, while I was there, and then I said, "Okay, I want to really have a master's degree on TV production. So my master's degree from New Zealand University is in media studies. So and I got my diploma May 1999 So, but New Zealand was amazing. I learned all the first my you know my life although it was 39 maybe 3839 years old when I was Photoshop and Premiere or Evid and all the first offline digital all the software program I learned at the new school and I edited my first program offline at the new circle as well, but when I got diploma, and then I had nowhere no access to continue. Also, you know, it's just I, I never been about the person. My mind and my heart wealthy, but not financial terms. And then, so QPT was always my second home because it provides me continuing the producing and provides me access, provides me equipment. It's like provides the community. That's what it is exists for, especially in support of the Article First Amendment and freedom of expression, and also QPTV format is really, really not well known, or not QPTV loaned. It is public access, pack programming, public education and government programming, non-commercial. So it's it is not much known widely, but it is really one of the best symbol of democracy. And now it's kind of a little bit diminishing because also widespreading out other web streaming platforms like this or other, so that there are so many. Discussion and issues, and also there is one petition to the New York Senate that is called Team New York that could also bring in all the web streaming to this community media access public access media. So then, Michael Hingson  25:19 oh, go ahead. Bircan Unver  25:20 No, I mean the question is so QPTV had has been the longest since 1991. I've been providing content, and as long as I am in the US, if I'm out of the country, even if I am out of the country, my previously submitted programs are rerunning in different, you know, whenever they schedule for my new programs, I determine which time slot because I have a time slot to be scheduled, and whether 28 minutes or one hour. But especially again after COVID 19, I couldn't produce anything at the studio at QPTV, but like this Zoom-based programs, and then for the late million organization, the programs I produce and then edit them, reformat them to schedule for QPTV. But it wasn't as it used to be produced at QPTV, at the studio with the crew, that's the excitement teaming up. It's really, I love it. But Zoom, this type also make more maybe manageable, but also bring more intonation speakers. You know, through online connection. If Speaker 1  26:54 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  27:28 So you you started in public access television and and and are still doing that essentially. But in 2000 you started Light Millennium TV. Tell us about Light Millennium Television. Bircan Unver  27:42 Thank you so much. Because Late Millennium, I still consider it's my third child because already 25th anniversary. The flyer on my back says 25th That also refers the 25th anniversary of the Light Millennium. I think a the experience and production, and also providing three platform QPTV, Queens Public TV, but actually the 1992 Communication Act and PAC programming, public government public education and government programming; those emerge with my new school education, like Fatrus, Plato, the concept of the two ways of messaging, and for the first time in my life, at the age of I think it was I was 39 I was able 3039, I was able to use. It was very new, also for the war. Internet. We had the internet at the new school as our media class, the open forum. One week media theory class. We have open discussion forum about Greek philosophy, further is communication, media theory. The other class we had the classic format. So all these together merged in my mind, and I really felt I found my medium. That medium is the internet, which me, especially someone is living in New York, who has you know 30 years first life in Turkey, Istanbul, that culture, and then I I didn't want to kind of disconnect from my root cultures, and internet provided me that connections, and also I always like to write and communicate, so so it becomes like natural medium. And then when I just graduated in May 1999 I send out by then like 40 people with my friends. Colleagues, and then I said, "Oh, I want to start a platform. This platform is going to be ours. And everyone wants to say, kind of to expand the QPTV's concept, because when I say QPTV's concept, this is the again First Amendment, and they don't control the content. They don't say anything you can do, you cannot unless it is a threat to someone's life. So it's all the content, or you are responsible as the producer. So I really love that freedom and responsibility again. And then then I was mentoring at the New York Food Moon Finance and Television, and I was kind of trying to find what I want to do, and I was already producing programs at QPTV. I never give up as as long as I could afford to produce the time and edit. Edit is always more time consuming, and then the executive director of the at the time 1999 Woman Film Man Television, she said you can form a nonprofit. I never taught it before, and I'm forever thankful to her. And then I said I don't know what to do where to start because she perhaps she saw the potential because I was producing non-commercial and publishing, trying to promote, you know, through group emails, and whatever the you know social media available at the time. Well, mostly email and group emails, and then she suggested me a volunteer lawyers of arts that she said they can help you, and I never knew and I never thought I if I never came to U.S. maybe I will never had a concept of forming a nonprofit or light minimum. So that U.S. and all combination brought me and news called Queens Public TV, First Amendment, United Nations Article of 19 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everything together kind of merged in my mind. Also, the projects I produce, I communicate, is contact with people, I learn from them. So then, when I contacted with them, they ask me, you know, what is my statement this type? And then I drafted all of them, and they put in medical, you know, terms and terminology, and I was lucky that we got a pro bono at the time one of the you know major U.S. law firms. I I think I can say now because they even though I think merged K Shuler, but they took our case and they formed my organization on on a pro bono basis and officially the first as a non profit organization done with the 500 1c T V together. So we officially formed 2001 July 17, and we and then right after that they filed 501c3 for us, and then we granted that in September 18, 2002. Bircan Unver  33:14 My memory is not good, but I I remember that date as of today because it was kind of imprinted in my mind, but also the beauty was that the granted granting 501 c3 was effective of the formation date, which is July 17 2001 So then, since I developed started the light minimum concept, introducing speaking people trying creating an open platform that everyone can you know contribute be part of it, so then I started in January 2000 on January 13 2000 started first monthly the like TV series at like at QP TV. That's how it came about. Michael Hingson  34:02 Yeah, you have certainly created quite a niche in in the whole light millennium and all the other things that you've done, which is pretty fascinating. How did you get connected with the United Nations? Because I know you're doing work with them. Bircan Unver  34:18 Thank you. Actually, the concept with the UN use, I don't do work for them. Michael Hingson  34:29 Right. Bircan Unver  34:29 We do work with them. Right. You're connected Michael Hingson  34:34 with them. You're not working for them. I understand that. Bircan Unver  34:36 Yeah, I just you know one word, but it's key key differences. But as as I mentioned, how the light millennium concept emerged, and also my master's degree program, media studies at the New School, and also there is another person I have to mention here, also in. Separate for her respectful and loving memory, Danielle Camille. She was my advisor for my thesis project advisor at the new school, and all that TV ideas and my thesis project. And she loved, and I got all A. And my first TV ideas project was peace, reality, or utopian dream, and it was 11 minutes or so. It was just before the first Clinton administration election, just October, I think 2002 and then I interviewed many academicians, civil society, non-profits who whose focus area on peace and war and you know against nuclear or all that and and then that actually the concept peace reality or utopian dream that took me to the United Nations I don't know now as a as an outsider, at the time it was so welcoming, and I went to photo department. They share me with photos, and I got all the books I was looking for. Of course, public library. I got all the books about the peace and peace organization. So that 12 minutes program, peace rate or utopian dream, and physically led me to step in the UN for the first time, and then producing this project, searching kind of open to me new horizon, and also my advisor was persistent. Birjan, we know you are great. You produce fundamental programs on arts, but I want you to do something else. So that actually also forced me to move beyond producing something beyond arts. And so then then peace, reality, or utopian dream concept came in, but also it wasn't far topic in my life because my son was born 20 when I was 2022 Now he is 45 His name is Borush, and mean is in Turkish peace. Peace also at the time, you know, Africa hunger, and I was hoping when I get 4050, this will be over. It's not the case, but as a vision, I always look for humanistic positive for the humanity, not you know for myself well-being. Michael Hingson  37:38 Well, you you kind of act as a bridge between UN programs and local communities. Tell me more about that because you view that you view yourself as being a bridge between UN programs and the local community. Why do you why do you view yourself as more of a bridge? Bircan Unver  38:00 That's very nice metaphor, and I think it's very true for me too. Maybe I could take it two three step backs. One is the village I was born. There is a river, and and then there was a bridge, and that bridge was kind of fundamental. Really, going to where you know people are established, living in all the agriculture and large fields, and it was kind of nostalgic to me. It's a bridge, but it's a stone, short bridge. That's the the first part. The second Istanbul. You know, my life main path when I was in Istanbul, Turkey in Istanbul, and Istanbul the Bosphor and then the Istanbul Bridge. Now the name changed, and now three bridges, and not just the bridge itself, but also Turkish geographic Turkey's geographical space place on Earth and especially on in between Europe and Asia and Black Sea and then the Mediterranean Sea and then when you go down North Africa, and then you go up like Russia and North Europe. So you see that that connection physically, geographically, and troy physical bridges. We live, we grow up with this kind of as part of our DNA and vision. When I was working on this, the first the initial need you know in the non-profit world to describe the need need was to connect with my culture, people, friends, family, the internet medium, and then village is also metaphor, and when we associated with the. I let I'm proud to say it. Let the association process. That was also my vision from that small video for the class project. And then, then I realize this is also. I think today is real fact that local communities, even Queens here, people are paying 1000s of dollars to come to New York to get visas. All that trying to get the sponsor, you know, to attend a conference, and I I didn't see much interest within the local nonprofits there, and that little bit was shocking realization for me. So I brought to my programs UN visions programs, MDGs, UN days, sustainable development goals. For instance, when it was announced at the UN for the 2023 agenda, we created dreams for humanity. So we brought people from lots of life, poets, authors, and youths to really share their ideas for humanity, for peace. Michael Hingson  41:12 Well, you-it sounds like, from all that I've read and and studied, you're you're, or at some point, you kind of have moved more into dealing with a lot of things with the environment. So I know that your program has been able to get a credit accredited as an observer observer status with the UN Environment Program. How is how has that affected what you do and all of your work going forward. Bircan Unver  41:43 Thank you. This is also another important, I think, milestone for us. The first in connection with the UN, associated with the in the formerly United Nations Department of Public Information, and then it has changed to Department of Global Communications. Officially, we've been associated since 2005, active and good standing, and we are able to be presented at the UN with six representatives, and therefore we are able also to reflect back to our committee's networks from the UN and it's two ways. I really like the concept two ways messaging, and then always environment in somewhat it involves in our programs. But let's say through water, through energy, through, for instance, when the forest fires really burns my heart. So being sensible and trying to, as much as I could, to attend the meetings, especially MDGs for the first phase of the Millennium Declaration, really, it's. I consider UN is the best school I ever had, and it's for me lifetimes to call, and I learn about so many countries I will never otherwise know them much. Some of the names you hardly hear in media and anywhere else, so it's kind of opens and to see the global spectrum. Also, one of the things I really love at the UN, whether you you are a ambassador or president or prime minister of a country that has maybe a population 1 million or 2 million or 1 billion or two 1.6 billion, the largest one, so you have the same minutes of speaking time, same voting, especially of course, I'm talking about the general assembly. So those things I follow up, and we try to incorporate time to time. And water issue always, I wanted to involve. I want to do something about, but it's just not like because I love the tourists, and I'm not, you know, scientist, so I'm not officially trained. So also, I'm not able to protect the, you know, fires in the forest. And every year it's getting worse and worse. And then I'm sensible, but you know, you can't do much about it. And eventually, although our last name is same, but we are not blood connected. Professor Oljoymer, at the time he was vice president for the UN Water at the UN, and we connected. And I was following up, and I was aware his work before we met. We connected through the UN. So then, especially during the COVID era, then when I've seen his speeches, natural-based solutions, and then his piece on smart water, so I propose him if we can do something. About water, and then he was very supportive, very kind, very modest. We had our first water program on the World Water Day in March 2001 and then it has turned out an annual program, and we kind of made the global connections and collaborations, and especially first three, four of them, Professor Olja led and guide, and also we worked together in a sense that I brought one part of the speakers and he brought other parts. So it was also great, diverse speakers and also the level of the speakers from whether civil society, academia, UN, and youth, all that. So we already presented six of them, and 2023 we were part of the UN Water Conference. We presented a program, and then last year we participated and presented a program site event in Nice on the Ocean Conference, and we kind of we also had previously on the ocean again. So plastic also become whether ocean, whether water, whether land life, like plastic, is becoming a huge in every level. Not plastic, but also chemical, all all sorts of polluters on in environment. So then we become promoting, producing, and there are really great level of academicians and experts, and they also like to share and connect their research and their findings. So it's a platform to break down together, and then when it is a video, when it is posted as both a summary along with the full presentation or speech, so it becomes a really source where you know you can find diverse voices, diverse solutions, diverse ideas, and also we align them in support of the UN days, UN conferences, SDGs, sustainable development goals like Water Days. Also, we collaborate with an organization in India, IGEN Green Institution, Green Engineers Institute of Green Engineers. So they are focusing on energy SDG seven. So we contribute them, bringing speakers. Bircan Unver  47:40 So then they join us to our program. So really, it's an organic volunteer base. So that that actually, I was so proud that we got a call, invitation to submit the application for this accredited status, and it was June 2025 after the ocean conference. I think ocean conference kind of brought them cumulatively and maybe brought their attention. And then October they asked our official documents, the bylaws and and certificate of organization, which is the regular require any formal application at the UN, and then I I submitted them in I think it was October 1525 but I haven't heard anything, and then I thought maybe you know they didn't consider, and then literally a year later, in June, last June, we got approval, and with a, it's not just accredited for a special one particular conference. It is an observer status assembly to contribute draft ideas. I mean, to contribute drafts, draft resolution to observe, to participate, and then also to be responsible to provide every four-year quadrennial report. Let's say if we fail to produce contribution at any level to this cause, then you know we may lose that observed status, but of course we'll do our best to contribute and to continue. Michael Hingson  49:27 With all of the work that you've done in all of this, I want to come back to World Water Day in a moment. But with all the work that you've done and all the the the things that you've done in public television and so on, when you host these meetings or you participate in these meetings, do they get televised? Also, are you able to bring those to to the public through public television? Bircan Unver  49:53 When it is Zoom, then I edit within my time slot within the limits of. Time slots and QPTV provides two different time slots. One is 20-eight minutes, the other one is 50-eight minutes. So then, let's say if it's two-hour session, I you know a little bit edit and then title, etc. and part one, part two, and also depending on the length of the session or 20-eight minutes. So then I schedule them through the local channels, as we spoke at QPTV. Also, I make them available through our vmail.com/lmtv channel on web on the web. Also, when we have a summary or outcomes, so we also provide those links and share through social media. Try our best to make those information available, visible, and reachable. Michael Hingson  50:51 Well, that I'm glad you do that. I'm glad that it gets to be something that is a lot more publicized than you just attending a meeting-that's important, I would think, to do when when you talk about World Water Day and so on. One of the things that that I I understand you do is you compare water security directly with cybersecurity and gender equality. Those are three different sorts of things when you include water security. Tell us more about that. Bircan Unver  51:24 This was our latest program in last March, and we had in our prior program on AI a discussion on AI a public discussion on AI policy or AI arc. So he's a professor and at the SUNY, and he's a mathematician, and he's also teaching cybersecurity. And when I was talking about when we met about the water conference upcoming, actually in this December, in the United Emirates on I think December six to eight. Even I was thinking to attend, but I wanted part a bit this time virtually instead of going there. So when we were talking about and and I really like this idea and I say as I asked exactly what you asked for, and then his really statement explanation made great sense because everything is nowadays control troy some form of electronic or AI or a combination of those systems, right? Competing systems. So if or if there is a technical issues, that's one case. But if there is a hack, especially water is the life source for everyone, whether you are billion or trillion, or you are you know ordinary people on the you know everyday life. So water is the source for everything, including producing the energy. AI. So water is the life itself. So then, when he said, if any hacking, whether you know small you know some you know people with a bad intention or some maybe big corporation because some profit purpose they want to sell more you know bottled water whatever or some international security issues you you may name this many other things. So if a computer system, if the control mechanism, if the AI system, whatever that combination in that system, is hack, then everything is a huge risk, and that's number one. How it connects with the water. Also now you know we smart how everything is electronic. Everything and then when that somewhat the life collapses there. So including water, including energy. So everything is so much you know interconnected. And then how that the gender equality came. Also, we follow Michael the UN annual-based dedication team for each UN Day or conferences. For instance, last year, water and gender equality, because water and gender required is also so inseparable concept and conditions in many parts of the world, and then also our professor Emre Tokus, he also. Make beautiful connection that if woman or when woman, if and when women are more in the security, cyber security, IT technology sectors, they are more sensitive. They are more like maybe natural in their dealings, like mother protection. So more protective, so there is less risk than where it is now. So to increase the gender equality, both not burden on the woman, you know, where it's the water scarcity that woman has to carry the burden. Girls, even five, seven years old, when developing countries, when it comes to developing countries, and then if the girls are, and also that was staggering. Stats he gave sort of shocked me today because he is a professor at SUNY. So what I mean by that, he said one of his class has only four girls out of 31. of his class has only one girl. One of his class doesn't have no girl. So even though if if girls are girls are not getting in this field, how we gonna bring the gender balance in all cross-cutting sectors of society. So that's how both from the UN perspective, the dedication team, also cybersecurity, the profile from a university that girls are not showing attention, interest studying cybersecurity. That was the fact based on his class last semester. One Michael Hingson  56:46 of the things that you have done, as I understand, is you've written several books. Bircan Unver  56:53 Yes, there are more, but hopefully I could get work on them, publish them as well. The my first book was Michael, based on my interviews with artists and my reviews on art exhibits, and also when I had questionnaire surveys like with artists, galleries, academicians, professors, students. When I before my first life prior prior the U.S. So when I went back after four years and I was really eager to get in a job for as a TV producer and somewhat that didn't work despite all my efforts even I my project load and everyone was after me, but they want to take the project, but not give me the role what I deserve for. So then I kind of close myself, and then I said I want to compile my books, my articles, my interviews. So that was how my first book came about in Turkish. To create is the most sacred. So, like the value to give the highest value for the creativity, intellectual production. That is through all those interviews, reviews, and questions. So that's that was the first book. The second book is in a way a bridge again between U.S. and Istanbul, New York and Istanbul, or maybe L.A. New York and Istanbul. Because when I came in, also I've done freelance journalism, so I wrote some you know reviews and the magazine. I used to, you know, send and appear my interviews and reviews. So and it was include not too frequent, but it was include some of major exhibits, both from LA and also from the Metropolitan Museum in MoMA in New York. Also Turkish artists here. So I met them, you know, when I was living. I started living in here. So then I a combination of those, and also that was another metaphor developed in my mind when I was Istanbul. I was feeling like the labyrinths of arts. So that's my second book title in Turkish labyrinths in arts. So like you are like this kind of narrow and small world in Istanbul art worlds and very high competition, and then nobody expanding to New York and LA expansion means bringing some, for instance, Franz Bacon, Thomas Hart Benton, and Max Ernst and Marina Magritte. Those also the last part connecting with the New York Istanbul from my art based on my art background. Michael Hingson  59:51 So, were any of the books published in English? The Bircan Unver  59:54 last 120, 23 is English, but. It is a compilation concept is written me. I directed the project, and of course I have some pieces also beside the concept. But it is a compilation by 24 contributors. It is based on the JUC Media Research Writing Awards 2021 and 2023 High School Awards Project, and also it is also engaging the youth to involve the UN programs at an early age and encourage them award them. So that also the next one is going to be on the Water Action Decatur in the same line, same concept, and also I have a book project since 2022 I couldn't still 2022 2020 actually. I dream, therefore I am. I have 80% of the book manuscript is ready, but I couldn't finalize it, and so the other one also I was hoping but couldn't to have a book for the 25th anniversary of the latentium. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. It's a little bit seemingly not going to happen this year to come up 25th anniversary of late millennium, but I had 20 anniversary of the late millennium in Turkish, and so this is completely different issue because I introduced like Millennium both in Turkish and in English, so it's like Tiffany Sister is the Turkish one, and then I formed Turkish sister in 2010, and then so on the 20th anniversary of the Turkish organization, as it is association, official association. So I compile the first part, the concept vision, very much like Millennium, because it's the system. But the second part based on the programs, activities, and challenges in Istanbul. So this book also in English will be first the the manifesto and the first all the history will be very much in English, the original one. But the second part is going to be completely, you know, selected ideas and projects and programs from the website and public programs from the last 20-five years, and it's hard hard things to do. It it's very challenging. I couldn't do it. Michael Hingson  1:02:47 It's it's a lot of work. Well, Berjan, I I want to tell you that we have now been talking for more than an hour. Time flies when you're having fun. Man, I'm going to go. I'm going to have to go ahead and and end our time, but we'll have to do this again and and continue the discussion. But I really appreciate you taking the time to be here, and I hope that people will monitor your programs and and and read your books if they can read Turkish or English, whichever works. Troy Bircan Unver  1:03:18 has so many English pieces, and now everyone welcome to look out our website. And what's the Michael Hingson  1:03:26 website again? Bircan Unver  1:03:28 lmglobal.org. Michael Hingson  1:03:32 lmglobal.org. Okay. Bircan Unver  1:03:34 Yes, but the whole archive from 2019 to 2000 no, 2019 no. of course not 2019 1999 to 2018 The archive. Our initial website is light millennium.org Millennium is with double N double N. So the everything we are talking about, all the process, our UN programs, and the reports from the UN NGO briefings, some conferences we participated. If anyone has any question, I'll be happy to provide the link and you know to contact them. Michael Hingson  1:04:17 And we will put that information in the show notes, the notes for the podcast. So I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely informative. I really appreciate your time, and I hope the programs continue to go well. So I want to thank you again for being here, and this has just been a lot of fun. Bircan Unver  1:04:39 Thank you so much, Michael Kingston, it is great honor and privilege. Especially, you are a hero, and your your story is amazing, and you are also taking really one of the challenges works like producing these programs, and we never met in real life. And then this is also like Millennium and your work. How we connected through? Otherwise, there was no like regular environment or database environment that we could meet. Your work and your dedication and your inspiring contribution really connected us and bring us together in this session. Thank you, and I'm really grateful for that. Michael Hingson  1:05:29 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable Mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward together. Thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset

Cleo Paskal exposes Chinese cognitive warfare in the Solomon Islands, where identical pro-Beijing propaganda appeared in separate newspapers. She details China's aggressive pressure on Palau, utilizing economic threats, triad activity, and cyberattacks to force the nation to de-recognize Taiwan before an upcoming regional forum in late August. (6)

Relebogile Mabotja speaks to Mufti Muhammad Usman Solehri a Lecturer at the South African Islamic college (known as Darul Uloom Pretoria) unpacking why men and women often pray in separate designated areas in mosques, exploring the origins and reasoning behind this practice. Is it rooted in religion, culture, tradition, or all three? What do Islamic teachings say about gender and worship, and how do Muslim communities around the world interpret and apply these practices in modern times. 702 Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja is broadcast live on Johannesburg based talk radio station 702 every weekday afternoon. Relebogile brings a lighter touch to some of the issues of the day as well as a mix of lifestyle topics and a peak into the worlds of entertainment and leisure. Thank you for listening to a 702 Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja podcast. Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 13:00 to 15:00 (SA Time) to Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/2qKsEfu or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/DTykncj Subscribe to the 702 Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What separates an average podcast interview from a bingeworthy one isn't the guest. It's the host. Sam Brake Guia, host of Mics to Millions and co-founder of PodWritten, has interviewed hundreds of guests and studied the world's best interviewers to uncover what separates average podcast hosts from the ones you can't stop listening to. He's about to share seven podcast hosting skills you can apply right away to ask better questions, lead more engaging conversations, and create interviews your audience actually wants to finish.Whether you're just launching a podcast or you've been hosting interviews for years, you'll walk away with ideas you can put to work the very next time you hit record. Hit play and let's dive in.…2:04 – The Interview Planning Mistake Most Hosts Make2:44 – How to Ask Questions Your Guest Has Never Been Asked5:08 – The Interview Skill That Unlocks Bingeworthy Conversations7:23 – The Simple Communication Habit That Makes You Sound More Confident9:43 – The Editing Skill That Turns Good Interviews Into Great Ones…Episode Links:Meet Sam Brake Guia: PodWritten.com | LinkedInListen to Sam's Podcast: Mics to Millions...Other Shows Mentioned In This Episode: Where Should We Begin with Esther PerelDiary of a CEO with Steven BartlettCreator Science with Jay Klaus10% Happier with Dan HarrisCharisma on CommandThe Tim Ferris Show…Other Episodes You'll Love: 3 Things Top Hosts Look for Before Saying Yes to Your Guest PitchWhy Most Podcast Guest Interviews Never Lead to Anything Else…Got Podcasting Questions? Send them to me here.Support the showLove this show? Leave a review to say thanks in true podcasting style, or share it with your podcasting friends.Podcast Health Score™ See exactly where your show is losing listeners.Podcast SEO Mastery Optimize your show so it can get found 24/7.Apply for a spot on the show to get live podcasting help from me.Want more podcasting advice? See what I'm testing on SubstackGet reviews for your show with PodLottery...Special thanks to Resonate Recordings, our implementation partner for PodLaunch® Accelerator. If your podcasting efforts aren't bringing you the listeners or sales you expected, book a strategy call for help to fix it.Follow for more podcasting insights:  LinkedIn | PodLaunchHQ.com©Ⓟ 2018–2026 by Courtney Elmer. All Rights Reserved.

In Episode 363 of Through a Therapist's Eyes, we tackle a critical question many couples face when their marriage hits a breaking point: Before You Separate: Can a Trial Separation Save Your Marriage? Joined by family law specialist Chelsea Gajewski, Managing Attorney at Sodoma Law, we bridge the gap between emotional survival and legal reality to explore how a separation can be a purposeful crossroads rather than a fast track to divorce. Rather than treating physical separation as a chaotic escape hatch, Chelsea and Chris break down the vital distinctions between an aimless "break," a highly structured "therapeutic separation," and practical interim arrangements like "bird-nesting" to protect the kids. Listeners will walk away with actionable advice on how to establish clear boundaries, avoid catastrophic legal mistakes born of high-emotion decisions, and set intentional goals to ensure the separation yields clarity—whether that means ultimately saving the marriage or transitioning apart with peace and dignity. Tune in to see a Trial Separation Through a Therapist's Eyes.

Your potato salad has been out for how long? On this episode of The Valley Today, host Janet Michael welcomes back Amanda Johnson, the Food, Nutrition, and Health Extension Agent based in Frederick County (serving all five surrounding counties), for a genuinely useful summer companion to their November food safety conversation. This time the focus is picnics, cookouts, and family reunions — with the same four-pillar framework Amanda teaches: Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill. Amanda walks through what most home cooks get wrong (yes, you need to wash the outside of a watermelon before you cut it; no, you can't tell doneness by looking at a hamburger; no, your macaroni and cheese is not "already cooked" and safe forever). She covers the current Cyclospora parasite situation in Virginia (fewer than 100 cases, potentially linked to leafy greens, and no — washing produce won't kill the parasite; only good hand hygiene stops the spread). She lays out the temperature danger zone (40°F to 140°F), the two-hour rule for food left out (which drops to one hour when it's 90°F or hotter outside), the proper internal temperatures for chicken, ground meat, and steaks, and the smart practical tips that make the whole thing manageable — from separate coolers for drinks and food, to smaller serving bowls that keep the reserve cold in the cooler, to why you should always reheat leftover mac and cheese to 135°F (Janet: "See, I told him"). Plus a Handwashing 101 refresher (20 seconds, out of the water, Happy Birthday twice or the ABCs will do it). THE FOUR PILLARS OF FOOD SAFETY 1. CLEAN • Wash hands with soap for 20 seconds (out of the water), then rinse and dry • Wash all fresh produce under warm running water — including melon and squash exteriors • Sanitize prep surfaces and utensils • No soap needed on produce; just water and a bit of friction 2. SEPARATE • Never use the same plate for raw meat and cooked meat • Use different utensils at the grill for handling raw vs. cooked • Pack raw meat at the bottom of a cooler, sealed • Keep a separate cooler or bag for drink ice — never use the meltwater ice for beverages 3. COOK • Use a food thermometer — visual cues (grill marks, edges, color) are not reliable • Insert the thermometer from the SIDE of a burger, not top-down • Poultry: 165°F • Ground meat (hamburger, ground lamb): 160°F • Whole cuts (steaks, roasts): 145°F • Reheated leftovers: minimum 135°F 4. CHILL • The temperature danger zone: 40°F to 140°F • Hot foods should stay above 140°F while served • Cold foods should stay below 40°F while served • The two-hour rule: food out longer than 2 hours should be discarded • When it's 90°F or hotter outside, the rule drops to ONE hour • Crock-Pots can HOLD hot food but should NOT be used to reheat cold food SMART PICNIC AND COOKOUT TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE • Keep coolers in the shade • Use SEPARATE coolers for drinks and food (drinks get opened way more often) • Serve from a smaller bowl and refill from the cooler as needed — the reserve stays cold • A bowl of ice under your potato salad extends its safe time on the table • Cover food to keep bugs (and inconsistent hands) out • Bring a food thermometer, always • When you get home from a cookout, EVERYTHING gets reheated to 135°F before eating CYCLOSPORA — WHAT TO KNOW RIGHT NOW • Fewer than 100 confirmed cases in Virginia at time of recording • Transmitted through fecal contamination (water contact on produce is one route) • Washing produce does NOT kill the parasite — good handwashing is your best defense • Symptoms: diarrhea, can last weeks or months and can recur • Treatment: antibiotics and hydration • Suspected source under investigation, possibly leafy greens • Amanda's guidance: DO NOT stop eating fruits and vegetables — just be extra cautious with washing and hand hygiene WHO IS AT HIGHEST RISK FROM FOODBORNE ILLNESS • Elderly adults • Children under 5 • Pregnant women • People with autoimmune conditions or compromised immune systems • For these populations especially, all four pillars matter more. LINKS & RESOURCES • Virginia Cooperative Extension — Frederick County: contact your local Extension office for questions about food safety, nutrition, home food preservation, and health • USDA food safety information: fsis.usda.gov • Foodsafety.gov — federal food safety resource • Amanda's earlier appearance on The Valley Today (November) — holiday food safety, thawing turkeys, and safe leftovers: https://thevalleytodaypodcast.com/turkey-talk-avoiding-foodborne-illness-this-thanksgiving THE VALLEY TODAY with Janet Michael — A decade of conversations. New podcast episodes drop weekdays at 11 AM. Catch the show on The River 95.3 and Fox Sports 1450 AM weekdays just after noon. Subscribe and listen at thevalleytodaypodcast.com — available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy the show, please take a moment to leave a rating or review — it helps more listeners find us. Connect with us: Facebook — facebook.com/ValleyTodayFanPage Instagram — instagram.com/thevalleytoday    

Hilchot Basar Bechalav Part 18: Washing meat and dairy dishes together… Do I really need two Dishwashers?!? Are Separate sinks necessary?

In October, Alberta will vote on whether or not to have a binding referendum on separating from Canada. Separatists have latched on to the idea that the Federal government is impeding Alberta's prosperity, after years of the UCP making these same arguments. Danielle Smith wanted to leverage western alienation against the federal government, but now that the movement has evolved, she is like a sorcerer who's lost control of her spells.After the victory of Brexit, Meloni, and Trump (twice), the lesson that status quo establishment politics cannot defeat anti-establishment movements should be clear. And yet, the leadership of the labour movement is joining hands with establishment politicians of every stripe, and aligning against separation behind Canadian nationalism. This is dissolving the struggle of the working class into the same camp as the federal liberals, conservatives, the bosses, and every other discredited figure.The workers of Alberta need a class based approach to fight the reactionary separatist project.In this presentation from the 2026 Western Canadian Marxist Summer School, Laine Sheldon-Houle explains the communist position.

In this episode of The Poultry Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Thiago Noetzold, an independent consultant specializing in agricultural statistics and data analysis, explains the factors influencing broiler breeder hatchability and fertility. Topics include male management, flock uniformity, precision feeding, separate nutrition programs, and practical strategies to improve reproductive performance throughout the production cycle. Listen now on all major platforms!Click here to read the full research article!"Hatchability has declined across North America during the past decade, showing that management practices have become increasingly important for maintaining reproductive performance throughout the production cycle."Meet the guest: Dr. Thiago Noetzold is a veterinarian with a master's degree in Animal Science and a PhD focused on poultry research. After completing postdoctoral research at the University of Alberta, he became an independent consultant specializing in statistics and data analysis for agriculture. His work emphasizes broiler breeder performance, fertility, and data-driven decision-making. Listen to Dr. Thiago Noetzold on The Poultry Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.Liked this one? Don't stop now — Here's what we think you'll love!What you'll learn:(00:00) Highlight(02:10) Introduction(03:26) Hatchability trends(05:21) Male management(08:27) Separate nutrition(10:27) Precision feeding(13:13) Future strategies(15:22) Closing thoughtsThe Poultry Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast is trusted and supported by innovative companies like:* Kemin* Fortiva- Poultry Science Association- Anitox- WiseVAs- ZentrixOS- Zentrix Insights- DietForge- The Owner's Box- Elevate

Send us Fan MailWhy do nonprofits lose momentum after creating an inspiring vision or strategic plan? Doug Paul, Founder and CEO of Impact Co., explains how nonprofit operational systems, leadership clarity, performance measures, and consistent workplace rhythms turn ambition into measurable results.After working with approximately 1,300 nonprofit organizations, Doug and his colleagues studied the organizations that were consistently succeeding. They identified eight connected areas that distinguished them: vision, strategy, development, metrics, culture, people, systems, and rhythms.The central lesson is direct: “Nonprofits don't rise to the level of their vision. They fall to the level of their systems.”Doug explains why organizations can have memorable mission statements and well-designed strategic plans yet still miss deadlines, struggle with accountability, operate reactively, and fail to follow through. These are not always motivation problems. Often, they are evidence of systems that unintentionally produce last-minute scrambles and workplace frustration.The conversation also examines why business frameworks cannot simply be dropped into nonprofit organizations without adaptation. Systems designed primarily to create profit may not fully support organizations whose ultimate outcome is mission impact.Doug outlines how successful nonprofits create an attainable 3 to 5 year vision, distinguish strategy from goals, build a modern revenue playbook, track both lead and lag measures, align donors and stakeholders, and document repeatable processes. He also shares that organizations intentional about culture-building can experience a 43% increase in productivity!!Strong systems do not remove the human element. They help people succeed. As Doug explains, “I just don't think heart and passion can bridge that gap.”This episode offers nonprofit executives, managers, fundraisers, and board members a clearer way to diagnose stalled momentum—and begin releasing the organizational brakes.Key Takeaways:Define an attainable three-to-five-year vision rather than relying only on a distant aspirational goal.Separate strategy from goals and connect strategy to a specific winning action plan.Track lead measures early enough to influence lagging organizational results.Treat workplace culture as a measurable leadership discipline, not an accidental outcome.Align staff, donors, board members, executives, and community stakeholders around one direction.Build documented processes and calendar rhythms that repeatedly produce mission outcomes.00:00:00 Why Nonprofits Lose Momentum00:00:46 Building Built for Impact Through Collaboration00:02:17 The Gap Between Mission, Operations, and Results00:04:20 When Constant Firefighting Becomes the System00:05:31 Why Business Frameworks May Fail Nonprofits00:07:15 Passion Cannot Replace Operational Capacity00:10:11 Lessons From 1,300 Nonprofit Organizations00:11:27 Eight Drivers of Nonprofit Success00:12:27 Lead Measures, Lag Measures, and Better Decisions00:13:27 Culture Building and the 43% Productivity Increase00:15:36 Aligning People, Processes, and Stakeholders00:17:31 Using Organizational Rhythms to Drive Impact00:18:44 Creating a Nonprofit Performance Flywheel00:20:17 Building an Organizational Operating System00:21:52 Why Leadership Clarity Is a Survival Skill00:24:17 Making Tough Decisions Without Leading Alone00:25:57 Moving From Command-and-Control to CollaborationFind us Live daily on YouTube!Find us  Live daily on LinkedIn!Find us Live daily on X: @Nonprofit_ShowOur national co-hosts and amazing guests discuss management, money and missions of nonprofits!  12:30pm ET   11:30am CT  10:30am MT  9:30am PTSend us your ideas for Show Guests or Topics: HelpDesk@AmericanNonprofitAcademy.comVisit us on the web:The Nonprofit Show

Do you ever get the itch to redecorate your entire house—especially when you've committed to not buying anything new? You're not alone. During Low Buy July, that desire for something fresh and new can feel overwhelming. But what if the solution isn't at the store? What if everything you need is already in your home? In this episode of Clutter Free Academy, Kathi Lipp sits down with Tenneil Register to explore the art of "shopping your own home." Tenneil, who brings a designer's eye to everyday spaces, shares how most of us have beautiful things in our homes—we've just stopped seeing them. What You'll Learn in This Episode How to walk through your home with fresh eyes—as if you just moved in or you're browsing someone else's estate sale The importance of "white space" and how clutter becomes an invisible backdrop Practical steps for a home walkthrough that doesn't end in chaos Creative ways to repurpose everyday objects (think: vintage hardware bins for shoes, old trim turned into shelving) Why putting something away for 30 days can help you decide if you truly love it How to search for inspiration by object size, shape, and color—not just function Key Takeaways You don't have to be a minimalist to have a beautiful home. If you're a maximalist at heart, that's okay! The key is putting purpose and order to the pretty things you love. Create a staging area. Use a folding table or guest bed to gather items as you walk through your home. Separate your favorites from maybes, and have a donation box ready for the no's. Think about reassignment. Does this item need a new place in this room? A different room? A different season? If the answer is no to all three, it might be time to let it go. Set a time limit. This process can have a domino effect—suddenly you want every room to look its best. Give yourself boundaries so you don't get overwhelmed. Whether you're feeling the Low Buy July itch or simply want to fall in love with your home again, this episode offers practical, creative strategies to refresh your space without spending a dime.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠✨ JOIN FREE SELF-LOVE CHALLENGE ✨ https://www.themindsetbabe.com/selfloveIn this episode, I'm sharing 5 mindset shifts every high-achieving woman needs to build confidence, overcome self-doubt, and create extraordinary results. If you're constantly comparing yourself to others, feeling behind, or waiting for the “perfect” time to go after your goals, this episode will help you think differently.In this episode, you'll learn:

What impact do hormones have on women with ADHD? A first of its kind study by Kings College and Queen Mary University in London is putting the link to the test, by asking 50 women who have ADHD and are taking medication for it to track their menstrual cycle. They will log the impact it has on their ADHD symptoms, and daily life more broadly. Report academic Dr Jessica Agnew-Blais and Laura Mears-Reynolds from the charity ADHDAF+ join presenter Nuala McGovern to discuss. We hear about the current government consultation aiming to give added financial security to more than 3.5 million unmarried couples when they separate. It's hoped the overdue reforms will help protect women and better meet the needs of modern relationships. Nuala discusses this with Mandip Ghai, a lawyer from the legal charity Rights of Women, who have campaigned for new laws, and Jenny Allen who is feeling the long-term impact of her separation on her finances now she is semi-retired.Parents of school-age children will know that this is the time of year when thoughts turns to a present for their teacher. But collections can be divisive when so many families are feeling financial pressure. The question of how much to give, who should be included or whether to contribute at all can be fraught. Author and comedian Helen Thorne from the Scummy Mummies comedy duo shares her thoughts on the hot topic dominating many school whatsapp groups.Video game God of War will have a female protagonist for the first time in the form of Laufey, both a powerful woman and a mother. Nuala is joined by player and journalist Vicky Jessop and The Guardian's games editor Keza Macdonald to discuss the significance and online backlash.Presented by: Nuala McGovern Produced by: Sarah Jane Griffiths

Send us Fan MailPricing AI is the hardest pricing problem in software right now, and most SaaS leaders are getting it wrong on the first try. In this episode of Navigating the Customer Experience, host Yanique Grant sits down with Dan Balcauski, founder of Product Tranquility, to unpack why the first AI price a company sets is always wrong, how to set usage caps when you have no historical data, and what smart B2B SaaS leaders do differently to turn pricing from a liability into a strategic advantage.Dan has spent more than 20 years in software, starting as an engineer before moving into product management and discovering that how a company captures value matters far more than how it builds the product. Today he advises B2B SaaS CEOs on the AI pricing and packaging decisions that keep them up at night, and in this conversation he shares the frameworks, the mistakes to avoid, and the practical playbook he uses with real companies.WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODEWhy the first AI price is always wrong, and why that has nothing to do with how smart your team or your consultants are. Dan explains the fundamental economic shift underway in software, where both sides of the pricing equation are moving at once. On the cost side, he points to a benchmark showing the cost per task for a top model dropping by roughly 390 times in a single year, a change no normal business ever absorbs in its cost of goods sold. On the value side, models keep getting more capable, handling this month what they could not handle last month. His research shows that every application layer software company he studied that released AI capabilities revised its pricing and packaging within 18 months. The lesson is not to price perfectly on day one. It is to build for change.How to set usage caps and pricing tiers with zero historical data. Dan frames the real problem plainly. You know what a token costs, but you have no idea what customers will actually do with a new AI feature. Products are full of features that barely got adopted, and AI features do not get to skip that step of the innovation cycle. On top of that, a small group of power users, often around 5 to 10 percent, can drive the overwhelming majority of usage and cost. That makes the tempting shortcuts unreliable. Using dashboard views as a proxy breaks down because good AI gets used far more than the dashboards it replaces, and a beta group rarely matches the usage profile of the full market.The early access playbook that sits between beta and general availability. Dan recommends a stage where companies announce their limits, put a price on the feature, and communicate it clearly, but do not enforce or meter it yet for a defined window that can run anywhere from six weeks to 18 months. This eases customer anxiety about surprise bills, encourages real adoption, and lets the company gather genuine usage patterns instead of guessing from proxies that break down.Why you should separate ordinary plan limits from fair use limits. Even when you are not metering usage, Dan explains, you can reserve the right to throttle or downgrade the rare customer using a capability a hundred or a thousand times more than the average, much like companies already do with API request limits. Those levers let teams keep experimenting during early access without the finance team panicking when the bill arrives.Why communication is where pricing changes succeed or fail. As Dan puts it, most pricing blowups come not from the change itself but from the fact that it was communicated poorly or not at all. Agility beats certainty, and reviewing pricing on a quarterly cadence beats the old annual or five year rhythm.This episode is essential listening for SaaS founders, product leaders, pricing strategists, and customer experience professionals who want to understand how AI is reshaping the economics of software and what to do about it before the market forces the decision for them.ABOUT DAN BALCAUSKIDan Balcauski is the founder of Product Tranquility, where he helps B2B SaaS CEOs turn pricing from a confusing liability into a strategic advantage. With more than 20 years in software, Dan began his career as an engineer before moving into product management and discovering that how companies capture value matters far more than how they build it. His work now centers on one of the most pressing questions in software today: how to price AI. Before founding Product Tranquility, Dan was a principal product strategist at SolarWinds and head of product at LawnStarter. He holds a BSc in computer engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, where he also helps teach executive education courses on product strategy. He is the host of the SaaS Scaling Secrets podcast.QUESTIONS YANIQUE ASKEDCould you share a little about your journey and how you got from where you were to where you are today? You have said the first AI price is always wrong. Why is that, and what should a SaaS company do differently knowing they are going to get it wrong the first time? So many companies are trying to set usage caps and pricing tiers for AI with zero historical data. How would you advise a CEO to make that decision when they are essentially flying blind? What is the one online resource, tool, website, or application that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? Can you share one or two books that have had a positive impact on you, professionally or personally? What is one thing going on in your life right now that you are really excited about? Do you have a quote or saying that keeps you on track during times of adversity? Where can listeners find and connect with you online?KEY TAKEAWAYSThe first AI price is always wrong, and that is not a failure of intelligence. It reflects a fundamental economic shift where both cost and value are moving fast. Every application layer company Dan studied revised its AI pricing and packaging within 18 months. Plan for revision, not perfection. Agility beats certainty. Review pricing on a quarterly cadence rather than annually or every five years. Communication is where pricing changes succeed or fail. Most blowups come from poor communication, not the change itself. Usage proxies break down. Dashboard views and beta groups rarely predict how customers will actually use an AI feature. A small group of power users can drive the majority of usage and cost, so average user assumptions are dangerous. Early access is the smart middle stage. Announce and price the limits, communicate them, but do not meter yet while you gather real data. Separate plan limits from fair use limits. Reserve the right to throttle extreme usage even when you are not metering everyone. Do not borrow problems from the future. Anxiety about what has not happened yet only adds problems to the present. AI is making custom, personal business software economically viable for the first time, opening the door to tools built exactly the way you work.CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction and Guest Bio 01:51 Dan's Journey: From Engineer to Pricing Strategist 04:03 Learning That Pricing Is Different in Every Industry 04:49 Why the First AI Price Is Always Wrong 05:36 The 390x Cost Shift and the Moving Value Equation 06:49 Agility, Faster Pricing Reviews, and Communication 09:28 Setting Usage Caps With No Historical Data 11:32 Why Dashboard Proxies and Beta Groups Break Down 12:59 The Early Access Playbook Between Beta and GA 13:20 Plan Limits vs. Fair Use Limits 17:04 The One Tool Dan Cannot Live Without: Claude Code 17:38 Book Recommendation: Monetizing Innovation 18:31 Building Custom Business Software With AI 19:55 How to Connect With Dan Online 20:27 Dan's Guiding Quote: Don't Borrow Problems From the FutureFEATURED RESOURCESBook mentioned: Monetizing Innovation by Madhavan Ramanujam and Georg TackeTool mentioned: Claude Code, Dan's work surface and the engine behind his custom business softwareCONNECT WITH DANLinkedIn: Search Dan Balcauski on LinkedIn, and mention that you heard him on the podcast so he can separate you from the spamWebsite: producttranquility.comPodcast: SaaS Scaling Secrets, wherever podcasts are foundDAN'S GUIDING QUOTE"Don't borrow problems from the future." Dan BalcauskiDan explains that most of our anxiety is about things that have not happened yet. Worrying about a future scenario pulls that problem into the present before it ever arrives, giving you more to carry now for no reason. Like debt, it is borrowing against your future self. His practice is to stay focused on what is real and in front of him, which keeps him grounded when challenges or uncertainty threaten to pull him off track.ABOUT N

Most of what competes for your attention today isn't winning on the strength of its ideas — it's winning on the strength of its engineering. Apps built on variable reward, infinite scroll, and algorithmic feeds are designed to keep you holding them, not to serve you and let you put them down. In this solo episode, Brett Ingram traces how that design shapes a life one unnoticed moment at a time, and offers a way back to it that isn't another productivity system: noticing where your attention actually goes, and choosing more often than not. What You'll Learn in This Episode The real difference between a tool you pick up and a system built to keep you holding it — and why that distinction is a business model, not a conspiracy theory How "variable reward" (the psychology behind slot machines and the pull-to-refresh gesture) keeps you scrolling even when you don't expect to find anything Why a life is never stolen all at once — it's surrendered in increments too small to notice, remember, or regret What "attention residue" is, and why switching tasks leaves part of your mind working on the thing you left behind Why clock time and lived time aren't the same thing, and what the research says about how often minds wander — and what that costs in happiness The difference between rumination and genuine reflection, and why they can look identical from the outside A single 24-hour practice for starting to reclaim attention, with no apps deleted and no digital detox required Episode Timestamps [00:00] Cold open — the question almost no one can answer [01:00] What the attention economy actually sells [02:30] Variable reward — the psychology behind the pull-to-refresh [04:30] The small fragments that quietly become a life [07:30] Attention residue and what constant capture does to your inner life [11:00] Attention as the real unit of time [14:30] Reclaiming attention without turning it into another performance [18:00] Closing synthesis and the one practice to try today Episode Summary There's a difference between a tool you pick up and a system built to keep you holding it. A hammer doesn't care whether you put it down. A lot of the platforms on your phone are designed, quite deliberately, to care very much — and that's not a conspiracy theory, it's a business model. For a huge share of the digital products people use every day, the actual customer isn't the user, it's the advertiser. What's being sold isn't a product or a service — it's attention, harvested, measured, and resold. That framing, drawn from Tim Wu's book The Attention Merchants, is the starting point for this episode: not a takedown of any single company, but an honest look at what happens to a life when other people and other systems get to keep deciding, moment after moment, what enters your awareness. The mechanism at the center of it is called variable reward. Decades ago, psychologist B.F. Skinner found that a reward arriving on an unpredictable schedule is far more compelling than one arriving on a predictable one — an animal or a person pulling a lever for an uncertain payout will pull it more, and stop less, than one working for a reward it can count on. That's the same mechanism behind a slot machine, and it's the same mechanism behind pull-to-refresh: you don't know if the next scroll holds something interesting, and that's exactly why you keep scrolling. Brett draws a parallel to something a dog trainer once told him — the "jackpot mechanism," where varying the size of a reward (one treat, one treat, then suddenly a handful) keeps a dog working harder than a consistent reward ever would. Feeds run on the same principle, minus the treats. None of this makes the design automatically sinister — plenty of genuinely useful tools use similar hooks, and companies vary widely in how aggressively they lean on it. But the deeper issue isn't that these tools exist; it's that very few people ever agreed, out loud, to the terms. And the cost shows up in pieces too small to register as losses: checking a phone without deciding to, reaching for stimulation before a thought can finish forming, being physically present somewhere while mentally somewhere else entirely. "A life is not stolen all at once," Brett says. "It's surrendered in tiny, forgettable increments — and forgettable is the operative word, because you can't grieve what you don't remember losing." He points to The Truman Show, where Christof's line — "We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented, it's as simple as that" — captures the idea exactly, and to Idiocracy as an exaggerated but uncomfortably familiar picture of what happens when everything is delivered and nothing requires effort. The episode's second half turns inward, connecting attention to what your inner life actually needs to function. Researcher Sophie Leroy's concept of "attention residue" shows that switching away from an unfinished task leaves part of the mind working on it in the background, so the next task gets a smaller, more distracted version of your attention than it otherwise would. Separate research on workplace interruptions found that refocusing after a disruption can take considerably longer than the disruption itself. And a widely cited real-time study by Killingsworth and Gilbert found that people's minds wander nearly half of the time — and that mind-wandering, regardless of the activity, was associated with lower happiness than simply being present with whatever was actually in front of them. That's the reframe at the center of the episode: clock time and lived time aren't the same thing. You can technically possess an hour and never inhabit it. Attention management asks a different question than time management — not "how do I fit more in," but "where am I, actually, when I'm here?" Rather than prescribing a digital detox or a five-step system, Brett offers a different orientation: notice before restricting, learn to name the difference between chosen and captured attention, protect small transitions in the day, and treat boredom as something to tolerate rather than immediately fill. The practice he leaves listeners with is deliberately small — pick one ordinary moment of waiting in the next 24 hours and let it be boring, just to prove you can survive an unfilled minute. As he puts it near the close: "Your attention is the only material your life is actually made of. Everything else is just what you built with it." Resources Mentioned The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads — Tim Wu's history of the attention-economy business model, from 19th-century newspapers through modern platforms — Publisher page Schedules of Reinforcement — Charles B. Ferster and B.F. Skinner's foundational research on variable-ratio reinforcement and behavior — Background reading "Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks" — Sophie Leroy, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2009 — ScienceDirect "The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress" — Gloria Mark, Daniela Gudith, and Ulrich Klocke, UC Irvine, CHI '08 — Full paper (PDF) "A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind" — Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, Science, 2010 — Study The Truman Show (1998) — Referenced for Christof's line on accepting a manufactured reality Idiocracy (2006) — Referenced as an exaggerated picture of a world where everything is delivered and nothing requires effort Frequently Asked Questions What is the attention economy? The attention economy is the business model behind most free digital products: rather than the user being the customer, the user's attention is the product, harvested and sold to advertisers. It explains why so many apps are engineered to maximize time-on-platform rather than simply being useful and letting you move on. What is "variable reward" and why does it make apps so hard to put down? Variable reward is a psychological principle, first documented by B.F. Skinner, showing that rewards on an unpredictable schedule drive far more persistent behavior than rewards on a predictable one. It's the same mechanism behind a slot machine, and it's built into features like pull-to-refresh and algorithmic feeds — you keep scrolling because you don't know if the next scroll holds something interesting. What is attention residue? Attention residue, a concept from researcher Sophie Leroy, describes how part of your focus stays behind on a task you've switched away from, especially if it was left unfinished. That means the next task gets a smaller, more distracted share of your attention than it would have otherwise — and the effect compounds every time attention gets pulled and pulled back throughout a day. Does mind-wandering actually make people less happy? Research by Killingsworth and Gilbert, tracking people in real time throughout their days, found minds wandered in nearly half of sampled moments — and that mind-wandering was associated with lower reported happiness than staying present with whatever activity was actually happening, even when that activity was mundane. It's a correlational finding, but it's a strong one. Do I need to do a digital detox to fix this? No. The episode explicitly pushes back on delete-the-apps, get-a-flip-phone solutions, arguing that a structural, cultural problem can't be solved through sheer personal discipline alone. The approach offered instead is about noticing where attention defaults to, naming the difference between chosen and captured attention, and making small environmental changes — not achieving perfect, monk-like focus. What's the difference between rumination and genuine reflection? They can look identical from the outside, but they function very differently. Rumination is a stuck loop of worry that replays without resolving anything. Genuine reflection is structured, curious attention toward your own experience aimed at actually processing something and reaching a conclusion. What's one thing I can do today to start reclaiming my attention? Pick one ordinary moment of waiting in the next 24 hours — a red light, a line, the kettle boiling — and let it be boring. Don't reach for anything to fill it. The exercise is deliberately small: it's not about fixing your entire relationship with attention at once, just proving to yourself that you can survive an unfilled minute. Keep Exploring If this episode resonated, these are worth your time: Mind & Inner Life — Goes deeper into self-knowledge, emotional intelligence, and the difference between rumination and genuine reflection touched on in this episode → optyoumize.com/mind-inner-life Time, Rhythm & Rest — Where "attention as the real unit of time" gets its fullest treatment, along with a framework for rest and rhythm → optyoumize.com/time-rhythm-rest Life Architecture — For designing a life around what actually matters, rather than defaulting to whatever captures your attention first → optyoumize.com/life-architecture Enjoyed This Episode? The best way to support optYOUmize is to subscribe and leave a review — it takes about two minutes and makes a real difference in helping more people find the show. Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Amazon Music · YouTube Leave a Review →

Summary Most recruitment business owners stop marketing over the summer and restart in September. That restart carries a hidden cost: lower reach, a colder audience and a first month back spent recovering ground you already owned. Marketers and BD professionals call it the reset tax. This post sets out seven marketing tasks for the summer. They are not designed to fill your quiet weeks with busywork. They are designed to build a marketing system that keeps running when you are heads down billing, so your autumn pipeline is not left to chance. Key Takeaways The reset tax is the cost of stopping and restarting your marketing. Most owners pay it twice a year, over the summer and at Christmas. Review the first half and identify what compounded, rather than what gave you a one off hit. Work your database while clients and candidates have the headspace to think. Build your pipeline sixty days ahead. October fees are earned in July and August. Get twelve weeks of content written and scheduled before your busy quarter arrives. Fix the shop front. People check your website and LinkedIn profile long before they contact you. Be honest about whether you are doing no marketing, too little marketing, or the wrong marketing. The fix is different for each. Choose the system over the sprint. Small consistent levers beat bursts of effort every time. What happened to your marketing last August? Not what you meant to do. What actually got sent, posted, written and published. For a lot of recruitment business owners, the honest answer is not very much. Clients go quiet. Candidates are away. The inbox slows. And the marketing, which was already the first thing to get dropped when you were busy, gets dropped again. Then September arrives, everyone comes back, and you look at a thin pipeline and think, right, time to get back out there. So you start again. And starting again is the expensive bit. The Reset Tax Nobody Budgets For There is a cost to stopping and restarting your marketing, and it never appears on a spreadsheet. Marketers and BD professionals call it the reset tax. You stop posting for six weeks. Your reach drops, so when you return you are seen by fewer people than before you left. The warm audience you built has cooled. The people who were starting to recognise your name have forgotten it. You spend your first month back buying your way to where you already were. Most recruitment business owners pay this tax twice a year. Once over the summer. Once at Christmas. This is not an argument for working through August. It is an argument for using the summer differently. The quiet weeks are not the time to do more marketing. They are the time to build the thing that means your marketing does not stop when you do. Why a To Do List Is Not Enough A list of tasks reinforces the behaviour that keeps recruitment companies stuck. It suggests marketing is a pile of jobs you get to when there is a gap. After eighteen years working with recruitment and search business owners, I can tell you this is rarely a knowledge problem. You know you should be visible. You know you should be talking to your database. It is an implementation problem. The gap between knowing and doing is where growth disappears. So here are seven tasks, and every one of them is chosen because it closes that gap rather than adding to your September workload. 1.Review the First Half Honestly We are past the halfway point, so look back at January to June and work out what genuinely moved the needle. Use Stop, Start, Continue if it helps. What will you stop, what will you start, what is working that you should keep doing? Then add the question that matters most: what compounded? Some marketing gives you a hit and then nothing. A one off campaign. A burst of posts. Other marketing builds on itself: the content that keeps getting found, the relationships that keep returning, the list that grows whether you are watching it or not. Separate the two, then be ruthless about where your time goes in the second half. 2.Work Your Database While People Have Headspace There is gold at your feet. In your CRM are clients you have not spoken to in eighteen months, candidates you placed three years ago who are now hiring managers, and enquiries that never got a follow up. Summer is one of the few points in the year when those people have room to think. They are reflecting on the year. They are wondering whether they want another one like it. That is the moment to land in their inbox with something useful. A market update. A career conversation. A question about autumn hiring plans. The recruiters with the strongest Septembers are the ones who had those conversations in July. 3.Build Your Sixty Day Pipeline Now The work you do today does not pay you today. It pays you in around sixty days. The conversation you have this week becomes next month's brief and the placement after that. The fees you bank in October were not earned in October. They were earned in July and August by someone who kept going. So a thin pipeline in September is not a September problem. It is a summer problem you are only finding out about late. Work backwards. Decide what you want to be billing in the final quarter, count back sixty days, and ask what has to be happening now for that to be true. 4.Get Ahead on Your Content This is the task that buys back your autumn. Reach the end of August with twelve weeks of content written and scheduled, and your busiest quarter no longer knocks your marketing over. It simply continues without you. Do not invent topics from scratch. Go and look at what has already worked. Your website analytics will show you which pages people read. LinkedIn will show you which posts landed. Your client calls will tell you which questions keep coming up. The market tells you what it wants. Your job is to listen, then say more about it. 5.Sort Out the Shop Front A beauty salon dresses the window before the season, not during it. Your website and LinkedIn profile are your shop front, and for most recruitment companies they are costing money. People check you out long before they contact you. Look at yours the way a stranger would. Does your website say who you help, or only what you do? Is there a case study or testimonial visible within ten seconds? Is there any reason for a visitor to give you their email address? Does your LinkedIn profile read like a CV, or like a page written for the people you want to attract? None of these are big jobs. All of them are the sort of thing that never gets done because it is not urgent. 6.Be Honest About What You Are Really Doing When I talk to recruitment business owners about their marketing, I hear three answers. The first, and it is more common than people admit, is that they are not doing any marketing at all. None. Too busy, or referrals have always been enough. It simply is not happening. The second is that they are doing some, but nowhere near enough of it, and never for long enough to work. A few posts. An email that went out once. It stops before it has a chance to build. The third is that they are busy doing the wrong things. Activity that feels like marketing and produces nothing. Posting jobs and calling it content. Setting up a channel their market never looks at. Before you add anything to your list, be honest about which of the three you are. The fix is different for each. If you are doing nothing, start, and start small enough that you will keep going. If you are doing too little, commit to something you can sustain when the busy weeks arrive. And if you are doing the wrong things, stop them. Stopping is allowed. Consistency in one or two things that work will always beat scattered effort across six that do not. 7. Choose the System First, Not the Sprint Every task above fails if you treat it as a burst of effort. Review the year, blast the database, write some content, tidy the website, feel productive, then run out of road in week three when a big brief lands. What works instead is small, consistent levers pulled repeatedly, whether you feel like it or not. It is deeply unglamorous and it is the whole game. The owners who grow are not the ones with the best ideas. They are the ones with something in place that keeps the marketing moving while they are heads down billing. That is a system. Building one is the best possible use of your summer. How We Can Help If you are reading this thinking, I know all of this and I still do not do it, that is the most normal thing in the world. It is the Implementation Gap, and it is not a character flaw. It is what we have spent this year designing for. Sharon and I have created The Catalyst System, and it sits at the heart of Superfast Circle. It is there for exactly the problem described in this post: marketing that runs as a system rather than something you get to when you remember. If you would like a look at how it works inside Superfast Circle, book a call and we will walk you through it. www.superfastrecruitment.co.uk/call Thanks Denise The post Don’t Pay The Reset Tax With These 7 Marketing Tasks for Your Summer appeared first on Superfast Recruitment.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, Detroit investigators faced a nightmare few police divisions ever encounter: multiple serial predators operating at the same time, in the same city, often targeting vulnerable victims in overlapping neighborhoods.To the public, the crimes appeared scattered. A schoolgirl attacked on her way to class. A woman assaulted before dawn. A victim deceived, coerced, or ambushed. A body discovered. Separate incidents. Separate headlines.Inside Detroit's Major Crimes Division, a more disturbing picture began to form. As detectives compared reports, victim statements, timelines, geography, and behavior, the investigation became something far more difficult than a search for a single suspect. The city was not hunting one predator.It was hunting several. SERIAL CITY: Detroit and the Hunt for Multiple Serial Predators—G.H.Cliff

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alcohol might be the most misunderstood topic in all of fitness.On one side, you have people who will tell you that a single drink torches your progress. That one night out shuts off fat loss, kills your gains, and undoes a week of hard work. On the other side, you have people who insist that calories are all that matter, so you can drink whatever you want as long as it fits your macros.Here's the reality. Both of those are oversimplifications, and the truth lives in a much more nuanced middle.Because the way alcohol actually affects your body composition has very little to do with some magical fat-storing property, and almost everything to do with the calories it contributes, what it does to your appetite and restraint, how it impacts your sleep, and the behaviors that tend to come along with a night of drinking. Separate the physiology from the behavior, and the entire conversation changes.In this episode, I'm joined by my good friend Dr. Mikki Williden, host of the Mikkipedia podcast, who holds a masters in human nutrition and a PhD in public health. Together we break down what the science actually says about alcohol, fat loss, and body composition. HERE'S WHAT WE COVER: WHY ALCOHOL IS THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD TOPIC IN FITNESS & THE TWO EXTREMES TO AVOID HOW ALCOHOL IS METABOLIZED & WHY THE BODY TREATS IT AS A PRIORITY FUELWHY ALCOHOL TEMPORARILY SUPPRESSES FAT OXIDATIONTHE THREE MECHANISMS THROUGH WHICH ALCOHOL MAKES FAT LOSS HARDER HOW QUICKLY ALCOHOL CALORIES ADD UP & ERASE A WEEK'S WORTH OF DEFICIT WHY POOR SLEEP AFTER DRINKING DRIVES UP HUNGER & LOWERS RESTRAINT THE NEXT DAY WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT HABITUAL DRINKING & BODY WEIGHTWHY WINE LOOKS “HEALTHIER” THAN BEER & WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON WHY LIQUID CALORIES & ALCOHOL LEAD TO INCOMPLETE DIETARY COMPENSATION THE PRACTICAL PLAYBOOK FOR BUDGETING ALCOHOL INTO A FAT LOSS PHASE WHAT TO DO BEFORE, DURING & THE DAY AFTER DRINKING TO PROTECT YOUR PROGRESS WHERE TO CONNECT WITH DR. MIKKI WILLIDEN:https://www.instagram.com/mikkiwillidenWHERE TO CONNECT WITH ME:Follow Brandon on IG: https://www.instagram.com/brandondacruz_/For Info on Brandon's Coaching Services: https://form.jotform.com/bdacruzfitness/coachinginquiryEmail: Bdacruzfitness@gmail.comMy Reading Recommendations:THE MUSCLE & STRENGTH PYRAMIDS https://getdpd.com/cart/hoplink/25469?referrer=1l54og96lf1ccw

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 5月16日で《ピアノ万葉集》は完結しました ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■《ピアノ万葉集》プロジェクトは2026年5月16日に完結しました。でもここは大事な場所なので、前に創った《ピアノ万葉集》の曲をお届けします。ただ、すみませんが、前に流した曲ですので重複しています。=================================================hardly two s..

Encore registration - "Piano Ten Thousand Leaves" was completed on May 16, 2026. And as a post-completion activity, I hope to deliver it to people 1000 years from now. And so, I have begun "Piano Ten Thousand Leaves - beyond completion -- The Millennium Forest --". I will not be creating any new songs, but I will select one song from the 4536 songs I previously created and re-register it here. ===================================================== 《ピアノ万葉集》は2026年5月16日に完結しました。 そして完結後の活動として、1000年後の皆様に届けたいと考えています。 そして、《ピアノ万葉集》完結世界 -- 深森千年紀 -- を始めています。 そして新しい曲は創りませんが、前に創っている4536曲の中から１曲を選んでここで再登録させて頂きます。 =========================== The Complete Works of Piano Ten Thousand Leaves Vol.3-2 =========================== #spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-ja/album/3Vm796tVBoyWIEp1mLOpD6?si=XAl79oycSLew593UEF2VkQ #AppleMusic: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-complete-works-of-piano-ten-thousand-leaves-vol-3-2/6787596397 #amazonmusic https://amazon.co.jp/music/player/albums/B0H7PGFDNP?marketplaceId=A1VC38T7YXB528&musicTerritory=JP&ref=dm_sh_TvnOaWB0wpvmYJqquVwEz0Do6 ＃YoutubeMusic: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nwzdnA7O232R4vuv1c1duYeQAx9i9Rtak&si=5ojmgsW5cxlv0h_h #LineMusic https://lin.ee/5SED98v #AWA https://s.awa.fm/album/17c47b59557f20fb0620?t=1783245626 --- All Music Streaming Services: 全曲視聴可能なのが嬉しいですね… https://linkco.re/rqBErhU1 =========================== The Complete Works of Piano Ten Thousand Leaves Vol.3-1 =========================== VOLUME3-1 just released! Gentleness, carried on 4,536 leaves of sound. #spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-ja/album/5aSDLOUFLgmoK0Nu5uYvxK?si=FxFC1shbTNmcVsbGuZzufw #AppleMusic:  #amazonmusic https://amazon.co.jp/music/player/albums/B0H6VDD1KC?marketplaceId=A1VC38T7YXB528&musicTerritory=JP&ref=dm_sh_Ke44Vvf27v9Scn17Q3GlghCkH ＃YoutubeMusic: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_keXkSwBS2JvaxE-tEwAuXmIOe4CzSijgY&si=tJYfAwa-8cQ8sUyh #LineMusic https://lin.ee/pOzyULD #AWA https://s.awa.fm/album/95f94c20e913e538ed09?t=1782684025 --- All Music Streaming Services: 全曲視聴可能なのが嬉しいですね… https://linkco.re/AAZ0NrcQ

Can you clearly explain what you do in 10 seconds, 60 seconds, or five minutes? If not, you could be missing opportunities before they ever have a chance to happen. In this episode, I share why learning to pitch yourself is one of the most valuable business skills you can develop. I break down the 3 pitches every entrepreneur needs, my simple PITCH framework for communicating your value with clarity and how to stop overexplaining so people instantly understand what you do. Get ready to sharpen your message, pitch yourself with confidence, and become the person people can't wait to work with. Check out our Sponsors: Shopify - Try the ecommerce platform I trust for Glōci. Sign up for your $1/month trial period at http://Shopify.com/happy. Zazzle - Save 25% on your first order today at http://Zazzle.com with code EARN. Monarch Money -  Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off at http://Monarch.com with code EYH. Northwest Registered Agent - Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/EarnFree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Wealthfront - Join the million-plus people already building long-term wealth with confidence by heading to wealthfront.com/earn. Indeed - Indeed is giving Earn Your Happy listeners a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to help get your job the premium status it deserves. Just go to http://Indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on Earn Your Happy. HIGHLIGHTS The 3 pitches every entrepreneur should know and when to use each one. My simple PITCH framework for communicating your value with clarity. Why most businesses have a messaging problem, not a talent problem.  How to build trust without listing every accomplishment. The missing ingredient that makes every great pitch unforgettable. RESOURCES Download my FREE Podcast Media Kit template HERE! Apply for the Elite Entrepreneur Mastermind HERE! Get on the waitlist for Mentor Collective Mastermind HERE! Try glōci for 40% off your first order with code HAPPY at checkout - head to getgloci.com FOLLOW Follow me: @loriharder Follow glōci: @getgloci Earn up to 4.30% APY with Wealthfront's high-yield cash account for a limited time: https://wealthfront.com/earnThis experience may not be representative of other Wealthfront clients, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success. Experiences will vary. The host of Earn Your Happy podcast, Lori Harder (“Media Partner”), is not a client of Wealthfront. The Media Partner receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage for this paid endorsement placed in their podcast, creating a conflict of interest. More details available via the referral link. The Direct Deposit Plus Investing Program from Wealthfront Advisers LLC and Wealthfront Brokerage LLC provides eligible clients a 0.25% APY increase above the base APY on eligible Cash Account balances (up to an overall boosted rate of 4.30% for a limited time when including the three month 0.75% APY boost for new clients) when you direct deposit $1,000 a month, plus open, fund, and maintain an investing account. Wealthfront may change or end the program at any time and determine eligibility at its discretion. Terms apply. Full details at wealthfront.com/promo-terms.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of January 30, 2026, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. References to the APY for the Wealthfront Cash Account, including any APY increase, are to the APY paid by insured depository institutions that participate in our cash sweep program (the "Program Banks”). Wealthfront Brokerage does not pay interest. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY.Same-day withdrawal or instant payment transfers may be limited by destination institutions, daily transaction caps, and by participating entities such as Wells Fargo, the RTP® Network, and FedNow® Service. New Cash Account deposits are subject to a 2-4 day holding period before becoming available for transfer. Fees & Eligibility requirements may apply to certain checking features. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Securities investments are not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value. Product images are for illustrative purposes and do not reflect individual experiences, account balances, or performance.

The hardest part of parenting isn’t managing our kids. It’s facing ourselves. This week, a heated family moment revealed something uncomfortable — our children often mirror the very behaviours we struggle with. Defensiveness. Blame. Excuses. Denial. And when we see it in them… it’s confronting. In this honest Friday “I’ll Do Better Tomorrow” episode, we unpack emotional reactivity, accountability, and the power of repairing quickly. Plus, a Brisbane GP’s email sparks an important conversation about ADHD diagnoses, medication culture, and why more labels aren’t fixing our kids. This one goes deep — into marriage, parenting, and the courage to own our part. KEY POINTS: Why kids’ behaviour can be a mirror to our own unresolved habits The difference between ownership and blame How defensiveness blocks connection Why quick repair strengthens relationships A GP’s concerns about rising ADHD diagnoses and medication culture The parenting skill we’re rapidly losing: backing ourselves QUOTE OF THE EPISODE: “If we do dumb things, can we forgive each other and move on and be better as a result of it? That’s literally all that matters.” RESOURCES MENTIONED: Searching for Normal by Sami Timimi Happy Families Podcast happyfamilies.com.au ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS: When conflict flares, ask: What part of this is mine? Model ownership out loud — let your kids hear you apologise. Separate accountability from self-blame. Own your part, not theirs. Repair quickly. Don’t let pride extend disconnection. Back yourself. Not every struggle needs a label or prescription. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep. 237 | In the 19th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, an exploration of the final chapter of The Inner Journey Home, Hameed Ali looks at the evolution of Western culture and how it happened that soul, world, and God became divided as the culture developed. Hameed explains this was a necessary evolutionary step, an inherent part of our development, and though we lost our spiritual footing in the process (with secularization came a “gaping emptiness, meaninglessness, a lack of true fulfillment”), the separation of science and Church freed science and later psychology to take off on their own trajectories, leading to great strides in our understanding of our physical world and psychological make-up. The secularization of society turned out to have plenty of benefits, including improving the physical and economic well-being of many. But where does that leave us now, and what does the future hold? Will there be an integration of these disparate parts, where spiritual ground becomes a foundational piece of our next stage of evolution? Can the scientific perspective, with its precision and clarity of mind, be brought to bear on our inner life of spiritual inquiry as well as the outer nature of reality? In realizing that our soul needs life's encounters to mature—meditation alone is not enough—will we find the lost “pearl beyond price” individually and possibly collectively or in small groups? Hameed concludes by telling us that the Diamond Approach is about redeeming the mind: integrating the diamond clarity of the intellect with spiritual depth. He shares his vision of fully realized scientists merging a spiritual perspective with precise and penetrating inquiry, and ends with the wish for all human beings to know: “People who are listening… it's possible for you.” Recorded June 11, 2026.“The spiritual ground that science doesn't deal with is needed to complete the story.”Topics & Time StampsIntroducing dialogue #19 in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, in which Hameed Ali explores the final chapter of The Inner Journey Home (00:45)The development of Western culture & the idea that soul, God, and world are separate (03:27)The separation of God, soul & world was a necessary evolutionary step (05:39)This secularization of society allowed the scientific point of view to develop (09:15)The bifurcation happened also in the field of psychology, especially with the influence of Freud (14:49)Our inherent spirit of inquiry came to be applied to the outer world instead of the inner; with secularism, the spiritual perspective was left behind (17:50)With secularization came meaninglessness; capitalism & communism focused on economics (26:16)Will integration happen? Can secularization find its spiritual depth? (30:08)What does the future hold? Hameed thinks humanity's enlightenment is a LONG way off (34:47)Valuing autonomy is an outer reflection of the valuing of the uniqueness of the individual, the pearl beyond price (36:06)Gurdjieff thought humans don't live long enough to grow spiritually (40:12)Finding the lost pearl: the soul matures through encounters in life—not just in meditation (42:24)The complete pearl integrates the compassion, love & intelligence of boundless awareness: the personalization of the absolute (45:00)What are the possibilities of developing a cultural pearl or a species pearl? (47:00) The Fermi paradox, the future, AI, and the importance of personal experience (51:20)Can we teach AI to make truth the #1 priority? (56:22)Roger reads the epilogue of The Inner Journey Home, a beautiful distillation of the soul's journey (57:17)Having a few spiritual individuals living their true nature is what keeps humanity alive (59:49)Redeeming the mind: this teaching integrates the diamond clarity of the intellect with spiritual depth (1:00:23)Hameed's wish for all human beings (1:05:49)Resources & ReferencesA. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond ApproachA. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul's Realization of the Unity of RealityRoger Penrose, prize-winning physicist & philosopher of scienceIsaac Newton's occult studies, HermeticismBertrand Russell, philosopher, logician, mathematicianKen Wilber, Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Greatest Physicists Kieran Fox, I Am Part of Infinity: The Spiritual Journey of Albert EinsteinG. I. Gurdjieff, Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson: All and EverythingA. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations ApproachThe Fermi paradox asks why, given the vast number of potentially habitable planets in our observable universe, there is no clear evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations---The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series generally follows the sequence of Hameed's magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.---Special Diamond Approach Course Discount for Deep Transformation ListenersIf you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed's team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign up.---Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.Hameed's process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the...

Would your therapy sessions pass a research review?

 Maurice discusses how receiving feedback without defensiveness improves professional growth and leadership. This episode provides strategies for hearing tough truths while maintaining confidence and credibility, crucial for effective communication and team building. Learn why emotional discipline is a leadership skill and how it transforms conflict into clarity. In This Episode:00:00 The Threat of Feedback01:41 Why Feedback Puts Us on Edge04:13 Feedback as Information, Not Attack06:32 Why Defensiveness Matters08:09 Growth vs. Protection in Feedback09:50 Join the WIN Inner Circle  Key Takeaways:Understand defensiveness as a natural, but costly, reaction to feedback.Separate intent from impact to choose progress over pride.Hear feedback as information to replace conflict with clarity.Build trust and create safer environments by staying composed under critique.Reflect on feedback to distinguish between growth opportunities and protective responses.

Walter pivots to the dark side of digital privacy, breaking down how your smartphone scans your personal photos to sell data to advertisers. The conversation shifts to the biological necessity of solitude for introverts, before taking a dark turn into Hollywood gossip with updates on Taylor Swift's copyright lawsuit victory and unhinged conspiracy theories involving "human jerky" and Armie Hammer. Finally, NewsNation's Ross Coulthart drops in to discuss impending government UFO disclosures, secret artificial monoliths on the moon, and the trillions of dollars missing from the Pentagon. Buckle up—it's a weird night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Being that the 2026 Independent Hotel Show Miami is only a couple of months away, this special IHS Series episode features the VP of Development, U.S. & Canada at Minor Hotels, Genna Panagopoulos!  Genna joins the Suite Spot podcast to discuss: The Minor Hotels Brand & Special Announcements The Independent & Lifestyle Hotel Landscape The 2026 Independent Hotel Show Creating Unique Experiences for Travelers And much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here for the second season of our Independent Hotel Show series. That means we are gearing up, if you can believe it, for the Independent Hotel Show here in September and Miami Beach. I am so excited and equally excited to bring in a familiar voice. We had her on the podcast just a couple months ago in New York City, Genna Panagopoulos, VP of Development North America at Minor Hotels. Genna, welcome back to the Suite Spot. Genna Panagopoulos: Hey, thanks for having me again. Ryan Embree: Yeah, excited to have you. We were talking off camera. Typically, I usually do the virtual interview before meeting you in person, so this is a little bit more comfortable here, virtually back in, in, I think you’re in Atlanta. I’m here in our TMG headquarters in Orlando, but second time on the Suite Spot. We really didn’t get to get into your hospitality background, kind of a tradition here. Wanna introduce you to our audience a little bit more, intimately and in depth. Talk to us a little bit about your background in hospitality and the journey that led you to Minor Hotels. Genna Panagopoulos: Well, it starts a long time ago because I grew up in the hospitality industry. Typical greek immigrant story. My father came here with just a few dollars in his pocket and ended up building a pretty successful restaurant business in Detroit. So if you ever are in Detroit, if you say Jimmy, the Greek people will know him. But I went to, I obviously grew up in Michigan, went to Michigan State, really, and started studying hospitality with the intent of taking over the restaurant business. And then I did an internship for my father and realized I did not love it as much as he did. And so I ended up falling into the hotel space and specifically hotel investment, real estate development, and have just fallen in love ever since I started my career at Davidson Hotels and Resorts back when they were in Memphis, actually on their business development team. And then they moved to Atlanta, ironically, next to IHGs headquarters. So I was with Davidson for a few years, hopped in over to IHG, where I was for 10 years, did everything from feasibility to business development to even brand, which is a little bit unique. And I don’t wanna undermine that because I had a lot of people say at the time, why would a developer ever go to brand? Like, that’s, you’re where you wanna be. But for me, it was so critical to kind of unlocking new opportunities in the future because the skills I gained in a year and a half on the team work just the role that I’m in now is super helpful because it’s, it’s kind of like wearing two different hats, right? A creative versus a mathematician. So anyways, I was there at IHD for 10 years, and then this opportunity at Minor came up last summer. I was so ready and excited to take on like a new challenge and I thought that it’d be a really fun and exciting new endeavor for me with this combination of my background. So, it’s exciting. Minor’s been super supportive and it’s a little weird to go from working in an office with thousands of colleagues to being the one of one in an entire continent, but it’s been great so far. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And what a unique opportunity. We’re gonna talk about that here in a moment because I think it’s absolutely fascinating. But your story is very familiar. I mean that we hear all the time from our guests, a lot of them start in that f&b kind of space and then transition over to the hospitality side, but super comprehensive skillset, which I’m sure has set you up for success in your role at Minor Hotels. Now, we met face to face at NYU IHIF, where just a couple weeks removed. I call this kind of takeaway season where everybody’s on LinkedIn, kind of frantically typing their takeaways and what they felt about the state of the industry right now, what we’re looking back on New York City, maybe you could start kind of zoomed in version of how that event for you and then maybe back up with an industry lens on some of the biggest takeaways from your time at New York City. Genna Panagopoulos: So from a Minor perspective, we had a really successful conference. So we had tons of meetings while we were there. Really good ones too, on some deals that were hopefully perpetuating. And then we’ll be announcing maybe by the Independent Boutique Hotel Show, but it was, the energy was very live, the excitement for Minor Hotels, was very visceral people, I think, you know, hoteliers are really looking for brands that understand their position. And because Minor is, you know, I always describe it as an owner first, then an operator, now a brand, right? And we still own an owner lease a vast majority of our portfolio. So we know what it’s like to be in their shoes, quite honestly. So it was a successful, like I said, the energy was there. It’s very validating to know that a lot of our marketing is working and all of the, the word of mouth and the fact that we’re out there, iI’m having to educate people less and less with every conference about who we are. So that’s great. Zooming out on an industry lens, you know, I think, you know, even just looking at beginning of the year to NYU IHIF, this sentiment is very different, right? You know, at the beginning of the year there was so much excitement over the World Cup. You and I spoke about that at NYU and it’s, it’s obviously been tempered quite a bit, and the K economy is still happening. We’re seeing luxury, the rates of the projects that I’m working on, I’m just shocked at how high they are and, how well the competitors are doing in the upper luxury space. It’s really fascinating. So I’m definitely seeing that as well. But the sentiment, and appetite to grow is definitely there. People are still looking to place equity, not ton, not huge amounts, but we’re, we’re seeing that there are still gaps on that front. Ryan Embree: The resiliency of our industry, I think, continues, right? It just, the momentum there, every single time we see a headwind, we continue to push through, which is really, really cool to see that owner. And, and from a development, I mean, new brands, new projects being announced, this is the space that we’d love to see, you know, more and more because there’s more and more demand growing travelers continue to prioritize travel and the experience economy, which is great for us hoteliers. So we just need some more rooms here, which is obviously what you’re tasked with, right, Jenna? So, but I wanna talk about Minor Hotels. I know you talked about needing a little less education now, but educate us here on the Suite Spot. I mean, Minor Hotels, brand spanning from select service all the way up to that ultra luxury segment ton of brands. They don’t have time for all of them today, but maybe you could share some of your personal favorites and within the hotel, Minor Hotels portfolio, what makes those brands unique? Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, sure. So yeah, like you said, we now have 12 different brands, four of which were launched last year right before I joined the company. But we have these two lineages, I think within Minor Hotels history, right? We have our roots, which come from Thailand, and Anantara and Avani are great examples of that. And then we have our European roots from acquisitions over the years. So we’ve got brands like…that came from Portugal, NH, which is a very established brand out of Madrid. The four that we launched last year, offer really unique things that we never had before in our portfolio. So as we were looking to grow, we knew that that was something we’d have to have to kind of have on our menu of options for potential hotels, because some of these brands don’t work in every asset type and not every market, though most of our brands have a lot of flexibility to be able to grow into different asset types. But I guess my favorite, and I’m really excited about the Wolseley hotel brand we launched last year. So Minor International owns, which of course, Banner Hotels Resorts is a part of, owns Wolseley Hospitality Group out of London. And there’s a really beautiful institutional restaurant called the Wolseley that’s very famous. If you ask anybody from London, they definitely know the Wolseley. In fact, most people I know that just traveled to London know the Wolseley. So we own, we own that company and decided to take that brand into the hotel space, which is interesting because it’s a restaurant moving into the hotel world. And our first one will open in New York next year, but it’s been really fast. I think it’s really fascinating. There’s a lot of membership club opportunities with that one. And so that’s kind of an new trend we’re starting to see in the luxury space. Ryan Embree: It’s gotta be great to be able to have that breadth and spectrum of property or investment type for an owner to come in and say, this is maybe the market that I’m interested in pursuing, and then figuring out and kind of curating and tailoring what asset, what brand is gonna fit best there. And we talked about this a little at NYU, but I think, again, your job is so fascinating. You have this well-established, extremely popular worldwide brand, and here you are tasked with bringing it into the North American market, right? I’m sure there’s a lot of envious developers out there, what has been kind of, and really you only get to launch a brand like this into a new market only once. So what has been kind of your approach, Jen? I’d love to get kind of the background on what’s been your approach and what kind of feedback you’ve been initially hearing. Have owners been kind of waiting for this, you know, to arrive here and, and what are you hearing from owners right now? Genna Panagopoulos: It’s a tale of two stories as they say, right? So in the luxury space, there’s so much excitement. We are very established, people in that space know us, and wanna be the first to help us develop here. So that’s where we’ve seen the vast majority of our interest. Now, when you shift to looking at some of the upper upscale through the select service brands that we now also offer franchise, which I don’t know the stat off the top of my head, but it is a large component of those properties, those segments are operated by third parties and franchised. So being that we’re newer into that space, that’s where the challenge has been. So, but yeah, in terms of the hardest thing and I have to tackle every day is where do I spend my time? Because there’s constantly deals coming my way. We have to, we have to be quite strategic and mindful about what has the most likelihood of being the best representation of our brand in our target markets. So early on, when I started, I think the first four weeks of me taking the role, I had developed a pretty cohesive development strategy of where we wanted to spend that time. And where that is really any of the top, let’s call it 20 markets in the US that have international demand. So we have top markets that don’t have as much international demand, and we’ll look at those, but we just think that our value is gonna come from driving international business into these hotels. And then totally opposite from that, with Anantara, our, you know, wellness, upper luxury experiential brand. We are really excited about finding deals in kind of everywhere else except for those urban markets, right? So hard to get to places. Last week I was driving through Utah and Colorado, six hours in between each of them. So just to give you a little flavor, we were looking at a couple different opportunities in those states. You know, Hudson Valley is somewhere we wanna be Montana, Wyoming. So, you know, it’s a little bifurcated our approach to our various brands. But we’re trying to be very diligent and strategic about it. So we don’t get distracted by things that aren’t going to help us grow here. Because once we have good examples, we really believe the first few have to be really good. Once we have those, we’ll be able to drive further, further growth at a more quick pace. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. And what you were talking about how best to spend your time, I think that’s a, a challenge that hoteliers have had since the dawn of this industry. But it’s very exciting and very cool to hear those different approaches because, you know, you have the privilege of having that background, of having that history and, and culture already built over an in another market, bringing that here. But you also have the exciting new flavor of providing something new, maybe in some, some very experiential markets right now, which experiential travel is just absolutely exploding another traveler trend right now. And you already have some several success stories we touched on at NYU. Let’s dive a little deeper into some of those projects, Genna. Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, so we’ve got, I guess our next one that I’ve already kinda spilled the beans on it, but the releases are already out there, but the first Wolseley in the world will be opening next year in New York in the former Lambs Club property. And I think it’s just such a fantastic market to open the first Wolseley hotel. You know, theoretically it could have been in London and hopefully we do have one in London soon, but it’s a very special cherished brand and it’s not the one thing I also just wanna spend a moment on, even though it’s luxury and it’s this very quintessential British kind of formal service style, it’s egalitarian at its roots, it’s really meant for everybody. So you could walk into the, into the Wolseley in London and see celebrities next to politicians and you’re Joe Schmo walking in off the street, you don’t need a reservation. And so I think it’s a really beautiful evolution of the, of the history of that brand. And I’m so excited for it to land in New York. Ryan Embree: So we can announce right now in 2027. The Suite Spot will be on site. We can do nice little episode up there hopefully. Genna Panagopoulos: Next, next conference in New York. We’ll be able to do it there. Ryan Embree: Alright. Genna Panagopoulos: Yes. And then a little, actually, I guess the next one that’ll open in 2029 is Anantara Turks and Caicos, which is a 100% residential hotel, really, really beautiful resort heavy wellness, you’ll find with Anantara. We really lean into the wellness, longevity space. And so, we pride ourselves on always being at the forefront of the latest wellness, the direction wellness is going. And so longevity, for example, right now is very important to us. And we’re seeing that bleed into the residential space. So, you know, just the way that’s getting threaded into the residential experience, into the hotel guest experiences is very fascinating to watch. And then in 2030, we’ll also have another Anantara in Miami, very close to design district. It’s kind of at the epicenter of where design district, Edgewater and Midtown all meet the views from the hotel will be incredible. There’ll be a helipad, a 30,000 square foot spa. And then a mix of hotel rooms, residences that people are living in, and then also residences that can get rented out to hotel guests as well. So we are super excited, I think, you know, having these three hotels in these three markets, right? We’ve covered New York where we already have a hotel, by the way, the NH collection, Madison Avenue, we’ve had there for a few years, which we actually own. And then, you know, Miami, which is a key market, obviously very heavy international demand, but just if you had to tell me to pick one plate, one urban market to put it an Anantara, that would be it. And then Turks and Caicos is such a important market for U.S. leisure travel. So these couldn’t have been better, better markets for us to be entering and launching region. Ryan Embree: Congratulations. What a strong pipeline and really cool projects you’re working on, excited to kind of see those and the announcements as they start to roll in and the pictures, those views that you’re talking about. But I think, you know, the Turks and Caicos property is something we’ve been talking about on the podcast. That CALA region is also booming right now. So, you know, it’s not just, I think sometimes when we say, you know, obviously bringing into the North American market, we tend to go a little bit more domestic, but to expand that into CALA I think is gonna be absolutely critical. ’cause you’re right, so much of that US domestic travel is now spending, you know, time and money in those areas, and looking a little bit more towards that for their experiences. So exciting all around. And of course we love, you know, we’re based here in Florida, so we’d love a new project. We’ll, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on that Miami project that you have. But this is speaking of Miami, this is our independent hotel show series. Talk to us, you know, why you feel some of the Minor Hotel brands fit within this independent and lifestyle category. And what advantages do you see independent hotels or even experiential brands and lifestyle brands have in today’s hospitality landscape? Genna Panagopoulos: I’ll answer that last question first. If you don’t have that experiential, that’s table stakes today. So, we’re, I believe we’re only gonna see that become more and more important as the years go on. Because if you look at the consumer data of what the younger demographic, where they’re spending their money, it’s not experiences. It’s not, it’s no longer on goods. So having these really cool, unique experiences that they can travel and and receive is gonna be critical in terms of what we have to offer for independent hoteliers, keep in mind this is our roots, right? We started our, our company was founded by Bill Heineke, who, fun fact, and I can’t remember if I’ve already told you this, but the reason we’re called Minor is that he went to go start his business at a very young age of 17. And when he was getting his his business license, they said, sorry, but you need an adult to sign with you ’cause you’re a minor. So he’s really one of those serial entrepreneurs, wicked smart, wicked great at launching businesses, but he was an independent hotelier. That’s how he got his start. So he’s still driving a lot of the vision of the company. And I could tell you coming from a larger brand company into this environment, it is incredibly entrepreneurial. And because we also own hotels, but also operate for a lot of our owners, we truly believe we have this, like this hotelier mindset. We’re more of an operator than we are a brand at this moment. And so I think that could help lend itself to independent owners who are looking for a little bit of support. And we’re here to lean in as much as they want and as little as they want, but there’s benefits to it, right? We can help save on OTA costs, we can help save on purchasing. We’ve got great technology to help with forecasting and revenue management and and so on. So there’s definitely places to tap in. And I think particularly now more than ever with our two collection brands that we launched last year, so I started telling you this, but I didn’t finish telling you the brands that we launched, but two of them that we launched last year are collections. One is minor reserve collection, which is in the luxury space. And then Colbert collection, which is more upper upscale, maybe entry luxury. And those are just such, they’re primed for independent hotels, right? That’s why they were launched. To be able to keep the heritage and the name of an independent hotel play off of it, but then get all the back support, all the things behind the scenes that consumers will really never see, but it’ll help make operations much more efficient and smooth. And so we think that’s where there’s a lot of opportunity and we’re, you know, we’re priding ourselves on that. We’re here to be a partner and not a brand that’s telling you have to do it this way. So that’s where we’re really thinking this is the opportunity for us in that space. Ryan Embree: Well, it says, it says a lot that, to have two collection brands dedicated to that space really shows the investment in the future of these kind of independently run or branded properties and see the opportunity there because again, looking, you mentioned the lens and view challenges about independent hotelier and brand is very different from those big brands that have the scale to kind of combat those challenges a little bit more efficiently. So, you know, independent hotels, we always talk about on this series specifically are looking for any edge or opportunity to differentiate themselves to the traveler because they are really first in line to present a one of a kind experience. If you think about it, one of those places is f&b, a trend that obviously Minor Hotels has taken and ran with, especially with converting a f&b brand to hospitality brand. How have you leveraged the f&b theme with potential owners and when you’re having these conversations with investors, as you look to bring Minor Hotels to North America? Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, so, well first we have a, when I was doing my onboarding in Madrid and Amsterdam, I toured our Anantara in Amsterdam and they had just, maybe they, a couple months before they had just concluded a chef series where they brought I believe 20 or 30 Michelin rated chefs under their roof and had a food festival, which I had never seen that. Like how amazing to bring. I didn’t know that, that that many Michelin chefs would be side by side cooking for each other, right? But it’s a really special thing. And I think that shows you that Minor is very credible in this super experiential high end f&b space separate to that. And so we have the talent in-house. Separate from that, when you look at our brands and the way our Colbert brand, for example, our Colbert, I don’t even wanna call it a brand ’cause it’s a collection. It’s not really a brand the way we thread food and beverage into the guest experience, right? So each hotel is completely unique within the collection. We don’t want any two to really look alike, to be honest with you. But as part of the one ritual that you can, that you can count on as a guest at every Colbert is a food and beverage driven experience. So whether that’s a bespoke cocktail that’s mixed for you, right as you enter the door, or maybe, after you’ve checked in and you’re in your room, a bell cart is a food and beverage bell cart of sorts is delivering a special experience to your door something that ties back to the identity that the hotel has, but is very curated and special, right? Not something that’s like a here’s the, the chocolate chip cookies we made today. No. Right? We want something really beautiful, thoughtful, creative, and that shows the craft in it that either ties to the experience or the identity of the hotel. So I think that’s really important and those little things go a very long way. Ryan Embree: A hundred percent. And those are the little things that add up in the independent hoteliers world that can, you can have the edge, right? And I mean there’s a whole now space with food tourism. I mean, it’s got a name for it now. That’s how large this trend is. And hoteliers are looking at F&B very, very differently than they did five, 10 years ago. It was a first a place where they started to look and say, where can we cut costs? Where can we make efficiencies? Now the brands that I think are doing it right are leaning into it. They’re seeing it as a part of their guest experience and also a huge opportunity for their local markets too. I think people, you know, in locally have looked at through a different lens at what a hotel F&B experience can be. And when someone comes to town, they might not be going to that restaurant. They might be going to a hotel or a resort, and it having that experience there. So very interested to see, right. Genna Panagopoulos: It’s, I don’t mean to interrupt you. But I just wanna say, I was recently having the conversation because when I started in the industry, we would joke, you could, you could like blow a cannon through a hotel restaurant. Nobody wanted to go to a hotel restaurant. Back in the day, they were cool. And it was like, oh, I’m staying at this hotel, meet me at the restaurant. But for a while, you didn’t wanna go to a hotel restaurant. It was vanilla, it was boring, it had no identity. It was just an extension. It was just a restaurant within a hotel. Now it’s such an important driver of bringing people to that hotel, whether local or visiting from out of town. And so there’s such an opportunity. I just, I look back at the time that those hotel restaurants were not attractive. And now I’m like, no, it’s such a beautiful component to an experience and I’ve seen really amazing destination hotels that are operated by the operators, but have a totally unique identity that’s very strong and compatible with the hotel, but not homogenous with the hotel. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. It’s very, very cool to see that evolution. And I think it’s only, again, as the trend continues to grow, I think it’s only gonna get stronger. You’re gonna see more emphasis on that f&b experience. And I personally can’t wait. Because I love those types of experiences to kind of see that evolve. And we’re gonna learn a little bit about maybe some of your favorite f&b experiences within the portfolio here. So let’s do my favorite part of the episode. Some rapid fire to get to know you Genna and the Minor Hotel portfolio a little bit better. Let’s start with one of your, you talked about maybe future favorite views at your property, but right now what is one of the favorite views at your properties in the portfolio? Genna Panagopoulos: I know you’re trying to do rapid fire, but of course I’ll just story tell a little bit. Ryan Embree: No, not at all. Please. Genna Panagopoulos: The Avani in Amsterdam, I had the opportunity during my onboarding with Minor to go to Amsterdam for a few days. Because we have a ton of hotels in Amsterdam. And I got to stay there and I woke up, I think it was a Sunday morning, and I had one of the upper level rooms and floor to ceiling windows. And I just, I watched the city wake up. It was so cool to see the sunrise from my room, but also the canals were coming to life. People were in boats and I had this cup of coffee and they had a great lounge here. And it’s not, it’s not a fancy hotel, right? It’s an approachable lifestyle of hotel. But it was really, it was so beautiful. I had this like Minor Magazine I was reading and I read the full thing. It was so lovely. And I’m actually taking my daughter there in a few, in two weeks, because I loved it so much. Ryan Embree: Very cool. Yeah. And she’ll get to have that view of the, the property as well. What about favorite fact? A fun fact about one of the properties? Genna Panagopoulos: Okay, so one of our new Colbert collections, that I believe is open now in Florence. It’s called Port Rosa, which it translates to Red Door. And it is actually one of the oldest, it might have been the first hotel actually in Italy and one of the first hotels in Europe. So it’s just so funny ’cause here we call our historic hotels 200 years old. And, and here we have like an 800 year old hotel. So I think that’s, I don’t think I could top that. Ryan Embree: Yeah, that puts it in perspective. Favorite signature dish? We talked about f&b experiences at one of the properties. Genna Panagopoulos: So I know I’m talking a lot about Amsterdam, but that was, it obviously left an impression on me, but at the Tivoli, which is one of our entry luxury brands, very well established in Europe, they really pride themselves on food and wine. And so culinary is a huge component of that experience. So I get to eat at the restaurant in the Tivoli called Ombre. And they really try to weave in creativity and art into the overall experience. And so they took it, they took inspiration from Rembrandt, and so Ombre is one of the 12 colors of Rembrandt’s palette. And so they, they had a beautiful way of weaving that into the food, the color of the food, the color of the menu, the names of the menu items. And it was just a beautiful, and you could watch the chef finish the food right at the entrance. And it was just, it was remarkable. It’s also on the canal. It was an evening candle lit room. It was beautiful. Ryan Embree: I mean the marketing team for some of these properties I’m sure has no shortage of content and storytelling. I mean, this is every hotel marketer’s dream. What about favorite guest experience or amenities at one of your properties? Genna Panagopoulos: That’s a good question. The, also in the Avani in Madrid, so, when I had wrapped up, I had trained in Madrid. I went to Amsterdam for a weekend, came back to Madrid to kind of give everybody my 2 cents of how the project or how the onboarding went. And I was only there for one or two nights. I was so tired. I had been gone for like two weeks. I missed my kids. But I came back and the Avani in Madrid as my welcome city had a smoothie set up. And I had never seen this, and I don’t even know if I’ll ever see this again, but they had a little, a little tiny, I think it’s called like a bullet blender, right? That I could blend in my room. They had the most beautiful, I don’t even know what fruit it was, but it was sweet. It was delicious. They had a variety of milks next to it that I could mix with the fruit, and then of course a little ice bucket and some honey. And it was just everything that I needed. I was so tired from being on the road and to come back and have this really like, cool, healthy, nutritious, it was so, it was like they were reading my mind of what I needed. And I’ve never been in a lot of amazing hotels. And again, Avani is not a luxury brand, but they totally nailed it. And then about an hour later after it, ’cause I had checked in fairly late in the day, they showed up at my door with this beautiful wind down tea set up, and it was, you know, tea can be hit or miss. Yeah, it was so beautifully floral and delicious. And I’m not even a tea drinker. And I loved every moment of it. And they had the most perfect cookie to compliment. Ryan Embree: It’s brilliant by the way, that smoothie, because it makes you a part of the process. It makes you feel a part of the experience. I’m sure a ton of people are sharing that on social media. They’re talking about it. I mean, how easy could it have been to just deliver a smoothie, but for you to kind of be a part of that experience, I think makes it a little bit more special. Very, very cool. I’ve never heard that either. Very cool. And then the last but not least, favorite piece of artwork at one of your properties? Genna Panagopoulos: Thats a tough one. Coming back to the fact that we have an NH hotel in Amsterdam called the Schiller, with tons of authentic Danish artwork. But I’ve also heard that the Tivoli Puerto Gaia has a lot of remarkable pieces. In fact, they have over 70 pieces of authentic art. One of my favorite artists is a Spanish artist…and his works are there. So I haven’t seen it in real life, but that’s on my bucket list. Ryan Embree: Well, I’ll tell you, this was probably the most internationally friendly rapid fire that we’ve had here. When asking these questions. You took us to Madrid, Amsterdam, Italy, all over the place. So, we’ll definitely, I can feel the hoteliers now doing some research on these hotels and planning their vacations. Let’s shift to the Independent Hotel show. It’s happening September 16th, 17th in Miami Beach. And remember Suite Spot listeners, don’t forget to use promo code Ryan26 for a complimentary registration. Genna, and I would love to see you there. Genna, you recently joined the show’s advisory board. Congratulations on that. What inspired you to get involved with this event and how do you see it supporting independent hoteliers? Genna Panagopoulos: First of all, thank you. And I’m really flattered to be on the advisory board. When we started our, when I was working through our development strategy as part of that, we were talking about the various conferences we wanted to attend. And we really think that we’re different from a lot of the big players that are already here, right? We’re trying to not be aligned with them, but a totally different offering. And so for us, it was really important that we find these independent hoteliers, boutique hoteliers that, again, are looking for somebody to help support them and maybe make their lives a little bit easier, but not be always watching over their shoulder. And so for us that this was perfect, I actually hadn’t come across it until they reached out to me. And it came about 48 hours after we had said, we need to find a show or a conference that has specifically this. And it just fell into our lap. And so we, it was, it was very serendipitous and we’re very excited. In fact, I hope we can continue to attend and I’ll be bringing my colleague from Mexico actually to help run the process with us while we’re there. So we’re excited. I also think that we could learn a lot of what independent hoteliers need and their challenges are and be able to help them out. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s a very, very unique event. I’ve had the privilege of being to the show since its inception a few years back. So much learning, there is something special when you put a group of independent hoteliers together in a room. The networking that goes down. It really is unlike any other event I’ve been to. So, again, hope you will join Genna and I in Miami Beach in September. We hope to see you there. As we wrap up today, we got a couple more minutes. What is your vision for the future of Minor Hotels in North America? Genna Panagopoulos: Listen, we don’t wanna be as big as everybody else that’s here, but we wanna have a really good foothold. I don’t think I mentioned this, but we have a little over 600 hotels worldwide, including in pipeline. And we’re really everywhere except for North America. And so it just feels like the right progression, of where we even have hotels in South America, in Mexico, right? So we’re really kind of closing in from all directions. And so we just wanna have good hotels here. Good representation on, fun fact, British and US travelers make up the majority of Anantara guests worldwide, even though we have no Anantara here in the U.S.. So, Norin England. So people want it, and I think once they’re here they will absolutely come. So we’re excited. We just want what we want. A good representation of hotels. Hopefully that’s somewhere around 20 to 30 hotels in the coming years. Ryan Embree: Well, you’re off to a super strong start. Congratulations again, Genna. It’s exciting to be here, kind of at the starting line of this Minor Hotel’s journey in North America. It will soon follow suit, like the rest of your brand is. So we’re excited to watch that unfold here in the upcoming years. Genna, thank you so much. We know you’re busy. You mentioned it before. We appreciate you taking your time, spending some time with us and talking about Minor Hotels and in the Independent Hotel Show. Again, we’re, we’re excited that we’ll both be attending there in Miami. And hope you will too. So Genna, thank you for your time. Genna Panagopoulos: Thanks for having me again. Ryan Embree: Alright and we’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. Thank you for listening. To Join our Loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Who's to blame for the Plessy v. Ferguson Ruling?This week, The Alarmist (Rebecca Delgado Smith) discusses the devastating decision in the US Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson case which solidified the infamous American era of Jim Crow laws and the doctrine of “Separate but equal.” Was this due to the failure of Reconstruction? Did the political climate of the late 19th century have too much sway over the US Supreme court at the time? Or perhaps it's simply we the people who are ultimately to blame. Fact Checker Faryn Einhorn and Producer Clayton Early join the conversation. Join our Patreon!Tell us who you think is to blame at http://thealarmistpodcast.comEmail us at thealarmistpodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram @thealarmistpodcastFollow us on TikTok @thealarmistpodcast Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/alarmist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.