Podcasts about smart pricing table

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training How do you measure your agency's success? Awards and accolade? Top-line revenue and big name clients? What if we told you a more focused and lean approach could be the best path. Today's featured guest realized the importance of finding a "sweet spot" in the agency world, so he moved to focusing on quality over quantity. He talks about the challenges of maintaining a small client roster and the benefits it brings. In his business model, his agency is providing consistent, high-quality work and building strong partnerships. Learn valuable insights on leadership, innovation, and the importance of a good relationship building. Nick Francis is the Chief Visionary Officer of The Franchise Group, a strategic marketing and creative agency that does a comprehensive range of services, including video production, web design, graphic design, and event production. He recounts his journey into the agency world, beginning with the support of a boss who became a mentor and surviving the housing market crash and the pandemic. Nick discusses how he built a culture that has created remarkable retention rates at his agency and why his network is his most important tool to keep a full client funnel. In this episode, we'll discuss: Adapting and innovating in uncertain times. Redefining success instead of chasing awards. Retaining talent longer than the industry average. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Smart Pricing Table: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Smart Pricing Table, an award-winning proposal software built just for marketing agencies and designed to handle your unique challenges and cut down the time you spend on proposal as much as 90%. Go to smartpricingtable.com/smartagency to see if this is the missing piece your agency needs. Schedule a demo and get 50% OFF for the first two months. Building an Agency with the Right Mentorship Nick began his career working in the film industry, later transitioning to the ad world, and eventually ending up at a company that blended both worlds working in video production and events. As part of a small team of five people, Nick worked on the creative development side from writing scripts to pitching ideas. His work attending events led him to form a network of people in that space who needed similar services. Soon he started bringing in new clients for the agency. Nick's boss noticed he' had mastered nearly every aspect of the business except financial management. He took the unusual step of sharing budgeting expertise with Nick and actively encouraging his independence. In 2006, Nick launched his own agency, bringing along a big client that sustained his business through its crucial first five months. It's a very unique case scenario to start your agency with your former boss's support and even taking a big client with you, but that relationship was pivotal in Nick's journey, with him continuing to be his mentor to this day. Adapting and Innovating in Uncertain Times Running an agency that focuses mostly on the events industry, Nick's business practically disappeared with the pandemic and the lockdowns. Suddenly, the agency lost a devastating 35% of its revenue that year. Instead of panicking, they quickly adapted to online events for a while. They moved to building a full broadcasting suite at their office to help clients get their message out in a time when they couldn't do so at live events. Initially, they faced resistance with clients still being more interested in traditional event experiences. However, as they persisted in promoting the benefits of virtual engagement, they found success in reaching a wider audience. It was a bold move that took some time to gain interest but it was the right call to keep the business going during those uncertain months. Redefining Success Instead of Chasing Awards The agency industry tends to be heavily focused on growth and competition, which affects how owners see their own milestones and overall success. The pressure to grow fast and beat their competition leads many owners to chase awards over personal fulfillment. But why should success be defined by outside metrics rather than personal satisfaction? For some, a lean, focused approach yields greater satisfaction more than a huge, impersonal operation. In Nick's case, after navigating the turbulent times of the housing market crash, he and his team adapted by becoming an extension of their clients' teams rather than merely functioning as external vendors. This shift allowed them to forge deeper connections with their clients, emphasizing collaboration and shared goals. After years of growth, he and his team started to consider the advantages of focusing on bigger clients who sign longer contracts and usually represent less hassle for them. On one hand they were thinking strategically about the future of the agency but on the other the agency just naturally moved in that direction based on what clients were looking for. Retaining Talent Longer Than the Industry Average Many owners believe if the business isn't growing employees will see stagnation and eventually leave. Instead, Nick advocates for balancing professional development with personal wellbeing as a different metric of success. His approach has yielded remarkable results, particularly with entry-level hires who typically remain with his agency for three to four years—far exceeding the industry standard. This success in retention stems from a deliberate focus on creating a fulfilling work environment. Nick has found that employee satisfaction most commonly correlates with feeling valued and finding meaning in their work. Career goals are important, of course, but as long as you continue to challenge your employees and innovate they'll stay inspired and motivated to do good work. You Never Know When You're Building a Relationship After nearly two decades in the industry, Nick has cultivated a powerful professional network that serves as his agency's primary source of high-value clients. In his view, a good network is everything and building and nurturing relationships should be not just a supplementary aspect of business but a fundamental aspect intertwined with growth, opportunity, and resilience. Nick advises agency owners to remember that genuine engagement with others leads to unexpected opportunities. By being fully present and attentive, it fosters deeper connections that later evolve into fruitful collaborations. You never know when you're building your next relationship, so approach networking not as a transactional but as an organic process of connection-building. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Have you defined the who in your agency's growth journey? What are you using to guiding the type of team that will grow your agency to it's full potential? In today's episode, our featured guest shares his experience of co-founding a digital agency two decades ago with a group of former colleagues. By bringing clients from their previous agency and leveraging a steady stream of referrals, they were able to launch and grow their business. However, he quickly discovered that attracting the right talent—especially individuals excited to join a small, fledgling agency—was far more challenging than expected. Learn the valuable lessons he's learned about hiring, the qualities he looks for in candidates to drive his agency's success, and why he emphasizes the importance of acting swiftly when a hire isn't the right fit. Justin Hall is the co-founder and managing partner of Voxus PR, a B2B tech PR, social media, and content agency based in South Seattle. He shares the story behind how he and his partners transitioned from a larger agency to launching their own, the uncommon support from their former employer during their transition, and what's he's learned since about hiring and scaling. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why asking “who” matters more than “how” in agency growth. Balancing experience vs. potential in agency hiring. Be quick to act if a new hire is not the right fit. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Smart Pricing Table: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Smart Pricing Table, an award-winning proposal software built just for marketing agencies and designed to handle your unique challenges and cut down the time you spend on proposal as much as 90%. Go to smartpricingtable.com/smartagency to see if this is the missing piece your agency needs. Schedule a demo and get 50% OFF for the first two months. An Intentional Agency Backed by the Old Boss Justin's path to agency ownership was more deliberate than the typical accidental agency owner. He worked at a big agency twenty years ago, where he joined a group of workers who set out on their own to build an agency. Motivated by the idea that they could figure out a better way to do things, this group ventured to start their own business. They had built a reputation for exceptional work, which earned them not just their former boss's blessing, but also the opportunity to bring several existing clients with them. In fact, Justin acknowledges that their old boss' support played an important role in their eventual success. It's an extremely rare case scenario and one that was a result of the great work that these workers had done for that agency. Why 'Who' Matters More Than 'How' in Agency Growth When it comes to choosing a niche, Jason believes it's a mistake to make this decision based on your personal preferences. “Do I love this particular niche?” Is not necessarily the best question to ask yourself when choosing a path for your agency. Instead, this would be a good moment to ask yourself: “Where?” and “Who?” These questions serve as guiding principles for agency leaders, enabling them to empower their teams to make informed decisions autonomously. When agency leaders focus on the destination rather than the minutiae of the journey, they create an environment that fosters initiative and proactive problem-solving among their employees. In this sense, instead of asking HOW can I get my agency to the next level? Ask yourself WHO could help me reach that goal? And WHO do you need to become to not hold the agency back? This mindset of surrounding yourself with the right people who can contribute to the agency's vision and help navigate the complexities of growth should also align with your recruitment strategy. As Justin has learned, leaders should be hiring for initiative and communication rather than merely filling positions based on specific skill sets. Balancing Experience vs Potential in Agency Hiring Once the business was set up and some clients were secured, Justin and his partners faced the challenge of scaling and adding new business responsibilities to the client work they usually handled. Fortunately for them, the referrals poured in during the first several months, so new business was not a concern. On the other hand, finding talent willing to join a small agency was not easy. Unlike larger corporations with specialized roles and departments small agencies require employees to wear multiple hats. As Justin explains, the ideal candidate must not only excel in project management and writing but also be adept at pitching media and communicating effectively. This recruitment challenge prompted a fundamental strategic question: should they prioritize experienced people who could immediately contribute, or invest in developing new, young talent with the right potential? Each approach has its merits. Initially, the partners sought seasoned professionals who could make an instant impact. Yet they quickly discovered that these experienced hires often required significant support and integration. Hence, they now expand their search to also find talented young individuals fresh out of college with the right attitude and potential that could be trained to become valuable team members. The agency has adapted to offer these individuals what they would need to thrive: invested mentors and the right processes to make them the best they can be. Making Hard Choices in Small Agency Leadership Thinking about past hiring mistakes, Justin goes back to the need to fail fast when you're running a smaller agency. This is true for clients and also for employees. In both cases, you'll need to say no sometimes and be quick to find out whether or not they're the right piece in your puzzle. The balance between nurturing talent and recognizing when to make tough decisions is a delicate one that agency leaders must navigate. You may recognize the signs that an employee is just not right for your team but fail to act quickly and hold on to them thinking you can turn things around. It's human nature to want to fix the problem. For Justin, it depends on whether or not the employee is 100% invested in trying learn and get better. At the end of the day, however, if they're not capable of fulfilling certain functions in a time-effective manner, then they're probably the wrong fit. This philosophy is compassionate yet pragmatic. It recognizes that sometimes, the most supportive action is to acknowledge when an employee's skills and the agency's needs are fundamentally misaligned. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Have you hit the limit of the growth you can single-handedly bring to your agency? What steps are you taking to ensure you continue to be your organization's MVP? For many agency owners, reaching hitting a glass ceiling on growth signals the need to bring on a skilled operator to help eliminate low-value tasks from their schedule. Today's featured guest specializes in operations hiring and has developed a systematic approach to identifying and delegating low value tasks that consume CEOs' time and energy. As an expert in operational efficiency, she trains operators to create effective processes that free founders to focus on strategic growth. She shares her secret to a great hiring funnel, what results to expect from an operator's first 90 days in your agency, and the #1 thing an operator does for their agency founder. Learn actionable insights on breaking through operational bottlenecks and building a strong operational foundation through strategic hiring and training. Jhana Li is a former COO and the founder of Spyglass Ops, an Operations Hiring Agency, working on behalf of digital businesses to find and hire operations positions. She discusses the challenges agency owners face when trying to scale their businesses and share insights on breaking through the common glass ceiling that many entrepreneurs encounter. Jhana emphasizes that growth stagnation often occurs when founders reach their personal limits in creativity and productivity. She provides valuable strategies for developing new skill sets and building a capable team to propel business growth beyond personal capabilities. In this episode, we'll discuss: The secret to a great hiring funnel that attracts A-players. The crucial first 90 days that determines an operator's success. The #1 thing an operator does for a CEO. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Smart Pricing Table: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Smart Pricing Table, an award-winning proposal software built just for marketing agencies and designed to handle your unique challenges and cut down the time you spend on proposal as much as 90%. Go to smartpricingtable.com/smartagency to see if this is the missing piece your agency needs. Schedule a demo and get 50% OFF for the first two months. Scaling Your Agency Beyond the Founder's Glass Ceiling As a former COO, Jhana has seen the glass ceiling many founders encounter at some point in their growth occurs once they've hit the limit of the growth they can personally create. It's no longer about showing up and single-handedly working out every problem or how innovative they can be. Breaking through that glass ceiling requires both personal transformation and strategic team building. The path forward demands founders step back from their hands-on approach and focus on developing a trusted leadership structure. This includes establishing middle management positions across all functional departments, ensuring each area has dedicated decision-makers and strategic thinkers. Central to this evolution is hiring an operations manager who can unify the team and create organizational cohesion, transforming disparate departments into a synchronized whole. Do You Have a Hiring Funnel That Consistently Attracts A-Players? For Jhana, hiring A-players is not about fishing in the right pond but rather using the right fishing rod. Great talent is available everywhere but does your agency have a hiring funnel that will consistently extract the right A-players for the right role? A strategically designed hiring funnel serves as both an attractor and a filter, automatically screening out 95% to 98% of applicants before they reach the interview stage. This efficiency comes from carefully crafted criteria that not only draw in ideal candidates but also discourage those who wouldn't be a good fit, saving valuable time and resources. This approach contrasts sharply with the common scarcity-driven hiring mindset, where employers cast wide nets and hesitate to filter out any candidates. According to Jhana, a well-structured hiring system achieves better results by focusing on quality over quantity, ultimately leading to conversations with only the most promising 3% of candidates who truly align with the role requirements. What's the Secret to a Great Hiring Funnel? Building mousetraps in your job post and hiring process is one thing – for instance, Jhana and her team add a codeword to the job description that they'll ask the candidate to repeat during the job application process. However, she only uses that type of strategy for roles that require a high level of attention to detail. Other than that, she has a secret weapon that has consistently given her the best results: performing a skill assessment before sending a candidate to interviews. Skill assessments can take up to two hours, which is exactly the point. It's a way to stress test the candidate to see if they already have the experience for the role. Jhana likes to include very specific questions to get candidates to think about how they would tackle a major challenge associated with that role, which experienced candidates will have no problem doing. Moreover, the effort a candidate puts into completing a skill assessment can be telling. A candidate who submits a thorough, well-structured response demonstrates a commitment to excellence and an understanding of the expectations of the role. In contrast, a lackluster submission may indicate a lack of motivation or a superficial understanding of the job requirements. Candidates who have genuine experience in a given area will articulate their thoughts with clarity and assurance, while those who are less familiar may struggle to provide coherent answers. By designing assessments that require candidates to draw on their past experiences, you can better identify those who are truly equipped to handle the challenges of the role. The First 90 Days: A Guide to Integrating New Operators Jhana has learned that an experienced operator will take their first 30 days with a company to observe, learn, and listen before they jump in and start fixing things. They understand that what they see at first glance might not be the root cause issue at play. Therefore, if they jump in and start tacking inefficiencies right away they might be missing the actual issue. From a founder's perspective, it may be frustrating, as they expect immediate results. However, it is essential for operators to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of the business to address the root causes of inefficiencies effectively. To prevent these frustrations, Jhana recommends scheduling a “success meeting” at the second-week mark. By that time, your operator will have had two weeks to observe the inner workings of your agency. During this meeting, the operator presents their findings and aligns with the founder on priorities moving forward. The result of this meeting should be a clear understanding of what the operator is expected to accomplish within their first 90 days so the founder knows this is in fact the right person for the job. How much time should you invest in training a COO? Jhana knows of cases where the founder is still training their ops manager six months later. To her, you should always keep in mind that any time spent on training is an investment on that person and they won't return on that investment until they are fully functional in their role. She prefers to do a 14-day boot camp before seeing ROI. During that time, she makes herself available every day for a minimum of 30 minutes so they can ask any questions or run something by her. The #1 Thing an Operator Should Do for the CEO The most important thing an ops manager should be doing for their CEO is help optimize their time to maximize their contributions to the organization and ensure that they focus on high-value tasks that drive growth. The CEO is supposed to be the agency's MVP and yet they constantly undervalue themselves when they spend time doing low-value tasks. This is why Jhana trains her operators to do a time audit on their CEO during their first 30 days in the organization. As a result, they can determine how much of the founder's time is going to low-value tasks and prepare a game plan to get them out of day-to-day operations. This misallocation of time detracts from the CEO's ability to innovate and lead and costs the organization in terms of lost opportunities and diminished productivity. Why not start now? Even if you're not at the point where you can hire an operator, do a time audit, locate the low-value tasks taking up too much of your time, and then delegate them to an assistant. That alone would make a huge difference in ensuring you're spending more time growing the business. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

The proposal process can be one of the biggest bottlenecks for agencies, leading to lost deals, scope creep, and unnecessary stress. Joe Ardeeser, founder of Smart Pricing Table, joins us to share how agencies can streamline proposals, close deals faster, and maximize profitability. Joe covers how agencies can eliminate inefficiencies, standardize their pricing, and leverage upsells to maximize every opportunity. This week, episode 248 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is all about optimizing your proposal process and closing deals faster!Watch our latest video training, How to Take Charge of Your Agency's Future Revenue. During this training, you'll learn how we get qualified appointments every week using tasteful and highly targeted email outreach.In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Joe Ardeeser shares insights on how agencies can improve their proposal workflows, reduce wasted time, and increase conversions by creating structured, client-friendly proposals that sell.Joe Ardeeser is a former agency owner with over 12 years of experience working with brands like Bluetooth, Scantron, and T-Mobile. Now, as the founder of Smart Pricing Table, he's helping agencies revolutionize their sales process with interactive proposal software designed for efficiency and profitability.In this episode, Dan and Joe discuss the following:The biggest mistakes agencies make with proposals—and how to fix themHow to create a sales catalog to speed up and standardize your pricingThe power of upsells and add-ons to increase deal size effortlesslyWhy proposal review meetings can significantly boost your close rateThank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate, and review the podcast. Let us know your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and our Video training at http://salesschema.com/takecharge CONNECT WITH JOE ARDEER:LinkedInSmart Pricing Table websiteFree GuideCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales SchemaStop relying on unpredictable referrals and take control of your agency's future growth. Go to salesschema.com/takecharge to access the free training now. Stop relying on unpredictable referrals and take control of your agency's future growth. Go to salesschema.com/takecharge to access the free training now. Stop relying on unpredictable referrals and take control of your agency's future growth. Go to salesschema.com/takecharge to access the free training now.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Is your agency in need of a rebrand? Many of us are accidental agency owners who threw together a brand without fully understanding our niche or service offering; starting with just a basic name and logo. As the agency evolves this may signal the need for a strategic brand refresh. Today's featured guest runs a rebranding agency and shares the scenarios that could justify a rebrand, the difference the right will name make for clients to differentiate you, and share some rebranding strategies to keep in mind. Jim Heininger is a seasoned agency owner based in Chicago who runs two agencies: Dixon James, a strategic communication and change management firm, and the rebranding specialists known as the Rebranding Experts. With over 25 years of experience in the public relations industry, Jim discusses the importance of building a strong agency presence, why your name matters, and when is the right time to think about a rebrand. In this episode, we'll discuss: 2 big reasons agencies rebrand Why names matter for brand differentiation. Things to consider before renaming your agency.  Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Smart Pricing Table: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Smart Pricing Table, an award-winning proposal software built just for marketing agencies and designed to handle your unique challenges and cut down the time you spend on proposal as much as 90%. Go to smartpricingtable.com/smartagency to see if this is the missing piece your agency needs. Schedule a demo and get 50% OFF for the first two months. What Does Brand Mean? Jim built his career in the agency environment, spending 25 years in public relations working for some major agencies like Bushman Hillard and Ketchum. Later on, he worked for McDonald's as a communications strategist tasked with helping them get through some brand issues they faced at the time. His time at McDonald's taught him a lot about the perspective on agencies and how to form great client relationships to get the best work out of your agency. This time proved transformative for his career, it was when he had the opportunity to start his own agency and also when he started learning more about branding. Jim defines a brand as the comprehensive collection of experiences and assets that define a company, extending far beyond visual elements like logos to encompass customer experience, brand promises, and their fulfillment. While a brand ultimately exists in customers' minds, and you'll never be able to control how customers perceive it, you can influence that perception. Influential figures like Steve Jobs understood the importance of brand narratives and greatly admired Nike, which has mastered the art of branding by creating a strong identity that transcends their products. Businesses should actively manage their brand perception rather than allowing external forces to dictate it. Hence, it is only logical they consider rebranding once the brand no longer represents their business. 2 Big Reason to Consider an Agency Rebrand According to Jim, agencies are the business category that most frequently undergo rebrands. It makes sense, given so many are accidental agencies. Many agency owners begin as skilled practitioners who establish a business in response to growing client demand, often resulting in a created brands that may not stand the test of time. There are two common reasons why founders consider a rebrand: Make it all about the business, instead of yourself. Many agencies initially build their brand around the founder's expertise. As the business grows, however, there's often a strategic need to highlight the broader team's capabilities, reducing client expectations for direct founder involvement in every project. Niching down. Another common scenario prompting a rebrand is when an agency decides to niche down its services. While owners might worry about alienating existing clients through rebranding, Jim notes that clients typically focus more on service quality and results than brand aesthetics. Rebranding is not merely a cosmetic change; it is a strategic decision that requires careful consideration. If your current brand fails to differentiate you from competitors or clearly communicate your value proposition and target audience, it could be time to rebrand. Success lies in approaching it as a strategic initiative, involving key stakeholders, and maintaining focus on innovation and market relevance. Ultimately, a well-executed rebrand not only revitalizes an agency's image but also reinforces its commitment to delivering exceptional value to clients in an ever-changing environment. Why Names Matter for Brand Differentiation If we look around, we're surrounded by big brands with names that didn't necessarily mean much before their success gave it meaning. For examlpe, did “google” even mean anything before 1998? It's natural to ask ourselves then if a name is really that important. For small businesses, yes, a name is very important because it's your opportunity to put something compelling out there, capture the audience's attention, and differentiate your business. Nowadays it's getting harder to name a corporation, as it seems the good names are all taken. This has led to a trend of using unconventional names, which, while potentially memorable, risk confusing potential clients. The balance between distinctiveness and clarity has become a critical consideration in the naming process. Jim's approach to rebranding starts with a name that is packed with meaning, is exciting to the client, and inspires them to put together a cohesive elevator pitch. A well-chosen name should serve as a foundation for effective storytelling, enabling businesses to communicate their value proposition clearly and memorably. Things to Consider Before Renaming Your Agency A name serves as the first point of contact between a brand and its audience and should encapsulate the essence of the agency's mission, values, and unique offerings. There's a lot of work to be done before landing on the perfect name, like understanding your differentiators, your promise to customers, and the legacy you want to leave. Understanding these elements correctly will help you come up with a clear brand promise and a word that represents that promise and brings it to light. Additionally, think about the type of word you want. Do you want a descriptive word? Do you want to coin a term? Or maybe borrow meanings from existing words that can be contextualized within the industry? Naming, therefore, becomes a strategic endeavor that requires a deep understanding of the agency's strengths and the value it offers to clients. Just remember the approval timeline associated with trademarking a name can take up to a year, which is why agencies should be confident in their chosen name and conduct a thorough review process, ensuring that it not only resonates with the brand's identity but is also legally viable. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Is artificial intelligence revolutionizing business operations or threatening the carefully crafted storytelling techniques developed over decades? As many businesses struggle with integrating AI while maintaining authentic connections, today's featured guest offers valuable insights from his perspective as both an agency leader and AI advocate as well as someone who can see some of the fatigue caused by the ever-growing demand for constant information that has been aided by AI and the availability to create content faster and efficiently. He shares the ways he is integrating AI technology into his own agency, and why he believes it won't work when it comes to replacing the human touch. Learn about his vision for AI use in business, the trends he sees changing in consumer preferences in social media, and how agencies can adapt to AI. Marc Beckman is the co-founder and CEO of DMA United, a New York City agency specializing in style and design, with a broad reach into fashion, art, music, sports, and entertainment. He shares the pros and cons of building great relationships with company CMOs, his agency's challenges improving at self-promotion, and how he sees AI has affecting the very human art of storytelling. In this episode, we'll discuss: Building a reputation that attracts big brands. The double-edged sword of CMO relationships. AI integration done right; the framework agencies need. Did AI kill storytelling?  Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Smart Pricing Table: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Smart Pricing Table, an award-winning proposal software built just for marketing agencies and designed to handle your unique challenges and cut down the time you spend on proposal as much as 90%. Go to smartpricingtable.com/smartagency to see if this is the missing piece your agency needs. Schedule a demo and get 50% OFF for the first two months. Building a Reputation That Attracts Big Brands Over thirty years ago, Marc, then the owner of a cosmetic company, met a branding specialist who had carved out his niche in the luxury sector. Their initial collaboration proved so successful that when Christian Dior acquired Marc's cosmetic company, the two of them saw an opportunity to create something bigger together and joined forces as DMA United. According to Marc, their agency's approach has never been about self-promotion or chasing after marquee clients for the sake of reputation. Instead, Marc and his partner built their reputation on letting the work speak for itself. By focusing on the work rather than the accolades, DMA United has built a reputation that attracts clients organically, including industry giants like Sony Music, Warner Brothers Entertainment, and Pepsi. Pros and Cons of Getting in Bed with a CMO Starting with their first big clients, Kerastase (a L'Oreal subsidiary), Marc's agency was able to move to working with other big names thanks in part to the relationships they built with CMOs. As CMOs move from one company to another, they often bring their trusted agency partners, creating a network of opportunities based on proven performance. Some of these CMOs have worked with his agency for their entire careers from big brand to big brand. This dynamic also presents challenges. When a CMO leaves, the new leadership may seek to reinvent their brand strategy, often leading to the loss of established partnerships. Marc acknowledges this double-edged sword but suggests agencies can mitigate this risk by diversifying their offerings. By expanding their skill set beyond traditional marketing and into emerging technologies like blockchain, Web3, and artificial intelligence, his agency has created a unique value proposition that makes it harder for people to let go of them. AI Integration Done Right: A Strategic Framework for Agency Innovation As a proponent and an author on AI integration in agency operations, Marc has developed a nuanced approach to incorporating artificial intelligence into his agency's work, focusing primarily on two areas: data analysis and content creation. In the fashion and lifestyle sectors where Marc's agency operates, traditional data analysis often poses significant challenges. Executive teams typically struggle with multiple data sets and time-consuming reporting processes, making swift market responses difficult. AI technology addresses this pain point by enabling real-time data analysis, allowing executives to make informed decisions instantly. CEOs and CMOs can now evaluate marketing campaign performance across platforms immediately and adjust budget allocations dynamically for optimal results. However, Marc's enthusiasm for AI comes with careful consideration of its limitations, particularly in creative work. While AI excels at generating quick visual content and creating operational efficiencies, his agency maintains a balanced approach. The technology's current state, still in its infancy, serves best as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for human creativity. The core of effective storytelling and branding, Marc argues, remains rooted in human insight and emotional intelligence. Overall, his vision isn't about surrendering creativity to algorithms but rather about leveraging AI's strengths while preserving the irreplaceable human element in creative work and that, rather than a threat, businesses should focus on harnessing its potential to enhance their operations and drive innovation. Therefore, the future of creativity lies not in the replacement of human input but in the collaboration between human ingenuity and AI capabilities. Did AI Kill Storytelling? While artificial intelligence excels at producing high-volume, short-form content for our attention-starved digital landscape, he questions whether this marks the end of meaningful storytelling or perhaps signals an impending shift in consumer preferences. The current media environment, saturated with brief clips and advertisements, has created a paradox: content is more abundant than ever, yet authentic engagement seems increasingly rare. Although AI helps meet the demand for constant content production, its output often lacks the emotional resonance and nuanced understanding that human creators naturally bring to their work. There are growing signs of content fatigue among audiences which suggests a potential revival of long-form storytelling that weaves narratives that consumers can relate to. Brands can certainly benefit from this return to long-form that allows them to become educators and storytellers, providing insights that empower consumers in their decision-making processes. AI can still be a center component in the creation of this longer content, of course, Marc just emphasizes it'll always need human overseeing to give it the relatability that will really engage people and keep them coming back. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Have you dedicated time to ensure the health of your email list? If you've built a 15,000-person email list for your business—that's a huge accomplishment! But what if that list isn't performing? If your open rates are as low, that number becomes meaningless. It's not about the quantity of subscribers, but the quality of your engagement. Moreover, if you're not consistently delivering valuable content that keeps you top-of-mind as a problem-solver, then you're not maximizing the potential of your list. Today's featured guest shares his insights on effective email marketing strategies, including optimal content delivery frequency, list maintenance best practices, and how his agency has evolved over the past decade. Drawing from his experience, he advocates for email marketing as a reliable channel that doesn't depend on unpredictable social media algorithms. He believes many companies are overlooking a gold mine by fixating on new client acquisition while neglecting their existing client base. Reade Milner is the co-owner of Rogue Pine, a digital marketing agency focused on the middle of the funnel and email marketing. Reade shares his journey into the world of digital marketing and discusses why many agencies are actually sitting on a gold mine when they're searching for new clients. Reade also shares how often you should be sending value content to your lists, and more. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why most agencies are sitting on a gold mine. How to build a newsletter people will actually want to read. Why 40% is the new 20% in open rates. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Smart Pricing Table: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Smart Pricing Table, an award-winning proposal software built just for marketing agencies and designed to handle your unique challenges and cut down the time you spend on proposal as much as 90%. Go to smartpricingtable.com/smartagency to see if this is the missing piece your agency needs. Schedule a demo and get 50% OFF for the first two months. How Real-World Experience Shaped a Marketing Career Reade's digital marketing journey began as a high school student, when he worked at a family business and was tasked with figuring out how to build a digital strategy to attract customers online. Looking back, he doesn't know how serious they were in trusting such a young person with an important component of their business. However, Reade took it very seriously since it seemed like a smart thing to learn. The abilities he gained from that experience and then starting and crashing his own business in college helped him continue down the path of marketing and content, working at an agency right after college. According to Reade, going through college taught him nothing about digital marketing or the skills he would continue to develop to succeed in that industry. Instead, it was the Hubspot certifications he completed during his time at that agency what helped him learn the marketing terminology he needed. At that time, he also started to take side projects, which led to eventually starting his own agency. Why Most Marketing Agencies Are Sitting on a Gold Mine Many businesses focus heavily on client acquisition while overlooking the valuable opportunity of growing their relationships with existing clients. These established relationships represent untapped potential for growth, as current clients already understand and trust your services, making them more likely to engage with additional offerings. To remain relevant in these clients' minds, Reade emphasizes the importance of consolidating client contacts from various sources—CRMs, spreadsheets, and databases—into a comprehensive email list and establishing consistent, meaningful communication through targeted content creation. What is stopping most people from grabbing this low-hanging fruit? Many fear that emailing clients too often leads to them unsubscribing from their list. However, the risk of being irrelevant to them is far worse and gets you nowhere. Remember, if you don't ask, the answer will always be no. Regular engagement will ensure customers are aware of your continued growth and ability to address their evolving business challenges. Moreover, satisfied clients often become brand advocates, providing referrals and testimonials that can be invaluable for attracting new business. 3 Key Sections to Build Newsletters People Actually Want to Read When it comes to client communications, Reade believes there's no such thing as too long, just too boring. If the information you offer is useful to people, they won't mind skimming through it to get to the most important aspects. If it's useless, however, they'll ignore it even if it's just a paragraph. If you're just getting started with a newsletter or are trying to establish consistency in your content, Reade recommends having three sections: Original section, where you're leading with value by offering an original piece of content. Curated section with recommendations of social media posts, articles, or videos you recommend. Highlight section, where you can highlight case studies or products or services you offer. It's enough to keep people informed about your services and milestones while not being too overwhelming. Reade also dives into the effectiveness of subject lines and why it lies not in its consistency but in its ability to pique curiosity and draw the reader in. While establishing a recognizable brand can be valuable, he believes in the need for experimentation to generate curiosity. So instead of leading with your company name (ie: The XYZ Newsletter #45) try to create curiosity by leading with a particular piece of information that may be very useful for your audience. Furthermore, testing various subject lines—from intriguing questions to bold statements—can yield insights into what resonates most with the audience. The goal is to spark interest and drive opens, which ultimately leads to deeper engagement with the content itself. Why 40% is the New Standard for Email Open Rates For Reade, 40% is the new 20% in terms of the goal for open rates. Aiming for a 40% open rate might be more appropriate nowadays considering the changes in email platforms and clients that often auto-open emails for security purposes, which can artificially inflate open rates. This is why he recommends recalibrating expectations and focusing on achieving higher engagement metrics that reflect the true interest of your audience. In addition to content quality, list management plays a crucial role in optimizing your email engagement. For Reade, it's worth it to prune your email list to remove subscribers who are no longer interested in your content and thus refine your audience. This improves engagement rates and ensures you communications are reaching individuals genuinely interested in you offerings. It's essential for maintaining a healthy email list that drives meaningful interactions. Interestingly, Reade places less emphasis on clickthrough rates compared to open rates. He recommends embedding complete content within emails rather than relying on external links. While low clickthrough rates aren't necessarily concerning when paired with healthy open rates, they can signal an opportunity to optimize content strategy. This might involve refining newsletter language and call-to-action elements to better guide readers toward desired interactions, especially when specific clickthrough targets exist. The Power of Direct: Why You Shouldn't Overlook the Impact of Email While email marketing might not be considered the most glamorous marketing channel—some even see it as outdated—the data tells a different story. People are forty times more likely to make a purchase after receiving an email from a company than after seeing a social media post. This highlights the power of direct communication. Email marketing allows businesses to connect with their audience personally, fostering engagement and driving sales in a way that social media often can't. Unlike the ever-shifting algorithms of social media platforms, email provides a stable, owned channel for nurturing leads and ensuring consistent outreach to an audience that has already expressed interest in the brand. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you leveraging the power of podcasting to grow your agency? Whether through guest appearances on industry shows or hosting your own podcast, this medium offers unique opportunities to showcase expertise and connect with potential clients. However, while appearing on established podcasts can help spread your message, creating your own show ultimately provides greater control over brand messaging and client conversion. For marketing agencies, podcasting has become an essential marketing tool that can drive significant conversions. Today's featured guest, a podcast expert, specializes in helping clients navigate the complex balance between audience value and revenue generation. She tackles crucial questions many business owners face in their podcasting journey: optimal timing for monetization, strategies for brand partnerships, and most importantly, maintaining focus on audience benefit. Her insights reveal how to build a podcast that not only generates revenue but also provides lasting value to listeners. Traci DeForge is the founder and CEO of Produce Your Podcast, an award-winning podcast and marketing agency that is well-known for helping clients leverage their podcasts for revenue growth. She discusses the significant role podcasts play in driving revenue for business owners and consultants and shares her insights on best practices for pitching to get on podcasts, tips for being an effective podcast guest, and why the best call to action is leading people back to your own podcast. In this episode, we'll discuss: The easiest way to be a great podcast guest. The importance of storytelling to capture your podcast audience. AI-generated podcast content and it's limitations. How to re-energize a stale podcast. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources Smart Pricing Table: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Smart Pricing Table, an award-winning proposal software built just for marketing agencies and designed to handle your unique challenges and cut down the time you spend on proposal as much as 90%. Go to smartpricingtable.com/smartagency to see if this is the missing piece your agency needs. Schedule a demo and get 50% OFF for the first two months. Don't Be That Guest: Listen First, Pitch Later As a professional who helps clients maximize their podcast opportunities, Traci emphasizes that while podcasts can be powerful platforms for business owners to share expertise and promote their ventures, success requires a strategic approach. The most critical step before pitching yourself as a guest, she insists, is to actually listen to the show you're targeting. Nothing frustrates podcast hosts more than receiving pitches from people who clearly haven't invested time in understanding their show or audience. A potential guest can immediately stand out simply by demonstrating familiarity with the podcast's format, tone, listener base in their outreach, and more importantly, what value they can bring to that audience. Each show has its unique style and requirements, making a one-size-fits-all approach ineffective. The rise of AI-generated mass outreach has only heightened the importance of personalization. Many people send automated messages with text easily identified as something drafted by AI to be sent to maybe hundreds of people. A personalized approach reflects genuine interest and sets you apart from the countless generic pitches that inundate podcast hosts daily while also establishing rapport. This initial investment of time and effort significantly increases your chances of securing a guest spot and creating valuable content for the show's audience. Tips to Prepare to Be a Great Podcast Guest Once you get in and are set to be a podcast guest, there are ways you can ensure you'll be a great guest who provides great value to the show while making sure you also drive business. First, you want to be prepared for how a host usually runs their show. Ideally, Traci recommends you listen to a few episodes so you'll be familiar with the most important questions they ask and be prepared to answer in a thoughtful way. At the same time, you want to make sure you can come across to the audience as someone who is sharing relevant information about yourself and your business without it becoming an entire infomercial about your business. In this regard, Traci also mentions the importance of having a good call to action. Don't list fifteen different ways people can get in touch with you, but rather one specific request that enables you to continue the conversation with your audience after they've consumed the podcast. Ideally, send people to listen to your own podcast, since there's no better way to grow a show than appearing as a guest on other shows and being exposed to an audience who's already consuming podcast content similar to what you share. Using Storytelling to Captivate Your Podcast Audience As a podcast guest, another good way to get the audience interested in what you do is to sprinkle some relevant stories throughout the conversation in a way that's not staged or phony. People like to hear stories, and if they're success stories this steps up a way for you to connect with someone's pain points or aspirations. This is something that will also greatly help you as a podcast host. At its core, podcasting is about storytelling. Listeners are drawn to narratives that evoke emotions, inspire, and offer relatable experiences. The ability to weave personal stories into discussions creates a sense of intimacy and relatability. Even if you don't consider yourself a natural storyteller, the key is to identify a few authentic stories that you feel comfortable sharing. This approach fosters a genuine connection with listeners who may be grappling with similar pain points or aspirations. When a host shares a success story, it not only provides hope but also establishes credibility, allowing listeners to envision themselves achieving similar outcomes. Why AI-Generated Content Can't Replace Authentic Podcasting Nowadays with AI it's possible for someone to just save a couple of interesting articles about a certain topic, have an AI read it while replicating their voice and tone, and then post it as a podcast episodes after adding their intro and outro music. That's how far the technology has come. However, Traci warns that although these tactics to get episodes out quickly with the least amount of effort can get you into the top of the funnel it'll never replace the trust you build by having an authentic conversation with a guest. Listeners crave authenticity, and the fear remains that reliance on AI-generated content could lead to a robotic and impersonal experience. The podcasting community thrives on the unique perspectives and experiences that individuals bring, and it is this authenticity that sets successful podcasts apart. The ability to engage in sincere conversations about your expertise and passion creates an environment where listeners can truly understand what it would be like to work with you. Unlike written blog posts or advertisements, a podcast allows for a more nuanced and dynamic exchange of ideas. The natural energy of a host's voice, along with their unique inflections and pauses, conveys emotions that text alone cannot replicate. This authenticity becomes a powerful vehicle for connection, enabling listeners to feel as if they are part of a shared journey. How to Reenergize Your Podcast As more creators enter the space, the challenge of standing out and reaching new audiences has intensified. The podcasting world is no longer just about producing quality content; it's equally about ensuring that content is accessible and easily found by potential listeners. This is why if you feel your show is in need of a boost Traci recommends digging into the discoverability, which refers to how easily listeners can find your podcast. As a creator, you must consider how your content appears in search results and how it can be promoted across various platforms. The key elements which affects your podcast's appearance to new listeners goes from simple elements like its name and accompanying description, to how you're utilizing podcast platforms. One of the first steps in enhancing discoverability is conducting a thorough podcast audit. A well-rounded audit should spend a significant amount of time analyzing the state of the podcast, including its format, production value, and how potential listeners are searching for content similar to what the podcast offers. This perspective shift can illuminate gaps in the podcast's visibility and provide a roadmap for improvement. Once you've optimized your content, you could turn to surveying your audience to ensure the content you're putting out is the content they're interested in listening to. You can also look at the way you're putting out that content, paying attention to aspects like whether you should prioritize short-form content over long-form content and what are you doing on each side to convert listeners to the other. Can Small Creators Monetize Their Show? The short answer is, yes. The question of when to monetize a podcast often creates anxiety among creators, particularly those with smaller audiences. However, Traci challenges the common assumption that successful monetization requires massive download numbers. Instead, she emphasizes the importance of strategic planning from the outset – understanding your content direction and identifying potential brand partnerships that align with your message. The power of podcasting as a marketing tool is backed by compelling data: 73% of podcast listeners take action based on their favorite hosts' recommendations. This remarkable statistic highlights both the significant influence podcasters wield and their responsibility to their audience. Understanding this impact should guide creators to prioritize meaningful, high-quality content while strategically integrating promotional elements in ways that feel natural and valuable to listeners. Traci's experience has shown that successful monetization is possible even for podcasts with seemingly limiting factors, such as niche subjects or geographic restrictions. She's witnessed effective pre-launch monetization strategies and profitable small podcasts, proving that audience size isn't the only path to success. The key lies in developing a comprehensive strategy that addresses both audience growth and monetization opportunities. In her view, the only real limitations are those imposed by outdated thinking about what makes a podcast commercially viable. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Do you struggle to write proposals? Do you know the 2 keys to winning more clients in the proposal stage? Mastering the art of creating fast, high-quality proposals remains crucial for agency growth. The best way to guarantee your proposal has a chance to stand out from competitors is to ensure speed and accuracy. That is why our featured guest is sharing how he went from owning an agency to creating the tool for overcoming proposal anxiety. He spent years thinking about ways to turn what was often the worst part of the job for him into an easier and more enjoyable process and eventually launched a software that does just that. Learn more about Joe's entrepreneurial journey and insights into the agency world. Joe Ardeeser is a former agency owner and entrepreneur who ran a web design shop and high-end WordPress shop for twelve years. He shares his journey from agency owner to launching his latest venture, Smart Pricing Table. Joe discusses his early experiences in the agency business, highlighting his desire for independence and the challenges he faced, including developing RSI and chronic back pain, which led him to hire his first employees out of necessity. He reflects on the things that took away from his agency's growth and the way to keep improving your proposals until you're yielding the expected results. In this episode, we'll discuss: 2 keys to drafting a successful proposal. Learning from past mistakes to continuously improve your proposals. The solution to overcome proposal anxiety. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio When Setbacks Become Stepping Stones in Agency Growth Joe's story begins with a common entrepreneurial struggle: the desire for independence. Truth be told, he didn't like having a boss. After working in a corporate environment that stifled his creativity and autonomy, Joe ventured into freelancing. However, an unexpected challenge arose when he developed an injury that hindered his ability to perform tasks like typing. This setback, rather than derailing his ambition, became the catalyst for hiring. Enlisting help helped Joe realize that delegating tasks could free him to focus on higher-level strategic thinking. The first time he realized the critical role played by that initial hire was during a simple errand. Upon his return, he realized his employee kept everything running smoothly in his absence. He was hooked. The experience highlighted the power of collaboration and the importance of building a team that could share the workload. As his agency grew, each strategic hire—from developers and designers to a pivotal sales manager—freed Joe to focus on broader business strategy. The decision to hire a salesperson, though questioned by some who thought the agency was too small, proved particularly transformative. By delegating the pressure of closing deals, Joe could finally step away from the day-to-day stress of revenue generation. Little by little his hires and careful delegation led to the big day when a client was onboarded without his input at any level and not even knowing the client prior to that moment. It was the moment he knew he had transitioned from an owner to a CEO. 2 Keys of a Successful Proposal: Speed and Precision As for so many agencies, Joe recognizes lead generation as a significant pain point for him. Luckily, the agency got tons of leads from Clutch back in the beginning. Still, they did a lot of one-time work and hadn't cracked the code on landing retainers. #1 - Speed Back then, Joe hated writing proposals, because of the urgency that came with it. In his experience, every day that went by meant the odds of getting picked went slimmed. In his experience, clients often go with the first-engaged vendor. By reaching out immediately, an agency demonstrates its commitment and also capitalizes on the momentum of the prospect's interest. #2 - Accuracy Secondly, the proposal, scope, and expectations must be accurate. If not, the project could blow up post-sale and become a nightmare. These two proposal conditions, it having to be ready quickly but also be high-quality, are two elements that come together to create what Joe calls “proposal anxiety” which is one of the bigger stressors in agency life. Your proposal should be detailed to avoid painful mistakes like greatly underestimating the time and resources you'll be investing on that project. According to Joe, it should be detailed enough to provide “handles to grab onto” without being obnoxious. Vagueness will lead to situations where all your resources keep getting sucked into that project without the proper limits to stop at a certain point. Why You Should Record All Issues with Previous Proposals to Yield Better Results Ideally, agency owners should keep a repository of all the learnings from previous projects. Record all the issues you've ran into that could've been avoided by clearing it up in the proposal. In this sense, Joe recommends having reusable items that can be improved over time as you test through agency work. Many things might change in these documents as you get better and better but Joe makes two main recommendations for making successful proposal drafts: Make it visually appealing. Even if you are making very detailed proposals, don't underestimate the importance of the layout. If it basically looks like a wall of text the prospect will be overwhelmed and be less likely to read it, and that will inevitably lead to expectation issues. Lay out your proposal so it is digestible by creating bullet points as visual clear representation of the work included, limitations, and upsales available. Define the “Spirit of the work”. Joe particularly recommends taking to the time to define this as something you can always come back to if you feel the scope of the project is getting out of hand. As you continue to test and improve upon this document it will become a proposal that'll help you yield the expected results. The Solution to Proposal Anxiety Joe became obsessed with the idea of creating a more structured and efficient approach to proposals to streamline and agency's proposal processes. His goal was turning what is often the worst part of the job into something actually enjoyable. With this mission in mind, three years ago he took his vision to the market in the form of Smart Pricing Table, a proposal software built for marketing agencies. As someone who ran an agency for many years, Joe knows his software offers the type of features agencies want and can provide the structure to provide quick and accurate proposals. By focusing on the needs of agencies and incorporating feedback from users, the software has evolved to meet the changing demands of the industry. This adaptability is vital, as it allows agencies to continuously refine their proposal processes and stay ahead of the competition. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

In this episode of The Happy Clients Podcast, Taylor welcomes Joe, the mastermind behind Smart Pricing Table, a revolutionary online interactive proposal software. Joe's enthusiasm for optimizing processes shines as he dives into the origins and benefits of his innovative tool. ⚙️ Joe's journey began with a frustration familiar to many in the business world: the cumbersome process of creating detailed Statements of Work (SOWs). Smart Pricing Table emerged from his desire to break down complex tasks into manageable components. The result? A tool designed to make crafting proposals not just efficient, but enjoyable. And on top of all that, it's designed specifically for marketing and professional services agencies

Is creating proposals the most time-consuming task in your agency? Do you feel like you need to change things up to make the process smoother and less time-consuming? In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I'm joined by Joe Ardeeser to discuss all things agency proposals and how to improve your proposal processes. Joe is the Founder/CEO of Smart Pricing Table, an interactive B2B proposal software that allows you to create, distribute, and e-sign proposals with ease. Listen in to learn more about the power of giving customers options and having a proposal review meeting for an opportunity to sell the proposal. Key Questions: [01:25] What are the biggest challenges agencies face when writing proposals, historically and in the current economy? [02:48] What mistakes do you see agencies making when it comes to proposals? [09:42] What's your advice to an agency owner looking to shorten their proposal process? [12:48] What would you suggest to an agency that feels they do everything differently every time to find the patterns and start their proposal process? [20:35] What are your thoughts on the good, better, best model, and have you seen it done or tried it? What You'll Discover: [01:44] Why time is the biggest challenge for agencies when creating proposals. [03:00] Mistakes to avoid overcomplicating your proposals, plus the importance of having a process for building proposals. [05:57] How to avoid being too vague or too detailed in your proposal and instead keep it minimal for the client to decide. [10:05] How to identify your patterns to improve your proposal processes without starting from scratch every time. [13:41] How to look out for potential blind spots preventing you from identifying patterns to improve your proposal processes. [15:56] How giving customers options can unlock agency and fill the future with surprises. [20:47] How to make a simple good, better, best model hybrid with upsells/additional items for consideration. [23:11] The importance of having a proposal review meeting for an opportunity to sell the proposal. Connect with Joe: WebsiteLinkedIn

December 2023 marks seven years of Small Spark Theory. Mindblowing then that's it's taken this long for a dedicated episode on the topic of proposals – such a crucial element of the new business process but a perennial pain point all the same.  Joe Ardeeser was so determined to find a better solution for turning […] The post EP83: Winning proposals | Joe Ardeeser | Smart Pricing Table appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

Agencies vary greatly, so finding helpful advice can feel daunting. With so many different agencies and approaches to running them, where do you turn to find reliable advice that has been tested thoroughly? Someone like Jason Swenk, who has worked with over 10,000 agencies in the last decade, fits that perfectly. This week, episode 204 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about lessons learned from working with 10,000 agencies!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Jason Swenk shares the importance of having a plan in place before selling an agency and actionable steps you can take right now to get clear on your business goals. Jason Swenk is the agency advisor & coach who guides marketing agencies through a proven framework for growing their agency faster. Jason has literally written the book for growing an agency from nothing to two 8 figure agencies. He is one of the most sought out advisors to agencies in the World, by showing them an 8 system framework that worked for growing his agency, working with brands like AT&T, Hitachi, Lotus Cars, and eventually led to selling his agency. In this episode, Dan and Jason discuss the following:The importance of trust with clients and employees.AI isn't replacing agencies, it's helping them be more effective.Jason's ‘offer ladder' approach which de-risks the commitment of working with your agency.Agencies should focus on solving clients' biggest challenges the fastest.Don't forget to visit Jason's website to learn more about his upcoming book!Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH JASON SWENK:WebsiteX (formerly Twitter)LinkedInCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

Today we're going to talk about proposals - love them or hate them, they are a requirement for so many companies, consultancies, and consultants to get new customers and new projects. Today we're going to talk about some ways to do proposals better and smarter. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Joe Ardeeser, Founder & CEO at Smart Pricing Table. RESOURCES PartnerHero: to waive set up fees, go to https://partnerhero.com/agile and mention “The Agile Brand” during onboarding! Smart Pricing Table website: https://www.smartpricingtable Free download: The Profitable Proposal Blueprint: https://www.smartpricingtable.com/free-guide The Agile Brand podcast website: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com/theagilebrandpodcast Sign up for The Agile Brand newsletter here: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-brand/ For consulting on marketing technology, customer experience, and more visit GK5A: https://www.gk5a.com Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Today we're going to talk about proposals - love them or hate them, they are a requirement for so many companies, consultancies, and consultants to get new customers and new projects. Today we're going to talk about some ways to do proposals better and smarter. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Joe Ardeeser, Founder & CEO at Smart Pricing Table. RESOURCES PartnerHero: to waive set up fees, go to https://partnerhero.com/agile and mention “The Agile Brand” during onboarding! Smart Pricing Table website: https://www.smartpricingtable Free download: The Profitable Proposal Blueprint: https://www.smartpricingtable.com/free-guide The Agile Brand podcast website: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com/theagilebrandpodcast Sign up for The Agile Brand newsletter here: https://www.gregkihlstrom.com Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-brand/ For consulting on marketing technology, customer experience, and more visit GK5A: https://www.gk5a.com Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Introduction:Welcome to Eggs! the Podcast, featuring the best and brightest minds in business leadership, entrepreneurship, and technology.Today's episode features Joe, an entrepreneur who dramatically switched from a corporate career to launching his own agency and a SaaS business.Timestamps:[00:00] - Intro and welcome[02:10] - Meet Joe: The start of an unexpected entrepreneurial journey[05:40] - The health scare that changed everything[09:25] - Building an agency from the ground up: Challenges and triumphs[15:45] - The art of perfecting proposals: Joe's secret weapon[22:30] - Transitioning from agency life to the world of SaaS[30:10] - The birth of Smart Pricing Table: Revolutionizing sales proposals[37:20] - The ups and downs of SaaS vs. agency business models[45:00] - Joe's top tips for aspiring entrepreneurs[52:40] - Wrapping up: Where to find Joe and his workKey Highlights:Joe's unique story of entering the entrepreneurial world following a health scare.Inside scoop on the challenges of starting and running an agency.Insights into the transition from a service-based business to a product-based SaaS model.The importance of sales proposals in business success and how Smart Pricing Table is changing the game.Joe's advice for anyone looking to start their own business is based on his rich experience.Connect with Joe:Website: smartpricingtable.comEmail: joe@smartpricingtable.comClosing Remarks:Thanks for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review.Follow us on the socials for updates and exclusive content.Join us in the next episode of Eggs! The Podcast for more inspiring entrepreneurial stories. ----Credits:Hosted by Michael Smith and Ryan RoghaarProduced by Ryan RoghaarTheme music: "Perfect Day" by OPM The Carton:https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggsFeature with Zack Chmeis of Straight Method up now! https://medium.com/the-carton-by-eggs/zack-chmeis-35dae817ac28 The Eggs Podcast Spotify playlist:bit.ly/eggstunes The Plugs:The Showeggscast.com@eggshow on twitter and instagramOn iTunes: itun.es/i6dX3pCOn Stitcher: bit.ly/eggs_on_stitcherAlso available on Google Play Music! Mike "DJ Ontic" shows and infodjontic.com@djontic on twitter Ryan Roghaarhttp://rogha.ar

The agency world has two predominant models: the traditional agency and the new school agency that emphasizes productized services. No matter which model you work in, scaling an agency is never easy. But there are ways to make it easier, like monetizing your expertise and prioritizing having good quality clients in fewer numbers rather than a large amount of small-ticket clients. Greg Hickman has worked in both the traditional and new-school models and has a lot to teach us about scaling agencies. This week, episode 203 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about going from labor to leverage!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander and Greg Hickman share the importance of bringing in quality clients and actionable steps you can take right now to grow your business without running out of energy. Greg is the Founder and CEO of AltAgency™. Over the last 4 years, Greg and his team have transformed AltAgency™ from an automation consultancy serving many well-known entrepreneurs and growth experts into one of the top coaching and training companies for agencies looking to grow and scale by packaging their expertise, installing systems for growth and leveraging automation to save time. They have worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs ranging from Jay Baer, John Lee Dumas, Dan Martell, Betty Rocker, Nerd Fitness, and Chris Ducker among many other up and coming business leaders.  In this episode, Dan and Greg discuss the following:Greg's career pivot from a traditional agency model to an alternative model.Monetizing your expertise to make more money while actively working less.Prioritizing quality clients over a large number of clients for work-life balance.A hybrid agency model of DIY and done-for-you services.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH GREG HICKMAN:LinkedInYouTubeAltAgencyCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint today.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Friday, November 3rd, 2023. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table cuts down on back and forth, incorporates powerful upsells, and allows you to create proposals at lightning speed. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Download their free guide: "The Profitable Proposal Blueprint" at smartpricingtable.com. https://www.breitbart.com/border/2023/11/02/source-187k-migrants-apprehended-at-border-in-first-month-of-new-year-30k-more-gotaways/ 187K Migrants Apprehended at Border in First Month of New Year — 30K More Gotaways Border Patrol agents assigned to the southwest border with Mexico apprehended more than 187,000 migrants during October — the first month of the new fiscal year. A source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated another 30,000 migrants were reported as “known gotaways.” Agents assigned to the nine southwest Border Patrol sectors apprehended more than 187,000 migrants during October, according to documents reviewed by Breitbart Texas. This is the fourth consecutive month that agents apprehended more than 130,000 migrants. In addition to the more than 187,000 apprehensions, agents reported more than 30,000 migrants as known gotaways. This is a conservative estimate of migrants observed crossing the border but not apprehended by agents. The unofficial report revealed the Tucson Sector had the most apprehensions. More than 55,000 migrants were apprehended in this sector alone. This is up from 51,000 in September. One year ago, agents in this sector apprehended less than 23,000 migrants. This represents a year-over-year increase of 149 percent over the prior October. The Del Rio Sector followed Tucson with the apprehension of approximately 38,000 migrants. This is down slightly from the nearly 43,000 migrants apprehended in October 2022 and is up significantly from the 28,000 apprehended in October 2021. The Rio Grande Valley, San Diego, and El Paso Sectors rounded out the top five sectors with approximately 32,000, 29,000, and 22,000, respectively. The Rio Grande Valley and San Diego Sectors are up significantly from the prior October reports. Along the Canadian border, the Swanton Sector continues its spike in migrant apprehensions. Agents in the sector that covers the Canadian border in eastern New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire apprehended more than 1,000 migrants in the first month of FY24. This is up by nearly 200 percent over October 2022 and is roughly equal to the apprehensions for the entire Fiscal Year 2022. https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/01/dc-hands-vehicle-tracking-residents-keep-cars-stolen/ Blue City Hands Out Vehicle ‘Tracking Tags’ To Residents Because People Keep Getting Their Cars Stolen Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Wednesday that she has started a pilot program that will give some drivers a tracking device to attach to their cars so they will be able to find their vehicle if it gets stolen. The tags, which will be given to residents in six of the city’s most vehicle theft-prone areas, will be installed inside the car and will be trackable via an app on the owner’s phone, the mayor’s office said in a press release. The devices appear to be Apple AirTags, according to a photo posted by Bowser on social media. Auto thefts in D.C. have increased 101% since last year, with 5,916 cars being stolen since January, police data showed. Violent crime in the city has increased 41%, while total crime has grown by 27% since last year. Local officials claimed that the apps would help citizens recover their stolen cars more quickly and would allow officers to solve crimes more quickly or efficiently. “Our goal is not just to prevent carjackings and motor vehicle thefts, but also to ensure swift law enforcement action when these incidents occur,” acting Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith said in the press release. “These tracking devices allow our officers and detectives to be better positioned to quickly locate stolen vehicles, recover property, and gather vital evidence for investigations.” Bowser has attempted to walk back the city’s lenient approach toward crime in the past few months, unveiling a crime bill that eliminates several police reforms D.C. enacted after the George Floyd riots in 2020. D.C. first responders have said that they feel less safe because of the rising crime in the area, while many locals throughout the city complained at a House Judiciary meeting about the open crime that often takes place in broad daylight. “Last week, we introduced legislation to address recent crime trends; this week, we are equipping residents with technology that will allow the Metropolitan Police Department to address these crimes, recover vehicles, and hold people accountable,” Bowser said in the press release. “[W]e will continue to use all the tools we have, and add new tools, to keep our city safe.” https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/11/01/exclusive-republicans-grill-hhs-unconstitutional-trans-pronoun-mandate-employees/ Republicans Grill HHS Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Trans Pronoun Mandate for Employees Republican lawmakers are demanding answers from President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about its new guidelines ordering agency employees to refer to transgender coworkers by their “preferred pronouns.” Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) is leading several other GOP lawmakers in sending a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, grilling him for answers about the “unconstitutional” guidance and how it applies to religious employees. Breitbart News exclusively obtained a copy of the letter on Wednesday before it was sent. “We recently learned that the Biden Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is compelling political speech and violating the religious liberty rights of HHS employees by imposing a transgender pronoun mandate on your employees,” the letter reads. “We write to express our strong opposition to your illegal and unconstitutional transgender pronoun mandate, the so-called ‘HHS Gender Non-Discrimination and Inclusion Policy,’ which is a violation of the First Amendment rights of HHS employees.” “Your pronoun mandate clearly infringes upon the religious liberty and free speech rights of employees, who cannot be coerced into engaging in political speech or speech that violates their deeply held religious beliefs,” the letter continues. Lawmakers wrote the letter based on an alleged HHS internal email obtained by Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy for the Heritage Foundation and former director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights during the Trump administration. The HHS, which employs approximately 80,000 people in the United States and abroad, imposed its new “Gender Identity and Non-Discrimination Guidance” in early October; it outlines “employee rights and protections related to gender identity,” the alleged email reads. “All employees should be addressed [by] the names and pronouns they use to describe themselves,” the email continues. The HHS also posted a video to YouTube — designated as “unlisted” — in which HHS Secretary Andrea Palm says the policy allows colleagues “to show up every day as their whole selves.” https://youtu.be/Zm3p1nKTPs8 - Play 0:00-1:10 While Palm did mention religion, neither the video nor the email disclosed if the HHS plans on accommodating or exempting employees with religious objections to affirming transgender delusions. HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, who describes himself as “an out and proud transgender woman” in the video, said this policy ensures that “all HHS employees, including transgender and nonbinary employees, have equal protections in the workplace.” He added that all supervisors and managers are responsible for enforcing the policy. “Every one of us can play a role in creating a welcoming workplace,” he said. “Every one of you can make a difference in improving the feelings of inclusion for your coworkers.” https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2023/10/31/us-seeks-to-ramp-up-munitions-production-for-ukraine-israel/ US seeks to ramp up munitions production for Ukraine, Israel President Joe Biden’s $106 billion defense spending supplemental request to Congress aims in part to bolster munitions production capacity to continue rushing arms to Ukraine and Israel. The Senate Appropriations Committee questioned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a Tuesday hearing on the status of U.S. stockpiles and the workforce, supply chain and infrastructure constraints of weapons manufacturers racing to replenish them. The Senate is formulating its supplemental spending bill encompassing both Ukraine and Israel aid, while the House is set to vote on a stand-alone Israel aid bill later this week. “There are some limitations in terms of how quickly they can do certain things,” said Austin. “There will continue to be workforce challenges. And when you expand capacity, there’s this issue of the time it takes to build the capacity and make sure the lines are running smoothly.” Austin noted some defense contractors have required workers to take on additional shifts to keep up with production rates. “What they’ve done in a lot of cases to meet urgent needs is double and triple shifts so that they can in some cases crank out munitions and weapons at a much greater speed,” he said. Austin’s comments come as Israel rapidly burns through munitions as it continues to bomb the 2.2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 8,500 people and wounding more than 21,500, per the Gaza Health Ministry. Shortly before the hearing, Israel bombed the Jabalia refugee camp, which the Health Ministry lambasted as a “horrific massacre” that killed at least 50 people and wounded hundreds. It is the latest of many civilian targets Israel has bombed in its campaign to destroy Hamas. Israel launched its campaign following Hamas’ massacre of approximately 1,400 Israelis and abduction of 240 hostages, per the Israel Defense Forces. On top of that, the Biden administration has less than $5.5 billion remaining to continue transferring weapons to Ukraine as the nation’s slow-moving counteroffensive fails to retake significant tracts of territory. Biden’s requested defense supplemental includes $44.4 billion to continue arming Ukraine and $14.3 billion in military aid for Israel. That request includes more Iron Dome interceptors to stop Hamas rockets and additional munitions for Israel to continue its bombardment of Gaza. A large portion of the requested funding would go toward backfilling U.S. stockpiles of weapons the Biden administration has so far sent Ukraine and Israel. There’s also $3 billion requested to expand industrial base capacity. “We simply do not have the workforce, supply chain or infrastructure necessary to meet the coming threats,” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said at the hearing. “Building out this capacity is going to take time and resources, but we can start now by making targeted investments in our munitions production base.” Biden’s supplemental request includes $30 billion to replenish weapons sent to Ukraine as well as funding to backfill stocks given to Israel. “As a general rule, we’re going to do everything that we can to meet the demands that we see in both Ukraine and Israel,” Austin said. The U.S. and NATO continue to face a shortage of 155mm ammunition and are providing those shells both to Ukraine and Israel. https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2023/11/01/adam-johnsons-aunt-demanding-justice-after-reckless-kick-that-left-him-dead/ Adam Johnson’s Aunt Demanding ‘Justice’ After ‘Reckless’ Kick that Left Him Dead Former NHL player Adam Johnson’s family is demanding that officials in the U.K. do something to bring justice to the man whose actions ended Johnson’s life during an Oct. 28 game. The 29-year-old Johnson, who played with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2018 to 2020, was playing in a Challenge Cup game for the Nottingham Panthers against the Sheffield Steelers in the UK’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) when Steelers player Matt Petgrave raised his leg into the air and slammed Johnson in the neck with his deadly skate blade. Johnson was rushed to a local hospital, but he lost too much blood and was pronounced dead. Now, Johnson’s 62-year-old aunt is charging that Petgrave’s actions were negligent, and she wants the police in the U.K. to charge him in Johnson’s death. “It was very reckless,” Kari Johnson said of the “horrific tragedy” of her nephew’s death, according to the New York Post. “I just want them [authorities investigating] to get it right. We are looking for justice for Adam.” She added that Pergrave’s kick was “not hockey” and insisted, “My nephew was 6 feet tall, and whether you lost your balance or not, to have that leg come up that high and do a kicking motion like he did, that is just unacceptable.” “That’s not a hockey play, that’s not a check. I understand that every team has an enforcer, per se, on their team,” Johnson reiterated. Still, Kari Johnson has carefully noted that she does not think Petgrave struck Johnson in the neck with his skate on purpose. “I’m sure Mr. Petgrave probably didn’t even think about the consequences could be of that happening, but there comes a time when you have to realize that’s not hockey,” she said. “And I’m sure he’s going through a lot, too, but he took our boy. There are a few of us in the family that think it was a totally unnecessary, very, very bad action to take.” As for Petgrave, he is reportedly “distraught” and has been “receiving vile messages online.” Meanwhile, South Yorkshire Police officials said they are investigating the incident. Police did not say, though, if they were investigating the incident as a criminal act.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Friday, November 3rd, 2023. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table cuts down on back and forth, incorporates powerful upsells, and allows you to create proposals at lightning speed. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Download their free guide: "The Profitable Proposal Blueprint" at smartpricingtable.com. https://www.breitbart.com/border/2023/11/02/source-187k-migrants-apprehended-at-border-in-first-month-of-new-year-30k-more-gotaways/ 187K Migrants Apprehended at Border in First Month of New Year — 30K More Gotaways Border Patrol agents assigned to the southwest border with Mexico apprehended more than 187,000 migrants during October — the first month of the new fiscal year. A source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated another 30,000 migrants were reported as “known gotaways.” Agents assigned to the nine southwest Border Patrol sectors apprehended more than 187,000 migrants during October, according to documents reviewed by Breitbart Texas. This is the fourth consecutive month that agents apprehended more than 130,000 migrants. In addition to the more than 187,000 apprehensions, agents reported more than 30,000 migrants as known gotaways. This is a conservative estimate of migrants observed crossing the border but not apprehended by agents. The unofficial report revealed the Tucson Sector had the most apprehensions. More than 55,000 migrants were apprehended in this sector alone. This is up from 51,000 in September. One year ago, agents in this sector apprehended less than 23,000 migrants. This represents a year-over-year increase of 149 percent over the prior October. The Del Rio Sector followed Tucson with the apprehension of approximately 38,000 migrants. This is down slightly from the nearly 43,000 migrants apprehended in October 2022 and is up significantly from the 28,000 apprehended in October 2021. The Rio Grande Valley, San Diego, and El Paso Sectors rounded out the top five sectors with approximately 32,000, 29,000, and 22,000, respectively. The Rio Grande Valley and San Diego Sectors are up significantly from the prior October reports. Along the Canadian border, the Swanton Sector continues its spike in migrant apprehensions. Agents in the sector that covers the Canadian border in eastern New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire apprehended more than 1,000 migrants in the first month of FY24. This is up by nearly 200 percent over October 2022 and is roughly equal to the apprehensions for the entire Fiscal Year 2022. https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/01/dc-hands-vehicle-tracking-residents-keep-cars-stolen/ Blue City Hands Out Vehicle ‘Tracking Tags’ To Residents Because People Keep Getting Their Cars Stolen Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Wednesday that she has started a pilot program that will give some drivers a tracking device to attach to their cars so they will be able to find their vehicle if it gets stolen. The tags, which will be given to residents in six of the city’s most vehicle theft-prone areas, will be installed inside the car and will be trackable via an app on the owner’s phone, the mayor’s office said in a press release. The devices appear to be Apple AirTags, according to a photo posted by Bowser on social media. Auto thefts in D.C. have increased 101% since last year, with 5,916 cars being stolen since January, police data showed. Violent crime in the city has increased 41%, while total crime has grown by 27% since last year. Local officials claimed that the apps would help citizens recover their stolen cars more quickly and would allow officers to solve crimes more quickly or efficiently. “Our goal is not just to prevent carjackings and motor vehicle thefts, but also to ensure swift law enforcement action when these incidents occur,” acting Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith said in the press release. “These tracking devices allow our officers and detectives to be better positioned to quickly locate stolen vehicles, recover property, and gather vital evidence for investigations.” Bowser has attempted to walk back the city’s lenient approach toward crime in the past few months, unveiling a crime bill that eliminates several police reforms D.C. enacted after the George Floyd riots in 2020. D.C. first responders have said that they feel less safe because of the rising crime in the area, while many locals throughout the city complained at a House Judiciary meeting about the open crime that often takes place in broad daylight. “Last week, we introduced legislation to address recent crime trends; this week, we are equipping residents with technology that will allow the Metropolitan Police Department to address these crimes, recover vehicles, and hold people accountable,” Bowser said in the press release. “[W]e will continue to use all the tools we have, and add new tools, to keep our city safe.” https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/11/01/exclusive-republicans-grill-hhs-unconstitutional-trans-pronoun-mandate-employees/ Republicans Grill HHS Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Trans Pronoun Mandate for Employees Republican lawmakers are demanding answers from President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about its new guidelines ordering agency employees to refer to transgender coworkers by their “preferred pronouns.” Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) is leading several other GOP lawmakers in sending a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, grilling him for answers about the “unconstitutional” guidance and how it applies to religious employees. Breitbart News exclusively obtained a copy of the letter on Wednesday before it was sent. “We recently learned that the Biden Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is compelling political speech and violating the religious liberty rights of HHS employees by imposing a transgender pronoun mandate on your employees,” the letter reads. “We write to express our strong opposition to your illegal and unconstitutional transgender pronoun mandate, the so-called ‘HHS Gender Non-Discrimination and Inclusion Policy,’ which is a violation of the First Amendment rights of HHS employees.” “Your pronoun mandate clearly infringes upon the religious liberty and free speech rights of employees, who cannot be coerced into engaging in political speech or speech that violates their deeply held religious beliefs,” the letter continues. Lawmakers wrote the letter based on an alleged HHS internal email obtained by Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy for the Heritage Foundation and former director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights during the Trump administration. The HHS, which employs approximately 80,000 people in the United States and abroad, imposed its new “Gender Identity and Non-Discrimination Guidance” in early October; it outlines “employee rights and protections related to gender identity,” the alleged email reads. “All employees should be addressed [by] the names and pronouns they use to describe themselves,” the email continues. The HHS also posted a video to YouTube — designated as “unlisted” — in which HHS Secretary Andrea Palm says the policy allows colleagues “to show up every day as their whole selves.” https://youtu.be/Zm3p1nKTPs8 - Play 0:00-1:10 While Palm did mention religion, neither the video nor the email disclosed if the HHS plans on accommodating or exempting employees with religious objections to affirming transgender delusions. HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, who describes himself as “an out and proud transgender woman” in the video, said this policy ensures that “all HHS employees, including transgender and nonbinary employees, have equal protections in the workplace.” He added that all supervisors and managers are responsible for enforcing the policy. “Every one of us can play a role in creating a welcoming workplace,” he said. “Every one of you can make a difference in improving the feelings of inclusion for your coworkers.” https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2023/10/31/us-seeks-to-ramp-up-munitions-production-for-ukraine-israel/ US seeks to ramp up munitions production for Ukraine, Israel President Joe Biden’s $106 billion defense spending supplemental request to Congress aims in part to bolster munitions production capacity to continue rushing arms to Ukraine and Israel. The Senate Appropriations Committee questioned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a Tuesday hearing on the status of U.S. stockpiles and the workforce, supply chain and infrastructure constraints of weapons manufacturers racing to replenish them. The Senate is formulating its supplemental spending bill encompassing both Ukraine and Israel aid, while the House is set to vote on a stand-alone Israel aid bill later this week. “There are some limitations in terms of how quickly they can do certain things,” said Austin. “There will continue to be workforce challenges. And when you expand capacity, there’s this issue of the time it takes to build the capacity and make sure the lines are running smoothly.” Austin noted some defense contractors have required workers to take on additional shifts to keep up with production rates. “What they’ve done in a lot of cases to meet urgent needs is double and triple shifts so that they can in some cases crank out munitions and weapons at a much greater speed,” he said. Austin’s comments come as Israel rapidly burns through munitions as it continues to bomb the 2.2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 8,500 people and wounding more than 21,500, per the Gaza Health Ministry. Shortly before the hearing, Israel bombed the Jabalia refugee camp, which the Health Ministry lambasted as a “horrific massacre” that killed at least 50 people and wounded hundreds. It is the latest of many civilian targets Israel has bombed in its campaign to destroy Hamas. Israel launched its campaign following Hamas’ massacre of approximately 1,400 Israelis and abduction of 240 hostages, per the Israel Defense Forces. On top of that, the Biden administration has less than $5.5 billion remaining to continue transferring weapons to Ukraine as the nation’s slow-moving counteroffensive fails to retake significant tracts of territory. Biden’s requested defense supplemental includes $44.4 billion to continue arming Ukraine and $14.3 billion in military aid for Israel. That request includes more Iron Dome interceptors to stop Hamas rockets and additional munitions for Israel to continue its bombardment of Gaza. A large portion of the requested funding would go toward backfilling U.S. stockpiles of weapons the Biden administration has so far sent Ukraine and Israel. There’s also $3 billion requested to expand industrial base capacity. “We simply do not have the workforce, supply chain or infrastructure necessary to meet the coming threats,” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said at the hearing. “Building out this capacity is going to take time and resources, but we can start now by making targeted investments in our munitions production base.” Biden’s supplemental request includes $30 billion to replenish weapons sent to Ukraine as well as funding to backfill stocks given to Israel. “As a general rule, we’re going to do everything that we can to meet the demands that we see in both Ukraine and Israel,” Austin said. The U.S. and NATO continue to face a shortage of 155mm ammunition and are providing those shells both to Ukraine and Israel. https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2023/11/01/adam-johnsons-aunt-demanding-justice-after-reckless-kick-that-left-him-dead/ Adam Johnson’s Aunt Demanding ‘Justice’ After ‘Reckless’ Kick that Left Him Dead Former NHL player Adam Johnson’s family is demanding that officials in the U.K. do something to bring justice to the man whose actions ended Johnson’s life during an Oct. 28 game. The 29-year-old Johnson, who played with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2018 to 2020, was playing in a Challenge Cup game for the Nottingham Panthers against the Sheffield Steelers in the UK’s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) when Steelers player Matt Petgrave raised his leg into the air and slammed Johnson in the neck with his deadly skate blade. Johnson was rushed to a local hospital, but he lost too much blood and was pronounced dead. Now, Johnson’s 62-year-old aunt is charging that Petgrave’s actions were negligent, and she wants the police in the U.K. to charge him in Johnson’s death. “It was very reckless,” Kari Johnson said of the “horrific tragedy” of her nephew’s death, according to the New York Post. “I just want them [authorities investigating] to get it right. We are looking for justice for Adam.” She added that Pergrave’s kick was “not hockey” and insisted, “My nephew was 6 feet tall, and whether you lost your balance or not, to have that leg come up that high and do a kicking motion like he did, that is just unacceptable.” “That’s not a hockey play, that’s not a check. I understand that every team has an enforcer, per se, on their team,” Johnson reiterated. Still, Kari Johnson has carefully noted that she does not think Petgrave struck Johnson in the neck with his skate on purpose. “I’m sure Mr. Petgrave probably didn’t even think about the consequences could be of that happening, but there comes a time when you have to realize that’s not hockey,” she said. “And I’m sure he’s going through a lot, too, but he took our boy. There are a few of us in the family that think it was a totally unnecessary, very, very bad action to take.” As for Petgrave, he is reportedly “distraught” and has been “receiving vile messages online.” Meanwhile, South Yorkshire Police officials said they are investigating the incident. Police did not say, though, if they were investigating the incident as a criminal act.

Selling an agency can be a time-consuming, lengthy process full of large decisions. Now imagine going through that three times. David Rodnitzky has done just that, selling his agency 3Q Digital (now part of DEPT) multiple times, to several different types of owners until finding the right fit. He's here to talk about what he's learned from this journey and how he's helping other business owners prepare to sell their businesses. This week, episode 202 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about David's journey of scaling his agency to 500 people, selling the agency three times, and finding meaning as a founder!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, David Rodnitzly shares the importance of hiring the right people to help you sell your business and actionable steps you can take right now to prepare yourself for the emotions that come along with selling your business. David Rodnitzky is the founder of 3Q Digital (now DEPT). David founded 3Q Digital out of a coffee shop in Pacifica, California and scaled the business to more than 500 employees managing more than $2 billion of ad spend annually. David is now the founder of Agentic Shift, a coaching company that helps agency founders successfully sell their businesses.In this episode, Dan and David discuss the following:Sometimes being lucky is better than being good.The unique challenges of selling your agency to a holding company.The difference between a Visionary and an Integrator and how their roles change as the size of a company changes.Strategies for CEOs to stay in sales meetings, even when it is no longer required.Don't forget to check out David's latest book, ‘Selling Your Marketing Agency: Making the Most of Your Most Important Deal'!Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH DAVID RODNITZKY:LinkedInAgentic ShiftCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

Wondering why your sales are slow or, there are very few of them? Did you productize your services or, your prospects are still confused by what is it in there for them? What includes your services? In this episode of The Business Ownership Podcast I interviewed Joe Ardeeser. He is a former digital agency owner of 12 years, one he built from just himself to a team of 12. He then took his passion for sales and proposal writing and created Smart Pricing Table, an interactive proposal software. With a deep understanding of the intricacies of running a business and navigating its ups and downs, Joe brings a wealth of experience to the table. His expertise lies in resolving common pain points such as streamlining proposal processes, minimizing back-and-forth with clients, and raising average project profitability by putting prospects in control.Learn how to productize & sell more & faster!Check this out! Smart Pricing Table Website: https://www.smartpricingtable.com/Joe Ardeeser LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeardeeser/Join our Facebook group for business owners to get help or help other business owners!The Business Ownership Group - Secrets to Scaling: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessownershipsecretstoscalingLooking to scale your business? Get free gifts here to help you on your way: https://www.awarenessstrategies.com/

CEO of SmartPricingTable.com Joe Ardeeser joins the podcast to share how he, as a former digital agency owner, productized, templatized and streamlined his proposal process to be able to scale and become more profitable in his web design agency.In This Episode00:00 - Introduction00:05 - Greeting to Joe04:37 - Transitioning From Freelancer to Agency Owner11:53 - Scaling and Productizing Proposals in Business20:18 - The Value of Productizing Web Design28:26 - Creating Effective Proposals With Clear Scope35:02 - Efficient Proposal Creation for Agencies38:18 - Simplistic vs Complex Proposals49:19 - Options and Upselling in Proposal Process55:06 - Optimize Proposals, Add Value With OptionsGet all links, resources and show notes at:https://joshhall.co/292Web Designer Pro™ is filling up fast! Join now to lock in your spot before capacity is full at 250 members. (currently at 144)Once we're at capacity, you'll be able to sign up for the waitlist and have first dibs to join when any current members choose not to renew.Lock in your spot now (you can go month to month)

All too often, agencies rely too heavily on referrals to scale their business. Without spending time defining your brand and creating a sales process built on stories and relatability, growing your agency will be more complicated than it needs to be. My old friend Kalle Mobeck is here today to talk about how you can improve your sales process, scale your agency more quickly, and more. This week, episode 201 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about scaling an agency to $10M in four years, a storytelling-based sales process, and the AI-marketing revolution!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Kalle Mobeck shares the importance of leveraging existing networks when hiring for an agency and actionable steps you can take right now to build rapport with perspective clients using storytelling. Kalle Mobeck is the Sales Director at one of the most impactful performance marketing agencies called Twigeo. Before that, he was the CEO of the agency Relatable which grew from 0 to 10M dollars in revenue in 4 years (bootstrapped). Today he shares his knowledge as a commercial advisor for agencies & martech companies.In this episode, Dan and Kalle discuss the following:Hiring great people with a shared vision is key to success, especially when bootstrapping.The room for innovation in the influencer space, particularly in the measurement and use of AI.AI in marketing and its potential for profitability.The importance of storytelling in pitches, rather than relying solely on slides and data.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH KALLE MOBECK:LinkedInX (formerly Twitter)TwigeoCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint today.

There's a stark difference between a top-performing salesperson and an elite salesperson. The difference? Thorough, professional preparation to separate your sales pitch and discovery call from the others your prospective client is likely hearing. Paul M. Caffrey, the Sales Preparation Expert, is here to talk about how you can position yourself as an elite salesperson. This week, episode 200 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about sales preparation and improving your close rate!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Paul M. Caffrey shares the importance of preparation before sales calls and actionable steps you can take right now to get ready for your next sales call.The Sales Preparation Expert, Paul M. Caffrey helps salespeople use the hidden habits elite sales professionals use to outperform the competition - they prospect better, sell more and get promoted faster. Paul is also the Author of "The Work Before the Work", he also works with founders & sales team leaders to improve the performance of their sales & business development teams. In this episode, Dan and Paul discuss the following:Telling a compelling story that resonates with the client and demonstrates the value of your service.The importance of showing your client that you've done your research and are genuinely interested in working with them.Paul's framework of 6 questions to prepare for meetings.Differentiating between prospects based on the language they use to describe their challenges.For the chance to get a FREE copy of Paul's book, head over to https://www.paulcaffrey.com/sales-schema today!Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH PAUL M. CAFFREY:LinkedInX (formerly Twitter)WebsiteCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint today.

Cold outreach sucks. I know it, you know it. And while this is true, there are ways to make it suck less. We recently did a training titled “Take Charge of Your Agency's Future Revenue” and wanted to share the replay with you today so you can get a taste of what we do here at Sales Schema and how we improve the lead generation process for our clients and ourselves. This week, episode 199 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about keeping your agency's pipeline full using targeted outreach!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Dan Englander shares the importance of using commonalities to make connections and actionable steps you can take right now to better personalize your outreach emails in a way that doesn't seem like spam. In this episode, Dan discusses the following:How to secure consistent opportunities through referrals and other approaches.Common obstacles holding agencies back from implementing better outbound strategy.Three reasons why agencies struggle to grow their business.Offering a third path beyond ignoring your email or entering a sales process.Head to the Sales Schema website to see the training video with visuals!Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

In today's episode, my guest, Joe Ardeeser, from Smart Pricing Table, explores the art of writing a winning proposal. Joe will share his insights on what to do before agreeing to write a proposal, how to structure a proposal effectively, and how to make a great impression with your follow-up. We also discuss the importance of understanding your client's needs, the value of productising services, and the benefits of interactive proposal software. So whether you're an agency owner looking to up your proposal game or a freelance consultant hoping to close more deals, this episode is packed with invaluable tips and strategies.  Time Stamp [00:00 Introduction to writing winning proposals for agencies [03:48] What questions should you ask in a sales call? [07:45] Ascertaining your prospect's budget [09:00] How to use 3 pricing examples [09:28] What warning signs to look for that would lead you to walk away from a prospect [12;15] What should a proposal contain? [14:21] Simplify your proposal creation: Define each service and save to a reusable library. [18:59] What should you do when asked to provide design ideas in a proposal? [20:44] What do you do once you complete the proposal? [25:49] How does Smart Pricing Table support the proposal writing process? [30:26] What advice would Joe give his younger self just starting out in business? Quotations “Never send a proposal to a client, instead, book a proposal presentation meeting” - Joe Ardeeser “Creating a Client-Centric Proposal: A prospect doesn't want to dig through 100 pages to find your price or to find your detailed proposal." - Rob Da Costa “I'd want to ensure that I have access to the decision maker... If I can't get a promise that I can talk to that person, I'd be very hesitant.” - Joe Ardeeser Rate, Review, & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts “I enjoy listening to The Agency Accelerator Podcast. I always learn something from every episode.” If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people like you to move towards a Self-Running Agency. How to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then, let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, subscribe to the podcast. I'm adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the feed and, if you're not subscribed, there's a good chance you'll miss out. Subscribe now! Useful links mentioned in this episode: Smart Pricing Table Free guide: The Profitable Proposal BlueprintSchedule a demo of Smart Pricing TableJoe's LinkedIn profileThe Agency Accelerator LIVE Free Workshops

Operations is often an overlooked part of an agency's framework. But having the correct operations in place can not only make your business run more smoothly on the day-to-day, but it can also allow you to take time away for rest, which is essential to growing your business. Alyson Caffrey is here to talk about her Sabbatical method, and how having your operations in check is one of the strongest business decisions you can make. This week, episode 198 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about agency ops and the power of sabbaticals!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Alyson Caffrey shares the importance of building rest into your workflow and actionable steps you can take right now to strengthen your business through operations to allow yourself to take time off. Alyson Caffrey is the ‘Wolf' that helps streamline the back-end operations for digital and creative agencies. She is the founder of Operations Agency, the co-creator of the Operations Simplified™ Framework, and the best-selling author of The Sabbatical Method: Create a business that can function without you. She is also the host of the celebrated Growing Pains Podcast. She and the team at Operations Agency are determined to help businesses thrive profitably, serve more clients, and create high-performing teams.In this episode, Dan and Alyson discuss the following:Ops is the unsung hero of your agency, but it's not as attention-grabbing as sales.Treating your ops as a system for repairs.Hiring unicorns at the leadership level, not the fulfillment level.The importance of taking time off to rest and how that will actually grow your business.Check out Alyson's Book “The Sabbatical Method” today!Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH ALYSON CAFFREY:LinkedInInstagramOperations AgencyCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

Growing and scaling an agency comes in different steps, from hiring your first employee to hiring managers so you can take a step back from your business. David Reske has grown several agencies since the late 1990s and is here to talk about what those different growth stages looked like to him, the lessons he's learned about hiring the right employees, and more! This week, episode 197 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about packaging agency services, scaling, and growing to 30 FTEs! Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, David Reske shares the importance of letting go of control of the hiring process and actionable steps you can take right now to package your agency's services how your clients really want them. David Reske is the CEO of Nowspeed, a Boston-based digital agency focused on SEO, design, social media, lead, nurture, and marketing analytics, among other services. David is a marketing veteran with significant experience in SEO, PPC, Social Media, and Web Analytics. In this episode, Dan and David discuss the following:Building and selling a web design agency in the late 1990s.Scaling to 30 full-time employees.The optimal way to form packages of services.Lessons David has learned about hiring and training salespeople over the years.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH DAVID RESKE:LinkedInNowspeedCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint today.

In today's world, marketing and advertisements are cluttered and busy. With so much information being thrown at us every day, how are you supposed to put out strong marketing strategies that actually catch people's attention? According to Ben Guttmann, author of the forthcoming book Simply Put, the answer is simple, clear messaging that doesn't try too hard.  Ben is here to talk about his start in marketing, his five-part framework for simplicity, and more. This week, episode 196 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about simplicity!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Ben Guttmann shares the importance of using clear messages in your marketing and actionable steps you can take right now to land on the right marketing strategy.Ben Guttmann is a marketing and communications expert and author of Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win — and How to Design Them. He's an experienced marketing executive and educator on a mission to get leaders to more effectively connect by simplifying their message. Ben is former co-founder and managing partner at Digital Natives Group, an award-winning agency that worked with the NFL, I Love NY, Comcast NBCUniversal, Hachette Book Group, The Nature Conservancy, and other major clients. Currently, Ben teaches digital marketing at Baruch College in New York City and consults with a range of thought leaders, venture-backed startups, and other brands.In this episode, Dan and Ben discuss the following:Why you should ban the word ‘help' from your copy and message.How the industry is changing and how it influenced Ben's decision to sell when he did.Why we trend to complexity and how we can avoid it.Ben's five-part framework for simplicity.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH BEN GUTTMANN:WebsiteLinkedInTwitterCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint today.

Agencies come in many different forms, and featuring new perspectives is something we love to do here on the Digital Agency Growth Podcast. Today we're bringing you Seth Price from Price Benowitz law firm and BluShark Digital marketing agency to offer his advice and perspective on growing your agency from the lens of the legal world. This week, episode 195 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about building an eight-figure legal agency!FREE Webinar From Our SponsorAre you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Smart Pricing Table is hosting a free webinar: "5 Secrets to Profitable Agency Proposals".Register today and learn how to:Increase your budgets with powerful upsellsMitigate scope creep and surprisesBuild proposals lightning fast ⚡Click here to register.In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Seth Price shares the importance of taking a holistic approach to marketing and actionable steps you can take right now to deal with difficult clients. An accomplished attorney and transformational thought leader, Seth Price is a founding partner and the business backbone of Price Benowitz LLP and the founder and CEO of BluShark Digital. Seth took a two-person law firm and scaled it to 40 lawyers in less than a decade. Now Seth has taken the same digital power that built the firm to create a best-in-class digital agency focused on the legal sector in BluShark Digital. Seth has been a frequent lecturer and moderator at some of the largest and most influential law conferences in the United States, speaking on the tools and strategies law firms can use to align their business development with changing consumer habits. He has spoken on topics including but not limited to, how to build a firm, ethics, best practices for firm operations, search engine optimization (SEO), and digital marketing as a whole.In this episode, Dan and Seth discuss the following:The power of domain expertise and how it might be undervalued.Milestones along the way of building the agency to 80 people.Blueshark's operational structure and how many direct reports each manager should have to be effective.Seth's hot take on AI and its effect on the agency space, especially if you work with local search.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH SETH PRICE:LinkedInPrice BenowitzBluShark DigitalCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales SchemaLINKS MENTIONED:15Five

My guest is Joe Ardeeser! Joe is a former digital agency owner of 12 years – and has the battle scars to prove it. He's worked with notable brands such as Bluetooth, T-Mobile, and Scantron and built his agency from just himself to a team of 12. After selling his agency, Joe decided to take his passion for sales and proposal writing and create Smart Pricing Table - interactive proposal software that cuts down on back and forth, incorporates upsells, and helps generate proposals at lightning speed. Social and Website: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeardeeser/ Website: https://www.smartpricingtable.com/ Schedule a demo: https://calendly.com/smartpricingtabl... 5 Secrets to Profitable Agency Proposals Webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regis...  For more episodes and information, visit us at https://www.digitalnicheagency.com/media Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4zS5V79... Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=524781... Follow Digital Niche Agency on Socials for Up To Date Marketing Expertise and Insights Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitalniche... Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digi... Instagram: DNA - Digital Niche Agency @digitalnicheagency • Instagram photos and videos. Twitter: https://twitter.com/DNAgency_CA YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDlz… #marketingtips #advice #marketingquotes #socialmediagency #marketingagency #startup #marketingtools  #socialmediaexperts #marketingguru #digitalmarketers #searchengineoptimization #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #crowdfunding #marketing #strategies #websitetraffic #instagramads #socialmediamarketing #content101 #contentcreation #businesspodcasts #JasonFishman, #ShariNoonan  #mentorpodcast #educationalpodcast

What words do you think of when you hear ‘Michelin star'? Likely, it's words like quality, mastery, and consistency. We also want to achieve these qualities in our agencies, and thinking about applying Michelin-star standards to our businesses can completely change the game. Jon Lenz at Br8kthru Consulting is doing just that and is here today to talk about what he's learned through the process. This week, episode 194 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about building a Michelin-star agency!FREE Webinar From Our SponsorAre you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Smart Pricing Table is hosting a free webinar: "5 Secrets to Profitable Agency Proposals".Register today and learn how to:Increase your budgets with powerful upsellsMitigate scope creep and surprisesBuild proposals lightning fast ⚡Click here to register.In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Jon Lenz shares the importance of honing in on your agency's principles and values and actionable steps you can take right now to make the most of your client check-ins. Jon Lenz is the CEO of Br8kthru Consulting, a Minneapolis-based marketing and technology firm specializing in complex customer journeys, with a diverse team of data-driven marketers, talented creatives, and seasoned strategists. In this episode, Dan and Jon discuss the following:How to stay top of mind with prospects and get people over the starting line to work with you.A cadence for client check-ins that works and doesn't take up more time than necessary.Company values should not come from the top down, they should come from the whole company.How agencies should approach their values to be as specific as possible.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH JON LENZ:LinkedInBr8kthruCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

While we talk a lot about agencies here on the show, founders of productized service businesses share a lot of the same challenges that agency owners do. One of the largest challenges is knowing when your role as owner/founder is not the same as when you started the company and what you can do to change it and bring more value to your agency. This week, episode 193 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about scaling and removing yourself from a productized service business!FREE Webinar From Our SponsorAre you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Smart Pricing Table is hosting a free webinar: "5 Secrets to Profitable Agency Proposals".Register today and learn how to:Increase your budgets with powerful upsellsMitigate scope creep and surprisesBuild proposals lightning fast ⚡Click here to register.In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Justin Tan shares the importance of understanding your leadership style versus your type of business and actionable steps you can take right now to add value to your company. Justin Tan is the founder of Video Husky, a video editing platform and productized service. After building Video Husky to a seven-figure business, Justin hired a General Manager and stepped away from the business. He now offers consulting services and guides agency owners looking to grow their businesses.In this episode, Dan and Justin discuss the following:The difference in mind between an agency and a productized service, and how it is different for every person.Lessons Justin learned about knowing what your clients want and expect from you.The complexity of maintaining a productized structure. Justin's experience hiring a general manager and what you can expect when looking to hire one for your agency.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH JUSTIN TAN:TwitterWebsiteCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

The current financial uncertainty has been on everyone's mind lately, especially agency owners.  It looms in the back of our minds while we're trying to keep up with the changing agency landscape and focus on growing our projects. Tom Sullivan is here today to talk about his 30 years of experience in the marketing agency space and the changes it's seen. He also talks about getting through tough financial times, having had his company survive the 2008 recession. This week, episode 192 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about agency growth, acquisition, and thriving in a recession!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. Tom Sullivan is CEO and senior partner of Princeton Partners and Princeton Partners FSG (Financial Services Group), where they help community banks and other financial, health and consumer-focused organizations to accelerate their growth and increase their mission impact. Princeton Partners creates value, ROI and higher success rates by combining the marketing, creative and digital media expertise of agency pros with client-side experts and consultants from the banking, financial services, health and consumer sectors. Tom has had the privilege of working with over 30 financial institutions and healthcare and wellness-focused organizations, creating a positive impact for people through innovative national programs. In this episode, Dan and Tom discuss the following:Tom's experience transitioning from a ‘Mad Man' era agency into a modern agency over the last 30 years.What it was like to run an agency through the 2008 financial crisis, and what Tom and his team learned and are employing now.Becoming a pro-social impact agency and how it affects company culture.Developing acquisition as part of your growth strategy.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH TOM SULLIVAN:LinkedInPrinceton PartnersCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

One size does NOT fit all! Having the power to customize a product or service to fit our needs makes us feel confident in how we're spending our money. The same is true for our prospects. In today's episode, our host Donald Kelly meets with Joe Ardeeser, the Founder/CEO of Smart Pricing Table, to talk about using optionality to build trust and give agency to customers. Ways to Offer Optionality Provide different service lines. If you have a customer who uses one of your services, tell them what else your company can do for them. Customize individual services. Talk to your customers about ways they can configure your service to work better for them. Offer options for different budgets. If you can't downsize your offer, you might lose big deals. Build Trust With Prospects Offering a “good”, “better”, and “best” option can help customers feel comfortable because they can see that you're not just trying to get the most money possible out of them. Buyers need to feel like they have agency and control over how much they want to spend and what they're getting out of the deal. Prospects are probably going to have conversations with other stakeholders before buying. Arm them with the knowledge of your optionality so they can consider things in their own time. Don't Lose Deals You can't make EVERYTHING optional. Make sure the service will work, even if the customer wants a very stripped-down version. When customers don't choose your product, most of the time you're not going to know why. If you make it so that your prospect can add or subtract services to adjust the price, you can avoid losing deals by small margins. “Take some time to think through what you sell and define it well so that you can build things quicker. When you build things quicker, you have more options.” – Joe Ardeseer Resources Visit SmartPricingTable.com to schedule a demo! Sponsorship Offers This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn. Are you struggling to close deals? Cold outreach wastes the buyer and seller's time at every stage, especially when sellers are using shallow and outdated data. Your organization can overcome these challenges with technology that translates comprehensive, high-quality buyer data into real-time insights. These deeper insights empower sales reps and teams to adopt the habits of top performers, which leads to better outcomes - like more pipelines, higher win rates, and larger deals. We call this Deep Sales. And we've built the first deep sales platform with the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/tse. 2. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation. I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we're not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It's a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation. Credits As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We'd love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Agency acquisition is not something all agency owners consider when starting their business. But there's nothing more valuable than keeping acquisition in mind throughout your time with the agency, even if selling is not in your plan for a long time, if at all. Today, David Tobin of TobinLeff joins us again to discuss the trends and patterns in the agency acquisition space amidst economic uncertainty and post-Covid shifts. This week, episode 191 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about the agency acquisition market in 2023!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, David Tobin shares the importance of being a specialist in your market and actionable steps you can take right now to prepare your agency for acquisition in the future. Founder and Managing Partner of TobinLeff, David is passionate about crafting and implementing plans for clients to convert business value into family wealth. He strives to help clients expand their view of possibilities, develop creative and sound solutions, and get deals closed. David is a serial entrepreneur who has founded, grown, and crafted exit strategies for four companies of his own. He began his first successful venture while still a full-time university student.In this episode, Dan and David discuss the following:Trends in both buyers and sellers in 2023.What level of growth or potential buyers are looking for.How to get above 7X as a professional services firm.How the sales function of your agency affects outcomes when selling the agency.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH DAVID TOBIN:LinkedInTobinLeffCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales SchemaLINKS MENTIONED:TobinLeff White Papers

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Joe Ardeeser, Founder of Smart Pricing Table. Joe discusses how the Smart Pricing Table software excels in building catalogs, pricing tables, and analytics for a better understanding of prospect interactions. Episode Highlights: Joe discusses the decision to sell their business and make their own in-house solution for writing proposals, and four years later, they launched it as Smart Pricing Table. (2:56) Joe explains that their software excels in building catalogs and analytics on lower-level interactions and focuses on pricing tables and scope of work, allowing for a better understanding of prospects' interactions. (9:00) Joe shares that their journey led to numerous discoveries including the ability to have someone else create proposals for a catalog, customer impressions, and the importance of optionality. (20:16) Joe explains that building momentum in proposal creation involves asking new questions and updating your system as it allows for a more straightforward process, resulting in faster proposals and better outcomes. (26:56) Joe discusses how a great proposal can significantly impact the outcome, making it crucial to critically think about it and make a difference in the process. (34:15) Joe discusses the Profitable Proposal Blueprint which is a free guide available on the Smart Pricing Table website which includes five secret tips for continuous improvement. (40:45) Tweetable Quotes: “There are lots of different solutions on the market, you know, where our software really hits it hard is building that catalog. That's the thing that we do really, really well. And because we're so focused on your pricing table, your scope of work, we also have analytics on lower-level interaction.” - Joe Ardeeser “I think when we decided to go on the journey, there were so many discoveries. One of them is the fact that when you create a catalog, you can actually have someone else create proposals for you, which is a really, really helpful game changer.” - Joe Ardeeser “I love the idea of building momentum. So each time you're creating a proposal, you're asking new questions, a lot of questions you've already answered, but you're asking some new questions. And you're always building your system.” - Joe Ardeeser Resources Mentioned: Joe Ardeeser LinkedIn Smart Pricing Table David Carothers Kyle Houck Florida Risk Partners The Extra 2 Minutes

In this episode of The Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers and co-host Kyle Houck interview Joe Ardeeser, Founder of Smart Pricing Table. Joe discusses how the Smart Pricing Table software excels in building catalogs, pricing tables, and analytics for a better understanding of prospect interactions. Episode Highlights: Joe discusses the decision to sell their business and make their own in-house solution for writing proposals, and four years later, they launched it as Smart Pricing Table. (2:56) Joe explains that their software excels in building catalogs and analytics on lower-level interactions and focuses on pricing tables and scope of work, allowing for a better understanding of prospects' interactions. (9:00) Joe shares that their journey led to numerous discoveries including the ability to have someone else create proposals for a catalog, customer impressions, and the importance of optionality. (20:16) Joe explains that building momentum in proposal creation involves asking new questions and updating your system as it allows for a more straightforward process, resulting in faster proposals and better outcomes. (26:56) Joe discusses how a great proposal can significantly impact the outcome, making it crucial to critically think about it and make a difference in the process. (34:15) Joe discusses the Profitable Proposal Blueprint which is a free guide available on the Smart Pricing Table website which includes five secret tips for continuous improvement. (40:45) Tweetable Quotes: “There are lots of different solutions on the market, you know, where our software really hits it hard is building that catalog. That's the thing that we do really, really well. And because we're so focused on your pricing table, your scope of work, we also have analytics on lower-level interaction.” - Joe Ardeeser “I think when we decided to go on the journey, there were so many discoveries. One of them is the fact that when you create a catalog, you can actually have someone else create proposals for you, which is a really, really helpful game changer.” - Joe Ardeeser “I love the idea of building momentum. So each time you're creating a proposal, you're asking new questions, a lot of questions you've already answered, but you're asking some new questions. And you're always building your system.” - Joe Ardeeser Resources Mentioned: Joe Ardeeser LinkedIn Smart Pricing Table David Carothers Kyle Houck Florida Risk Partners The Extra 2 Minutes

With all the buzz about Web3 and technological advancements, marketing and agency life is poised to change rapidly. One agency model that works well in the Web3 world is a DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization. Today, Matthew Mozzocchi is here to talk about Myosin, a DAO agency, and how this model allows them to have a leg up the Web3 world. This week, episode 190 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about Web 3, the DAO team model, and profitable agency partnerships!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Matthew Mozzocchi shares the importance of partnering with agencies in a mutually beneficial way and actionable steps you can take right now to understand the underlying tech of Web3.Matthew Mozzocchi is the Head of Revenue Operations at Myosin, a product studio and agency leveraging the collective wisdom of our member base to inform the tools, processes and playbooks that drive user acquisition into web3. Matthew also helps agencies and Fortune 100 businesses solve their complex staffing needs with flexible talent solutions. In this episode, Dan and Matthew discuss the following:What a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is and how it works.The value of partnership models that actually benefit both parties.How Web3 and Web2 differ and how we can expect to see Web3 grow in the next few years.The importance of getting in front of different audiences when partnering.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH MATTHEW MOZZOCCHI:LinkedInMozz.coMyosin.xyzCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

Entrepreneurship has changed drastically in the last 20 years. Even with so many different types of businesses out there, from SaaS to E-Commerce, many still keep coming back to the service-based agency as the bread-and-butter of their ventures. Taylor Pearson is here today to talk about why agencies reign supreme in his opinion, his book The End of Jobs, and how Toyota can set an excellent example for us all. This week, episode 189 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about operations, kaizen, and why the agency model is underrated!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Taylor Pearson shares the importance of looking to the future of entrepreneurship and actionable steps you can take right now to improve your service-based business.Taylor Pearson is the author of The End of Jobs, regarded as one of ‘The 7 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read' but the Entrepreneur Times. Taylor's writing has been featured in dozens of media outlets including NBC, Inc, Coindesk, and The Financial Times. Taylor also works with small business startup founders and executives as a consultant, coach and advisor for nearly a decade to ensure their businesses work better – for them, their teammates, their customers, and their communities.In this episode, Dan and Taylor discuss the following:Entrepreneurship and how it's changed since the early 2000s.The benefits of agencies compared to SaaS and E-commerce models.Toyota's concept of Kaizen and how we can apply that to our businesses.Challenges in service businesses, especially B2B service businesses. The three things needed for a great service business. One of the most undervalued things about agencies.Taylor's latest book recommendations.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH TAYLOR PEARSON:LinkedInWebsiteCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales SchemaLINKS MENTIONED:Taylor's book, The End of JobsHow The Leopard Changed Its Spots by Brian GoodwinImages of Organization by Gareth MorganToyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production by Taiichi OhnoDead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel

Selling creative to a client can be more difficult than selling SaaS, lead generation, or any other service in the B2B space. It takes a deep understanding of the client's needs, wants, and risk tolerance to deliver them a great product that they'll be eager to utilize in their business. Today, Joey Tackett is here to talk about understanding your verticals and what it looks like to sell creative successfully. This week, episode 188 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about selling creative!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Joey Tackett shares the importance of knowing your client's needs and conveying that to them and actionable steps you can take right now to set up your next creative sales pitch for success.Joey Tackett is an award-winning creative director, career coach, and speaker, who helps agency leaders and consultants become highly effective, confident, and persuasive communicators and presenters. During his 23-year creative agency career, he has led creative at various size agencies, working with leading consumer and non-profit brands to enhance their brand experiences. These experiences helped him define and perfect his framework for agency presentations and client experiences, which he teaches through live trainings and courses for other agencies.In this episode, Dan and Joey discuss the following:What does it actually mean to pitch well?When your team is happy, your clients are more likely to be happy.How to structure a creative pitch call.The best preliminary steps to take before your next big pitch.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH JOEY TACKETT:https://www.joeytackett.com/agencygrowthLinkedInInstagramCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint today.

Marketing, as we all know, is a fast-paced world that is changing all the time. And if the tech industry has taught us anything, it's that innovation in fast-paced environments is essential to keeping a company afloat. Marketing innovations that think outside the box can set an agency up for success. Today, Alyson Griffin is here to talk about all that and more. This week, episode 187 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about Alyson Griffin's 25 years of marketing innovation at State Farm, Intel, and HP!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Alyson Griffin shares the importance of understanding the agency's perspective when you're on the client side of the equation and actionable steps you can take right now to stand out as an agency to large brands looking for new talent to work with. Alyson Griffin has over 25 years of experience leading Marketing and Global Brand & Thought leadership teams for top technology brands, HP and Intel. During her tenure, she was credited for curating “first-of-their-kind” immersive experiences that traversed technology with art, influencers, gaming, and music. Now, as the Head of Marketing at State Farm, Griffin has been entrusted with the critical charter of revolutionizing the 100-year-old brand through the lens of future-forward marketing initiatives, such as designing the brand's inaugural metaverse footprint. In this episode, Dan and Alyson discuss the following:How Alyson got started in the agency world and transitioned out.Agencies make a great “training ground” for those newly out of school and in junior roles.The importance of creating a user experience and getting your brand out in an interactive way.The origin of “Jake from State Farm” and its excellence as a marketing tool.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/ and Smart Pricing Table at https://www.smartpricingtable.com/dagCONNECT WITH ALYSON GRIFFIN:LinkedInTwitterCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint today.

Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years – and has the battle scars to prove it. He's worked with notable brands such as Bluetooth, T-Mobile, and Scantron and built his agency from just himself to a team of 12. After selling his agency, Joe decided to take his passion for sales and proposal writing and create Smart Pricing Table - interactive proposal software that cuts down on back and forth, incorporates upsells and helps generate proposals at lightning speed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Proposals can be a big reason your sales funnel slows down. Especially right now, as we're seeing recession tendencies, the trend is that leads are still coming in, but closing deals takes a LOT longer. So what can you do to speed up the process and sign more clients? Today, Jore Ardeeser is here to talk about his passion for proposals and how you can create them more quickly and easily than ever before. This week, episode 186 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about how to build agency proposals lightning-fast and let prospects upsell themselves!Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our Sponsor's free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint, today. In this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Joe Ardeeser shares the importance of knowing when your prospects open and reviewing your proposals and actionable steps you can take right now to upsell your clients on larger packages quickly and easily!Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years who has worked with notable brands such as T-mobile, Bluetooth, and Scantron. His newest venture is Smart Pricing Table: interactive proposal software for agencies and professional service providers.In this episode, Dan and Joe discuss the following:Why you should think about proposals like a brochure.The power of not making assumptions about your client's needs.How to slice and dice a current offer so the base items are more affordable, but you still make your upselling items appealing.Tactics for managing scope creep in your contracts.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/CONNECT WITH JOE ARDEESER:LinkedInSmart Pricing Table websiteFree GuideCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema Are you leaving money on the table with your proposals? Introducing Smart Pricing Table, the ultimate agency proposal software with built-in upsell features. Maximize your revenue potential today. Download our free guide, the Profitable Proposal Blueprint today.

In this episode, Stacy and Joe talk about the importance of proposals and why companies should dedicate their time to perfecting their proposal process. Read the transcript here. About The Guest Joe Ardeeser is the Founder and CEO of Smart Pricing Table, an interactive B2B proposal software. With over 12 years of experience as a digital agency owner, Joe has collaborated with renowned brands such as Bluetooth, T-Mobile, and Scantro --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hollywood-branded/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hollywood-branded/support

Proposals are the heart of making sales and attracting new clients to your agency. But many agencies are approaching creating, sharing, and closing proposals in a way that hurts business: copying and pasting, chucking it over the fence in hopes that it sticks and sending too many follow-up emails. Joe Ardeeser is here to tell us the right, more productive way to create proposals and sign deals. This week, episode 180 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about optimizing your agency's proposals and upsells!Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-ScaleIn this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, Joe Ardeeser shares the importance of proposal review meetings and actionable steps you can take right now to streamline your proposal creation. Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years who has worked with notable brands such as T-mobile, Bluetooth, and Scantron. His newest venture is Smart Pricing Table: interactive proposal software for agencies and professional service providers.Free giveaway from Joe at Smart Pricing Table: Wish Your Projects Were More Profitable? Download the Free Guide: The Profitable Proposal Blueprint -Learn the 5 powerful principles that can take your proposals to the next level.In this episode, Dan and Joe discuss the following:Google Docs and Microsoft Word aren't built for proposals.How most agencies get pricing tables and proposals wrong. The value of interactive proposals and proposal review meetings.Asking the right questions will keep prospective clients engaged in the sale - and bring them back if they've gone silent.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/CONNECT WITH JOE ARDEESER:LinkedInSmart Pricing Table websiteFree GuideCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

Are you stuck in a rut trying to create winning proposals but getting no results? You've been told to systematize processes and productize services, but you need help to get it to work. Discover a new approach to crafting effective proposals to win clients and foster long-term relationships. In this episode, you will be able to: Tackle the tough world of proposal creation with the help of innovative software.Cultivate a harmonious team dynamic geared toward producing successful proposals.Adopt productization practices to repeat sales triumphs effortlessly.Delve into the importance of perfecting your proposal processes and workflows.Forge genuine relationships and instill confidence with thorough proposal presentations. Joe Ardeeser is a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for streamlining business processes. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Joe has worked with notable brands such as T-Mobile and Scantron, honing his sales and proposal writing skills. In 2008, Joe founded a digital agency that eventually morphed into a successful SaaS business. As a systems builder, Joe is dedicated to creating repeatable patterns and making things as efficient as possible for customers. Some areas we explore in this episode include: Implement interactivity in proposals to build trust and enhance communication with potential clients.Consider using line item upsells and down-sell opportunities to provide clients with tailored pricing options.Develop a solid scope of work based on the client's specific needs and preferences.In proposals to plant seeds for future business opportunities, incorporate additional items or services for future consideration.Ensure that sales representatives thoroughly understand the products or services offered to convey client requirements to the proposal team accurately.Utilize software solutions like Smart Pricing Table to create interactive, customizable proposals that stand out from the competition.Invest in systems and processes to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in proposal creation and management.Continuously analyze and improve the proposal process to ensure success in winning new business.And much, much more.

Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years. He's worked with notable brands such as Bluetooth, T-Mobile, and Scantron and built his agency from just himself to a team of 12. After selling his agency, Joe decided to take his passion for sales and proposal writing and create Smart Pricing Table - interactive proposal software that cuts down on back and forth, incorporates upsells and helps generate proposals at lightning speed. As a small business owner, Joe learned that so much of being successful comes down to closing quality clients quickly. Joe loves talking about all things business-related but in particular, enjoys discussing proposals, systems and operations.   During the interview we discuss: What a Business Proposal is, and Why You Should Write One What a Good Business Proposal Contains What You Should Avoid Including in a Business Proposal Why Your Business Should Invest in Your Proposal Process How You Can Write Better Business Proposals The Challenges in Writing a Business Proposal, and How to Avoid/Overcome Them What and How to Prepare Before You Start Writing a Proposal How to Maximize Engagement from Prospects After Sending Proposals   Resources: https://www.smartpricingtable.com/  

I love small business and my current venture is smartpricingtable.com - b2b proposal software. I love adding value- one keystroke, one comment, one conversation, one action at a time. I'm a Jesus-follower, husband, father and business owner. https://www.smartpricingtable.com/

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Friday, March 3rd, 2023. Club Membership Plug: Ladies and gentleman, it’s never been a better time to become a club member at CrossPolitic. This year, CrossPolitic will be dropping exclusive content into our club portal for club members ONLY. Some of this content will include a Bible study series with Pastor Toby, a special with New Saint Andrew’s President, Ben Merkle, our backstage content, and our conference talks! You can grab a club membership for 10 bucks per month… that’s two cups of coffee. So again, head on over to fightlaughfeast.com to get signed up today! That’s fightlaughfeast.com. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2023/03/02/is-iran-less-than-two-weeks-away-from-having-a-nuclear-bomb-n2620152 Could Iran Make a Nuclear Bomb in Less Than Two Weeks? After it was reported this week that Iran had more than 18 times the amount of enriched uranium it was allowed to have under the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Biden administration claimed Iran would need less than two weeks in order to finalize enrichment to produce the material needed for a nuclear bomb. https://twitter.com/i/status/1 630679650249654273 - Play Video Calling Iran's nuclear progress "remarkable," Defense Under Secretary for Policy Colin Kahl told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that "it would take about twelve days" for Iran "to produce one bomb's worth of fissile material." Recent evaluations by the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran has managed to enrich some of its uranium stockpiles to 84 percent, just shy of the 90 percent enrichment needed for fissile material in a nuclear bomb. Kahl, as with everyone else in the Biden administration, sought to place blame for Iran's nuclear progress on the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA — blame the mainstream media quickly repeated — but the 2015 nuclear deal was flawed and mostly served as a massive payday for the murderous regime. What's more, the Biden administration has wasted years trying to negotiate a new deal with Iran, while Biden's own State Department has admitted Iran played the United States by using lengthy and unserious negotiations to continue ramping up its nuclear efforts as it feigned good faith efforts. While President Biden and his administration were apparently content to continue pursuing diplomacy despite Iran using negotiations for its latest kabuki theater production, Israel is taking the threat more seriously and calling for international deterrents to Iran's nuclear ambitions. To that end, Israel's "Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Council chief Tzachi Hanegbi are set to fly out early next week to Washington for talks on progress made in Iran's nuclear program," the Jerusalem Post reports. The situation is even more concerning given the deepening ties between Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea, and the fact that the United States' reaction to all this is being decided by Joe Biden — who has bungled multiple international incidents and hasn't shown himself able to present the United States as a powerful deterrent to bad actors on the world stage. https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2023/03/02/discover-to-track-gun-purchases/ Discover Card to Begin Tracking Gun Purchases in April Beginning in April 2023, Discover will become the first credit card issuer to track gun purchases made by their cardholders. On September 11, 2022, Breitbart News noted that Visa caved to pressure from gun control groups and New York Democrats, agreeing to flag gun and ammo purchases via a new sales categorization. The Associated Press observed that Mastercard and other major credit cards also agreed to flag gun sales. On March 2, 2023, the Independent Journal Review (IJR) reported that Discover will be first among credit card companies to track gun sales, inasmuch as the company will begin doing so in April. IJR explained, “Anyone using a Discover card to make a purchase in a gun store will have that purchase tracked, beginning in April.” There are over 55 million Discover cards in usage, so a lot of information on gun purchases can be gathered via that one company. Reuters pointed out Discover Financial Services was ahead of Visa and Mastercard in February 2023, noting that Discover would “allow its network to track purchases at gun retailers come April, making it the first among its peers to publicly give a date for moving ahead with the initiative, which is aimed at helping authorities probe gun-related crimes.” Discover told Reuters, “We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders.” The code for tracking gun purchases was approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in September 2022, and an ISO representative indicated, “The decision to use the new merchant category code is eventually left up to the users in the industry.” https://www.foxnews.com/us/nyc-spends-nearly-100-million-house-migrants-hotels-after-out-state-busing?intcmp=tw_fnc NYC spends nearly $100 million to house migrants in hotels after out-of-state busing New York City’s public hospital system will spend more than $90 million to house migrants at hotels in the Big Apple through the spring, local reports found. The ​​New York City Health + Hospitals Corporation, which operates public hospitals and clinics in the city, is tasked with overseeing housing for the influx of illegal immigrants. The group’s CEO, Mitchell Katz, has approved spending millions on four hotels to house the migrants in Manhattan, the New York Post reported. Katz approved $40 million to go to the four-star hotel Row NYC near Times Square, another $28 million to the four-star Stewart Hotel near Madison Square Garden, $20 million to the three-star hotel the Watson in Hell’s Kitchen and another $5.8 million to the two-star Wolcott Hotel near the Empire State Building, the Post and online publication The City reported this month. All in, the cost for housing the migrants through the spring of this year sits at $93.8 million. At least 47,600 migrants have inundated the city since last year, including when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending buses of migrants to the city in August amid the ongoing border crisis. There are a total of seven "Humanitarian Response and Relief Centers" in the city, including the four hotels, housing at the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel in Long Island City, one at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal and another at the Holiday Inn in the Financial District. "Since the beginning of this humanitarian crisis, New York City has mounted a multi-agency response to ensure we are meeting our moral obligations and providing compassionate, comprehensive care to those arriving in our city," a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams told The City, "and NYC Health + Hospitals has been key in that response from the start." The housing plans have come with a series of issues, including Row NYC found to throw out nearly a ton of food each day, according to a hotel whistleblower who previously spoke to the Post. While late last month, a group of migrants who were staying at the Watson Hotel in Midtown Manhattan refused to leave the hotel – and even protested by sleeping in the streets – after city officials said they would be housed at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Adams even slept at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal on the coldest night of the year earlier this month in an effort to fend off criticism that the facilities were lackluster. The mayor has meanwhile pleaded with the White House for more assistance from the government as the migrant population grows "I have a Republican governor dumping on my city," Adams said last month. "I have a Democratic governor dumping on my city. That is where the national government should have stepped in and said, ‘Wait a minute, let's coordinate this effort.’" Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis had also bused migrants to New York City and Chicago as the migrant crisis swelled in Denver and other areas, but announced a halt to the busing program last month after outcry from Adams and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/02/christian-high-school-withdraws-from-state-tournament-instead-of-facing-team-with-transgender-player/ Christian High School Withdraws From State Tournament Instead Of Facing Team With Transgender Player A girls’ high school basketball team in Vermont made a big decision last week when they opted out of playing in their biggest game of the year. The institution, Mid-Vermont Christian School forfeited their first-round state tournament game against Long Trail because the team didn’t believe it was fair to play against a transgender athlete. They explained that their decision not to compete was based on concerns for player safety and fairness. Vermont state law permits transgender females to play in girls’ sporting leagues and prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. “We believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” a statement from MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg said. “Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.” The state acknowledged the school’s decision and thus, their self-elimination from the postseason proceedings. Vermont’s policy regarding transgender athletes has led to other controversies recently. In October, a middle school soccer coach from Randolph Union High School was suspended after he allegedly ‘misgendered’ a trans student. This action came in the course of him defending his daughter, who said she was uncomfortable with the individual being in the girls’ locker room. Also that month, administrators at the school banned members of the girls’ volleyball team after they also objected to sharing it with a fellow student who is biologically male. That situation lit a fire of controversy surrounding the Randolph school, which lies in a community with a population of fewer than 5,000 people. There were several verbal taunts exchanged, some even leading to threats of violence. Randolph Union High School draws national controversy over decision regarding transgender student...-Play Video 0:00-2:56 While the policy regarding transgender athletes varies on the state level in high school, it has a uniform policy at the next level. Current NCAA rules state that transgender women are allowed to participate in women’s sports after undergoing one year of testosterone suppression. During an April 2021 survey in the United States, 17 percent of male respondents and 24 percent of female respondents strongly supported allowing transgender girls to compete against other female athletes at the high school level.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Friday, March 3rd, 2023. Club Membership Plug: Ladies and gentleman, it’s never been a better time to become a club member at CrossPolitic. This year, CrossPolitic will be dropping exclusive content into our club portal for club members ONLY. Some of this content will include a Bible study series with Pastor Toby, a special with New Saint Andrew’s President, Ben Merkle, our backstage content, and our conference talks! You can grab a club membership for 10 bucks per month… that’s two cups of coffee. So again, head on over to fightlaughfeast.com to get signed up today! That’s fightlaughfeast.com. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2023/03/02/is-iran-less-than-two-weeks-away-from-having-a-nuclear-bomb-n2620152 Could Iran Make a Nuclear Bomb in Less Than Two Weeks? After it was reported this week that Iran had more than 18 times the amount of enriched uranium it was allowed to have under the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Biden administration claimed Iran would need less than two weeks in order to finalize enrichment to produce the material needed for a nuclear bomb. https://twitter.com/i/status/1 630679650249654273 - Play Video Calling Iran's nuclear progress "remarkable," Defense Under Secretary for Policy Colin Kahl told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that "it would take about twelve days" for Iran "to produce one bomb's worth of fissile material." Recent evaluations by the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran has managed to enrich some of its uranium stockpiles to 84 percent, just shy of the 90 percent enrichment needed for fissile material in a nuclear bomb. Kahl, as with everyone else in the Biden administration, sought to place blame for Iran's nuclear progress on the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA — blame the mainstream media quickly repeated — but the 2015 nuclear deal was flawed and mostly served as a massive payday for the murderous regime. What's more, the Biden administration has wasted years trying to negotiate a new deal with Iran, while Biden's own State Department has admitted Iran played the United States by using lengthy and unserious negotiations to continue ramping up its nuclear efforts as it feigned good faith efforts. While President Biden and his administration were apparently content to continue pursuing diplomacy despite Iran using negotiations for its latest kabuki theater production, Israel is taking the threat more seriously and calling for international deterrents to Iran's nuclear ambitions. To that end, Israel's "Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Council chief Tzachi Hanegbi are set to fly out early next week to Washington for talks on progress made in Iran's nuclear program," the Jerusalem Post reports. The situation is even more concerning given the deepening ties between Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea, and the fact that the United States' reaction to all this is being decided by Joe Biden — who has bungled multiple international incidents and hasn't shown himself able to present the United States as a powerful deterrent to bad actors on the world stage. https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2023/03/02/discover-to-track-gun-purchases/ Discover Card to Begin Tracking Gun Purchases in April Beginning in April 2023, Discover will become the first credit card issuer to track gun purchases made by their cardholders. On September 11, 2022, Breitbart News noted that Visa caved to pressure from gun control groups and New York Democrats, agreeing to flag gun and ammo purchases via a new sales categorization. The Associated Press observed that Mastercard and other major credit cards also agreed to flag gun sales. On March 2, 2023, the Independent Journal Review (IJR) reported that Discover will be first among credit card companies to track gun sales, inasmuch as the company will begin doing so in April. IJR explained, “Anyone using a Discover card to make a purchase in a gun store will have that purchase tracked, beginning in April.” There are over 55 million Discover cards in usage, so a lot of information on gun purchases can be gathered via that one company. Reuters pointed out Discover Financial Services was ahead of Visa and Mastercard in February 2023, noting that Discover would “allow its network to track purchases at gun retailers come April, making it the first among its peers to publicly give a date for moving ahead with the initiative, which is aimed at helping authorities probe gun-related crimes.” Discover told Reuters, “We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders.” The code for tracking gun purchases was approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in September 2022, and an ISO representative indicated, “The decision to use the new merchant category code is eventually left up to the users in the industry.” https://www.foxnews.com/us/nyc-spends-nearly-100-million-house-migrants-hotels-after-out-state-busing?intcmp=tw_fnc NYC spends nearly $100 million to house migrants in hotels after out-of-state busing New York City’s public hospital system will spend more than $90 million to house migrants at hotels in the Big Apple through the spring, local reports found. The ​​New York City Health + Hospitals Corporation, which operates public hospitals and clinics in the city, is tasked with overseeing housing for the influx of illegal immigrants. The group’s CEO, Mitchell Katz, has approved spending millions on four hotels to house the migrants in Manhattan, the New York Post reported. Katz approved $40 million to go to the four-star hotel Row NYC near Times Square, another $28 million to the four-star Stewart Hotel near Madison Square Garden, $20 million to the three-star hotel the Watson in Hell’s Kitchen and another $5.8 million to the two-star Wolcott Hotel near the Empire State Building, the Post and online publication The City reported this month. All in, the cost for housing the migrants through the spring of this year sits at $93.8 million. At least 47,600 migrants have inundated the city since last year, including when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending buses of migrants to the city in August amid the ongoing border crisis. There are a total of seven "Humanitarian Response and Relief Centers" in the city, including the four hotels, housing at the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel in Long Island City, one at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal and another at the Holiday Inn in the Financial District. "Since the beginning of this humanitarian crisis, New York City has mounted a multi-agency response to ensure we are meeting our moral obligations and providing compassionate, comprehensive care to those arriving in our city," a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams told The City, "and NYC Health + Hospitals has been key in that response from the start." The housing plans have come with a series of issues, including Row NYC found to throw out nearly a ton of food each day, according to a hotel whistleblower who previously spoke to the Post. While late last month, a group of migrants who were staying at the Watson Hotel in Midtown Manhattan refused to leave the hotel – and even protested by sleeping in the streets – after city officials said they would be housed at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Adams even slept at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal on the coldest night of the year earlier this month in an effort to fend off criticism that the facilities were lackluster. The mayor has meanwhile pleaded with the White House for more assistance from the government as the migrant population grows "I have a Republican governor dumping on my city," Adams said last month. "I have a Democratic governor dumping on my city. That is where the national government should have stepped in and said, ‘Wait a minute, let's coordinate this effort.’" Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis had also bused migrants to New York City and Chicago as the migrant crisis swelled in Denver and other areas, but announced a halt to the busing program last month after outcry from Adams and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://www.boundingintosports.com/2023/02/christian-high-school-withdraws-from-state-tournament-instead-of-facing-team-with-transgender-player/ Christian High School Withdraws From State Tournament Instead Of Facing Team With Transgender Player A girls’ high school basketball team in Vermont made a big decision last week when they opted out of playing in their biggest game of the year. The institution, Mid-Vermont Christian School forfeited their first-round state tournament game against Long Trail because the team didn’t believe it was fair to play against a transgender athlete. They explained that their decision not to compete was based on concerns for player safety and fairness. Vermont state law permits transgender females to play in girls’ sporting leagues and prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. “We believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” a statement from MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg said. “Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.” The state acknowledged the school’s decision and thus, their self-elimination from the postseason proceedings. Vermont’s policy regarding transgender athletes has led to other controversies recently. In October, a middle school soccer coach from Randolph Union High School was suspended after he allegedly ‘misgendered’ a trans student. This action came in the course of him defending his daughter, who said she was uncomfortable with the individual being in the girls’ locker room. Also that month, administrators at the school banned members of the girls’ volleyball team after they also objected to sharing it with a fellow student who is biologically male. That situation lit a fire of controversy surrounding the Randolph school, which lies in a community with a population of fewer than 5,000 people. There were several verbal taunts exchanged, some even leading to threats of violence. Randolph Union High School draws national controversy over decision regarding transgender student...-Play Video 0:00-2:56 While the policy regarding transgender athletes varies on the state level in high school, it has a uniform policy at the next level. Current NCAA rules state that transgender women are allowed to participate in women’s sports after undergoing one year of testosterone suppression. During an April 2021 survey in the United States, 17 percent of male respondents and 24 percent of female respondents strongly supported allowing transgender girls to compete against other female athletes at the high school level.

Helping Businesses Build Better Proposals Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years, one he built from just himself to a team of 12. He then took his passion for sales and proposal writing and created Smart Pricing Table, an interactive proposal software. What problem do you solve? How to build better proposals. Show Notes: Joe started a digital agency and realized that he really had a passion for proposal writing. One big challenge is that proposal writing takes a lot of time. You are excited at first and then you realize you don't really know what to write. Sometimes you spend a few hours on writing the perfect proposal and then your potential client ghosts you. Sometimes we don't know what we are selling. “If there is a mist in the pulpit, there is a fog in the congregation.” If you don't define your service well, you aren't going to charge enough. The vague vortex: If you are vague you often lose. You must define at least a minimum level of the service you are offering so that the client is clear and you aren't sucked into more that you planned. Joe has 5 C's to better proposals: Capitalize with technology. Catalogue your offering. Cater to your customer. Give them options. Confer with your customer. Ask for a proposal meeting. This gives you an opportunity to explain and engage with them. (HAMBAM – Have a meeting. Book a meeting) Continuously improve If you find proposal writing boring, you may not be going about it the right way. Joe Ardeeser's Best Small Business Tip: Join a mastermind or other group. Invest in yourself. Connect with Joe:  Website: smartpricingtable.com You can get 1/2 off the first 2 months if you mention this podcast. LinkedIn Check Out Gary's Full Focus Course. Download the flyer HERE and sign up HERE Learn more about Gary's Mastermind group at goascend.biz/the-mastermind-solution

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief, for Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023. Fight Laugh Feast Conference - Ark Encounter This year, our Fight Laugh Feast Conference is at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky on The Politics of Six Day Creation. The politics of six day creation is the difference between a fixed standard of justice and a careening standard of justice, the difference between the corrosive relativism that creates mobs and anarchy and the freedom of objectivity, truth, and due process. The politics of six day creation establishes the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word for all of life: from what is a man or a woman, when does human life begin, and how is human society best organized? Come hear Ken Ham, Pastor Doug Wilson, Dr. Ben Merkle, Dr. Gordon Wilson, me and more, and of course a live CrossPolitic show! Mark your calendars for October 11th-14th, as we fight, laugh, and feast, with beer & psalms, our amazing lineup of speakers, our Rowdy Christian Merch, and a Sabbath Feast to wrap up the occasion. Maybe an infant baptism while we’re at it? https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/02/21/retailers-to-shut-down-over-800-big-box-stores-as-inflation-anemic-sales-and-interest-rates-create-perfect-storm-n706431 Retailers to Shut Down Over 800 Big-Box Stores as Inflation, Anemic Sales and Interest Rates Create Perfect Storm The retail world continues its downward spiral, as holiday sales failed to meet expectations and wary consumers are keeping their wallets in their pockets due to rampant inflation and soaring interest rates. While 2022 Christmas holiday sales did increase from the prior year; it’s just that expectations were primed for an even higher increase after two years of the pandemic. The end result: over 800 big-box stores are slated to shut down across the country in 2023. Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, Gap, and Party City are among the big names who will be downsizing. Bath & Beyond, which narrowly escaped bankruptcy proceedings earlier this month, is the biggest loser, aiming to cut its number of stores to 480 when it once had over 1,500 locations. At least 416 stores have been identified for closure, along with all 65 of its locations in Canada. Thirty-five will close in California alone. Next up is homegoods outlet Tuesday Morning, which will close 265 stores as it struggles to survive through bankruptcy proceedings. Once again, California will be hardest hit, with 30 stores shutting their doors. Macy’s, Big Lots, JCPenny, and even Amazon Fresh grocery stores also have plans to shutter locations. What’s going on here? CNBC explains: For retailers, the shopping season’s results reflect the challenges ahead. As Americans continue to pay higher prices for groceries, housing and more month after month, they are racking up credit card balances, spending down savings and having fewer dollars for discretionary spending. Plus, retailers are following years of extraordinary spending. During the Covid pandemic, Americans fought boredom and used stimulus checks by buying loungewear, throw pillows, kitchen supplies, home theater systems and more. Party City, the ubiquitous entertainment supply chain, has filed for bankruptcy and is in the process of auctioning off many of its leases. NJBIZ reports: A month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Party City Holdco Inc. is looking to shrink its retail footprint as part of an expedited financial restructuring. In a Feb. 16 filing with U.S. bankruptcy court, the Woodcliff Lake-based operator of 800-plus stores said it is working with A&G Real Estate Partners to auction off leases for 12 underperforming locations in six states. In coming weeks, additional lease auctions will follow, with the total number of closures depending on the outcome of ongoing negotiations with landlords, according to A&G. Unfortunately, this is not a new trend. CVS, Rite-Aid, Kroger, Nordstrom, and Best Buy have also been quietly culling their stores over the last several years. Another factor: many locations are closing simply because they’re not safe to operate as lax laws and woke prosecutors have turned many spots into virtual free-for-alls for organized shoplifters. https://nypost.com/2023/02/21/border-patrol-begs-for-help-after-record-migrant-surge-from-canada/ Border Patrol now begs for help to stop 800% surge of migrants sneaking in from Canada The Border Patrol is begging agents to volunteer in the north after a staggering nearly-850% surge of mostly-Mexican migrants illegally crossing into the US from Canada. The agency’s Swanton Sector in Vermont — covering parts of upstate New York and New Hampshire — requested a “quick turnaround” of agents from the already overwhelmed southern border to make their way north to volunteer for at least a month starting next week. Help is needed to control the “strain caused by the surge” of “primarily Mexican migrants with no legal documents,” Swanton’s Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia wrote in a memo obtained this week by Fox News. “Due to the increased numbers, stations are task saturated with processing large groups, which has contributed” to more migrants being able to slip into the country, the memo notes. The request came a week after Garcia reported that crossings had reached “historic highs” — even as temperatures plummet to deadly lows of minus-four degrees. His sector said that the current fiscal year — which started in October — “demonstrates an approximate 846% increase in encounters and apprehensions compared to the same period” in the previous year. In fact, the first four months of the current fiscal year have seen more encounters than the whole of the previous two years combined. Last month, agents recorded 367 apprehensions and encounters — more than the total of the past 12 Januarys combined, which was 344. The desperate conditions in the south have also seen a steady flow of agents transferred there from the north, creating part of the “vulnerability,” Clem said He blamed electronic travel authorization for allowing migrants to travel “basically visa-free” from Mexico to Canada. The Swanton sector has seen families with young kids, even infants, crossing, and late last year provided life-saving aid in separate incidents in Vermont and upstate New York, Garcia said. https://thepostmillennial.com/don-lemon-to-undergo-formal-training-after-sexist-remarks-about-nikki-haley-will-be-back-on-cnn-wednesday?utm_campaign=64487 Don Lemon to undergo 'formal training' after sexist remarks about Nikki Haley, will be back on CNN Wednesday Don Lemon is set to return to the air on Wednesday after beign removed from CNN This Morning over sexist comments he made about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley's age. https://twitter.com/i/status/1626263301758898176 - Play Video The longtime host will reportedly be taking part in "formal training" to help him understand why what he said was wrong. According to Brian Stelter, CNN CEO Chris Licht sent a memo to staff on Monday outlining the situation. Lemon said in a tweet: The reference I made to a woman’s “prime” this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it. A woman’s age doesn't define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://thepostmillennial.com/project-veritas-hemorrhages-twitter-followers-after-release-of-founder-james-okeefe?utm_campaign=64487 Project Veritas HEMORRHAGES Twitter followers after release of founder James O'Keefe On Monday, Project Veritas lost over 80,000 followers on social media after it was announced company founder James O'Keefe was removed from the organization, which he founded in 2011, after the board placed him on paid leave earlier in February. According to Social Blade, a social media analytics website, the live tally as of 4:30 pm showed Project Veritas had lost almost 80,000 followers on Twitter. Since February 16, on YouTube, Project Veritas has lost over 10,000 followers. A February 6 memo leaked from 16 Project Veritas employees detailed their problems with the news organization's founder and claimed he exhibited "cruel behavior." "James has become a power drunk tyrant and he is exactly who he pontificates on who we should be exposing," wrote one of the employees. Initial reporting on Monday from Neil McCabe of OAN claimed O'Keefe had resigned. Later, RC Maxwell from Project Veritas said O'Keefe was in fact removed from his role as CEO by the Board.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief, for Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023. Fight Laugh Feast Conference - Ark Encounter This year, our Fight Laugh Feast Conference is at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky on The Politics of Six Day Creation. The politics of six day creation is the difference between a fixed standard of justice and a careening standard of justice, the difference between the corrosive relativism that creates mobs and anarchy and the freedom of objectivity, truth, and due process. The politics of six day creation establishes the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word for all of life: from what is a man or a woman, when does human life begin, and how is human society best organized? Come hear Ken Ham, Pastor Doug Wilson, Dr. Ben Merkle, Dr. Gordon Wilson, me and more, and of course a live CrossPolitic show! Mark your calendars for October 11th-14th, as we fight, laugh, and feast, with beer & psalms, our amazing lineup of speakers, our Rowdy Christian Merch, and a Sabbath Feast to wrap up the occasion. Maybe an infant baptism while we’re at it? https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/02/21/retailers-to-shut-down-over-800-big-box-stores-as-inflation-anemic-sales-and-interest-rates-create-perfect-storm-n706431 Retailers to Shut Down Over 800 Big-Box Stores as Inflation, Anemic Sales and Interest Rates Create Perfect Storm The retail world continues its downward spiral, as holiday sales failed to meet expectations and wary consumers are keeping their wallets in their pockets due to rampant inflation and soaring interest rates. While 2022 Christmas holiday sales did increase from the prior year; it’s just that expectations were primed for an even higher increase after two years of the pandemic. The end result: over 800 big-box stores are slated to shut down across the country in 2023. Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, Gap, and Party City are among the big names who will be downsizing. Bath & Beyond, which narrowly escaped bankruptcy proceedings earlier this month, is the biggest loser, aiming to cut its number of stores to 480 when it once had over 1,500 locations. At least 416 stores have been identified for closure, along with all 65 of its locations in Canada. Thirty-five will close in California alone. Next up is homegoods outlet Tuesday Morning, which will close 265 stores as it struggles to survive through bankruptcy proceedings. Once again, California will be hardest hit, with 30 stores shutting their doors. Macy’s, Big Lots, JCPenny, and even Amazon Fresh grocery stores also have plans to shutter locations. What’s going on here? CNBC explains: For retailers, the shopping season’s results reflect the challenges ahead. As Americans continue to pay higher prices for groceries, housing and more month after month, they are racking up credit card balances, spending down savings and having fewer dollars for discretionary spending. Plus, retailers are following years of extraordinary spending. During the Covid pandemic, Americans fought boredom and used stimulus checks by buying loungewear, throw pillows, kitchen supplies, home theater systems and more. Party City, the ubiquitous entertainment supply chain, has filed for bankruptcy and is in the process of auctioning off many of its leases. NJBIZ reports: A month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Party City Holdco Inc. is looking to shrink its retail footprint as part of an expedited financial restructuring. In a Feb. 16 filing with U.S. bankruptcy court, the Woodcliff Lake-based operator of 800-plus stores said it is working with A&G Real Estate Partners to auction off leases for 12 underperforming locations in six states. In coming weeks, additional lease auctions will follow, with the total number of closures depending on the outcome of ongoing negotiations with landlords, according to A&G. Unfortunately, this is not a new trend. CVS, Rite-Aid, Kroger, Nordstrom, and Best Buy have also been quietly culling their stores over the last several years. Another factor: many locations are closing simply because they’re not safe to operate as lax laws and woke prosecutors have turned many spots into virtual free-for-alls for organized shoplifters. https://nypost.com/2023/02/21/border-patrol-begs-for-help-after-record-migrant-surge-from-canada/ Border Patrol now begs for help to stop 800% surge of migrants sneaking in from Canada The Border Patrol is begging agents to volunteer in the north after a staggering nearly-850% surge of mostly-Mexican migrants illegally crossing into the US from Canada. The agency’s Swanton Sector in Vermont — covering parts of upstate New York and New Hampshire — requested a “quick turnaround” of agents from the already overwhelmed southern border to make their way north to volunteer for at least a month starting next week. Help is needed to control the “strain caused by the surge” of “primarily Mexican migrants with no legal documents,” Swanton’s Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia wrote in a memo obtained this week by Fox News. “Due to the increased numbers, stations are task saturated with processing large groups, which has contributed” to more migrants being able to slip into the country, the memo notes. The request came a week after Garcia reported that crossings had reached “historic highs” — even as temperatures plummet to deadly lows of minus-four degrees. His sector said that the current fiscal year — which started in October — “demonstrates an approximate 846% increase in encounters and apprehensions compared to the same period” in the previous year. In fact, the first four months of the current fiscal year have seen more encounters than the whole of the previous two years combined. Last month, agents recorded 367 apprehensions and encounters — more than the total of the past 12 Januarys combined, which was 344. The desperate conditions in the south have also seen a steady flow of agents transferred there from the north, creating part of the “vulnerability,” Clem said He blamed electronic travel authorization for allowing migrants to travel “basically visa-free” from Mexico to Canada. The Swanton sector has seen families with young kids, even infants, crossing, and late last year provided life-saving aid in separate incidents in Vermont and upstate New York, Garcia said. https://thepostmillennial.com/don-lemon-to-undergo-formal-training-after-sexist-remarks-about-nikki-haley-will-be-back-on-cnn-wednesday?utm_campaign=64487 Don Lemon to undergo 'formal training' after sexist remarks about Nikki Haley, will be back on CNN Wednesday Don Lemon is set to return to the air on Wednesday after beign removed from CNN This Morning over sexist comments he made about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley's age. https://twitter.com/i/status/1626263301758898176 - Play Video The longtime host will reportedly be taking part in "formal training" to help him understand why what he said was wrong. According to Brian Stelter, CNN CEO Chris Licht sent a memo to staff on Monday outlining the situation. Lemon said in a tweet: The reference I made to a woman’s “prime” this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it. A woman’s age doesn't define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://thepostmillennial.com/project-veritas-hemorrhages-twitter-followers-after-release-of-founder-james-okeefe?utm_campaign=64487 Project Veritas HEMORRHAGES Twitter followers after release of founder James O'Keefe On Monday, Project Veritas lost over 80,000 followers on social media after it was announced company founder James O'Keefe was removed from the organization, which he founded in 2011, after the board placed him on paid leave earlier in February. According to Social Blade, a social media analytics website, the live tally as of 4:30 pm showed Project Veritas had lost almost 80,000 followers on Twitter. Since February 16, on YouTube, Project Veritas has lost over 10,000 followers. A February 6 memo leaked from 16 Project Veritas employees detailed their problems with the news organization's founder and claimed he exhibited "cruel behavior." "James has become a power drunk tyrant and he is exactly who he pontificates on who we should be exposing," wrote one of the employees. Initial reporting on Monday from Neil McCabe of OAN claimed O'Keefe had resigned. Later, RC Maxwell from Project Veritas said O'Keefe was in fact removed from his role as CEO by the Board.

Marcia talks with sales and proposal writing expert, Joe Andeeser of Smart Pricing Table about how to close more sales by using a proposal. Joe explains that the closing rate increases when the buyer can see the exact breakdown for the services and a clear understanding of the services provided. This is only done by presenting a detailed proposal. But this doesn't have to be hard, with Joe's software, you can have prebuilt 'products' that are commonly used by just dragging and dropping them into your new proposal. This means you can have fully built-out proposals ready in minutes without errors or lost revenue. Joe is offering a free demo of his great & reasonable software so you can test-drive it to see the value it can bring to your sales process. Visit www.SmartPricingTable.com for your demo.   =================   Get Marcia's new book "The Profit Accelerator." She is looking for a few business owners to interview about how her book's 12 strategies would impact your industry. Please, download her book and let her know if you would like to be interviewed. It's currently available for Free. These strategies can help ANY business increase its revenue, profit, and value of their company without having to pay for additional advertising or marketing.   Pick your copy up at www.TrajectoryProfits.com/book-download   =================   Please subscribe & ring the bell for reminders about next week's show.   =================   About Marcia: She is a business growth strategist helping service-based professionals to increase their profits and strengthen their business so that it is worth selling someday. She works closely with her clients to turn their business into an attractive & profitable business asset they can enjoy until they decide it's time to stop. She helps them get a return on their business investment. Marcia is the CEO of Trajectory Consulting & can be found at www.TrajectoryBiz.com   Curious and have questions? Text her @ (949) 229-2112

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Tuesday, January 31st, 2023. We’re already almost into February, can you believe it? Better start your Christmas shopping! Fight Laugh Feast Magazine You know it’s not too late to make a New Year’s Resolutions for 2023. This year, resolve to support hard-hitting, truth-telling, culture-shaping publications and subscribe to the Fight Laugh Feast Magazine. Join our Fight Against an Evil Culture through print media by getting a subscription to the Fight Laugh Feast magazine. The Fight Laugh Feast Magazine is our Rowdy Christian mojo incarnated into print media. While Tech Giants try to Shut Down our avenues to deliver the Truth to you, we are the underground resistance, delivering theologically-driven cultural commentary from faithful and heavy hitting authors - Right to your door! Psalms to Sing, Recipes for Feasting, Humor to Encourage Belly Laughs, serrated theological essays, All to the Glory of God! Sign up your Church, your Grumpy Uncle, The Pope, Elon Musk, and all your kids and grandkids (even if they’re not baptized)! Platinum club members! You get a magazine subscription for free! So if you’re not a club member yet…Sign up today! Four issues are only $60 per year. Go to fightlaughfeast.com right now to subscribe today. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/01/29/minnesota-legislature-passes-barbaric-bill-to-legalize-abortions-up-until-birth-n1666028 Minnesota Legislature Passes Barbaric Bill to Legalize Abortions Up Until Birth The Minnesota state senate passed an abortion rights bill that guarantees a right to an abortion up to the time of birth. The bill, known as the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, passed by a vote of 34-33 and now goes to Gov. Bill Walz’s desk. He has indicated he will sign it. H.F. 1, authored by Sen. Jennifer McEwen, would create a “fundamental right” to abortion and would allow abortions for any reason, even late in pregnancy. Since a fetus can feel pain as young as 20 weeks into gestation and no later than 28-30 weeks, some states have mandated anesthesia for babies to be aborted. Minnesota has no such law. LifeNews: Many amendments that would have made H.F. 1 less extreme were voted down or thwarted. The defeated amendments included ones to protect unborn children in the third trimester (with exceptions), to protect against the barbaric procedure known as partial-birth abortion, to provide the option of anesthesia when unborn children can feel pain, and to protect women’s health by requiring that third-trimester abortions take place in a hospital. Additional abortion-expanding bills have also been introduced at the Capitol. One bill, H.F. 91/S.F. 70, would repeal numerous abortion-related laws, including a law protecting newborns who survive abortion. Backers of the bill claim it only legalizes what was already legal and will codify the “human right” to abortion into law. Fox News: Opponents disagree, arguing the bill establishes a right to abortion up until the moment of birth. Republicans had attempted to amend the bill with “guard rails” that would restrict abortions in the third-trimester, but the newly-elected Democratic majority blocked their amendments. “Today we are not just codifying Roe v. Wade or Doe v. Gomez, as the author has indicated, we are enacting the most extreme bill in the country,” said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks during debate. https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/01/29/finland-introduces-first-transgender-figure-skater-and-things-go-very-badly-n695692 Finland Introduces First 'Transgender' Figure Skater, and Things Go Very Badly Far-left ideology continued to make a mockery of Western civilization over the weekend. Finland, which hosts the European Figure Skating Championships, decided it’d be a great idea to hold an opening ceremony that featured a “transgender” figure skater. As you’ll see, things went very badly. https://twitter.com/i/status/1619560033985130496 Make sure you actually watch the video, because the joke here is not just that this man that is pretending to be a woman fell down. It’s the entire performance. As the clip rolls, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry because it looks like he’s never stepped into an ice rink before. If you strapped skates on some random hobo, I’m pretty sure they could do the same job. As someone quipped on Twitter in response, it’s like watching one of those videos where a football team lets the young kid with cancer score a TD. Except in this case, this isn’t a young kid with cancer. It’s a full-grown man living out his mental illness for all the world to see. Worse, that mental illness is being affirmed as good and proper by entire nations. https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-gates-addresses-jeffrey-epstein-relationship-awkward-interview-i-had-dinner-with-him-thats-all Bill Gates addresses Jeffrey Epstein relationship in awkward interview: 'I had dinner with him and that's all' Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates continued to downplay his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, claiming for the "100th time" they were merely dinner pals. Australia’s ABC 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson noted during an interview with Gates on Monday "one of the issues that dogged" his relationship to ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, was his ties to Epstein. WATCH: Bill Gates says meetings with Jeffrey Epstein were 'a mistake' Epstein died at age 66 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was found hanged to death inside a Manhattan federal jail cell on August 10, 2019. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute who was a minor. https://www.foxnews.com/us/sixth-memphis-police-officer-involved-tyre-nichols-investigation-relieved-duty Sixth Memphis police officer involved in Tyre Nichols investigation relieved of duty The Memphis Police Department has relieved of duty a sixth police officer who was involved in the investigation into Tyre Nichols' death this month. An MPD spokesman confirmed the department relieved Officer Preston Hemphill of duty in a Monday statement to Fox News Digital. The 26-year-old officer joined the force in 2018 and allegedly used his taser on Nichols prior to the beating by five other officers. Preston, who is white, has not yet been charged with a crime in connection to the incident. Memphis police say he is the subject of an ongoing investigation, however. The five other officers, who are black, include Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith. They were each terminated on Jan. 18 and are facing seven counts: second-degree murder; aggravated assault, act in concert; two counts of aggravated kidnapping; two counts of official misconduct; and official oppression. Officials released footage of Nichols' beating on Friday. It shows the five officers punching, kicking, and hitting Nichols with batons as he lies prone on January 7. He died of his injuries in the hospital three days later. In addition to firing the officers, Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis also permanently disbanded the city's so-called Scorpion unit on Saturday. The Unit included the five officers and was focused on preventing and punishing street crime. Nichols' beating and death has led to outrage acrossthe country, with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) requesting to meet directly with President Biden to discuss police reforms. The group will meet with the president Wednesday. https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-pro-life-activist-mark-houck-found-not-guilty-in-philadelphia?utm_campaign=64487 Pro-Life activist Mark Houck found NOT GUILTY in Philadelphia On Monday, a Philadelphia jury found pro-life activist Mark Houck not guilty of violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. According to Life News, Houck testified during the trial that on October 13, 2021, now-former Planned Parenthood Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center escort Bruce Love chased Houck 100 feet down the sidewalk and across the street to stop Houck from counseling two individuals who had left the planned Parenthood location. The two made contact, with Houck moving Love out of the way. In a second incident the same day, Houck and his then-12-year-old son were standing by temselves 50 feet from the clinic entrance and were praying, when Love walked over and stood two feet away from the son and started saying "vile and nasty things." Despite being told by Houck to stop harassing his son and go away, Love did not, which ended in Houck pushing Love away. Charges stemming from the 2021 incident had initially gone through the state court system and was thrown out. The case was picked up by the Biden administration's Department of Justice nearly a year later. On September 23, 2022, Houck's home, where his wife and children were, was swarmed by roughly 15 vehicles and dozens of armed federal SWAT officers. Houck was arrested during the incident. Video evidence shown by the prosecution during the trial reportedly showed Love approaching Houck, who then shoved the 72-year-old back. After the shove, Love fell down. The prosecution alleged that the altercation happened after a previous engagement between the two men, but Planned Parenthood did not save any of their camera footage from the day except the excerpt shown. Speaking outside the courthouse on Monday, Houck thanked those who supported him and his family over the duration of the trial and leading up to it. https://twitter.com/i/status/1620164374118961153 - Play Video Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://www.foxnews.com/sports/djokovic-wins-2023-australian-open-mens-singles-final-sweep-tsitsipas-claims-10th-title Djokovic wins 2023 Australian Open men's singles final with sweep of Tsitsipas, claims 10th title Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic swept Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 to claim the title in the Australian Open men's singles final on Sunday. Djokovic, 35, burst into the major final with a dominating 6-3 win against Greece's Tsitsipas in the opening set. After breaking No. 3 Tsitsipas' serve in the fourth game of set, No. 4 Djokovic jumped to a 3-1 lead and maintained the advantage. The 35-year-old repeated the feat in the third set to take home the victory. Sunday's match marked the second time Djokovic met Tsitsipas in a major final, both ending in a win for the Serbian player. Tsitsipas claimed two sets against Djokovic in 2019, but ultimately lost the match in five. With the win, Djokovic snags the 10th Australian Open title of his career, which comes a year after he wasn't allowed to compete at Melbourne Park because he wasn't vaccinated for COVID-19. The win also marks his 22nd Grand Slam singles title, tying him with Rafael Nadal for the men's record. In addition to the title, Djokovic now moves to the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings. By the way… Bill Gates was in attendance…

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Tuesday, January 31st, 2023. We’re already almost into February, can you believe it? Better start your Christmas shopping! Fight Laugh Feast Magazine You know it’s not too late to make a New Year’s Resolutions for 2023. This year, resolve to support hard-hitting, truth-telling, culture-shaping publications and subscribe to the Fight Laugh Feast Magazine. Join our Fight Against an Evil Culture through print media by getting a subscription to the Fight Laugh Feast magazine. The Fight Laugh Feast Magazine is our Rowdy Christian mojo incarnated into print media. While Tech Giants try to Shut Down our avenues to deliver the Truth to you, we are the underground resistance, delivering theologically-driven cultural commentary from faithful and heavy hitting authors - Right to your door! Psalms to Sing, Recipes for Feasting, Humor to Encourage Belly Laughs, serrated theological essays, All to the Glory of God! Sign up your Church, your Grumpy Uncle, The Pope, Elon Musk, and all your kids and grandkids (even if they’re not baptized)! Platinum club members! You get a magazine subscription for free! So if you’re not a club member yet…Sign up today! Four issues are only $60 per year. Go to fightlaughfeast.com right now to subscribe today. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/01/29/minnesota-legislature-passes-barbaric-bill-to-legalize-abortions-up-until-birth-n1666028 Minnesota Legislature Passes Barbaric Bill to Legalize Abortions Up Until Birth The Minnesota state senate passed an abortion rights bill that guarantees a right to an abortion up to the time of birth. The bill, known as the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, passed by a vote of 34-33 and now goes to Gov. Bill Walz’s desk. He has indicated he will sign it. H.F. 1, authored by Sen. Jennifer McEwen, would create a “fundamental right” to abortion and would allow abortions for any reason, even late in pregnancy. Since a fetus can feel pain as young as 20 weeks into gestation and no later than 28-30 weeks, some states have mandated anesthesia for babies to be aborted. Minnesota has no such law. LifeNews: Many amendments that would have made H.F. 1 less extreme were voted down or thwarted. The defeated amendments included ones to protect unborn children in the third trimester (with exceptions), to protect against the barbaric procedure known as partial-birth abortion, to provide the option of anesthesia when unborn children can feel pain, and to protect women’s health by requiring that third-trimester abortions take place in a hospital. Additional abortion-expanding bills have also been introduced at the Capitol. One bill, H.F. 91/S.F. 70, would repeal numerous abortion-related laws, including a law protecting newborns who survive abortion. Backers of the bill claim it only legalizes what was already legal and will codify the “human right” to abortion into law. Fox News: Opponents disagree, arguing the bill establishes a right to abortion up until the moment of birth. Republicans had attempted to amend the bill with “guard rails” that would restrict abortions in the third-trimester, but the newly-elected Democratic majority blocked their amendments. “Today we are not just codifying Roe v. Wade or Doe v. Gomez, as the author has indicated, we are enacting the most extreme bill in the country,” said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks during debate. https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/01/29/finland-introduces-first-transgender-figure-skater-and-things-go-very-badly-n695692 Finland Introduces First 'Transgender' Figure Skater, and Things Go Very Badly Far-left ideology continued to make a mockery of Western civilization over the weekend. Finland, which hosts the European Figure Skating Championships, decided it’d be a great idea to hold an opening ceremony that featured a “transgender” figure skater. As you’ll see, things went very badly. https://twitter.com/i/status/1619560033985130496 Make sure you actually watch the video, because the joke here is not just that this man that is pretending to be a woman fell down. It’s the entire performance. As the clip rolls, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry because it looks like he’s never stepped into an ice rink before. If you strapped skates on some random hobo, I’m pretty sure they could do the same job. As someone quipped on Twitter in response, it’s like watching one of those videos where a football team lets the young kid with cancer score a TD. Except in this case, this isn’t a young kid with cancer. It’s a full-grown man living out his mental illness for all the world to see. Worse, that mental illness is being affirmed as good and proper by entire nations. https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-gates-addresses-jeffrey-epstein-relationship-awkward-interview-i-had-dinner-with-him-thats-all Bill Gates addresses Jeffrey Epstein relationship in awkward interview: 'I had dinner with him and that's all' Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates continued to downplay his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, claiming for the "100th time" they were merely dinner pals. Australia’s ABC 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson noted during an interview with Gates on Monday "one of the issues that dogged" his relationship to ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, was his ties to Epstein. WATCH: Bill Gates says meetings with Jeffrey Epstein were 'a mistake' Epstein died at age 66 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was found hanged to death inside a Manhattan federal jail cell on August 10, 2019. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute who was a minor. https://www.foxnews.com/us/sixth-memphis-police-officer-involved-tyre-nichols-investigation-relieved-duty Sixth Memphis police officer involved in Tyre Nichols investigation relieved of duty The Memphis Police Department has relieved of duty a sixth police officer who was involved in the investigation into Tyre Nichols' death this month. An MPD spokesman confirmed the department relieved Officer Preston Hemphill of duty in a Monday statement to Fox News Digital. The 26-year-old officer joined the force in 2018 and allegedly used his taser on Nichols prior to the beating by five other officers. Preston, who is white, has not yet been charged with a crime in connection to the incident. Memphis police say he is the subject of an ongoing investigation, however. The five other officers, who are black, include Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith. They were each terminated on Jan. 18 and are facing seven counts: second-degree murder; aggravated assault, act in concert; two counts of aggravated kidnapping; two counts of official misconduct; and official oppression. Officials released footage of Nichols' beating on Friday. It shows the five officers punching, kicking, and hitting Nichols with batons as he lies prone on January 7. He died of his injuries in the hospital three days later. In addition to firing the officers, Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis also permanently disbanded the city's so-called Scorpion unit on Saturday. The Unit included the five officers and was focused on preventing and punishing street crime. Nichols' beating and death has led to outrage acrossthe country, with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) requesting to meet directly with President Biden to discuss police reforms. The group will meet with the president Wednesday. https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-pro-life-activist-mark-houck-found-not-guilty-in-philadelphia?utm_campaign=64487 Pro-Life activist Mark Houck found NOT GUILTY in Philadelphia On Monday, a Philadelphia jury found pro-life activist Mark Houck not guilty of violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. According to Life News, Houck testified during the trial that on October 13, 2021, now-former Planned Parenthood Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center escort Bruce Love chased Houck 100 feet down the sidewalk and across the street to stop Houck from counseling two individuals who had left the planned Parenthood location. The two made contact, with Houck moving Love out of the way. In a second incident the same day, Houck and his then-12-year-old son were standing by temselves 50 feet from the clinic entrance and were praying, when Love walked over and stood two feet away from the son and started saying "vile and nasty things." Despite being told by Houck to stop harassing his son and go away, Love did not, which ended in Houck pushing Love away. Charges stemming from the 2021 incident had initially gone through the state court system and was thrown out. The case was picked up by the Biden administration's Department of Justice nearly a year later. On September 23, 2022, Houck's home, where his wife and children were, was swarmed by roughly 15 vehicles and dozens of armed federal SWAT officers. Houck was arrested during the incident. Video evidence shown by the prosecution during the trial reportedly showed Love approaching Houck, who then shoved the 72-year-old back. After the shove, Love fell down. The prosecution alleged that the altercation happened after a previous engagement between the two men, but Planned Parenthood did not save any of their camera footage from the day except the excerpt shown. Speaking outside the courthouse on Monday, Houck thanked those who supported him and his family over the duration of the trial and leading up to it. https://twitter.com/i/status/1620164374118961153 - Play Video Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://www.foxnews.com/sports/djokovic-wins-2023-australian-open-mens-singles-final-sweep-tsitsipas-claims-10th-title Djokovic wins 2023 Australian Open men's singles final with sweep of Tsitsipas, claims 10th title Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic swept Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 to claim the title in the Australian Open men's singles final on Sunday. Djokovic, 35, burst into the major final with a dominating 6-3 win against Greece's Tsitsipas in the opening set. After breaking No. 3 Tsitsipas' serve in the fourth game of set, No. 4 Djokovic jumped to a 3-1 lead and maintained the advantage. The 35-year-old repeated the feat in the third set to take home the victory. Sunday's match marked the second time Djokovic met Tsitsipas in a major final, both ending in a win for the Serbian player. Tsitsipas claimed two sets against Djokovic in 2019, but ultimately lost the match in five. With the win, Djokovic snags the 10th Australian Open title of his career, which comes a year after he wasn't allowed to compete at Melbourne Park because he wasn't vaccinated for COVID-19. The win also marks his 22nd Grand Slam singles title, tying him with Rafael Nadal for the men's record. In addition to the title, Djokovic now moves to the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings. By the way… Bill Gates was in attendance…

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Tuesday, January 31st, 2023. We’re already almost into February, can you believe it? Better start your Christmas shopping! Fight Laugh Feast Magazine You know it’s not too late to make a New Year’s Resolutions for 2023. This year, resolve to support hard-hitting, truth-telling, culture-shaping publications and subscribe to the Fight Laugh Feast Magazine. Join our Fight Against an Evil Culture through print media by getting a subscription to the Fight Laugh Feast magazine. The Fight Laugh Feast Magazine is our Rowdy Christian mojo incarnated into print media. While Tech Giants try to Shut Down our avenues to deliver the Truth to you, we are the underground resistance, delivering theologically-driven cultural commentary from faithful and heavy hitting authors - Right to your door! Psalms to Sing, Recipes for Feasting, Humor to Encourage Belly Laughs, serrated theological essays, All to the Glory of God! Sign up your Church, your Grumpy Uncle, The Pope, Elon Musk, and all your kids and grandkids (even if they’re not baptized)! Platinum club members! You get a magazine subscription for free! So if you’re not a club member yet…Sign up today! Four issues are only $60 per year. Go to fightlaughfeast.com right now to subscribe today. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/01/29/minnesota-legislature-passes-barbaric-bill-to-legalize-abortions-up-until-birth-n1666028 Minnesota Legislature Passes Barbaric Bill to Legalize Abortions Up Until Birth The Minnesota state senate passed an abortion rights bill that guarantees a right to an abortion up to the time of birth. The bill, known as the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, passed by a vote of 34-33 and now goes to Gov. Bill Walz’s desk. He has indicated he will sign it. H.F. 1, authored by Sen. Jennifer McEwen, would create a “fundamental right” to abortion and would allow abortions for any reason, even late in pregnancy. Since a fetus can feel pain as young as 20 weeks into gestation and no later than 28-30 weeks, some states have mandated anesthesia for babies to be aborted. Minnesota has no such law. LifeNews: Many amendments that would have made H.F. 1 less extreme were voted down or thwarted. The defeated amendments included ones to protect unborn children in the third trimester (with exceptions), to protect against the barbaric procedure known as partial-birth abortion, to provide the option of anesthesia when unborn children can feel pain, and to protect women’s health by requiring that third-trimester abortions take place in a hospital. Additional abortion-expanding bills have also been introduced at the Capitol. One bill, H.F. 91/S.F. 70, would repeal numerous abortion-related laws, including a law protecting newborns who survive abortion. Backers of the bill claim it only legalizes what was already legal and will codify the “human right” to abortion into law. Fox News: Opponents disagree, arguing the bill establishes a right to abortion up until the moment of birth. Republicans had attempted to amend the bill with “guard rails” that would restrict abortions in the third-trimester, but the newly-elected Democratic majority blocked their amendments. “Today we are not just codifying Roe v. Wade or Doe v. Gomez, as the author has indicated, we are enacting the most extreme bill in the country,” said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks during debate. https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/01/29/finland-introduces-first-transgender-figure-skater-and-things-go-very-badly-n695692 Finland Introduces First 'Transgender' Figure Skater, and Things Go Very Badly Far-left ideology continued to make a mockery of Western civilization over the weekend. Finland, which hosts the European Figure Skating Championships, decided it’d be a great idea to hold an opening ceremony that featured a “transgender” figure skater. As you’ll see, things went very badly. https://twitter.com/i/status/1619560033985130496 Make sure you actually watch the video, because the joke here is not just that this man that is pretending to be a woman fell down. It’s the entire performance. As the clip rolls, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry because it looks like he’s never stepped into an ice rink before. If you strapped skates on some random hobo, I’m pretty sure they could do the same job. As someone quipped on Twitter in response, it’s like watching one of those videos where a football team lets the young kid with cancer score a TD. Except in this case, this isn’t a young kid with cancer. It’s a full-grown man living out his mental illness for all the world to see. Worse, that mental illness is being affirmed as good and proper by entire nations. https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-gates-addresses-jeffrey-epstein-relationship-awkward-interview-i-had-dinner-with-him-thats-all Bill Gates addresses Jeffrey Epstein relationship in awkward interview: 'I had dinner with him and that's all' Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates continued to downplay his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, claiming for the "100th time" they were merely dinner pals. Australia’s ABC 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson noted during an interview with Gates on Monday "one of the issues that dogged" his relationship to ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, was his ties to Epstein. WATCH: Bill Gates says meetings with Jeffrey Epstein were 'a mistake' Epstein died at age 66 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was found hanged to death inside a Manhattan federal jail cell on August 10, 2019. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute who was a minor. https://www.foxnews.com/us/sixth-memphis-police-officer-involved-tyre-nichols-investigation-relieved-duty Sixth Memphis police officer involved in Tyre Nichols investigation relieved of duty The Memphis Police Department has relieved of duty a sixth police officer who was involved in the investigation into Tyre Nichols' death this month. An MPD spokesman confirmed the department relieved Officer Preston Hemphill of duty in a Monday statement to Fox News Digital. The 26-year-old officer joined the force in 2018 and allegedly used his taser on Nichols prior to the beating by five other officers. Preston, who is white, has not yet been charged with a crime in connection to the incident. Memphis police say he is the subject of an ongoing investigation, however. The five other officers, who are black, include Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith. They were each terminated on Jan. 18 and are facing seven counts: second-degree murder; aggravated assault, act in concert; two counts of aggravated kidnapping; two counts of official misconduct; and official oppression. Officials released footage of Nichols' beating on Friday. It shows the five officers punching, kicking, and hitting Nichols with batons as he lies prone on January 7. He died of his injuries in the hospital three days later. In addition to firing the officers, Police Director Cerelyn "CJ" Davis also permanently disbanded the city's so-called Scorpion unit on Saturday. The Unit included the five officers and was focused on preventing and punishing street crime. Nichols' beating and death has led to outrage acrossthe country, with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) requesting to meet directly with President Biden to discuss police reforms. The group will meet with the president Wednesday. https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-pro-life-activist-mark-houck-found-not-guilty-in-philadelphia?utm_campaign=64487 Pro-Life activist Mark Houck found NOT GUILTY in Philadelphia On Monday, a Philadelphia jury found pro-life activist Mark Houck not guilty of violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. According to Life News, Houck testified during the trial that on October 13, 2021, now-former Planned Parenthood Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center escort Bruce Love chased Houck 100 feet down the sidewalk and across the street to stop Houck from counseling two individuals who had left the planned Parenthood location. The two made contact, with Houck moving Love out of the way. In a second incident the same day, Houck and his then-12-year-old son were standing by temselves 50 feet from the clinic entrance and were praying, when Love walked over and stood two feet away from the son and started saying "vile and nasty things." Despite being told by Houck to stop harassing his son and go away, Love did not, which ended in Houck pushing Love away. Charges stemming from the 2021 incident had initially gone through the state court system and was thrown out. The case was picked up by the Biden administration's Department of Justice nearly a year later. On September 23, 2022, Houck's home, where his wife and children were, was swarmed by roughly 15 vehicles and dozens of armed federal SWAT officers. Houck was arrested during the incident. Video evidence shown by the prosecution during the trial reportedly showed Love approaching Houck, who then shoved the 72-year-old back. After the shove, Love fell down. The prosecution alleged that the altercation happened after a previous engagement between the two men, but Planned Parenthood did not save any of their camera footage from the day except the excerpt shown. Speaking outside the courthouse on Monday, Houck thanked those who supported him and his family over the duration of the trial and leading up to it. https://twitter.com/i/status/1620164374118961153 - Play Video Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://www.foxnews.com/sports/djokovic-wins-2023-australian-open-mens-singles-final-sweep-tsitsipas-claims-10th-title Djokovic wins 2023 Australian Open men's singles final with sweep of Tsitsipas, claims 10th title Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic swept Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 to claim the title in the Australian Open men's singles final on Sunday. Djokovic, 35, burst into the major final with a dominating 6-3 win against Greece's Tsitsipas in the opening set. After breaking No. 3 Tsitsipas' serve in the fourth game of set, No. 4 Djokovic jumped to a 3-1 lead and maintained the advantage. The 35-year-old repeated the feat in the third set to take home the victory. Sunday's match marked the second time Djokovic met Tsitsipas in a major final, both ending in a win for the Serbian player. Tsitsipas claimed two sets against Djokovic in 2019, but ultimately lost the match in five. With the win, Djokovic snags the 10th Australian Open title of his career, which comes a year after he wasn't allowed to compete at Melbourne Park because he wasn't vaccinated for COVID-19. The win also marks his 22nd Grand Slam singles title, tying him with Rafael Nadal for the men's record. In addition to the title, Djokovic now moves to the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings. By the way… Bill Gates was in attendance…

Joe Ardeeser is a Founder and CEO of Smart Pricing Table, which is an interactive business-to-business proposal software. He has been a digital agency owner for 12 years. Joe has worked as a developer, senior designer, VP of customer support, and managing member. In today's expert insight interview, John and Joe Ardeeser discuss "Proposal Writing."

In this episode, Phillip Lanos and Jason Miller are joined by Joe Ardeeser, Founder and CEO of Smart Pricing Table. Joe Ardeeser is a former digital agency owner of 12 years and a proposal software SaaS company founder. Tune in to learn more!For more go to: www.strategicadvisorboard.comConnect:Strategic Advisor Board: www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-advisor-boardJason Miller: www.linkedin.com/in/jasontmiller-sabPhillip Lanos: www.linkedin.com/in/philliplanosJoe ArdeeserLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joeardeeserwebsite: www.smartpricingtable.com

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Tuesday, December 6th, 2022. I hope you all had a good weekend with you and yours! Now let’s get you caught up on the news: But before we do that, have you heard of Smart Pricing Table? Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-ccp-linked-hackers-stole-20-million-in-covid-benefits?utm_campaign=64487 CCP-linked hackers stole $20 MILLION in Covid benefits from US The Secret Service announced that hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million in U.S. Covid relief funds, primarily those meant to help small businesses and unemployed Americans, NBC reports. The theft from the Chengdu-based hacking group which goes by the name APT41 is the first instance of pandemic fraud tied to a foreign government that the U.S. has publicly acknowledged, and it may just be the tip of the iceberg. The secret service declined to comment on any other potential instances of state-sponsored fraud, but said that there are more than 1,000 ongoing investigations into the stealing of Covid relief funds involving domestic and international cyber criminals, acknowledging that APT41 is "a notable player." It is unclear at this point whether the Chinese government directed APT41 to commit this fraud or simply looked the other way. "I've never seen them target government money before," the head of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, John Hultquist said. "That would be an escalation." The Secret Service considers APT41 to be a "Chinese state-sponsored, cyber threat group that is highly adept at conducting espionage missions and financial crimes for personal gain." Officials believe that the primary purpose of state-sponsored groups like this is to gather sensitive information from American individuals, businesses, and institutions that could be used by the Chinese for espionage purposes. At this point in time, law enforcement officials and counterintelligence experts and almost certain that every American has had all or most of their personal data taken by the Chinese government in one way or another. Labor Department Office of Inspector General has estimated that more than $160 billion of the $872.5 billion set aside for Federal pandemic unemployment funds has potentially been siphoned off by cybercriminals, though some individual states estimate higher amounts. There are other estimates that put that number as high as $350 billion. https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-country-considers-banning-electric-vehicle-travel-amid-energy-crisis-report European Country Considers Banning Electric Vehicle Travel Amid Energy Crisis: Report Switzerland is considering banning electric vehicles for non-essential travel this winter as the continent deals with an energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Telegraph reported that government officials have already drafted plans to conserve energy that could include limiting heat in buildings to no more than 68 degrees Fahrenheit and reducing the number of hours stores can be open. Stricter measures could be enacted, including banning large indoor gatherings like sporting events, concerts, and theatre events, the report said. Switzerland relies heavily on hydroelectric power, which constitutes nearly two-thirds of its energy supply, the excess of which it exports during the time of year that it can generate the most electricity from rain and snowfall, the report said. It then typically is forced to import energy during the rest of the year as its nuclear resources, which it has been working to phase out, and its fossil fuel resources are not enough to meet demand. The country has created a two-tier system for dealing with the energy shortage: emergency and crisis. When in the “emergency” tier, there are three levels of restrictions, and in the “crisis” tier, there are two levels. Electric vehicles would face restrictions in the third level of the emergency tier. In late August, officials in California unveiled a plan to phase out new gas-powered cars and days later asked residents to avoid charging their electric vehicles in the interest of not overwhelming the power grid during a heat wave. The warnings of low grid capacity came days after the California Air Resources Board issued new rules requiring 35% of new vehicles to produce zero emissions by 2026 — a standard that will rise to a 68% benchmark by 2030 and a 100% level by 2035. Yet experts have warned that the state’s electric grid will require significant upgrades to manage a rapid transition away from internal combustion vehicles. “Today, most people charge their electric cars when they come home in the evening — when electricity demand is typically at its peak,” according to researchers at Cornell University’s College of Engineering. “If left unmanaged, the power demanded from many electric vehicles charging simultaneously in the evening will amplify existing peak loads, potentially outstripping the grid’s current capacity to meet demand.” https://www.foxnews.com/politics/canada-offered-assisted-suicide-paralympian-veteran-wanted-wheelchair-lift-installed-report Canada offered assisted suicide to a Paralympian veteran who wanted a wheelchair lift installed Canada's Veterans Affairs office offered to assist a Paralympian and veteran to commit suicide when she sought to have a wheelchair lift installed in her home, the woman told lawmakers last week. Christine Gauthier, a 52-year-old retired corporal who competed in the 2016 Paralympics at Rio De Janeiro, testified to lawmakers that a VA official had offered — in writing — to provide her with a medically-assisted suicide kit. The case officer remains unnamed but reportedly made similar offers to at least three other veterans, according to the Independent. "I have a letter saying that if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying," Gauthier said in a hearing before the House of Commons veterans affairs committee. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the incident in a public statement on Friday after Gauthier said she personally wrote him a letter on the issue. "We are following up with investigations and we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are supposed to be there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying," Trudeau said. Canada first approved medically-assisted suicide in 2016, and the parameters around allowing it have since loosened. The law originally legalized assisted suicide only for those facing imminent death, but it now also includes those who suffered severe pain or disabilities, according to the Independent. Gauthier's story comes just weeks after a Canadian fashion company glorified assisted suicide in a commercial. Canadian fashion company La Maison Simons promoted the "beauty" in voluntary euthanasia in a promotional video titled "All is Beauty." The ad includes a voiceover from Jennyfer Hatch, a 37-year-old Canadian woman who voluntarily euthanized herself after suffering from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Simons says that the ad aimed to "help people to reconnect to each other and to this hope and optimism," which he says "is going to be needed if we're going to build the sort of communities and spaces where we want to live and that are enjoyable to live in." "The ‘All is Beauty’ campaign has come to an end this week. Simons is now entering their annual holiday sprint," a spokesperson for Simons told Fox News Digital. "In this context, all of their teams' efforts are focused on in-store and web holiday activities." https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-michael-avenatti-sentenced-to-168-months?utm_campaign=64487 Michael Avenatti sentenced to 168 months Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti has been sentenced to 168 months in prison for four counts of wire fraud. This 14 year sentence is in addition to the five years he is currently serving for other charges, including stealing almost $300,000 in book-advance money from his then-client Stormy Daniels In June, Avenatti plead guilty to four counts of wire fraud and a single count of tax fraud, and admitted to misappropriating funds from clients totaling around $10 million. During his sentencing on Monday, Avenatti appeared solemn, often keeping his head down and hands in front if him while hearing statements from two of his victims, according to Law and Crime News' senior reporter Meghann Cuniff, who was documenting the proceedings. "It is now time to pay his debts to the victims, the government and society," the Judge said, right before sentencing him. Avenatti became widely known across the country as the lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in her failed lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, after it was revealed that she was paid $130,000 in hush money before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump years earlier Dubbed the "creepy porn lawyer" by Tucker Carlson, Avenatti was the darling of the mainstream media for a time, seen as a hero "David" for going after "Goliath" Trump, before Avenatti's fall from grace. In July of 2021, he was also convicted of extortion after trying to get Nike to pay him $25 million that he claimed he was owed on behalf of a Los Angeles youth basketball team. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and wept hysterically in response. On top of the numerous fraud charges against him, he also admitted to blocking IRS efforts to collect unpaid payroll taxes of an estimated $5 million, include payroll taxes that had been withheld from employee paychecks of a Tully's Coffee operated by an Avenatti-owned company. Accountable2You Is your smartphone a tool in the service of Christ, or a minefield of distractions and temptations? With soul-killing seductions just a few taps away, our families and churches must embrace biblical accountability on our digital devices. Accountable2You makes transparency easy on all your family's devices, by sharing app usage and detailed browsing history—including "Incognito" mode—with your spouse, parent, or chosen accountability partner. Accountable2You helps your family to proactively guard against temptation, so you can live with integrity for God's glory! Learn more and try it for free at Accountable2You.com/FLF https://www.theblaze.com/news/man-thrown-over-the-side-of-a-bridge-after-chargers-game-in-wild-incident-caught-on-video-says-his-attacker-has-still-not-been-arrested-by-police Man thrown over the side of a bridge after Chargers game in wild incident caught on video says his attacker has still not been arrested by police A man who was caught on video being thrown over the side of a footbridge while exiting a Los Angeles Chargers on November 20th is speaking out, blasting police for not arresting his attacker and saying he no longer feels safe attending games at SoFi Stadium. In the video, the man, who has been identified as Austin Willenbring, can be seen in a shoving altercation with some unknown individuals, who eventually lift him up and throw him over the side of the bridge railing to a concrete walkway below. In the video, the men can be seen then dragging Willenbring to the railing before throwing him over. Willenbring says that he suffered serious injuries as a result of his fall, including a concussion and broken ribs. Even still, he says that he and his sister were able to track down and identify the men who had thrown him over the railing, and even though they were able to make a positive ID to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies, and had video of the entire incident, police refused to make an arrest. WCAL also reports that there is no record that the man identified by Willenbring has yet been arrested by police or charged with any crime in connection with the incident. Inglewood police told WCAL they are "still investigating" the incident, and Inglewood mayor James Butts defended the city's response to the incident, saying, "Here's the reality: When you have hundreds of thousands of people in one place, when you have alcohol involved, you're gonna have fights. It's an unfortunate fact of life. We have to put things in perspective, six million patrons in three years, three altercations." Willenbring says that he plans to cancel his season ticket package because he no longer feels safe going to games.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Tuesday, December 6th, 2022. I hope you all had a good weekend with you and yours! Now let’s get you caught up on the news: But before we do that, have you heard of Smart Pricing Table? Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-ccp-linked-hackers-stole-20-million-in-covid-benefits?utm_campaign=64487 CCP-linked hackers stole $20 MILLION in Covid benefits from US The Secret Service announced that hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million in U.S. Covid relief funds, primarily those meant to help small businesses and unemployed Americans, NBC reports. The theft from the Chengdu-based hacking group which goes by the name APT41 is the first instance of pandemic fraud tied to a foreign government that the U.S. has publicly acknowledged, and it may just be the tip of the iceberg. The secret service declined to comment on any other potential instances of state-sponsored fraud, but said that there are more than 1,000 ongoing investigations into the stealing of Covid relief funds involving domestic and international cyber criminals, acknowledging that APT41 is "a notable player." It is unclear at this point whether the Chinese government directed APT41 to commit this fraud or simply looked the other way. "I've never seen them target government money before," the head of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, John Hultquist said. "That would be an escalation." The Secret Service considers APT41 to be a "Chinese state-sponsored, cyber threat group that is highly adept at conducting espionage missions and financial crimes for personal gain." Officials believe that the primary purpose of state-sponsored groups like this is to gather sensitive information from American individuals, businesses, and institutions that could be used by the Chinese for espionage purposes. At this point in time, law enforcement officials and counterintelligence experts and almost certain that every American has had all or most of their personal data taken by the Chinese government in one way or another. Labor Department Office of Inspector General has estimated that more than $160 billion of the $872.5 billion set aside for Federal pandemic unemployment funds has potentially been siphoned off by cybercriminals, though some individual states estimate higher amounts. There are other estimates that put that number as high as $350 billion. https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-country-considers-banning-electric-vehicle-travel-amid-energy-crisis-report European Country Considers Banning Electric Vehicle Travel Amid Energy Crisis: Report Switzerland is considering banning electric vehicles for non-essential travel this winter as the continent deals with an energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Telegraph reported that government officials have already drafted plans to conserve energy that could include limiting heat in buildings to no more than 68 degrees Fahrenheit and reducing the number of hours stores can be open. Stricter measures could be enacted, including banning large indoor gatherings like sporting events, concerts, and theatre events, the report said. Switzerland relies heavily on hydroelectric power, which constitutes nearly two-thirds of its energy supply, the excess of which it exports during the time of year that it can generate the most electricity from rain and snowfall, the report said. It then typically is forced to import energy during the rest of the year as its nuclear resources, which it has been working to phase out, and its fossil fuel resources are not enough to meet demand. The country has created a two-tier system for dealing with the energy shortage: emergency and crisis. When in the “emergency” tier, there are three levels of restrictions, and in the “crisis” tier, there are two levels. Electric vehicles would face restrictions in the third level of the emergency tier. In late August, officials in California unveiled a plan to phase out new gas-powered cars and days later asked residents to avoid charging their electric vehicles in the interest of not overwhelming the power grid during a heat wave. The warnings of low grid capacity came days after the California Air Resources Board issued new rules requiring 35% of new vehicles to produce zero emissions by 2026 — a standard that will rise to a 68% benchmark by 2030 and a 100% level by 2035. Yet experts have warned that the state’s electric grid will require significant upgrades to manage a rapid transition away from internal combustion vehicles. “Today, most people charge their electric cars when they come home in the evening — when electricity demand is typically at its peak,” according to researchers at Cornell University’s College of Engineering. “If left unmanaged, the power demanded from many electric vehicles charging simultaneously in the evening will amplify existing peak loads, potentially outstripping the grid’s current capacity to meet demand.” https://www.foxnews.com/politics/canada-offered-assisted-suicide-paralympian-veteran-wanted-wheelchair-lift-installed-report Canada offered assisted suicide to a Paralympian veteran who wanted a wheelchair lift installed Canada's Veterans Affairs office offered to assist a Paralympian and veteran to commit suicide when she sought to have a wheelchair lift installed in her home, the woman told lawmakers last week. Christine Gauthier, a 52-year-old retired corporal who competed in the 2016 Paralympics at Rio De Janeiro, testified to lawmakers that a VA official had offered — in writing — to provide her with a medically-assisted suicide kit. The case officer remains unnamed but reportedly made similar offers to at least three other veterans, according to the Independent. "I have a letter saying that if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying," Gauthier said in a hearing before the House of Commons veterans affairs committee. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the incident in a public statement on Friday after Gauthier said she personally wrote him a letter on the issue. "We are following up with investigations and we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are supposed to be there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying," Trudeau said. Canada first approved medically-assisted suicide in 2016, and the parameters around allowing it have since loosened. The law originally legalized assisted suicide only for those facing imminent death, but it now also includes those who suffered severe pain or disabilities, according to the Independent. Gauthier's story comes just weeks after a Canadian fashion company glorified assisted suicide in a commercial. Canadian fashion company La Maison Simons promoted the "beauty" in voluntary euthanasia in a promotional video titled "All is Beauty." The ad includes a voiceover from Jennyfer Hatch, a 37-year-old Canadian woman who voluntarily euthanized herself after suffering from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Simons says that the ad aimed to "help people to reconnect to each other and to this hope and optimism," which he says "is going to be needed if we're going to build the sort of communities and spaces where we want to live and that are enjoyable to live in." "The ‘All is Beauty’ campaign has come to an end this week. Simons is now entering their annual holiday sprint," a spokesperson for Simons told Fox News Digital. "In this context, all of their teams' efforts are focused on in-store and web holiday activities." https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-michael-avenatti-sentenced-to-168-months?utm_campaign=64487 Michael Avenatti sentenced to 168 months Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti has been sentenced to 168 months in prison for four counts of wire fraud. This 14 year sentence is in addition to the five years he is currently serving for other charges, including stealing almost $300,000 in book-advance money from his then-client Stormy Daniels In June, Avenatti plead guilty to four counts of wire fraud and a single count of tax fraud, and admitted to misappropriating funds from clients totaling around $10 million. During his sentencing on Monday, Avenatti appeared solemn, often keeping his head down and hands in front if him while hearing statements from two of his victims, according to Law and Crime News' senior reporter Meghann Cuniff, who was documenting the proceedings. "It is now time to pay his debts to the victims, the government and society," the Judge said, right before sentencing him. Avenatti became widely known across the country as the lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in her failed lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, after it was revealed that she was paid $130,000 in hush money before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump years earlier Dubbed the "creepy porn lawyer" by Tucker Carlson, Avenatti was the darling of the mainstream media for a time, seen as a hero "David" for going after "Goliath" Trump, before Avenatti's fall from grace. In July of 2021, he was also convicted of extortion after trying to get Nike to pay him $25 million that he claimed he was owed on behalf of a Los Angeles youth basketball team. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and wept hysterically in response. On top of the numerous fraud charges against him, he also admitted to blocking IRS efforts to collect unpaid payroll taxes of an estimated $5 million, include payroll taxes that had been withheld from employee paychecks of a Tully's Coffee operated by an Avenatti-owned company. Accountable2You Is your smartphone a tool in the service of Christ, or a minefield of distractions and temptations? With soul-killing seductions just a few taps away, our families and churches must embrace biblical accountability on our digital devices. Accountable2You makes transparency easy on all your family's devices, by sharing app usage and detailed browsing history—including "Incognito" mode—with your spouse, parent, or chosen accountability partner. Accountable2You helps your family to proactively guard against temptation, so you can live with integrity for God's glory! Learn more and try it for free at Accountable2You.com/FLF https://www.theblaze.com/news/man-thrown-over-the-side-of-a-bridge-after-chargers-game-in-wild-incident-caught-on-video-says-his-attacker-has-still-not-been-arrested-by-police Man thrown over the side of a bridge after Chargers game in wild incident caught on video says his attacker has still not been arrested by police A man who was caught on video being thrown over the side of a footbridge while exiting a Los Angeles Chargers on November 20th is speaking out, blasting police for not arresting his attacker and saying he no longer feels safe attending games at SoFi Stadium. In the video, the man, who has been identified as Austin Willenbring, can be seen in a shoving altercation with some unknown individuals, who eventually lift him up and throw him over the side of the bridge railing to a concrete walkway below. In the video, the men can be seen then dragging Willenbring to the railing before throwing him over. Willenbring says that he suffered serious injuries as a result of his fall, including a concussion and broken ribs. Even still, he says that he and his sister were able to track down and identify the men who had thrown him over the railing, and even though they were able to make a positive ID to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies, and had video of the entire incident, police refused to make an arrest. WCAL also reports that there is no record that the man identified by Willenbring has yet been arrested by police or charged with any crime in connection with the incident. Inglewood police told WCAL they are "still investigating" the incident, and Inglewood mayor James Butts defended the city's response to the incident, saying, "Here's the reality: When you have hundreds of thousands of people in one place, when you have alcohol involved, you're gonna have fights. It's an unfortunate fact of life. We have to put things in perspective, six million patrons in three years, three altercations." Willenbring says that he plans to cancel his season ticket package because he no longer feels safe going to games.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily Newsbrief for Tuesday, December 6th, 2022. I hope you all had a good weekend with you and yours! Now let’s get you caught up on the news: But before we do that, have you heard of Smart Pricing Table? Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-ccp-linked-hackers-stole-20-million-in-covid-benefits?utm_campaign=64487 CCP-linked hackers stole $20 MILLION in Covid benefits from US The Secret Service announced that hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million in U.S. Covid relief funds, primarily those meant to help small businesses and unemployed Americans, NBC reports. The theft from the Chengdu-based hacking group which goes by the name APT41 is the first instance of pandemic fraud tied to a foreign government that the U.S. has publicly acknowledged, and it may just be the tip of the iceberg. The secret service declined to comment on any other potential instances of state-sponsored fraud, but said that there are more than 1,000 ongoing investigations into the stealing of Covid relief funds involving domestic and international cyber criminals, acknowledging that APT41 is "a notable player." It is unclear at this point whether the Chinese government directed APT41 to commit this fraud or simply looked the other way. "I've never seen them target government money before," the head of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, John Hultquist said. "That would be an escalation." The Secret Service considers APT41 to be a "Chinese state-sponsored, cyber threat group that is highly adept at conducting espionage missions and financial crimes for personal gain." Officials believe that the primary purpose of state-sponsored groups like this is to gather sensitive information from American individuals, businesses, and institutions that could be used by the Chinese for espionage purposes. At this point in time, law enforcement officials and counterintelligence experts and almost certain that every American has had all or most of their personal data taken by the Chinese government in one way or another. Labor Department Office of Inspector General has estimated that more than $160 billion of the $872.5 billion set aside for Federal pandemic unemployment funds has potentially been siphoned off by cybercriminals, though some individual states estimate higher amounts. There are other estimates that put that number as high as $350 billion. https://www.dailywire.com/news/european-country-considers-banning-electric-vehicle-travel-amid-energy-crisis-report European Country Considers Banning Electric Vehicle Travel Amid Energy Crisis: Report Switzerland is considering banning electric vehicles for non-essential travel this winter as the continent deals with an energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Telegraph reported that government officials have already drafted plans to conserve energy that could include limiting heat in buildings to no more than 68 degrees Fahrenheit and reducing the number of hours stores can be open. Stricter measures could be enacted, including banning large indoor gatherings like sporting events, concerts, and theatre events, the report said. Switzerland relies heavily on hydroelectric power, which constitutes nearly two-thirds of its energy supply, the excess of which it exports during the time of year that it can generate the most electricity from rain and snowfall, the report said. It then typically is forced to import energy during the rest of the year as its nuclear resources, which it has been working to phase out, and its fossil fuel resources are not enough to meet demand. The country has created a two-tier system for dealing with the energy shortage: emergency and crisis. When in the “emergency” tier, there are three levels of restrictions, and in the “crisis” tier, there are two levels. Electric vehicles would face restrictions in the third level of the emergency tier. In late August, officials in California unveiled a plan to phase out new gas-powered cars and days later asked residents to avoid charging their electric vehicles in the interest of not overwhelming the power grid during a heat wave. The warnings of low grid capacity came days after the California Air Resources Board issued new rules requiring 35% of new vehicles to produce zero emissions by 2026 — a standard that will rise to a 68% benchmark by 2030 and a 100% level by 2035. Yet experts have warned that the state’s electric grid will require significant upgrades to manage a rapid transition away from internal combustion vehicles. “Today, most people charge their electric cars when they come home in the evening — when electricity demand is typically at its peak,” according to researchers at Cornell University’s College of Engineering. “If left unmanaged, the power demanded from many electric vehicles charging simultaneously in the evening will amplify existing peak loads, potentially outstripping the grid’s current capacity to meet demand.” https://www.foxnews.com/politics/canada-offered-assisted-suicide-paralympian-veteran-wanted-wheelchair-lift-installed-report Canada offered assisted suicide to a Paralympian veteran who wanted a wheelchair lift installed Canada's Veterans Affairs office offered to assist a Paralympian and veteran to commit suicide when she sought to have a wheelchair lift installed in her home, the woman told lawmakers last week. Christine Gauthier, a 52-year-old retired corporal who competed in the 2016 Paralympics at Rio De Janeiro, testified to lawmakers that a VA official had offered — in writing — to provide her with a medically-assisted suicide kit. The case officer remains unnamed but reportedly made similar offers to at least three other veterans, according to the Independent. "I have a letter saying that if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying," Gauthier said in a hearing before the House of Commons veterans affairs committee. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the incident in a public statement on Friday after Gauthier said she personally wrote him a letter on the issue. "We are following up with investigations and we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are supposed to be there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying," Trudeau said. Canada first approved medically-assisted suicide in 2016, and the parameters around allowing it have since loosened. The law originally legalized assisted suicide only for those facing imminent death, but it now also includes those who suffered severe pain or disabilities, according to the Independent. Gauthier's story comes just weeks after a Canadian fashion company glorified assisted suicide in a commercial. Canadian fashion company La Maison Simons promoted the "beauty" in voluntary euthanasia in a promotional video titled "All is Beauty." The ad includes a voiceover from Jennyfer Hatch, a 37-year-old Canadian woman who voluntarily euthanized herself after suffering from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Simons says that the ad aimed to "help people to reconnect to each other and to this hope and optimism," which he says "is going to be needed if we're going to build the sort of communities and spaces where we want to live and that are enjoyable to live in." "The ‘All is Beauty’ campaign has come to an end this week. Simons is now entering their annual holiday sprint," a spokesperson for Simons told Fox News Digital. "In this context, all of their teams' efforts are focused on in-store and web holiday activities." https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-michael-avenatti-sentenced-to-168-months?utm_campaign=64487 Michael Avenatti sentenced to 168 months Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti has been sentenced to 168 months in prison for four counts of wire fraud. This 14 year sentence is in addition to the five years he is currently serving for other charges, including stealing almost $300,000 in book-advance money from his then-client Stormy Daniels In June, Avenatti plead guilty to four counts of wire fraud and a single count of tax fraud, and admitted to misappropriating funds from clients totaling around $10 million. During his sentencing on Monday, Avenatti appeared solemn, often keeping his head down and hands in front if him while hearing statements from two of his victims, according to Law and Crime News' senior reporter Meghann Cuniff, who was documenting the proceedings. "It is now time to pay his debts to the victims, the government and society," the Judge said, right before sentencing him. Avenatti became widely known across the country as the lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in her failed lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, after it was revealed that she was paid $130,000 in hush money before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump years earlier Dubbed the "creepy porn lawyer" by Tucker Carlson, Avenatti was the darling of the mainstream media for a time, seen as a hero "David" for going after "Goliath" Trump, before Avenatti's fall from grace. In July of 2021, he was also convicted of extortion after trying to get Nike to pay him $25 million that he claimed he was owed on behalf of a Los Angeles youth basketball team. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and wept hysterically in response. On top of the numerous fraud charges against him, he also admitted to blocking IRS efforts to collect unpaid payroll taxes of an estimated $5 million, include payroll taxes that had been withheld from employee paychecks of a Tully's Coffee operated by an Avenatti-owned company. Accountable2You Is your smartphone a tool in the service of Christ, or a minefield of distractions and temptations? With soul-killing seductions just a few taps away, our families and churches must embrace biblical accountability on our digital devices. Accountable2You makes transparency easy on all your family's devices, by sharing app usage and detailed browsing history—including "Incognito" mode—with your spouse, parent, or chosen accountability partner. Accountable2You helps your family to proactively guard against temptation, so you can live with integrity for God's glory! Learn more and try it for free at Accountable2You.com/FLF https://www.theblaze.com/news/man-thrown-over-the-side-of-a-bridge-after-chargers-game-in-wild-incident-caught-on-video-says-his-attacker-has-still-not-been-arrested-by-police Man thrown over the side of a bridge after Chargers game in wild incident caught on video says his attacker has still not been arrested by police A man who was caught on video being thrown over the side of a footbridge while exiting a Los Angeles Chargers on November 20th is speaking out, blasting police for not arresting his attacker and saying he no longer feels safe attending games at SoFi Stadium. In the video, the man, who has been identified as Austin Willenbring, can be seen in a shoving altercation with some unknown individuals, who eventually lift him up and throw him over the side of the bridge railing to a concrete walkway below. In the video, the men can be seen then dragging Willenbring to the railing before throwing him over. Willenbring says that he suffered serious injuries as a result of his fall, including a concussion and broken ribs. Even still, he says that he and his sister were able to track down and identify the men who had thrown him over the railing, and even though they were able to make a positive ID to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies, and had video of the entire incident, police refused to make an arrest. WCAL also reports that there is no record that the man identified by Willenbring has yet been arrested by police or charged with any crime in connection with the incident. Inglewood police told WCAL they are "still investigating" the incident, and Inglewood mayor James Butts defended the city's response to the incident, saying, "Here's the reality: When you have hundreds of thousands of people in one place, when you have alcohol involved, you're gonna have fights. It's an unfortunate fact of life. We have to put things in perspective, six million patrons in three years, three altercations." Willenbring says that he plans to cancel his season ticket package because he no longer feels safe going to games.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily NewsBrief for Tuesday, November 1st, 2022. I hope you guys had an excellent Reformation Day, and that you parents got some sleep with any potential candy crazed kiddos, but if you didn’t here’s some news to keep you entertained… https://thepostmillennial.com/dhs-leaks-starting-in-2020-dhs-began-meeting-with-twitter-facebook-wikipedia-and-more-monthly-to-coordinate-content-moderation-efforts?utm_campaign=64487 DHS LEAKS: Starting in 2020, DHS began meeting with Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia and more monthly to coordinate 'content moderation' efforts The Department of Homeland Security has been working to influence big tech platforms. This became originally evident when the Biden administration launched the ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board early in 2022, but has been a focus of their efforts even beyond that now-defunct unit, and before. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit that revealed via appended meeting minutes that former Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, who was formerly an official with DHS, told a DHS director in February 2022 that "Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov't. It's really interesteding how hesitant they remain." This according to The Intercept. Prior to 2020, it was reported that DHS met with Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, and other platforms in order to coordinate "content moderation" operations. These meetings were part of an ongoing initiative which saw collusion and collaboration between DHS and big tech to determine how "misinformation" would be dealt with on those platforms. Areas that came under this purview included the withdrawal from Afghanistan, undertaken disastrously by President Joe Biden in August 2021 as well as the origins of the Covid-19 virus, which became controversial enough that users were kicked off social media platforms for expressing the hypothesis that the virus originated in a Wuhan, China lab. A Senate report found last week that this was the most likely scenario. Information that could undermine trust in financial institutions was also targeted. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act, signed by President Donald Trump, opened the door to this as it formed a new branch within DHS, which then undertook to deal with online "disinformation." CISA stated its understanding that the mission of that branch of DHS was "evolved," and meant to communicate their concerns on "disinformation" to social media companies. Social media companies took DHS' word for it. DHS used concerns about "marginialized communities" to justify their reach. Much of this effort became evidence as a result of an attempt to "fight disinformation" in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. Both Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke about their platform's effort to suppress and censor reporting from the New York Post. They did this, in part, because the FBI had told these platforms to watch out for a "misinformation" dump. During the elction, there were "weekly teleconference to coordinate Intelligence Community activities to counter election-related disinformation." Since then, meetings have taken place every two weeks. When the Hunter Biden laptop story broke, revealing the Biden family's influence peddling and shady overseas business dealings with Ukraine and China, social media platforms took the bait from the government and ditched the story. Countless other mainstream media outlets followed suit, going so far as to report on why they would not report on the story, citing "hacking," "misinformation," and a "Russian plot." All of these were incorrect, and many outlets, including The New York Times, had to walk it back. As a result of documents revealed in Schmitt's suit, it is now apparent that DHS officials were in fact "leading the push to expand the government's reach into disinformation," and that the government "also played a quiet role in shaping the decisions of social media giants around the New York Post story." Post-election polling showed that many Americans would not have voted for Joe Biden had they known the Hunter Biden laptop story was fact and not a disinformation plot. The case that revealed the information was brought this spring by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry against top administration officials in US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. It alleged that President Joe Biden and other administration officials "pressured and colluded" with Big Tech companies to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story as well as information regarding the lab leak origin theory of COVID-19 and the security of voting by mail. The lawsuit named White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Chief Medical Advisor and NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and newly announced director of the DHS’s Disinformation Governance Board. Also named were the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The lawsuit alleges that the federal government had violated constitutional rights to suppress free speech in "one of its greatest assaults by federal government officials in the Nation’s history." What a story… let’s take a breather and talk about Club Membership! Club Membership Plug: By joining the Fight Laugh Feast Army, not only will you be aiding in our fight to take down secular & legacy media; but you’ll also get access to content placed in our Club Portal, such as past shows, all of our conference talks, and EXCLUSIVE content for club members that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. Lastly, you’ll also get discounts for our conferences… so if you’ve got $10 bucks a month to kick over our way, you can sign up now at fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.foxnews.com/us/paul-pelosi-attacker-told-investigators-he-planned-break-house-speakers-kneecaps-affidavit Paul Pelosi attacker told investigators he planned to break House Speaker's 'kneecaps': affidavit David DePape, the 42-year-old illegal immigrant from Canada accused of breaking into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week and attacking her husband with a hammer, allegedly wanted to hold the congresswoman hostage and threatened to break "her kneecaps" if he caught her lying, according to court documents. San Francisco police arrived at the home and encountered Paul Pelosi, 82, and DePape struggling over a hammer. After the officers ordered them to drop the weapon, DePape allegedly seized control of it and swung it into Pelosi’s skull. Police recovered zip ties in Pelosi’s bedroom, found glass broken at the rear of the house, tape, rope, gloves and a journal, according to the FBI affidavit. Before Pelosi was taken to a hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery on a fractured skull, he told police from the ambulance that he had never seen DePape before and that the intruder showed up in his bedroom around 2:30 a.m. demanding to talk to "Nancy" – the House Speaker. The lawmaker’s husband told DePape that his wife was out, and DePape allegedly decided to wait for her to return. "Pelosi stated that his wife would not be home for several days, and then DePape reiterated that he would wait," according to the affidavit. "DePape stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her," the affidavit reads. "If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps.’" "DePape also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress that there were consequences to actions," the affidavit continues. DePape also allegedly admitted to breaking into the home, using the hammer to shatter a glass door and surprising Paul Pelosi in his bedroom. He also allegedly confessed to cracking the 82-year-old's skull. An Immigrations and Customers Enforcement source told Fox News Monday that DePape is in the U.S. illegally after a "longtime" visa overstay. He was born in Canada and emigrated to the U.S. about 20 years ago. DePape now faces federal charges and up to 50 years in prison according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/thegrio-kff-survey-black-voters-17-percent-support-defunding-police Only 17% of black voters support defunding the police: Poll Only 17% of black voters say they support defunding the police, a poll released this week found. The Survey of Black Voters, conducted by TheGrio and KFF and published on Wednesday, asked 1,000 black adults who say they are registered to vote for their opinion on policing. About half of those polled, 48%, said they would like to see police funding kept about the same, while 34% said they wanted increased financial support. Just 17% responded that they support decreased funding for police in their area. Of black voters living in urban areas, 39% supported increased funding. That's a 10-point jump from the 29% of black voters living in suburban areas who said they back increased funds for police. The poll also found that 3 in 4 black voters viewed criminal justice and policing as a "very important factor in making their decision about who to vote for," including 77% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans. The issue of crime was as important for those who made under $40,000 per year as it was for those making over $90,000 annually. The "defund the police" effort emerged through Black Lives Matter protests, which began in the early 2010s. The idea was initially dismissed as fringe but grew in prominence during the summer of 2020, when the murder of George Floyd sparked racial justice protests across the country. Notable progressives such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) became ardent supporters of the defund movement. Other prominent Democrats, such as current Democratic candidates Stacey Abrams and John Fetterman, discussed reallocating funds to social services and investing in minority communities, as well as ideas for reimagining policing, in interviews. Clips from those conversations have been used by Republicans in ads against their candidacies. Not all Democrats got on board with the defund movement, though. Both President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made frequent note of their support for increased police funding during the 2020 election cycle and hold the same positions now. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months Now it’s time for my favorite topic, sports! https://nypost.com/2022/10/30/kyrie-irving-doubles-down-on-controversial-book-tweet/ Kyrie Irving doubles down on controversial tweet: ‘I’m not going to stand down’ In a testy exchange with the media Saturday night, Kyrie Irving doubled down and dug in, defending not only his recent social media posts promoting a movie largely viewed as anti-Semitic, but also older ones amplifying conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Irving’s posts from late this past week drew a statement from the NBA and a public rebuke from Nets owner Joe Tsai. Neither the league nor the team, however, convinced Irving to take down his initial post or back down in the slightest. And after the Nets’ latest loss, a 125-116 drubbing by the Pacers at Barclays Center, he vowed not to. Kyrie Irving addresses backlash to his recent social media posts- Play Video 0:00-1:43 Play 2:47-4:18 Play 5:19-6:16 Man… Things got a little testy… Irving does indeed have a huge fan base, with 17.5 million followers on Instagram and another 4.5 million on Twitter. And on Thursday he took to both platforms to promote a 2018 movie called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.” Both the film and the 2014 book it is based on are filled with anti-Semitic disinformation, including accusations of large numbers of Jewish people worshipping Satan. Irving has since been rebuked by the NBA Player’s Association.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily NewsBrief for Tuesday, November 1st, 2022. I hope you guys had an excellent Reformation Day, and that you parents got some sleep with any potential candy crazed kiddos, but if you didn’t here’s some news to keep you entertained… https://thepostmillennial.com/dhs-leaks-starting-in-2020-dhs-began-meeting-with-twitter-facebook-wikipedia-and-more-monthly-to-coordinate-content-moderation-efforts?utm_campaign=64487 DHS LEAKS: Starting in 2020, DHS began meeting with Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia and more monthly to coordinate 'content moderation' efforts The Department of Homeland Security has been working to influence big tech platforms. This became originally evident when the Biden administration launched the ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board early in 2022, but has been a focus of their efforts even beyond that now-defunct unit, and before. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit that revealed via appended meeting minutes that former Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, who was formerly an official with DHS, told a DHS director in February 2022 that "Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov't. It's really interesteding how hesitant they remain." This according to The Intercept. Prior to 2020, it was reported that DHS met with Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, and other platforms in order to coordinate "content moderation" operations. These meetings were part of an ongoing initiative which saw collusion and collaboration between DHS and big tech to determine how "misinformation" would be dealt with on those platforms. Areas that came under this purview included the withdrawal from Afghanistan, undertaken disastrously by President Joe Biden in August 2021 as well as the origins of the Covid-19 virus, which became controversial enough that users were kicked off social media platforms for expressing the hypothesis that the virus originated in a Wuhan, China lab. A Senate report found last week that this was the most likely scenario. Information that could undermine trust in financial institutions was also targeted. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act, signed by President Donald Trump, opened the door to this as it formed a new branch within DHS, which then undertook to deal with online "disinformation." CISA stated its understanding that the mission of that branch of DHS was "evolved," and meant to communicate their concerns on "disinformation" to social media companies. Social media companies took DHS' word for it. DHS used concerns about "marginialized communities" to justify their reach. Much of this effort became evidence as a result of an attempt to "fight disinformation" in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. Both Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke about their platform's effort to suppress and censor reporting from the New York Post. They did this, in part, because the FBI had told these platforms to watch out for a "misinformation" dump. During the elction, there were "weekly teleconference to coordinate Intelligence Community activities to counter election-related disinformation." Since then, meetings have taken place every two weeks. When the Hunter Biden laptop story broke, revealing the Biden family's influence peddling and shady overseas business dealings with Ukraine and China, social media platforms took the bait from the government and ditched the story. Countless other mainstream media outlets followed suit, going so far as to report on why they would not report on the story, citing "hacking," "misinformation," and a "Russian plot." All of these were incorrect, and many outlets, including The New York Times, had to walk it back. As a result of documents revealed in Schmitt's suit, it is now apparent that DHS officials were in fact "leading the push to expand the government's reach into disinformation," and that the government "also played a quiet role in shaping the decisions of social media giants around the New York Post story." Post-election polling showed that many Americans would not have voted for Joe Biden had they known the Hunter Biden laptop story was fact and not a disinformation plot. The case that revealed the information was brought this spring by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry against top administration officials in US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. It alleged that President Joe Biden and other administration officials "pressured and colluded" with Big Tech companies to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story as well as information regarding the lab leak origin theory of COVID-19 and the security of voting by mail. The lawsuit named White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Chief Medical Advisor and NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and newly announced director of the DHS’s Disinformation Governance Board. Also named were the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The lawsuit alleges that the federal government had violated constitutional rights to suppress free speech in "one of its greatest assaults by federal government officials in the Nation’s history." What a story… let’s take a breather and talk about Club Membership! Club Membership Plug: By joining the Fight Laugh Feast Army, not only will you be aiding in our fight to take down secular & legacy media; but you’ll also get access to content placed in our Club Portal, such as past shows, all of our conference talks, and EXCLUSIVE content for club members that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. Lastly, you’ll also get discounts for our conferences… so if you’ve got $10 bucks a month to kick over our way, you can sign up now at fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.foxnews.com/us/paul-pelosi-attacker-told-investigators-he-planned-break-house-speakers-kneecaps-affidavit Paul Pelosi attacker told investigators he planned to break House Speaker's 'kneecaps': affidavit David DePape, the 42-year-old illegal immigrant from Canada accused of breaking into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week and attacking her husband with a hammer, allegedly wanted to hold the congresswoman hostage and threatened to break "her kneecaps" if he caught her lying, according to court documents. San Francisco police arrived at the home and encountered Paul Pelosi, 82, and DePape struggling over a hammer. After the officers ordered them to drop the weapon, DePape allegedly seized control of it and swung it into Pelosi’s skull. Police recovered zip ties in Pelosi’s bedroom, found glass broken at the rear of the house, tape, rope, gloves and a journal, according to the FBI affidavit. Before Pelosi was taken to a hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery on a fractured skull, he told police from the ambulance that he had never seen DePape before and that the intruder showed up in his bedroom around 2:30 a.m. demanding to talk to "Nancy" – the House Speaker. The lawmaker’s husband told DePape that his wife was out, and DePape allegedly decided to wait for her to return. "Pelosi stated that his wife would not be home for several days, and then DePape reiterated that he would wait," according to the affidavit. "DePape stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her," the affidavit reads. "If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps.’" "DePape also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress that there were consequences to actions," the affidavit continues. DePape also allegedly admitted to breaking into the home, using the hammer to shatter a glass door and surprising Paul Pelosi in his bedroom. He also allegedly confessed to cracking the 82-year-old's skull. An Immigrations and Customers Enforcement source told Fox News Monday that DePape is in the U.S. illegally after a "longtime" visa overstay. He was born in Canada and emigrated to the U.S. about 20 years ago. DePape now faces federal charges and up to 50 years in prison according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/thegrio-kff-survey-black-voters-17-percent-support-defunding-police Only 17% of black voters support defunding the police: Poll Only 17% of black voters say they support defunding the police, a poll released this week found. The Survey of Black Voters, conducted by TheGrio and KFF and published on Wednesday, asked 1,000 black adults who say they are registered to vote for their opinion on policing. About half of those polled, 48%, said they would like to see police funding kept about the same, while 34% said they wanted increased financial support. Just 17% responded that they support decreased funding for police in their area. Of black voters living in urban areas, 39% supported increased funding. That's a 10-point jump from the 29% of black voters living in suburban areas who said they back increased funds for police. The poll also found that 3 in 4 black voters viewed criminal justice and policing as a "very important factor in making their decision about who to vote for," including 77% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans. The issue of crime was as important for those who made under $40,000 per year as it was for those making over $90,000 annually. The "defund the police" effort emerged through Black Lives Matter protests, which began in the early 2010s. The idea was initially dismissed as fringe but grew in prominence during the summer of 2020, when the murder of George Floyd sparked racial justice protests across the country. Notable progressives such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) became ardent supporters of the defund movement. Other prominent Democrats, such as current Democratic candidates Stacey Abrams and John Fetterman, discussed reallocating funds to social services and investing in minority communities, as well as ideas for reimagining policing, in interviews. Clips from those conversations have been used by Republicans in ads against their candidacies. Not all Democrats got on board with the defund movement, though. Both President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made frequent note of their support for increased police funding during the 2020 election cycle and hold the same positions now. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months Now it’s time for my favorite topic, sports! https://nypost.com/2022/10/30/kyrie-irving-doubles-down-on-controversial-book-tweet/ Kyrie Irving doubles down on controversial tweet: ‘I’m not going to stand down’ In a testy exchange with the media Saturday night, Kyrie Irving doubled down and dug in, defending not only his recent social media posts promoting a movie largely viewed as anti-Semitic, but also older ones amplifying conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Irving’s posts from late this past week drew a statement from the NBA and a public rebuke from Nets owner Joe Tsai. Neither the league nor the team, however, convinced Irving to take down his initial post or back down in the slightest. And after the Nets’ latest loss, a 125-116 drubbing by the Pacers at Barclays Center, he vowed not to. Kyrie Irving addresses backlash to his recent social media posts- Play Video 0:00-1:43 Play 2:47-4:18 Play 5:19-6:16 Man… Things got a little testy… Irving does indeed have a huge fan base, with 17.5 million followers on Instagram and another 4.5 million on Twitter. And on Thursday he took to both platforms to promote a 2018 movie called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.” Both the film and the 2014 book it is based on are filled with anti-Semitic disinformation, including accusations of large numbers of Jewish people worshipping Satan. Irving has since been rebuked by the NBA Player’s Association.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily NewsBrief for Tuesday, November 1st, 2022. I hope you guys had an excellent Reformation Day, and that you parents got some sleep with any potential candy crazed kiddos, but if you didn’t here’s some news to keep you entertained… https://thepostmillennial.com/dhs-leaks-starting-in-2020-dhs-began-meeting-with-twitter-facebook-wikipedia-and-more-monthly-to-coordinate-content-moderation-efforts?utm_campaign=64487 DHS LEAKS: Starting in 2020, DHS began meeting with Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia and more monthly to coordinate 'content moderation' efforts The Department of Homeland Security has been working to influence big tech platforms. This became originally evident when the Biden administration launched the ill-fated Disinformation Governance Board early in 2022, but has been a focus of their efforts even beyond that now-defunct unit, and before. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit that revealed via appended meeting minutes that former Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, who was formerly an official with DHS, told a DHS director in February 2022 that "Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov't. It's really interesteding how hesitant they remain." This according to The Intercept. Prior to 2020, it was reported that DHS met with Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, and other platforms in order to coordinate "content moderation" operations. These meetings were part of an ongoing initiative which saw collusion and collaboration between DHS and big tech to determine how "misinformation" would be dealt with on those platforms. Areas that came under this purview included the withdrawal from Afghanistan, undertaken disastrously by President Joe Biden in August 2021 as well as the origins of the Covid-19 virus, which became controversial enough that users were kicked off social media platforms for expressing the hypothesis that the virus originated in a Wuhan, China lab. A Senate report found last week that this was the most likely scenario. Information that could undermine trust in financial institutions was also targeted. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act, signed by President Donald Trump, opened the door to this as it formed a new branch within DHS, which then undertook to deal with online "disinformation." CISA stated its understanding that the mission of that branch of DHS was "evolved," and meant to communicate their concerns on "disinformation" to social media companies. Social media companies took DHS' word for it. DHS used concerns about "marginialized communities" to justify their reach. Much of this effort became evidence as a result of an attempt to "fight disinformation" in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. Both Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke about their platform's effort to suppress and censor reporting from the New York Post. They did this, in part, because the FBI had told these platforms to watch out for a "misinformation" dump. During the elction, there were "weekly teleconference to coordinate Intelligence Community activities to counter election-related disinformation." Since then, meetings have taken place every two weeks. When the Hunter Biden laptop story broke, revealing the Biden family's influence peddling and shady overseas business dealings with Ukraine and China, social media platforms took the bait from the government and ditched the story. Countless other mainstream media outlets followed suit, going so far as to report on why they would not report on the story, citing "hacking," "misinformation," and a "Russian plot." All of these were incorrect, and many outlets, including The New York Times, had to walk it back. As a result of documents revealed in Schmitt's suit, it is now apparent that DHS officials were in fact "leading the push to expand the government's reach into disinformation," and that the government "also played a quiet role in shaping the decisions of social media giants around the New York Post story." Post-election polling showed that many Americans would not have voted for Joe Biden had they known the Hunter Biden laptop story was fact and not a disinformation plot. The case that revealed the information was brought this spring by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry against top administration officials in US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. It alleged that President Joe Biden and other administration officials "pressured and colluded" with Big Tech companies to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story as well as information regarding the lab leak origin theory of COVID-19 and the security of voting by mail. The lawsuit named White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Chief Medical Advisor and NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and newly announced director of the DHS’s Disinformation Governance Board. Also named were the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The lawsuit alleges that the federal government had violated constitutional rights to suppress free speech in "one of its greatest assaults by federal government officials in the Nation’s history." What a story… let’s take a breather and talk about Club Membership! Club Membership Plug: By joining the Fight Laugh Feast Army, not only will you be aiding in our fight to take down secular & legacy media; but you’ll also get access to content placed in our Club Portal, such as past shows, all of our conference talks, and EXCLUSIVE content for club members that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. Lastly, you’ll also get discounts for our conferences… so if you’ve got $10 bucks a month to kick over our way, you can sign up now at fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.foxnews.com/us/paul-pelosi-attacker-told-investigators-he-planned-break-house-speakers-kneecaps-affidavit Paul Pelosi attacker told investigators he planned to break House Speaker's 'kneecaps': affidavit David DePape, the 42-year-old illegal immigrant from Canada accused of breaking into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week and attacking her husband with a hammer, allegedly wanted to hold the congresswoman hostage and threatened to break "her kneecaps" if he caught her lying, according to court documents. San Francisco police arrived at the home and encountered Paul Pelosi, 82, and DePape struggling over a hammer. After the officers ordered them to drop the weapon, DePape allegedly seized control of it and swung it into Pelosi’s skull. Police recovered zip ties in Pelosi’s bedroom, found glass broken at the rear of the house, tape, rope, gloves and a journal, according to the FBI affidavit. Before Pelosi was taken to a hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery on a fractured skull, he told police from the ambulance that he had never seen DePape before and that the intruder showed up in his bedroom around 2:30 a.m. demanding to talk to "Nancy" – the House Speaker. The lawmaker’s husband told DePape that his wife was out, and DePape allegedly decided to wait for her to return. "Pelosi stated that his wife would not be home for several days, and then DePape reiterated that he would wait," according to the affidavit. "DePape stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her," the affidavit reads. "If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps.’" "DePape also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress that there were consequences to actions," the affidavit continues. DePape also allegedly admitted to breaking into the home, using the hammer to shatter a glass door and surprising Paul Pelosi in his bedroom. He also allegedly confessed to cracking the 82-year-old's skull. An Immigrations and Customers Enforcement source told Fox News Monday that DePape is in the U.S. illegally after a "longtime" visa overstay. He was born in Canada and emigrated to the U.S. about 20 years ago. DePape now faces federal charges and up to 50 years in prison according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/thegrio-kff-survey-black-voters-17-percent-support-defunding-police Only 17% of black voters support defunding the police: Poll Only 17% of black voters say they support defunding the police, a poll released this week found. The Survey of Black Voters, conducted by TheGrio and KFF and published on Wednesday, asked 1,000 black adults who say they are registered to vote for their opinion on policing. About half of those polled, 48%, said they would like to see police funding kept about the same, while 34% said they wanted increased financial support. Just 17% responded that they support decreased funding for police in their area. Of black voters living in urban areas, 39% supported increased funding. That's a 10-point jump from the 29% of black voters living in suburban areas who said they back increased funds for police. The poll also found that 3 in 4 black voters viewed criminal justice and policing as a "very important factor in making their decision about who to vote for," including 77% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans. The issue of crime was as important for those who made under $40,000 per year as it was for those making over $90,000 annually. The "defund the police" effort emerged through Black Lives Matter protests, which began in the early 2010s. The idea was initially dismissed as fringe but grew in prominence during the summer of 2020, when the murder of George Floyd sparked racial justice protests across the country. Notable progressives such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) became ardent supporters of the defund movement. Other prominent Democrats, such as current Democratic candidates Stacey Abrams and John Fetterman, discussed reallocating funds to social services and investing in minority communities, as well as ideas for reimagining policing, in interviews. Clips from those conversations have been used by Republicans in ads against their candidacies. Not all Democrats got on board with the defund movement, though. Both President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made frequent note of their support for increased police funding during the 2020 election cycle and hold the same positions now. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months Now it’s time for my favorite topic, sports! https://nypost.com/2022/10/30/kyrie-irving-doubles-down-on-controversial-book-tweet/ Kyrie Irving doubles down on controversial tweet: ‘I’m not going to stand down’ In a testy exchange with the media Saturday night, Kyrie Irving doubled down and dug in, defending not only his recent social media posts promoting a movie largely viewed as anti-Semitic, but also older ones amplifying conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Irving’s posts from late this past week drew a statement from the NBA and a public rebuke from Nets owner Joe Tsai. Neither the league nor the team, however, convinced Irving to take down his initial post or back down in the slightest. And after the Nets’ latest loss, a 125-116 drubbing by the Pacers at Barclays Center, he vowed not to. Kyrie Irving addresses backlash to his recent social media posts- Play Video 0:00-1:43 Play 2:47-4:18 Play 5:19-6:16 Man… Things got a little testy… Irving does indeed have a huge fan base, with 17.5 million followers on Instagram and another 4.5 million on Twitter. And on Thursday he took to both platforms to promote a 2018 movie called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.” Both the film and the 2014 book it is based on are filled with anti-Semitic disinformation, including accusations of large numbers of Jewish people worshipping Satan. Irving has since been rebuked by the NBA Player’s Association.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, September 27th, 2022. I hope you and your family had a great weekend with you and yours, so here’s what you may have missed, over the weekend! First… FLF Conference Plug: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word didn’t stay in Heaven. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth. Grace and Truth became flesh. The Word became flesh. The story of God’s grace became flesh. And it is that Word, that truth, that story that will fill the world. That is why this year’s Fight Laugh Feast Conference in Knoxville Tennessee is on Lies, Propaganda, storytelling, and the serrated edge. The Word is a sword. The Word is our glory. So join us, October 6-8, as we fight, laugh, and feast, with beer & psalms, speakers including Pastor Doug Wilson, George Gilder, Ben Merkle, Jared Longshore, and Pastor Toby Sumpter, Chocolate Knox will be doing a round table with the Wilsons and Merkles on why stories are so potent for building family cultures that wine, all culminating in a live show with Megan Basham and Jason Whitlock talking Lies and Journalism. And we just announced a one day Saturday-only pass for 99$. Find out more and register or become a vendor at fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.foxnews.com/world/vladimir-putin-grants-full-russian-citizenship-edward-snowden Vladimir Putin grants full Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden Russian President Vladimir Putin granted full Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden on Monday. Snowden, 39, fled the United States to Russia after revealing information about extensive surveillance operations being conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA). He is now a Russian citizen by presidential decree, Reuters reported Monday. The announcement comes roughly two years after Russia granted Snowden permanent residency in the country. The country first granted Snowden asylum in 2014 and has since resisted calls to extradite him to the U.S. Snowden faces espionage charges that could land him in prison for up to 30 years in the U.S. Strategic intelligence expert and author of "Putin’s Playbook" Rebekah Koffler says the move likely signals that Snowden is working more closely with the Russian government. She says he is likely now subject to Putin's mobilization order but will be assisting Russian intelligence rather than serving on the front lines. Snowden stated in 2019 that he would be willing to return to the U.S. on the condition that he got a fair trial. "That is the ultimate goal, but if I’m going to spend the rest of my life in prison then my one bottom-line demand that we all have to agree to is that at least I get a fair trial," Snowden told "CBS This Morning" at the time. Former President Donald Trump had stated he was considering Snowden's case for a potential pardon in 2020 but never took action. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been one of Snowden's major allies in the U.S., saying the whistleblower unveiled schemes by the U.S. government to surveil American citizens both here and abroad. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/congress-flirts-government-shutdown-manchin-permitting-bill-drag-down-funding-package On to our government here at home: Congress flirts with government shutdown as Manchin permitting bill may drag down funding package The government is days away from shutting down, and the Senate may not have the votes to pass the initial version of its funding bill as top Democrats press ahead on a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin that may fail Tuesday. Manchin, D-W.Va., agreed to help Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pass Democrats' social tax and spending bill last month. In exchange, Schumer promised Manchin a vote on an energy permitting reform to speed new projects. They are combining that with a government funding bill that must pass by Friday night or else trigger a government shutdown. However, with a major test vote with a 60-vote threshold set for Tuesday night, the legislation may not have the support to pass, with opposition coming from both parties. Manchin's office says he is still optimistic. Schumer has also insisted he will follow through on his deal with Manchin. He said Thursday he is "working hard to have it pass." If the vote fails, Congress will be forced to scramble to pass a government funding bill before midnight Friday. That could be a tall task with three legislative days to spare. It is possible that Manchin's permitting reform provision will be stripped from the funding bill if it fails Tuesday night, so lawmakers can advance the rest of the package later in the week. However, that timing could be close. Among options to help avert a shutdown, lawmakers could pass a one-day or two-day funding bill before passing a bigger package to keep the government funded until after the elections. Another possibility would be both parties in the Senate could cooperate to speed along the funding bill and beat the Friday night buzzer. Other issues may also impact votes on the funding bill. According to a source, the package will include disaster relief for Jackson, Mississippi, winter heating assistance, Food and Drug Administration user fee reauthorization and more than $12 billion in new assistance for Ukraine. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is pushing fellow liberal Democrats to oppose the bill because he does not want to speed along new fossil fuel projects. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., says she wants permitting reform and the funding bill voted on separately. Additionally, the more moderate Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he is upset about language that would give special treatment to the Mountain Valley Pipeline project in West Virginia. None of those Democrats have explicitly said yet that they will vote against the government funding package over the permitting reform bill. Even if more Republicans break ranks and vote for the funding bill with Manchin's permitting reform, it is still unclear if it will be enough for the bill to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/09/26/gates-foundation-funds-clinton-china-initiative/ Gates Foundation Funds Clinton Initiative to Force China Reliance On Developing World. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a Clinton Health Access Initiative aimed at making developing countries reliant on China for healthcare and medical products, The National Pulse can reveal. The Microsoft co-founder’s foundation authorized a $560,021 grant to the Clinton Health Access Initiative in September, which will run for 18 months. The Clinton Health Access Initiative was originally a part of the controversial Clinton Foundation started by former President Bill Clinton but spun off into a separate organization in 2010 though Chelsea Clinton – the daughter of the former president and his wife Hillary – joined the initiative’s board in 2011. The purpose of the grant is “to leverage manufacturing capabilities in China to increase supply security and enhance the supply of key health commodities in low- and middle-income countries.” While the foundation omitted any further details on how the objective would be accomplished, the grant will likely boost China’s manufacturing capabilities and make countries reliant on the communist nation for “key” healthcare items. The grant comes amidst China rolling out its controversial “Belt and Road” initiative, a key component of the regime’s efforts to expand its control globally through predatory infrastructure loans. As the U.S. State Department has warned, Beijing “uses the Belt and Road Initiative and other undertakings to expand foreign markets for Chinese companies and as a means of drawing nations, particularly their political and economic elites, into Beijing’s geopolitical orbit.” China has been accused of using similar tactics amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, engaging in “healthcare diplomacy” to broaden its influence over developing countries. Products manufactured in the country also often have poor efficacy and are tainted with toxic chemicals. The Gates Foundation grant appears to aid the Chinese Communist Party’s ambitions to intertwine itself within the healthcare infrastructure of countries across the world. The unearthed grant follows Bill Gates’s long history of working with the Chinese Communist Party on business and philanthropic ventures. His foundation appears to demonstrate a similar affinity for the Communist regime, sending sizable grants to additional Chinese entities, including those with ties to the lab believed to be the birthplace of COVID-19. https://thepostmillennial.com/alex-baldwin-likely-to-face-charges-in-shooting-death-of-cinematographer-halyna-hutchins?utm_campaign=64487 In entertainment news… Alex Baldwin likely to face charges in shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Alec Baldwin is likely to be charged for shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his low budget movie Rust in Bonanza City, New Mexico on October 21, 2021. The Daily Mail reports that Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies submitted a letter on August 30 to the New Mexico financial board, asking for funding to indict four defendants and that it was recently approved. In the letter Carmack-Altwie wrote, "One of the possible defendants is well known movie actor Alec Baldwin." Carmack-Altwie asked for $635,000 to prosecute and said that murder charges were on the table along with other weapons related offenses. She said that a "final piece of evidence" was Baldwin's phone, as authorities were waiting results from its analysis. After the shooting, Baldwin had issued a statement: "There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours." The movie was filming at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, a popular production location south of Santa Fe. Baldwin was also a producer on the film and previously said he doesn't blame himself for the accident. "I feel that someone is responsible for what happened, and I can't say who that is, but I know it's not me," Baldwin previously said. He said that 24-year-old armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed handed him the gun and he thought it was prepared properly. Gutierrez-Reed has denied she did anything wrong but she was named by Hutchins' family in a wrongful death lawsuit as being responsible for the tragedy In August, an FBI analysis concluded that Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger of the gun that killed cinematographer Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. And now… it’s time for my favorite topic, sports! https://mynorthwest.com/3614418/rantz-sounders-fans-coach-throw-player-under-bus-over-different-political-opinion/ Sounders fans, coach throw player under bus over different political opinion An online mob of radical Seattle Sounders FC fans went after the team’s star defender. And his coach threw him under the bus. Xavier Arreaga (ARI-AGA) posted a political cartoon to his Instagram account. It depicted a TV sending rainbows into the brains of two kids, while handing the boy a dress, and the girl men’s pants. Behind the kids, two parents are tied up. The point was to call out the media for trying to influence or confuse kids on gender identity. Intolerant fans slammed Arreaga for not holding a position they disagree with. Some pretended the cartoon was “violence,” while others criticized him for being religious. Some want the Sounders to kick him off the team. And his fate may be determined by how he reacts to shameful, intolerant re-education attempts by the head coach. Arreaga’s position, in as much as the comic represented it, is mainstream. While culture warriors on the Left aim to bully folks into submission, there is widespread concern that the media (along with educators and activists) is pushing adult issues on children. They’re indoctrinating kids with extreme left-wing views on gender, claiming gender is fluid and biology doesn’t matter. Whether or not you subscribe to this criticism is immaterial: it’s a common position that people of all political stripes hold. But in Seattle, you must hold the “right” position — the one the city’s most extreme activists demand you hold. Sounders fans are disproportionately progressive and socialist. A subsection of the group is irredeemably aggressive in their demands that you think exactly as you do. The overwhelmingly white group of activists gets especially angry when a racial or ethnic minority strays from the script. And they came out in full force against Arreaga. After Twitter uproar, and what some speculate was a conversation with the Sounders communications staff, the Ecuadorian defender responded with an apology. “Dear Fans – Last night I reposted a post of a famous Christian artist in my Instagram stories which at the time seemed normal to me and without thinking that this image was going to cause [sic] and hurt the people of our community, which never it [sic] was my intention. I want to express that I respect the way of life and thinking of all people. Thank you,” Arreaga wrote. Head coach Brian Schmetzer is a nice guy and a talented coach. But when he spoke to bloggers demanding he react to Arreaga’s post, Schmetzer came off as a condescending, ideological bigot. He’s the literal White Knight who is demanding the Ecuadorian think differently. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=620965259559336 - Play 0:00-1:04 This has been your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief. If you liked the show, hit that share button for me down below. If you want to come to our conference next week, if you want to sign up for a club membership, or sign up for a magazine subscription, you can do all of that at fightlaughfeast.com.

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, September 27th, 2022. I hope you and your family had a great weekend with you and yours, so here’s what you may have missed, over the weekend! First… FLF Conference Plug: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word didn’t stay in Heaven. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth. Grace and Truth became flesh. The Word became flesh. The story of God’s grace became flesh. And it is that Word, that truth, that story that will fill the world. That is why this year’s Fight Laugh Feast Conference in Knoxville Tennessee is on Lies, Propaganda, storytelling, and the serrated edge. The Word is a sword. The Word is our glory. So join us, October 6-8, as we fight, laugh, and feast, with beer & psalms, speakers including Pastor Doug Wilson, George Gilder, Ben Merkle, Jared Longshore, and Pastor Toby Sumpter, Chocolate Knox will be doing a round table with the Wilsons and Merkles on why stories are so potent for building family cultures that wine, all culminating in a live show with Megan Basham and Jason Whitlock talking Lies and Journalism. And we just announced a one day Saturday-only pass for 99$. Find out more and register or become a vendor at fightlaughfeast.com. https://www.foxnews.com/world/vladimir-putin-grants-full-russian-citizenship-edward-snowden Vladimir Putin grants full Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden Russian President Vladimir Putin granted full Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden on Monday. Snowden, 39, fled the United States to Russia after revealing information about extensive surveillance operations being conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA). He is now a Russian citizen by presidential decree, Reuters reported Monday. The announcement comes roughly two years after Russia granted Snowden permanent residency in the country. The country first granted Snowden asylum in 2014 and has since resisted calls to extradite him to the U.S. Snowden faces espionage charges that could land him in prison for up to 30 years in the U.S. Strategic intelligence expert and author of "Putin’s Playbook" Rebekah Koffler says the move likely signals that Snowden is working more closely with the Russian government. She says he is likely now subject to Putin's mobilization order but will be assisting Russian intelligence rather than serving on the front lines. Snowden stated in 2019 that he would be willing to return to the U.S. on the condition that he got a fair trial. "That is the ultimate goal, but if I’m going to spend the rest of my life in prison then my one bottom-line demand that we all have to agree to is that at least I get a fair trial," Snowden told "CBS This Morning" at the time. Former President Donald Trump had stated he was considering Snowden's case for a potential pardon in 2020 but never took action. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been one of Snowden's major allies in the U.S., saying the whistleblower unveiled schemes by the U.S. government to surveil American citizens both here and abroad. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/congress-flirts-government-shutdown-manchin-permitting-bill-drag-down-funding-package On to our government here at home: Congress flirts with government shutdown as Manchin permitting bill may drag down funding package The government is days away from shutting down, and the Senate may not have the votes to pass the initial version of its funding bill as top Democrats press ahead on a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin that may fail Tuesday. Manchin, D-W.Va., agreed to help Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pass Democrats' social tax and spending bill last month. In exchange, Schumer promised Manchin a vote on an energy permitting reform to speed new projects. They are combining that with a government funding bill that must pass by Friday night or else trigger a government shutdown. However, with a major test vote with a 60-vote threshold set for Tuesday night, the legislation may not have the support to pass, with opposition coming from both parties. Manchin's office says he is still optimistic. Schumer has also insisted he will follow through on his deal with Manchin. He said Thursday he is "working hard to have it pass." If the vote fails, Congress will be forced to scramble to pass a government funding bill before midnight Friday. That could be a tall task with three legislative days to spare. It is possible that Manchin's permitting reform provision will be stripped from the funding bill if it fails Tuesday night, so lawmakers can advance the rest of the package later in the week. However, that timing could be close. Among options to help avert a shutdown, lawmakers could pass a one-day or two-day funding bill before passing a bigger package to keep the government funded until after the elections. Another possibility would be both parties in the Senate could cooperate to speed along the funding bill and beat the Friday night buzzer. Other issues may also impact votes on the funding bill. According to a source, the package will include disaster relief for Jackson, Mississippi, winter heating assistance, Food and Drug Administration user fee reauthorization and more than $12 billion in new assistance for Ukraine. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is pushing fellow liberal Democrats to oppose the bill because he does not want to speed along new fossil fuel projects. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., says she wants permitting reform and the funding bill voted on separately. Additionally, the more moderate Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he is upset about language that would give special treatment to the Mountain Valley Pipeline project in West Virginia. None of those Democrats have explicitly said yet that they will vote against the government funding package over the permitting reform bill. Even if more Republicans break ranks and vote for the funding bill with Manchin's permitting reform, it is still unclear if it will be enough for the bill to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Smart Pricing Table: Do you own a business and write a lot of proposals? If so, you should check out SmartPricingTable.com. Smart Pricing Table allows you to create quick and accurate proposals; and it's loaded with features like recurring fees, quantities and line item upsells. When your prospect is ready, they can e-sign and you're off to the races. Visit SmartPricingTable.com and mention Cross Politic to get 25% off your first 2 months https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/09/26/gates-foundation-funds-clinton-china-initiative/ Gates Foundation Funds Clinton Initiative to Force China Reliance On Developing World. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a Clinton Health Access Initiative aimed at making developing countries reliant on China for healthcare and medical products, The National Pulse can reveal. The Microsoft co-founder’s foundation authorized a $560,021 grant to the Clinton Health Access Initiative in September, which will run for 18 months. The Clinton Health Access Initiative was originally a part of the controversial Clinton Foundation started by former President Bill Clinton but spun off into a separate organization in 2010 though Chelsea Clinton – the daughter of the former president and his wife Hillary – joined the initiative’s board in 2011. The purpose of the grant is “to leverage manufacturing capabilities in China to increase supply security and enhance the supply of key health commodities in low- and middle-income countries.” While the foundation omitted any further details on how the objective would be accomplished, the grant will likely boost China’s manufacturing capabilities and make countries reliant on the communist nation for “key” healthcare items. The grant comes amidst China rolling out its controversial “Belt and Road” initiative, a key component of the regime’s efforts to expand its control globally through predatory infrastructure loans. As the U.S. State Department has warned, Beijing “uses the Belt and Road Initiative and other undertakings to expand foreign markets for Chinese companies and as a means of drawing nations, particularly their political and economic elites, into Beijing’s geopolitical orbit.” China has been accused of using similar tactics amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, engaging in “healthcare diplomacy” to broaden its influence over developing countries. Products manufactured in the country also often have poor efficacy and are tainted with toxic chemicals. The Gates Foundation grant appears to aid the Chinese Communist Party’s ambitions to intertwine itself within the healthcare infrastructure of countries across the world. The unearthed grant follows Bill Gates’s long history of working with the Chinese Communist Party on business and philanthropic ventures. His foundation appears to demonstrate a similar affinity for the Communist regime, sending sizable grants to additional Chinese entities, including those with ties to the lab believed to be the birthplace of COVID-19. https://thepostmillennial.com/alex-baldwin-likely-to-face-charges-in-shooting-death-of-cinematographer-halyna-hutchins?utm_campaign=64487 In entertainment news… Alex Baldwin likely to face charges in shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Alec Baldwin is likely to be charged for shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his low budget movie Rust in Bonanza City, New Mexico on October 21, 2021. The Daily Mail reports that Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies submitted a letter on August 30 to the New Mexico financial board, asking for funding to indict four defendants and that it was recently approved. In the letter Carmack-Altwie wrote, "One of the possible defendants is well known movie actor Alec Baldwin." Carmack-Altwie asked for $635,000 to prosecute and said that murder charges were on the table along with other weapons related offenses. She said that a "final piece of evidence" was Baldwin's phone, as authorities were waiting results from its analysis. After the shooting, Baldwin had issued a statement: "There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours." The movie was filming at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, a popular production location south of Santa Fe. Baldwin was also a producer on the film and previously said he doesn't blame himself for the accident. "I feel that someone is responsible for what happened, and I can't say who that is, but I know it's not me," Baldwin previously said. He said that 24-year-old armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed handed him the gun and he thought it was prepared properly. Gutierrez-Reed has denied she did anything wrong but she was named by Hutchins' family in a wrongful death lawsuit as being responsible for the tragedy In August, an FBI analysis concluded that Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger of the gun that killed cinematographer Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. And now… it’s time for my favorite topic, sports! https://mynorthwest.com/3614418/rantz-sounders-fans-coach-throw-player-under-bus-over-different-political-opinion/ Sounders fans, coach throw player under bus over different political opinion An online mob of radical Seattle Sounders FC fans went after the team’s star defender. And his coach threw him under the bus. Xavier Arreaga (ARI-AGA) posted a political cartoon to his Instagram account. It depicted a TV sending rainbows into the brains of two kids, while handing the boy a dress, and the girl men’s pants. Behind the kids, two parents are tied up. The point was to call out the media for trying to influence or confuse kids on gender identity. Intolerant fans slammed Arreaga for not holding a position they disagree with. Some pretended the cartoon was “violence,” while others criticized him for being religious. Some want the Sounders to kick him off the team. And his fate may be determined by how he reacts to shameful, intolerant re-education attempts by the head coach. Arreaga’s position, in as much as the comic represented it, is mainstream. While culture warriors on the Left aim to bully folks into submission, there is widespread concern that the media (along with educators and activists) is pushing adult issues on children. They’re indoctrinating kids with extreme left-wing views on gender, claiming gender is fluid and biology doesn’t matter. Whether or not you subscribe to this criticism is immaterial: it’s a common position that people of all political stripes hold. But in Seattle, you must hold the “right” position — the one the city’s most extreme activists demand you hold. Sounders fans are disproportionately progressive and socialist. A subsection of the group is irredeemably aggressive in their demands that you think exactly as you do. The overwhelmingly white group of activists gets especially angry when a racial or ethnic minority strays from the script. And they came out in full force against Arreaga. After Twitter uproar, and what some speculate was a conversation with the Sounders communications staff, the Ecuadorian defender responded with an apology. “Dear Fans – Last night I reposted a post of a famous Christian artist in my Instagram stories which at the time seemed normal to me and without thinking that this image was going to cause [sic] and hurt the people of our community, which never it [sic] was my intention. I want to express that I respect the way of life and thinking of all people. Thank you,” Arreaga wrote. Head coach Brian Schmetzer is a nice guy and a talented coach. But when he spoke to bloggers demanding he react to Arreaga’s post, Schmetzer came off as a condescending, ideological bigot. He’s the literal White Knight who is demanding the Ecuadorian think differently. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=620965259559336 - Play 0:00-1:04 This has been your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief. If you liked the show, hit that share button for me down below. If you want to come to our conference next week, if you want to sign up for a club membership, or sign up for a magazine subscription, you can do all of that at fightlaughfeast.com.