Podcasts about so erin

After pregnancy, your body changes and sometimes in some unusual ways. So Erin was shocked the other night when she noticed her wife Tracy's hands had grown...like alot. As in the size of Soda's hands now.

Erin Meyer is the co-author of No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, which she co-authored with Reed Hastings, the founder and CEO of Netflix. She is also the author of The Culture Map and a professor at INSEAD. For the book, No Rules Rules, Erin spent a lot of time observing the corporate culture inside of Netflix, she interviewed employees, and got first hand stories of how the company values started from Reed himself. Netflix definitely has a unique culture and an interesting way to give employees freedom. While not every company can use their method of autonomy, there are lessons we can all learn from how they operate. What led Erin to write No Rules Rules Erin's first book, The Culture Map, came out in 2014 and it dove into the topic of how people of different backgrounds and cultures can work together harmoniously and effectively. The book really took off over the next few years and in 2016 Erin received an email from a fellow Peace Corps volunteer who was interested in learning more about her book and how to implement the method in his own company. That person was Reed Hastings, the co-founder and co-CEO at Netflix. So Erin went in to help Netflix get ready for their international expansion and while she was there she became fascinated with the company's culture because it was so strange and unique. “I conducted a big research project, I interviewed about 200 employees at Netflix, and I spent a lot of time with Reed himself, trying to understand what it was about this organizational culture that was breeding so much innovation and flexibility in the company. And then what it was that other business leaders around the world or even just team leaders could learn from this company about how to be more innovative and flexible themselves. And that's what we wrote the book [No Rules Rules] about.” Why the culture at Netflix is so different When asked what her first impressions were of the Netflix culture when she first started, Erin admits she was a bit “startled” by it and there were some things that initially concerned her. One example of something that concerned her was one of the slides in the Netflix culture deck which said, “adequate performance gets a generous severance”. Erin says, “It concerned me because at INSEAD where I teach, there had been, there was so much talk, and still today, of course, about the idea of focusing exclusively on psychological safety in a workplace. I just didn't understand how an organization today could be running around, not make your employees feel safe, but tell your employees if they're not excellent, they're out.” But even though it initially concerned Erin, it also was intriguing and a bit refreshing to see a company be so blunt about what it was going to be like to work there. So many companies tell potential new hires wonderful stories about what it's like to work at the company, things they think people want to hear. It's a great work environment, you'll love everyone you work with, the work is exciting and engaging, and you won't ever get burned out. That's what they'll say when the person is interviewing for the job, but then once they start they find out that people are backstabbing each other, it's a toxic work environment, they are expected to work 60+ hours a week, and they are doing boring, monotonous tasks. To see a company really be blunt and open about what the culture is actually like is extremely rare. So even though the wording may sound harsh, anyone who applies for Netflix knows up front it's going to be hard work and you will have to bring your best self every day, and that may not be for everyone. “I was so tired, just so sick of looking at corporate cultures or people who worked at companies who said what their corporate cultures were and then say, Oh, it's about integrity and respect and excellence. You know, there's nothing wrong with saying that your organization values respect, it's just that there's no good credible option to respect right? No company would run around saying they value disrespect, or that they value corruption. And I think that was actually one of my really overarching learnings to this research, was that if you really want to articulate a corporate culture that means something, that takes a root and impacts the way your employees are behaving, that you really want to avoid speaking in absolute positives, like integrity or respect, that have no good opposite option. And instead, focus on the tensions or the dilemmas that your employees are facing on a day to day basis.” We are a team, not a family Another way Netflix goes against the grain is in the methodology behind their corporate culture. Their mindset is, we are a team, not a family. And we're not just a regular team, we are an Olympic team. We work together, we have cohesion and teamwork, but there's no job security. When you get hired for a certain position you are there for as long as you are the best person for that job, but when you are no longer the best person for the job you will be replaced by someone else who is. As Erin shares, in the Industrial Era most of the time employment was for life, so you really were a family. But now, with the increasing pace of change and uncertainties that is no longer the case, we can't have teams where we can't easily move people on and off. This may seem harsh, and it's definitely not for everyone, but employees who work for Netflix opt into that work environment. They know up front what it will be like and what is expected of them. And if they accept the job they know they will get paid well, they will get to work on some amazing projects, they will have exceptional co-workers, etc… How Reed came up with the Netflix culture foundation There are three main pillars that make up the Netflix culture and allow the leaders there to give employees freedom. And these three things came from the experience Reed had at the first company he opened, Pure Software. Because Pure Software was a small entrepreneurial startup they operated without formal processes and policies. Everyone was expected to use their best judgement and make good decisions for the company, which worked when they first started with a small team. People enjoyed working there, they had freedom, there was a lot of creativity and innovation. But then the company began to grow quite quickly. And as the company grew--from a handful of people to 1,000--people started to do stupid things and took advantage of the freedom they were given. There was no policy against having dogs at work, so one woman started bringing her dog in every day and he would chew through the carpets. Another employee who had to travel for work decided because there wasn't a policy about travel he would start flying first class all the time. Because this was still a fairly new company, they didn't have a lot of extra money, so these things people kept doing really hurt the company and frustrated Reed. So he sat down with HR and wrote an employee handbook to address all these issues. But as they implemented these rules and policies something else happened--the creative people started leaving and innovation slowed down. Erin says it got so bad Reed had to sell the company. So when Reed opened up Netflix he went in with two guiding principles--employee freedom breeds innovation and process kills organizational flexibility. But he was also worried that if he didn't have some policies in place the organization would descend into chaos. So he had to figure out how to give freedom without processes and policies. The three pillars of Netflix culture As Reed was figuring out what to do with the culture at Netflix he realized that in most organizations most of the procedures and policies are put into place to deal with medium to poor employees. So if you could get a culture that was made up of only top employees then you could give them a lot more freedom. And then you also have a culture with a lot of candid feedback so that employees could feel secure speaking up if and when someone did take advantage of the freedom. So Reed came up with three pillars that are still used inside of Netflix to create a culture of freedom, creativity, and innovation. They are: Talent Density--In order to give freedom without limits and policies you need a high performing team and you can't let middle performers hang around. Leaders perform regular “keeper test” exercises with employees. If that employee came to you today and said they were leaving, how hard would you fight to keep them? If you wouldn't fight or if you would feel a bit relieved, then they aren't the right person for the role. Candor--The leaders inside Netflix encourage a lot of candid feedback. The key is having some guidelines to the feedback and Erin shared the four A's--Aim to assist, it has to be actionable, show appreciation, accept or decline. Everyone provides feedback--employees to leaders, leaders to employees, and employees to coworkers. Freedom--Once you have talent density and candor, then you are in a position to give freedom. If you want to go on vacation--go, if you need to make a purchase--do it, if you need to make a decision--make it. You are expected to act like an adult and act in the best interest of the company. Instead of using a hierarchical pyramid, Netflix uses a decision making tree with the leaders at the bottom down in the dirt, watering the roots of the company. Now more than ever we need to take a step back to define what it means to be a leader and what great leadership looks like. But this isn't easy to do. In fact, many business leaders struggle with this. You cannot become and build what you don't define. In the PDF you will get a framework you can follow and also see how some of the world's top CEOs define leadership. Click here to get the PDF. Get the latest insights on Future of Work, Leadership and employee experience. http://futureofworknewsletter.com/  Let's connect on social! Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobmorgan8 Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacobmorgan8 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jacobm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FuturistJacob  

We were all watching as Kyle Chalmers took to the pool and are so proud that he came home with Silver! So Erin & Soda spoke to the one person who is probably the proudest of Kyle, his dad, Brett Chalmers! To get to the games is an achievement, but to win a medal, any medal is an absolute accomplishment. So when Brett saw the headline 'Kyle Fails To Defend Olympic Title', he couldn't help but feel disappointed...not in Kyle, in the media and lack of support. Have a listen here:

It's raining Gold in Toyko and we couldn't be more proud! So Erin calls up her old roommate, Alex Hagen to talk about what it takes to be a rower! After all the hard work is done, we know our athletes like to get loose...and we've heard a rumour that there's a secret dating app that the athletes use to 'get to know one another'... wink wink, nudge nudge. So we speak to Alex about the app and what goes on in the village after hours.

Listener Erin in Carlingford made an interesting discovery while out in her garden. She found what looked like white speckled eggs on the ground, under a piece of bark. [audio mp3="https://media.radiocms.net/uploads/2021/07/21115109/Erin_Eggs_2107.mp3"][/audio] So Erin did the most logical thing and called in nature experts Dermot and Dave.  Unsurprisingly, we didn't have a clue. Thankfully with the help of Today FM listeners and TCD Zoologist, Collie Ennis, we were able to identify something called stinkhorn fungus. Yep, really. Catch Collie's explanation of what it is and what to do if you have it by clicking play above. 

Getting Ahead of Yourself in the Land Academy Education Process (LA 1550) Transcript: Steven J Butala: Steve and Jill here. Jill DeWit: Hi. Steven J Butala: Welcome to the Land Academy show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill DeWit: Are you sure? Steven J Butala: Yeah. Jill DeWit: Okay, and I'm Jill Dewitt, broadcasting from awesome Phoenix, Arizona. Steven J Butala: I'm hot. Jill DeWit: How you doing there? What's going on, babe? Steven J Butala: Well, I'm hot. I'm distracted. Jill DeWit: Yeah. Steven J Butala: We are recording [crosstalk 00:00:24] right now, this moment, in the middle of a construction site [crosstalk 00:00:28] we call our house. Jill DeWit: Yes. Our house is literally at a job site. Steven J Butala: Our sort of house. We live in the living room. Jill DeWit: Yeah, there is that, too. All true. We're running around helping landscapers and pool people and flooring people and all that stuff, but ... Steven J Butala: And we're still here to do the show. Jill DeWit: I know. Steven J Butala: The show must go on. Jill DeWit: I'm happy to be the general contractor of our own project. Steven J Butala: Today, Jill and I ... Wow. And I can't talk. Today, Jill and I are talking about getting ahead of yourself in the land academy education process. Jill DeWit: One thing, I'm not getting ahead of myself with this project. You know what? This is a good example. I could be running around asking for things [inaudible 00:01:08] alone. No, I ask people, what's the process? For example, our wood flooring. How's this going to go? How long does that take? What's the next step? And then I wait. I put it on the calendar and I wait. So this ties into our topic. Steven J Butala: When I was a kid, I took a boating class. I had to take a class from coast guard to get my boating license, and I was a little. It's like with airplanes. It's not like you have to turn 16 to get your license. You can get a boating license really early on, and I think you can get certified as a pilot early on, too. Jill DeWit: You have to be 16 to solo. Steven J Butala: Okay, but I don't think that was the case a while ago, and I know it's not the case for boats. Maybe it's all changed recently. And the second I got into that class, boy, did I have a lot of questions. And I was really interested in getting out on the water that day. It was two weeks before we ever got on the water, and it was books and exams and all kinds of stuff. And I got so frustrated and ahead of myself and, by golly, that's what happens at Land Academy. Jill DeWit: By Golly. What am I going to do with you? Lickety split, by golly and bajillion. Steven J Butala: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. If you're already a Land Academy member, join us on the discord. Jill DeWit: All right. So Erin wrote, Hello, I'm preparing my second first mailer. Oh, that's hilarious. I like that with a happy face. It took me second. Should I scrub out properties that are labeled low income in the opportunity zone column? That's hilarious. I'm concerned that there'll be a price cap on how much I could sell it. Is that accurate? Steven J Butala: This is a very, very hidden PhD level question. Jill DeWit: That's funny. Steven J Butala: What he or she is asking is what do I scrub out of my mailer when it comes to use? Property types, commercial use, industrial use, residential, NEC, which is non-classified property and on and on. What do I exclude? And the answer is nothing. In the very early parts of Land Academy, I made a big deal about use and how you should check out all kinds of stuff, specifically industrial property because you don't want to deal with any type of [crosstalk 00:03:35] EPA cleanup. Yeah, exactly. Well, times have changed. And the more letters that you get out now ... and we've grown as a land investor,

In this episode of the SALTovation podcast, we speak with Erin Neer, founder and CEO of MUNIRevs, and our very own Judy Vorndran. Erin has worked in municipal finance for over 18 years. As a former finance director in Colorado, she realized that the way sales taxes were collected was archaic. Businesses were still sending in manually calculated paper coupons to remit their taxes, and the city staff then had to handle that mail, key in the data and make a deposit to the bank. So Erin created MUNIRevs in 2011 that works with communities to automate their business revenue collection.  Erin talks in this episode about how she founded MUNIRevs and how her product provides an easy platform for cities and taxpayers. She discusses what it's like to work with the state government and how MUNIRevs developed trust to garner more jurisdictions. Listen as she shares her advice on how to go all in after you see a need and go for it.   Questions asked and answered in this Episode: How did Erin get to where she is today? What is MUNIRevs? Is the product as it is today what she was hoping it would become? Did it start out as something else? What has it been like to work with the state to facilitate the ability to fund the cities and make it easier for cities and taxpayers? Does Erin think having other jurisdictions use MUNIRevs help them get other jurisdictions to sign on to the platform? What type of products do they provide? How did they get Denver to choose MUNIRevs? How is MUNIRevs working with Alaska? How many developers do they have? Do they learn some basics of sales tax? How do they keep up with the legislative changes? How long did it take to get that initial launch? Who was the first jurisdiction to sign on?   What You Will Discover: [00:48] Erin’s career trajectory [04:39] What is MUNIRevs [08:17] What it’s been like to work with state [14:31] How they established themselves as the preferred resource [16:14] The various systems [17:27] How they got Denver on board [20:55] Working with Alaska [27:33] How flexible they have to be to  [27:33] The back end of MUNIRevs’ technology [30:57] Keeping up with the legislative changes [32:26] The initial launch and the first jurisdiction to sign on [38:15] Erin’s advice to go all in [42:17] A team to answer questions [43:06] A few fun facts about Erin   Quotables: “That’s where it’s grown. It’s just more modules and more needs because we listened to what our businesses and our clients needed us to build next.” - Erin Neer [08:11] “Enforcement shouldn’t be a negative way to get tax out of vendors.” - Judy Vorndran [12:33] “One of the biggest things that helps us make it happen is the way that we design the system from day one was to be nimble.” - Erin Neer [28:22] “The conversation this year with COVID has been really interesting. You no longer have to explain the payment process and everything. It’s more commonplace today, but we have cities that are calling us because we are part of their COVID resiliency plan.” - Erin Neer [34:41] “You need to know what you’re building if you’re going to go solve something.” - Erin Neer [38:52]   Relevant Links: Website: https://munirevs.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/munirevs

Accidentally double-booking herself Erin rescheduled her meeting with Big Boss Duncan. Little did she know that she's text the WRONG Duncan and ended up missing her really important meeting giving him no reason. Basically, she ghosted her boss. BADLY. Erin needs to grovel...bad. So Erin & Soda called Big Boss Duncan and...er...Erin's job might be on the line.

What is your primary market? If you’re listening to this podcast, there’s a high chance that you are working in the secondary home market, or helping people find the home of their dreams. But what happens when a pandemic like COVID hits, and some resorts are completely stalled, and no one is traveling to these areas and buying homes? This week, I’m talking to one of my fellow real estate agents here in Hawaii, Erin Evans. She works in the Oahu market, and roughly 80% of her business comes from military home buyers. These people may only be in the area for a short time, and they may not be looking to buy the home of their dreams. But they have a powerful tool that makes them a strong buying candidate, and she’s here to tell us all about it! If you’re thinking of ways to connect with a new market and build a strong nation-wide referral network, you won’t want to miss this week’s episode of the Selling the Dream podcast! Before we dive in: join an amazing network of the best second home agents. Make sure that you create your free profile on the Second Home Agents website? Go over and get started: it’s FREE to join. Click here to register, fill out your profile and get listed today. Highlights of this episode: Tom introduces Erin and her business. Tom and Erin talk about how they met, and how they use referrals in their business to bring in new leads. Almost 80% of Erin’s clients are military: this means that she ultimately gains connections everywhere, and her clients are always looking for a trusted agent for a referral! Be your own advocate: own the space in other realtor’s minds! When they think of your market, you want them to automatically think of you! Social media is a great place to build relationships - you can find so many networking groups. Always be ready to help other agents that you meet, it will pay off. Erin shares how the VA loan works, and how her clients are using VA loans to purchase homes. Always be on the lookout for opportunities to help people get the best value whenever possible. Understanding the options and limitations can open doors for your clients to buy their dream home. Tom and Erin talk about the state of the market during COVID, and how that’s impacting business. Don’t just build a resort market: build a residential market. Erin talks about tools she uses for distance connections, including Marco Polo. Tom and Erin discuss the DiSC personality tool, and how their tendencies have changed over time. Tools such as the DiSC test help you understand your clients, so you can perfectly market to them and their specific tendencies. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Selling the Dream podcast so you don’t miss any new episodes! Leave a review: you never know when it will be read on the show! Hey everybody, thank you so much for spending time with us today: would you do me a giant favor and share this podcast with fellow realtors, and leave a review. Your reviews help this podcast get shared with more people. Sign up for a trial with Bomb Bomb and get a free eBook from me! Just let me know you’ve signed up, and I’ll send a free copy of Ethan Beute’s book! Connect with our panelists: Anne Eliason Dennis Hanlon Angela Zampino Connect with me (Tom): 2nd Home Agents website Facebook Instagram YouTube EXCLUSIVE Resort & 2nd Home Real Estate Agents Facebook Group Subscribe to the Show Don’t miss a single episode of the podcast. You can search for “Selling the Dream” on any of your favorite listening platforms, or follow the links below: iTunes Spotify Stitcher YouTube Have you made your free profile on the Second Home Agents website? Go over and get started: it’s FREE. Click here to register, make your profile and get listed today. As always, thanks for listening. Don’t forget, you’re not selling a home: you’re selling the dream.   See you next time!   TRANSCRIPT: Unknown Speaker  0:00 Hey everybody, Tom Tezak with Selling the Dream Today we're going to talk about how your buyers can move to your market area in the resort districts using a VA loan. Welcome to Selling the Dream, a podcast created for and by second home and resort realtors on Tom Tezak. And each week my goal is to bring you a quick real estate tip along with an info pack interview with an industry rock shop. My mission is to bring you the cutting edge marketing tried and true sales techniques and information about the latest technologies. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, we're not selling real estate, Selling the Dream. Unknown Speaker  0:38 Hey out there to our live audience. Tom Tezak here with Selling the Dream podcast and today I have Erin Evans from Honolulu on the show with us Unknown Speaker  0:49 are Oahu actually her offices in in Honolulu, so it's a little different. But Erin, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. What can you share with us about life in in a Oahu Unknown Speaker  1:00 Well, thanks for having me, Tom. Great to see you. And life in Hawaii. I mean, I don't know you're on now you sent me. I think it looks pretty good over here, isn't it? The weather's always beautiful and can't complain. I love it. So and let's, let's, you know, we both have been in this business a long time. We're both broker owners. So we have some similar kind of experiences. You were on a century 21 office, I run a windemere office. So friendly competition in that regards. And we've gotten to know each other through networking throughout the world, and referrals and just so much opportunity exists in the networking world. Especially for realtors. Yeah. And you know, you know, one of the reasons I spoke to you this morning, I called them just said, Hey, Erin, thanks so much for letting Shawna know on your Facebook group for military real estate agents that I was an agent to us in Maui. And we put her clients under contract today or yesterday, huh? Unknown Speaker  2:02 Thank you. And but what I, you know, I think the value in that is I met Erin through a networking through Tom Ferry coaching, got to know her. And then she was on Facebook and said saw somebody say, Hey, I'm looking for an agent in and Erin said you need to reach out to Tom. And then she reached out to me. And we connected and I got that referral now it was a year ago. And that's the way sometimes that happens. But I just so much appreciate that. And I think, you know, let's talk about that referral opportunities that you create and how you do that, Erin, and the value in that for your business. Unknown Speaker  2:42 Yeah, absolutely. Tom. So I mean, I feel like we Facebook is a great way to really connect with a lot of realtors and people worldwide and we're actually starting to see a lot more popularity with them as well because as you know, different groups and like you mentioned there's a little meat Mark Unknown Speaker  3:00 And mine for example is military so with over 80% of our clients will be military when it pops up you know we have our pocket full of people that are go to in different areas so I specifically if you're looking outside of military bases, which of course they didn't particularly have in Maui however being on this you know, you're my go to in Maui like Tom's the best I've got to give a shout out Tom feedback, you have to go with him. He's amazing, right? Unknown Speaker  3:25 So when you have your people, you're welcome. Of course you can eat no and you keep those people in your database. And afterwards, I always like to do a follow up to say okay, like if we have somebody going out to Virginia, for example, we have our go to in Virginia, and follow up that they have a great experience. You know, there's something you promote, and like you said, being a broker owner, this is something internally within your office as well that you can share with your agents because they may be in the same position. And if you have somebody reputable, ethical, that you know provides a great service. Unknown Speaker  3:58 Keep them close. Unknown Speaker  4:00 And you know, and I think that it's important, it's, you know, sometimes we just think about, I have a buyer or seller and I want to refer them to an agent. And agents only think about that connection, but the fact that you're a third party, third person outside of this relationship, and you connected me to another agent, and you don't really get anything out of this, I mean, there's there's no referral fee, there's nothing like that. You get great appreciation for me. But what you do get that's the underlying thing is is now I know whenever somebody says, Hey, I want a Oahu I'm reaching out to Erin because Erin's Thinking about me and connected me with other agents. And that's the way I think our agents out there in these resort communities actually all over the world. When you're out there networking you need, it's so important. I've said this before you need to own the space in the other realtors mind, for your market area, whatever that is, whether it's a Oahu or a Maui, or Dallas, Texas or Vail and I think that's the important part so that the agents can Unknown Speaker  5:00 Be Your advocates to other agents and and in the last year, Unknown Speaker  5:04 I think there's been seven realtors that referred other realtors to call me because of that networking that we do and all that the time we put into that. So as agents that are listening to this, spend some time I know it's really hard right now to be out networking, we're still in the midst of COVID I think I've been saying that for way too long. Unknown Speaker  5:27 But spend some time figuring out how to be part of that world go on Facebook, especially now join some groups debt that are real estate driven. There's some great groups out there that Unknown Speaker  5:40 connect a lot of agents. Just search on YouTube on Unknown Speaker  5:46 Facebook and you'll find stuff for realtor groups. Unknown Speaker  5:49 Man, it's a great place or and then we we started our major networking through the through the coaching organization. So there's a lot of places that you can do it and the other places through your event. Unknown Speaker  6:00 You're affiliated with a brand new century 21 Windermere, they all have networks as well. So just explore those and be part of the party. Don't Don't just be the Voyager that's looking in. If somebody asks a question, comment if somebody needs help help, if somebody you know, just it's so that's what's so important. I'm sort of soapbox in here. Erin, what are your thoughts? Unknown Speaker  6:21 Well, my thoughts you know, just to piggyback on that, because like you said it came from a third party and there's really nothing in it for me besides you know, I want you to take great care of them because for us, it's very much this is still a relational business. This is not just transactional, next, next I the people that I put my name and my referral attachment to, they have to be quality and they have to be taken care of those those customers. You never want them to feel like another number. You want them to have a really great customer experience so that they remember you and they're referring you and saying tell him the best comes about you know you have to use him because it these are let's be honest, you can Unknown Speaker  7:00 some pretty big purchases that people are making, you know, and you want to make sure that everybody's in the best hand, like I said, you always want to stamp your name to something of value. It doesn't want to be Next, Next Next, I'm all about the transaction, the relation, the relation that's involved with it. I love that. I love what you just said, you don't want to be that next, next next because people I think people read through that in a heartbeat. They know that you're just sort of, you know, putting them through the system and on to the next one and and our clients are pretty sharp, they get that they feel that we just don't want to have them feeling that way. So great point. What exactly and I mean, a lot of the clients you're dealing with this isn't necessarily their primary residence because it is their second home. This isn't their first go around. You're right. They'll read right through that. It's Yeah, it's exactly true. So just freedom freedom, like you care about him because you should. Absolutely. So we were again so you do mostly in military business, which is a completely different animal. You do some of your businesses and resorts secondary market business. Unknown Speaker  8:00 How does how does your military business? How does? How is that different? I'm curious about this because I have never worked in the military market and you're in a military market that's also a resort market. So you've got this dramatically different clientele base correct. So what's the military market? How's that work? And how do you utilize those skills in through your out your whole business? Unknown Speaker  8:24 I mean, ultimately, I'm going to share with you about 80% of our clients are still military and the other 20 is more second home investment properties resort whatnot. So primarily when military coming in it doesn't have to be their their primary residence. So they do have to live in it, at least a minimum for the first year at that point, you know, if they choose to ever have the capability to purchase another and turn that into investment properties, you know, that's a minimum one year timeframe for them to use a VA loan, correct? Correct. Yeah, now they can Unknown Speaker  8:57 do most of your V military buyers Unknown Speaker  9:00 VA loans. Yes, yeah, absolutely. And even right now, the interest rates are even even slightly better than conventional. So if you have the option, even with money down, you have the option to use conventional and put 20% down or use your VA. And you can still, of course, put money down, you may not want put the full 20%. But they don't have to pay a VA funding, or they have to pay VA funding fee, they don't have to pay the PMI, there's no private mortgage insurance with a VA loan. Unknown Speaker  9:28 So that's huge. You don't have to put down the 20%. So even up until January this year, the VA loan limit was $726,000. Actually 726 and $50 is kind of an odd number. But as of January of this year, they finally lifted it so every year that number would shift just a little bit. So just for simplicity sake with the math, let's just say a property costs $826,000. So your loan limits or your VA loan limits 726 you end up purchasing at 826 at 100,000. Unknown Speaker  10:00 Knowledge difference, you come up with 25% of the difference, which is $25,000. So VA buyers had the capability to buy a home for $826,000 with only $25,000 down, which is significant than your 20% over 160,000 plus dollars for a conventional loan. So, you know, really great feature for them. But then just as of this year in January, they lifted that loan limit. So now that we don't have those restrictions, it's going to be based off of your debt to income ratios. And it's going to be based off of your credit scores, and whatnot. So they're in a new playing field where we're actually able to buy higher end homes and even look into that luxury market more as a result. So fantastic news. That's great. So they don't have to qualify, they have to qualify, they just there's no restrictions which that makes a world of difference. And so are you getting a lot of military buyers that can afford a million plus dollar home? Are they higher end Unknown Speaker  11:00 Military or I guess they have to be right. Yeah, yeah. Well, what I'm seeing is, Unknown Speaker  11:06 you know, I would say a little, little bit older, maybe more experienced or have, you know, they've sold their home on the mainland, let's just say they've started when they were in the early, early 20s or mid 20s and started building their wealth that way using their VA loan. And, you know, they come out here and they have a down payment, and they just kind of keep rolling that money into every time they sell it their next duty station, for example. So I'm finding a lot of dual military or higher enlisted or Unknown Speaker  11:35 maybe your spouse has another job if they're not doing military but yeah, the affordability there as long as like I said, their credit scores and their finances are are squared away, they're good. So which is great for people might be listening to this thing home, why are we talking about VA loans and the resort market show but the reality of it is a lot of our buyers, our VA have B VA benefits and if they're coming into our markets, and they're saying hey, Unknown Speaker  12:00 Especially today with the world changing and people COVID freaking out. And they're saying I'm leaving wherever I'm at. And I want to move to my favorite resort district, ask them if they're VA qualified, because there could be an opportunity for them to be buying their primary residence in their in your resort district with a VA loan, and you'll be doing them a solid because they might be 50 or 60. And don't even think about that anymore, that they were in the military for two years or four years when they were young, that that would be an option for him. And so that you really should be exploring those possibilities, because you may, you know, it's the loans or if the rates are cheaper, and the there's no PMI and they can get into something for not a lot of money. I think that's a great opportunity that we may be missing. I know I have met a VA loan officer a couple years ago and helped me to understand it as we started helping more VA buyers over here in Maui. So it definitely is worth looking at. And it's good knowledge to have that now. There's no limits. Unknown Speaker  13:00 So, I love that. And is that across the country? Or is it just in Hawaii? across the country? Yeah, so every state in the past that used to be based off of they had different limitation. So say for example, what was affordable and Unknown Speaker  13:15 Virginia or you know, California or Hawaii, every market was different. It was based off of your your bH, which is your housing allowance. And it would go by rank as well. Got it. So now it's a whole new world, which I love it. Yeah. Cool. So over in a Oahu right now, and in Maui, we're experiencing some weirdness. Let's talk about the resort market a little bit weirdnesses may be an understatement. So we're under quarantine. And I think something that Unknown Speaker  13:45 has been interesting is that our vacation or resort buyers are not showing up. Unknown Speaker  13:52 And Unknown Speaker  13:54 we that was a big part of my business Lester part of Erin's business, but what are you doing or what do you Unknown Speaker  14:00 Realizing and all of this that's you're saying Okay, I need to step back and reevaluate where I was getting my resort business and what I'm doing with that time and energy now with with your, with your Unknown Speaker  14:13 the way you're marketing to clients and the clients that you're working with. Yeah well that's what I'm seeing right now. So even here in a Oahu is very you have two different worlds because if you're out here on the west side, like ever beach khopoli, etc, where it's very much residential single family home Of course there are townhomes and condos but where we are more likely to have or be a buyers it is a seller's market, complete bidding war. A lot like the rest of the us right now in the past month, it has done a complete 180 and it is it shifted so dramatically homes that were sitting on the market for 234 weeks, you know, and let's just say an average price point, perhaps you know, 606 50 all the way up to almost 900 so 850 plus multiple offers. Unknown Speaker  15:00 10 1520 offers over asking price appraisal clauses, escalation clauses and buyers are getting very creative with their financing. So you heavily heavily competing in those areas. Whereas I'm seeing like Waikiki condos, for example, are now taking a lot longer to sell. So that second home market that we were seeing down in Waikiki, where you have this great walking distance down to the beaches and the shops and the resorts, which I'm sure you may be feeling a little bit Maui as well, is different. Our I think our tourism is down, I want to say like, 98% like, it's significant. And it's, you know, it's really, it's tough on the economy, and it's tough. So now we're looking not so much as the investment properties that people want to rent out short term, but they're gonna have to put long term tenants in there because of the vacancy rate. Unknown Speaker  15:52 And you know, and that's the thing too, is and what I was where we were talking Erin and I were chatting earlier is, you know, we have these markets that we build if Unknown Speaker  16:00 We don't have a secondary resource or a secondary part of that market as Second Home Agents. You know, some are I know there's a bunch of second home market areas that are just exploding right now. And they can't, they can't get inventory, they can't find enough. But this kind of stuff happens. You know, there's events in the world that changed the dynamics. So my whole goal and what I, you know, inspired by Erin is, make sure you're building the other side of that market. If you've got a resort second home market, be sure that you're taking care of the bartenders, and the valets and the and the Unknown Speaker  16:31 hotel managers, because there's a market there that continues to move forward. in Maui vets our world right now. We are killing it with the residential, and any agents that were out actively in the market are still really busy right now. If there were agents that were solely in the resort, part of the market, they're dying. So one of the things that I always encourage our agents in my company is don't just build a resort market, build the residential market. We almost Unknown Speaker  17:00 Every resort area has a traditional market within it. And those are the opportunities and those are the moments that keep people alive in the downturns. And this is a perfect example of why you should be working on that and have a farm specifically identified to your traditional residential market that are the service side of the, of the community that you're in. So I think that's so important. Do absolutely for sure. You have to you have to balance it out. And I'm finding that you have to almost your marketing efforts in regard to those second home markets are really going to have to be ramped up and you're gonna have to get creative. And, Unknown Speaker  17:40 you know, the nice thing is we have, you know, companies that we can affiliate with that we can advertise globally where there are some companies that don't necessarily have that so they're going to have to get creative and how do I market these to overseas China, Japan, Korea, and those particular buyers that still may be looking or Unknown Speaker  18:00 I don't know about you, but I've been getting more calls from people in New York lately that are just looking to get out of New York. They're tired of COVID Yeah, it's like, they're just getting beat up over there. And they're like, I want to be so far away from here like, I don't know, we can't get much further than why but, you know, they're, they're looking for their second home. So I've been trying to get a few more of those calls lately as well. You know, hopefully it comes back sooner than we hope. Yeah, and I think we're doing more with the sight unseen and the virtual tours and the virtual showings yesterday I was bouncing from condo to condo and and different houses, showing properties virtually and getting comfortable with that knowing you know, it's, it's also interesting, knowing the different tools that are available and finding out before you walk into a property. Oh, crud, this one's not gonna work. Like FaceTime is great. If you have an iPhone and your client has an iPhone. If you don't, then you know you need to zoom with I've been using zoom and it works out Unknown Speaker  19:00 I think better than FaceTime. Because you have it just, you just have a little bit more flexibility with it. It seemed like for me, and it seems like it needed less bandwidth. So just tools to use we checked another one. And then Marco Polo is another one that it's like a video walkie talkie. So it's another way that I didn't know about Marco Polo. Okay, I recently had a client that on Instagram, their Instagram, their like their they added me on because we weren't friends on Instagram at that point. And we just went live from there. And it seemed to work really well. So that was me. I never thought about that. But yeah, the Marco Polo is like a video walkie talkie. So it really uses way less bandwidth. So if you sign up for Marco Polo, and you're out there listening, find me and just friend me on that. And it's a it's it's like when you're a kid, you had a walkie talkie, it's like, hey, Erin, this is Tom, how you doing? And you'd let go and then and then it's but it's video. So I will I could walk through a property in that and then I'd let go Unknown Speaker  20:00 And they can be watching it. But they can't respond until you stop and then they'll send you a video message back. It's really fun. Oh, very cool. So, Marco. Unknown Speaker  20:12 Polo, you got it. Unknown Speaker  20:16 So, yeah, it's it's so fascinating being on two different islands and having them be such dramatically different places. A lot of times people say, Oh, it's just Hawaii. It's like, No, we've got a lot of different things going on. How long have you been selling real estate in water? 11 years. 11 years Unknown Speaker  20:35 flew by. I don't know how we're getting older Tom. Not Me. Me. Unknown Speaker  20:42 So, Erin, I wanted to talk about something else. This is something I've been trying to bring up into most of my shows because I think it's fascinating and I think a lot of people I always assumed a lot of people knew about it. Unknown Speaker  20:52 And I just did a Tuesday Tip on it. And that's the disc test, understanding disc personality testing and Unknown Speaker  21:00 You were just saying people think I'm this and people think I'm that so what is your disc profile? I just profile So interestingly enough like I shared with you read like oh you're you're a D for sure I'm like I'm actually not I am a high I Unknown Speaker  21:17 with slight S and shades of D and zero c like zero no analytics no data no Unknown Speaker  21:26 more the marketing the big picture I guess because I'm very much the customer centric provide the experience type of mentality you know i'm not i guess because I'm not aggressive enough to really like push, push, push. I'm more of a educator. God no I love it. So share share with me what are you? I am well, so it's interesting 15 years ago or 1012 years ago when I took it and I was just an agent working for a company. I was a Hi, Heidi, and virtually no SRC Unknown Speaker  22:01 And then when I changed over became the owner of a company, I took it again because somebody says you should retest because very often, your working role and your position will change the way you test. And I thought, that's interesting. So I took it again, and I went from a high i, d to a high D. I, and what when I analyzed it, when I talked to people, they said, you now have taken on the role of making more decisions. You're, you're responsible for that. And so, because of that, you've sort of simulated over more to the D side. And I found that that was really true. I didn't there was I make a lot more decisions based on a lot of other things than I used to have that I had to before. So if you if you're a fan of the disc profile, I would recommend take it again because it is fascinating to see the results. Unknown Speaker  22:53 And the other thing I was just mentoring a young gentleman the other day and I said he's 20 Unknown Speaker  23:00 All I said you should take the disc profile so that you know how, where you're at, and it will help you to understand Unknown Speaker  23:08 how to connect with people besides just work and clients, but, you know, spouses, partners, Unknown Speaker  23:17 school teachers, you know, because when you understand where what the disc profile is just in sales and where it helps me to work with a client, and I'll share with you what I did with a client yesterday. Unknown Speaker  23:28 You and it's not that you're trying to be I think covert. You're just trying to be able to talk on their level. Unknown Speaker  23:36 And so yeah, yeah, I didn't have to adapt to them. Unknown Speaker  23:41 And then you create the trust, right? Yes. When they they know that you understand them and hear them. And if if you only hear from your, from your lens or your your, the way you see the world, you're nowhere near as effective as you can understand what they want. Unknown Speaker  23:56 But yesterday I was talking to some clients and they're looking Unknown Speaker  24:00 At a pretty substantial purchase. And they're looking at doing it sight unseen. And they're both really analytical. And so I sent them 50 listings 50 sold listings from the past, because I knew they were analytical. And they asked me for some data, it's like, oh, man, you can never give an analytical enough data. And they came back to me yesterday and said, Well, we've analyzed all these and we threw out these and we did that. And, and it was when I was listening to him, it was like, Nah, I just, I really couldn't hear him because he was just processing through all of this, I let him process and he said, What do you think I said, I think that you can't quantify a view. Unknown Speaker  24:39 You there's no way that you can put a value on a view this is a legacy property and it's so important for for you to go through this process, but I will tell you, the sellers in our market are going to sell when they get the amount of money they want, regardless of what your numbers say. Unknown Speaker  24:56 I said so if you want to buy a piece of resort, luxury drink Unknown Speaker  25:00 property, sometimes you just have to get over the analytics of it. And they both just chuckled and they said, yeah, we both are really analytical. That's the way we see it. totally understand. But if you want this dream property, you've got to give some of that up. And you know that we worked through it. And it was really amazing. But I would have never been able to have the confidence to say that to them, if I didn't understand where they were at. And I also find that when you tell when you say to an analytical, you're really analytical, aren't you? And they'll just say, yeah, Unknown Speaker  25:35 yeah. Unknown Speaker  25:38 And I'll just say, Look, I'm not, but I understand him that is really important to you. So let me give you all you want. Just tell me what you need. And I find that this really helped me a lot to get to the finish line with those analytical buyers. Because if you try to pretend to be that way, again, you can't connect with them. But if you just tell them the truth, if they're super, especially the super analytical ones, I think Unknown Speaker  26:00 That they know it. And when you just confront them and say you're really analytical or Yeah, yeah, it's like okay, to do this this way. So, so what do you do Unknown Speaker  26:11 about this test? Right, that's the great thing about the disc test, especially if you have two that are very different after meeting them. Like let's just say maybe perhaps the husband's analytical one and the wife is more you can tell she's already an INFJ. That's very good. You're going to tailor all your your marketing and how you present things to them. Because one's going to want the graphs and charts the data and analytics where that one is going to be I want the pretty pictures. I want to Wow, I want to feel it, you know. So that's the great thing about the disc test and starting to analyze the people you know, because they always say, whoever you're encountering with you want to speed up to match their pace or you're going to slow down and that's how you're going to connect with them and it's very much the same with the disc testing once you identify what they are. So what are you doing and when you're identiv how are you identifying somebody on the when you're Are you are you consciously saying Unknown Speaker  27:00 Oh, there and I, oh, they're a C or an S? or How are you? Do you have a process for that? Unknown Speaker  27:06 I think once you just start identifying, like when they say like, I feel a certain way, or you know, but but data shows this or the numbers show that you can you can identify with them or, you know, more of the emotion part. That's where you're gonna go for the eyes and the acids. And somebody's like, just tell me what to do. Or just give me the Give me the point the bullet points and that's, that's the D that driver so yeah, well, for example, like even some of like when you're in the listing presentation you're trying to explain Okay, well, we have these electronic lock boxes that we put on, you have somebody that's an ion so we're putting electronic electronic lock boxes on for your, your safety and we're ensuring we know who's in the property at all times and what time they've been there and whatnot. Whereas when you see the DS in the, the C's, this is for speed and efficiency, we put them on not just for your safety, but so that you can they can call we can set up showings and get Unknown Speaker  28:00 In and out, yeah. So it's how you word it to where you can tailor your business to it. I love that you know that you're identifying those things. And I think if you're doing a listing presentation in print, you need to, you know, if you've got multiple top urba a point you're trying to cover with what you just said, you want to speak to the analytical, you want to speak to all four of those personality styles in your presentation so that it's not like all bullet points. And it's not like all touchy feely crap, because you're gonna lose somebody, but if you can connect them occasionally throughout the process, I think it's really important. That's a great tip. Thank you. So Erin, if people are looking to buy some real estate in Oahu or they need help with a luxury property, a resort property or anything on the on the island, you cover the whole island, right? We cover the whole island and I say we because I mean, we have agents all over the island. We have exceptional agents and you know, some really identify with other markets more than others. Unknown Speaker  29:00 And we have our experts wherever you need answers we are you have questions, we have answers. Perfect. How do they get ahold of you? Unknown Speaker  29:09 They can call me on my cell phones 808-292-5722 or I don't know I guess if he knows easier as well. Would you like my email address? Let's give it up. All right, Erin e ri n at sea to one as in century 21 b two, one island. home.com. Perfect. Thank you, Erin. And if anybody's got any referrals going out to Oahu, by all means give Erin a call center several folks and she just does an amazing job with customer service and customer care, which is our number one concern always we want our clients in the care of if anybody is out there listening for the first time if you would just be so kind as to review our show. If you're listening for the 10th time and you haven't reviewed our show, I would appreciate that. It means so much when we get reviews on whatever Unknown Speaker  30:00 Channel you're listening on, iTunes tends to be the most popular, or on YouTube as well. So please, that means it really helps us out with our ratings and our exposure to get those reviews. Also, if you're on Facebook, Unknown Speaker  30:15 go to Facebook search resort and Second Home Agents. We've got a group for a resort Second Home Agents on there, I'd love to have you join us on that group. We are growing rapidly. Also, if you are a resort, Second Home Agents go to our website resort. Second Home Agents calm Again, that's Second Home agents.com, two nd home agents and sign up there, create your district and be part of that group. As we start to build that site out. We sure appreciate it. And thank you so much for joining us today on Selling the Dream. And we hope to see you in Maui someday or in a Oahu Mm hmm. Well, thanks, Tom. I appreciate it. And you know, as soon as I hang up, I'm going to do my disc test again because I haven't done it about four years. Unknown Speaker  31:00 But since we opened the brokerage about two and a half years ago, I know I guarantee some things have changed. So I'm going to text you later with my results and be like Unknown Speaker  31:09 I'm still the same. Unknown Speaker  31:12 Everybody out there who says this is what I am if you had life changing, the other things that will change discussed, we're going back into the show here. having kids Yeah, kids eating you because it changes your perspective. You know, and, and I think they say take your disc test as if you're at work or at home. There's two different kinds of personalities that exist as well in your disc. So knowing the difference in that I just find it to be such a fat fat. Yeah, fantastic tool. The other thing I've been hearing a lot about lately is the enneagram. And I haven't done that yet. Unknown Speaker  31:47 But so that's the next thing. I'm that I'm going to take a look at. So anyway, I have an agent in my office that she's a coach for it either keep up with her because she's been reading every gram yeah for enneagram since she did a session Unknown Speaker  32:00 With our agents in our office, so it's interesting how you can relate it back to your business. So she her contact info. Yeah, that would be great. Unknown Speaker  32:08 So everybody out there again, thanks for keeping insane with us on Selling the Dream. We sure appreciate you joining us and we'll talk to you next week. Take care. Oh Ha, lo hi Erin.

Instead of answering the Final Five questions, Erin Cronican continues our conversation on producing theater for the online world as well as some insight into her cooking habits (or lack thereof).   For now, COVID has ended live theater as we know it, and digital platforms have become a new home for actors and writers to reach audiences. So Erin shares how she's made it work and how Actors Equity Association has (not) helped.   Follow Erin: Instagram / Twitter   - Donate to the The Seeing Place    Follow WINMI: Instagram / Twitter / Blog   - Newsletter / Survey: whyillnevermakeit.com   —————    WINMI is a Top 20 Theater Podcast thanks to you!  https://blog.feedspot.com/theatre_podcasts/    The time and expense needed to bring these guests and conversations to you each week is sometimes challenging but always rewarding. Please consider buying me a coffee to support this work that goes into each episode.     The instrumental song "Smooth Actor" by Podington Bear is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License. Based on a work at http://soundofpicture.com. 

It's....haha....it's a short episode today as Britney/Lucy finishes up the concert video/audition. So Erin and James talk about whether either of them have seen Britney Spears in concert. And also other concerts/shows they've seen. Theme Music: "Crunky" by Freedom Trail Studio

When Erin Terry started doing open mic stand-up comedy just before turning 30, she noticed one thing quickly and clearly: there wasn't enough space for women. So Erin consulted with some other female comics, and decided she was going to carve out her own space. What started in 2015 as one show, and then a once-a-month show, and then more shows, eventually became Eyes Up Here, the comedy enterprise that has given a mic to over 200 women comics, and stages multiple regular shows across the Triangle and in places like Asheville and Wilmington. Eyes Up Here also helps mentor and encourage performers--they hold workshops and classes outside of their performances.Erin is a blast to talk to not only because she's funny, but because she has a passion for Raleigh as much as she has a passion for comedy. As she says in the interview, "Laughter is not in limited supply. The laughs here counts just as much as they do in New York or LA or Atlanta or Chicago....this is my home."Special thanks to Papa Murphy's Take N Bake Pizza of Raleigh--who are still open and serving safe, delicious dinners--and Steele Residential, who has graciously donated their ad time during the pandemic to local non-profits, this episode they're supporting Activate Good.Subscribe/rate Podcast Raleigh on your favorite podcast sites:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-raleigh/id1458907220Google: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Inzk5woxrsjwf3zhd5vv3av4yeiStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podcast-raleighSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6b3dVvLJfO0EqvDGQaFTAP?si=QrcfEq8WSE2h3aEZSGV0pQ

So Erin's sitting in a bathtub with six kittens and the director of the Utah Humane Society, and it just gets weirder from there. Also, congratulations, Utah! We were just named number one in the nation for something! And The Todd has created an instructional video about it.

It's time. So Erin and Amy recommend some picks that are all about adolescence and learning. But we couldn't miss the opportunity to talk about our love of school supplies, terrible run-ins with bulimic class salamanders and concussed hamsters, and how our adolescent dreams of adulthood have proven quite wrong. Plus, Erin comes in HOT with a few people and things in her burn book. Free Book It pizza for all! __________Our picks this week: Novels:Amy: Push, SapphireErin: Mrs. Everything, Jennifer WeinerOther Books:Amy: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Susan Cain (Non-fiction)Erin: Spoiled Brats, Simon Rich (Short story collection)Pop Culture:Amy: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)Erin: Trophy Kids (TV, Documentary) __________Like what you hear? Subscribe to Broads and Books wherever you get your podcasts. And hey -- be a pal. Give us a rating and review while you're there! Plus: Send us your ideas and challenges, and you could be featured on a future episode! Broads and Books is a book podcast, a funny podcast, and a feminist podcast. And you'll find we're one of the best podcasts. Each week Amy and Erin choose a unique theme. Then we choose two fiction books, two other genre books (short story collections, memoir, non-fiction, true crime, poetry, etc.), and two pop culture picks based on that theme. We surprise each other with our picks, talk about why we like them, and give you unexpected recommendations for every reading taste. Along the way, we share embarrassing stories, unachievable reading lists, amazing business ideas, and so much more. We also update you on our mascot, Podcat, and her latest attempts to kill us. Broads and Books is fresh, funny, thought-provoking, and basically the best time you'll have all week. Find links to all of episodes, along with bonus material, at BroadsandBooks.com. You'll also find ways to get in touch and follow along every week!

Braze's Director of Data Jesse Tao and Tech Alliances Manager at Looker Erin Franz graciously break down BI tools and the value of data for the rest of us civilians. They walk through the marketization of data and the power of Looker blocks.        TRANSCRIPT: [0:00:17] PJ: Hi there. This is PJ Bruno. Welcome back to Braze For Impact, your weekly tech industry discussed digest. And I'm thrilled today to have two very good friends of mine, Jesse Tao, our director of data, the man about data. What's the title Jesse? It's just data person?   [0:00:33] Jesse: Well my Slack title is just data stuff.   [0:00:35] PJ: Right. So we have Jesse Tao, data stuff-   [0:00:38] Jesse: Official title is, Head of Data Strategy.   [0:00:41] PJ: Head of Data Stuff, Jesse Tao, and also our very good friend joining us from Looker, that's Erin Franz. Hi Erin.   [0:00:48] Erin: Hi.   [0:00:49] PJ: Good to have you here.   [0:00:50] Erin: Yeah, glad to be here.   [0:00:51] PJ: How's the day been so far? You guys have been doing workshops right?   [0:00:54] Erin: Yeah. Flew in last night. Just starting the day early, east coast time. Feeling great.   [0:00:58] PJ: Awesome. Not too jet lagged yet? You're feeling good?   [0:01:01] Erin: So far.   [0:01:02] PJ: Hitting our stride. That's what I like to hear. So we're here today to talk about data, about insights. I'm sure as you two know, over the past 30 years there's been monumental strides in what that means to companies, and the value that it can add. So let's start really, really general, where we are today. Erin, can you speak to some patterns that we've since in data, since the beginning of it? I guess from relational, to non relational databases, to the kind of stuff that you work with right now?   [0:01:34] Erin: Yeah. I mean, I can speak to ... Since I've joined Looker about four years ago, sort of how the landscape's changed and how we've seen sort of the product evolve with the technologies that have become available. So I think when Looker was founded six years ago or so, Redshift was just emerging as this modern analytical data warehouse. And those technologies didn't really exist before. And what this enabled, was the ability to actually expose large volumes of data across an organization in a way that multiple people could be accessing at the same time, and really using it to make data-driven decisions. Luckily, Looker took a bet on SQL being kind of this language of querying that would scale with all these different technologies that have come out. And luckily, that's been the case. With Redshift, we've also seen other databases like Snowflake and Google has BigQuery, that have really enabled organizations to become data-driven and self-serving when it comes to making decisions based on data.   [0:02:37] PJ: And making it more accessible to people like me, like pedestrians, plebs, who just don't really understand kind of the technical side of data. It's like-   [0:02:47] Erin: Exactly.   [0:02:48] PJ: Democratizes it a bit.   [0:02:49] Erin: Right. Making it accessible in a way that it's not just accessible to technical folks, to data analysts, to people who understand SQL and know how to code, to people who just want to click and drop and create reports and explore data on their own, products like Looker make that possible.   [0:03:06] PJ: And Jesse you work with Looker pretty regularly at this point?   [0:03:10] Jesse: Yes, almost every day.   [0:03:11] PJ: Almost every day. And I mean we wouldn't call you a pedestrian, you're pretty deep in data, you understand it well enough.   [0:03:16] Jesse: Yes I do.   [0:03:17] PJ: Why don't you talk to us a little bit about the marketization of data. This is something that's-   [0:03:22] Jesse: Yeah, you know, I think today we collect a lot of data. And in my opinion, data has more or less become a commodity now, rather than the hot topic. And what the hot topic of today is, it's insights. Because you're thinking about it, we're collecting a lot of data. We have data coming in from IOT and all these other sources, and most of the data that's collected, isn't being used. So, how useful is something that's sitting in the data of our house, kind of just collecting dust? So, very low value there. The value is from the insights, from actually analyzing the data, getting the data and figuring out what you want to do with it, to drive business decisions. And this is kind of where Braze comes in, and Looker comes in. We're providing the data and also providing the framework and the tools for people who are not using data, to get insights out of it and actually use that data. So I think in terms of the marketing pressure in the industry, we're moving ... We're going to still collect a lot of data, but more of the focus is going to be on how do we actually use that data faster and more efficiently?   [0:04:21] PJ: Right. Because if you're not using that data and you're not taking action on it, you're going to be left in the dust, more or less, right? Is that the ...   [0:04:27] Jesse: Yes. To put it in Marie Kondo terms, data just sitting there, brings us no joy.   [0:04:33] PJ: And you're all about sparking joy.   [0:04:36] Jesse: Sure.   [0:04:38] PJ: All right then. Okay, well what sorts of data, insights are available to day that wasn't available in the past? Obviously this is kind of a big sweeping generalization, but what can we speak to currently?   [0:04:49] Erin: I think some common themes that we've seen emerging are, people are collecting data from tools that they are using in their business, whether that's a Salesforce as a CRM's index as a support system and centralizing all that data in one place. So you're not just accessing one data set, not just your transactional data set, but also the data sets that define your whole business and your whole customer journey. So you're actually able to create kind of that 360 view of the customer that we're all sort of striving for, from as many sources as possible. And that's become possible because of these data warehousing technologies that are now available.   [0:05:27] PJ: It's all about that 360 degree view these days, isn't it?   [0:05:30] Jesse: Absolutely.   [0:05:33] PJ: Because I'm still kind of just getting my feet wet with my understanding of the eco system of products right? You have your attribution, you have your CDPs, Braze is in there somewhere-   [0:05:44] Jesse: Mm-hmm (affirmative)-   [0:05:46] PJ: Engagement. So Looker is the analysis, it's less the visualization and more the business intelligence right? Because I feel like on our call, we talked a little bit, it's not just graphs right?   [0:05:57] Erin: Right. Part of it is graphs for sure-   [0:06:00] PJ: Right.   [0:06:00] Erin: You need to be able to visualize your data, but much more than that, of course we always say the starting point for Looker is a dashboard, or a visualization. You can really drill into that visualization, see the components that have built that. If you're technical, you can even see the SQL that is being written to the database to supply that result set. And then you can modify that report, you can drill down into the granular level data that's supplying the data for that visualization. So let's say you're looking at event count by day on your application, you can see what those events are just by clicking into one of those data points.   [0:06:36] PJ: Gotcha. And that data, that belongs to the company effectively, or that belongs to the user?   [0:06:45] Jesse: I have a point of view on that. And before I share my thoughts, I'll preface it by saying I'm not a lawyer, so do not use this as legal advice.   [0:06:53] PJ: Okay, thanks for that.   [0:06:55] Jesse: I think the data ultimately belongs to the end user, but the company is basically the custodian of that data. Because without the end user, there is no data but without the company, there's not way of collecting or storing that data. So, the company is more or less using, collecting that data on behalf of the user. They're creating some sort of value from it, either from messaging or personalization or just understanding the user a little bit better. Some way of using that data to create insights into the level of value to that user. But ultimately, it is that user's data and the user should own that data. I think that's the point of view that many countries and regulatory bodies are holding as well. If you look at GDPR as well as the upcoming California privacy laws, the focus is really on the end user and their ability to control the data that they collect, the accuracy of it and the right to be forgotten. So, I think there is a common theme where the view point is the end user owns the data whereas, the companies are the ones who are using it to provide value both to the user and to the marketplace.   [0:08:03] PJ: That makes sense. And the California protection, that's going to happen at the end of this year right?   [0:08:11] Jesse: I don't know the exact timeline. We'll have to refer to our legal team about that.   [0:08:14] PJ: Okay. Well we can patch that up later if we need to. So Erin, let's dig more into Looker a little bit. What's the real differentiator for you guys? What do you guys kind of hold up as a torch? This is kind of who we are and what makes us stand out-   [0:08:29] Erin: Yeah.   [0:08:30] PJ: Amongst the other tools.   [0:08:31] Erin: I think luckily, the core Looker product has been fundamentally the same since its inception. With the core differentiators being that it's entirely in database. So as we talked about, the ability to access all of the data, down to the granular ... Most granular level that you're collecting it and exposed that across your organization. And the way that we're able to do that while still providing standards governance, so users are not creating their own one-off definitions of revenue, something that's incredibly important to reporting, is through our modeling layer, which is called LookML. So that's where you define all the business logic that your end data consumers will be using, whether by just exposing them to pre-built dashboards, visualizations or having them build their own content. And the way this works, while still leveraging the database, is it's really just an abstraction of SQL, or the language that you're using to create those database investments. And then finally, it's a web-based modern application. So that makes it really easy to share, collaborate and extend into plenty of other users. We have a fully baked API where you can serve data from Looker elsewhere to bring it into the tools where you need it.   [0:09:46] PJ: So LookML, you said it's your own language-   [0:09:50] Erin: Yup.   [0:09:50] PJ: It's built on another language-   [0:09:53] Erin: Mm-hmm (affirmative)-   [0:09:54] PJ: And so if you know LookML, it actually is useful outside of Looker as well.   [0:09:59] Erin: It's proprietary to the product, but it's very ... What you're doing is modeling the components of SQL, which is a core skillset of any data analyst. It really just makes it easier because instead of writing one-off queries, you're writing the components of those queries so they can be reused, by not only the data analyst, but also by all the data consumers.   [0:10:21] PJ: Gotcha. Cool. Well let's talk Looker Blocks. This is what I really want to get into because I first heard about it at LTR 2018, because we announced our first Looker Block right?   [0:10:34] Jesse: Two Looker Blocks actually.   [0:10:35] PJ: Thank you Jesse. Fact checking on the go. Do you want to talk about that? That was kind of a big release right?   [0:10:43] Jesse: Yeah, it was a pretty big release because it was still pretty early on in our relationship with Looker but we saw the immediate value pretty early on, so we decided to move quickly in that direction. And I'll let Erin talk a little bit about what our Looker Blocks, but the two Looker Blocks that we released back in November, are based around our currents data export and it focuses on market engagement and user behavior. So marketing engagement on the Braze data side will be things like email sends, push opens and at message clicks, stuff like that. And user behavior includes things like session starts and app purchases, so the behaviors of the users. We take all of that information together to create really useful insights around how campaigns are performing, user retention, if campaigns are improving your driving purchases, things like that.   [0:11:32] PJ: Gotcha. And Looker Blocks for those of us who don't actually know the definition-   [0:11:39] Erin: Yeah.   [0:11:39] PJ: Are basically ...   [0:11:40] Erin: They're basically templates for LookML. So LookML is a text-base modeling language. So we can model expected data sources upfront. So, data sources that are going to have a common schema, so common tables, columns, fields, within that. We've created a bunch of these for sources that are commonly used across our customers like Salesforce, Zendesk, as I mentioned before, Google AdWords, Facebook ads. The sources we're seeing most often, and then also the sources that we want to model proactively with our partners like Braze.   [0:12:12] PJ: Cool. And so these two Looker Blocks, these are the first of many.   [0:12:16] Jesse: Yes.   [0:12:18] PJ: Cool. I mean, do you know what's on deck? Do we know what's coming up or do we want to save that for our next episode?   [0:12:24] Jesse: We can save that for the next episode, but I actually want to talk a little bit about why we decided to make these Looker Blocks. And I think it's because we saw in it, the common vision with our product, which is data agility, or what we call, data agility. And that means basically speed to insight for us. As I mentioned before, the value of data is not in the data itself, it's what you can do with it, and how you can actually gets insights out of it. And with Looker Blocks, it acts as a template where we are predefining all the data fields and relationships, and providing those fundamental building blocks for us and out customers to build on top of. So, what would historically take a data engineer or a BI developer weeks, days, potentially even months to model, we do all of that leg work for our customers so they can just drag and drop in those Looker Blocks and be ready to find insights within minutes or hours.   [0:13:20] PJ: So that's huge. That's going to save time.   [0:13:22] Jesse: Absolutely.   [0:13:24] PJ: It's exciting. All right, let's move on down to data tech changing roles. How is data tech ... How is it changing the way people are doing their jobs and what will the change for real expectations be in the future?   [0:13:39] Jesse: Sure. Now, I think that people are becoming a lot more data-driven, and thinking about how to both collect and use data in their every day lives. Well not just their every day lives, but every day professional lives. They're using data to not just justify their decisions, but also to understand what the implications are in areas that they may not have seen before. And I think that's going to be a point of differentiation for customers, for our companies, because if you can actually use the data in a very insightful way, you can understand more about your users, your competitors, the marketplace and be able to confidently act in a way that will set you apart. And I think in terms of the data collection, the aspect of privacy is going to be more and more important as well. As I mentioned before, there's GDPR, there's the California privacy laws. I think people are just going to be ... Sorry. I think people are going to have to be more careful about what they collect because in the past, you could collect everything. And now with the privacy breeches you've been seeing at big tech companies, big banks, people have to be careful about both what they're collecting and how they're using it.   [0:14:49] PJ: What's the most insightful way you've collected data to make a decision about your life? Putting you on the spot Jesse. I'll start.   [0:14:58] Jesse: Okay.   [0:15:00] PJ: Mine will have to be using Rotten Tomatoes to decide to not watch movies. That's probably it. That's probably saved me several hours of viewing time.   [0:15:11] Jesse: Okay. So I actually have a script that I write, that scrapes lottery websites for the winning numbers, as well as the pay out. And I modeled out something where something like Powerball or Mega Millions, the optimal time to buy is a jackpot of around 3.25 to 3.5 million because at that time, there are not so many buyers where you have to split the pot. So you basically maximize your payout that way. So, we have office lotto pools here and I don't really partake in them up until a certain point where I think there's a higher payout.   [0:15:49] PJ: I'm going to keep that in mind Jesse. That's a good one. That was a really good one.   [0:15:52] Erin: Yeah, saving time, stress. I'm more on the Rotten Tomatoes path.   [0:15:59] PJ: Yeah?   [0:15:59] Erin: Yeah.   [0:16:00] PJ: Do your homework, do your reviews, leverage the data available.   [0:16:03] Erin: I guess restaurants also.   [0:16:05] PJ: Yup. Yeah.   [0:16:07] Erin: Avid Yelp user.   [0:16:08] PJ: I'm a latecomer-   [0:16:09] Erin: Not a reviewer but-   [0:16:10] PJ: Not a reviewer, right. I'm a voyeur. I hide in the comments and I watch.   [0:16:13] Erin: Yes.   [0:16:14] PJ: I'm a-   [0:16:14] Jesse: Lurker.   [0:16:15] PJ: What's that?   [0:16:16] Jesse: A lurker.   [0:16:16] PJ: I'm a lurker. I'm a lurker, that's right.   [0:16:18] Erin: Yeah, I rely on those people who are letting people know their opinions.   [0:16:22] PJ: And I'm a latecomer to Reddit actually. I kind of just joined the bandwagon because I needed information on a certain thing. I was like, wow, this isn't just funny comments, there's a lot of really useful information here. Who knew? Anyways, so what were some trends, some hot ideas in the last few years that really didn't deliver on its promise? What are some current trends or hot ideas you think do have promise in the future? Erin, you want to weigh in?   [0:16:48] Erin: Well, getting back to technology here, I think that as companies starting becoming more digital, and they were collecting so much more data and they wanted a place to put it, a data lake, and I think you know, I don't know how long ago it was, but Hadoop technology has emerged as kind of this place where you could be putting all your log data, all of your transactional data, all of this data. And it was easy to collect potentially, but not easy to actually self serve. So you were collecting all this data, but you didn't know ... There was no way to expose it to the organization. So I think that these analytical data warehouses have really filled that void and actually made that possible. And we've only seen that within the past five years or so.   [0:17:33] PJ: Can you tell me the different between a data warehouse and a data lake? Because I've heard data lake around this office over the past eight or nine months, and is there a big different that I'm missing?   [0:17:45] Erin: I can give the high level and then I think Jesse might want to comment on the more details. But you can think of a data lake as more like a file system. So you're putting all these files of data in this place for storage, but that doesn't make it necessarily accessible to the people who need it.   [0:18:02] PJ: But the warehouse, you can actually do more with it?   [0:18:05] Erin: Right. In a more performant way.   [0:18:07] Jesse: Yeah, I mean the way I would kind of think about it is a little bit more literally if you will. A data warehouse you can image as potentially a physical warehouse that you can just put anything in there. In this case, it's going to be data. And a data lake, you can think of as a warehouse that has a giant pool in it. All that data is kind of just swimming around in a, I wouldn't call it a liquid form, but there's ... It's potentially unstructured, it's very fluid, it's just there.   [0:18:31] PJ: Makes sense.   [0:18:32] Jesse: And then people can go into that data lake with buckets or whatever tool to extract the data that they need.   [0:18:40] PJ: That's a good metaphor. And so data lakes versus data ponds, is there ...   [0:18:45] Jesse: There have been some ... I've heard the term data ponds before-   [0:18:48] PJ: Really? Okay. I thought I was just messing with you, but I guess I wasn't-   [0:18:53] Jesse: No I've heard it before. I don't think we're currently using that though.   [0:18:56] PJ: All right, Jesse, hot shot, will data proficiency be a core skill for talent in the future? What do you think?   [0:19:05] Jesse: Yeah, I think absolutely. I think here at Braze, and just at other companies, just reading the news, you hear more and more about how companies try to be data-driven. If you just look at our job descriptions, by the way we're hiring, and job descriptions of other companies you see, the requirement of understanding the different data warehouses, technologies, how to use data. A move from Excel to more complicated analytics technologies like Looker for example, becoming more and more popular. So it's absolutely going to be more important in the future. And you know I think for data analysts, that's ... Their role has kind of changed over the recent years and will continue to change as well. I think for the data analysts that I see, it's moving more and more towards a full staff knowledge. So before, you would see people focusing on one element of the data pipeline, whereas analysts today tend to have more visibility over how to bring data in, how to clean it, how to do the app analysis and the visualization, everything. And I think there's going to be more focus on the domain knowledge as well because data and insights out of context, is not going to be terribly useful to the organization. So we need to know how to appropriately analyze and interpret enough information in a way that the business or the end users can actually use. Also, I think in terms of the marketplace, you're just going to see more and more technologies. Some better, some worse than others, within the visualization space. Looker is pretty new, they're a ... I would call them a challenger, again something encompassing the place and they're doing very well. But going further upstream, you're seeing a lot of new database, data warehouse technologies, a lot of new ETL technologies. So I think the data analysts of today and tomorrow, are just going to be more familiar with these technologies and how to use these technologies. And then flipping a little bit to the non technical people, so the end consumers of the data. I think you're going to see changes there as well, especially as data becomes more democratized, and easier to use and consume. We're definitely seeing a trend towards self service. So, drag and drop analysis of data rather than actually going into the data warehouse to write the code and analyze it. We're seeing more sophisticated alerting, so we know when data isn't looking the way we think it should be looking. And that's just going to allow people to move a lot more quickly and more confidently as they try out experiments, they do AB tests and iterate quickly.   [0:21:37] PJ: Brave new world.   [0:21:38] Jesse: Yes.   [0:21:40] PJ: Erin, you want to weigh in? What does the future hold for Looker? You don't need to show your full hand. I know you guys have stuff. But anything you want to leave us with?   [0:21:49] Erin: Yeah, I think beyond sort of self service, the core BI use case, Looker's really trying to position itself as a data platform. So, not just for internal analytics and reporting, but also serving data elsewhere to other applications, to deliver data where it needs to go, like the action hub integration that we built with Braze. So, basically connecting the dots when it comes to doing analysis and taking action on it. So, building your list of users you want to target a campaign to and not just having to export that and then upload it into a tool, but creating that link directly to that product you're using.   [0:22:32] PJ: Awesome. Cool. A lot stuff to look forward to then.   [0:22:35] Jesse: Mm-hmm (affirmative)-   [0:22:35] PJ: Thank you guys so much for being here with me, and thank you guys for joining us. This has been Jesse Tao, Erin Franz and PJ Bruno. Happy visualizing. [0:22:45]

What's your board game story? In today's episode Bruce interviews Erin Dean, the author of "For the Love of Board Games - a Book for Board Gamers and the Producer/Director/Editor of the YouTube documentary "The Board Game Boom." Erin talks with Bruce about her experience interviewing more than 50 board game designers about the stories behind their designs, their introduction to gaming, and so much more. This unique perspective reveals impactful and lasting stories for the betterment of the board game community. To learn more about Board Game Impact you can: Join the Patreon: Board Game Impact Facebook: Board Game Impact Instagram: @boardgameimpact Email: boardgameimpact@gmail.com You can learn more about Erin's work at: Erin's For The Love of Board Games Podcast/Website: ForTheLoveOfBoardGames.com Facebook: For the Love of Board Games Book Page & Podcast Page Order a copy of Erin's book on Kickstarter: "For the Love of Board Games - a Book for Board Gamers Watch the documentary: "The Board Game Boom" Transcription: 00:00:03 - 00:05:00 Welcome to board game impact podcast where we look into board card dice and other game related topics of interest. So that way, you can know their potential impact for when they hit the table for your gaming group today, I'm joined by special guest who has interviewed more than fifty board game designers for her book further. Love of games a book for board gamers. Welcome back to another episode of board game impact. My name is Bruce Brown and he can find me on board game geek as Bruce Brown, and you can also find me on all the social media sites is board game impact today. We have a very special guest joining us for the show, can you? Please introduce yourself and tell the listeners had to connect with your work. Yes. My name is Aaron dean on the author of four. The love of board games a book for board gamers, which is now on Kickstarter to connect with me, you can reach out to me on Facebook by just searching my name, Aaron dean and the best way to kind of stay updated with my work is the joy in our Facebook groups for the love of board game stash book, and for the love of board games dash podcast. And then we also have a website under that same name for the love of board games dot com. Awesome. So Erin, you've got this amazing book coming out. You've also made a video documentary on YouTube, that is called the board game, boom that came out in two thousand seventeen so can you please tell our listeners more about your content, and inspired? You create these awesome things. So, basically, the main thing that has been inspired me with these projects is basically. I am just a huge board gamer these both the documentary, I created and the book, I've written are huge passion. Projects for me. I find it fun to talk about board games because I'm a gamer myself, I play board games all the time. I run a weekly board game night with some Saint Louis natives and yeah, it's just been great. And it's been really awesome to connect with some really cool people in the industry, fantastic. So in your book, can you tell the listeners about the content of the book because I think it's pretty unique. Yeah. So this book interviews over. Fifty board. Game designers everywhere from Bruno Catolica Jamie, Steg Meyer, Richard Garfield a lot of big names in the industry, and I interview them because a lot of people play these games and they don't really know about the people behind the games. They don't know about who these people are that actually created them. And I always find it interesting interesting to hear the back story of these types of games. So, you know, there wasn't really any book out there that was exploring that. So I'm like, I'm going to have to do it myself. So I interviewed all these designers asked them about their history with board gaming how they got into designing games games. They designed that never got published some of the creative processes behind their most popular games,...

We’re in the second half of December -- that time when everyone is reflecting on the year. So Erin and I thought we’d take a few minutes to talk about some of the most interesting and moving online advocacy campaigns of 2014. We re-cap and analyze the Ice Bucket Challenge, Pass the Peace, #DudesGreetingDudes, #LastWords, and the fledgling #RareBrief1Time. Check out the related blog post here: http://firesteelwa.org/?p=2380 At Firesteel, we experiment with a lot of new media tools as we advocate for an end to homelessness. The purpose of the Spark Change podcast is to share what we've learned, and to help other advocates use these tools. Visit http://firesteelwa.org/ to learn more and share your feedback. This podcast uses the song "Drops of H20 (The Filtered Water Treatment)" by J.Lang (ccmixter.org/files/djlang59/37792) under a Creative Commons license.

A mom whats to know how to deal with disrespect in the form of demands and tone without going around and around. Erin gives some great general guidelines and six tips for teaching and setting respectful boundaries with young kids. Then 3 questions came in all about parents dealing with preschoolers/toddlers needing a lot of attention and it being a struggle with the continuing lockdown. So Erin gives some words of support and guidance for parents, especially of toddler but some for all parents during this time. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/parenting-beyond-discipline/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode Erin answers a big and nuanced question from a listener who is struggling with where to even start with discipline, self-esteem and helping her kids with their social skills. So Erin shares how to create a framework and a strong foundation for positive discipline, including building kids self-esteem and social skills. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/parenting-beyond-discipline/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy