Podcasts about so happy new year

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 5th February 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky.  Show references: Website: https://www.agility-marketing.co.uk/https://www.agility-marketing.co.uk/service/digital-advertising-survey/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-dimes-agility/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitaagility/ Liz Dimes is a Digital Marketing Director for visitor attraction specialist, Agility Marketing and the lead behind their digital advertising and conversion optimisation strategies. She boasts over a decade of experience in delivering tangible results. With a relentless drive for results she has steered impressive returns for clients across the attraction industry. Anita Waddell is MD and founder of Agility Marketing, visitor attraction marketing specialists.  Anita has been a Visit England judge, currently sits on the BALPPA Management  Committee and looked after the National Farm Attraction Network during Covid.Anita fell in love with the sector during her first ever marketing role at London Zoo.   Having always worked in the attraction sector, she founded Agility at the start of the millennium.  In total, across her career she has worked with over 70 attractions.With a passion for digital and data driven marketing, she adores seeing clients get results and enjoys mentoring her team to deliver winning campaigns. Transcription:  Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. For many regional attractions, the Head of Marketing is a one person marketing machine expected to be all over digital, email, social and out of home advertising. In today's episode we're joined by Anita Waddell and Liz Dimes from Agility Marketing who'll be sharing insights from their attraction marketing academy to help power up your marketing in 2025. After starting her career in attractions marketing at London Zoo, Anita has run Agility Marketing for over years, working with clients like Camel Creek and Blackgang Chine. Liz is the expert behind Agility Marketing's digital advertising and conversion optimization strategies, having found her love for visitor attractions when joining Agility in 2017. Paul Marden: Liz, Anita, welcome. Skip the Queue. Anita Waddell: Thank you. Liz Dimes: Great to be here. Paul Marden: So this is not our first episode of the new year, but it's the first episode we're recording in the new year. And as I was saying before we started, my rule is that I can still say Happy New Year up until the end of January as long as it's the first time I've said Happy New Year to somebody. So Happy New Year to both of you. Liz Dimes: Happy New Year to you. Anita Waddell: Happy New Year. Paul Marden: As you know, we always get started with an icebreaker question. So I've got a couple of little icebreakers for you and they are topical, relevant to where we are right now. So I'm going to go with Liz. Which is better, Christmas Day or New Year's Day? Liz Dimes: Christmas Day. Although I must admit I prefer the run up to Christmas than the actual day. Paul Marden: Oh, okay. So it's the excitement of going out and doing all the prep and the present wrapping and yeah.Liz Dimes: Christmas trees, pretty lights, shiny things. Excitement. But yes, I think I'd definitely choose Christmas Day over New Year's Day. Paul Marden: It's funny, isn't it? Because we'll split. I'm definitely Christmas. Much more Christmas than New Year's. I'm quite happy on New Year's to be sat watching hootenanny on telly while I'm going out and doing a big go out and party with lots of people. Liz Dimes: But absolutely, I agree.Paul Marden: my age, but there we go. Anita, do you chuckle the Christmas decorations and the lights into a box and throw it into the loft or are you Ms. Neat and everything is neatly folded and packaged away ready for future Anita to thank you and be able to do everything easily next week? Anita Waddell: I would love to say I was the latter, but having done that on Sunday, I think it's more about getting them away in a box and deal with the problem next year. So, yes, so, yeah, I aspire to be the neat queen, but unfortunately it is just, yeah, time takes its toll and it's a matter of getting the job done. Paul Marden: There's a real spread in our house. Mrs. Marden is tidy it away as fast as you can. I will sit there literally for hours straightening all of the out and making sure that it's right. And then next year you can figure out who was responsible for the packing away because you could just see it straight in front of you. Liz Dimes: I saw a recommendation the other day, actually, that you should put sort of £20 or something in with your Christmas decorations so when you get them out next year, you can buy yourself a takeaway while you're sorting them out from last year's. You. I didn't do it, but I thought that was a brilliant idea. Paul Marden: So I came back to work on Monday and I went. All the stuff from the office was all packed away and I went to put it in the storage locker and we share our storage with the building owners and I just found the Christmas tree stuck in the cupboard fully decorated and I think, is that really putting the decorations? Is that really taking it down? Have you broken the rules or is ihat really a cunning plan?Anita Waddell: That's one way of doing with it, isn't it? Definitely. Paul Marden: Exactly. Look, we have got lots to talk about, but first tell me about yourselves and tell me about your background. Anita, tell me a little bit about you. Anita Waddell: I suppose visitor attractions has always been my thing, ever since my first marketing job, which was at London Zoo many years ago, I caught the bug really. But I suppose I was at London Zoo. I was very. They weren't in the strong financial situation, so there was actually a recruitment ban. So I was a young aspiring marketeer who joined the company. And as everybody who was experienced and worried about their own career path left, I just absorbed their role. So over the spate of three years I had a huge amount of experience and from there then left to become a marketing manager of a much smaller attraction. Anita Waddell: And having doubled their numbers from, you know, up to over 200, 000 over a year, I suddenly thought, hold on a minute, I actually, this is really fun industry and something that's actually, I can do okay. So from there I went on and ended up working for an agency myself who were specialists in visitor attractions. And then 20 years ago I thought, “Well, hold on a minute, maybe I should try this for myself. Maybe I can have my own agency.” I thought, “What's the worst that can happen?” I just have to go back and do the day job again. So over those years more people have joined me. I've got three cracking directors, really good senior leadership team and Agility now is a visitor attraction marketing agency. Paul Marden: Amazing. How about you, Liz, how did you get into this industry? Liz Dimes: Well, I started in a very different interest. I did an automotive and I started doing more PR than marketing definitely, but it just wasn't. I enjoyed it a lot and I learned a lot about cars but it wasn't really my passion so I sort of left and thought I'm going to try something else. I was more interested in learning about the digital marketing as that was really starting to kick off in the world at that point. So I got a digital marketing role at a business school which was near to where I live, which is very different. And I really started to get the bug for the digital marketing aspect and just in general enjoyed learning more and more and more about that. Liz Dimes: But the whole sort of B2B business school side, little bit dull for me if I'm totally honest. So. And actually that business all got sold to another one so I was made redundant at that point. So it gave me a little bit of a chance to sort of sit back and go, right, what do I actually want to do? And digital marketing was definitely the thing, particularly sort of paid advertising for me. And that's when I found Anita and Agility Marketing and they happened to have the perfect role for me and that was in 2017 and then just loved the industry very quickly from joining and sort of have no intention of ever leaving it, to be honest. Paul Marden: It's super fun, isn't it? It's fun doing the marketing thing that we do in this particular space because it's all about helping people to enjoy themselves. Liz Dimes: So what could be more fun and families and I have a, I've got a five year old so I really in that moment at the moment, I'm my own target audience at the moment, which is always nice. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that Agility has recently done is set up the Attraction Marketing academy and I think today we're going to talk, not talk about that, but we're going to talk about some of the stuff that you cover in that academy. So why don't we just start by telling listeners a little bit potted understanding of what the Academy actually is so. Anita Waddell: I mean the Academy is what it says on the ting. It's a marketing academy for visitor attractions and it actually, the re. Where it came from was out of COVID Some obviously don't want to go back to Covid ever again. But during that time everyone was in survival mode and they really shared, they collaborated, they did everything they could to work with each other and once life got back to normal a bit more, that collaboration stopped. There wasn't the need for it but we really enjoyed sharing all of our knowledge and expertise during that time. So the Academy was really has really been born to allow us to continue to do that. So it is a visitor attraction masterclass I suppose. So we have pre recorded content, we have fresh content through live sessions monthly. Anita Waddell: We have ask me anything clinics so people can, our members can jump on board and say, look, you know, actually we had a brilliant ask me anything clinic in December where they were, were talking about events for one particular member for the forthcoming year and there were loads of fresh ideas that came out of that for her. So it is really providing that mentoring but also that detailed knowledge and expertise which all attractions, if you're a one man band, you don't necessarily have, you're having, you know, you have to be jack of all trades. So. So we're a helping hand really. Paul Marden: Yeah. I think it's really interesting, isn't it, that many of the attractions that we deal with are massively well known brands but actually when you look at the team behind it, they are more like a small business or small to medium sized business. They often don't have massive teams even though they're brands has massive recognition and you can often be quite surprised, can't you, that it is this kind of one person marketing machine at the centre of what is a really well known brand. It's quite surprising sometimes and I think the more we can do to support those people the better really. So why don't we delve a little bit into some of the stuff that the Academy covers and then we can talk a little bit about some of the ways that marketers can help improve their outcomes for this year ahead. Paul Marden: So one place to start is always about benchmarking. This is something that at Rubber Cheese we find really interesting and we care a lot about with our Rubber Cheese survey. But I think benchmarking and understanding where you are against the competition is not competition against the rest of the sector. I should say is really important because you can understand what good and bad is can't you? And this is something that you guys care quite a lot about as well, isn't it? Liz Dimes: Absolutely. It's really at the heart of everything we do for our clients. We benchmark with the industry. That's the brilliance really for us of working solely in the visitor attraction industry. We can really see what's the good, bad and ugly of all things marketing within that industry. So we recommend that you'd benchmark everything really. But obviously it depends on what you're doing. So you'd benchmark your socials, your emails, your website performance, your reviews, your paid advertising results, just anything you, anything that you collect data on for you. If you don't know whether that's good or bad, how do you know what you're looking at really with your data? Liz Dimes: So  you might see that this year you were 2% up on your last year's results and think, great, but if everyone else is 10% up, then actually maybe there's something key in there that you're missing that would really be a quick fix for you to do. And without knowing that it's impossible to do that, it really, I mean, the majority of the benchmarking we do is digital advertising because that's, it's 70% of our work for our clients. But as say we do benchmark across everything and by benchmarking we know that we can ensure that we're optimising well to make sure that we're achieving the best results possible for all our clients. And at the end of the day that's what we're here for and that's what we all do. Liz Dimes: I'm going to push this over to Anita a little bit, but it's because benchmarking is such a key thing for us. We've actually got a new initiative we're announcing now in January. So I'm going to let Anita do that. Paul Marden: Oh, come on then. Drum roll, Anita. Anita Waddell: Okay, so this spoilers. The inspiration of this came from Rubber Cheese and your website benchmarking for the visitor attraction sector. And we benchmark all the time. But actually we know that we work with 15 to 20 attractions across the year. But you know, the attraction sector is so much bigger. And what we wanted to do was launch an industry wide survey on digital advertising so people can identify how big their budget should actually be for digital advertising. What performance, what click through rate, what cost per acquisition, what cost per click is actually good and average across all of the platforms. For example, we know in our business a lot of our clients will use the Google search, Google performance match, Meta, TikTok. Anita Waddell: But we also know that when we start working with some attractions, they're only using Meta or they're only using Facebook. And so it's really just taking a broad brush of the sector to actually understand what is happening out there across whether it be theme parks, whether it be a heritage attraction, whether they're a zoo. Just a broad brush to really give something back to the sector. Like you've done with Rubber Cheese. Really. Paul Marden: I think it's so important, isn't it? Because paid advertising can be a bit scary for some people because it feels a little bit like you're gambling or it feels like a fruit machine. But I always think that it's a fruit machine where you can figure out the odds. And once you figure out the odds, you just have to decide how much money you can pump into the top of it and magically at the bottom money comes out in relation to the odds that you've calculated. But if you can across the sector. Anita Waddell: Yeah, exactly. I mean, the beauty of digital advertising is that it is, you know, there is a system and a process to it. So you know that you've got to get people to your website. You know you've got from the website, you need to get into your landing page at every stage of the journey. Coming back to benchmark working, you can identify what is working well and what actually can be tweaked to optimise it even further. And we've got clients now after Covid, there was with that when we focused purely on. Well, actually to be honest, during COVID there wasn't a lot of marketing going on at all because people were so desperate to get out the organic, social and email marketing could just cope with it. Anita Waddell: But then people came back and they started to do a lot more out of home. But now we're finding clients are actually saying this year in particular with the increased costs in the budget. Sure. We know we get a lot of, we know we get a lot from digital advertising. Shall we actually reduce our home budget and put more into digital advertising because it's more measurable and that confidence can be given. Paul Marden: We've all only got limited budgets and it's all about deciding where the best place to spend your money is. So, yeah, we'll come back to this benchmarking point a little bit later, I think, because I think is really important. But let's dive into some of the channels that marketers can use and talk about some tips and tricks across each of the channels. Maybe should we start with social? Is it important top attractions? I think you've already answered that. But how important? Liz Dimes: I guess I think it's very important. I think we all know that's where people spend their time at the moment. Depending on who you're. Because in general as a sort of blanket, a lot of the target audience for all attractions is very similar. But depending on where you are you a tourist destination, are you more of a regional destination, are you a heritage site, are you a zoo? It will depend. So. But most of those audiences are spending a lot of their time on socials. But because of that and because everyone knows that their concentration is much less, your competition is much higher. But you see, but you got to be there. If you're not there, you're not in with a chance. So it is, it's incredibly important and I think it's about what should your focus be. Liz Dimes: So actually if you are a one man band and you have a certain amount of hours in the day to do it, what are you going to focus on? Maybe pick two or three. So if you are going to pick two or three, I think at the moment you would pick Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, still. I know we all think Facebook is disappearing, but the grandparents take their grandchildren on these days out. Paul Marden: Exactly. And that landscape of the different social platforms was stable for a very long time, wasn't it? But it's changing quite a lot. So should you be on Twitter? Is it a scary place to be now? Should you be on Bluesky? But, but in you're saying TikTok still, Facebook, Instagram, those are the key places that you should be focusing attention. Probably. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. I think if you've got extra time, if you have extra resource, then absolutely test those extra platforms out and see where you've got. But actually if you're, if your time is limited, then focus on doing the best for the top platforms of where your audience are. And at the moment we believe, and all the data believes for that for our audiences it's Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Paul Marden: Yeah. And, and what are the basics that you've got to be covering there? What should they be posting about? To be able to kind of meet the bar. Anita Waddell: I feel the key with social media is that you know you can, it's got to convey a message that is going to provide overall reason to visit. So you need to get your planning right. And so yes, you want to have different formats and you want to make the posts are not wallpaper posts and you want to make sure that the post you're saying are said. You know, the same message is said in three or four different ways but ultimately you know, you're trying to stimulate an action and whether that's just engagement at this stage, you know, people aren't necessarily going to visit immediately after seeing a post but if they engage then see more posts and over time when they do want, they do want that day out, you'll be in their, in their top of mind. Anita Waddell: So I think the key we always say is like no, make sure you get your planning right. Your, your commercial messages in January are going to be totally different to your commercial messages in Summer or Easter when you know, in January you might be thinking about we've got, we need a value, a volume driver promotion because people haven't got any money. We want you Season passes are always sold in the first few months of the year. So you want to make sure you've got some promotion, you've got your season pass messaging out there. So it is, you know, make sure you've got your planning and messages right and from there you can then be creative as you like. But you've got to make sure that you're saying the right thing. Paul Marden: Let's follow that thought. What are the special little sprinkles that people could do this year to really energise their social media? What is it that they can do to inject that creativity? Anita Waddell: I think different formats, I think, you know, you can say the same thing, overlook different formats to really make them zing. Liz Dimes: One of the things we're really seeing good trends on and again this does depend on who you have in your team. But if you've got a member in your team who is willing to be on camera and is entertaining, is witty, can be a bit different. There's, there's a few attractions that are doing this really well already. But if there's something about. So we all talk about user generated content and absolutely you should be sharing user generated content. You should be making your most of your micro influences and your. All that kind of thing. But actually there's sort of EGC which is Employee Generated Content as well. And I think a bit of behind the scenes is still works well. Liz Dimes: A bit of witty content from someone and if you' the right person who's willing to do it and has the great personality and is happy to be on screen, then please take advantage of that person. Really, please use it. Because also they'll probably really enjoy it. I mean, there's a number of attractions where I know because we've spoken to them, where they're sort of bit famous. So yeah, people go round, go and they spot them and they want to go and say hi to that person and that. And if it's the right person who's comfortable with that, they really enjoy that. Yeah, so if you've got that person, go for it. That's a real, it's a real trend at the moment that's working well. Paul Marden: Okay, let's move channels then. Let's talk about email marketing because interestingly, in the Rubber Cheese survey this year, the data that we had showed that this was the weakest source of leads for attractions. Now, as I always say when I talk about our data, you know, there's statistics involved and you know, what we know is about the data set that is in front of us. It's not always completely reflective of the entire sector. So is that illustrative of what you guys see as well or is it more effective than that for you? Anita Waddell: I think I would say that we measure our email marketing. We put UTM codes on all of our links so we can actually track effectively. I would probably say they're not seeing it either because they're not tracking it effectively and UTM codes are so easy to set up these days or they're not. You know, the end of the day, the emails is a channel of communication. So if your email says exactly the same thing every single month, you just need to, with your, with your programming. And I think programming is going to be such a big thing, continue to be such a big thing this year. You need to really stimulate that repeat business. Really stimulate, give people a reason to revisit it. Your email marketing needs to be saying something different every single time. Anita Waddell: Otherwise people will just get bored with it. So I would say it's those two things. Paul Marden: Yeah. So it's all about keeping the faith. It is a valuable channel. You should focus on it. But you need to be able to have all of the tracking in place so that you can attribute the leads to that source and then a decent story to tell that's going to engage people. Anita Waddell: The only other thing I would say is that, and I don't. I think most people have got their heads around this now. But GDPR, when it came out, everyone was terrified of not getting, you know, you can only email people if you get an opt in. Well that's correct. That's one method of consent. But with legitimate interest, if they visited you already then you've got a reason to remarket to them as long as your Privacy Policy is correct and you've your, your everything else. So I think that's why some people go out. Some people are, we're amazed when we start conversations that they still are asking people to opt in and not using legitimate interest. So that could be another reason why in your survey results they were a bit skewed. Liz Dimes: I think there's quite a bit of scaremongering out there a little bit with email marketing at the moment because Apple are, they have updated their privacy settings a while ago which means that effectively when you're looking at your email results anything that's gone into an Apple mail will be marked as open even if it's not. So effectively your open rates are a little bit pointless since that update. So what's important to look at is your Click Through Rates because then you know those people have opened it and then how many have clicked through. Which is why the UTM codes are particularly useful because that helps with that. The other thing that Apple are doing at the moment is they're suggesting they're going to start the sort of promotions tab. I can't remember what their terminology is. Liz Dimes: Like you have in your Gmail when you log on your laptop, on your desktop as opposed to in your phone. So that will affect, that absolutely will affect email marketing. But what it will affect is email marketing that isn't tested, updated, optimised and tried and best. So if you do just keep doing what you're doing. Absolutely. Your email marketing is gonna, you're gonna lose on that. Paul Marden: So good email marketing is a worthwhile thing to do. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. And it is about testing because actually one of the things that we don't know yet because it's not happened yet but one of the things that might work is by making sure, rather make sure you're not sending from a no reply or admin at or an info at send it from a person's email that's less likely to be marked as spam or promotions. So all these things are as these updates come through test if suddenly you see a massive drop off in your click through rate, something's happened. Try something different on the next go. Paul Marden: Yeah. Liz Dimes: So I think, I imagine people are worried about whether Email marketing is going to continue to work and there probably will come a time when it doesn't. But at the moment I think it's still an important part of the mix. Absolutely. Anita Waddell: I think for Life Stage as well, it's worth taking it into account because there's some real hard data that's come back which suggests that the younger audiences are not using email marketing anymore. And I think that's really, that's quite true. But that is that Life Stage or is that young people? And I think that will play out because when people get into the office world, the world of work, they start using email a lot more and they become more familiar with it. So I don't know if it's Life Stage or if it's actually happening. We work with Tullis and Tully's obviously run a lot of brands which are aimed at sort of a 20 to 30 year old market and one of their biggest drivers is still email marketing. Anita Waddell: So I think, yeah, I think, but I think as Liz said, measure, optimise, test, do all of that and it should still deliver. Paul Marden: Good. Let's cut to the web. What are the problems with websites that you're seeing for regional attractions at the moment? Liz Dimes: One of the things we see quite a bit is that people who look at their own website as them, not as their customer. So they'll look at their website on their laptop. Their customers are not looking at their website on their laptop. They will look at it as someone who already knows the product, who. And even if you think you're not, your unconsciousness does know. So I mean, the average for visitor attraction websites is that nearly 90% of your sessions are happening on a mobile. So if you are ever looking at your own website, please look at it on your mobile. It's so easy to go, “Oh, I'm on my laptop because I'm doing my admin work right now and my admin work includes. I'm going to have a quick look at our website.”Liz Dimes: If you are going to do it on your laptop, press F12 please, because if you press F12 on your PC, you'll be able to look at it as a mobile. It won't be quite exactly what it is in as a mobile, but it's a good go. Not everyone knows about F12, so hopefully that helps a few people. But I think that is a real, it's a real key thing that we do find that some people tend to look at their own website not as a customer. So really think about it. Liz Dimes: If you are, say your key audience is a 35 year old mother of two, one has a toddler and one is a school child, put yourself in that place or ask do you know someone, one of your friends, that audience, ask them to go through your website blind and is your customer journey working? Do they immediately understand what you are? Can they quickly find out your opening times? Can they quickly find. If you have parking, can they quickly book? Is the booking, is the. Is the push through to booking which at the end of the day is the ultimate goal for pretty much everyone. Really, really think about it as your customer. And I think sometimes that's really difficult to do when you're so ingrained in your own attraction. Paul Marden: I can't stop myself grinning like a loon. You're talking about my life. This is the conversation I have over and over again. User testing. That's one of the questions in the survey that always blows my mind. How few people do user testing and how few people do user testing on a mobile and putting themselves into the shoes of their customers. I don't care if you like your website or not. I care whether your customers can do what they want to do. That's the only thing I care about. That's a bit untrue. I'm playing to the audience a little bit. Liz Dimes: But no but it is so true. And I think there are. If you can't, there's ways you can look at it from a more sort of data perspective. If you're a data person in your. I know people are still getting their heads around GA4 and to be honest, so am I. Even though I'm in it all the time because they change it every five minutes, hate it and you have to build a lot of it yourself. But there are a lot of positives of GA4 as well. You can see relatively simply how many people are going from your homepage or your landing page or your event page, whichever page you want to look at. Liz Dimes: If you want them to go to your ticketing site because most people use external platform ticketing sites, what percentage are landing on that page and going where you want them to go. Now it will be a low percentage always, even if you've got a really good system because they will want to find out more on different things and in lots of ways you want them to. But actually if you've got a return visit on your website, really that's when they should be booking. They've had a look, they found out where you are, they've talked to their friends on WhatsApp. Yes, that is one of the key options. Can they really quickly get to your booking site and book have a look at that data? If you can. Liz Dimes: And if it's really low, maybe you haven't got the right call to action buttons on your page or they're not as obvious as you think they are because maybe you're looking at it on a desktop rather than a mobile. Paul Marden: Amen. Liz Dimes: Good. Oh, I'm pleased because you're the number one expert in the website, so I'm glad you agree with me. But there's. Yeah, there's lots of things, there's lots of quick wins by just having a look. Paul Marden: Right, let's just very quickly touch on some of those then. So what are the quick wins that people can do with their websites right now that is going to turn it into a lead generating machine for them? Liz Dimes: What is your load speed? Are people bouncing off because you're not loading quickly? If it is low, do something about it. What are your call to actions? Are they obvious? Are they clear? Have you chosen one key call to action per page? Don't confuse your customer. Their attention span is really low. Does it show off what you want it to show off? Those are the top three things I would say look at. Anita Waddell: The other thing I would probably add to that is look at your home page. Make sure you're updating it regularly and giving those people the reasons to visit. I'm often quite surprised how they update the rest of the website but then they don't update the homepage on what is coming and what's next and what's on and also what's on now. So I think, yeah, I would say look at the homepage. Think of the homepage as really a signpost page. Once they live there, you want, they want to go, they've got to find something on there that's going to interest them and so that would be my recommendation to add to that. Paul Marden: Good. So those are all great things to do once they hit your website, but you've got to get into the website in the first place. So let's talk about paid advertising because that's something that you guys do a lot of, isn't it? Yeah. And that's the thing that can drive reliable traffic to your website. So it's hugely important. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. Paul Marden: I bet there's some real howlers that you see when you're first engaged by a client and you come and look at what they're doing in paid advertising. What are those real gotchas that you see? Anita Waddell: God, it's like opening your. Yeah, go on, Liz. You can reveal some secrets of what people are doing. Paul Marden: This is therapy session. This is a friendly, safe space. Just unburden yourselves. Liz Dimes: Yes, we won't name any names, don't worry. Well, while we're talking about website, I think one of the things with paid advertising that people really don't, they forget to think about or forget how important it is what web page are you sending that traffic to? Because absolutely, it might be your homepage, if your homepage is the right page, but equally it probably isn't your homepage. It needs to relate to the ad you are placing. So I think sometimes it's the last thought. It's, “Oh, we want to do an ad, we want to do an ad, do it.” And then, “Oh, don't even think about where we're going to send it. Send it to the homepage.” So I would say that's a really key thing that people sometimes forget. Liz Dimes: And actually, if you think about again, always come back to what will the customer think? Would it annoy you if you clicked on an advert for red shoes and the ad opened a page for trousers? It would annoy you. So why would your customers not be annoyed if you click on an ad about summer and it opens a homepage and there's not a really quick call to action to get to that summer information? So again, always think about the customer. One of the other things. Well, the other thing that is incredibly important in our industry is your location. Who are you targeting, location wise? And we have regularly taken on clients who have done it themselves or had previous agencies or whatever, doesn't matter where it happened. Liz Dimes: And they're targeting the whole of the uk, maybe they're in Cornwall and they're targeting Scotland as well for a term time visit. Paul Marden: Right. Liz Dimes: Someone in Scotland is not going to drive seven hours to come to you for a day out. Look at where your customers come from, map them. If you can really find that, you've got that data. If you're taking online booking, you have got the data of where the people live who come to you, find out where those people live and use that information for where you're going to generate the best results for your targeting for your adverts. I think that's incredibly important in this industry.Anita Waddell: And I think it goes, that goes beyond just radius targeting. Oh, absolutely. You really do need to map your audience to find out where they're coming from because, you know, like road systems will change the direct. No, change the layout of where people come from. Competitors will change, will give your some areas higher propensities to convert those visitors than others. So it really is worth investing in some mapping geo mapping tools and time to get it right. Paul Marden: I bet this is probably. How long is a piece of string quite type question, but broadly is the paid advertising for attractions? You know, there were terms, there are search terms that people are going to be searching on that you're going to want to sponsor or you're going to be sponsoring things in social platforms. There are some spaces that are, you know, fantastically competitive and hugely expensive. I'm thinking car insurance. You know, it will, you know, the cost per click of that is going to be phenomenal, but the return on investment for them is great. Yeah. Is this space a competitive and expensive space or is it remarkably reasonably priced? Liz Dimes: That really is. How long's a piece of string, I'm afraid, when it comes to search. So if we're just going from a search perspective. So if you're using Google Search Ads, absolutely. It depends what the keyword you are using is, how expensive that cost per click is going to be and really. Or you can help it by having an amazing ad, having an amazing landing page and being really relevant and your location targeting being right for that place. So you can be the low, you can get yourself to the lowest in the range that's possible for that keyword, but you're never going to get a keyword that cost £2 to cost 10p. What you can do, and what I would always suggest you do is use more longer tail keywords, which is the correct terminology, longer tail. Liz Dimes: But so if you're, if you're using, rather than maybe using day out, use day out in Yorkshire, family day out in Yorkshire. So you're extending the, the detail of it. Yeah. And the more detail you have, the less competition there will be within Google. You can do some really good keyword planning and get an idea of what your, what the type of cost will be for the type of keyword you're going for. If we stick on the Google search point. Actually, one of the other real howlers we regularly see is people actively targeting or not realising they're actively targeting their own brand name and therefore. And Google's algorithm, if you're doing a list of keywords you're going for, will always do what works best. Liz Dimes: So if you have either on purpose or accidentally put your brand name in there, all your budget is going to go on your brand name. Now, as long there are occasions when you might do that. If your SEO is terrible and you're coming up on page three for your brand name, go for your brand name. Absolutely do it in a separate campaign. So you're spending only a certain amount of money. But in general I'm yet to find attraction that isn't coming up on the map, on the Google map or on the top of the search results for their own brand name. So you are effectively paying Google for website visitors, clicks, conversions that you would have got for free. Don't do that. Please don't do that. And we see that relatively regularly.Paul Marden: You differentiated between paid advertising for search and paid advertising in social platforms. So we've got the tooling in Google to be able to estimate how much things cost. Go for those long tail search terms because they're probably going to better value for you, probably have better landing pages. And be really clear, if you've got a nice long tail search, you know that person is looking for something very specific. So serve them a really specific landing page to arrive at on the other side. That speaks to them and they'll love it, won't they? They'll be much more likely to engage. So you get that return on investment even further. What about in social, what. How are you planning out? You know what the cost is likely to be and where you should focus your energy. Liz Dimes: So because we are doing this all the time, we have a good idea of what that. So in social you'll look, you want to look at the cost per thousand impressions, what's called the CPM as opposed to the cost per cl. That's the, that's the bit in social that you can't affect. Meta, for example, are going to. If the cost per thousand for the target audience you are going for in the location you are going for is £4, it is £4, there's nothing you can do to change that. £3, it's £4. And unfortunately it is depending on where you are. For some people it's lovely. If their location's less, that's great. But if your location is more expensive. You've got to just deal with that. Liz Dimes: Unfortunately, in the last few years the cost per thousands have gone up around 12% and they're estimating this year it will be around 4%. So to get the same number of impressions in 2025 that you got in 2024, you're going to need to spend 4% more. Unfortunately, it is what it is. I hate saying that, but it's true. You can't. We can try and lobby meta all we like. The cost is what the cost is. It's a demand and supply thing. Paul Marden: Exactly. Liz Dimes: But what you can do is be realistic. You are going to have to get the same number of impressions. You need to spend 4% more. However, if your budget has to remain the same, how can you improve your click through rate one? Well, 0.2% to get. So although you'll get less impressions, you'll try and aim to get the same number of web visits and clicks from that. Can you then improve your conversion rate on your website? 0.2% and therefore you actually, for the same budget, you may get more conversions. So although you have to understand as we all do, that costs of everything are going up and impressions are one of those things. Liz Dimes: Actually, can you optimise and improve your ads because minimal improvements in your click through rate, minimal improvements in your conversion rate on your website are going to result in more revenue at the end of the day for potentially the same budget or a minimal increase. Paul Marden: And what are those? Again, this is such a sweeping, broad question, but what are those things that people could do to improve the engagement in the ads themselves? Liz Dimes: I'd say the number one thing to look at is your targeting correct? Paul Marden: Yeah. Liz Dimes: Is your location targeting correct? Is your audience type targeting correct? And then are you tailoring your ads to your audience? So if you're doing a target and you're targeting grandparents, for example, maybe your ad needs to be slightly different if you're targeting the parents or maybe your ad needs. And then your ad again will need to be. If you're, if you're remarketing and you're going to your sort of what we would call a hot audience that needs a very different ad to prospecting, a cold audience. So really focus on your targeting and focus on speaking. Again, think about the customer. Who are you speaking to with that ad? Anita Waddell: I think the other thing to mention and add to that is also the number of ads you're putting out because you never know exactly how your audience is going to react. So we actually do a lot of testing for a campaign. We would put a lot of ads out and it could be marginal differences in an ad because that's what, that's really what you want. So is it a bold heading? Is it not a Bold heading is it use the word say to save or best prices or you know and each of these will result in say that we're looking for that marginal gain because over time all those marginal gains will add up on the creative and the messaging and you'll get the best result. But it's time, energy and to get there completely. Paul Marden: Look, this has been really interesting but I want to just leave people with two or three things that they ought to prioritise to get 2025 off to a great start because last year was rubbish for so many people, wasn't it? So let's what can we all do to help get the show on the way for the attractions this year? Anita Waddell: I think the key thing is giving that people a reason to visit. It's getting the programming right. What people should be doing is looking at the last two years, breaking down the visitor numbers throughout the year, ascertain where there's opportunity for growth. We know people is much easier to build those peaks when, during the school holidays when people are actively looking. If you still, if you're not reaching capacity in those periods, that would be our, you know, build the peaks rather than the troughs. If however you've got to the stage where you think on your, you're creaking a bit at the seams and actually you want to build the term time campaigns, consider that as a secondary but again giving them that reason to visit now rather than waiting to a different time. Anita Waddell: And then once you've done that, you can plan your marketing budget around those opportunities. If you know that you've got more capacity in the summer, give more budget to the summer or if you know you've got more capacity in the October half term, give more budget to the October half term. So it's all going to start of where you want to get those extra people from and to and where. And then as some, as Liz mentioned later, postcode mapping, making sure that whatever advertising and marketing you're doing, you're hitting the people in the right areas who are going to have the biggest propensity to convert. And I've only got one other last thing to add is it's looking and learning from last year. Anita Waddell: Looking back at the data points, look at your benchmarks, your email, but email open rates, your landing pages, your digital advertising, try and get that margin of 1% improvement. If you can improve all of your marketing just by 1%, that's a lot of 1%. Paul Marden: That's a lot of people, isn't it? At the end of the day coming through the door. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. Anita Waddell: Yeah. So, so that would be sort of my kind of, you know what I would do. And Liz, has you got anything else you want to add to that? Liz Dimes: No, I think that's all of it. I think as say for, from the digital advertising side, postcode map if you can and absolutely look back and then test based off that and then test again. Paul Marden: Well, there's some homework for everybody. We always finish with a book recommendation and that book recommendation can be fiction or non fiction and I've got two guests so there's got to be two books. So Anita, what's your book recommendation for our listeners? Anita Waddell: This, this was a really tough question actually because one of my new year objectives is to read more. But I looked back and thought, “Okay, over the last five years, what books have I read and what's, what can, what's really resonated and what still I feel I can remember really”. So, so the one, I think it's Who Moved My Cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson. I don't know if how regularly it's mentioned on, on this podcast, but it's not a new book but it all talks about how you got, you know, you've got two stories about two little mice and two people and they, and the two little mice go off and they find cheese in this maze every single day. Anita Waddell: Whereas the two people found their cheese, they're happy with their cheese, they really like this certain cheese. Why would they look elsewhere? And then that cheese and then ultimately that cheese supply from the two people runs out and it's talking about having to innovate and change to survive. And I, and it's done in a really easy reading and fun way. And so yeah, I think that would be my recommendation to anybody. Paul Marden: Right Liz, what about you? What's your recommendation? Liz Dimes: Well, this was actually recommended to me because I thought about it. Okay, what have I been recommended that I've read? And actually it was recommended by a member of my team, Miles. So this comes from him. It's Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, who I don't know whether you've read this book, but he was an FBI negotiator and he has since written this book and it's actually written in a really easy to take in way. I just found it really interesting and just started reading it and read it basically which I don't do nearly as much reading as I used to before I had a child. So if I've managed to do that, you know, it's a good one. Liz Dimes: But my key sort of takeaways from it was how if you first think about negotiation skills, you probably think, “Well, what would I say?” And actually, that's not what you should be thinking, it's what are they saying? Your key negotiation skills is actively linked listening. And if you're actively listening, then you can follow the other key skills which are mirroring what they're saying, repeating the last of their three words, things like that. I just found it really interesting and it has made me rethink how I engage with people. So I would recommend it as a good read. Paul Marden: You got me thinking about my. What I was going to say now. Thinking about what were the last three words that you said? Oh, patting your head and rubbing your tummy part to this. Isn't there as thinking about the conversation and having it? Liz Dimes: Exactly. I think that's what he says. He says, while you're having a conversation, there's two of you. You're half listening, but actually the majority of you is thinking about what you're going to say next. If you're thinking about what you're going to say next, you are not listening, so you are not taking in what that person is saying in the way that you should be. And actually, if you can switch that bit off and really listen, what you say next will be the right thing. It's really hard. It's really hard to do, but I have actively tried to do that. When I think about it sounds. Paul Marden: A little bit like interviewing on the podcast, because this is a skill I've had to learn. This does not come naturally to me and it. It felt like a hostage negotiation at the beginning and it did feel a little bit like I had to negotiate my way out of the podcast episode. But with time and with practise, these things become easier and you can focus on the conversation whilst you're doing figuring out where the conversation is going to go. But, yeah, I've heard reviews of that book. I've not read it myself, so you've got me thinking I need to go and get that. Liz Dimes: It's worth a read. Paul Marden: Dear listeners, as always, if you would like a copy of either Anita or Liz's book recommendation, then the trendy thing to do is to go over to Bluesky now, not Twitter. Who wants to go onto Twitter? It's full of megalomaniacs. So go over to Bluesky and retweet the show message and say I want Anita or Liz's book. And the first person to do that will get a copy sent to them and I will be generous. It can be the first person for each book will get a copy. I'm not getting bankrupted this time with loads of book recommendations. I just want to leave people with one last thought. We know that benchmarking is important to you guys and this is something you're going to be doing a lot over the next few months. Paul Marden: So if people want to get involved with working on the benchmarking project for digital advertising that you guys are doing, what do they need to do? Anita Waddell: They need to go to our website where there'll be more information about it, and that's agility-marketing.co.uk.Paul Marden: And hopefully it will be in the show notes as well. So you can jump over to the show notes and follow the link there. But agility-marketing.co.uk and people will find all they need to know about the benchmarking that you're currently doing and how they can get involved in it. Brilliant. Ladies, this has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you very much. Liz Dimes: Thank you for having us. Paul Marden: We will catch up again soon. Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, SkiptheQueue.fm. The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the 2024 Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

Send us a textWe kick off Season 6 with a short chat with our new Co-Host Parker Russell and by taking a brief look ahead to what's in store for this year! We are very excited about some of the projects we're working on for the show this season and 2025 is looking like it's going to be one for the record books! So Happy New Year everyone! May your 2025 bring you happiness and peace! Thanks for listening, we hope you enjoy the shown  

So here we are again – a NEW YEAR. And that gives us a feeling of a new start. Perhaps you already joined a gym or set a goal to lose a few pounds. Although the January 1st date is an artificial opportunity, there's nothing wrong with using it as a time to renew ourselves. As a sales professional there are plenty of good habits that you need to be successful – are you ready to get going? So HAPPY NEW YEAR – now get to work as Scott and I discuss, 5 Ways to Jump Start the New Year and other incredible items on Episode 649 of the Winning at Selling podcast.

This month we're talking about habits. The ones we want to grow in and keep, and the ones we really need to get rid of. So Happy New Year, friend!  We hope you enjoy this episode and are inspired to make your own "to keep and to toss" lists too!     

*Sleet and Ice ambience—Nature tossed an early morning meatball the day before Christmas. A steady fall of ice covered everything in a faux-white (the New England in me wouldn't grant this "White Christmas" status even if my kids were).  And yet, my holiday mind flipped through the possibilities: "Am I dreaming of a white Christmas podcast?" My prior falling ice episode was well received; let's do it again. But how? The Candy Canes were already moved to clearance aisles with the nearly-expired vitamins and other weird grocery **** like Pistachio butter or pickled cockles. And not even the old-fashioned Candy Canes; it was the sale on Starburst or Skittle canes. Any holiday podcast released on the doorstep of Christmas would feel stale. After all, this is the time of year when I start embracing the bleakness of winter without twinkling lights. The Christmas Crunch cereal and tree-shaped Reese's are 75% off. And somehow, large sections in department stores are dedicated to Valentine's Day.  This brief period of holiday hangover where every day feels like a Sunday, and most folks on social media are posting gym or business pics about "getting it" in the new year. As we stack all of our ab and financial aspirations onto a new calendar. Even though we did that last year. Look, I didn't want another Holiday episode, not after the Greyhound Bus episode sent us on a highway of mirth and merriment to Mom and the rest of our ****** family members. There was no way to fit in another elf-ish episode or holiday box fan.  Not while deductibles reset and the taxman looms. So… Happy New Year; enjoy some non-festive falling ice. (I hope y'all had/ are having a lovely holiday).

The world is split, riven, and – as we so often observe from the three outposts of the Small Data Forum – like never before. Milk or tea in first? Red sauce or brown sauce on a sausage sandwich? And is it still acceptable to say “Happy New Year” after Blue Monday (the third Monday in January and officially the most depressing day of the year, which this year was also your correspondent's birthday)? We three podders from Plague Island seem to be in the “Aye” camp for the third of these modern dilemmas, particularly as this – episode 65 – is our first digital emission of 2023. The year in which things can only get better, as Thomas notes, doubtless inspired by the work of D:Ream. So Happy New Year, podcats! Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/ 

Description: Join us as MRA's President and CEO, Susan Fronk, shares advice and insights to help you start the new year right!  Key Takeaways: You need to find a balance between personal customer care, face-to-face care versus an automated, lower cost, more repeatable option  What elements of your business cycle can you speed up and automate, and which ones do you need to really personalize? Since there is a people shortage and not just a talent shortage, you have to be flexible and creative in finding skills that might transfer and that you could develop. 2023 comes with a lot of uncertainty in many areas. Make sure you have a plan, and have a plan B and C as backups.  Resources: MRA's Talent Report +  Let's Connect: Guest Bio - Susan Fronk  Guest LinkedIn Profile - Susan Fronk  Host Bio - Sophie Boler  Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler  Transcript: Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word. 00:00:00:03 - 00:00:23:04 Intro Hello hello, everybody, and welcome to 30 minute THRIVE, your go-to podcast for anything and everything HR, powered by MRA - The Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever-changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler, and we are so glad you're here. Now it's time to THRIVE.   00:00:26:10 - 00:00:57:02 Sophie Boler Hello, everybody. Welcome and Happy 2023! We're so excited you're here and joining us today. And we're excited that Susan Fronk, MRA's president and CEO, is also joining us today. And she's going to be sharing some advice and insights to help you start off the new year right. So while researching for today's podcast, it really dawned on me just how much information and resources, research, and data is out there, but it's all kind of conflicting information at the same time.   00:00:57:17 - 00:01:04:08 Sophie Boler So I guess my first question to you is really how and where do business leaders and HR professionals start?   00:01:04:21 - 00:01:30:20 Susan Fronk At MRA I've always felt fortunate because we get to look into 4,000 companies a year in the Midwest—more than any media outlet, more than any newspaper article, more than any periodical I could pick up and read about or listen to or podcast. I'll believe our members, because that's real. That's what's happening now, and I get to hear the leaders of all of those companies talk about how they're planning for this year.   00:01:31:05 - 00:01:52:25 Susan Fronk So I'm not an economist, I'm not an expert, but I am a great listener and I feel fortunate to hear from all of our members, and I can bring some of those insights to bear for our podcast today. For example, MRA is part of the Employer Associations of America, the EAA—not the Experimental Aircraft Association. That's a member too.   00:01:52:26 - 00:01:53:05 Susan Fronk Don't get confused.   00:01:53:05 - 00:01:54:22 Sophie Boler Don't get confused.   00:01:55:00 - 00:02:20:03 Susan Fronk We do something very different. But those employer associations, or EAs, across the country represent tens of thousands of member companies. So we're all listening to our members about how those organizations are planning for 2023. And we did a business trends survey on a national basis this fall. And so I can bring some of those facts to the table that might help plan for the year ahead.   00:02:20:18 - 00:02:54:26 Susan Fronk For example, the EAA Business Trends Survey was almost 1,200 respondents, 1,200 companies that talked to us about what their concerns were and how they viewed the year ahead. Not surprising, the top three concerns are pretty much the same as 2022, but the strategies that employers are using to deal with those have changed a bit. So let me tell you some of the data.  Inflation is the number one concern of employers today and inflation drives wages.   00:02:54:26 - 00:03:26:19 Susan Fronk So coupled with that is the HR reality of finding and keeping talent, which is the number two concern. Those are related. In the short term, meaning 1 year look ahead, 2023, 58 percent of respondents were saying inflation was the number one concern. Longer term, which we identified as a 5-year horizon, 51 percent were concerned. So still a majority of the respondents, but it is mitigating somewhat.   00:03:26:19 - 00:03:53:14 Susan Fronk So inflation is believed by the leaders who responded to mitigate a bit, diminish a bit over the next few years, but still be a concern. And then number two, as I mentioned, talent acquisition in the short term, 58 percent. This year, it's still going to be a primary concern for most employers that responded and longer term, 50 percent. So not a lot of change.   00:03:53:14 - 00:04:30:02 Susan Fronk There are still half of the respondents believe that finding and keeping people is going to be a problem over the next 5 years. Quite honestly, I agree with that and would underline that with an exclamation point at the end, because it isn't a talent problem, it's a people problem. There aren't enough skilled people to go around. That's not going to change in the next 5 years. Actually, with baby boomers retiring, people choosing to work differently, there is going to be a people shortage, which just exacerbates the talent shortage.   00:04:30:15 - 00:04:54:16 Susan Fronk That's not going to change. Which then, number three, the concern is retention. So getting talent, yes. Finding what you need, yes. Wooing them to your organization, yes. But then the care and feeding of employees, the engagement, the culture development, the skills development, the way that you're going to bring them along in their career. All of that is critically important.   00:04:54:16 - 00:05:32:29 Susan Fronk And in the short term, 48 percent—maybe less than I would have expected to see—but  employers are feeling a bit better about turnover this year. That shows that maybe 2021 and 2022 coming out of the rodeo that was COVID, people changing for the sake of change, just wanting a different set of problems—maybe that has abated somewhat or, and/or probably, employers are understanding the kind of communications and the kind of culture and the kind of flexibility that employees are looking for.   00:05:32:29 - 00:05:48:12 Susan Fronk So again, 48 percent in the short term, 45 percent in the long term—it's not too much difference between the short-term and long-term views on all three of those top three concerns of employers in this National Business Trends Survey.   00:05:48:16 - 00:06:25:14 Sophie Boler Absolutely. And thank you for covering all of that. There's a lot of great data that you've just described, but I'd like to dive a little bit deeper into each of those top three concerns that you just described. So let's start with inflation and the economy—one of the most uncertain aspects of them all. We recently polled more than 100 participants in our Talent Report+ webinar and the results showed that 19.74 percent believe that there will be a recession in quarter one, 39 percent believe there will be a recession in quarter two, 14 percent believe there will be one in quarter three.   00:06:25:14 - 00:06:41:18 Sophie Boler Zero percent believe that we will end the year in quarter four with a recession. And that leaves about 26 percent believing that there just will not be a recession. So overall, maybe quarter two or maybe no recession at all seems to be their majority really.   00:06:41:18 - 00:06:45:01 Susan Fronk What that tells me is that nobody knows.   00:06:45:03 - 00:06:45:22 Sophie Boler Nobody knows.   00:06:46:22 - 00:07:10:19 Susan Fronk And that doesn't mean we're not educating ourselves and reading as much and listening and learning and doing strategic planning. But who does know? And that'll lead to a point I'd like to make later in the podcast about how we prepare. But when people talk about the new normal, I talk about the “no normal”: N-O.   00:07:10:29 - 00:07:30:19 Susan Fronk And as leaders, we need to prepare for something we've never seen before. The fact that maybe Q2 is the most common response for a recession if there is one those are still very evenly spread, including no recession. So people really don't know, and that is uncertainty, wow.   00:07:31:10 - 00:07:58:24 Sophie Boler And in November, MRAr actually hosted our Economic Outlook event with Dr. Chris Kuehl, an expert economist, so he was able to describe a little bit more on what we're seeing this year and we are on the verge of a downturn. But he would describe that it's depending on how the consumer handles their spendings and extra savings. They could spend their way out of it or they could really hold onto their savings to plan for what's coming for next year because they're worried.   00:07:59:21 - 00:08:17:19 Sophie Boler So really, how realistic is a serious downturn? How bad will inflation be? Those are all the key questions people are really asking today. So, Susan, what are some of the current key economic takeaways you consider of value to business leaders for this upcoming year?   00:08:17:23 - 00:08:51:16 Susan Fronk Sure. Again, I'm not an economic expert, but synthesizing and distilling the information that I hear from hundreds and thousands of member companies knits together a pretty strong quilt of information. And that practical information underlines the fact that inflation drives wages, and especially in a year like 2022, where there was high turnover and people were leaving employment, moving to different employment, moving out of the workforce, deciding to do something completely different with their career,   00:08:51:27 - 00:09:16:29 Susan Fronk companies were scrambling to try to A) for the right reasons, altruistic reasons keep their employees whole and help them keep up with inflation, where a loaf of bread or a tank of gas costs so much more than it did a year or two before, and second, stay in business … One of the things that MRA has is a thousand people registered and enrolled in our roundtable groups.   00:09:17:07 - 00:09:42:23 Susan Fronk So we have 70 roundtable groups and those are peer discussions that really dive in professionally facilitated with a specific topic. And the economy has been a specific topic that we've covered a number of times. Our CEO and CFO roundtables have talked about the fact that the business cycle has speeded up so much where inflation is concerned. So you know that old adage, I don't like, it do more with less.   00:09:43:24 - 00:10:10:20 Susan Fronk We have to do things differently and we have to do things using technology and we have to determine where on that spectrum of personal customer care, face-to-face care versus an automated, lower cost, more repeatable option for whatever your customer service issue is probably service. And we have to decide for what segments of our business do we need to be on which part of that spectrum.   00:10:12:14 - 00:10:54:03 Susan Fronk I was part of the bomb cyclone of December 2022, slept in a couple of airports, had six flights, made it home in time for Christmas. And that may be a bad example, but automation is good until it isn't. And you have to give customers options. So allowing customers to choose when I want to self-serve, when I want to download something from MRA's resource center and I don't need to talk to somebody versus when do I have a really thorny employee relations issue and I need to talk to somebody with a lot of years of experience and I want to take an hour and do that and come up with options on how to solve my problem.   00:10:54:14 - 00:11:22:26 Susan Fronk Whatever your product or service is, whether you're making widgets or cars or a law firm or a marketing agency, what elements of your business cycle can you speed up and automate versus which ones do you need to really personalize, not leave that touch, make sure that your customers can choose to get out of being on hold for 7 hours while you wait in line.  They just won't stand for it.   00:11:23:07 - 00:11:43:00 Susan Fronk And we've seen automation in all aspects of our world, of course, that's nothing new, whether it's ordering fast food or how we build a car, but making it right for your business. What are you going to be known for? If it's customer intimacy like we are at MRA, you better not automate everything.   00:11:43:04 - 00:11:43:27 Sophie Boler No robots here.   00:11:43:27 - 00:11:50:13 Susan Fronk No robots here, not yet. Unless it's like to deliver our lunch. That I would like to do.   00:11:50:13 - 00:11:50:27 Sophie Boler All right.   00:11:51:20 - 00:12:17:06 Susan Fronk But Dr. Kuehl said a number of things. You know, if inflation drives wages, most of our CEO and CFO roundtables are talking about the fact that that will moderate this year, that last year they were doing double merits or they were doing more frequent merits, or they simply boosted people's wages because they knew what was happening in the employee's personal lives and they needed to make sure they kept pace.   00:12:17:19 - 00:12:43:14 Susan Fronk So if it was 6 or 7 percent on average last year, this year they're looking at probably 3 or 4 percent. So moderating to what we would consider to be a more traditional curve. But I think employers need to be very tuned in and aware of the economic signals for their own industry because it isn't that skills are somewhat transferable but not always transferable.   00:12:43:14 - 00:13:06:29 Susan Fronk And so if you need a specific kind of engineer, you might need to do something very different for that engineer than you do for the rest of your team. And HR has always been hesitant to not be consistent, to treat you different than you. And I say the time has come when you need to be custom, you need to go small.   00:13:07:11 - 00:13:37:01 Susan Fronk We need to know what Sophie wants and thinks is important versus what Sarah thinks and wants is important versus what Jeremy thinks and wants is important. So harder for human resources, but more effective if we're going to go small and customize. That's not going to happen in the blink. That's a trend I see happening. And it's not just with employee benefits, but with customer selection.   00:13:37:22 - 00:13:40:01 Susan Fronk What do how customers want what you do?   00:13:40:15 - 00:14:05:21 Sophie Boler And that's a great point to bring up and the EA survey actually showed that 93 percent will be replacing staff due to voluntary turnover, whereas 71 percent will be hiring due to newly created jobs. So if business is good and hiring is high, let's talk about talent and the workforce shortage. So not only is it hard to find people these days, but it's also hard to keep them.   00:14:06:07 - 00:14:13:13 Sophie Boler So do you have any insights to share to our listeners today in finding and recruiting workers today?   00:14:13:24 - 00:14:41:09 Susan Fronk Good question. It is a big question and I'm always inspired by our members because there's lots of creative, innovative things going out there. So there's dozens of different things we could talk about, but I would kind of group them into two big buckets. One I'll call human resources is actually sales and marketing, and the other is creativity and flexibility and skill utilization.   00:14:41:09 - 00:15:08:17 Susan Fronk So some of you listening might know that my husband is a human resource director and so he's recruiting all the time. Let me give you a real anecdote. He's very creative and he's a great sourcer. He's led some employees to us as well. But one Sunday recently he said, “I've just got a few, I just got a few phone screens to do and I'll be done in time for the Packer game.”   00:15:08:28 - 00:15:35:19 Susan Fronk Great. So I hear him on the phone in the office. He steps out and he goes, “I think I've found our new great specialty, blah, blah.” I said, “Wonderful.” He didn't look happy. So what's the problem? He said, he has 12 interviews this week. This is someone who had gone on LinkedIn, checked 17 applications, applied to 17 jobs. Twenty-four hours later, had 12 interviews.   00:15:35:21 - 00:15:36:00 Sophie Boler Oh.   00:15:36:10 - 00:15:43:10 Susan Fronk But here's the difference. He said only two of those interviews were a human being who called and talked to me.   00:15:43:16 - 00:15:43:28 Sophie Boler Really?   00:15:45:17 - 00:15:50:19 Susan Fronk You can set yourself apart with the personal touch in an automated world.   00:15:50:28 - 00:15:51:06 Sophie Boler Absolutely.   00:15:51:12 - 00:16:15:24 Susan Fronk You might need to use technology to scale and to reach and to find. But then how you serve up, we call it at MRA warm bread. I got that from a human resource professional who worked here, and that's what they did at church. Somebody visited them, sign the visitor's book, and then a committee, a warm bread committee, was assigned to make that person feel welcome and invited back again.   00:16:16:10 - 00:16:35:19 Susan Fronk So at MRA, we talk about warm bread. Once we find a candidate that we're interested in, who's going to email them? What photo are we going to send them? What link to a video that describes who we are? What little swag bag are we going to deliver into their house to say, “We want you here and this is where you belong”?   00:16:35:24 - 00:16:36:11 Sophie Boler I love that.   00:16:36:20 - 00:16:47:02 Susan Fronk Yeah. So all different kinds of warm bread. It doesn't have to be expensive. Once I took a picture of somebody and then Photoshopped the new candidate's head on there. I said, “Picture yourself here, at MRA.”   00:16:47:05 - 00:16:48:01 Sophie Boler I love that. That's creative.   00:16:48:01 - 00:16:50:11 Susan Fronk He said yes. So it worked.   00:16:51:08 - 00:17:14:07 Susan Fronk Mm. I've dropped little things off at people's house. You know, you have to be careful that you don't look like a stalker. If they're expecting you and they know you're going to drop something off, it really sets you apart. So human resources is in sales and marketing, and people like to know that they have attention, that they're going to be treated differently than a number.   00:17:14:26 - 00:17:38:13 Susan Fronk And so back to the story at hand. My husband was successful out of 17 prospective applications and 12 interviews in getting this individual to join their team. It doesn't always happen. Sometimes you're a competitive payer and somebody just outpaces you by many thousands of dollars. All right. But you're going to win more often than you lose.   00:17:39:01 - 00:17:39:27 Sophie Boler And you're going to keep them too.   00:17:40:06 - 00:18:02:17 Susan Fronk You are going to keep them, too. So sales and marketing, it's not just the interaction with the candidate, it's the supports that human resources have that tell that candidate or potential candidate who you are and how you operate and what your behavior is, as an organization. So I would say be a secret shopper.   00:18:02:29 - 00:18:31:10 Susan Fronk Ask somebody on your team—because if you're close to it, you think what you have online is great, you think your application is great, you think your process is great—to have somebody who you trust kick the tires, go through that process, find out how long it takes to get back to that individual, see what is the look and feel and culture that is described by your company website, by your candidate experience page?   00:18:31:20 - 00:18:58:03 Susan Fronk We really have to be in sales and marketing, and human resources I think gets that and they're embracing it, but it is a different skill set, or at least an add-on skill set. And so the second thing is flexibility and creativity. Since there is a people shortage and not just a talent shortage, you have to be flexible and creative in finding skills that might transfer and that you could develop.   00:18:58:19 – 00:18:59:03 Sophie Boler Absolutely.   00:18:59:07 – 00:19:32:20 Susan Fronk So I guess companies that say, Here's someone with a military background and they were in administration and database. All right. First of all, I love hiring veterans. But second of all, that's a rigorous skill set that you understand that person has the aptitude and the interest to learn what you need. Maybe you don't actually need that specific software package or background.   00:19:32:20 - 00:19:46:14 Susan Fronk You could look 6 more months in natural that position, or you can have 6 months with someone who's leaning in, who's saying, “I can learn this. I learned that.”   Sophie Boler Exactly.   Susan Fronk And they can be a great employee by the time you might find the perfect employee.   00:19:46:27 - 00:20:04:14 Sophie Boler And we just had a podcast on nontraditional candidates and all of the great things they can bring to a company. So you just talked about skilled workers. So what about those younger, somewhat unskilled workers? How do you get them? What do you do with them?   00:20:05:01 - 00:20:39:14 Susan Fronk What do you do with them? Well, they're our future. So I would say you do everything with them. You didn't quite ask the question this way, but something that I love to see and something that I've been told helped me in my career: All feedback is good, so all feedback is good. If you believe that you're working for a manager who not only wants the company to succeed, but wants you to succeed, then embrace that feedback.   00:20:39:21 – 00:21:11:03 Susan Fronk Good or bad, constructive criticism or “atta girls” and “atta boys.” Embrace that because it helps shape your development and what you're going to do next in your career. So if you have a coach, be the best player you can be. And that is to say, I would seek out feedback. I would go to someone—my boss, a different person, a colleague—and I would say, “I just gave that little presentation at the management meeting.   00:21:11:03 - 00:21:39:15 Susan Fronk What could I have done better? How did you think it went over? How did the message land? What could I have, what could I have done differently?” If you're waiting for feedback, hopefully it's happening regularly, but asking for feedback and asking for development and asking for coaching and not just the applause. Younger workers, newer managers, that's really, really helpful.   00:21:39:29 - 00:22:00:17 Susan Fronk Think about it. It changes the timber of the conversation. If you and I were a direct reporting relationship. You're my boss and I'm coming to you maybe doing a performance review. You're saying, “Okay, Susan, there's there's five things you do well, and there's a couple things I'd like you to improve upon.” Right away I'm like, Whoa. Right? Even if it's internal.   00:22:01:14 - 00:22:22:24 Susan Fronk But if you flip that and you're my boss and I come to you all the time and say, “Hey, Sophie, that presentation that I gave or that report that I made, what feedback do you have for me?” then I'm leaning toward you and you're leaning toward me, and I've asked for that feedback. It changes the whole conversation.   00:22:22:24 - 00:22:23:26 Sophie Boler That's great advice.   00:22:23:26 - 00:22:26:26 Susan Fronk Yeah, it's really kind of the number one thing.   00:22:27:00 - 00:22:28:16 Sophie Boler That's great advice I can use too.   00:22:29:27 - 00:22:30:23 Susan Fronk When you're my boss.   00:22:32:05 - 00:23:05:19 Sophie Boler Companies are also utilizing the strengths of younger workers in areas like technology, including software programing, integration, drones even, in gaming, and younger workers are really taking the lead on social justice, social media platforms as well as public presentations, like you mentioned. And in fact, one of our most downloaded podcasts was talking about emerging leaders with Kate Walker and how to really help upskill them and prepare those new emerging leaders.   00:23:06:02 - 00:23:17:25 Sophie Boler So I know you covered this a little bit, but do you have any other advice for upcoming and emerging leaders? And what did you yourself take advantage of when you were an emerging leader?   00:23:18:19 - 00:23:45:10 Susan Fronk Yes, well, what we talked about with feedback. I really tried to be a great player, not a perfect player. You're going to make mistakes. I've made plenty, but always saying, “I want to be the best, help me be the best.” Second, it's a phrase I've used before many times in management meetings and all staffs and things. The world is full of problem identifiers.   00:23:46:08 - 00:24:16:01 Susan Fronk It's rare to have problem solvers, and as a young or emerging leader, you want to make sure you understand what's the problem to be solved. For example, if you're in human resources, you may think your goal is to write an employee handbook. That is a step toward the goal. To understand, you need to say, What does a handbook do for the company?   00:24:16:01 - 00:24:45:17 Susan Fronk So what? Well, a handbook should improve communications, decrease turnover, increase employee engagement, allow the human resource department to be more efficient and spend more time on employee relations things and culture instead of just answering questions. So you have to look beyond, especially as a new leader. But this goes for people of all ages, for all levels. Some people say, “Here's my list of things that I did.”   00:24:45:17 - 00:25:18:00 Susan Fronk So what? What did those things do? So that insight to say if I did this, if I wrote the best handbook and communicated it well and that was the best job you ever saw, what would you be experiencing? What would the company be experiencing? Positive and negative? What would make that the best handbook you ever saw? Now, that's a small example because it's a handbook, but it goes to, it goes to understanding the importance of the business and not just a task. Does that makes sense?   00:25:18:00 - 00:25:42:19 Sophie Boler That makes sense. That's a good example. And we also have other great resources to address the talent concerns out there. For example, MRA's Talent Report, Monthly Talent Report, is just a monthly publication that really shares workforce information and innovations. We also have the Talent Report+ webinar series and we have linked both of those in the show notes.   00:25:42:23 - 00:25:54:28 Sophie Boler So you can go check those out after this podcast. So we really talked about recruiting. Now let's focus on retention. What matters most to employees, on retention?   00:25:54:28 - 00:26:22:24 Susan Fronk Sure. Hearkening back to the National Business Trends Survey, again. The top three, no surprise, are number one: competitive pay: 86 percent. So that was important. I can't imagine it wasn't 100 percent because competitive pay, the table stakes. To me that's not unless you're going to be in the top 10 percent, unless you're going to be that company in your market that everybody knows pays more than everybody else.   00:26:23:08 - 00:26:53:08 Susan Fronk It's just table stakes. You have to be competitive because it's a dissatisfier, or not a satisfier. Our competitive pay are just table stakes. If you don't pay competitively, people will leave. If you do pay competitively, that doesn't mean people will stay. It just is a ticket you have to punch. So spending time to make sure that you're competitive on pay, very important to most employees. Second is work-life balance.   00:26:53:08 - 00:27:29:05 Susan Fronk Seventy-six percent of respondents said work-life balance and again, I don't know why it wouldn't be 100 percent. Well, I suppose some people don't want work-life balance, but I don't know who those people would be. But work-life balance. People just want, I think this translates sometimes in news outlets to work-life balance, meaning people want to work less. That could be true for some people, but work-life balance to me and how I see it played out in our hundreds and thousands of member companies is that employees want flexibility to do what's important outside of work.   00:27:29:15 - 00:28:04:27 Susan Fronk Their work still needs to get done and maybe they have no problem working 40 or 50 hours a week, whatever their job requires, but they want to be able to provide childcare. They want to be able to attend a school recital. They know they have elder care issues. Life is very fast and very complicated, and the trust bridge that's built with employees to say, I understand you're going to give 100 percent to your job, but some flexibility in how you get that is what they're looking for today.   00:28:05:28 - 00:28:38:26 Susan Fronk And that's tied to the third one, too, about flexibility and how people work. That doesn't mean just remote work. I look at it this way and how I've seen it borne out in our members. It depends on the position. Some positions can't be remote, some are performed better in a team environment and some employees, it's a privilege to work remote versus, you know, if that isn't a top performer or if they're a brand-new employee, maybe they need to work in the office, maybe they need to work with their colleagues to learn their business.   00:28:38:26 - 00:29:02:25 Susan Fronk So I look at that as a wonderful conversation to have, preferably before somebody is hired, to say what are your expectations and what can this organization provide to you? But it doesn't stay static. This should be an organic, ever-changing conversation that an employee is having with their manager because life circumstances change.   00:29:03:28 - 00:29:21:26 Sophie Boler And you have some, it depends on the person too. Because it was funny, I was having a conversation with my boss and she's, “Why are you emailing me at 10 p.m.? 11 p.m.?” But it's sometimes people like working those hours. Maybe you don't work at 6 a.m., but maybe I'll be on my computer at midnight giving you what you need.   00:29:22:13 - 00:29:46:08 Susan Fronk You know, you just busted me. I thought you were talking about me. But, what I'm very clear about with everybody I work with is that just because I choose to work that way doesn't mean you need to work that way. And I try to remember to hit delayed deliver to tomorrow morning at 8:00. But honestly, that takes an extra 5 seconds.   00:29:46:15 - 00:30:02:26 Susan Fronk And so as long as I have this trusting, open communication with everybody who works with me, I say just because you get pinged at 10:00, don't respond. And even when they respond, I say, please don't respond. And I know that they really do understand that this can wait.   00:30:03:05 - 00:30:14:08 Sophie Boler That's that's just something I've seen nowadays. People don't need to be working the typical 9 to 5 or 8 to 5. They work when they feel the most productive.   00:30:14:21 - 00:30:32:29 Susan Fronk As long as the results are there. In fact, we have a great example of that. And I won't use her name because I didn't ask permission to. But we have a new manager here who's worked with the company for 23 years. She worked in the office for her first 6 months to learn the ropes. So this is 23 years ago.   00:30:33:26 - 00:30:48:07 Susan Fronk She worked for 6 months, learned the operations of the business, became a high-performing employee. We knew she could be trusted, knew how to solve problems, was really great at her job. Then she became a remote employee for 20 years.   00:30:48:14 - 00:30:49:01 Sophie Boler Really?   00:30:49:05 - 00:31:13:21 Susan Fronk Yes. We've had remote workers for a long time, but they earned that privilege and they proved their stripes. So when it became time to promote someone from within, she threw her hat in the ring and said, “I've raised my children. I've needed that flexibility. Now I'm ready for a different stage of my career and I'd love to be considered as a manager.”   00:31:14:14 - 00:31:15:10 Susan Fronk That was so perfect.   00:31:15:22 - 00:31:17:28 Sophie Boler She was prepared.   00:31:18:03 - 00:31:39:06 Susan Fronk Yes, right. So that conversation should be ongoing and organic and as custom as it can be. If you're a manufacturer, there's a process, there's a workflow. People can't just decide to stay at home if they're needed for that kind of workflow. But to the extent it can be, I think that's going to be the way of the workforce.   00:31:39:24 - 00:31:47:24 Sophie Boler Okay. And with that in mind, what are the best suggestions you have for employers to encourage a culture that is fully engaged?   00:31:47:28 - 00:32:33:00 Susan Fronk Yes, well, there's a thousand things that we could talk about. I will end with one that is universal and specific. So not this big revelation, not this golden key of member of employee engagement, but universal. Email has become the bane of most people's existence. Getting through your emails, figuring out why am I copied on this email, figuring out what action do I need to take because of this email, and also wishing several times a day, Why didn't this person just pick up the phone and call me?   00:32:33:00 - 00:33:01:04 Susan Fronk So human beings for thousands of years have been relational. You see expressions, you break bread together, you grab a cup of coffee on a Zoom call, you maybe take a few moments for chitchat before you jump into the meat of the meeting. But I see employees—and not just young or new employees—I see employees of all career levels using email as a dodge.   00:33:01:29 - 00:33:28:11 Susan Fronk They send an email because it gets it off their desk. It puts the monkey on your back, and I don't have to think about it until they respond. That isn't the way things work best. So pick up the phone, reduce the email clutter, copy people with specific requests. “Sophie, I need you to do this. Sarah, would you respond to this?   00:33:30:05 - 00:34:09:26 Susan Fronk John, please note the green highlights below, that's what I need you for.” Help them move business along and everybody … “A” players want to be surrounded by “A” players. So let's help everybody be the best they can be. And I think one way to do that is to make it personal and to not hide behind emails so that we're all trying to declutter our email inbox and get through the day as fast as possible and a personal conversation … How many email strings have you got that have 10 things and people say, Read from the bottom up.   00:34:09:27 - 00:34:27:21 Susan Fronk I will see below and I will read from the bottom because I like you and you asked me to. But far better would have been if you just picked up the phone or call a 15-minute meeting—I love 15-minute meetings—and say, “We're going to knock this out, we're going to solve this whole problem by having a conversation.”   00:34:27:27 - 00:34:34:04 Sophie Boler And I'm sure you can do more that way than trying to read the email for 10 minutes and figure it out and respond.   00:34:34:04 - 00:34:39:28 Susan Fronk Ten people reading the email for 10 minutes.   00:34:39:28 - 00:34:52:00 Sophie Boler So that's a good ending point. We've really talked about so much here today, and you shared some great ideas. Do you have any parting thoughts for our listeners today as they go on to this new year?   00:34:52:05 - 00:35:16:08 Susan Fronk Well, most companies think 2023 is going to be a good year. Maybe not the breakneck year that 2022 was, but supply chains, computer chips are still a problem, but supply chains have moderated a little bit, the supply chain bottlenecks. There's still growth projected by the majority of companies. Companies are still hiring. The majority of companies are hiring.   00:35:16:18 - 00:35:43:09 Susan Fronk So I think 2023 is going to be a really good year. Whether a recession comes, whether it doesn't come, whenever it comes: Companies would be well advised to have a plan B and every good leader I know does, because being agile in the face of changing economic conditions is what it's all about. No one, not even Dr. Kuehl, can project if there's a recession, how deep it's going to be, how long it will last, what industries it will affect.   00:35:43:25 - 00:36:07:19 Susan Fronk So business leaders would be well advised to say, here's my plan, but here's my plan B, and even plan C if this doesn't happen. So agility in the face of changing conditions and rewarding people who are problem solvers and can flex and change—that's really what's going to be very important for business in 2023.   00:36:07:19 - 00:36:18:21 Sophie Boler Well, thank you for all that advice and your leadership. There's a lot to think about this year, but hopefully this helps set you up for success this year. And we're here for you too always.   00:36:18:21 - 00:36:19:09 Susan Fronk 24/7.   00:36:19:09 - 00:36:24:16 Sophie Boler Always. So Happy New Year and thanks for joining us today. And thank you, Susan.   00:36:25:14 - 00:36:26:17 Susan Fronk Thank you.   00:36:26:17 - 00:36:48:24 Outro And that wraps up our content for this episode. Be sure to reference the show notes, where you can sign up to connect for more podcast updates. Check out other MRA episodes on your favorite podcast platform. And as always, make sure to follow MRA's 30 minute THRIVE so you don't miss out. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry on the HR conversation.'''

So Happy New Year from Marijn and Steve is the first thing that comes up with a review of the Advents podcasts and a big thanks for getting us close to Marijn downloads target of 15,000 downloads this year.A quick 10-minute review of the people we met, the subjects we covered in December before hitting the subject of the Podcast Lists.... and some examples for useMark Kashman, on his blog did a release just before Christmas showing a personal list he created that he uses to track the people he meets and the socks he needs to give away as he tours and delivers his presentations.Marijn suggests that forms are better, and for the right solution it might be... but if you are tracking something that needs updating Lists are the only way to do this...collecting data then forms are great... manipulating data then lists are the way to go.So you get some great examples, of lists and the management of them as well and feedback and discussions on the best ways forward and lifecycles of your data.The boys taste a Whisky from Finland that sounds like a character in the Game of Thrones... Danica.

  Why you need to remember why you do what you do. 0:00 The man who took his own life over the holiday. 1:41 Why I do what I do and what I found. 3:05 How a belief in a higher power can help you. 4:41 Imagine you are a power greater than yourself. 6:14 Letting go and surrendering. 8:29 What does it mean to breathe properly? –. 10:13 The power of the Sangha. 12:41 If you've got a friend or somebody that could use some extra support. 15:06 People love to help. 16:42 Brandon Handley 0:00 Hey, what's up spiritual dope and Happy New Year, I have a topic for you today that is a little. It's a little bit heavy, a little bit heavy, heavy way to kind of start the year. That being said, when, when I think about why I do what it is I do when I think about spiritual dope, I also think about when I did fatherhood for the rest of us, when I did fatherhood, for the rest of us, it was to start a business it was to start coaching it was to do all these things that, you know, monetize this monetize that. And I remember Larry haggard at some point, in his group had mentioned the idea of like, why why you do what you do, you know, remember what you're here for, because I was getting tired, getting tired then of kind of what I was doing and didn't feel like I was having the results that I wanted, and that kind of thing. And, and he's like, and he's when he said, you remember why you're doing what you're doing. I was like, Well, I'm just, I'm just trying to make a buck bro. Like, I'm just trying to make some money, maybe help people or whatever, right. But I have more to do with making money than it did with helping people and they're in probably lead the problem. Since then, I've come along quite a ways. You know, a couple different podcasts and sand and doing spiritual dope. And landing on kind of why I do what it is I do talk about mental health. But I'm prompted today I'll start there. I'm prompted today by a fella that took his own life this over the holiday, it was a it was on New Year's Eve. And it was at 9am and we heard a couple bangs happen in around us at the house. And we thought that it might just be like somebody we thought that it might be somebody just know shooting off fireworks or something like that we're like, or hunters right? Turns out later in day we found out that it was this gentleman that had taken his life and it was a father Father two younger children probably living the same life most of us who live in where get the daily grind, you've got your job, you've got the responsibilities and and you feel like you're doing it all by yourself. Maybe somebody didn't at the at the house didn't feel like they're having the best holidays. Also, maybe they're the coupling like maybe not the best holidays and feeling like you're doing it all on your own. Couple that with inflation, where we're at right now, and how damaging that can be. I'll share a little excerpt on that for you as well. Why I do what it is that I do and what I found because it was more more about what I found about what it is that I do. And that I share why it is that I do what I do and how that can be helpful possibly for you know because listen, can we can oftentimes feel like we're alone. In doing this and especially as a Western civilization men are taught to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You can do it you don't eat how you know we get that from being kids right? We get that from being kids and young and can't you get that yourself you know, you're a big boy now pull up pants to go potty. Do the things um The thing is, is we're terrible and asking for help. That might be because we've been trained to be that way it might be for like other reasons. We're gonna be seen as weak and that kind of thing. And I don't know this person. I don't know what his life was like I did I was able to talk somebody jujitsu about it, I he had seen this guy in passing. And it just made me think you know again about why why why I do what it is, I do. So first of all, spirituality first spirituality kind of showed of my life on unwelcome even. And it showed me how a belief in a higher power could help me and in my mental state a number of different ways. I'll give a, I guess, the best kind of examples I can give would be like, when it first started noticing. house seemed like at least that there was something outside of me that was helping something larger than myself. And I was, you know, I started here I started with like, first of all, you got to realize that you're one in 400 children. Those are the odds of being born on this planet. I don't even know about this time, I think that's just the odds of you being born. Period. So what are the odds of you being born on this planet during this time, where we've got the ability to reach out and you know, where's my camera touch someone where we can reach out where we can send these podcasts out. And we can have, we're in a period of time where we can ask for help now. And that's seen as a strength. So when I say that, you know, imagine you and your children, if you're a parent, most of the people listening to this are Imagine that you are a power greater than your own children. It would seem at least you would do anything to make sure that they had what they needed, in order to be successful, to be happy, to be filled with joy and those kinds of things to to better themselves. So when you try to imagine that there's a greater power like that for you, being one in 400 trillion, you got to say to yourself, wow, you know what, holy shit. Okay, there's a power greater than myself that wants nothing but the best for me, what is the this is like, where you finally get the opportunity to say, hey, I want something because most of us been told not to want even be grateful for what you have. How dare you want for more, I've given you all I've got cotton, right? We've heard it from maybe our parents or something like that. So we've also got this, this desire to be happy with what we got grateful for what we've gotten. And, you know, don't want me don't want for more. But that's not it. Right? If we can come to this, this idea that I mean, again, if there's a power in the universe is graded on us to help us to get to where we are today, one 400 trillion chance. Wow, pretty impressive. Gonna imagine that it's similar to myself as a father, and would do like anything to make sure that my children are having the best life possible. So that started to open up for me. You know, trusting the universe is another and Alan Watts talk really great talk. Where you're starting to have like ideas I'm like, Okay, well, if I start to believe that then this is what might like to see my life and then like, the things that would happen for me provided by the universe or whatever, right? Like you can call it whatever you want. I choose that route and the weight that it takes off right if we say to ourselves let go and let God the weight that it takes off or surrender he did there's a large number of ways go about that until but the weight that came off of me because of that was like just ridiculous. Okay, ridiculous. It was like, you know, life was life was at a trick on it turned into a downpour. So that was like kind of the first the first part. Alright, so the spirituality and helping you with your mental health and how it can help you with your mental health, just in just in accepting that there's a higher power and surrendering to it. Not unlike the 12 step program, which I'm not I haven't ever done in a formal manner, but if I can go back and as Steve Jobs talked about, connect the dots going backwards. And then I can certainly say that, um, you know, probably I probably did the steps without doing the steps. Because it's kind of like a natural unfolding process that just happens. So we did the steps. We did speak visuality so what about like, now there's the breath work, right? There's these other tools. So what about the breath? Work, the breath work? And how much that can help? And why that's healthy and helpful? Well, it's helpful because not over 90% of us don't breathe properly. And what does it mean to breathe properly, I haven't gone too deep into that, what I do know is that if I breathe in this suggested manner, and a couple, couple minutes a day, 510 20 minutes a day. Then the effects that has on my physiology and mental state, physical well being it's it's, um, wow, it's it's born on meditation, similar very well, mindfulness, really similar, just to this practice, and these don't even have to be. These don't even have to be related to spirituality. These are just tools to help you with their mental health. This is the journey that I've been on. And I have dove in head first, because it's such great stuff. And the more that I learn about it, the more that I can share about it. And you know, maybe maybe somebody says, I have people reach out all the time, actually, you know. And it's, it's awesome to hear how it's helping them to helping to get them unstuck. It's helping to get them put into a different place, it's helping to separate themselves from anxiety and overwhelm just for a moment. And when you can separate yourself from the problem from the situation. How powerful is that? How powerful is that, when you can separate yourself from the situation, take a step back. Maybe it's something you don't feel like you can manage in this moment, it's so overwhelming. And maybe you can say to yourself, alright, I need to I can breathe through this right, I can use my body to put me into a better mental state that I'm currently in right now I can use my body and my breath work to separate me from my problem, even if it's just for a moment. If it's this avalanche. The only thing that I share with people too is you'll find yourself a group is not just, it's not just about spirituality. Another Alan Watts line, but I believe it's comes from Buddhism. And it's the power of the Sangha, right, the saga is the community. And one of the three noble, maybe it's for noble, I don't know, it's noble. And as part of Buddhism, the deal is, Sangha is the group in the community. And then there's gonna be people that are along the way. So be grateful for your community, the one that you've got right now. And if you don't have one, establish one. And then be grateful for the people who are on their way. We've got a couple different groups of men, that I can reach out to a couple of singular men as well. That I can have a just really honest one on one conversations with it's not, you know, your people talking about you want unvarnished truth, and all of a sudden, they don't. Sometimes you just you just want to be able to talk and have some reasonable conversations. The important thing, I think, is to have them in a non judgmental way, you're there to support each other, not beat each other up, drag each other down, and not lie to each other. about what's going on. I think that that's more important than somebody telling you, you're fucking up, right? We know when we're fucking up. We're preclear. Most of us, most of us, and it's not, that'll be that'll be brought quickly to our attention at some point. So why I do what I do and how I do what I do right now is significantly different. And it's all pointed to encouraging my own best mental health and state again, connecting the dots going backwards, and it's really hard to see this. When you're in the soup. It's really hard to see it when you're in the thick of it. And I don't think that there's going to be too many people tuning in that are going to be in a place who are most of the people that turn into a spiritual podcast and this one tend to be beyond the state of overwhelm most So most of the people, and they tend to be better at dealing with their shit. Because they have some of these practices. That being said, if you know somebody that that could use the help, that maybe they're not as far along, you know, beyond survival mode, as you maybe that maybe they could use a helping hand. Like, it's always so great when somebody reaches out to me like, Hey, man, Howard, thanks. That's it. Right? Doesn't doesn't nobody reaches out like, it's, it's, it's not great. I mean, it is, it's us, it's just how are you write a check in a pulse. So if you've got a friend, or somebody that could use some extra support, you know, be that person. And if you know somebody that could use some of these tools, right? To get past that. Always happy to help, you know, direct them to breath, work, direct them to find a community, direct them to anything, that can be helpful. Sometimes it's helpful to just vent and let it all out. Because then they can just hear it in the moment. And sometimes, when you do that, you can hear yourself saying it and understand that you're making yourself vulnerable. And when you're making yourself vulnerable, there's actually the opportunity to become powerful in that moment. You become powerful in that moment, when you become vulnerable. And you've got people around you, supporting you and not judging you. Because then you you've stepped into courage, you've become courageous enough to share what you believe is a weakness. And ask for help. And I promise you, I promise you people are dying, people love to help people love to be the hero. People out there that want to help you. And I can also promise you, the kind of no matter what is going on out there. No matter what is going on out there, we're more likely that we want you here than anywhere else. So while it might be challenging, and you might be going through some tough times. There are plenty of good ones ahead. There is a force out there that wants nothing but the best for you at all times. And sometimes the best seems like a steaming pile of shit. We're super tough challenge. But that challenge is meant for you to grow into the person that you need to become sometimes and again, that's not something that who wants to fucking hear that it's easy, but it's not easy, right guys and gals? Again, if you've got somebody out there that needs to hear this, share with them if you've got somebody out there that you know, maybe you haven't talked to for a long time, maybe they're fine. Maybe on the ATM, everything seems fine. Reach out to him and say hello anyways, they Hey, man, how things haven't talked to you like a fucking year because I'm a guy and that's how we are. Right? So Happy New Year, understand that spirituality is more than just a bunch of beads and bullshit it's a it's a pathway forward to releasing some of the pressure off of yourself. And allowing yourself to become the saint allowing yourself to become allowing yourself to recognize the truth of who you already are like all these things are things that are always available already available to you knows all times. And it cost like nothing to like get engaged with it. And you'll start to see some amazing benefits. So that's why I do what I do. That's why the other thing that just been kind of struggling with just just share, how do I share this best, right? Oh, I also mentioned sorry, to dry this out a little bit longer. I had mentioned the bit about inflation. And that came from a study I just wanted to let people know, now's a really fucking tough time for people to be a pee round. So in 1932, there was a study done by the Macmillan commission that they were discussing money and credit regulation. I'm gonna pull this over here. The chart graph the rise and fall of interest rates from the feet of Napoleon in 1812 to the date of the Commission in 1932. And on the same scale, the rise and fall of the suicide rate in that 120 year period. This blew my mind. The two curves were virtually identical. Every time the interest rate went up, so did the suicide rate when interest rate went down suicide. This can hardly be coincidence. It's when interest rate rises, a certain number of businessmen go bankrupt, a certain number of workers are thrown out of their jobs and everyone's everyone's and everybody's bio survival anxiety generally increases. We're in that period right now. So now more than ever, people need something they can rely on. It's that faith is it breathwork is a spiritual practice. I don't know. What I do know is expensive stuff that's worked for me. The spent stuff that's worked for 1000s millions, hundreds of millions throughout a long period of time. And it may be something that could work for you. And it may be something that could work for a friend of yours. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

This was supposed to be uploaded on Christmas Eve but for reasons...it wasn't So Happy New Year from us over at Frenemy Fire! So come and listen to us rank all of the available match types in wrestling. Mostly. If you'd like to watch this in video form you can over at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KZPWkLTap9xwffzRaxsqcem7cpbV3ulQ/view?usp=sharing

2022 is coming to a close – and 2023 is on its way! So Happy New Year to all! So today's SelfWork episode turns the tables on me – as I'm being interviewed by Lewis Howes on his incredibly successful podcast, School of Greatness. I listen almost every week to his interviews when I'm out walking, and learn so much from them. And since I was honored to be on (that story you can hear in last week's episode…), I know what it feels like to talk with Lewis. He's one of those people that can make you feel as if you're the most interesting person he's ever talked to – you know those kinds of people? He's very approachable and even with all of his success, responded to my asking for him to be a guest host this month with a, “Let me see what my team can come up with.” What you're about to hear is the second half of my interview with him – as we continue to talk about what therapy is all about, and other issues that are common in mental health. His last question is one he asks every guest (of course, I'd listened to his other interviews but was still unprepared for this) – What are the three things that you'd want others to remember about you or what you've learned in life? That one was tough. Vital Links:  Click Here for the fabulous offer from Athletic Greens - now AG1 - with bonus product with your subscription!  BetterHelp, the #1 online therapy provider, has a special offer for you now! You can hear more about this and many other topics by listening to my podcast, SelfWork with Dr. Margaret Rutherford. Subscribe to my website and receive my weekly newsletter including a blog post and podcast! If you'd like to join my FaceBook closed group, then click here and answer the membership questions! Welcome! My new book entitled Perfectly Hidden Depression has been published and you can order here! Its message is specifically for those with a struggle with strong perfectionism which acts to mask underlying emotional pain. But the many self-help techniques described can be used by everyone who chooses to begin to address emotions long hidden away that are clouding and sabotaging your current life. And it's available in paperback, eBook or as an audiobook! Now there's another way to send me a message! You can record by clicking below and ask your question or make a comment. You'll have 90 seconds to do so and that time goes quickly. By recording, you're giving SelfWork (and me) permission to use your voice on the podcast. I'll look forward to hearing from you!  

That's a WRAP on season one of the Boss Your Business Podcast (well, almost… after this recap, of course!)     And we're (deservingly so) clinking glasses

Today is the First Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of a new season. Not only that, it is the first Sunday in the Church Year. So Happy New Year. I hope you had a big party last night, opened the bubbly, and watched the ball drop. Listen to or read Bingham's entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”

Could You handle being in a polyamorous relationship, is it something you been thinking about ? Fellow Poet and a practitioner of the poly lifestyle INFINITY comes to sit down with us to break down what being poly really means , then highs and the lows . We also catch up with the team as this is the first time we recorded in 2022 SO Happy New Year to Everyone. We hope you enjoy, Tell a friend. Thank You ! Infinity Coleman { FB } _undefinable1 { IG } -------------------------------------------------------------------- instagram.com: @ Atoastwithshahblacqpod Twitter: @atoastwithshah Facebook : @atoastwithshahblacq Shah : @shahblacq (All Social Platforms) Sterlo: Instagram @iamsterlinghines FB: Christian Catchings IG: @Eatlivephotograph Twitter: @i_catchings Emma : IG : godivaemerald Sc : classicgodiva Fb : Emerald Emma cribbs ROB: Goinsteadyski --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/toastafterdark/message

A 2 part show featuring some of the artists whose music has been played (either on Capstone Radio or CauldronFM) during 2021. So Happy New Year from The Merlin / Dave B and I look forward to bringing you more great music during the coming year (2022) Take care, Be safe and above all remember Don't predict the future - CREATE IT! DAve xx

Diabetes on TV and in movies is rarely anything close to accurate. Turns out, those media misconceptions can be real-life harmful. This week, Stacey is joined by Dr. Heather Walker, the co-author of (Un)Doing Diabetes: Representation, Disability, Culture and Dr. Phyllisa Deroze, who contributed a chapter called “Laughing to Keep From Dying: Black Americans with Diabetes in Sitcoms and Comedies. Dr. Deroze & Dr. Walker both live with type 1 and both have difficult diagnosis stories that influenced their experiences with diabetes going forward. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. More about Dr. Phyllisa Deroze More about Dr. Heather Walker ---- Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Episode Transcription: Stacey Simms  0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. Take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week, diabetes on TV and in the movies is rarely anything close to accurate. And those media misconceptions can be real life harmful. Here's one from the sitcom 30 Rock.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  0:30 Tracy has diabetes there. And he does this skit where he replaces his foot with a skate. And he's like I'm practicing for when I lose my foot to diabetes. And that is the thing. There was a diabetes diagnosis and the next scene, he's already imagining himself with an amputation.   Stacey Simms  0:49 That's Dr. Phyllisa Deroze, who wrote a chapter in a new book we're talking about this week. The book is called (Un)Doing Diabetes Representation, Disability Culture. And it's authored by Dr. Heather Walker, Dr. Deroze and Dr. Walker both live with type one, and they join me for a great conversation. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show, I am always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. This is our first show of 2022. So Happy New Year, everybody. I hope you're doing okay. Still stressful days for everybody. But hopefully you can kind of come along with me every week, as we talk about what we're finding interesting in the diabetes community. And I say that because 2021, I decided I was going to focus on technology for the year, I was going to try to do as many episodes as I could, talking about new technology talking to these companies. And I did that although I gotta say the log jam at the FDA made that a little difficult, right? I mean, we thought we'd have a lot more new technology. And a lot of companies will not talk about stuff until it is FDA approved. So this year, I'm going to stay with that because the technology episodes are what you have told me you are the most interested in, in fingers crossed are going to have some approvals pretty soon. But I gotta tell you, I've also decided that I'm going to do shows on just whatever the heck I find interesting. I started this show seven years ago, this coming summer, and honestly, this might be the last year of it in this form. I mean, I love it. I love doing this but seven years is a long time for any project. I have some new things that I'm working on. I'm not sure how much time all of it is going to take. I'm not abandoning the podcast by any means. I want to hear from you too. As we go forward. You know, as the year goes by, I will keep the lines of communication open. We will figure it out together. This episode does fall into the category of something I am fascinated by and I love to talk about and that is diabetes in media. And by the way separately. Both of my guests this week have bananas misdiagnosis stories, we get to that right out of the gate. Wait till you hear what one of their doctors ended up doing. I have never heard this happening before. It was pretty wild. And we will talk about the book I mentioned that it is (Un)Doing Diabetes Representation, Disability Culture. It is authored by Dr. Heather Walker and Dr. Dr. Bianca C. Frazer. It contains essays by other authors including Dr. Phyllisa Deroze a little bit more about the book in its public description. It says undoing diabetes is the first collection of essays to use disability studies to explore representations of diabetes across a wide range of mediums from Twitter to TV and film to theater fiction, fan fiction, fashion and more. In undoing diabetes Authors deconstruct assumptions the public commonly holds while writers doing diabetes present counter narratives community members create to represent themselves. And just a little bit more about my guests. Dr. Heather Walker is Associate Director of qualitative research at the University of Utah health. She was diagnosed with type one at age 11 in 2001, and Dr. Phyllisa Deroze began blogging at diagnosed not defeated almost immediately after being misdiagnosed. She found out later with type two diabetes in 2011. And now she has been correctly diagnosed with LADA. Dr. Phyllisa Deroze is also the founder of Black diabetic info after the interview, and it's a pretty long interview. And that's okay. They have a lot of great stuff to say, I'm going to come back I want to tell you about something that happened to me. It's not quite diabetes in media, but it is diabetes jokes. So I want to tell you how I handled something in a Facebook group. But I'll come back and do that after the interview.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze, Dr. Heather Walker, welcome. I'm so happy to talk to you both. Thanks for coming on.   Unknown Speaker  4:50 Thank you.   Stacey Simms  4:51 So let's start if we could, I mean there's so much to get to and I was so excited to see you both at friends for life and see the presentations that you were doing but which You mind kind of backing up a little bit and kind of letting people get to know you? We could start just tell me a little bit about your diabetes diagnosis story. And Phyllisa, let me let me ask you to start with that if I could.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  5:12 Um, yes, I was diagnosed shortly after getting my PhD in English literature. I had moved to North Carolina, I experienced the classic symptoms of hyperglycemia. I had seen a physician who didn't check my blood sugar told me that I just needed to drink Gatorade because my electrolytes were off. A little later I was in the hospital. Blood sugar didn't register. Finally, I think first reading was like 597, or something like that. So I was told I had diabetes, and what type didn't get clarified until I was discharged. When I was discharged. I was told that I had type two diabetes, and I lived with that diagnosis for eight long years, it was inaccurate, I was misdiagnosed. I live with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults. And I was correctly diagnosed and joined the T1D group in 2019. I get this   Stacey Simms  6:06 question. Every time I speak to somebody like yourself who was misdiagnosed like that it happens so often. How do you live with what is really type one for all that time? I mean, I can't imagine you felt very well.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  6:20 I did. Okay, after diagnosis, I had a pretty long honeymoon phase, I actually lived about three years with just diet and exercise. I think one thing in the T1D community is that we don't talk enough about honeymoon phases and people who have latent autoimmune diabetes and adults, because so much of the common knowledge about type 1 diabetes is that everyone is insulin dependent. And that's not necessarily true, everyone will become insulin dependent. And that's an important message, because I never thought to have test done until I went into DKA. Again, so I myself didn't know that it was possible to have type 1 diabetes have a long honeymoon period and be misdiagnosed.   Stacey Simms  7:09 Yeah. The more I learned about Lada, it is so similar, but it's so different. There's a lot more to it, I guess, is what I would say, than I had realized for sure. Heather, what is your diagnosis story? When were you diagnosed with diabetes?   Dr. Heather Walker  7:21 So I was diagnosed at 11. And I also sort of have a misdiagnosis story. So I had diabetes, and I was in what I assumed to be a honeymoon phase for three months before my diagnosis actually came around. Because I was seeing a physician at the time who looked at me, skinny white girl, whose parents were really afraid because she kept losing weight, who was just about to hit puberty, and he thought eating disorder. No matter how many times I told him, I was eating everything in sight and drinking everything in sight. That's still what he firmly believed. Luckily, at about three months after I started coming in to see him for this and for the symptoms, he went on vacation, and I got to see his pa instead. And his pa John, you know, it's so funny. I don't even remember his last name. But just he's just warmly John to me, right? He just looked at my chart, and he knew right away, it's like, oh, you have diabetes, you know, so calmly, and I remember that freaking me and my mom out. We were in the appointment. It actually was my dad. But still, the first thing that we did was went and got me a doughnut because I think my dad was like, alright, well, maybe this is it. You know, he'll never eat another doughnut. Yeah, like, we really don't know about this, we don't know what's gonna happen. And so they didn't do a glucose tests on me. They just drew blood. So we didn't know right away anyway. And then it was like, you know, the next day, they called and said, You need to come to the hospital and for US history.   Stacey Simms  8:45 I'm guess I'm gonna get ahead of myself a little bit here. I don't want to start drawing conclusions too early in this interview. But it is interesting how both of you were misdiagnosed. Somebody else made an assumption, because of how you present it to them. I've got to imagine. So Heather, let me ask you. And then Phyllisa, I want to ask you the same question. But other how has that stuck with you? I mean, you you kind of set it so matter of factly they're like, Hey, he assumed I had an eating disorder. Did you kind of carry that with you?   Dr. Heather Walker  9:11 Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think I got a huge chip on my shoulder. From that. I mean, there's something about you know, being 11. And being in a world that already doesn't take you seriously, and then have a life threatening disease thrown at you. And your doctor doesn't believe what you say, even before diabetes. And Stacy, I've heard on episodes of your podcast you talking with with teens about or people who were teens with diabetes, about how fast it speeds your life up, right? Like you don't really get to have a childhood you don't really get to be a teenager and like, you know, carry on with reckless abandon because you just can't because there's all these safety things that you need to take into account. And so, but even before diabetes, I was kind of like that, like I was, you know, a 30 year old and a 10 year old body. I've been the same Age since then until now, but that, for sure gave me a big chip on my shoulder. It made me want to like, look into everything and see as it's happening to other people is like what's going on with this diabetes stuff.   Stacey Simms  10:13 Phyllisa, I'm curious for your experience too, because as you you kind of already said something interesting, which was like, Well, I didn't know how were you supposed to know? Right? The doctor supposed to know.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  10:23 Right. What's interesting is that when I was told that I needed to look into LADA because I had given a speech in Dubai to a roomful of doctors from the MENA region, Middle East and North Africa. And I was simply telling them my diagnosis story, very similar to what I share with you is a little more in depth, but pretty much that was the basics. And you know, I'm 31 years old at the time. And so during the q&a, some of the physicians from Tunisia, they raised their hand, and I was like, yes, they were like, well, your story kind of sounds more like LADA than type two. Are you familiar with it? And I said, not really. I mean, I know Cherise Shockley has it, but I don't know any more details than that. And it was at the lunch afterwards, one of the physicians came up to me and she said, you really ought to look into seeing if you have a ladder, and don't stop until you get the answer. And that kind of haunted me like, don't stop until you get the answer. But I just thought it was a simple request. So I asked my Endo, I got told no, I asked three months later, if I had ever been tested, the answer was no. Well, can I get tested? No. I saw a second opinion. No, you have type two. So I definitely think their view of me being an African American woman living with obesity played a lot into the constant denials. It took me over a year, another decay episode, and begging my gynecologist to run type one antibody testing for me in order to get it. So it wasn't easy. I literally had to not stop until I get the answer.   Dr. Heather Walker  12:11 For Phyllisa, it was your OB they finally gave you the testing you wanted?   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  12:15 Yes. Because I told her, I can't get an endocrinologist to run this test. I know I'm in decay, a I'm losing weight rapidly. And she listened to me and she said, Okay, she said, I don't do endocrine, I do you know, OB GYN. So we were literally on her computer on Google trying to find the codes to request the testing. And so she was calling around, what do I put in to order this? And I remember when she called and she said, Listen, you know, this is out of my field. But come get these results, because your endo was going to need to see them. That was all on me. I got the results. I just remember seeing the get 65 should be below five. And mine was greater than 7500.   Stacey Simms  13:05 Oh, I'm almost speechless. I mean, I'm not I'm never actually speechless. I came in less than that happened. But the idea that you have to work so hard to get those answers, I've got to assume just like with Heather, that had to inform not only your experiences going forward, but the way you help other people because you both are extremely active in the community. You You're both very prolific writers, you both have, you know, studies and presentations that we're going to talk to, but Felicity, that whole experience with somebody else saying, Well, I think you have lotta to I got to get answers for myself to finally getting them. When you look back on that, how does it inform how you talk to other people about   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  13:43 diabetes? I tell people definitely to be way more assertive than then imagined. Like, I honestly did not think it would take me constantly asking for the results. I thought it was like a simple test. I mean, you're testing my cholesterol, you're testing my a one C, like you're already getting a vial of blood, like just check off one antibody. So I thought it was something simple. And it turned out it was not, which was very frustrating for me. Because like in that I realized my education level didn't matter to them. I was literally like you are African American living with obesity. And that was what I believed to be their motivating factor to deny me testing. And what's so problematic about that, in addition to everything else you can imagine is as my physician Wouldn't they want to know that they're treating the right condition. Yeah, I'm asking so my records actually have a note from my endo saying, Melissa asked multiple times for type one antibody testing, and I denied it   Stacey Simms  14:55 literally says I denied it in your file.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  14:57 Yes. Wow.   Stacey Simms  14:59 I'm just sorry. I got to ask, did he show that to you as an apology? Or did you sit there in the room while you made him write it?   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  15:05 What I did was I refused to leave the appointment. I love it until there was this moment of record, like, I need you to recognize that I have been asking you for over a year for this test. We just need to come to that because it was like, Oh, you need insulin, let's go. And, you know, I was kind of being escorted out of the room. And I said, No, I'm literally not going to leave this chair until we have this conversation. And so I didn't know that my endo would put it on my records. But I definitely refused to leave until that conversation was had, they did apologize. And there was a note and my files.   Stacey Simms  15:47 It just didn't have to be that hard. This could have been an episode in and of itself. Want to make sure to get to that the research or the publications that sparked my interest here.   Right back to our conversation and right was like kidding about the diagnosis stories, and then her doctor putting in her chart that he was wrong. Oh my god. Alright, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. I want to talk for a minute about control IQ, the Dexcom G6 Tandem pump software program. When it comes to Benny's numbers, you know, I hardly expect perfection, I really just want him happy and healthy. And I have to say control IQ, the software from Dexcom. And Tandem has completely exceeded my expectations, Benny is able to do less checking and bolusing. And he is spending more time in range. This is in a teenager, a time when I was really prepared for him to be struggling, his sleep is better to this is great for all of us basal adjustments possible every five minutes, the system is working hard to keep him in range. And that means we hear far fewer Dexcom alerts, which means everybody is sleeping better. I am so grateful for this, of course Individual results may vary. To learn more, go to diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo. Now back to the interview. And we are moving on to Dr. Walker's book. Heather, tell me about the book that's coming out.   Dr. Heather Walker  17:14 Okay, I'm so excited to be talking about this. So you might hear that excitement in my voice. So it's awesome. The title of the book is called undoing diabetes representation, disability culture, that's a full title. And it's going to be released very soon, by the end of the year, we hope it's a collection of essays that looks at diabetes in a new way, the volume or the volume as a whole. You know, it points out that all the stereotypes of diabetes that the public really buys into are like maintained through a lens of individualism, our society looks at diabetes as a problem of the individual person right of their choices. And so to respond to that public tendency, right to like focus on the individual, all of our authors in the book do the opposite. So in the collection, they ask questions like, What do individualistic stereotypes reveal about the social conditions for the diabetic person? So it like flips it on its head? And also what do they conceal, right? What is stereotypes hide? What do they prevent us from seeing? And how do these like harmful narratives, these harmful assumptions, these stereotypes that just break down our community? How do they reinforce ideas that the public already has, for what constitutes like a normal or a good body, which is just like, as a person who's living with diabetes, this makes me so excited. And then I'll just add one final thing about the book, which is our collection is really unique in that we use disability studies frameworks to unpack all of these questions. What are disability studies? So this ability studies is a field of study that looks at the social conditions of disability. So how is disability perceived in society? How is it represented on the screen, and all of those types of things. And so we have frameworks in the field that we use, it's kind of imagined, like a camera lens, right? That's kind of like a framework and the camera lens has a filter on it. And so when we look at this movie, or this film, we're looking at it through a specific lens with a specific filter. In our book, all of our authors are looking at different types of media, through these disability studies, frames or lenses, and sort of seeing how they operate in society and what they do, and then poking holes at what it does. And every chapter is brilliant, and Phyllisa is going to talk about hers, but as a volume, like I could not be more proud of this collection and all the work that it does. And all of like the change and the shifts it's going to make for readers.   Stacey Simms  19:43 It's so interesting to me because of the mediums that you use so let's let's ask Felicity if you want to if you could talk about what you presented friends for life, what you talked about you were looking at TV shows, right and not unfortunately not more current ones which sometimes get it right.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  19:59 Um, yeah, I was the title of my chapter is laughing to keep from dying black Americans with diabetes in sitcoms and comedies. So I was looking at television shows as well as movies, and focusing on how those representations make meaning of diabetes within African American communities. Part of this started, when I thought about the first time I heard you have diabetes, and I was in the emergency room, my first thought was, I'm going to die. Like that. Was it? Like, I just thought like diabetes meant death? And when I started unpacking that, to find out where did I get that messaging from? Because no one in my family has diabetes. I didn't personally know anybody with diabetes. It really came from television and film, and of course, our media. And I thought it would be really nice to look at some of these classic movies and TV shows that are very popular in African American communities to see what story is told when you focus on the diabetes characters. Can you talk about some examples? Yeah. So for example, like Soul Food is one of those classic staple in African American film, a memory just like the color purple is something that people cite quotes from all the time. But when you look at Soul Food, it really stems from Big Mama who has diabetes. We understand this because she burns her arm on a stove. And a couple of things later, she passes away, she has an amputation and then a stroke. And she's no longer with us. The Big Mama character also comes up in Tyler Perry's plays and his films in his television shows. And again, these are staple matriarch characters who have diabetes. Now Madea lives on because that's a part of, you know, Tyler Perry series, but she has diabetes Boondocks I look at and of course Blackish. So blackish, I would say is probably where we first see the the image turn, where we first see a character with diabetes, checking their blood sugar, and all the other stuff we don't. And so what that tells us is that diabetes is going to cause either a slow death or quick death, perhaps an amputation, if you're familiar with 30, Rock. Tracy has diabetes there. And he does this skit where he replaces his foot with a skate. And he's like I'm practicing for when I lose my foot to diabetes. And that is the thing, there was a diabetes diagnosis, and the next thing, he's already imagining himself with an amputation. So when we look   Stacey Simms  22:59 at something like this, what do we take from it now? I mean, we you can't go back and change those representations. What do you want us to kind of learn from them.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  23:08 But I would ideally like for the film industry, to change their portrayal of characters with diabetes, I mean, all characters, not just African American ones. But last year, there was the release of the Clark Sisters first ladies of gospel biopic on lifetime. The Clark Sisters are like a staple in African American culture. They were these gospel singers that were absolutely phenomenal. The Lifetime movie of them ended up being the highest rated Lifetime movie and four years. This comes out last year, the mother has diabetes. She is seen not taking her medication, not caring about her diabetes. And of course, there's all these tragedies that happen. And the thing is, when we don't see African Americans using CGM technology, insulin pump technology, we don't see checking blood sugar. What happens with those messages is that it becomes the common assumption. So when someone goes to the doctor, the doctor may think, Oh, well, black people don't check their blood sugar. And so then that begins to impact the individual prime example. I was in a setting once. And a woman said, Oh, I didn't think black people ate vegetables. What? Yes, yes, literally said this. And I was just so floored, but I thought, okay, she didn't think black people ate vegetables. And so I'm wondering like, what images you know, is she being fed? Right? Yeah. came from so the thing is, is we have to look at our television and our film, not just as sources of enjoyment for some people, but also as information that provides an understanding about certain people. So literally in all of the films and television shows that I look that there were probably two that showed the African American character with diabetes, actually living a rather fruitful life. Outside of that it was amputation and death. And so when someone is diagnosed with diabetes, like I was, and I didn't know anyone with diabetes, instantly, the first thing I thought about was death and dying. And that association that comes with it, when I hadn't seen people living well, with diabetes, I just want to say this. When I was first diagnosed, I went to Barnes and Nobles sat down in a bookstore with one of Patti LaBelle cookbooks, and I flipped to a page and she said, in this book, I had diabetes, but I wasn't going to let diabetes have in me, and I cried, right there in the Barnes and Noble, because that was the first time that I had ever seen or read or heard someone who looks like me diagnosed with diabetes, and they were determined to continue living their life. Like if you want to see that image, where do you go? Because our television and our films are not that place. And that's also the fertile ground for which black diabetic info on my website started and my blog, because I didn't know where to go for that. Like, I got it in Patti LaBelle cookbook, and I cry. But then where can I go to see it again? Yeah, didn't have an answer. Heather, I   Stacey Simms  26:53 want to come back to you and ask you something I saw you posted about on on Twitter. A couple of months ago, Pixar posted a teaser for their new movie turning red, which I think comes out in the spring. And there's like a split second shot of a kid wearing some kind of what looks like diabetes device. It's, you know, an insulin pump or a CGM. And they confirmed it. I actually talked to somebody behind the scenes at Pixar and fingers crossed, we'll have them on the show in a couple of weeks. But it is a diabetes. I'm so excited. But it is a diabetes device. But you were pretty adamant about one point, would you mind sharing that? And why? Sure.   Dr. Heather Walker  27:30 So when I saw that, you know, I came late to the show. Let me preface with that, right. Like, by the time I saw that trailer, the community was abuzz. Like they everyone was so excited. And what I saw was, Oh, my goodness, we see a character with type 1 diabetes. And as someone who is completing a chapter for a book of essays on representations of diabetes, you know, my antenna went up when I saw how the community was claiming that. And I just thought to myself, This is not a representation of type 1 diabetes, this is a representation of diabetes, because people with type two can and should have access to those devices as well. And so for the type one community to be exclusive, in this moment, in this grand opportunity for all of us to celebrate together, really sort of broke me down in a way, you know, I was like, Why? Why can't we just keep this open? Why can't we make this a win for everyone? Instead of saying, quote, unquote, type two people don't use these devices? And I think that the reason why it was like it was like a jab in my heart is I think that that claiming does something in society, right? It, it functions to show us that large groups of the diabetes are the type one community feel like, maybe type two diabetics aren't using that technology, because they're the ones who don't care. And they're the ones that the stereotype is about. And so that shows me that we have pockets in our type one community that buy into the stereotype just like the public does.   Stacey Simms  29:06 I'm looking at the description of the book in terms of the different mediums you use Twitter, to TV to film to theater to fiction, fan fiction.   Dr. Heather Walker  29:13 Yeah, we have a chapter, whatever author of your chapter covering a segment of fan fiction, and it's wonderful and actually, that author and she discloses in her chapter as well, so I'm not outing her. She also lives with diabetes herself. And I'm pretty sure she has a physical science PhD. So this genre and this discipline is new for her and she just like, Oh, she did such a great job having us understand how diabetes is being pulled into fanfiction. Alright, we   Stacey Simms  29:46 now should have set this up better if you're not familiar, and I'm going to do probably a terrible job of describing this. If you're not familiar. Fanfiction is stories, poems, pictures, it's fiction, written by people who are Fans have a genre or fans of a certain bunch of characters, and then they kind of make up their own stories using the established characters most of the time. So in other words, you love Harry Potter, you write yourself into Harry Potter or you write a different adventures that the characters might have had. And it's accessible to pretty much everybody. Is that how I feel about fanfiction? Yeah, I   Dr. Heather Walker  30:18 think it's kind of a, you know, once you get into it, you know where to look. You can probably Google it. And you know, I'm not even really in the world of fanfic, full disclosure and transparency. But I feel like I want to beat now that I've read, I've read that chapter. So   Stacey Simms  30:34 these are characters people are writing about that loop with diabetes, or they are the just bringing diabetes into exactly as it sounds. It sounds silly, as I'm saying it out loud. Like I'm explaining it. I'm trying to, you know, hit it over the head to the to find a point. But just to be clear,   Dr. Heather Walker  30:48 yes. So I think in the pieces that this author talks about in their chapter, it's situations where the characters themselves do not have diabetes, and the fanfic authors write them having diabetes. Oh, so they add that to their character.   Stacey Simms  31:04 You know what we were doing that a long time ago? Because I don't know if you know, Heather, and Phyllisa, but Bob, the builder definitely has diabetes, because why else? Would he have that big belt around his equipment? Because that's where his insulin. So anytime we saw somebody on screen with that, he was like, Oh, he's got diabetes. I didn't mean to interrupt Heather. But that clarifies it for me.   Dr. Heather Walker  31:23 Oh, yeah. That's a perfect example. Right is imagine that we had a fanfic author who loves Bob the Builder when they were a kid. And now they're writing the whole story about Bob, the builder and his diabetic life. It's wonderful. The book itself,   Stacey Simms  31:37 is this something that's accessible to people? And I asked that I mean, is it more of an academic book, tell me a little bit more about that.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  31:43 So one of the things that I like about the book is that it's assessable. For a large reading audience, if you are a casual reader, you can get through it, if you are an academic, you can get through it. So it's not laced with academic jargon. But again, we are using theoretical frameworks, but in a language that is accessible to everybody. So that's one I definitely enjoy about the collection, is there something in there forever?   Stacey Simms  32:13 And that's a great point, because I think we do get a little nervous about academic type books, Heather, right. I mean, it's, it can be a little scary and off putting it away.   Dr. Heather Walker  32:21 Yeah. And I'll just add, you know, we have, so we have several authors who are like myself, and Phyllisa, who are scholars and community members, which is very nice, and just like really brings it home. And so, you know, you kind of know, as a community member, that you're going to get authentic pieces by people who are living with this, in addition to having a couple of us who are scholars and committee members, we do have chapters from community members, from activists who don't have their hand in academia at all, and they're writing about their personal experiences. And, you know, they're still talking about representation in different media, but they're doing so from their lens existing in the community existing in the world with diabetes. And if nothing else, although I, I would also say what, you know, Melissa said was true, all of them are accessible, but especially those that are coming, you know, from the mouths of babes that are coming from our community members, who, who many people who do pick up the book already know,   Stacey Simms  33:20 before I let you go, let me let me pose this question to each of you in kind of a different way. And that would be you know, full. So you mentioned blackish, being a bit of a turning point, the show where people are shown, you know, a character shown checking blood sugar. I'm looking back over the last year and thinking of a more accurate depiction of diabetes, or at least type one with the Babysitter's Club on Netflix with we'll see with Pixar is turning red, but with Greenland, you know, written by someone who's married to Greenland, the movie Written by someone who is married to a person with type one, do you think things are getting better? And and I would ask you, as well to include the black community, because we don't talk about that enough. You know, I mean, I'm trying to think if all of those I mentioned they did not feature people of color. Do you think it's getting better? I mean, what would you like to   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  34:06 see, I would like to see more diversity as we get better in the American film industry. When I look at all the films that I studied, type 1 diabetes is grossly under represented like none of these characters have type 1 diabetes, which again, if you think about myself, 31 years old, being diagnosed, I never knew type 1 diabetes could be an option. I'm still not seeing African American characters using technology wearing CGM. Often when I'm out in public. People are asking me about my devices. It's the first time you're seeing them. I'm explaining insulin pumps. And so while things are getting better, I would say within shows, television shows and films that are popular within African American characters. Progress is about Very slow on that. And   Stacey Simms  35:01 Heather, from where you stand. Could you share a little bit about what you think is going on in media? Are we getting better?   Dr. Heather Walker  35:07 Yeah, I think Phyllisa what you're speaking to right is incremental ism. It's like we are getting better slowly, like painfully, slowly, bit by bit. I mean, I'm inclined to say yes, only because the number of representations that we're seeing are increasing. But, you know, I'm hesitant at the same time to say yes, because we still have to ask, okay, if we even if we have more representation, are they representations that are doing good for diabetic people in society? Right, like, not necessarily, Are they accurate? Or are they you know, a direct portrayal of what people experience? But what is the public taking away from that representation? Like, what are they leaving that with? And if we have a lot more characters all of a sudden who have diabetes, but the audience still thinks, Okay, well, diabetes is still what I thought it was, right? It's like overweight people over eating, making bad choices not exercising? If that's what they're leaving with, then the answer, of course, is no, we're not making progress, even if we're having more characters. And what I find is, what I think we would need to make really big change would be to centralize a character with diabetes instead of making them a sub character, right? Yeah, like for the baby sitters club. And Stacey is not a new character with diabetes is has old, right, like we've known that Stacey has had diabetes for a long time, it just wasn't being produced at the quality it's being produced at. So that's not really even a new one. But we do have new ones, like there's a just a year and a half ago, or so there was a new series called Sweet magnolias. And one of the characters there has, or is about to be diagnosed with diabetes, and it's the same, it's the same story. It's like, you know, if you don't fix your habits, you're gonna get diabetes, and you're gonna die like your mom and all these fear tactics. And so and I really want to be hopeful, Stacy, I really want to be hopeful and say, Yes, we're headed in the right direction. But I just don't know i We need people in the writers room with diabetes, and other health conditions and disabilities, to have a direct voice and call things out before they're produced.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  37:19 I agree 100%, we have to be in the room. Because some things they don't make sense. For example, blackish, you do see him check his blood sugar. However, once he puts the strip in the meter, he starts talking to his wife, and anyone who knows how to use a meter knows that you have about 30 seconds before you have to put a drop of blood on that thing, or else you've lost it. So even little things like that.   Stacey Simms  37:46 I had indicated that was the last question, but I got one more. And that would be and II feel free. Either one of you jump in? Or both? What can the community do? You know, sometimes I feel like, you know, I stopped correcting people online a lot of the time unless it's really egregious, you know, but if they make a joke, or there's a hashtag diabetes with dessert, or things like that, like I'm tired, you know, and then you have no sense of humor, you know, gosh, what can we do to try to fix this? Or what can we do to to improve the situation?   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  38:15 I think, this research, this book, this podcast, these conversations are so important. So for example, prior to writing my book chapter, I didn't see anything talking about the representation of African American characters in television and film. Whenever I talked about diabetes characters, there was maybe the one mention of soul food, but like, there was a dearth there. So this book chapter hopefully helped spark the conversation in wider circles. And so by talking about it more, and rallying around these things, hopefully, the attention like first recognizing that there is a problem, and then getting think tanks together to talk about them is probably the best plan of action.   Dr. Heather Walker  39:06 I love that. And I would just add, you know, I think what the community needs to prioritize is inclusion, right? Like, we need to give up on being exclusive, especially in the type one community, and we need to open our doors to people with type two people with Ladda. People with all like, there are so many different types of diabetes, that even saying type one and two is, is exclusive. I really believe that if we can do that, and if we can elevate the voices of people with diabetes of all types, who are also people of color, then we'll make a lot of progress in our community because we'll start seeing those perspectives that we've been missing that make us as a community really limited to our own perspective. To me, that's the only way to do it. I love the idea of a think tank Phyllisa I think that's brilliant, and just absolutely, and I'm sure you would agree needs to be diverse, right? Like it can't Be a bunch of like, white people. I don't know. There's a lot we can do. There's a lot.   Stacey Simms  40:08 Thank you both so much for joining me. This is amazing. I'm so thrilled to have you both on the show, you've got to come back on there. We just kind of scratched the surface here. So thank you for spending so much time with me.   Dr. Phyllisa Deroze  40:18 It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me.   Dr. Heather Walker  40:21 Yeah, this has been so fun. You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  40:34 More information about my guests and about the book on diabetes all at diabetes connections.com. As you know, every episode has its own homepage with transcriptions and show notes and all that good stuff. The transcription started in January of 2020. And we're working our way back here in there, hopefully filling in all the blanks. But right now, not every episode before 2020 has a transcription. And I should tell you just I don't want to get ahead of myself here. That Pixar movie that we talked about turning red. Since our conversation, they put out another trailer and it showed more diabetes gear, another child in the movie is wearing a Dexcom. So it looks to me I mean, really can't tell yet. But it looks to me like one kiddo has some kind of pump. And another kiddo has a Dexcom. So as I said, I had a contact at Pixar. And I've got another one now. And it looks like there might be an actor, a voice actor in the movie who has diabetes. So we're to sort this all out. And I should be able to have somebody on about this. I don't want to over promise. But the folks at Pixar have been really receptive. So that looks like they won't do it too far in advance because the movie comes out in March. So as we get closer, I'll keep you posted for it. And I had mentioned a story before the interview about not necessarily diabetes in media, but about jokes. And I don't know about you, but years ago, I was on high alert for diabetes jokes, you know, I can't eat that, or the the hashtag of my dessert is diabetes. And I don't know, I got burned out. And I don't talk about it as much. I don't police it as much, certainly, but I couldn't help myself last week, at Christmas, I'm in a group. It's a very clever group. It's called fatten the curve. If you want to join it. It's a public group, a friend of mine in the Charlotte area started at the very beginning of COVID. Obviously, it's a play on flatten the curve. And as you would expect fatten the curve is all about food. And it's just become a place where people who cook and eat like to share their photos. And somebody posted around Christmas time, you know, it's my diabetic coma, and then all of this food. So I kind of did the do I want to go to I want to do this, or I want to get this person's face. So I just very nicely said, Hey, diabetes jokes are never cool. Not sure if you thought about that. But hey, the food looks absolutely delicious. You know, hope it was as good as it looked or something nice like that very casual and breezy. Just like Hey, dude, not cool. But moving on. And there's a couple of other people in the diabetes community who have joined that group, but it's not diabetes, it's just food. But you know how it is when when Facebook shows you something people, you know, jump in. So other people commented like, yeah, Stacey's right? Please think twice. And this guy apparently lives with type two posted like a non sequitur about his scientific studies and stem cells and all this stuff about diabetes. He did, obviously, not really sunk in I don't think, but he didn't respond negatively. And I just said, You know what, fine, I'm moving on, right? But then a couple of days later, somebody else popped in, it was like, nobody can make a joke anymore. You're too sensitive, and why we're just too easily offended. And that's when I was like, Alright, now I need to respond. So I very nicely, I think it was nice. You know, I wrote a response. And I said, Hey, you know, once the guy said he had diabetes, you'll notice I didn't clap back, I didn't get nasty. We are all entitled to say whatever we want. But it's important to understand that what we say does have meaning and impact. And as you listen, I know, you know, all this, I did the standard. When we joke about diabetes, we don't do this with other conditions. We don't talk about a cholesterol coma, or a high blood pressure problem when we're eating big meals like this. Why is it only diabetes? And did you realize that actually, you know, the blame and shame that can be encountered here prevents people from seeking treatment or makes them feel like it's all their fault, and nothing they do will matter. I posted all that waiting for the response. There was none, which I'm really glad about. Because I don't want to argue I just it's exhausting. But everyone's not something like that pushes my buttons and I have to save something. Hopefully that group will just go back to posting yummy pictures of food because it's been two years and we haven't had any issues like that. I mostly post pictures of what my husband cooks. Because I don't like to cook and what I do cook isn't really Facebook, really. So I guess we're often running for 2022. We are back to the Wednesday in the news episodes. I hope you'll join me for that either live on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram, or as an audio podcast which comes out on Fridays. Thanks as always to my editor John Bukenas from audio editing solutions. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here soon, in a Couple of days until then, be kind to yourself   Benny  45:07 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged

Welcome to Bible Bedtime! Tonight we will read Matthew 23, where Jesus condemns the hypocrites. This recording will launch on January 2, 2022. So Happy New Year! Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/biblebedtime. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feeling overwhelmed by the push to make a New Year's Resolution? Tune in to learn more effective ways to create and achieve your 2022 goals. Check out the Light After Trauma website for transcripts, other episodes, Alyssa's guest appearances, and more at: www.lightaftertrauma.com Support the Podcast   Transcript Alyssa Scolari [00:23]: Hi everybody. Welcome back. This is the last episode of 2021, which I can't believe honestly. It's wild that we are now going on to the third calendar year of podcasting. I am really excited. Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas, if you celebrate Christmas. Happy Kwanza. Happy Hanukah. I know Hanukah was a while back, but Happy Hanukah, nonetheless. I hope that the holidays have treated you with love and kindness, because we all need a little bit extra of that, especially during these times. Alyssa Scolari [01:01]: Today, I have a rather short episode coming at you. Not going to be super long. We will get back into the regular swing of things in 2022. I have a guest episode coming at you for the first episode of the new year, but today I wanted to talk a little bit about an alternative approach or what I think is a little bit more of an effective approach to new year's resolutions. Alyssa Scolari [01:29]: Now that the holidays, the religious holidays, so to speak, are behind us, which I had a very good holiday by the way. Not that any of you asked, but I just thought I would put that out there. Last year was really hard because of the pandemic and this year, I mean, things are still really bad, so we didn't do anything huge. I took off this week, so I am just vibing and relaxing. I currently actually am in a onesie. Alyssa Scolari [01:59]: Yes, I am about to be 30 years old and I am in a onesie and I am not ashamed about it. I cannot believe that I have never worn a onesie before now. Friends, it is the best thing ever.And I actually don't think that they're called... I don't think they're called onesies. I think that's what you call them for like babies or whatever but you know what I mean? One of those like outfits that are just all one piece. I guess it could be like a jumper, but mine is like a lounge jumper that I have that I got for Christmas and I am in heaven. I am vibing in that as we speak. I have a blanket wrapped around me, some hot chocolate. I am in full relaxation mode and it's actually snowing out here today in Pennsylvania, which is really magical. Alyssa Scolari [02:51]: If you know me, you know I love the snow. Love, love, love it. So that's where I'm at this week and yeah, it's really nice to have a week off. I know that the last solo episode I put out was really heavy because I was talking a lot about my struggles right now and my battle with endometriosis. I know that that it was an episode that was hard to listen to. Endometriosis is really a life altering disease, but you know, as an update I am doing okay right now. Knock on wood, I have not had a ton of pain. Thank goodness. It's really nice to get a break and yeah, so I'm doing okay right now. Thank goodness. Thank you for who reached out, especially after hearing that episode and just connected with me and wanted to touch base. I really appreciate it. It was very tough being that vulnerable, but I know that I'm not the only one who feels the way that I feel, so I thought it was really important to share. Alyssa Scolari [03:57]: So okay. Transitioning back to new year's resolutions. I have always hated this holiday and looking back on it, I mean, I think because nobody really hates a holiday unless you have some kind of personal or vulnerable reason for hating it. I have a very strong reaction to new year's and I think it's because of all of the, I guess, emphasis on drinking and partying and I was never really into that, but I think honestly more than that, I also, when I was younger and in like in high school or whatever, I was never invited to any parties. I never really had any opportunity to party on New Year's Eve, but now I'm kind of like over it. I don't really have any interest in it. Alyssa Scolari [04:53]: So as I've gotten older and I've become, I think less bitter about not being invited to the parties, which I totally was a bitter teenager, I realize that New Year's is about more that just parties. It's really about having a resolution, if you believe in that. Some people don't and I never really did. I was always like, oh, resolutions. It's just a setup because you're just going to fail but I think that I was always looking at that from a very like diet culture, frame of mind, where everybody's New Year resolution was, I'm going to lose weight this year. I am going to become a size, whatever. Alyssa Scolari [05:39]: I remember in years past, my friends or one of my friends, actually took out a pair of jeans that she used to fit into, honestly when she was a teenager. So like it doesn't even make logical sense that she would fit into them now because she is an adult, but she took out her jeans that she wore from when she was a teenager and she hung them up in her room every day, as a reminder that it's her New Year's resolution to get down to that size. Alyssa Scolari [06:07]: I think that's part of why I also resented New Year's cause it was just like diets and weight loss and this and that and it felt like so much pressure. I think that New Year's resolutions generally don't often work out, or people don't usually follow through, because the resolutions themselves are so overwhelming and so vague. Y'all know how I feel about diets and diet culture at this point. I'm just using this as an example. Alyssa Scolari [06:41]: If somebody wants to lose weight, they make their New Year's resolution, I'm going to lose weight or I'm going to get down to a jean size, X. But then there's really no full-detailed planning on how that's going to happen. I'm going to buy this to gym membership and maybe I'm going to join Weight Watchers, which again, I'm putting this out there, not because I believe in any of this, because you all know that I don't. I am not a fan of diet culture whatsoever, but this is what people, or this is what I have found, most of us and myself included at one point, often do. Alyssa Scolari [07:18]: I'm going to join Weight Watchers. I'm going to join a gym. I'm going to hang my pants up so I can have that daily motivation that I need to lose weight and that's kind of just this reminder. But that feels so overwhelming, right? It's like, now I have to learn this brand new diet and then I have to try to find time in my schedule to go to the gym three to four times a week. Then I have to be looking at these pants every day and feel guilty that I am not that size right now. It's like very, very, I don't know, overwhelming. I know I've said that several times, but that's just how it feels and I think that the same thing could be said for other types of goals that people have. Alyssa Scolari [08:03]: Sometimes your goal is I want to make more money this year. Or sometimes your goal is I want to learn, I don't know. I want to learn how to crochet or maybe more goals related to like your mental health. I want to beat my depression this year. Or I want to love myself more this year. Things like that. All amazing goals, right? Love those goals, but they're super vague and there's a million different ways we can get it to those. We can reach those goals. Alyssa Scolari [08:44]: So, here's what I would recommend. Here's what works for me. I do not really put any kind of like major stakes into New Year's resolutions. I'm like just kind of like, oh, this year I really want to focus on X, Y, and Z. If it doesn't happen, I'm not beating myself up over it because I just don't. I'm always making new goals for myself and I guess I just personally don't feel the need to create like a New Year's resolution list. Alyssa Scolari [09:12]: But if this is what you want to do, I have worked with a lot of clients and I have chatted with a lot of friends who often put a lot of weight into their New Year's resolutions. So I could definitely offer some tips on how that can be done and what I recommend is making your goals much, much smaller. Alyssa Scolari [09:36]: So, if your goal is to practice more self-love. Again, broad concept. How are we going to bring that down? How are we going to... Because we cannot, especially with the times right now, honestly, it's going to be so hard to decide that we are going to make a habit right now and stick to it for the next 365 days. That's a lot to ask, especially when the state of the world has so many question marks around it. Alyssa Scolari [10:07]: So, what can we do instead? Well, what would be one act of self-love? Perhaps it is creating some type of like gratitude journal. That might be it. That might be it for you. Now, are we going to start off by saying, I need to write in this journal every single night before bed or every single morning when I wake up? I mean, no. I wouldn't recommend that because again, that's going to be very overwhelming and you are now adding another task to your life, to your already busy life. Alyssa Scolari [10:45]: So, how about this? How about I am going to aim once a week. Let's get even more specific. On Saturday mornings because I'm not rushing to get to work. I'm off. I have some time. I am going to aim to write a gratitude journal on Saturday mornings. Now we've cut our amount of journaling from 365 days of the year to 52, but that seems so much more manageable and honestly, if you have made a gratitude list for 52 days of the year, that's amazing. Absolutely amazing. So try to come up with goals that are more tangible. Alyssa Scolari [11:34]: For me personally, I actually, one of the things that I've really been wanting to do this year is try to work on the way that I speak to myself in my head, because I tend to give so much more love and kindness to other people, but I have zero love and kindness when it comes to myself, sadly. So what I want to do is I want to start writing all of the kind things that happen to me. Alyssa Scolari [12:03]: When I get really overwhelmed or when I get depressed, I can only see the bad. That's it. I've got to filter on, where only the bad things are coming in and I would like to have a tangible item where I can go to and reflect back on some of my darker days, and remind myself of how loved I am. Because like I said, when I'm depressed, it gets really, really hard for me to go back into my memory and be like, oh, remember, on this day, when this person said this really great thing about you. Alyssa Scolari [12:34]: So something I would like to do moving forward would be, like I said, to start writing things down when they happen to me, when really good things happen. I had somebody reach out to me maybe a week ago at this point, and tell me what an impact I have on their lives and their text message was absolutely beautiful. And it brought me to tears. It's those moments that I really want to hold onto because those moments are the moments that will help get me through the darker times. And if I have them in front of me and can access those memories or those reminders anytime, I'm hoping that I will be less likely to be constantly filling my head with negative self-talk. So there's an idea for you. If you are looking for ways to take better care of yourself or love yourself a little bit more as your New Year's resolution. Alyssa Scolari [13:36]: Now, the ma... I won't say the majority, but many, many, many people have a New Year's resolution of getting back in shape or eating healthier or losing weight, et cetera. And again, you all know, I am an intuitive eater and I practice intuitive eating with my clients and with myself through and through. That's what I talk about on this podcast. That's what I believe is the ultimate way to health and food freedom. But I also acknowledge that that's not where other people are and some people just want to lose weight and they want to get in shape and they want to change their bodies and manipulate the number on the scale. Alyssa Scolari [14:22]: If that's where you are at, okay, okay. But let me recommend this. So here's what we know. We know that 95% of diets fail. Yet, the diet industry is a 60 billion dollar, per year, industry. 60 billion dollars with a 95% failure rate. 60 billion dollars with a only a 5% success rate. I just want you to marinate on that, because that really blows my mind. Alyssa Scolari [15:15]: I'm not going to say don't diet. If that's what you feel called to do in this moment, you have to do what feels best for you. But what I will recommend is this. Before you decide to give the diet industry any more of your money, any more of your time, any more of your stress and any more of your health, knowing that there's a 95% chance this could fail, I want to encourage you to reevaluate your goals a little bit. And by that, I mean, I don't mean drop everything and just become an intuitive eater, because some people truly don't believe in that and that's okay. Alyssa Scolari [16:04]: But maybe instead of investing your money in the diet industry, maybe invest your money in a nutritionist, a holistic health nutritionist. I cannot say that word today. Maybe invest your money in somebody like that. Maybe find an intuitive eating person, a dietician, who can help you with one of your goals, or multiple of your goals, but maybe try to look for health outside of the diet industry, because you might have better success there in terms of becoming the person physically, mentally, and emotionally, that you would like to be. Just a thought. Alyssa Scolari [16:56]: And honestly, looking outside of the box in terms of like looking to different types of professionals to help me with food, with medical issues, with everything has been the most healing for me. So that's just something I'm recommending, if you know, one of your resolutions is diet health, weight loss, maybe try somebody who's not really fully affiliated with like the diet industry. Somebody who can work one-on-one with you, because at the end of the day, you're going to invest your money either way, but maybe invest your money in somebody who can help you achieve the goals that you want, but also might have a higher success rate than diet industry. Alyssa Scolari [17:42]: So there's my two cents. You can take that or leave it, but basically the concept applies with any kind of resolution. Start small, take it slow, and remind yourself to check in. Start small, give yourself compassion, keep loving yourself through it, and know that if you mess up or if you do not achieve all of your goals at the end of this year, you did nothing wrong. At the end of the day, if all you did was survive, especially with the state of the world right now, you have succeeded. Alyssa Scolari [18:21]: So Happy New Year, everybody. I hope that this is helpful. I am holding you in the light and I will see you all in 2022. Alyssa Scolari [18:30]: Thanks for listening everyone. For more information, please head over to lightaftertrauma.com or you can also follow us on social media. On Instagram we are at lightaftertrauma and on Twitter, it is @lightafterpod. Alyssa Scolari [18:47]: Lastly, please head over to patreon.com/lightaftertrauma to support our show. We are asking for $5 a month, which is the equivalent to a cup of coffee at Starbucks. So please head on over again. That's patreon.com/lightaftertrauma. Thank you and we appreciate your support.

With this January the new year has started with a big Bang and some top stories already. So Happy New Year and welcome to the very first episode of 2021, with August and Alvaro discussing the latest stories in Tech and Politics.    

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Twenty Nine!  I hope you all remain safe and healthy as we make our way into 2021.  I took a few weeks off over the holidays to rest and recharge, but I also recorded some interviews, including this episode. PATREONERS!  Here's a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode:  Josh Emms, Matt Cage, Patrick Connally, Chris McMartin, and Justin Elden. Thank you all so much for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance! Our guest for this week's episode is Jeff Lemm, a zoo-based herpetologist/researcher based in southern California.  Jeff has been involved with many research and conservation projects in various places around the planet, and I enjoyed talking with him about some of that.  Jeff has also been the author of several excellent book projects - he is the author of the Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the San Diego Region (part of the California Natural History Guides series) in 2008.  Living in the San Diego region, Jeff was a natural for putting this guide together (and let me tell you, writing field guides is a labor of love, emphasis on labor). Jeff has also been heavily involved in research and conservation efforts for West Indian rock iguanas (genus Cyclura), and consequently he is a coauthor of Cyclura: Natural History, Husbandry, and Conservation of West Indian Rock Iguanas. Jeff has also spent a considerable amount of time in Australia, which we discuss in our conversation.  We also talked about his role as a principal architect of the North American Field Herping Association (NAFHA).  I hope you enjoy our conversation, I sure did! So Happy New Year folks, and let's stay safe and healthy!  Thanks again to all my Patreoners, and folks, if you haven't done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use - that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word. And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming!  The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, favorite Croc Hunter episodes, tips for herping better, etc.    

Welcome to episode #69 of Not Me, But You! This is the FIRST episode of 2021. So Happy New Year to you!This podcast continues to grow. I've watched it continue to be downloaded in new cities and new countries around the world! It's exciting to see the digital footprint grow. But this podcast is NOT about me. The focus of this podcast is on YOU, the listener. I believe that you already have inside of you everything that you need in order to reach your goals. If a goofball like me, can have this type of success with a simple podcast, then so can you! You can do anything that you make up your mind that you will succeed at. So having a dream and having something that you are passionate about is a fantastic start. But you need to have BOTH a dream AND a plan to achieve your dream! I talk about my high school English teacher, Mr Brown and the impact he had on my life in later years. Our teachers/mentors when they are unselfish guides can have lasting positive effects on us. Why do you want to become wealth? I can tell you why I believe wealth will change your life forever. And then once you are wealthy, how many OTHER lives can you touch in a positive way, because of your wealth? Time is our most valuable asset. And time, focus, and energy are involved in achieving any goal. Be mindful that you are using time wisely and efficiently each day! We can only spend time once! And it's the one asset that we all have the same amount of. Check out Robert Brault. He has great quotes easily found on the Internet. He said, "We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal." How is diet and exercise connected to your journey toward wealth? Good question. Most wealthy people do not neglect their diet/health. I believe it's important for all of us to be healthy/remain healthy so that we can enjoy building wealth and simply being wealthy. Meal prepping can ensure that we get healthier meals and it will also help us to save money and ultimately build wealth. My new E-book will be available later this month and the topic of the book is about being healthy and building wealth. I provide a real life example of one of the most curious and absurd responses I've heard from someone who claimed that they wanted to increase their income, but saw problems everywhere with taking action! What we can learn from this example is that SOME of our thoughts are crazy and invalid and NEED to be ignored! You can use the power of your internet connection to monetize your ideas and create your own "pension check" flowing to you every month! The key to accomplishing your dreams is to simply get started! We all need to stop focussing on being perfect. Get past that desire. Life is messy, and you can figure out solutions for problems that you encounter. So just get started. Simply begin! Have courage today, to pick one thing, and work on your dreams. Facebook Page: Waypa Today Twitter: Waypa Today YouTube Channel: Waypa Todaywww.waypatoday.com www.healhtywisecooking.com Email me at: waypatoday@gmail.com Email me food prep/recipe related questions/comments at: HWC@healthywisecooking.com Pinterest: Healthy Wise Cooking 

Today the dudes talk about the stuff about the things. You didn't come here to read and I didn't come here to write, but to post a podcast (on time for once). So Happy New Year! and pray for us as we pray for you. Ferrum Ferro Acuitur. Join us on: Instagram: www.instagram.com/dudecatholic/ Twitter (we hardly go on Twitter): www.twitter.com/dudecatholic1 Facebook (we don't really monitor facebook): www.facebook.com/dudeCatholic/

Half Of The Show Has Covid... So Happy New Year? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BANG! @southernvangard #radio presents the DR. BUTCHER & CJ MOORE interview session! Normally, this would have been a Twice A Week week. You know, the usual - mix show on Tuesday, all new joints, Meeks and Doe talking trash, and then an interview session to follow on Thursday. However, the universe had something different in mind. These two legends were originally scheduled to be on the mix show this week to talk about “AGAINST ALL ODDS,” their new project with DA ODD COUPLE (ROB SWIFT & MISTA SINISTA of the X-ECUTIONERS) and keep it moving - but this thing turned into a TWO AND HALF HOUR history lesson. We let the tape roll and said forget all the new rap this week, this conversation is too important to stop. No cap, as the young folks say - this is foundation / architect / cornerstone type content, Vangardians. While we did manage to get the low down on the phenomenal production & engineering Butcher and CJ provided on the new LP with Rob & Sinista, as well as why they pulled in fresh talent like KE TURNER & RAY LUGER as features - we quickly got DEEP in that hip-hop Encyclopedia Brittanica: 1212 STUDIOS. PAUL C. BLACK, ROCK & RON. ULTRAMAGNETIC MC’S. SIMPLY II POSITIVE aka ORGANIZED KONFUSION. PHAROAHE MONCH. PRINCE PO. LARGE PROFESSOR. DE LA SOUL. TOMMY BOY RECORDS. TOM SILVERMAN. DANTE ROSS. STETSASONIC. QUEEN LATIFAH. FATHER MC. X-MEN. AKINYELE. SIR JINX. THE BEATNUTS. JUJU. PSYCHO LES. MF GRIMM. KOOL G RAP. IRV GOTTI. JAY-Z. DAME DASH. ROCAFELLA. DMX. RUFF RYDERS. NORE. THE NEPTUNES. PHARRELL. LL COOL J. DAVE JUSTICE. HALLE BERRY. Say WHAT?! Man look - YOU’RE WAAAAALCOME. For real, you’re really, really, REALLY welcome. So Happy New Year and all that, f*ck 2020, see you in 2021, and you got damn RIGHT it’s DOE and MEEKS with what is ALWAYS that #SmithsonianGrade #TwiceAWeek #WeAreTheGard // southernvangard.com // @southernvangard on #applepodcasts #stitcherradio #soundcloud #mixcloud #youtube // #hiphop #rap #undergroundhiphop #boombap #DJ #mix #interview #podcast #ATL #WORLDWIDE #RIPCOMBATJACK Recorded live December 27, 2020 @ Dirty Blanket Studios, Marietta, GA southernvangard.com @southernvangard on #applepodcasts #soundcloud #youtube #spotifypodcast #googlepodcasts #stitcherradio #mixcloud #SmithsonianGrade #TwiceAWeek #WeAreTheGard twitter/IG: @southernvangard @jondoeatl @cappuccinomeeks

It's time to get real. This is gonna be the last episode of 2020. We're recording this in early December of 2020, we're going to get it out to the last week. And it's been quite a year. Definitely. And who knows what's gonna happen next year, we never expected all this stuff to happen this year. Hopefully, it's been a good year for you. It's been an amazing year. For those of us who have been in the markets and long markets, and long stocks. It's been incredible. It's amazing. You can't go online and not run into somebody posting how much money they're making, just buying calls, a lot of people are gambling, a lot of people are gambling, that doesn't mean passive traders have not done really well at all, we've done amazingly well. And, you know, the numbers are just astounding to me, as I am on this journey with you, you know, I have enough that the income from my investments allows me to do whatever I want. But it's not billionaire status. And so, you know, as the accounts grow, as the numbers get bigger and bigger and bigger, I'm having a hard time mentally focusing and realizing like, oh, wow, what the heck is going on, it's just keeps increasing, increasing. So I'm facing that issue. But I know a lot of you are facing several different issues. So what I want to know and I want you to focus on is 2020 happened, things happened. Market was the way it was COVID, Corona, whatever you want to call it, market shut down a lot of job losses, there were stimulus fed everything. 2021 is gonna be a way different year. And it's nobody knows what to expect. But it's going to be different. It's gonna be different from this year, vaccines coming soon, hopefully, who knows. And things will get back to normal in terms of people going out and traveling, some of the economy will come back a lot of the economy's not going to come back. How are you going to play it? What are you going to do differently? One of the things that we are doing is in the first week of January, we're having our first ever event. So a live event, it's going to be two days, January 8, and 9th. And I want to invite you to come hang out with me. Let's talk, let's learn, let's trade let's train, please go to optiongenius.com/live to get all the details. Go ahead, check it out, see what we have, we got some guest speakers coming. Got a lot of great content of how to take you to the next level. Wherever you had now, wherever you were, how to get you to the next level. What skills do you need? What do you need to overcome? What's stopping you break through all the boundaries? Make your goals say hey, this is what I want. This is where I'm now. How do I get there? Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang? What are the steps 1234. And we're gonna just knock it out. So we're gonna be asking questions when we talking live, there's an opportunity for you to be one on one with me as well. We're gonna have some hot seats, you know, bring people on say, all right, show me Let's go. Let's diagnose it. This is some coaching right right now. So it's gonna be a lot of fun. Please, if you can't make it, there's a you can get the recordings. So optiongenius.com/live, I am very, very, very nervous. To be honest with you, and seriously, like, you know, I've told my team like, Hey, we're doing this, but in my mind, I'm like, oh, man, do I really have to do this? Or do I want to do this, but we have so many people on the announcement list. And so we're like, yep, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's plan it. You know, it's not going to be a pitch fest. We got speakers, but they're not selling anything not gonna be having, you know, “buy this product and buy” this product and buy this product. No, none of that stuff is just real live learning, trading, working in like a workshop type event. So I hope to see you there. It would be amazing to show your support. If the podcast has helped you in any way. It would be nice if you came in just gave me some moral support and be like, yeah, you're doing great, good job. We love you or whatever. You don't have to love me but you know what I mean? You know, it's the introvert in me talking. It's the the lack of confidence, I guess in front of getting up in front of people and being like okay on the spot. Let's just talk because it's This podcast is like me, I'm just sitting here. Nobody's watching me. I'm just recording this. I know what to say. And I can say it. But live is a totally different story. You know, you mess up. There's everybody watching you “Oh, no what I do now? Oh, anyway, but it's time to get real. You know, we need to get to the next level a year of our life has gone by, and we've been cooped up. So it felt a lot longer than normal. But how closer are you to your goals? How close are you to the things you want it? Only you can answer that question. And how can we get you to them faster? That's the real thing. You know, whatever it is you want out of life. We can't just sit around and wait. We can't take our time. We want to push the envelope. We want to push the gas pedal down. And we want to fly. Right. And I mean yesterday. Poof last night, I took the family out to go see some lights. And you know, the Christmas lights. And it was it was fun. It was a lot of fun. It was a great we had a great time. But on the way there. The Google Maps took me down like a shortcut or something, was up there made road to digital shortcut. And it was this little lane, not even highways, just a little road houses on both sides, no divider in the middle, nothing. And I'm going pretty quickly. It's dark, not really too many lights. And all of a sudden there's a railroad track that comes cuts across the road. Now, if you've seen railroad tracks you going over them sometimes they're flat, sometimes they're hilly, this one was hilly. And I did not slow down. I did not hit the brake. I went at it as fast as I was going and yeah, man we flew, the minivan flew. And it was fun. It wasn't fun when we hit the ground, the bumper, like scraped the grout, the kids are like they were I don't know what they were sleeping when they were quiet. And we heard them like when we went airborne. And then when the van started going down, and we hit you know, the ground again, you heard the kids in the back, *Kush* fall back down in their chairs were literally up in the air. They had their seatbelts on, thank god knew probably would got heard otherwise. But yeah, you heard that boom, Daddy, what's going on? Yeah, but he was a lot of fun, it's fun to fly. You know, sometimes it's fun. Sometimes you got to put the brakes on. And 2020 was a hard year for a lot of people. But it's time to buckle down and say, all right, we can't do that. Again, it's not time to buckle down anymore. We need to push, we need to get better, we need to do things we need to move forward. And so that's why we're doing this live event. That's why I'm breaking out of my comfort zone, trying something new is like alright, you know, everybody's still at home. Everybody knows how to use zoom, this is great. Everybody can understand what we're doing now. So you don't have to fly. You don't have to rent a hotel, you don't have to buy food, do it at home in your pajamas. That's great. I wish I could be in my pajamas. I might be, who knows? I might be in my pajamas.. but it's making everything so connected more, even though we are not connected physically, we'll be online, we're able to see each other, it's gonna be a very interesting experience. I'm definitely sure that you're going to take something out of it, you're going to learn something, and you're going to get your questions answered, or we're going to work on getting you whatever you need to go to the next level. So I hope you do Join us now. In terms of going in the future, like what do you do? If you haven't, go get the passive trading book. I would start there and say, Hey, what's the roadmap? What's the game plan? And basically, that's what we're doing on the live event. We're like, okay, where are our people now? Where do they want to go? And how do we get there? What are the steps? 1-2-3-4 however many steps are? How do we get there? And that's what we're going to go through. So once you register, email me, and let me know where you are, and let me know where you want to be. And I can use that when we're creating the content. So the steps are, you know, we understand the steps were like, okay, we need a strategy, we need to understand the market, we know how he's going to do, we need to manage our trades properly, we need to have asset allocation properly, we need to be safe, so we're not, you know, risking a lot of money and losing it for what-not. And then we need to build and we need to invest properly. And that's how we do the passive trading. So we're gonna cover those in detail in depth on the training, and I can't wait. So I guess this episode has turned into an advertisement. Live event. I didn't mean to. I'm just really excited about it. So I really appreciate you guys listening the whole year. And we've been doing this episode. I think we're doing this the second or third year of the podcast. I'm not even sure I think we got we're getting close to 100 episodes. So I think it took us three years to get there. But I appreciate everything I appreciate you appreciate our customers, you know, you guys, the fact that you are listening to this, you give me an outlet, and you give me a way to help, and a way to give back so much that I've been given. And I really would love to hold your hand and say, Hey, walk with me, let's do this together. You know, it's an amazing feeling. And one of the things like one of the mentors that I have, he says that you get so much when you are doing it yourself, but you don't really, really understand it, and really, really learn it until you help somebody else do it. And so it's a progression, you know, and that's what option genius has allowed me to do. That's what this podcast allowed me to do. The passive trading formula or oil options program all our memberships, it is just, it's, I am so grateful and amazed. And like, really, you know, we announced a live event a week ago, by now it's been three weeks or four weeks. And we put out and said, hey, you know, if you're interested, go to this website, and let us know, you know, give us your name and email address and get on the list. And we had a ton of people, that first email that I sent out, I wasn't even talking about this. It was just like two lines at the bottom of the email. And we had like, 80 people signed up right away. Like what? That many people are interested in coming to a live event listening to me talk. Wow, I mean, we do have 1000s of people listening to me talk on every episode, but it's just, you know, every step you take is like, Okay, this is a new thing to do. Do people actually listen? Are they gonna show up? That's a no, oh, my god, it's gonna be live. What if nobody shows up? What if they think I'm crazy? What do they all make fun of me? Oh, no, you know. But it's time to go to the next level, it's time to go to the next steps. And you got to get out of your comfort zone as well. So if you haven't been trading, I'm telling you, you missed out on a great, great, great year of an opportunity. Next year, my assumption is that we're going to be the markets still going to be heading higher into the first couple months, at least after that things will very calm down, the volatility will go away. And we might have a correction, we might have a bear market next year or 10% 20% down, I don't know how much. But once the Fed stops printing everything, once the economy starts going back to normal, things will flatten out, we might have an up market next year, but it's not going to be as easy it was this year to just buy stuff and watch it go up every day. You know, that's not gonna happen, I'm almost guaranteeing that that's not gonna happen, there's gonna be a lot of sideways movement, there might be some down moves. If you don't know how to trade it, it can be scary. But we can do it together, we can hold your hand and take you along the way. And it's still, with passive trading, the way we do it, it's still a way that you can still be profitable. So you know, it's amazing. And I am living proof that it works, along with the 1000s of other people that are doing it with us. So hopefully, we'll see you on the live event. I wish that 2021 is an amazing year for you. I wish the best for you and your family. If there's anything that me and my team can do, please let us know. Thank you for everything. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your time. Thank you for all the reviews and the comments and the emails that we get from you guys. It just makes it all worthwhile.  So Happy New Year! Merry Christmas if you are into that and we will see you in the new year.  LOVE ALLEN SAMA - OPTION GENIUS AND WANT TO LEARN MORE TRADING TIPS  AND TRICKS? HERE ARE SOME NEXT STEPS... SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST FREE 9 LESSON COURSE: https://optiongenius.com/  WATCH THIS FREE TRAINING: https://passivetrading.com  JOIN OUR PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP: https://optiongenius.com/alliance  Like our show? Please leave us a review here - even one sentence helps.

On the nineteenth installment of The Link Up with Latesha, our incredible host Latesha Byrd, founder of Byrd Career Consulting, explains why it's important for us to understand when it is time to grow or go at work. This episode was inspired by an article posted on Zora titled "When Black Women Go From Office Pet to Office Threat" by Erika Stallings. Latesha delves into the piece and relates some of her invaluable experience dealing with micro-aggressions and the like at work.Interested in Latesha's premium LinkedIn masterclass? Click here to find out more details!Learn more about Latesha on the BCC website or connect with her through her socials! LinkedIn, IG, Twitter, FBStop by LateshaByrd.com! Click here to check out Latesha's shop, and don't forget the 60% discount code GETTHECOINS!Check out Latesha's YouTube channel!BCC's socials: LinkedIn, IG, Twitter, FBVisit our website!TRANSCRIPTLatesha: Hello, hello. Welcome to The Link Up with Latesha. I am so happy to get back on this podcast and just share some updates with you guys. I definitely want to know how your new year is going. So Happy New Year again. If you're just now tuning in, it is 2020, a wonderful new year, a new decade. It is going to be a year of abundance, of just restoring faith, a year of moving forward, making progress on our goals. I just celebrated my birthday this past weekend and I am really excited about that I'm entering a new decade in my age. I'm not gonna say what my age is. [laughs] But with my birthday just passing, I've really been in a mind state of elimination and refinement, and that is speaking to my relationships, you know, my business, my mental, my thoughts, you know, the things that I'm thinking. So eliminating those bad thoughts, refining my thoughts. Same with my relationships and circles, those that I do spend time with, and relationships, thoughts, business, you know, everything. And in terms of what's going on with the business, I am going to be teaching, or hosting, a masterclass on LinkedIn that is coming up within the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for that. Hopefully we're connected on social media, so you will hear all about it. It'll be a jam-packed one and a half- to two-hour session on literally how to build your profile from scratch. So, you know, no matter if you have been using LinkedIn since its inception 10 years ago or if you are just now getting on LinkedIn, whether your skill level is from a 1 to, you know, 9 or 10, this masterclass is going to teach you some new things you may not have known about LinkedIn. So I'll be talking about how to build your network--excuse me, build your profile from scratch, but also how to work your profile and how to make it work for you. So from navigating the job board to networking to branding yourself, joining groups and organizations online. Who do you need to be connecting with and how do you connect with them on LinkedIn? What are the positive things that you can add to your profile just to make you stand out so that you are showcasing your best self online? So more to come on that. A lot of exciting things. I definitely will be releasing a ton of new content over the next, you know, month, just adding value, adding value, adding value. I want to spread as much knowledge and add as much insight as I can about career development, and so that is what my goal is for the early part of 2020, content, content, content, connecting further with my audience, and just really being there for you guys. So if you have any ideas, let me know. So enough about me rambling here. I wanted to talk about this article that came out on Zora. If you guys are not familiar with Zora, Zora is a new platform on Medium that is specifically for women of color. And, I mean, they have articles from, you know, film and arts and music to personal health to mental health, and actually a lot of great career reads. There was one that came out this past week, and I encourage you all to look at it. Most definitely women of color, but even our allies that listen so you all can read the experience that we go through. I don't know not one black woman that has experience that has not experienced this. Either they turned it around or it went kind of downhill from there. [laughs] So the article that I'm speaking about, the topic is called "When Black Women Go From Office Pet to Office Threat." Again, the title--'cause I just want to let that sink in. It's crazy. As soon as I saw this--I saw it on Twitter, and as soon as I saw the title, you know, I was like, "O-M-G. Yes, yes, yes, and yes." So the topic is "When Black Women Go From Office Pet to Office Threat," okay? The subtitle: "First your boss loves you, then they dislike you. Here's how black women can manage the icy transition." Have y'all experienced that? Oh, my goodness. You start a new job, you're pumped, you know? Maybe you're just getting started in your career in your early 20s, your first corporate job, and they love you. And when I say they, [laughs]--I'm not just talking about this random "they" like DJ Khaled, but they, I'm speaking specifically to your white counterparts and colleagues and your boss. They love you, and then all of a sudden the love is gone and they are threatened by you. So let's talk about that. This article, you know, the writer of this article, she gives her own, you know, story about how she started a job as an attorney [eight?] years ago, and she was one of four black women in an entry-level class of [60?] associates. First year was great, but at the end of the first year and as she reflected on her career journey thus far she realized that there was some type of disconnect. She was well-liked by leadership, but she wasn't really getting respect in order to gain the right work that she needed to set her apart and set her up for success, and so when she went to talk to her management and leadership about it, about her frustration, she was told to be patient, and she ended up leaving or looking for a new position about another year later. But when she put in, you know, her notice, and when she was, you know, letting them know she was leaving, they were upset. Well, they said there was a general attitude that she was ungrateful and that she was wrong to complain about her lack of advancement. Ladies, have y'all experienced this? Allies, have you experienced this or seen a colleague experience this before? This is something that I am extremely passionate about, because as a coach I help my clients figure out what they want to do in terms of moving forward in their career, what their next best step should be, and getting them to really understand how their skills, how their talents, how their purposes, how the things that they love to do translates into the job market so they can find not only careers but also companies and environments that will allow them to grow and develop and be nurtured, and that is of top, top-top-top priority, getting with the right organization, getting with leadership--when I say getting with leadership, I mean making sure that you are with a company where leadership will invest in your professional development. But going back to this term, this term "moving from pet to threat." This was actually an academic study that was published in 2019, and it says a pet is beloved, cared for, and often treated in a child-like fashion. The pet status for new professional employees suggests that new professional employees are not equal to their masters, that their masters know what is best for them if only they'd behave appropriately. So you go from feeling like you are, you know, loved--and I want to talk about that. You go from feeling that you're loved to feeling like you are a threat, and sometimes it's so clear as day when that line--you just kind of see that line being crossed or, like, that shift, and, you know, I most definitely remember one that happened to me in corporate. Often times we are experiencing micro-aggressions, we are experiencing punishments for challenging, you know, some of the issues that we experience in the workplace. So going back to this study, it was actually done or completed by, of course, black women in academia. This term was coined in 2013, and she actually made it officially with the study backing up this racist behavior. And in terms of that study, she says that there were 35 black women from across the country at different stages. She kept hearing the same issues. Women were in the early phase of their career and they would talk about being treated as a minor player, then the women who were mid-career were constantly feeling like they were coming up on barriers, even though they had already established high levels of performance. And then one day she just said, "Yeah, it seems like you go from pet to threat," and that's where the idea came from. So this data was pulled by a group of black women in academia, but understand that this, you know, has been seen in every single industry. So going back to my clients that I've been coaching, I think it's important for us to understand when it is time to grow or go. When it's time to grow or go. I've had clients that have been at their workplace for so many years, maybe five years, almost ten years, [and] they've never had a performance review, they've never been promoted, they've never gotten a raise, but when they first started they were promised all of these things. "Oh, you'll be in leadership in no time. We're gonna give you, you know, all of these exciting projects to work on." And something happens in-between where we become super pumped where we were super pumped, we were excited, and then all of a sudden we start to lose our confidence, we start to question our abilities, because we're denied the same leadership opportunites that our colleagues are. Or for those of us who have proven ourselves--and I hate using that term, but when we have shown up--and y'all know what I mean when I say "shown up." Like, we are doing the damn thing. We are crushing our work assignments, and we speak too loudly or too boldly about it, next thing you know they're saying, "Hey, we noticed you seemed a little..." [laughs] "We noticed you seemed a little aggressive in the meeting. You might want to just calm down just a little bit," you know? Y'all know how that whole thing goes. But I've had conversations with women that have said, "Man, I feel like I have just been beaten to the ground to the point where I'm starting to question my own value, I'm starting to question my own work, I'm starting to question if this is the career for me." I want you all to know that this is not--you are not an anomaly. This is an experience that happens across multiple industries, multiple careers, multiple ages, and what I would love to just emphasize today is that you have to take this power and control back in your hands and in your life. So knowing it's time to grow or go. How? How do you know when it's time to grow or go? First thing is, before you even get with an organization--let's say you are... it's 2020, right? Let's say maybe you are in the process of interviewing, you're applying, you're considering new opportunities. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of you interviewing these companies as much as they are interviewing you. Know what your career goals are. Know the type of employee. Know what management style works for you best, whether you--maybe you're in a management position. Know what type of management style works for you best, but then also if you are not entry-level, you know, maybe not managing yet, know what type of management style works best for you in terms of that relationship with your manager so that when you're interviewing, you should be interviewing not just with the recruiter or with the hiring manager, you should have the opportunity to meet the group that you'll be working with. You should have the opportunity to meet your boss and the key players in the organization that are directly responsible for your growth trajectory at the company. If they do not put these folks in the schedule, request that you meet with them, because you will want to know who you're going to be working with. Do they actually care about leadership development? Is that something that they prioritize for their employees? It is perfectly okay to ask that you meet with these individuals, because I've seen where my clients have had wonderful interviews, they were promised all of these things, and then they start and realize, "Oh, my gosh. My boss does not know how to be an effective leader. This is going to hold me back," [laughs] because they maybe did not meet with them in the process. They met with their boss's boss, but they did not meet with that person directly. When it comes to interviewing, make sure you have questions that you're asking about understanding the culture of the team, understanding the culture of the organization, [but] specifically the team though, because even at some of these large companies--so I am based in Charlotte. Y'all know this is Bank Town, so we have Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Ally... I could go on and on with the banks here, but Wells Fargo is a huge organization. I know people that love their jobs there. I know people that hate their jobs there. [laughs] And I have my clients that will say, "Oh, I was talking to someone at Wells. They hate it. I don't want to work there," and I'll tell them, "Look, it could be--there's, like, 20,000 different companies within the organization." [laughs] It depends on the group, department, you know, your clients, whoever you would be working with. It just varies. It varies, so that's why it's important to focus on the team culture first. Well, company culture for sure because that trickles down into the organization's teams, but team culture is important as well. So questions to ask - ask questions about the development. Ask them, "How is professional development managed here for employees? How is feedback given?" You know? "What is that performance review process like?" "What are the growth opportunities in this role?" And the other thing I would challenge you all here to think about is--I know I'm saying grow or go, and what I mean by that is you need to know when it's time to get up out of there. You have to know when it's time to get up out of there. If you've been with the organization and you want to grow, yet that organization does not want to grow you--you know, like the article said, some of the women felt like they were up against the wall--you may have to get out just to get that new growth opportunity that you're looking for, but I want you all to understand what growth looks like for you. Growth doesn't always mean that you will move from being a sole contributor to managing a team of five to ten to twenty. It could be simply a change in responsibility. It could be a larger book of business. But in terms of that growth, it depends on what it is that you want. I would encourage you to think about what type of growth you want to see in your career. And of course you can get feedback from mentors and others in the industry, but just keep your eyes on your own vision and hold the company accountable to actually helping you grow. The other thing that's important with growing or going is finding allies and advocates, and I believe the article definitely talks about that. It's good to find allies. It's good to find advocates, those who will speak on your behalf, those at the organization that will make sure that you are being stretched, making sure that you are receiving, you know, the same proper treatment that your colleagues are, especially if you have raised your hand and you've said, "Hey, I want to do some new work. I want to take on some new projects. I want to take on some new things," or if you look around and see your colleagues are excelling in these other areas but you haven't even had the opportunity to add value there--having allies, actually having advocates, will help to get in front of these types of challenges. So there is a previous podcast episode that I did on managing relationships in the workplace, and I specifically talk about the difference between mentors and advocates, so go back and listen. It was a really insightful one. I actually think that was the podcast--the last one I did, I think that was the last one that I did, so check that one out. So I don't want to go into too much detail on that. And the other thing that the article mentioned is to basically find opportunities, even outside of your workplace, where you can be a leader, where you can add value, where you can contribute. So finding your own safe spaces, whether it's relationships or places, to find affirmations for achievements and contributions. I think the main thing there is don't let your workplace tell you what your worth is. Your worth, your career, does not define you, and so find spaces--I encourage my clients to find organizations, professional industry organizations, that will allow them to give back, but will also allow them to build a solid network, will allow them to get on the board, do a passion project, volunteer, add value elsewhere so that you have others that you can connect with, because what happens with this whole "pet to threat" ideology is that we tend to feel isolated, we tend to feel alone and that no one understands our struggle and what we're going through, but I want you all to know that you're not alone. You're not alone. This has been something that has been a coined term and studied and something that many of us have been going through or have gone through. So that does not define you. Don't leave it up to your employer to tell you what you're worth or what you're not worth. You define that for yourself, and you do have to find spaces where you are constantly being affirmed and you are able to affirm yourself. So this was a very, you know, ooh, like, kind of a deep message today, but after I read this article it was just compelled on my heart to talk about it. I would love to do, like, an online form or support group, you know, talking more about this article and just hearing more about your experiences and your stories, so maybe let's see if we can try to get that thing hooked up. But I hope that this was enjoyable for you and you got some good clarity. In 2020, guys, we are not going to be a pet to threat for long. We are going to take the control, the power, back, and we're going to find these organizations and teams that truly value our value and want us to grow. So that's all I have for today. I hope you all have a wonderful day and weekend and week, whenever you're listening to this, and we'll be talking soon. Peace.

As you are going through and creating your marketing materials, creating your webinars and creating your offers. You can not get jealous that/if others are outselling you.  You have the best thing in the world and it is your duty to get your messages and products or services out to your audience. You can't do that by sitting on the sidelines.  ---Welcome to another episode of Sold With Webinars! It is our first episode of 2019! So Happy New Year!--- I wanted to chat with you about some things that I have been hearing on calls with current clients as well as on sales calls.  It is so important to know what our markets' fears, concerns, etc are.  One example: I spoke to a prospective client about a product he has been sitting on for a long, long, long time.  I had to keep asking "how can I help?"  He would cut me off and avoid answering the question.  Finally, when he did answer he said this: "Joel, I have this product that is a game changer... the best thing in the market place, and I am sick and tired of watching all of these other marketers outsell me...They have an inferior product... I know I have the best product in the market." Expert's Dilemma: Where we have anxiety and animosity towards others because they are outselling us and our "own" products.  We just can't get out of our own way. Which leads us to the Expert's Curse - we are too close to our product and we just can't get out of our own way.  These are the two things that will limit us!  You have the best thing in the world, and it is your duty to get your product out to your audience

This episode of the Pet Peeves Podcast brings cigar lover and host of The Herfcast, Brian J. Stessl. You can find Brian's cigar podcast on Stitcher, SoundCloud, iTunes or on his website www.theherfcast.com We talked about cigars, pets, face tattoos, shitty new music, married life, and of course stand up comedy. This is the first podcast of the year and the first since I got married on 12/22/18. So Happy New Year and Follow The Pet Peeves Podcast on IG: @petpeevespodcast Twitter: @petpeevespod Follow me on IG: @albertescobedo or on Twitter: @albertmescobedo

As the New Year starts, it's time to think about getting into it. The “it” is the Audio Tidbits Podcast. I thought it was time to change my approach to the podcast and today seemed like the perfect time to take the new path. Please listen and see what you think. I hope the new path works for you. Perhaps once we both get into it, we will wonder why I haven't been doing it that way all along. So Happy New Year and enjoy.

As the New Year starts, it's time to think about getting into it. The “it” is the Audio Tidbits Podcast. I thought it was time to change my approach to the podcast and today seemed like the perfect time to take the new path. Please listen and see what you think. I hope the new path works for you. Perhaps once we both get into it, we will wonder why I haven't been doing it that way all along. So Happy New Year and enjoy.

As the New Year starts, it's time to think about getting into it. The "it" is the Audio Tidbits Podcast. I thought it was time to change my approach to the podcast and today seemed like the perfect time to take the new path. Please listen and see what you think. I hope the new path works for you. Perhaps once we both get into it, we will wonder why I haven't been doing it that way all along. So Happy New Year and enjoy.

It's the end of 2018... and like everyone else, Erin and Mary reflect on new beginnings, growth, health, and some soul-satisfying decisions that were made in the past year. We also awaken our appreciation for our relationships... to our family, each other, and of course, our students. We get tuned-in on how these partnerships are ever-expanding our lives for the better. So thank you. Thank you for listening, subscribing to the show, and hopefully laughing along with us. We've got some ideas for next year already, but remember, if you have any show ideas, questions or stories to share, email us at homestaykitchen@gmail.com. That's also a great way to connect if you want to be on the show! We'd love to have you! So Happy New Year to you, whether you are a homestay parent or student! Here's to an adventurous, fearless, and nurturing 2019! Key Points From This Episode: We reflect on 2018. Mary's eczema #shehasntscratchedtoday Saying goodbye to students is hard… especially for kids. #hugagiraffe #weareaninternationalfamily Do you have pets? Erin doesn't. She shares the story about the time “Candy the cat” got stuck up a tree. #isshecrying Erin's family getaway to the beach in Parksville. #goatonaroofincoombs Erin's youngest daughter donated her hair and fundraised money for Wigs for Kids BC. #neverhadahaircut #itsnotwhatyouhaveitswhatyougive #wigsforkidsbc Mary was downsized from her job in radio. The reasons we launched the podcast. #storiesthatwetelleachother Mary is coming up on an anniversary. What will next year bring? Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: Wigs for Kids BC Follow Us: Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/homestaykitchen/ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/homestaykitchen/ Web – http://homestaykitchen.com/

So, here we are in a brand new year & with a brand new stash of music to kick it off. So Happy New Year to all. January '18's edition of UP! starts strong with some vocal house anthems in the form of "Revival" & "Done With Your Love". Toy Armada & DJ GRIND turn in a stunning mix of "When You Got Love" by Ron Carroll. Diana Ross' "Ain't No Mountain" has had the full remix package treatment and Joe Gauthreaux does the honours here. DrewG. turns in a killer mix of Ed Sheeran & Beyonce' on "Perfect" & Skylar Stecker's new track has a strong club mix from Alex Acosta. The set moves into some more progressive house territory & finishes with the equality track "Stronger Together" by Living Without Prejudice. Enjoy Anthony 1/ "REVIVAL" (Nivek Tek vs Keith Kemper Club Mix) - ANGE LLOYD ft. ADAM MARTIN 2/ "DONE WITH YOUR LOVE" (Cutmore G-A-Y Club Mix) - RACHAEL O'CONNOR 3/ "KNOCKING ON LOVE" (Mark Picchiotti & John Keenan Club Mix) - KAREL ULLNER ft. XO JANI 4/ "WHEN YOU GOT LOVE" (Toy Armada & DJ GRIND Pride Anthem Club Mix) - MICHAEL CANITROT ft. RON CARROLL 5/ "AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH" (Joe Gauthreaux & Leanh Remix) - DIANA ROSS 6/ "BLAZE THE DANCEFLOOR" (Deep Influence Club Mix) - JOANNA MICHELLE 7/ "BLAME" (Alex Acosta Remix) - SKYLAR STECKER 8/ "PERFECT" (DrewG. Anthem Club Mix) - ED SHEERAN ft. BEYONCE` 9/ "LOSE CONTROL" (Twisted Dee Club Mix) - APRIL DIAMOND 10/ "TO THE DANCEFLOOR" (Mike Cruz Club Mix) - DIRTY DISCO ft. CELEDA 11/ "WHAT WE REMEMBER" (Love To Infinity Club Mix) - ANGGUN 12/ "NO APOLOGY" (Leo Frappier Blue Tape Remix) - BLISS BLISS 13/ "STRONGER TOGETHER" (Matt Pop Club Mix) - LIVING WITHOUT PREJUDICE

ANDY CROWE ● BILL YATES ● NICK WALKER NICK WALKER: Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to have a conversation about what matters to you as a professional project manager.  We may talk about certification.  We share stories of success and how we can improve.  And we draw on the experience of leaders in the field. I'm your host, Nick Walker, and with me are a couple of those leaders, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And Andy, we are ringing in the New Year and, at the same time, celebrating our one-year anniversary here at Manage This. ANDY CROWE:  There's a lot to celebrate, Nick.  So Happy New Year to you. BILL YATES:  Happy Birthday, Manage This. NICK WALKER:  That's right, that's right.  And what better way to celebrate the New Year and our anniversary than to sort of step back, maybe take stock in ourselves, make some resolutions, set some goals, and talk about what makes a top-tier project manager.  And Bill, we are fortunate to have the guy who literally wrote the book on that. BILL YATES:  That's right. NICK WALKER:  Our own Andy Crowe has a book titled “Alpha Project Managers:  What the Top 2% Know That Everyone Else Does Not.”  And Bill, this book has made kind of a pretty big splash in the world of project management. BILL YATES:  It really has.  I remember our delight when we saw that, in the exposure draft for the Sixth Edition PMBOK Guide, we actually have – the book is cited; the study is cited.  And it's early on, even.  It's in Chapter 3, when they're describing the role of the project manager.  And it's very exciting to see that they're referring to the research that Andy did in the Alpha Study to describe what makes a project manager successful. ANDY CROWE:  Yeah, sometimes ideas and concepts take a little while to work and wind and wend their way into the PMBOK Guide.  And so we were really happy to see this show up, and gives it a little bit of gravitas, perhaps. BILL YATES:  Yeah.  And, you know, to add to that, I know it's been referenced many times.  I think it was two summers ago Chip and Dan Heath actually mentioned it as a must-read.  They have – they're prolific writers and well-respected authors, and I was really impressed by that. NICK WALKER:  So tell us a little bit, Andy, about the Alpha Study.  Give us an overview of how this came about. ANDY CROWE:  Well, the Alpha Study was a look at 860 project  managers.  And we looked at who the high performers were.  And the way we did that, Nick – so in order to go through this study you had to do a few things.  You had to participate in a couple of very lengthy surveys.  That was part one of what they had to do.  But then also the project managers had to provide access to at least five stakeholders.  These stakeholders were team members, senior manager, customer, and they were all current people.  So these stakeholders, these five or more stakeholders, five to eight stakeholders, would take part two of the survey, as well.  But they weren't taking it for themselves.  They were taking it for the project manager. Then what we started to look at is, okay, here's the way the PM answered questions about his or her performance.  But here's the way the stakeholders viewed that same person's performance.  And what we found was there are some interesting gaps.  And it's the gaps that make this interesting.  What everybody agrees on is only mildly interesting.  But where there's a big departure, and where they view the same thing very differently, becomes a lot more interesting. BILL YATES:  There's a book by Malcolm Gladwell, it's called “Outliers.”  And what I love is he states clearly the purpose of the book, and it relates so on point with the Alpha Study.  Gladwell says, “This book is about outliers, about men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary.  Over the course of the chapters ahead I'm going to introduce you to one kind of outli...

Normally on this segment we answer a listener’s question, but today all we want to wish you all a Happy New Year! We are so grateful for all the listeners, the guests we’ve had on the show, our Patreon contributors and all the amazing things we’ve learned from podcasting with each other. This is the first show going into our 3rd year podcasting! Thanks for taking the ride with us. We never need an excuse to take on a new challenge or make a change in our lives, but often new years seems like the perfect time to do that. So…Happy New Year!   Here are 5 tips for a healthier new year: Be forgiving to yourself. We are not giving you permission to skip every meal and eat bags of chips for lunches daily. We are just telling you to be mindful of your actions. See what you need to learn from that experience and then let it go. Holding on will only keep the negative energy flowing. Ramp up your F&V. If you are not eating 5 servings of fruits and veg a day, then aim for that number. This will keep you fighting off nasty viruses. If you are eating 5, find a few places you can add more in. I always add spinach to soups I have in the fridge. Move. It doesn’t matter if you stretch in your living room while listening to this podcast, run a mile a day or simply walk to the corner or back. Find a way to move your body daily. It does not have to be a “workout!” Count your blessing. Take a look at your situation, family and fiends. Find as many amazing things in your life and be grateful for each and everyone of them. Share your knowledge. Find at least one person and without preaching, give them some inspiration for creating healthier habits themselves. Maybe it’s a meme, or a podcast or a conversation. Either way, spread the love.   Happy New Year!   If you’re looking for some more ideas on how to ramp up your healthy lifestyle in 2017 try one of our eBooks or courses: – Get organized, save time, save money and enjoy meal time again.  – A Guide To Making It Easy and Healthy    Get an action based plan by with Adam or Shoshana    Thank you to this month’s Patrons for supporting us on : “Joe” Miriam Selick Millie Pearson Stu Dolnick               Don’t forget to contact us at  with your question for our “Hey Plant Trainers” segment!   Join our FaceBook Groups:   Do you want to create lifelong healthy eating habits for you or your family? Are you looking to help prevent heart disease, cancer and chronic diseases? Are you looking for guidance with your plant-based nutrition? We can help. If you are serious about getting results, you may be eligible for a FREE 30-minute Skype or phone consultation, where we can help you with your goals NOW. Easily book your session .    Subscribe to Adam’s Journey by clicking .   We hope you enjoyed this podcast! Please take a moment and  – we would be grateful! This will help get our podcast out to others who may enjoy it. We promise to read your reviews and consider your feedback. This show is for you. Please subscribe to The Plant Trainers Podcast on ,  or  so you will know when we release a new episode. Now also available to ! Help us by spreading the news about our totally awesome Podcast!   Click for a list of our services

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So Happy New Year everyone ! Hope we will enjoy music even more this year ! This week in the mix, the new Pryda release, Illusions and Arno Cost's rework of Daft Punk and Stardust !

So Happy New Year everyone ! Hope we will enjoy music even more this year ! This week in the mix, the new Pryda release, Illusions and Arno Cost's rework of Daft Punk and Stardust !