Podcasts about so rachel

Any level of exercise can be more challenging when you live with diabetes. When Eoin Costello was diagnosed with type 1 at age 19, he was worried that his love for fitness and sports would have to be put aside. Instead, he found a way to not only stay active but to coach other people with diabetes to do the same. Whatever level of fitness you're looking for, Eoin is all about having fun and making it work. He's also the host of The Insuleoin Podcast. Stacey appears on a recent episode talking about her parenting experience. Also this week, In Tell Me Something Good – type 1 diabetes and space force? Did we just see a big barrier – military service – come down? Link to the article here.  This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. 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 Below:  Stacey Simms  0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom help make knowledge your superpower with the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitoring system. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week exercise with type one can be a challenge. You know there are a lot of variables Eoin Costello was determined to make it work when he was diagnosed and says the key is don't expect perfection.   Eoin Costello  0:41 When I start something new, I'm probably gonna see some highs and I'm probably gonna see some lows. And I think being aware of that, first of all is very important because you're not going to be as frustrated or discouraged when you do inevitably see these highs and lows   Stacey Simms  0:57 Eoin was diagnosed as a young adult. He has his own podcast and we talk about managing different kinds of workouts, treating lows at 3am. And lots more in Tell me something good type 1 diabetes, and space force. Did we just see a big barrier US military service come down? 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. 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. I'm your host, Stacey Simms, my son was diagnosed with type one back in 2006, at the age of almost two, and he is now 16. My husband lives with type two diabetes, I don't have diabetes, I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get this podcast. I am just back from podcast movement, which is a really big podcasting conference. I've gotten to it in years past, but I haven't been in a while it was really fun to catch up just like diabetes conferences, you know, you see all your friends and you do learn stuff. And I was there in a different sort of capacity, not just learning about my own show. But I'm working a little bit with a group called sheep podcasts, which is of course, podcasting for women. And I bring all this up just to say, it was really interesting to see the difference between travel at the beginning of July, which was the first time I really went to any kind of conference or in person gathering that wasn't, you know, immediate family. And in July, we were certainly very cautious. And friends for life, the organization there did a great job at being smart about COVID and doing everything they needed to do. But the difference this time was just the attitude and the feeling because of the Delta variant. You know, it was very interesting. Many more people were masking indoors than in July, many more people were expressing concerns about traveling back and forth. And I don't bring this up to say anything other than it was an interesting observation. You all know as you listen, you know, this is a very educated audience What's going on? I don't have to tell you anything. If you follow me on social media, you might have seen that I was wearing a mask outdoors in downtown Nashville, I was kind of reluctant to go to downtown Nashville at all, but I'd never been there. And I wanted to see all the bridesmaid stuff myself. Because it is like the National Capital now in the US for bachelorette parties. And yes, it lives up to that hype. It was amazing. But I was wearing my mask outdoors. If you followed me on social you saw that. And I haven't done that before but it was crowded and a lot of young people and you know in the US the younger the less likely to be vaccinated. So we took more precautions than we know I say we then me than I normally would have also was so much fun to meet some diabetes friends just as an odd coincidence in Nashville last Wednesday. As you listen children with diabetes, the group that puts on friends for life had a very cool event with mankind, the people behind Afrezza inhaled insulin, and they sponsored a fun time at a go kart track with Conor Daly. He is an IndyCar driver who lives with type one. And he was in town because Nashville had their very first Music City Grand Prix. I will link that up. It was a very cool, very different kind of race. But Connor was very cool himself. He was super engaging with the kids. I will link up some coverage. There was a new story come up some of the local news stations came out and made some videos which was really nice. I got to meet Rachel Mayo, who is a very cool lady who lives in Nashville. And you know, we're we've connected on social media for years. She lives with type one. She works with the JDRF chapter there. And Ernie Prado who's been on the show before he works at NASA. I saw him with friends for life. And he told me if I was going to Nashville, I had to look her up. So Rachel, it was so great to meet you. And maybe next time we will get in the go karts. I don't know. It was really fun though. you know, one of the things I mentioned podcast movement, but one of the things that's really fun about going there is meeting other podcasters you know, we already have fabulous other shows in the diabetes community. There are lots of podcasts and more of them. keep popping up all All the time, I did sort of a swap with this week's guest, but we did it kind of backwards. I taped the interview you're about to hear with Eoin first. And then he interviewed me about a week later. But he has already aired the interview that he did with me. His turnaround time was quicker. So I'll put the link in the show notes to that Eoin Castillo's show is the Insuleoin podcast, it is great. Oh, and you can hear the name in the title there Eoin was diagnosed almost 10 years ago at the age of 19. And he was very active very much to sports at the time. And as you can imagine, very worried about whether he'd be able to continue. It's a bit hard to imagine now. But even 10 years ago, there wasn't the social media there was in the communication we have now in the diabetes community. I mean, it's taken off for sure. But when you think about it, 2011 was still at the very beginning. So there wasn't a lot of information out there for somebody who wants to run marathons or lift weights competitively, you know, that sort of thing. We had a great conversation about how Eoin you know, kind of found his way and he is now helping many, many other people. And he is Yes, he's from Ireland. I think his accent is much nicer than my my New York accent which occasionally comes out I know you hear it here and there. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen. Our endo always told us that if you use insulin, you need to have emergency glucagon on hand as well. Low blood sugars are one thing we're usually able to treat those with fast acting glucose tabs or juice but a very low blood sugar can be frightening. Which is why I'm so glad there's a different option for emergency glucagon it is Gvoke Hypopen. Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle. You pull off the red cap and push the yellow end on to bare skin and hold it for five seconds. That's it. Find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with via chromosoma or insulinoma. Visit Gvoke glucagon comm slash risk.   Eoin Welcome to the show. It's great to talk to you today.   Eoin Costello  6:59 Thank you, Stacey. Thanks for having me on. I'm actually a longtime listener of the podcast. I was a pleasure. So I appreciate it.   Stacey Simms  7:05 Thank you so much. I was just about to say I really enjoy your podcast. It's kind of funny talking to a fellow podcaster. This will be nice.   Eoin Costello  7:14 Absolutely. At least we were both used to speaking on a mic.   Stacey Simms  7:17 Oh, we see now you set it up. Now we have to like up the game. We really have to be good today. I want to talk about your show and what led you there. But let's just start at your story's beginning. You were diagnosed with type one at at 19. What's going on in your life during that time?   Eoin Costello  7:35 Yeah, so I was kind of transitioning from high school, we just call it regular school in Ireland into college. So I had done a year of like a portfolio course I was actually going to art college for animation. It was around Christmas time. And I had noticed some differences in terms of how I was feeling. Obviously, I was very tired. I had lost about a stone and a half in the space of a month. I was really thirsty all the time. I just didn't have any energy. And I suppose because I was 19. And I was kind of into fitness and train and and keep myself healthy. I had this I had this naive attitude of I'm 19 I'm invincible. How could there be anything wrong with me, therefore, I'll just brush it off to the side. And it was around Christmas time and and in Ireland, we like to go to bars, we like to have a good time around that. Obviously, in France, I was having a few drinks. And if I was tired during the day, I would say it's only because I was out last night or if I was thirsty. It's because I've had a few drinks the previous night. And it wasn't until my parents were kind of quietly concerned. What they had mentioned that I should probably go dEoin to the GP get a blood test and just to see if everything's okay. And I reluctantly agreed because I was kind of saying, Look, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me. But I I gave in, because I just wanted to keep my parents happy.   Stacey Simms  8:59 Let me just interrupt you real quick. Just to translate over here. A stone is 14 pounds. So you lost 21 pounds.   Eoin Costello  9:06 Yeah, it flew off me. Right? Yeah. And in a very, very short space of time was about a month, a month and a half. But the thing about it was because you kind of see yourself every day, I didn't notice it as much. And it wasn't until I'd seen a friend who I hadn't seen and maybe six months or so I just bumped into her in the street. And she said to me, You look really different. And I said how would you mean and she goes I don't know you just look different. And she she kind of blurted it out and was embarrassed nearly but from saying it, but it was obviously because I had lost so much weight in such a short space of time. So basically I went down to the GP got a blood test. And a couple days later I got a phone call saying this is all I said it is blood test come back. You have type 1 diabetes, you need to go to the hospital right now. And I went in and my bloods were like six 40 640 so very high. And then that led me to my new life.   Stacey Simms  10:05 Was there any confusion about which type it was? Because sometimes, as a young adult, they don't go type one initially,   Eoin Costello  10:11 no, straightaway, they they had told me it was type one. But I had barely even heard the word diabetes before. I obviously knew that it was a condition that people lived with. But I had no idea of the complexities of it, or just the, the detail that you have to now live your life by. But no, there was no confusion. It was type one straightaway.   Stacey Simms  10:31 And while I'm sure your parents were supportive, but very worried, I heard your brothers gave you an interesting well, while you were in the hospital, is that true?   Eoin Costello  10:40 Yeah, it is true. So I was I was in hospital. I think I stayed there for about three nights while I was on an IV and obviously getting the crash course and diabetes management. And my family, in a good way have a dark sense of humor. We're nice people we like to think what around difficult times like that sometimes it can be nice to try and keep things light hearted. So my two brothers got a cough my brother and or my my dad. And we're obviously informed that Eoin has been diagnosed type 1 diabetes is in hospital. And on their way to the hospital. They picked up bottles of CO sweet jellies, these kinds of things to bring in as a joke. It kind of sounds weird. If you don't if you don't know. It came, it came from a good place.   Stacey Simms  11:30 That's funny. Yeah, I think sometimes dark humor has its place for sure if you know it's coming with love. That's really funny. Exactly, of course. So you're already very involved, as you said in fitness. I assume you played sports all growing up. What were you thinking at the time about what was to come next?   Eoin Costello  11:47 Yeah, there was a lot racing through my mind, obviously. But one of the big things that stood out to me and one of my main concerns was, can I continue to play sport, can I continue to be active, and for my whole life, I, I played a lot of different sports. But at the time, I was playing football, or I was playing soccer at a very high level. And I wanted to continue doing that. And because I didn't know anything about diabetes, I had almost automatically assumed that this would prevent me from being as active or playing sport. So it was obviously a big adjustment in terms of how to manage blood sugar around exercises, as we all know. But as time went on, I kind of quickly realized that look, you can of course, still play sport, you can be active, as long as you're still prioritizing your diabetes health. But the first while I was I was very concerned.   Stacey Simms  12:41 It's interesting, when you were diagnosed, you know, almost 10 years ago. Now, this is a time before a lot of social media. I mean, it's kind of just starting. But I guess what I'm asking is, you have a huge Instagram following, and other social media following and you post advice, and you talk very openly about how to do what you do with type 1 diabetes, I've got to assume that wasn't available for you. When you were diagnosed? How did you figure it out? How did you know what to do?   Eoin Costello  13:07 Very, very good question. It reminds me of when I kind of first got back to college. Because when I was in class, obviously, I had just been recently diagnosed. And as you say, Stacy, there was no social media, there wasn't really any, any sort of community based support groups that I could kind of connect with online and learn from other diabetics. And as we know, it can be very isolating to live with diabetes, because it's sometimes are consuming in your life. So at times, I was thinking I only person in the world left with this thing. And obviously I wasn't, but sometimes you can feel like that because it is so just on your mind all the time I was in college, I remember, some days, I was supposed to be doing work, but I might be behind the computer or laptop, just researching diabetes, because I became obsessed with in a really good way. Because I knew that. Okay, this is a very, very serious condition. It's something that is out of my control. Now I have it, there's nothing I could have done to bring it on. There's nothing I could have done to prevent us. But it's in my best interest now to know as much as possible. And for any diabetic out there, the more that we know, inevitably the easier things can be. I kind of just became obsessed with obsessed with trying to understand how different exercise would affect me how stress would affect me how lack of sleep would affect me, how hydration, different foods, these kinds of things. And it was it was almost like a guilty pleasure. I was just constantly constantly looking at open research and   Stacey Simms  14:42 we're going to talk about what works and I'd love to get some advice for everybody from you know, the very casual athlete to somebody who's really, really more involved in fitness. But I got to ask, did you have any mishaps in the beginning? Did you try anything that you said that's not going to work?   All right back to Eoin answering that question. But first bottom line, you need a plan of action with diabetes. We've been lucky that Benny's endo has helped us a lot with that and that he understands the plan has to change. It's been he gets older, you want that kind of support. So take your diabetes management to the next level with Dario health. Their published Studies demonstrate high impact results for active users like improved in rage percentage within three months reduction of a win see within three months and a 58% decrease in occurrences of severe hypoglycemic events, try Dario's diabetes success plan and make a difference in your diabetes management. Go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections for more proven results and for information about the plan. Now back to Eoin answering my question about whether he's tried something in his workout or his diet routine that just didn't work.   Eoin Costello  15:59 Thankfully, I didn't have anything dramatic. Thankfully, I highlight. But yeah, of course, there's so much trial and error with diabetes and from throughout throughout the last 10 years, I have just had thousands of highs, maybe not 1000s of lows, hopefully keep them keep them less. But the more that I tried different things, the more that I tried to get out there the more exercise that I did on a test and different foods with different amount of amounts of insulin. There's just so much trial and error. But hopefully, I didn't have anything like decay or I wasn't kind of rushed into hospital board. Well, fingers crossed. Yeah, let's keep let's keep it. So it was more so just the highs and lows as they call them rather than anything too serious. Thankfully,   Stacey Simms  16:47 well, and I'll be I'll be clear on I was thinking more like you ate a banana before a workout. And it was not the right idea or wasn't so much like DK. Okay, I'm not too worried about, you know, that kind of mistake. I was just thinking about something smaller. But that's up to you.   Eoin Costello  17:03 Yeah, of course, there's times where I remember when I, I think it was been a few weeks after I was diagnosed and I was kind of getting back into the gym. But I was also kind of coming into a honeymoon phase quite quickly after I was diagnosed. And I was taught and I was learning to carb count for one unit of insulin for 10 grams carbohydrates. And I remember, I finished the workout in the gym, I went down to the changing room to get changed up shower, and I had a banana. I weighed out the banana. It totaled 50 grams of carbs. So I thought, Okay, perfect. I've waited out I've done everything I'm supposed to do. I took five units of insulin and ate a banana. But I hadn't fully realized the impact of a potential honeymoon phase. So I quite quickly plummeted. And I now have to get two liters orange juice in quite quickly. But I'm just mistakes like that. Just where you think you're on the right track with an insulin dose of carb count or something as diabetes does. It sometimes surprises you?   Stacey Simms  18:06 No doubt. I hate bananas. That's funny. That's why I gave that as an example. I'm not surprised that you had an incident with a banana. No, no, don't. Not one of my favorites. What kind of technology do you use? Do you use a CGM? Do you use an insulin pump?   Eoin Costello  18:24 So I've always used MDI, my mom, Nova rapid and Lantus. But only this year, I've got a Dexcom G6. And as you can imagine, that's completely opened up my eyes to a 24 hour period with my blood sugar rather than just that snapshot in time with a finger prick.   Stacey Simms  18:41 What motivated you What led you to start using a CGM,   Eoin Costello  18:45 it was more so they had become available in Ireland. So thankfully, in Ireland, we are with something called the long term illness scheme. So if you're diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in Ireland, all of your supplies are covered, which is unbelievable. But only recently they had included the Dexcom G6, so it was actually only offered to me almost a year to today. It's been a game changer. It's just and particularly with exercise, it gives you so much more freedoms or much more confidence when you are to go to the gym or you are to go for a run or whatever it might be. It's so   Stacey Simms  19:19 interesting with exercise because my son who lives with type one has played lots of different sports. And it's always amazing to see those rises in blood sugar that comes not from food, but from exercise and the different types of exercise you have to learn what to leave alone with treat for. Did any of that take you by surprise? Did you see those? I call them adrenaline highs?   Eoin Costello  19:43 Absolutely. Yeah, I suppose what really surprises me and still to the day What surprised me so much is the drastic difference between and this is obviously from my own experience, the drastic difference between heavy weight training and something like a rant So to give you an example, if I was to actually, only this morning, I was in the gym, and I was doing relatively heavy squats. And when I work with heavier weights, my blood sugar skyrockets. So I've now gotten to the stage where more often than not, I will have to pre bolus for a heavy leg workout, because I'm anticipating that big spike. Whereas if I'm to go for a run, I'll know that after, say, 2030 minutes, my blood sugar's are inclined to trend lower. So ideally, I always try and go for a run with little to no insulin on board. That's why I like to run first thing in the morning. And then we're training in terms of weights, depending on what it is. I'm training. Like, if I'm doing heavy squats, I may need to pre bolus as if I'm having a meal, which is strange.   Stacey Simms  20:52 Yeah, yeah. But you have to figure all that out. I mean, it's it's incredible. And I always feel like just when we have one sport figured out, he decides to change. keep you guessing, right. You can't quit baseball. We figured it out. Now. He's done baseball, and basketball, football, a little bit of lacrosse, and now he's really enjoying wrestling. So I think wrestling is going to take us through high school, we are still figuring it out. Because it is you know, practice is super intense with lots of cardio and then sometimes wait on alternate days. And then the meats are just a lot of standing around and then these bursts of energy. So you know, it's   Eoin Costello  21:27 what would Benny's blood sugar? How would it react if he was saved on an intense wrestling session?   Stacey Simms  21:34 Well, the practices are to the point where we have the example, the very first wrestling practice he ever went to he ate 85 uncovered carbs during the two hours, he just liked having to stop No way. It was real. It was unreal. He was he's an active kid. But at the time, this is two and a half years ago. Now. He wasn't as fit as he is. Now to be quite honest with you, he had taken himself on as kind of a project and between eighth grade, and now he's about to be a junior. So two and a half, three years, he's really transformed his body. He's gotten a lot more fit. He's lost weight, he's muscled up. It's been it's been fun to watch, and kind of inspiring as the mom who just like walks the dog and works out a couple times a week. But he's really done well. So that first practice, though, was amazing. So we knew we had to make some changes. So we you know, we adjusted insulin. And as he exercised and became more sensitive, right, he responded better to the insulin, we were able to make a lot of adjustments. So if we knew it was a heavy cardio day, he would change his basal rates going in, in having control like you with Tandem has kind of changed that. But still, if it was a heavier weight day, he actually he kind of wait, no pun intended, he waits out the high, he doesn't like to dose for it too much because he will drop. And then during a meet, he just tried to kind of ride it. But he's 16 on. So sometimes that means ignoring it. To be quite honest with you, I can imagine and just getting through. So as his mom, I'm like, you know, if you just gave yourself a little bit you could He's like, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. And it's fine. He's doing very well. He's very healthy. Our endocrinologist is pleased. So I can't really criticize him. But I but I'd like to   Eoin Costello  23:23 as mother's ward. Well, I'm sure look, he's he's in fantastic hands, obviously. But it's it's amazing to hear that he has stayed so active. And as you say he changed his body and seeing the difference with even the insulin requirements. Oh, yeah. Amazing.   Stacey Simms  23:37 Yeah, it's been great. So let me get I don't want to talk all let us let me get back to you. Sorry. When you talk to people about diabetes and fitness, and let's be honest, you are you know, fitness seems to be kind of your job. This is something that you are really passionate about. I'll share some videos and some photos if you haven't seen Eoin he's he? Are you a model? You're a fitness model in some ways, right? Terrible question. You're   Eoin Costello  24:03 gonna laugh at regression? Well, yeah, I'm with a model agency in Dublin, but it's not my my full time job.   Stacey Simms  24:09 Okay, so you can imagine how fit he is to have that as even a part time job. So let's start though by talking about people who are moderately active with diabetes, right? They may not they may not expect to be on the cover of, you know, a Fitness magazine, but they want to get in better shape. What kind of advice do you have for somebody who is worried about going low? Or is hearing us talk about these highs and isn't quite sure what to do? Where do you start?   Eoin Costello  24:35 Yeah, absolutely. Good question. And it's, it's something that I always touch on too. I make it quite clear that because I am so into fitness, I would never expect anybody to, you know, go to the gym five or six days a week and go out for runs multiple times a week. It's what I do with what I love. It's not for everybody else. But it's important that as a diabetic, we have some sort of activity in our life. Whether that be Going for a short walk a day, whether that be playing tennis, whether it be going for a swim, anything that you enjoy is the first piece of advice. It's important that if you want to exercise or if you're trying to introduce a new sort of regime or routine into your into your life, it's important that you enjoy it. Because if you do, you're a lot more inclined to continue to do and continue to see the benefits from it. So if somebody is concerned about the highs that I was speaking about, or the lows that I mentioned, what Ron's there is so much trial and error. And it's important that people always remind themselves of when I'm starting something new. And this can be with any aspect of your life. But particularly with diabetes, when I start something new, I'm probably gonna see some highs, and I'm probably gonna see some lows. And I think being aware of that, first of all, is very important, because you're not going to be as frustrated or discouraged when you do inevitably see these highs and lows. But if I was to offer somebody advice, who is trying to start walking or trying to start, say, even a light jog a couple times a week, the first thing is always be prepared for a high or low blood sugar, particularly low blood sugar, because the impacts of a low can obviously affect you quite quickly. So the first thing is always have your low treatment and start small, you don't need to aim to run a marathon quite quickly, you can think, Okay, I'm going to start this week, walk around the block, see how my blood sugar react, I might do to walk around the block, see how my blood sugar reacts to that. So instead of that kind of all or nothing mentality, you really need to ease your way into it. Because when you ease your way into things, you can steadily see any patterns or trends which approach, it might not be the best idea for somebody to say, Okay, I haven't gone to the gym ever before, but I want to start going, therefore, I'm gonna go to the gym six days a week, yeah, it's gonna be very, very, very difficult to understand how your body and how your blood sugar reacts to that. It could be I'm gonna go to the gym one day a week, and I'm gonna see what my blood sugar's like before, I'm gonna see what my blood sugar is like, during, and after. And if you're aware of the trends and patterns, like I said, with your blood sugar, it gives you more confidence over time. And the more confidence you have with your blood sugar, the easier it is to continue to do more.   Stacey Simms  27:27 And then for the people who want to do more, because we have quite a few people who listen to this show who are very much dedicated to fitness activity, athletics, you know, for those high achievers, any tips to kind of stay at that high level or get there,   Eoin Costello  27:43 I think a lot of that would depend on what that specific person's goal is. But if it is, say, to change your body composition, for example, and you really enjoy going to the gym, you like lifting weights, you can see your body changing over time, and you want to continue doing that, because it's it's what you love. Again, it's about enjoying it. But the priority will always be your blood. And I think no matter who you are what you do in terms of your exercise, whether it be intense, or just kind of casual each day, the priority is always blood sugar. Always, always always, for me anyway, that's how I feel about. And I think if you have a good understanding of how you're reacting to these certain things, then again, it gives you the confidence to push further and further and further and further, if that's what you want to do. So, to give another example from from my own experience, since the lockdown in Ireland, the gyms high close now, they're opened back up, thanks, thankfully. But when the gyms closed, I got big into running. And the first few rounds that I went on, it was again, a lot of trial and error, I would see a few lows, I would see my bloods dropping at a certain distance or a certain time. But the more I did it, the more my confidence grew. And then the more you do, you can kind of see yourself setting yourself goals. So I did a running challenge, which was 48 miles over 48 hours. So you'd you'd run for miles, every Yeah. So it was four miles, every four hours for 48 hours. And before I started running, I was thinking arc like could I could I do that, like with my butcher we get in the way is that realistic foot The more that you do, you can kind of see yourself getting closer and closer and closer and closer to doing these things. So if there is somebody who, as you say Stacey is a high achiever, or really enjoys their training, if you have that goal that you want to work towards, you can tweak your training or, or even tweak your diabetes management towards that, if that makes sense.   Stacey Simms  29:50 Yeah, I'm curious though you said you know the blood sugar is your top priority. What do you mean by that? Do you mean staying in range just knowing where it is? You know? When you say your blood sugar is the most important part of your workout, can you just talk a little bit about what you mean by that?   Eoin Costello  30:05 Yeah, of course. So I mean, not even specifically with training just in general, I always went out obsessing about it too much, I always like to prioritize my diabetes health. And for me, that is trying to keep my time and range in range as much as possible. Because I know that if I'm fluctuating high and low, and my time and range isn't where I would like it to be, that can almost immediately affect my quality of life for that for that day. Because I know that my clothes are up and down, not gonna feel the best and gonna feel as if I'm on the backfoot to my blood sugar kind of chasing them. So I always like to be as prepared as possible, so that I can almost look ahead those 2345 hours into a time where I'm working out to see, okay, I've eaten I've eaten this meal, I've taken this insulin. How can I expect that to react when I say I prioritize as I prioritize it, because I know that I won't be in the best form or I won't be able to train as much as I would like, if I'm having difficulties with my blood sugar.   Stacey Simms  31:12 What do you like to use to treat Lowe's Do you have a go to   Eoin Costello  31:16 when I'm disciplined with Lowe's, my go twos are these lift glucose drinks, or else dextrose tablets was easier said than done. When you when you're not having low blood sugar, but it's a whole different story, when you're waking up at 3am with a low blood sugar. And if I wake up at 3am, with a low blood sugar, the kitchen is just raided. And it's I always say I'm like a bear going into a picnic sometimes just can't be stopped.   Stacey Simms  31:44 Let's you know, it's nice to know you're human. I mean, that's that that takes a lot of discipline to just go for the tabs.   Eoin Costello  31:51 It depends on how low I am. If I'm dipping just underneath the time and range, it's easy enough just to stick to the glucose. But if I know I'm going lower, it's game over in terms of the treatment. And I know that then I'm going to inevitably see that kind of rebound. Hi, yeah,   Stacey Simms  32:09 do you have any foods that you really like to indulge in every once in a while   Eoin Costello  32:15 there is chips or crisps? We call them over here. And they're like, we thought they're beautiful things really crunchy. You're making me think about them. They're just these really crunchy salt and vinegar chips, as you call them. And they do these massive bags in Ireland. So I always have a few of them in the house. Just I probably eat them too often. Maybe that's why I train so much.   Stacey Simms  32:42 You know, I did want to ask you about your podcast. I'm curious. You know, I mean, I was in broadcasting. I know why I started my show, gosh, many moons ago. Why did you start your podcast? How did that come about?   Eoin Costello  32:55 I had never planned on us to be honest. And I think when I initially set up an Instagram page two, as you said earlier, Stacey to kind of help give people advice that I might be able to offer or what just experiences from my own life, it was almost like a snowball effect where the more that I shared, I felt as if the more I had to say. And then it almost came from a sort of selfish standpoint because I really wanted to interview other diabetics. And like throughout the past 10 ish years, I've always learned more from other diabetics than I have anybody else. So I felt that having a podcast gave me an opportunity to speak to as many diabetics as I could and to hear from their experiences. So it was to get other people on to share their experiences. And some of the guests that I've had on have been amazing. And I know you're going to be on shortly, which I can't wait for, for as well. I call this the insulin podcast redefining diabetes. I call it that because, well, for two reasons. Number one is I feel that diabetes is so globally well known. Everybody knows that it exists. But it's so widely unknown, and people don't truly understand the the intricacies that you're just a normal day entails. So I call that redefining diabetes, because I want to hopefully redefine what society see diabetes as and also, more importantly, what a diabetic sees that IBS is, it's really important for me that any diabetic out there realizes that look, it's not an ideal situation to be in as we know, it's a difficult condition to live with. What if we can learn to redefine that in our own head and kind of scratch on the surface to see what positives can we take from this, it doesn't have to just be a negative impact on our life. There can be positives from it, and I feel from sharing some of my own experiences and more, I suppose particularly more with the guests. It helps get that point Cross I've had people who've climbed Mount Everest ran across Canada, Chris Rutan, who was a motivational speaker who has obviously been on your podcast too. And I just think it can offer a lot of people value as your podcast those you've, you've been going for years now. And I know there's obviously 1000s of people that get such a massive benefit from this. So I'm hoping that they do too from my podcast.   Stacey Simms  35:23 I'm sure they do. It's a great show. But before I let you go, I'm curious, you know, you want to redefine diabetes. So if you look back at Oakland, 10 years ago, right, in the hospital, your brothers are bringing you soda and candy. And, you know, giving you a hard time, would you say that, at least to yourself, the definition of diabetes that you got that day, that in these 10 years? Since that you, you've redefined that for you?   Eoin Costello  35:51 I would like to think so. Yeah, I think if I was to put myself back in that hospital bed that was that 10 years ago, and to see how far I've come even just in terms of my own management and how I view my own diabetes? Yeah, I think I've redefined it for myself, which I'm proud of, I have to say,   Stacey Simms  36:09 yeah, you shouldn't be It's okay. That's great. Eointhank you so much for joining me, it was a pleasure to talk to you. I'm looking forward to talking to you for your show. I'm always it's a little weird to flip the microphone around and be interviewed. But I'll try to behave myself. Thanks. Great. Thanks so much for joining me today.   Eoin Costello  36:27 Thanks, Stacey. I can I just quickly say, I just want to thank anybody who's listening. I know that anyone who listens to the podcast is obviously looking for value. And I know that your time is an important asset. So I hope you've been able to get something from this episode. And Stacey, I'd like to thank you because this podcast for me personally has has brought me a lot of value. And it's offering people 1000s of people out there huge support and reassurance around their diabetes. So from a type one diabetic. Thank you, and I appreciate you.   Announcer  37:03 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  37:08 For more information about Eoin in my show notes, you can always find out everything at Diabetes, Connections comm if you're listening in the podcast player, it may be a little difficult to see everything. Some of them don't support the links or the transcript I put in you can always come on home to Diabetes connections.com I so appreciate talking to Eoin. It was so kind of him to say what he said there at the end. I never know what to say. But what a nice comment. And I really do appreciate that I do highly recommend his podcast, the insuleion podcast. It's a lot of fun. He's so engaging, as you heard, and it really is terrific. Please check it out. Up next, we're gonna talk about space force. Did you hear about this guy with type one made it in? What does that mean for military service in the US? We'll talk about it. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. Dexcom has a diabetes management software called clarity. Do you use this because for a very long time, longer than I'd like to admit, I thought it was just something our endo could see. But it's really helpful. Now I have it on my phone, you can use it on both a desktop or as an app. And it's an easy way to keep track of the big picture. I find I use it a lot when we're adjusting things you know, which felt for a long time like it was non stop at age 16. Any kind of seems to be leveling out on growth and basil rates, at least for now. But clarity really helps us see longer term trends and helps us not you know over react, the overlay reports help put context his glucose levels and patterns. And when you share the reports with your care team, it's easy for them to get a great idea of what's going on and then they can better help. managing diabetes is not easy. But I feel like we have one of the very best CGM systems working for us find out more Diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo. And an article from Stars and Stripes was making the rounds. This is a military publication. And you may have seen this really interesting. Tanner Johnson was due to graduate from the US Air Force Academy in Colorado. When he was diagnosed with type one. They allowed him to return but they referred him for counseling and they told him this is going to be the end of your military career. But he told the counselor, I want to stay in what if we could demonstrate that I could do it. He was able to get in front of the academy superintendent and talk to him. And apparently that personal meeting made a big difference because the 10 General Richard Clarke reportedly went to bat for Johnson. There's not a lot of detail in the article about the process here. But Johnson was allowed to graduate in 2021 and he was accepted into the space force. If you are not familiar. This is I don't blame you because it's very, very, very new. Us space force is the sixth independent US military service branch. Of course it is tasked with missions and operations. In the space domain, it was signed into law at the end of 2019. And honestly, I know a lot of people think that this is something that former President Donald Trump just kind of made up and put into existence. But the idea has been around since the 50s. And it was seriously considered in the early 80s by Reagan. So I only say that to say, this is part of the US military. I saw a couple of Facebook comments about Tanner Johnson questioning whether this was really a military service assignment for somebody with type 1 diabetes, I believe it is, is it combat? Ready, right? Because Can you be deployed when you have type 1 diabetes is still the question. And that certainly doesn't seem to be something that is being planned for with space for so I obviously have a lot of questions, as I'm sure you all do, as well. So I reached out to the reporter who wrote the story and said, you know, can you connect us I'd really like to talk to Tanner, and she reached back immediately. It was fabulous. I was so grateful for that. Thank you, Karen. And she said, I will ask him, I will reach out but he just started training with space force. And he will need authorization from leadership to talk to you she said quote, they tend to say no. So we'll see what happens. If you know, Tanner Johnson, or you could get me an interview with him. Please reach out. Let me know how to be connected. Because I have a lot of questions as I know you do, too. But what an inspirational story, what a big first step for the US military. We've talked to other people who have been diagnosed while they are already in the military, and they've been able to stay active. But I don't know anybody who was diagnosed during training, who was able to stay in. So we'll keep following this one. But I'm putting this under Tell me something good because man, that's the last big barrier. We've got, you know, airline pilots in last couple of years can be type one now. Military service is the one that we still, you know, after that it'll be astronaut. So I think it's fantastic.  If you have a Tell me something good story, please reach out Stacey at Diabetes connections.com or post in our Facebook group. I ask there periodically. I love sharing good news. Okay, before I let you go, just a reminder, join me on Wednesday, every Wednesday on Facebook Live. I do a very quick five to six minute newscast give you the headlines in diabetes of the last week all types of diabetes, not just type one. And then I turn that around. We make it a podcast episode on Fridays. But if you want to watch that Facebook Live, then it's on YouTube. And I you know I put it all out on social this week. If you're listening as this episode goes live on August 10, the Facebook Live is going to be earlier. I'm still actually making my schedule because Wednesday just is some kind of bananas day. And I have to do the newscast earlier. So watch the Facebook space. It'll probably be three o'clock in the afternoon 330 something like that. It's usually 430 and I am getting a great response. So I'm so glad you all seem to enjoy it. Thank you very much. If you have news tips, send them my way too. And that's it. Thank you so much 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 in just a couple of days until then, be kind to yourself.   Benny  43:11 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged

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  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf 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 rubbercheese.com/podcastIf 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 in this episode.Competition ends August  27th 2021. The winner will be contacted via Twitter.Show references:www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehengewww.linkedin.com/in/james-rodliff-89224055 James RodliffJames is currently the Operations Manager at Stonehenge, Europe’s most famous prehistoric monument and one of the UK's busiest visitor attractions. He is responsible for overseeing the day to day running of the large site, leading the operations, admissions, volunteering and education teams in delivering a world class visitor experience. He is also involved with English Heritage's brand and training groups. At the end of 2020 James was one of eight individuals chosen as the UK’s ‘unsung heritage champions’, a Heritage Lottery Fund initiative honouring remarkable individuals who have worked tirelessly to keep the UK’s heritage accessible during the pandemic and beyond.Growing up in Cornwall James held a number of roles in tourism and heritage before going to Cardiff where he completed his post-graduate studies in Archaeology. He then spent two years at Lloyds Banking Group where he thrived in training and improving customer service. In 2012 James landed a dream role working for the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth; here he commenced a seven year journey through the installation, launch, relaunch, and rebranding of the multi-award winning Mary Rose Museum.  James loves the great outdoors and, when not at work, can often be found hiking, biking, or jogging the length and breadth of the country (Covid travel rules allowing), often visiting attractions and heritage sites en-route. Transcription:Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue. A podcast for people working in, or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. These chats are fun, informative, and hopefully always interesting. In today's episode I speak with James Rodliff, Operations Manager at Stonehenge, part of English Heritage. We discuss the challenges and positives to come from a changing audience this year. From international to domestic, and how Stonehenge will maintain a blend of physical and virtual events for the future.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Right James, thank you so much for coming onto the podcast today. I'm super-excited to have you on. I feel like we've spoken a lot on social media, but we've never properly had a chat, so this is going to be fun.James Rodliff: I'm really excited. Thanks for inviting me on. I'm a big fan, so I've made it. I've made it onto Skip the Queue, this is amazing.Kelly Molson: I love this. This is like the highlight of my day that people are excited about coming on here. Thank you. Right, well as you know, if you are a big fan, we always start with our icebreaker question. So let's get going. I would like to know what is the greatest, either TV show or film from your childhood?James Rodliff: Ah, lots of options. I'm going to have to go to Goonies, straight up. The Goonies. It just ticks every box, it's amazing. For me, I was really interested in the history and the maps, I'm a nerd, but them finding this treasure. I was also really worried that the treasure got destroyed at the end, you know? I'm the same when I watch Indiana Jones, I love Indiana Jones, but at the same time I'm panicking when they're destroying the temples or this precious or archaeology's being lost. But yeah, no The Goonies is just fantastic.Kelly Molson: Great, great choice. I am a child of the '80s, and those films are a comfort to me. Whenever I'm a bit under the weather, and I have a little diva day, it's always an '80s film that goes on. Something that you've watched a billion times that's just really comforting. That is definitely one for me. Next question, would you rather give up social media, or eat the same dinner for the rest of your life?James Rodliff: That is mean. I love social media. A lot of my friends live all around the world, and it's part of the way how we all work nowadays, and stay in touch with each other. I don't know if you can tell from my physique, I love my food. I could not eat the same ... There are some things I could eat a lot, but I couldn't eat the same meal over and over again. I would ditch the social media, and probably be a healthier person, probably, for it, in the long run. But yes, I would have to go for that.Kelly Molson: What's your favourite meal? If you had to eat the same meal every night, what would it be?James Rodliff: That's so hard, maybe a glorious green Thai curry would probably be the absolute top for me. Yeah, absolutely adore Thai food. I was lucky enough to go out there a few years ago, and the place was amazing, the people were amazing, but the food, oh my god, the food.Kelly Molson: Yeah, lovely. That is a really good choice. It would get a bit boring if it was the same every day though, wouldn't it?James Rodliff: Mm-hmm (affirmative).Kelly Molson: You just, repetitive.James Rodliff: Lose the magic.Kelly Molson: Okay, I might have had a little bit of help with the next question.James Rodliff: Uh-oh.Kelly Molson: You'll probably know who when I ask you. What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you at an airport?James Rodliff: Oh no. Yeah, I might know who would be behind this one. So calamity seems to follow me, Kelly, around my life. On one particular time ... So this was the young Paul Griffiths, no doubt, that's helped you here. Where were we going? We were coming back from Norway, I think. We got some funding to go out, we were putting together some work when we worked at the Mary Rose together. We were flying up to Norway, and for some reason when I went through the scanny machine thingy that scans ... They do like the heat temperature and the metal detector, for some reason, can't tell you why, but my lower regions glowed a glorious, radiant orange.James Rodliff: They pulled me in to get proper strip searched by these big Norwegian chaps. Yeah, it was quite the experience. Then, after it was all done and I put my clothes back on and was walking away, realized I'd left my iPad. I had to go back and speak to them again, and say, "I'm so sorry."Kelly Molson: Oh, the horror.James Rodliff: I know, I think they thought I was coming back to get their number, or something. Yeah, that was a moment.Kelly Molson: Wow, that is unexpected, isn't it? You're really not expecting that to happen.James Rodliff: Yeah, thanks Paul for that. Yeah.Kelly Molson: Thank you, Paul. I'm so glad that I asked you. Okay, thank you for answering all those. What's your unpopular opinion?James Rodliff: So this is going to lose me a lot of fans straight off the bat. I think people are going to turn off straight away, but I don't really like Abba. Like I really don't like Abba. I know. I know, right? So everyone's got a band or an artist that they just don't get on with, that's kind of just ... Yeah. For me, it's Abba, and this has landed me in all sorts of bother throughout my life. One time when we were, again, in Scandinavia, in Sweden, and we worked with the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. Beautiful museum with a ship. A little bit newer, but more intact than the Mary Rose, an absolutely gorgeous museum. We were being hosted out there whilst we worked, again, on some projects.James Rodliff: They said, "Ah, the Abba Museum's just opened down the road, we should take you." I had to explain that I didn't really like Abba. Honestly, explain to Swedish people you don't like Abba. Their faces. They just couldn't comprehend it. They just could not understand it. But we went anyway. It must have been ... Yes, it was the trip that we took some of our volunteers from the Mary Rose with us. We all went into the Abba Museum, and it's a fabulous museum, they've done an amazing job, but the subject matter was ... I just really, really don't like it. So that was interesting. But fabulous attraction if you're ever in Stockholm you should go and see it, whether you're an Abba fan or not.Kelly Molson: I feel like you're trying to dig yourself out of a big hole there, James. I would just like to state that the views of our guests do not reflect the views of our podcast. [inaudible 00:06:35] tune in. Thank you. I feel like we're going to get some tweets about that.James Rodliff: I'm going to get some hate mail about that.Kelly Molson: Maybe.James Rodliff: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Right, let's get into having a chat about you and Stonehenge because this is exciting. I just want to say that we are recording this, so it's the 5th of March today, which is a day that parents all around the country will be rejoicing, because it is the end of homeschooling, hopefully, for now. Let's keep our fingers crossed.James Rodliff: Hopefully.Kelly Molson: But it is also St Piran's Day.James Rodliff: It is St Piran's Day, yeah.Kelly Molson: It's the national day of Cornwall. We just had a lovely chat about this off air, but I think this is really special for you, isn't it, because this is where you're from?James Rodliff: Absolutely. Yeah, so I was born and raised in Cornwall, and kind of strong Cornish identity. Well, everyone, I think, who was born and grows up there, has it? It's a very special place, and it has very much its own character and history and legends and stories. Actually growing up there had a massive impact on me because it's a very, very touristy economic environment down there anyway. So that was always a big part of living down there, but also surrounded by these amazing standing stones, and ruins and hill forts on windswept moors. There's just this kind of sense of magic and mystery down there.James Rodliff: There's lots of these kinds of special high days and holidays, usually involving food, a fair few drinks, and a bit of dancing, and all sorts of good times. But yeah, that had a really big impact on me growing up. This huge sense of storytelling in Cornwall as well. My friend's laughing because I don't seem to be able to answer a question in a short way, there's always a story, a rambling story to my answers. But I think that's partly growing up in Cornwall, and just the way we explain things and weave things. I think that's had a really big impact on my later career as well.Kelly Molson: Yeah, well this segue ways really nicely into what your background is, and how you got to where you are now. Because you mentioned growing up in Cornwall you were really kind of part of that tourist economy, and experiences that were happening there. Was that the start of it? You always knew that you would kind of work within that industry?James Rodliff: I think so. I mean it's just what I did. It was a few jobs a few decades back now working in busy pub kitchens, or working in summer retail environments. That's what all of us, all my friends did the same. Working on the beaches in shops, or whatever. Or I was working in the caravan park during one summer. That's just what the economy was. Alongside this, like I said, being surrounded by kind of the history and the legends and the stories as well. They kind of fueled a bit of a dual passion in me, I suppose. Which was the facilitation of these stories, and the history and the heritage to people, to explain what these things are, and what they mean.James Rodliff: So that, yeah, I think did have a really big impact on me. Yeah, Cornwall is absolutely chocka with attractions. Lots of people go down there because the place is beautiful, and they want to get a sense of the food, the culture, the history. And lots and lots of different attractions have popped up, as well, to facilitate them, and help them part with their cash as well. Some of these attractions, amazing. A couple, slightly more questionable, but all, in their own ways, amazing, well worth a visit.Kelly Molson: You're now at Stonehenge, but I know that you worked at the Mary Rose previously, with Paul, who was very kind to help me out with some of those questions. Paul has been a previous guest on the podcast as well. But I think you started, was it banking that you actually started your career in?James Rodliff: Yeah.Kelly Molson: That's quite a big change.James Rodliff: It is a bit, yeah. So I decided to study archaeology through to the postgraduate level. I loved finding out more and more and more of these stories beneath our feet, and I just couldn't get enough of it. Graduated with my masters, I worked actually as an archaeologist in the field for a while on a few different digs, as well as balancing various other jobs, whatever came up. Then graduated with my masters, and kind of hoped to swan into a brilliant job in heritage or archaeology, and obviously, that's not necessarily the way the world worked. But an amazing opportunity came up and I went to work for Lloyds Bank. Which was right after the credit crunch, and right coming up to the PPI scandal. It was quite a time to work for banks.James Rodliff: I got involved with kind of customer complaint handling and how you should treat your customers, and how to retain business, and how to help put things right when things do go wrong. That was really, really useful for me. So having that kind of history heritage side, and then being thrown into quite a corporate environment, but one that was in a bit of a crisis, really, and having to find a way out of that was actually really useful. So I did that for a few years. Worked hard, got all the experience I possibly could, but I really ... My heart had to get back into heritage. I knew I had to make a step back.James Rodliff: So started looking around, and a job popped up down in Portsmouth on the south coast, at the Mary Rose, where they were just getting ready to set up the new museum, and it was to join the conservation team to help install the objects. So they were looking for people with experience who had handled objects, and could work on projects. So I applied, it was a pay cut. It was a short contract. It was a massive gamble. My dad was very unsure about it. I was like, "What do you think?" He was like, "I don't know." But we decided to go for it. Moved down to Portsmouth, and yeah, the project was amazing.James Rodliff: I spent a year being able to help install this incredible collection. There's 19,000 objects in the Mary Rose collection, and the museum itself, if anyone hasn't yet gone, must go. It is absolutely phenomenal. They've done such a good job there. 30 years in the planning and it really shows, it is beautiful. So that was amazing.James Rodliff: Then joined the operations team once the installation had done. Worked in different roles. Front of house manager, visitor operations manager. Then I worked as part of the marketing team for a little while. Kind of did everything. Was there for seven years. Which I think in your late 20s early 30s is a long time to be anywhere. Yeah, so I started thinking there are people that do work at the Mary Rose for their entire career, and you can understand why. It is a stunning project. But I knew it was probably getting time for me to move onto a new challenge.James Rodliff: I did really want a challenge as well, something to really sink my teeth into. So I was kind of keeping an eye out, and this job popped up at Stonehenge, where they were looking for an operations manager. You know, you hear of my history there, that just kind of ticked a lot of boxes for me. So again, up sticks, moved up to Salisbury, and joined Stonehenge June 1st, 2019. So straight into the summer, straight into my first Summer Solstice. The Solstice is also my birthday, so that was a nice treat to have 10,000 people celebrating on my birthday.Kelly Molson: How wonderful they all just turned up just for you.James Rodliff: I know, it's fabulous, but that was really lovely. The first summer was a whirlwind. You know, we had dealt with some really busy times at the Mary Rose, but Stonehenge and sites like that, they're a different scale. Everything is just scaled up massively. The visitors come from all around the world, it's just the most incredible place. It was a steep learning curve, but we had our busiest ever summer day during that first summer. The winter was fabulous and we had our busiest winter day as well that year. We were just starting to put in some quite ambitious plans around looking at the admissions process and kind of moving it from what it is, which is a stunning product into making sure that it's a world-class visitor attraction as well. Then of course COVID hit, didn't it?Kelly Molson: Gosh, I mean you had a really big start to your career there, didn't you?James Rodliff: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Straight in into a Summer Solstice-James Rodliff: Straight in.Kelly Molson: ... and then hey, smashed in the face with a pandemic.James Rodliff: Absolutely. I've spent now more time at Stonehenge under the kind of pandemic situation than I did beforehand, which is really strange. So yeah, I feel like a bit of a kind of wartime operations manager, in a way, you know? But it is fabulous, and it means that I've been able to part of this quite dynamic time, which is really interesting.Kelly Molson: In at the deep end with both feet.James Rodliff: Absolutely. Absolutely.Kelly Molson: Couldn't have planned that more perfectly, right? If you can get through last year, you can get through anything, James.James Rodliff: I hope so, yeah.Kelly Molson: So what worked well last year for Stonehenge? Because a huge change, I guess you were closed for a certain amount of time, but then outdoor attractions were allowed to then start to reopen and stuff. What went well, what didn't go well?James Rodliff: Yeah, so I mean it was ... What a year it was, right? I mean for everyone in the sector it was incredibly tough. What worked well? So we actually received some of the best feedback we have received in recent times during last year. Which is, I think, outstanding. That kind of came about because we really took, well not a step back, we took a lot of steps back to look at the entire visitor journey. It's cliché, visitor journey, but really, really did kind of think about every single touchpoint with our visitors, with our members, with our supporting staff, volunteers, how we could make it work. When were coming to reopen the site and not just our site, but there's ... Well, English Heritage looks after 400 sites, 130 sites with staff. How are we going to reopen the portfolio and make it work?James Rodliff: So we looked at what people expectations would be around COVID, and what their priorities would be once we could reopen, and what they would actually want to get from the site. So we took that, we took, like I said, every single step of the journey, every touchpoint, and we just worked our way through it. Everyone kind of honed in on this single mission to make this the best that it could be in the circumstances. Also to kind of mitigate against any times, if we did have to step back and say there's a bit of the experience there that you're not going to be able to access in the same way, what could we do otherwise then?James Rodliff: So that worked really, really well, and that process all the way through, pre-booking, booking, admissions, arrival, the whole day. We looked at what we had. We've got, as you said, we're an outdoor attraction, we've got outdoor space. What did people want after being locked in for so long? They wanted to get outdoors, and spread out, and breathe, and a bit of normality. So we started looking at what could we do a bit different. So let's tell people to come and bring a picnic, have a picnic in the monument field. What a lovely thing to do and Stonehenge right there.James Rodliff: Come and walk the landscape, instead of ... We have our shuttle buses. Now if people are in a bit more of a hurry, or they don't fancy the walk, or whatever, we have the buses, and we kept them going as well, especially for those who couldn't or didn't want to walk. But if you can walk, walk. Spread-out, enjoy yourselves. People came, they spent the day, and they really, really had a great time. Alongside that, we had lots of projects working on how we could better engage with people at home, different formats that we could use, tying in with education platforms, and all the other needs that people had as well.James Rodliff: It worked. It really worked. What was amazing is that all this planning, all this kind of forethought into the operations, people noticed. You look on TripAdvisor and people were noticing the operations and they're commenting on the ... People don't normally do that, you know? "They really thought about where to put the barriers, and how people stand." People just don't normally say that. So that was outstanding, and it really felt good.James Rodliff: The other thing that worked really well was our staff. They have just been outstanding. Absolutely outstanding, and I just can't thank them enough. All the way through this process they've been practical and intuitive and supportive, and they've just wanted to make it work. They love the place. They really, really love the place, and you can see that in how they approach everything. The feedback from visitors, alongside the operational stuff, has been about the staff. "I arrived, I was warmly greeted. I was made to feel safe and secure. Like they've really thought about everything." That was really, really magic as well.James Rodliff: Another thing is our VIP experience. We have stone circle experiences where we can host a smaller number of people outside of the normal opening times, where you can actually go inside, up close to the stones. Normally this is often quite heavily in demand from international audiences, and larger tour companies. But we were able to offer this out to a domestic market. So if you can't go on holiday, why not come inside the Stonehenge stone circle? That was amazing. The feedback from that from domestic audience was fantastic. Really, really impressive.James Rodliff: I also am a big fan of our hand sanitiser. I think it smells delightful, but it smells a bit like tequila. Was it you or Carly when-Kelly Molson: Oh.James Rodliff: Is it you? Okay.Kelly Molson: Carly loves tequila, but me, I can't even think about it.James Rodliff: Carly would have a lovely old time, but you'd have to bring your own. But no, slight tequila whiff at night, that I think is lovely as well. But not the entire ... That coming together, we were just chuffed to bits to see, in the face of all this adversity, that actually we delivered something that we were really proud of.Kelly Molson: Yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it? The more people that I speak to in the sector, the more this comes through, is that the things that were really important to visitors that were coming is that they were welcomed. It still felt like a really lovely, warm experience for them, aside from the fact that there were extra security processes in place, and barriers and things. It still felt like a great time for them to come. It's the team that makes that. It's the front-of-house team, it's the people that care about the place, that care about the people's experience that makes that happen.Kelly Molson: Did you find that, because you mentioned about people kind of like walking to the stones and people bringing picnics and things. Did you find that people stayed longer, and had a kind of a longer experience there then they normally would?James Rodliff: Definitely, yeah.Kelly Molson: So in a way, less people actually better experience for the people that did come.James Rodliff: Yeah, absolutely. We encouraged it really, because although we had our caps and we were trying to get that balance right of safety limits in terms of ... Because obviously we have got space, but there are ... Our facilities, they are big, but they still need to be very mindful in terms of the number of people coming through in the hour slots. So we were very, very cautious about that. But yeah, we encouraged it. Come, spend the day, bring a picnic. Really have a wonderful day. I think the domestic audiences if they're going out they're not necessarily doing like you do on holiday, you're quite happy to do two or three things in a day, quick, go, take your photos, off you go again.James Rodliff: If you're going somewhere domestically and you're going to be parting with your hard-earned cash, then you want to get the most out of it. So that was fabulous. Actually, some of the things we tweaked helped facilitate that. So as we said, the picnics in the monument field. The landscape walks. We have these beautiful replica neolithic houses on the site, which have been made by our volunteers, absolutely gorgeous. They're basically experimental archaeology, based on houses that were excavated nearby on the landscape. They're phenomenally interesting, and some of them actually have all kind of neolithic replica artefacts in, and a volunteer will sit in there, and they can light a fire, and you can come in and hear about it, and it's just incredible.James Rodliff: Couldn't do that in COVID. So what we did we brought that outside into the middle of the village. Actually made it kind of more approachable and accessible in some ways. That was a huge success, and people were sitting there, and really engaging. So that really helped. Actually some of these things we put in, we thought this is, in some ways, arguably better. So I think there's some real lessons there for us to take away as well.Kelly Molson: So that's interesting because this brings me to what this year looks like. So obviously you've got ... You mentioned you'd have quite a predominantly international audience, and 2021, let's face it, we have no idea when people are going to be flying in from anywhere. So your audience goes back to predominantly domestic. What challenges does that throw up for you? Do you carry on doing the things that you did last year? Or are there more things that you've got to adapt and change for this year?James Rodliff: Well you know, it's undeniably going to be a massive challenge. The last year has been a huge challenge for our sector, us as a charity we rely on ticket income, as so many other organisations do. Not having that international audience is undeniably going to have a big impact on that. We've had to delay things like some of our conservation projects and maintenance projects because we just don't have the ticket income coming in. That will be a further symptom of not having necessarily as many international guests coming in.James Rodliff: Yeah, the majority of our visitors each year are international. So what are we going to do about that? So we know what worked last year, and we took a lot of lessons from that. I think we are well prepared to do a comparable, if not better offer, from the things that we learnt last year for our domestic audiences, which is exciting. We have got infrastructure onsite that is dedicated to coach groups and international audiences that isn't going to be used by them, so how can we better use that to help spread people out, and make it a more comfortable and better experience for them as well.James Rodliff: But you're right, we have to think about car parks, and what happens if the car park starts to fill up because people aren't coming on coaches. The changes in dwell time, and what that will do. The other parts of our offer, our catering and retail, is that as relevant when you're looking after this big domestic audience, as it was in this international one?James Rodliff: But it does give us some real positives as well. The stay-cation market should be strong. In fact, some of the English Heritage sites had one of their best-ever years last year, because especially in the west, people were looking around, thinking okay, we can't go to Magaluf, we can't go to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, we've got this amazing castle three miles away, we've never been there. Let's go and have a day. What a lovely thing.James Rodliff: You know, some of our sites had an amazing year last year, and I think they will again, have a strong year as well. But other sites will have more challenges. Ones that are more indoors will struggle. Those who rely heavily on international tourism, like us, will have those issues. But it's going to push us to be more inventive in problem-solving. Come up with new ways of making sure the offer really is good. It's things like our special, our stone circle experience tours, things like that, again, I think we've got a great season with that lined up, and a whole new audience to really speak to there as well.Kelly Molson: It's amazing, isn't it? You're talking through about how there's so many things to think about when you're in an operation. You mentioned about the car park in there, if lots of people aren't coming on one coach, and then loads of people are coming in all individual cars, then that changes that completely. It blows my mind to think about how you even start to plan all of this out. You mentioned the catering, so does your catering offer then have to change to if people are going to come for the day, and they're going to stay for longer, is your catering offering hampers, so they can have the picnic?Kelly Molson: Then that shifts in that sense. Whereas, if they're coming on a tour bus, that might have been they're just going to grab a quick sandwich or a scone or something to eat while they're looking at stuff, and then they're off again. There's so much to think about. How do you even start to plan this? It's such an epic task.James Rodliff: It is, and you know, talking about catering, are people coming for two meals now? And what does that look like? Think about all those different things. Certain retail products, are they going to be right for the different audiences? Yeah, I mean luckily we've got just an amazing team. I've got some amazing, amazing colleagues, and so we've been putting a lot of thought into this. You know, finally, it's what a week it's been. We got our dates last week, which obviously kind of paves forward a bit of a roadmap for the coming weeks, months and hoping to get open asap in a safe way.James Rodliff: But it also means that right now there are some deadlines, we really need to get planning. But also we didn't necessarily know what we were opening into. So when we do open, I won't be able to open our exhibition at first, you know, indoor interpretation spaces. So that's going to be a challenge. So how do we offset that and make sure that is as good as it can be? What is quite exciting is that it has actually fast forwarded some other measures. So our new audio offer is going to be ready for when we reopen, which is brilliant. We've been able to crack on, our new café is going to be open for when we reopen. So there are lots of new and exciting things already in the bag, which is really good.Kelly Molson: That's great as well because I guess that kind of engages with people that have already been before, that live locally too. So there's something new for them to come and see. There's something new for them to experience. Which means you're kind of engaging with them and drawing them back. So it's not just kind of a one-time visit. I want to ask about the venue, and if you need to adapt it in any way for different audiences? Not just kind of international to domestic, but potentially less attentive audiences.Kelly Molson: So this was a question that Mark Ellis sent in from the National Memorial Arboretum. He's kind of asking around if your audience changes to maybe kind of like gen Zed, I don't really like these acronyms, they drive me mad. But a younger generation have maybe a slightly ... They're slightly less attentive. Are there new things that you're thinking about that you're going to need to implement to engage with them?James Rodliff: That's a very interesting question. Do you know what's funny? Thinking back 10 years or so, and this same question was to replace gen Zed with the word millennial and it was the same question then. As an older millennial, I was there thinking I love museums, I don't know why they're worried that I'm going to go, and I know lots of people like me that really like going to these places. You're right, segmentation is super useful, and super un-useful at the same time. So I think doing it by age groups is a slightly dangerous route to go down because lots of different age groups act in different ways.James Rodliff: I see it on site. We see people from one to 100, and some of them will be really attentive and interested, and some won't be. That doesn't necessarily depend on the age group. I think perhaps looking at are these people experience seekers? If that's what they want, if they want to come and make memories, then how do we best facilitate that? We have the benefit of having ... We've got Stonehenge. It's one of a kind, it's very authentic, it's very amazing. When you're there, you've stood in that field looking at it, you cannot help be mesmerised. That is brilliant. No amount of AR, VR, crazy different ways of technologically adding to that will be able to match the magnificence of the actual monument itself.James Rodliff: That being said, I think there are lots of different ways that we can tell stories, and that we should always be pushing ourselves to ... Just because we've done something a certain way for a long time, doesn't mean we should keep doing it that way. I think we should always be keeping an eye on whatever tools we can use in our arsenal to make that best possible experience it can be for our guests. Some of that I think is giving space to people to explore it in their own way, and not being overly prescriptive, and this is the way you should experience it. This is the only way you'll get the story is by listening to this guide, or standing at that point, or following that exact route.James Rodliff: Give people the space to do it. Now some people want to be led. They want to know, "I'm scared of missing something if I don't follow the exact route." Other people they want to just go and do it in their own way. They might want to stand in the field and catch Pokemon or something. I don't know. There are different ways that people want to enjoy that environment. I think the other thing is talking about younger generations is certainly that the young generation now, they are more into the outdoors and nature and fitness-Kelly Molson: Absolutely.James Rodliff: ... and healthy and wellbeing. I was sat on the couch in the Chelsea eating pork pies and cans of Coke as a young person. These young people they're out there, they run for fun. This is something I've discovered much later, but different things are important to them. So again, us, we have a lot of outdoor space, this is brilliant for us. But I think other places should think about that, what is important to these audiences. Not just kind of changing the offer to match them, but looking at what you already have, and matching that to the need. There are some stuff, talking about making memories, we are looking at is there some cool places we can suggest that are the ultimate selfie spots, you know?Kelly Molson: Yeah.James Rodliff: Silly things like the shot that everyone wants, that great bit that people want to share on social media with their friends. Yeah, so bits like that.Kelly Molson: But that's great. So that engages with them in something that they love to do, but also it's beneficial for the experience. They share that content, it's user-generated content, it gets shared across their social media channels, it all helps to promote. I am a big fan of museums introducing kind of Instagram-able areas because I think it's just an incredible way to be able to promote and engage with that different audience. That's what they want to do. They want to capture that perfect moment as well.Kelly Molson: I want to talk about kind of virtual stuff as well. So I know that obviously Summer Solstice you did some virtual elements around that last year. What have you got planned for this year? So what events have you got planned that might be virtual? And what might always stay virtual, or go back to physical? Is there plans to kind of keep some of those things hand-in-hand with the real-life experience?James Rodliff: It's a good point. We've been dabbling with how do we share the Solstice with not just the people that can make it to the site, but how can we do that. Like you said, the Solstice last year where we weren't able to ... Sadly weren't able to host our managed open access to the stones, we had an empty field, which is a very unusual thing on a Solstice, it's probably been a very long time since that happened. But we were able then to share that experience with the world. People from all around the world tuned in to see it. Huge audience of people. Both the Summer and the Winter Solstice.James Rodliff: People found it really quite something. Actually, the winter one I was working in the evening, so we still have a few people onsite just checking and making sure everything's okay. I worked the evening slot, but not the morning. So I woke up quite early at home thinking I hope everything's okay, and I kind of tuned into the livestream, and I was actually just lying in bed, watching the sunrise over the stones. It was so beautiful, so lovely. That has been a real success. Definitely we'd love to do some more of that to share that for people that can't get here. Especially this year, even if domestic audiences might be able to travel, international audiences might not, and so you know, we know it's a really important thing to people. So more of that, yes. More of that, absolutely.James Rodliff: We've got our skyscape camera as well. I don't know if you've seen that. Which is there's a camera up at the stones basically. Which, whenever you want to, at any time of day, you can go onto the site, and you can see what the sky is doing at Stonehenge. You can click on different filters, so you can see where the stars are moving, where the sun's moving, everything. Which is really lovely. That's here to stay, that's really lovely.James Rodliff: We've got some new projects that are kind of launching this year, which may well fuel future adventures as well. But we've got Songs of England, which is just coming out, which is an English Heritage wide project, working with amazing folk singers to bring English folk songs to the sites. The amazing sites that we have that tell England's history, which is just fabulous. That's really, really lovely. We do have other stuff, but I'm not allowed to talk about them, to come. So keep an eye on the website and our social media channels. But there are other things that we blended, right?James Rodliff: So when we talked earlier, Kelly, about if there's things on site that you are unable to experience firsthand, is there any other way of getting some of that experience? So we had our agile interpretation. I love this phrase, agile interpretation, which is kind of the brainchild of some of our very brilliant visceral experience and learning and interpretation colleagues who start producing things. Okay, so for us, our houses, I said you couldn't go inside the houses and have that experience. Okay, the volunteers are outside, and they're showing you things and engaging in that way, but how can you just close that gap between what we did have, pre-COVID, and what we've got now?James Rodliff: So we've got QR codes. It's pretty much a simple post that says, "Want to see what it's like? Scan this QR code." Then it pops up on your phone and you're in the house, and you can see the fire's going, and you're inside. Just closing that gap. That agile interpretation, it's quick, it's relatively cheap, and it just works. It doesn't have to be perfect. I think there are lots of places that could look at that and say, "It's such a shame we can't do this part of our experience." What can you do then to close that gap in? That blend of kind of digital and physical I think is going to be really important as we go forward.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I love that. I love the way that you've described it as a blend, because I think that's exactly what it should be. It's exactly what people are expecting things to be now. It's really weird that even me that works in a kind of digital world, it's never been my first ... You know, I'll go and look at a website of an attraction that I want to go and visit. But I wouldn't engage with the website as much, because I knew that I was going to go to the physical place. But now, I'll go to the website and I'll look at everything that I possibly can, just to try and get that kind of sense of experience of what it's going to be like.Kelly Molson: I can remember a month or so ago you've got like a ... You can click on the stones, and it tells you what each of the stones are called, and where they came from, and information about them. I spent a good hour kind of clicking through and looking at it. You could kind of change things around. It felt quite immersive. It was quite a simple thing, but it kind of gave me a sense of yeah, I really need to be there now. It sort of built that excitement. I think that's what's important about having these virtual experiences is it builds the excitement about going. Actually that kind of anticipation, that's what you want in people. You want them to be super excited when they come.Kelly Molson: I think that the only way to really do that is to continue doing these things that are digital, that you can share with anyone and everyone around the world.James Rodliff: Yeah, you're absolutely right. We were talking earlier on about that kind of sense of welcome when you arrive. People should be excited about coming to our site still, even reopening into social distancing, or opening in social distancing, we still need to make sure that people are excited. These are magic days that we work in these environments where we're bringing people to have amazing experiences, and they should be excited to have those.Kelly Molson: I guess this question is probably something that you've probably done already, because you were able to open last year, to a certain extent. But what more can you put in place so that your front of line staff feel really safe and secure about what's happening? Because they're the first people that interact with the guests that are coming, so essentially they're kind of frontline, there's an element of risk there for them, right? How do you make them feel comfortable? Is there any more that you're going to have to think about this year, potentially, with a new kind of COVID strands?James Rodliff: Yeah, it's a great point. Yeah, you said staff are that first point of contact, so if staff do feel nervous, they do feel unsafe, or they do feel worried, that's going to come across. So that's got to be the top priority. For us, that was always at the top of our priority list was making sure the staff are safe, that they feel safe, and that they understand everything that's happening so that they are an active part of the whole process. That has been a thread that we've pulled all the way through. So what we did, for example, when we opened after the first lockdown, we've been opened and closed a few times now.James Rodliff: After the first lockdown what we did was we put all our plans into place. The few of us that weren't furloughed we'd spent a long, long time coming up with these very clever plans, we thought. When we got all the team back about a week before we opened up, and we talked them through it. I led the team around, socially distanced, led the team around the site and said, "This is what I'm planning, or this is what we're planning, and these are the elements of the site we want to tweak. This is what we're thinking. You guys are the experts, you're on the ground, you deal with this every day. You tell me, what have I forgotten? What could we do better?" There was brilliant feedback.James Rodliff: They came and they shared, and they were very happy to come up with solutions to other problems, or just highlight things that, "I don't know what the solution is here, but this is something we're going to have to watch." Then what we did, when we did go round, we tweaked and we made things better for them. Made them an active part of that process. When we did open then the first thing, as soon as we closed on that first day we all gathered around, socially distanced, and said what went really well today? What worked? What parts of these very clever plans that have taken us ages to draw up actually worked? And what didn't work? What could we do better? What could we tweak?James Rodliff: We did that every day for the first week or so. We tweaked and changed, and they really felt part of that process. They felt listened to, and they felt a lot better. It doesn't take away all the nerves. All of us working in a pandemic, just living through a pandemic, it's exhausting and it's terrifying. So you can't take away everything. But what we have done is work very hard to make sure it's the absolute best it can be.James Rodliff: We're lucky we've got some amazing people that work for English Heritage. I have to shout out to Alex Page who's our Head of Safety. The man deserves a knighthood after this year. He has been an absolute national treasure. We had to interpret a lot very quickly, and turn it into plans on the ground. Alex and his team have just been phenomenal in supporting all the site staff in being able to make that happen. Then being infinitely calm and patient with us while we asked lots and lots of questions as well. So we've been lucky there. But you know, everything from making sure that the staff rooms are safe. So we weren't able to do in-classroom learning, so we had that resource. So we took that classroom, the classroom's now a welfare room. Everyone's spread out.James Rodliff: But the priority there was the staff need, above the education, if the staff aren't safe, aren't happy, aren't okay then we can't open. But it also throws up other challenges. Your face-to-face briefings that we would like to do a lot of and get that feedback, the more you have, the more you incrementally slowly creep up that risk factor. What about all the lovely appreciations and the hand clapping, and the hugging, and the well done? Leaving parties, Kelly. We've had people that have retired during this year that have been at Stonehenge for years, and we'd normally party, we'd at least gather around and celebrate, and share. Not having that has been really tough.James Rodliff: So there's some things you can offset. So our briefings we've moved them onto the radios where we can, and try and get, again, that balance, that blend of the physical and the digital, or other means. But yeah, it has been difficult. A lot of communication, in terms of explaining why we're doing stuff as we're doing it, all the way through every week, more internal information comes out explaining, not just what's happening, but why it's happening. If you need anything, if you need any support, where to find it. If you have any questions, where to ask those as well.James Rodliff: There's been a lot of other, because everyone in our sector's been in this same position. So there's been a lot of good sector collaboration around this. I have to give Rachel a shout-out. Rachel Mackay with the Recovery Room website. She's been a good friend throughout this, and she's produced a lot of resources if people haven't found it yet, go onto the Recovery Room because there's a lot of information about supporting front of house teams there as well.Kelly Molson: Rachel has been absolutely fabulous. So Rachel was a previous guest on the podcast actually. What we will do is we'll pop the link to her website in the show notes for this show as well, because it is something, if you are planning your reopening processes now, the resource that is on that blog is pretty phenomenal, isn't it? I know she's been doing some consulting with other organisations as well. So yeah, that's really lovely to see.Kelly Molson: I think, again, that's a huge positive that's come out of this, is that sector collaboration. But also how adaptable everybody's been. The flexibility that people have had to have shown in the roles that they have. And how quickly things have changed, in terms of what you can and can't do, but also being given a week's notice that you can reopen again, and how that impacts people. It's been phenomenal. What's been really lovely to hear is how you've engaged with your team, and you've made them part of that process. It hasn't been we've made the decision, and this is how we're doing things. It's how is this going to work? This is what we think, but like you said, you're the experts, help us.Kelly Molson: I guess that is part of your culture now already, but if it isn't, how do you embed that for the rest of the year, and for future?James Rodliff: Yeah, it's really important that all of us make sure we don't lose some of this. Some of the positive legacy of COVID, if I can phrase it like that. Some of the things that have changed maybe for the better. Or ways of working that have improved, that we don't lose that, if and when they do start sliding back into the normality of some description, we don't lose some of that really positive stuff. That we make sure we do keep collaborating with our colleagues, and use our teams who are the experts on the ground, in how to look after guests, and where pinch points are, and what's the same question that they get asked 732 times a week. How we use that feedback and make things better, and quickly. Not just collate it and put it into a chart, and then sometime in a year's time we might get around to it. But be agile, and like you said, get on with things and make it happen.James Rodliff: So there are some things, like Zoom, love it or hate it, what a way it's transformed the way we work. You can now gather all your experts together at short notice onto a Zoom, be sharing slides. Everyone's kind of tech-savvy, not that people necessarily weren't tech, and to be comfortable and confident to be able to do it, and just make it happen. That's become part of the way we work now. So that will speed things up, and hopefully lower travel costs, and have all sorts of positive environmental things as well.James Rodliff: I do get a bit Zoomed out sometimes, I don't know about you, but especially if you're using it for professional, and then for socialising as well, it can get a bit much. But yeah, it's hugely facilitated this quick-acting, these quick discussions. You can go away, do work, come back, discuss it. That flexibility has been really useful. You said about the creativity from the teams in solving these problems, that's a positive thing that we need to keep moving, and keep that discussion alive as we go forward. And the agility. You said that a week's notice, well sometimes you think back, we'd have Boris on the telly on a Sunday night with things that need to be actioned Monday morning.Kelly Molson: Yes, crazy.James Rodliff: Yeah, I mean it is crazy.Kelly Molson: It's crazy.James Rodliff: Absolutely crazy. So we at Stonehenge, Stonehenge being very outdoors and very open to everything, we have really good kind of cascades and emergency comms protocols anyway. Perhaps not everyone had that, and this has highlighted actually sometimes you do need that. You know, make sure that you can be as agile, and don't lose that again. Just don't get into a position where you think, "Oh, it's okay, the pandemic's over, nothing worse could happen now, could it?" There's some lessons I've taken away as well, Kelly, around the planning elements for it, that even with our best business continuity plans, I don't think we included things as ... We didn't appreciate things such as the emotional impact of a pandemic.James Rodliff: So we had a plan for a pandemic. We had one. What would happen if we had a ... Well, we'd keep going, when people feel off sick then the managers would come ... You know, it's like picking up the rifles at the Battle of Stalingrad, someone else would pick up the mantle and you keep charging forward, and you make it the best it can be. But actually what's the emotional impact there? How would people feel about coming to work? That wasn't in our business continuity planning. So things like that are important.James Rodliff: Things around contracts that you sign based on the assumption or presumption that you'll always have X many thousand visitors coming. Why would you close for six months, or a year, or whatever? So thinking about supply chains and contracts, and that flexibility as well, I think is really important.Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. It's been utterly phenomenal, hasn't it? I think what you were saying about that emotional aspect, I don't think any of us realized quite how significant this would be on our own mental health. I think that when the pandemic started I can remember sitting back and thinking, "Whoa, okay, so I need to work out ... Okay, so what projects have I got on that I think might not be happening now?" You know, what have I got that was coming up next month that is now not going to happen? So how do I work out that? What projects are still going to continue? How do the team feel? How do I get them set up working from home? How does this all happen?Kelly Molson: It was more of kind of the logistical operation side of the physical stuff that I thought about. Then you started to sit back and go, actually people are really scared, and I'm a bit scared. I don't want to leave my house. I don't want to do these things. All right, we weren't allowed to leave our house, but you know, the emotional side was a secondary thought, and a secondary response. I guess that's something that I want to take forward, and not be that. I want to think about the emotional side before the logistics next time. I think that's really, really important. It's definitely still happening now.Kelly Molson: I really sympathise with the people that you said, you know, we had leaving parties for people, and then we never got to hug them, and we never got to say goodbye. We've had team members leave and their last kind of thing that they do is click the Zoom button to leave the meeting. It's like-James Rodliff: Yeah, it's just not the same.Kelly Molson: ... that's not how it's supposed to end.James Rodliff: No.Kelly Molson: It's sad.James Rodliff: We are planning, when we can, to have a gathering. So everyone who's not had that benefit of a proper thank you and a send-off, to get everyone back together. Which it'll be a glorious sunny day, and it's going to be marvellous, and I will have a cider or two.Kelly Molson: Definitely, and maybe a pasty as well.James Rodliff: Maybe.Kelly Molson: I need to talk to you, we're coming to the end of the podcast, and I've got two more quick questions for you. I really need to ask you about the fact that your face was superimposed onto the stones at some point last year. Tell us about that.James Rodliff: It was, yeah.Kelly Molson: What an experience.James Rodliff: It was an experience, yeah. So going back a couple of years, it's not the first time my face has been projected large onto something, and it happened at the Mary Rose because I accidentally became the face of the advertising campaign for the reopening of the museum, dressed as Henry VIII. This time I wasn't dressed in Tudor outfit, and I didn't have to wear a codpiece, so that was a relief, first of all.Kelly Molson: Can I just say that I can remember seeing those posters on the tubes before I even knew you. Then when I saw them on your Twitter I was like, "Oh yeah, those were everywhere."James Rodliff: Yeah, that was a strange time. Yeah, this was different, like I said, less costume. But this was really touching actually. It was all about saying thank you to some of the people who had managed to continue the amazing work of different charities supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. That actually people still playing the lottery, still having a massive effect because the support that they are giving to the Lottery Fund was able to keep these places going. Like our heritage sites, like our amazing charities, and like lots of cultural institutions that were looking after people who were quite marginalised, and during the pandemic, even more so.James Rodliff: It was lovely, I was in mighty company, projected onto those stones. They've never been dedicated like that before to individuals. Really I was kind of representing all the good work that the team had done, that everyone was doing on our side. Really, I feel probably I was the face of our operational teams around the whole country that were working to keep the sites going. Who have been turning up every day through the pandemic, and still traveling, still working, to look after our important places that needed looking after. So yeah, no it was unbelievable to see it. Really did bring a tear to the eye to see, it looked amazing. It was very special.Kelly Molson: Yeah, incredible thing to be part of for last year. Really incredible. One quick question, and then the final question, so Mark Ellis wants to know have you visited the National Memorial Arboretum? It's brilliant.James Rodliff: You know, it's on my list. It's on my very long list that has grown throughout the pandemic, all these wonderful places I want to go to. You know, when you scroll through places, and you're like, I must go there, I must go there. So the list is long now. So as soon as we're out of this, I'm up there Mark, I promise.Kelly Molson: Mark, it's on my list as well. We'll be there. Maybe we'll do a group outing. We could organise a Skip the Queue outing.James Rodliff: It's been lovely. That would be nice.Kelly Molson: Oh gosh, you've just given me so many ideas for ... All right, Mark, thank you for your questions, they've sparked good ideas today. We're at the end of the podcast, I always ask our guests to recommend a book. So either a book that you just really love, or a book that's kind of helped shape your career in some way. What have you got to share with us?James Rodliff: So I really had to think about this. So I don't do a lot of reading of technical books that I probably should do. One of the few that I've read that really amazing history experience was, as Paul mentioned in his actually, was about the Disney Making Magic book, which is absolutely fantastic. Heartily recommend that. My favourite book is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which of course-Kelly Molson: Great book, yes.James Rodliff: Superb, and has the words "don't panic" of course blazoned, which for this year is brilliant. But in thinking about what I'd go for this time, I've gone for something a little bit different. We did talk about how tricky this year has been, and we talked about mental health, and I myself have found periods of this year incredibly difficult. Very, very, very tough, and I have had to really slow down and think about how my ... You've put so much effort into being the superhero and trying to do the best you can in whatever ... You know, you throw your energy into something. You don't have the ability to recharge your batteries in the same way. Pandemic's taken away so much. Everything that makes us human. You're scared to go near people in the street, how awful is that?James Rodliff: So thinking about other ways you can try and recharge those batteries. So for me, I've been reading, I've been walking the dog, I've been drinking too much beer. I've been running, I've been learning to play guitar. I've been doing all sorts, and some of that's around mindfulness and meditation, and thinking about the things that I'm grateful for, and the things that do make me happy. So long answer told you, I can't give a short answer, Kelly, ever.Kelly Molson: I love this, it makes for a great guest.James Rodliff: I told you. So I'm going for Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to Happiness, as my book. Which has been-Kelly Molson: Fabulous.James Rodliff: ... an amazing read. So he wrote it in the early part of the pandemic, actually, when he was at home, locked in. He was kind of recounting stories, in his amazing way that he tells stories, about times and places and things that he ... You know, reflecting on happiness, what makes him happy. A lot of it is actually amazing stuff that we should be thinking about in terms of our attractions as we reopen and run our attractions. What people love. Nature, art, laughing, a sense of belonging, the unexpected and surprises. These lovely things that should be part of our attractions because they are places that are meant to make people happy. All of our places.James Rodliff: So yeah, Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to Happiness is my pick.Kelly Molson: That is such a perfect book. I haven't read this book, but it sounds like one for me. So as ever, if you'd like to win a copy of this book, if you head over to our Twitter account, Skip the Queue, and if you retweet this episode announcement with the words, "I want James's book." Then you will be in with a chance of winning your own copy of it. James, it's been such a pleasure to have you on today. Thank you so much.James Rodliff: Thank you, Kelly, I'm off for a pasty. I'll see you again.Kelly Molson: Enjoy.James Rodliff: Take care.Kelly Molson: 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. 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 rubbercheese.com/podcast.

How do you spot a fake? Sometimes it can look like a genuine masterpiece. Sometimes truth can be distorted - a broken masterpiece. But knowing the truth sets us free. The Holy Spirit guides us in truth. So Rachel us encourages to start by looking at any broken masterpieces in our lives and allowing God to reveal His truth to us. 

For the 100th episode of Your Last Meal, host Rachel Belle welcomes three, 100-year-old women to the show to share their extraordinary lives, their last meals and the secret to a long, happy life: red wine and “keeping your own teeth.” It is our pleasure to introduce you to Antoinette Underwood, a World War II nurse with a love of dry, Italian wines, Ruth Samuelson, who walked a half marathon at 96, and Eleanor Owen, whose career spans from Broadway actor to co-founder of NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness. IKEA’s US culinary director joins the show to tell us how an umlaut-happy furniture store became synonymous with Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam. And if you're single, living alone and loathe eating solo during the pandemic, Sutanya Dacers, host of the podcast Dinner For One, shares the story of how learning to cook for herself, post-divorce, made her feel whole again. Here are some highlights from the past 99 episodes, in case you missed them: Ice cream icons, Ben & Jerry, reveal the reason their ice creams are so famously packed with sweet blobs, chunks and ribbons: Ben has no sense of smell or taste and insists on loads of texture in every bite. Fashion designer Betsey Johnson had us thinking about the intersection of fashion & food, so we called up Franc Fernandez, designer of Lady Gaga’s infamous meat dress, which is very appropriately made from...yes, skirt steak. Filmmaker John Waters wants to know how long it takes for a slice of coconut cream pie to show up as fat on his body. So Rachel interviews a dietician who explains the science of weight gain, busting just about every Internet myth in the process. François Clemmons, who played Officer Clemmons on Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, loves okra, even its notorious slime. As does Adrian Miller, the Soul Food Scholar, who shares the history of many African American dishes that came over from west Africa during the slave trade. Actor and activist Rose McGowan loves Taco Bell and maintains the exact same order since she was 13, which she can rattle off at record speed. Rachel chats with Taco Bell's unofficial historian about how a white guy started a Mexican fast food empire. Actor Danny Trejo, notorious for his villainous roles, has died on-screen more than any other actor. But in real life, he’s focused on living; he only serves healthy versions of Mexican dishes at Trejo’s Tacos in Los Angeles. Rachel chats with Denise Vallejo, vegan chef/owner of LA's Alchemy Organica, who says the original, pre-colonial Mexican food was practically vegan and completely void of the cheese, tortillas, pork and sugar you see today. Follow Rachel Belle and Your Last Meal on Instagram! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 38 Psalm 38 (Listen) Do Not Forsake Me, O Lord A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering. 38   O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,    nor discipline me in your wrath!2   For your arrows have sunk into me,    and your hand has come down on me. 3   There is no soundness in my flesh    because of your indignation;  there is no health in my bones    because of my sin.4   For my iniquities have gone over my head;    like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. 5   My wounds stink and fester    because of my foolishness,6   I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;    all the day I go about mourning.7   For my sides are filled with burning,    and there is no soundness in my flesh.8   I am feeble and crushed;    I groan because of the tumult of my heart. 9   O Lord, all my longing is before you;    my sighing is not hidden from you.10   My heart throbs; my strength fails me,    and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.11   My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,    and my nearest kin stand far off. 12   Those who seek my life lay their snares;    those who seek my hurt speak of ruin    and meditate treachery all day long. 13   But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,    like a mute man who does not open his mouth.14   I have become like a man who does not hear,    and in whose mouth are no rebukes. 15   But for you, O LORD, do I wait;    it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.16   For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me,    who boast against me when my foot slips!” 17   For I am ready to fall,    and my pain is ever before me.18   I confess my iniquity;    I am sorry for my sin.19   But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,    and many are those who hate me wrongfully.20   Those who render me evil for good    accuse me because I follow after good. 21   Do not forsake me, O LORD!    O my God, be not far from me!22   Make haste to help me,    O Lord, my salvation! (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Genesis 35 Genesis 35 (Listen) God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,1 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.2 9 God appeared3 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:4 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.5 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance6 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;7 but his father called him Benjamin.8 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Footnotes [1] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [2] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [3] 35:9 Or had appeared [4] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [5] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [6] 35:16 Or about two hours’ distance [7] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [8] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: 2 Chronicles 12 2 Chronicles 12 (Listen) Egypt Plunders Jerusalem 12 When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him. 2 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem 3 with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt—Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. 4 And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.’” 6 Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.” 7 When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” 9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made, 10 and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 11 And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. 12 And when he humbled himself the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good1 in Judah. 13 So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. 14 And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD. 15 Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the chronicles of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer?2 There were continual wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, and Abijah3 his son reigned in his place. Footnotes [1] 12:12 Hebrew good things were found [2] 12:15 After seer, Hebrew adds according to genealogy [3] 12:16 Spelled Abijam in 1 Kings 14:31 (ESV) Gospels and Epistles: Acts 4:32–6:7 Acts 4:32–6:7 (Listen) They Had Everything in Common 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Ananias and Sapphira 5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you1 sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. Many Signs and Wonders Done 12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. The Apostles Arrested and Freed 17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25 And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26 Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” 33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. Seven Chosen to Serve 6 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists2 arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers,3 pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Footnotes [1] 5:8 The Greek for you is plural here [2] 6:1 That is, Greek-speaking Jews [3] 6:3 Or brothers and sisters (ESV)

With family: Genesis 35–36; Mark 6 Genesis 35–36 (Listen) God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,1 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.2 9 God appeared3 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:4 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.5 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance6 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;7 but his father called him Benjamin.8 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Esau’s Descendants 36 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter9 of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) 9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. 13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 14 These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. 15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. 20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir. 31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. 36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates10 reigned in his place. 38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. 40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Footnotes [1] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [2] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [3] 35:9 Or had appeared [4] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [5] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [6] 35:16 Or about two hours’ distance [7] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [8] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand [9] 36:2 Hebrew; Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac son; also verse 14 [10] 36:37 Hebrew the River (ESV) Mark 6 (Listen) Jesus Rejected at Nazareth 6 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles 7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.1 10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. The Death of John the Baptist 14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’2 name had become known. Some3 said, “John the Baptist4 has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” 17 For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. 21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” 23 And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” 24 And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” 25 And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26 And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s5 head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28 and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii6 worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Jesus Walks on the Water 45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47 And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night7 he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret 53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. Footnotes [1] 6:9 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [2] 6:14 Greek his [3] 6:14 Some manuscripts He [4] 6:14 Greek baptizer; also verse 24 [5] 6:27 Greek his [6] 6:37 A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer [7] 6:48 That is, between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. (ESV) In private: Job 2; Romans 6 Job 2 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job’s Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job’s Three Friends 11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 (ESV) Romans 6 (Listen) Dead to Sin, Alive to God 6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self1 was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free2 from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Slaves to Righteousness 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Footnotes [1] 6:6 Greek man [2] 6:7 Greek has been justified [3] 6:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; twice in this verse; also verses 17, 19 (twice), 20 (ESV)

Old Testament: Genesis 34–35 Genesis 34–35 (Listen) The Defiling of Dinah 34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your1 daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price2 and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” 13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” 18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,3 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.4 9 God appeared5 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:6 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.7 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance8 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;9 but his father called him Benjamin.10 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Footnotes [1] 34:8 The Hebrew for your is plural here [2] 34:12 Or engagement present [3] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [4] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [5] 35:9 Or had appeared [6] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [7] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [8] 35:16 Or about two hours’ distance [9] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [10] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 18:25–50 Psalm 18:25–50 (Listen) 25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26   with the purified you show yourself pure;    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27   For you save a humble people,    but the haughty eyes you bring down.28   For it is you who light my lamp;    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.29   For by you I can run against a troop,    and by my God I can leap over a wall.30   This God—his way is perfect;1    the word of the LORD proves true;    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31   For who is God, but the LORD?    And who is a rock, except our God?—32   the God who equipped me with strength    and made my way blameless.33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer    and set me secure on the heights.34   He trains my hands for war,    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,    and your right hand supported me,    and your gentleness made me great.36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,    and my feet did not slip.37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,    and did not turn back till they were consumed.38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;    they fell under my feet.39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;    you made those who rise against me sink under me.40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,2    and those who hated me I destroyed.41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;    I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 43   You delivered me from strife with the people;    you made me the head of the nations;    people whom I had not known served me.44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;    foreigners came cringing to me.45   Foreigners lost heart    and came trembling out of their fortresses. 46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,    and exalted be the God of my salvation—47   the God who gave me vengeance    and subdued peoples under me,48   who rescued me from my enemies;    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;    you delivered me from the man of violence. 49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,    and sing to your name.50   Great salvation he brings to his king,    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,    to David and his offspring forever. Footnotes [1] 18:30 Or blameless [2] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies’ necks (ESV) New Testament: Matthew 22 Matthew 22 (Listen) The Parable of the Wedding Feast 22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants1 to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” Paying Taxes to Caesar 15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.2 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.3 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away. Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection 23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.” 29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. The Great Commandment 34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Whose Son Is the Christ? 41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44   “‘The Lord said to my Lord,  “Sit at my right hand,    until I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. Footnotes [1] 22:3 Or bondservants; also verses 4, 6, 8, 10 [2] 22:16 Greek for you do not look at people’s faces [3] 22:19 A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer (ESV)

Old Testament: Genesis 34–35 Genesis 34–35 (Listen) The Defiling of Dinah 34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your1 daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price2 and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” 13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” 18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,3 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.4 9 God appeared5 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:6 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.7 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance8 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;9 but his father called him Benjamin.10 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Footnotes [1] 34:8 The Hebrew for your is plural here [2] 34:12 Or engagement present [3] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [4] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [5] 35:9 Or had appeared [6] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [7] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [8] 35:16 Or about two hours’ distance [9] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [10] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand (ESV) New Testament: Matthew 12 Matthew 12 (Listen) Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath 12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” A Man with a Withered Hand 9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. God’s Chosen Servant 15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18   “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,    my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.  I will put my Spirit upon him,    and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.19   He will not quarrel or cry aloud,    nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;20   a bruised reed he will not break,    and a smoldering wick he will not quench,  until he brings justice to victory;21     and in his name the Gentiles will hope.” Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit 22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit 33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” The Sign of Jonah 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Return of an Unclean Spirit 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” Jesus’ Mother and Brothers 46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers1 stood outside, asking to speak to him.2 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Footnotes [1] 12:46 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 48, 49 [2] 12:46 Some manuscripts insert verse 47: Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you” (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 18:25–50 Psalm 18:25–50 (Listen) 25   With the merciful you show yourself merciful;    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;26   with the purified you show yourself pure;    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.27   For you save a humble people,    but the haughty eyes you bring down.28   For it is you who light my lamp;    the LORD my God lightens my darkness.29   For by you I can run against a troop,    and by my God I can leap over a wall.30   This God—his way is perfect;1    the word of the LORD proves true;    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31   For who is God, but the LORD?    And who is a rock, except our God?—32   the God who equipped me with strength    and made my way blameless.33   He made my feet like the feet of a deer    and set me secure on the heights.34   He trains my hands for war,    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.35   You have given me the shield of your salvation,    and your right hand supported me,    and your gentleness made me great.36   You gave a wide place for my steps under me,    and my feet did not slip.37   I pursued my enemies and overtook them,    and did not turn back till they were consumed.38   I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;    they fell under my feet.39   For you equipped me with strength for the battle;    you made those who rise against me sink under me.40   You made my enemies turn their backs to me,2    and those who hated me I destroyed.41   They cried for help, but there was none to save;    they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.42   I beat them fine as dust before the wind;    I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 43   You delivered me from strife with the people;    you made me the head of the nations;    people whom I had not known served me.44   As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;    foreigners came cringing to me.45   Foreigners lost heart    and came trembling out of their fortresses. 46   The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,    and exalted be the God of my salvation—47   the God who gave me vengeance    and subdued peoples under me,48   who rescued me from my enemies;    yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;    you delivered me from the man of violence. 49   For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,    and sing to your name.50   Great salvation he brings to his king,    and shows steadfast love to his anointed,    to David and his offspring forever. Footnotes [1] 18:30 Or blameless [2] 18:40 Or You gave me my enemies’ necks (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 6:20–35 Proverbs 6:20–35 (Listen) Warnings Against Adultery 20   My son, keep your father’s commandment,    and forsake not your mother’s teaching.21   Bind them on your heart always;    tie them around your neck.22   When you walk, they1 will lead you;    when you lie down, they will watch over you;    and when you awake, they will talk with you.23   For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,    and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,24   to preserve you from the evil woman,2    from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.325   Do not desire her beauty in your heart,    and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;26   for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,4    but a married woman5 hunts down a precious life.27   Can a man carry fire next to his chest    and his clothes not be burned?28   Or can one walk on hot coals    and his feet not be scorched?29   So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;    none who touches her will go unpunished.30   People do not despise a thief if he steals    to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,31   but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;<

Morning: Genesis 33–35 Genesis 33–35 (Listen) Jacob Meets Esau 33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. 2 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. 8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company1 that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 10 Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. 11 Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it. 12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of2 you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.” 15 So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.3 18 And Jacob came safely4 to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money5 the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.6 The Defiling of Dinah 34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your7 daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price8 and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” 13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” 18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,9 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.10 9 God appeared11 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:12 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.13 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance14 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;15 but his father called him Benjamin.16 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Footnotes [1] 33:8 Hebrew camp [2] 33:12 Or along with [3] 33:17 Succoth means booths [4] 33:18 Or peacefully [5] 33:19 Hebrew a hundred qesitah; a unit of money of unknown value [6] 33:20 El-Elohe-Israel means God, the God of Israel [7] 34:8 The Hebrew for your is plural here [8] 34:12 Or engagement present [9] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [10] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [11] 35:9 Or had appeared [12] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [13] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [14] 35:16 Or about two hours’ distance [15] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [16] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand (ESV) Evening: Matthew 11 Matthew 11 (Listen) Messengers from John the Baptist 11 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. 2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers1 are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man2 dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet?3 Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,   “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,    who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,4 and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear,5 let him hear. 16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, 17   “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;    we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”6 Woe to Unrepentant Cities 20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.” Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest 25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.7 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Footnotes [1] 11:5 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13 [2] 11:8 Or Why then did you go out? To see a man . . . [3] 11:9 Some manuscripts Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? [4] 11:12 Or has been coming violently [5] 11:15 Some manuscripts omit to hear [6] 11:19 Some manuscripts children (compare Luke 7:35) [7] 11:26 Or for so it pleased you well (ESV)

Genesis 35–37 Genesis 35–37 (Listen) God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,1 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.2 9 God appeared3 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:4 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.5 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance6 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;7 but his father called him Benjamin.8 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Esau’s Descendants 36 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter9 of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) 9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. 13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 14 These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. 15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. 20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir. 31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. 36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates10 reigned in his place. 38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. 40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Joseph’s Dreams 37 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.11 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. Joseph Sold by His Brothers 12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 14 So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” 16 “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” 17 And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.12 Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels13 of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. 29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes 30 and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” 31 Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.” 33 And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. Footnotes [1] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [2] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [3] 35:9 Or had appeared [4] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [5] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [6] 35:16 Or about two hours’ distance [7] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [8] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand [9] 36:2 Hebrew; Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac son; also verse 14 [10] 36:37 Hebrew the River [11] 37:3 See Septuagint, Vulgate; or (with Syriac) a robe with long sleeves. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain; also verses 23, 32 [12] 37:20 Or cisterns; also verses 22, 24 [13] 37:28 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams (ESV)

Genesis 35–37 Genesis 35–37 (Listen) God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,1 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.2 9 God appeared3 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:4 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.5 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance6 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;7 but his father called him Benjamin.8 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Esau’s Descendants 36 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter9 of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) 9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. 13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 14 These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. 15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. 20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir. 31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. 36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates10 reigned in his place. 38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. 40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Joseph’s Dreams 37 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.11 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. Joseph Sold by His Brothers 12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 14 So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” 16 “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” 17 And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.12 Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels13 of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. 29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes 30 and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” 31 Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.” 33 And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. Footnotes [1] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [2] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [3] 35:9 Or had appeared [4] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [5] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [6] 35:16 Or about two hours’ distance [7] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [8] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand [9] 36:2 Hebrew; Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac son; also verse 14 [10] 36:37 Hebrew the River [11] 37:3 See Septuagint, Vulgate; or (with Syriac) a robe with long sleeves. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain; also verses 23, 32 [12] 37:20 Or cisterns; also verses 22, 24 [13] 37:28 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams (ESV)

Rachel Drori has come a long way from the days of filling a shopping cart at Trader Joe's and packing up healthy, frozen meals for delivery to customers all around New York — all while being nine-months pregnant. As the Founder and CEO of Daily Harvest, Rachel bootstrapped her company from the very beginning, and eventually had a few big names reach out to invest, including folks like Serena Williams and Gwyneth Paltrow. In 2019, Daily Harvest generated more than $125M in revenue and the company is growing. So what makes her meal-delivery service different from the others? The heavy focus on customer-centricity.When Rachel founded Daily Harvest, her goal was to build a customer-driven company that connected people with food that was designed specifically for them. But what did that look like from a practical standpoint and what can others learn from Rachel’s journey? On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, we’ll give you the answers to just that, so stay tuned!Main Takeaways:Nimble and Agile: In marketing and customer acquisition, it’s a mistake to be reliant on any one channel. Having the ability to understand and follow the trends, and then meet potential customers where they are at the moment they are online will allow you to actually bring in new customers reliably.Call and Response: Customers are less interested in having a place to share their thoughts than they are in having their feedback responded to by the brand they are interacting with. In every channel, there should be a way to engage in two-way conversations with your customers and then a method to follow through on those customers’ needs in a way that everyone can see.High On Your Own Supply: Having control of your supply chain is one of the best ways to create agility within your organization. But sometimes it takes some technology investment to bring all your suppliers on board.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Welcome back to Up Next in Commerce. This is Stephanie Postles, your host and co-founder of mission.org. Today on the show, we have Rachel Drori, the founder and CEO of Daily Harvest. Rachel, welcome, welcome.Rachel:Hi, thanks for having me.Stephanie:Thanks for coming on. So yesterday in the mail, I got an amazing box of Daily Harvest. And it was the perfect way for me to understand exactly what it was and enjoyed this morning. But to kick it off, maybe I'll let you explain what Daily Harvest is.Rachel:First of all, I need to know what you tried first, and then....Stephanie:I tried a smoothie, and today I'm going to be trying one of the soups in there. I think there was a lentil soup that you just add water to. I'm like, "This is what I need in my life, something that you just add water to or just add coconut water to make a smoothie and it's done."Rachel:I love it. Yes. So I started Daily Harvest about five years ago. And the mission is simple. It's really to take care of food so that food can take care of all of us. And we do this by starting at the root with our farmers. And we grow the best fruits and vegetables in the best way possible. And then we make incredible food, which I'm glad you got to try. [inaudible] smoothies and flatbreads, ice cream, alongside with people who eat it, our customers. And the idea is that you can then stock your home with convenient, but also clean and delicious food that's built on real fruits and vegetables. And part of our magic is really connecting people with food that was designed specifically for them so that you're really always stocked with a whole food kitchen of clean food when you want it and it's ready in minutes.Stephanie:I love that. I think on my Twitter, I posted a picture of my freezer and what it looks like. And it was kind of sad because there was like waffles next to one of them. I'm like, "What?" This is my life. I have waffles and then now a new experience that I don't think I'll be able to step away from after this.Rachel:Well, that's what I like to hear. But it's interesting, people buying additional freezers in the last few months. And I'm like, "I support this message. I support this very much."Stephanie:That is awesome. So tell me a little bit about the early days of when you were starting it. I mean, I'm thinking about all the different logistics and the supply chain and working with farmers. And I want to kind of hear how it all got started.Rachel:So as I started pulling on the strings really trying to figure out why the food that I wanted didn't exist, what I realized is that it was because food is not customer driven. The way food is created is actually really far from that. And the reason food is not customer driven is actually a true systemic problem. So as I set out to start Daily Harvest, part of what I wanted to do was really solve some of the systemic challenges with food. Not only the convenience and the health factor, but also why do we have to choose between preserving ourselves and preserving the planet all of the time with packaging and sustainability and regenerative farming practices and all the stuff that makes our food systems so broken? So back in those early days, I had these really grand ambitions, still have the grand ambitions, but less power to actually make them happen in those days. And what I did was I faked it all until I was actually able to do them.Rachel:So I was buying our ingredients at Trader Joe's. I wasn't telling stories of things that were going to happen in future but buying ingredients at Trader Joe's, got a commercial kitchen in Long Island City. And my right hand and my left hand were my first team members, bagging all those ingredients up into food that I knew solved all of the customer problems that I had surfaced to myself but also in friends and family, and started delivering across New York City and really trying to see if I was solving problems for people other than myself. And it turned out I was. And I'd quit my job and dove in head first.Stephanie:That is amazing. So were you personally delivering a lot of this items in the beginning?Rachel:I was delivering everything.Stephanie:Oh gosh. Any crazy stories of the delivery days?Rachel:Yeah. So I was nine months pregnant towards the end of the bootstrap MVP period. And I could no longer get behind the wheel of my car. But I had a 16-year-old nephew who could drive with an adult.Stephanie:Oh my gosh, getting his permit hours with you?Rachel:Yes, yes. It was ridiculous. So I would pick him up. I would pay him like $15 an hour to drive around and hop in and out. And I would sit in the car like a beached whale. And he would run these boxes up to people's apartments. And I would be like, "Nope, can't give us a ticket. I'm in here."Stephanie:And I'm pregnant. So even more of a reason. Don't try. That's awesome. So then around that time, it looks like you were also... Was that when you were also raising money?Rachel:So I did raise money... well, so I'd raised a few rounds at this point. I actually tried to raise money for a Series C at that phase and it didn't go very well to be honest. People didn't really understand how I had this grandiose vision and I was delivering smoothies. They just couldn't connect the dots. And I guess it was too much of a leap for people. So I decided to bootstrap for as long as I possibly could. And when I say bootstrap, I think people assume you have money to burn. When I say scrappy, literally doing things like having my nephew deliver the food, and I created the website entirely by myself and the packaging and printed everything. There was no money spent to be clear.Rachel:And raised money officially right after I had my first child and decided I needed... I was kind of choking off growth and needed to take it from the MVP stage to something much bigger. And we launched nationally in 2016, which was almost like a year after that period, and then raised our Series A actually when I was pregnant with my second child, which was super fun.Stephanie:What kind of experience did you have being pregnant and raising money or trying to raise money? What happened during that? Because I know I have some personal experiences that maybe weren't always the most positive of people just being like, "How do you plan on running a business and you're pregnant?" Even now, knowing I have three kids, people saying, "How do you plan on running a business with three kids?" And what kind of stories do you have around that? Hopefully, I'll get one. So I'm interested to hear.Rachel:Yeah. I mean, the positive and the negative. The positive was that I had no time to worry about being pregnant. I was just like, "Oh, yeah, this is just happening and I'm going to keep moving." And I think a lot of people in that moment of life and in that phase kind of stew in the moment. And it was great. Nine months later or 10 months later, a baby popped out and I was like, "Moving on." And the negative is it's funny exactly as you just phrased it. The question that came up not actually as frequently as I thought it might, but once or twice, I definitely got the question, how do you plan to be a good mother and run a business? And I'm like, "Interesting question that I'm not going to justify with an answer. But if what you're trying to ask is if I'm 100% committed to making Daily Harvest successful, the answer is yes."Stephanie:Yep. That's great. That's a good way to do it like, "I'm not even going to answer that."Rachel:What a ridiculous question?Stephanie:Yeah. I always say like I could never imagine someone asking like, "Oh, man, how do you plan on still working if your kids are on the way?" I can do that.Rachel:Totally.Stephanie:So I saw you have some really impressive names as investors like Serena Williams, Gwyneth Paltrow. Tell me a little bit about how you got these investors on board.Rachel:Yes. So each one is kind of its own story, but Serena is my favorite because I got a random email from Alexis Ohanian who's now her husband, at the time was Serena's boyfriend. And he was like, "My girlfriend and I eat Daily Harvest every day. We would love to talk to you." I had no idea who his girlfriend was. And the next thing I knew, I was on the phone with Serena Williams like, "Wait, what?"Stephanie:Oh my gosh. That is actually insane. I mean, I wouldn't have known that either because I don't really know names and stuff like that. So how did the conversation go?Rachel:I had no idea. I mean, it was amazing. She's so cool and was incredibly down to earth. And she was just saying how Daily Harvest really helped her eat the way that she wanted to eat, the way that she needed to eat in a pinch. And she loved the idea. And this was super early on. And I was like, "First of all, how do you even know about us? But amazing." And she asked if she could invest. And I was like, "Let me think about this for a second. Yes, absolutely."Stephanie:Oh, that's great. Stephanie:So after you landed Serena, did other investors come along when you could kind of point to like, "I've got Serena Williams. You win her out." How did the other ones go?Rachel:I mean, it's funny. We weren't really public with it until much later. So we had other investors reach out to us with interest, but it had nothing to do with Serena. It really was people finding us in pretty organic ways. And people just getting excited about the idea and the concept and seeing the problem that I stated earlier in their own life and seeing that we don't have to compromise, we can have it all, at least with our food. So each story, as I said, is pretty unique. But they really all were people who found us, which was pretty remarkable.Stephanie:Yeah, that's great. I mean, that's a testament to the product. Very, very cool. So when thinking about new customers finding you in organic or non-organic ways, how are you getting in front of people right now? And I'm asking this question because I went on your guys's Pinterest, and I saw you have like 4 million views a month. And I was like, "What? How are they getting 4 million views on Pinterest?" So I want to hear a little bit about your customer acquisition and how you're getting in front of people.Rachel:Yes. So we have a really robust marketing mix. My background is marketing. So we always started with the goal of, how are we not beholden to any one channel? Right? Because I think that that's just asking for trouble. And we built it in a really nimble and agile way so that as trends and algorithms and all sorts of things change, that we can then be nimble as a result. And we're lucky that we have a really high amount of our customers come in through word of mouth. But we've also done a lot of things to make that easier, to remove the friction of people sharing when they have a positive Daily Harvest experience.Rachel:But there are other things that I think have made us stand out on... I mean, literally, you name a marketing channel, we are on it. There's nothing that's like secret saucy there. But I really think it comes down to our differentiated messaging and our differentiated photography and really focusing on connecting with universal human truths where people are just like, "Oh, you get me. Yep, I understand. I'm going to learn more."Stephanie:Oh, that's great. So tell me a little bit about that differentiated messaging that you're talking about? How do you go about figuring out what you want to message and how do you know what will connect and what won't? Because what you might think is going to be a universal truth, I might be like, "Oh, that's not my truth." How do you guys go about making sure you're speaking to your customer?Rachel:Absolutely. It definitely is trial and error to understand what works, but we obviously have a mission. So we're looking for customers with whom our mission resonates. And there's just a lot of different ways where when you remove your marketing hat and you're like, "How would a normal human say this?" Or, "What is the way of saying something that gets somebody to stop their scroll or perk their ears while listening to something that they might otherwise fast forward past?" And then it's the same thing on the visual side, really focusing on photography and imagery that's visually arresting and beautiful. And also stuff that looks delicious. You can't underestimate the salivation factor of... I don't know if that's a real thing.Stephanie:I like that. Now it needs to be.Rachel:It totally does. How much of a photograph actually makes you salivate? Because that's tied to how hungry it makes you and how much it makes you want something.Stephanie:Yeah. I mean, pictures are everything. Even on your packaging and things like that, I mean, that's what makes me want to buy something, even when I'm on DoorDash or something, if an item doesn't have a picture on it, I'm like, "No, I'm not so sure if I want it," even if it sounds amazing. I want to see what it actually looks like. So it seems like you have very, very smart to have pictures on everything, especially Pinterest.Rachel:Yep. And because people have such short attention spans these days, and because there's so much media being thrown at you constantly, we also really focus on simplicity with it. So not only is it beautiful and drool-worthy, but it's also simplistic.Stephanie:That's great. So earlier, you mentioned also removing friction of having customers share their stories. How did you go about ensuring that a new customer or existing customer would share their stories and keep doing them?Rachel:Yeah. So what we have found is it's not so much about giving the customers places to share their thoughts and feelings. It's more about showing that you respond to them. So one of the things that we did really early on is we built a quite agile supply chain. And the goal of that was really to be able to respond to customer needs. We wanted to create a customer driven company. We had to be able to respond to customer needs. And it's one thing to have these amazing insights and to be innovative. And a lot of companies have the ability to do that. But if you can't respond in a timely manner, does it really matter? I'm not so sure.Rachel:So by showing customers, not just telling them, that we are actually listening to them and creating the food that they want to eat with them, and then connecting people with the food that was created for them, it sounds pretty simplistic. But there are really few companies that actually do it. So we're able to bring something to market in six to eight weeks from the time our customers tell us what they want. And I think that that is why customers love to share with us. And that is why we continue to be able to build these connections with our customers, those relationships.Stephanie:That's such a good point actually to show someone like you're not just submitting something into a black box and nothing's ever happening. What does the process look like? Where are they submitting their feedback? And then how do you interact with them in a way that is one on one, but then also shows your entire customer or new customer base, "Here's what we did for this one customer?" What does that process look like from start to finish?Rachel:Yeah. I mean, literally any channel that you can think of, we've built a way to interact. So whether it is through our app, whether it is through text message, whether it is through social media, you name it, we've made the conversation two ways. And what's interesting about it is if you think back to the story I told you earlier where kind of faking it till you make it, I'm air quoting, which you obviously can't see, but you're faking it but kind of faking it.Rachel:In the early days, our way of talking to our customers was every single team member at Daily Harvest would follow the Daily Harvest hashtag and every single day, it was the expectation that they would scroll through. And when somebody wrote something about Daily Harvest, the team engaged. Every single person on the team was asked to engage. So everyone from an engineer who might not under normal circumstances have any interaction with a customer directly to somebody on our culinary team. And it depends on what the customer put out there. But if it was something like your app is X, Y, Z, then an engineer would jump in and say, "Hey, can you tell me more about that?" And really just empowering the team to forge those relationships and to have those conversations I think is really what started it from a team culture perspective.Rachel:And then as we've grown, we've built tools in this way that allow it to happen. [inaudible 00:20:08], obviously, not everybody is scrolling through every single Daily Harvest hashtag these days, but we've empowered everybody to really think about how we maintain our vision of being truly customer driven.Stephanie:I love that. I mean, that's such a good experience. It's so different than, of course, corporate culture where you're probably told you are not allowed to engage with someone who tweets at us, and it has to be approved by PR. And there's so many rules and stuff. A lot of us had been taught in the past like, "Just don't say anything." And I can imagine how great of a culture you build by saying, "Everyone get on there. Respond to these people. It's on you to actually keep our customers happy." That seems like a transformative environment.Rachel:Absolutely. And then you have it scaled too. People really are thinking customer first at all times.Stephanie:Yeah, that's really cool. So when it comes to product request, I mean, it seems like there'd be an area that could be like a leaderboard where people can vote on the next products they want and actually determine that. Is there anything like that that you have going on to kind of create more social engagement and also people having an input in the product that maybe they wouldn't have just tweeted at you and said like, I want to have more figs?" They might not have that idea on their own, but they would like to maybe vote on it?Rachel:Totally. Yeah. I mean, we have all sorts of engagement opportunities for customers. But the important thing to know is that none of our skews or collections at Daily Harvest are created to be generally accepted. So we really focus on what people want from the perspective of their taste affinities, which is really differentiated.Rachel:So if you think about traditional product cycles and product development tools, people will look at things like demographics, psychographics, household income, credit card swipe data, and all of these things that when you kind of zoom out really never made sense to me because I can tell you, my husband and I live in the same house. We have the same household income. We share credit cards. We have the same credit card swipe data, same education, we met in school. But when it comes down to it, he orders from a very different restaurant than where I order from at night when we order in. So we really try to focus on what taste preferences are. And we try to create food for specific groups of people that have similar taste preferences, so nothing that we create is meant for general consumption. And that's where it gets really nuanced and really differentiated.Rachel:So yes, we will say to people, "We're thinking about creating X, Y, Z, and we would love your input." We take that into consideration, but we also take into consideration that, "Who is actually answering that question and where they're coming from and what their taste preferences are." Because I might like something that is, let's say, filled with greens, and you might like something that has no garlic in it or whatever it is because you might be allergic to garlic. And we're not going to like the same thing. So why should we try to make food for both of us?Stephanie:I love that idea of making sure that you actually focus on your customers because I think it's very easy, especially with all these new B2C companies that are launching right now to get distracted and not remember like, "Who did you actually build this for? What is your customer base? And what are you trying to do in this world?" Instead of being like, "Oh, and this person wants more sugar added to the matcha. Okay, I didn't really want to add a bunch of sugar to it, but this person wants it." It's a good reminder to not get distracted.Rachel:Right. But if we do have a group of customers that tell us that they want that same matcha that's a bit sweeter, we can accommodate that. It's just we would never target the same food to... We would know who we're targeting what to.Stephanie:Yep, very cool. So I'm very interested in the partnerships that you have with farmers and what your supply chain looks like behind the scenes that you can make these really quick product pivots or new products coming out in like six-day weeks. So can you speak a little about, what did that look like forming those partnerships? And any hiccups that you experienced in the early days of trying to get that worked out?Rachel:Yeah. I mean, as I said, it started with Trader Joe's because every time we reached out to a farm, they were like, "Who are you? Can you guarantee this entire crop?" And I was like, "I don't know."Stephanie:They were asking you to guarantee whole crops for them?Rachel:I mean, sometimes you have to if you want to be in control of how sweet it is, what the nutrition level is, you really have to be. And that was the vision because the way that I always envisioned taking care of food was really at the systemic level. So really to make change, you have to go to that level of scale in your purchasing. And we're incredibly meticulous about the ingredients that we use and how we source them. We actually have an entire team that's dedicated to finding the best farms. And we have over 400 farms that we work with directly. So we set incredibly rigorous standards that ensure not only are our partners using regenerative practices in their farming, things like increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, using organic farming practices, strengthening the health and vitality of our farm soil, using fair labor practices.Rachel:But we also are really particular about when we harvest our food. We want to make sure that the fig or the blueberry that you're eating is unparalleled not only from a nutrition perspective, but also from a taste perspective. So that means that we have to let every single ingredient reach its full nutritional and flavor potential on the vine or on the tree. And then we freeze everything within 24 hours of it being picked, which is really differentiated. And because of that rigor, our food is actually more nutritious than the stuff that you buy in the grocery store, which is something that a lot of people are surprised to hear. I think a lot of people see frozen as not as nutritious or inferior, when in fact, unless you are picking something straight from the farm and consuming it within three days, that's just not the case.Rachel:And we work with these farmers to also create entirely new supply chains, which is amazing. Our customers told us that they really wanted something with celery root last fall. And we worked with the farmer to create an entire supply chain of frozen celery root that had never existed before. And what's cool about a frozen supply chain is there's actually 50% less food waste and there's just so many benefits to the system overall. But we really think a lot about how we create the most nourishing, best tasting food and it really all comes back to those farm relationships.Stephanie:Wow, that's really cool. Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of people like you said don't understand the frozen aspect of why it's better because I know a while back, I heard that about fish too. But it's better to have frozen fish that's frozen right away when it's caught than getting something fresh. Fresh feels like it's healthier but actually it's more nutritional if you get the frozen one that was frozen right on the ship or boat or whatever it is.Rachel:When you think about the frozen aisle in the grocery store, most people associate it with like dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets.Stephanie:Yes, which may or may not be in my freezer right now.Rachel:I don't judge. When you ask most people what's in their freezer, it's like ice cream and vodka and ice cubes. I'm like, "These are not bad things, but it just shows you how the food system has evolved." And the microwave dinner was created not because it was healthy. It was because it was convenient and it was because it was created during this Industrial Revolution when food and science melded together in ways that is just so unnatural and we kind of just stayed there. So I think there's been a lot of... not I think. There's been a lot of education for customers to help them understand the benefits of frozen not only for themselves, not only for their taste buds, but also for the food system as a whole.Stephanie:Got it, that's great. So the one thing I'm thinking about too is working with farms, I can see them being on older tech stacks I'll call them or no tech stacks.Rachel:What tech stacks?Stephanie:Yeah. I'll just say non-existent tech stacks maybe unless they're like the very advanced farm with the drones going on.Rachel:No, [crosstalk 00:29:55].Stephanie:You're working with 400 farms. How are you placing these orders and getting things to happen quickly and making sure that it's up to your standards and that nothing's going to get backed up? How do you do that with farms that don't have a tech stack?Rachel:I mean, we built the technology for it.Stephanie:Tell me a bit about that. What did that process look like?Rachel:Yeah. So in the beginning, we only had a few farms, and it was easier to manage. But obviously, once you hit a certain scale, it becomes a little unwieldy and it's not just 400 farms. There's four crops a year and different ingredients. One farm might have six ingredients that they're growing for us. So it can get really complicated. But as I said, we have a large team that really focuses on this, and they're incredibly passionate. So what we did is we thought about how technology could make their job easier, how we can leverage technology to remove some of the friction in managing the quality of our food and the supply chain in general. And we really built a verification system that... I would say a trust but verify system where we set certain quality standards. Because we can't [inaudible] people who are on site at every farm with every harvest, and then there's like a verification system where they're sending us samples constantly to make sure that that everything is as we say it needs to be. And we're verifying nutrition after something is frozen to make sure that it's as it's supposed to be. And through every step, we are trusting and verifying. And all of that is rigorously notated in our technology stack.Stephanie:That's really cool. So it seems like you're bringing a lot of farmers online. Have they asked to reuse the technology with other partners too? They could be a whole separate business like, "Here's technology that you can now have with anyone else ordering from you."Rachel:Totally. I mean, we work with a lot of small farmers. So a lot of farmers don't have a lot of other business. We've really grown to a scale where most of our farmers are Daily Harvest farmers.Stephanie:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Oh, cool.Rachel:Really cool when you think about it. But yeah. I mean, we've definitely had people ask, but we've got to focus on our core competencies and what we're trying to achieve.Stephanie:Yep. That's great. So everyone's obviously looking into subscription businesses right now. It's always top of mind like, "Should this business be a subscription or not?" Everyone wants one. How do you think about retaining your customers and enticing them to stay with you for the long haul?Rachel:Yeah. So one thing that's interesting about Daily Harvest is on the outside, we kind of look like a subscription, but we're actually not a subscription. We're really what we call a replenishment business because once you sign up for Daily Harvest, our goal is to make sure that your freezer is always stocked. And it's not because that's good for us, it's because that's how we make sure that you have the food that you want when you want it. At that moment when you're hangry, when you're reaching for that bar, you need to have the right food in your freezer. Otherwise, you're going to make a different choice, right?Rachel:So we think a lot about what that replenishment looks like. And we also never want you to get an order of Daily Harvest that you don't want. Right? So we actually communicate with our customers ad nauseum to make sure that we're never sending them anything that they don't want, and they're only getting food when they do want it. And that's what makes us different from a subscription business where you have to consume your food or use your razor or whatever it is within a specific period of time and it's only good for that period of time. Because we're frozen, we're really not perishable, which is a huge benefit and allows us to be even more customer centric, but really thinking about maintaining our customer base.Rachel:Removing friction for our customers and making things as easy as possible for them, making their account as easy as possible to manage making sure that they're getting the food that they want when they want it. And we found that there's a direct correlation between removing that friction, being customer driven. We don't even think about about retention. We think about how can we be more customer driven? How can we get our customers exactly what they want? And what we found is that those things correlate really nicely.Stephanie:Yeah, I completely agree. So what does that back end account management look like for your customers? And one thing that's coming to mind is like the past couple interviews I've done, we've touched on one click ordering and how that's a big thing that a lot of people are expecting now. And I could see that maybe coming into play for you guys too where you're more about replenishing items. If I'm out of my matcha, or smoothie, or whatever it was that I really just enjoyed, going on to my account and just ordering that, and not having to have minimums or anything. Just being like, "That's what I want," and just doing it one off. How do you guys have the back end working?Rachel:Yeah. So we don't do that. And the reason why is because we really think of ourselves, as I said, as replenishment. So our customer behavior is much more going to shop at Costco, let's say. You don't go to Costco to buy one thing. It's never worth a shot.Stephanie:I need 10 pounds of butter when I go there.Rachel:Totally. But you have certain things that you go and you buy a lot of. So our customer really thinks about, how can Daily Harvest fill my entire freezer? When your inventory at home starts to dwindle, that's when you make your next purchase. So for us, one click ordering is not a thing. And we find that actually there's tension between how much cognitive load you reduce and how much customer friction you reduce, and people really getting the food that they want. So there's definitely a balance there. But what we do instead is we have an app and our app is incredibly customer driven. And it's about communication with our customers and making sure that, as I said, they're getting the food that they want when they want it. But it's definitely as easy as humanly possible, but not so easy that you're going to get something that you don't want.Stephanie:Mm-hmm (affirmative). That's great. Yeah. And I think that's a really good reminder, too, that everyone might be obsessed with a subscription model because that is good for businesses to lock people in. But that might actually leave a bad taste in a customer's mouth. And your model is completely different, which is like focus on what they want and what they need and make it easy for them to order and refill quickly without having to come back a thousand times.Rachel:Yep. And make it as easy as possible honestly for them to pause and cancel and do all the things they want to do because when you do that, they come back.Stephanie:Yep. I love that. Low friction, it's worth it. So to go to little more general commerce questions, what kind of disruptions do you see coming to commerce right now maybe in the next couple years?Rachel:I mean, look, I think COVID has been... it's been an interesting few months. But what it has done is it's really accelerated a bunch of trends that we've seen. And we've seen this huge adoption of ecommerce and people's willingness to stick around once they've tried it. So as you had early adopters previously who were signing up for food delivery or whatever it may be delivered to their home, what we're seeing now is people who are not early adopters, so more of the mainstream signing up. And there are different needs, and there's a different level of education, and there's all sorts of nuance to take into account with that trend. So we're thinking a lot about that, how we continue to remove friction for this different type of customer.Stephanie:Mm-hmm (affirmative). That's really great. So we have a couple minutes left and I want to jump over to the lightning round brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. This is where I'm going to ask you a question and you have a minute or less to answer. Are you ready, Rachel?Rachel:No.Stephanie:Prepare yourself to get some deep breaths. Get in the game. All right. We'll start with the easier ones first. What's Up next on your Netflix queue?Rachel:Oh, wait. I can't remember what it was called. It's The Man and the Company Castle. Hold on.Stephanie:Oh, that Amazon? The Man in the High Castle?Rachel:Yes. Not Netflix.Stephanie:That's okay. Yeah. Have you started it yet or?Rachel:I haven't but I am such a history nerd. And I don't know how I missed that this show existed, but I cannot tell you how excited I am to watch it.Stephanie:Yeah, it's very good.Rachel:Yeah. And I also feel like there's something about current state of affairs and dystopian society is that it really resonates. So let's see what it's got for us.Stephanie:Yeah. I mean, I like that one a lot. I think it's a good reminder I'm always very biased and ask about Netflix but Amazon, they've got some good stuff. I mean, I've binge-watched I think it was like Marvelous Mrs. Maisel if you knew to balance yourself out of it from dystopian to fun and cute. Also a very good series that I loved.Rachel:That show is amazing.Stephanie:Oh, you like it too? Yeah. It always leaves me with the happy feeling like, "Oh, this is cute. I love this."Rachel:All the time that I remind them of Rachel Brosnahan, and I'm like, "That is a huge compliment. Thank you."Stephanie:That is. She's awesome. Good. What's up next on your reading list? And it can be business or personal.Rachel:So it's Never Split the Difference which I've actually read before, but I like to read it every few years because I think it's the best negotiator out there and I'm not a natural negotiator. But it's obviously a huge part of my job. So it's coming up on time to read it once more.Stephanie:That's great. What is one thing that comes to mind when you think about that book? One lesson or principle where you're like, "Yeah, I'm not going to split the difference?" Anything high level other than what I just said which is just jacking the title.Rachel:So my favorite takeaway from the book, and it's just a reminder, it's really about listening. It's funny. I think a lot about toddler psychology these days because I have a three-year-old and a five-year-old. And there's a lot in common with the tactics in this book and toddler psychology, but it's really about validating people's emotions and feelings and creating trust and safety to be able to negotiate better.Stephanie:Oh, that's good. I like that. It shows that so many things are similar in life. Dealing with toddlers is the same thing as negotiating for your salary or investment money. Same thing.Rachel:It really is. It's crazy.Stephanie:I have to check that one out. What app or a piece of tech are you using right now that's making you more efficient in your life?Rachel:Okay. So this is such a weird one, but my husband just introduced me to the app for my cable provider. And I had no idea that this existed. I never watched TV ever. But given that we're in day three of the sit and wait for the results of our election, I've been able to just pop it up and have the news on live stream behind me. And it's been incredible because previously, I was refreshing my Twitter feed every 20 minutes or whatever it was. But just kind of having it in live feed behind me has been a huge unlock for my efficiency in this crazy time.Stephanie:That's great. I haven't even thought about apps from cable providers. So it's a good reminder for everyone. I like that.Rachel:It never occurred to me that one would even exist, and I'm very happy with it.Stephanie:That's great. What's one thing that you wish you knew more about? It could be a topic, a trend, a theme, anything.Rachel:Let's see. I really wish I knew more about human psychology. I feel like every time I read something or learn more, I get really excited and I want to dive in more but I really never have time to. And it's something that I feel would make me better at what I do every day if I really understood the psychology behind it.Stephanie:That's a good one. Yeah, I completely agree about that. Something I always want to dive into more and haven't had the time yet. So Rachel, this has been such a fun interview. Where can people find out more about you and Daily Harvest?Rachel:At dailyharvest.com.Stephanie:Awesome. Thanks so much for coming on the show.Rachel:Thanks for having me.

Welcome to the pharmacy residency podcast on the pharmacy podcast network. I have Rachel Whitesitt on with me and she is a P4 at the University of Iowa in her fifth week of this academic rotation. And what we want to do is talk to her a bit about her journey, but also she's had the time to get two degrees as she's going through here. And, maybe some advice on virtual rotations and things like that. So Rachel, welcome to the pharmacy residency podcast. Thanks for having me, Tony. I've really enjoyed this academic rotation, even though it's virtual. It's very different and I'm pretty flexible and really learn on my feet. No I'm excited. Well, let's first talk about why pharmacy. Many people kind of start in pharmacy serendipitously. I went to the University of Maryland College Park and as part of the requirement to get into the premed club, I needed some kind of health profession something or other, and then I just volunteered at the pharmacy, but then I just never went back to premed. So that was my way of getting in. What was it that brought you into pharmacy school? Yeah so, I did start working at a pharmacy when I was in high school. My cousin worked at an independent community pharmacy in our town as a tech and she was like, “Hey, do you need a job?” And I was a high school student, so yeah, I needed a job. I saw what the pharmacists were doing and how they were helping these patients. But they also had all this scientific knowledge and background to it as well, but we're able to translate that into educating patients and meeting them where they're at there. So I chose pre-pharmacy as my major, not sure what I really wanted to do it, but I just chose it. And then as I started at Iowa and was able to meet other pharmacists and then meet with the people at the school, I realized, yeah, this is what I want to do. Being able to talk to patients and then I also really liked the science of how the drugs work in the body. I think it's really interesting. So yeah, I've just stuck with pharmacy. Okay. And you live down just South of Des Moines, so you could have readily gone down to Kansas or over to Omaha or North to Minnesota. We do have a lot of pharmacy schools around here or just gone a little bit North to Drake, but you just decided on Iowa. So what was it that made you first decide pre-pharmacy Iowa and then what made you decide to stay? I wanted to choose a school that did have a pharmacy program cause that's where I was leaning towards doing. And then I chose to go to Iowa because I did kind of want a bigger state school because I love football and doing all those fun things and obviously the in-state tuition was good. But then as I learned more about the Iowa pharmacy program, I decided to stay because everyone that I met wanted me to learn and they wanted me to become the best pharmacist that I could be. I just felt like I really fit in well to the Iowa pharmacy family. So that's why I decided to stay there. And when you sit at the stadium, are you in the I, O, W, or the A, because for those of you that don't know Kinnick stadium, you'll hear I O W A. Where do you guys usually sit? Yeah, so we sit in the I, that's a student section. And I actually used to live really close to the stadium so I could see it out my window and I could hear that chant. Okay. That's so cool. Well, let's talk a little bit about your leadership journey because those that are listening are generally interested in residency and they want to do the very best they can in those five areas of clinical, research, leadership, service, and teaching. Tell me a little bit about your leadership journey and what you were involved in. I know you've actually started local and maybe moved out a little bit more than most. Yeah. My leadership journey has definitely changed and adapted as I've gone throughout pharmacy school. I think of it a little bit more as like servant leadership, so I also feel like I use my leadership position to touch on that service aspect a little bit as well. So one of my first positions I had was our APhA Operation Heart chair. I had actually originally run for our International Vice President position and did not get that. So that's one of those learning from your failures thing. But I really felt like Operation Heart Chair was where I was meant to be because I really enjoyed organizing health fairs and doing the screenings and then also helping to teach our fellow students how to do these screenings and also interpret the readings and then how to counsel patients on that as well. So I really enjoyed that position. And then I was also very involved Phi Delta Chi, a pharmacy fraternity. I spent two years as my chapter’s what we call Worthy Correspondent, kind of similar to a secretary. We highlight throughout the year what our chapter has done and help communicate that out to our other chapters and to our regional and national officers as well. With that group, I was able to go to multiple regional and national meetings where I've really loved getting to meet other pharmacy professionals from around the region around the nation and make those connections. So this last winter, I ran for a regional position which I've started this year. I'm the Regional Correspondent and I help the 11 different schools in our region and help them with their reports, the same kind of reports that I wrote. And also problem solving, especially with COVID-19, how are they going to do their events. I'm really a touch person for them. I've really enjoyed that and getting to know them personally as well as professionally. Awesome. Okay. So when you decided on career, so now you've, you've moved into some leadership positions. You started off in community and my understanding is you actually went into hospital for quite a long time. So tell me a little bit about choosing hospital. What you learned from hospital and maybe where the future is, whether hospital or community. Yeah, so as I said, I worked in an independent community pharmacy for about two years in high school. And then when I went to college and I worked at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics as an inpatient pharmacy technician for about four years. And there was so much going on, over an 800 bed hospital. It's a huge academic medical center, a level one trauma center. It was a really great opportunity. I just started there honestly, cause I needed a job. But then I was able to do a little bit more out from just our central pharmacy, help also in our satellite pharmacy, our children's hospital pharmacy, and then also do med recs as well. And doing that has kind of helped me see that, personally, the inpatient side is not for me. You see these patients and we send them home and you hopefully never see them again. I prefer to build those relationships over time. I'm really taking a lot of the skills, a lot of the logistical and management skills that I've learned in this huge academic medical center, but also a lot with transitions of care. When I did med recs, you saw patients were sometimes confused about what medications they were on already at home. And so, especially when those patients will then transfer from the hospital setting back to the home setting that's where pharmacists can really be critical, which medications that they changed, which medications they stopped. I hopefully will be taking a lot of those skills I learned in the hospital setting and bring them to either community practice or ambulatory care practice in my future. So tell me a little bit about choosing to do an MPH because a PharmD is rigorous enough. I know there's some overlap maybe, but tell me a little bit about the MPH and how does it fit into what you're going to do? Cause it seems like you've started, I don't want to say you started small, but you started local and you've expanded out. And my understanding is that the MPH is all about expansion and organizing those things on a much bigger level. Yeah, definitely. So I chose to do the MPH because I'm a little bit more interested in the – I love direct patient care – but also more of the organizing behind it and doing more outreach and interprofessional work and all of that. And I felt that the MPH could really give me a little bit more background and training in that and just help give me a little bit more education in that area. So at the University of Iowa, we have the dual degree program. So some of our pharmacy classes will count for MPH and then our MPH courses count for our electives. And you can get it done in the four years. It doesn't take an extra year. We did have do summer classes, but they were not too bad. So I thought, why not go for it? You know, it's not going to take me any extra time. And I've really learned about why people do what they do and why do they make the health decisions? And then how can we take some of these public health theories and then use those in our marketing and communication about health issues as well? So yeah, hopefully to take this degree and use it in organizing immunization campaigns and targeting chronic diseases, cause that's really where we're going for public health 3.0 and working with the public health department and other organizations. I really think about it as reaching out to, other groups, whether it be the actual public themselves or other healthcare professionals. And that's where I see myself using public health degree. Okay. Well, let's talk a little bit about virtual, not just virtual with the APPE and teaching students, but maybe you can kind of fill us in, on some of the virtual things that you were seeing and doing in your first APPE experience, which I think was in Maquoketa. Is that right? Yes. Yeah. So I was at Osterhaus pharmacy in Maquoketa. That rotation was in person, but our lobby was closed to our patients so we did a lot more tele-health where we were calling patients to counsel them on their medications because they weren't able to come into the store and take that time to sit down with us. We did that over the phone. That was interesting since we're really kind of going towards telemedicine. So that was nice to see. Okay. And then now you've been teaching students for almost five weeks. Maybe some things that you're picking up either you were able to apply from teaching clinically to teaching in the classroom or teaching in the classroom to something clinical. What's maybe, I hate to use the word Pearl it's so overused, but what's a best practice or, or something in terms of teaching that maybe somebody, let me give you an example. So something, a lot of students like to do is say, this is my first time doing this. So just go easy on me, which completely removes any credibility they might've just had, they took it away. It's like a wedding, nobody knows how it's supposed to go. It just goes the way it did. And that's what all the guests say. What's maybe something that you found out that would be helpful to someone that does a teaching rotation or that does have significant teaching in a community practice? Yeah. Well, I would say really trying to find a way for the person that you're teaching to be involved. We would do some presentation during our zoom classes, but also having a Kahoot to allow the students to actually have to do something versus just sitting there with their mic off and camera off. And having them actually answer the questions I thought was helpful so they could gain gauge their knowledge, but also become a little bit more engaged in that. I think that's also important for when you're teaching patients, you have to teach or teach them to use like a new inhaler or something, having them show you how to use it engages them. And then it helps them become a little bit more competent in doing that as well. Yeah. And I think even just today we had one where the students, half of them picked alprazolam, and half of them picked diazepam for a muscle relaxer. And that maybe was a point of distinction where they're saying, okay, well I get they're both benzos, but wouldn't both of them do the same thing with the muscle relaxer and kind of talking about specificity and things like that. So that's a great point. What about when we talk about virtual? What do you think about midyear? I know we haven't talked too much about it, but what do you think a virtual midyear is going to be like. What are maybe some advantages that, that it might have or  disadvantages that it might have? Because I saw that I want to say Wisconsin is having a virtual, there's a group in Wisconsin I think is having its first virtual showcase in just a week. So some of them are happening very quickly, but maybe something that you think would be important as you're going into a virtual midyear or virtual showcase. Yeah. So I think students want to be a little bit more on our game about figuring out when are these since we don't know if there's going to be a full residency showcase. Is it going to be those three different sessions? I'm just figuring out when the programs that you want to check out. Are they or when are they going to be at this residency showcase or are they going to be having other opportunities to learn about them as well? So checking out their website and social media pages to see, and what other opportunities are they having to connect with them? If we're not necessarily going to be able to talk in person, it'll be important to be able to talk, whether it's over these chats or if you're going to have to maybe see their presentation and email them separately. We'll have to learn to communicate a little bit differently than just talking to them at the residency showcase. Yeah. And even just with this rotation, maybe you saw how having good video quality, having good audio quality can make a difference in the impression that you make on someone or that they make on you. And you were able to kind of encapsulate what it is to record a presentation versus being in front of someone versus kind of seeing on the fly. Oh wait. So I thought they got this, but this is what actually they actually got out of it. Well, I've asked you a lot of questions. Is there anything that I haven't asked you about, or haven't mentioned that you'd like to maybe address, I know I touched on a lot. I think just letting students know if there's something you're interested in, go for it. It’s never too late to do anything, especially now I'm in my APPE year and thinking a little bit about more about the five big categories you’ve got to touch on. If there's something you think you're lacking in or something you're more interested in, find people to help you with that. You know, I wanted to see a little bit more what teaching was like. And so that's why I ranked this rotation high and I thought it has been really interesting. It kind of opened my eyes to other kinds of teaching as well, and writing, and a lot of other things. So whatever you're interested in, go for it. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for being on the pharmacy residency podcast. Awesome. Thank you.    

Genesis: Good News from the Beginning! Life & Death | July 19, 2020 | Lincoln Larsen Genesis 35 | God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it.Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Tim Ryan, Jennifer Gimenez, Rachel Stacy, and M2 The Rock - RELATIONSHIPS IN RECOVERYWe are blessed to have a real powerhouse couple in recovery with us tonight in Jennifer Gimenez & Tim Ryan: Dope To Hope. So Rachel will be joining M2 and we’ll call it a “Double Date”. Grab your popcorn and nestle in for it TONIGHT!M2 delivers real talk on solutions to addiction, alcoholism, and unmanageable habits. We air weekdays on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at 7:30PM/CST offering spiritual solutions to human problems. To learn more visit www.M2TheRock.com.#togetherwe #quarantine #alonetogether #doubledate #couplesinrecoveryThank You

Copywriter Rachel Greiman is our guest for the 184th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Rachel has worked almost exclusively with photographers since she launched her copywriting business a few years ago. We talked about how the niche found her, her unique process and more. Here's most of what we covered: •  how she became a photographer and copywriter •  her work as a photo-journalist and the work she did •  the struggle she had in early days in her business as a copywriter •  how she charged $200 for entire websites—and why it was so low •  how clients found her as she launched her copywriting business •  why she works with associate writers and how she trained them •  what her business looks like today compared to those early days •  how she works with and pays her team and what she expects from them •  why she pays her team well and how it has helped her business •  how she trains her team to make sure they can deliver •  why she only takes one client at a time and her delivery schedule •  how she thinks about her “competitors” •  the “guide” she created to develop a second income stream •  what she learned from the process of launching a product •  the first time she ever met another copywriter and what happened after that •  what she’s done to take her business to the next level •  dealing with the virus and running a business in a time of disruption •  the reason to be optimistic about the future right now To hear all the great advice Rachel has to share, click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript. Or subscribe at iTunes or Stitcher so you never miss an episode.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: The Copywriter Think Tank Rachel’s website Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Rob:   This episode is brought to you by the copywriter accelerator, the 12-week program for copywriters who want to learn the business skills they need to succeed as copywriters, learn more at thecopywriteraccelerator.com Kira:   What if you get to hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts? Ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits. Then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work. That's what Rob and I do every week at The Copywriter Club podcast. Rob:   You're invited to join the club for episode 184 as we chat with copywriter for photographers Rachel Greiman about the power of choosing a niche building and managing team, creating a completely different offer for her audience and what she's done to take the business to a new level this year. Kira:   Rachel, welcome. Rachel:   Hi. Thanks for having me. Thanks for dealing with the last 40 minutes of tech problems with us. I'm sure that 90% of it was my fault. So... Rob:   Everyone is working from home these days and so the internet does not want to cooperate. Kira:   The internet is full. That is true. Rachel:   It is full. Kira:   So Rachel, we have been working with you and been able to get to know you through the Think Tank over the last 12 months. And we're excited to share a bit more about your story and some of the wins and even some of the struggles. But why don't we start with your story. How did you end up as a copywriter? Rachel:   That is a really great question and probably one I should have mentally prepared for knowing this, coming here. I just feel like it's such a winding road and it always gets so long. I will try to condense it though. Kira:   Okay. Rachel:   So I studied photojournalism in college, so writing and photography always went hand in hand for me. Like I was always doing both. And then after college I worked in the nonprofit field for a long time, almost a decade actually. And I would always get hired for one skillset, either writing or photography. And then I always ended up doing both together because at nonprofits ...

Our approach to business is changing by the day. So Rachel and Gina couldn't have asked for a better guest in this moment, than Meridith Elliott Powell. An author, business strategist, keynote speaker, and co-host of the outstanding podcast, Sales Logic, where she demonstrates how to "Turn uncertainty into your competitive advantage." She gets personal with Gina and Rachel about being raised in a home rife with addiction, and how that experience propelled her to success in her life and career. Meridith also provides great insight on her rise to the corporate boardroom, by being able to play the game, and then dominate it.  PLUS! Listen in to hear how businesses and leaders need to be innovating and changing now in order to come out of this challenging time on top.      Today’s episode is brought to you by DermaVogue. Click here to learn more about how they provide the most effective, flawless solutions to any skincare or cosmetic need. Join our exclusive fan community, Warner World, for more Gina, Rachel and Women Your Mother Warned You About More about Gina Gina Trimarco is CEO/Founder of Pivot10 Results (training and strategy company) and Carolina Improv Company (comedy club and school). She has 25+ years of experience in marketing, sales, operations and people training. Gina combines street smarts and improv comedy skills with her experience in the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds, which sets her apart from her competition. A true Chicago city girl, her much older father trained her in sales starting at the age of 10, working in flea markets.  More about Rachel Rachel Pitts is a Mom, Realtor, Author, and Creator of The Closing Curve, a new real estate software focused on enhancing the buyer experience. With a background in show business, her motto is: Entertain. Inform. Inspire. Find Rachel on social media as TheSingingLender, at www.thesinginglender.com and www.theclosingcurve.com and pick up her book, The Gift of Wreckage on Amazon More about Keith Walters As Managing Principal of Walters Dev Group, LLC, Keith currently assists companies via board and advisory roles. Keith has spent more than 30 years using a strong entrepreneurial focus to lead, advise and grow very successful businesses. His focus on operational excellence brings stability into organizations he leads and guides. Through a unique management system focused on company growth and strong culture development Keith helps build businesses that are true talent magnets. Women Your Mother Warned You About™ is a Pod About It Production.

Can you believe we're just a couple of episodes away from hitting 100 on the Advanced Freelancing, and previously known as Better Biz Academy podcast? I'm very excited to chat with today's guest, Rachel Richards. She really has an amazing and inspiring story that I'd love for you to hear. The reason that I wanted to have Rachel on the show is because she is really a master at passive income and has so much excellent insight she can share with us about how to get started with this. This topic comes up a lot. And that's why I felt like we needed to cover this on the show. A lot of people get confused by the whole process of setting up your passive income streams.  Is it really passive? How do you make all of that work for you? Rachel has an amazing background. She graduated in only three years at age 20 without debt. She used to be a financial advisor and published her first book in 2017 over 12,000 copies of it. So she quit her full time job at age 27 in August 2019, and is retired now living off of $10,000 a month in passive income. So she has five rental properties with 35 units total, royalties from her books, royalties from her print on demand business, and her passive income which ranges between 10 to 12k a month.  She has more than replaced her full time income allowing her to retire early, to speak professionally, travel and pursue her interests. And she talks a lot in her books about passive income, aggressive retirement and “money, honey” about savings buckets investing, and how to get started with passive income and different streams. Now, my interview with her is great. There's lots of excellent information. I want to call your attention to one of the comments that she makes towards the end of the interview about how to leverage the fact that you've worked in different positions or even done different freelance gigs to figure out what you do and don't like. This comes up from time to time with some of my one on one coaching clients who have this dream of being a freelancer, and then once they're in the thick of it realize they actually hate it. One of my one on one coaching clients, for example, it took her doing several freelance writing gigs for her to say, ”I don't want to do this anymore.”  And so we've had to step back and figure out what is the service or consulting that she can offer that's going to light her up because freelance writing isn't it. This is why it's so powerful that you start your freelance business and dip your toes in the water of side income and passive income prospects starting small because you might not like what you do.  Maybe owning rental units isn't right for you because you hate it.  And maybe publishing books, you love the writing part, but being an author is at least 50% marketing and maybe you don't like that. So figuring out what suits you from your background as well as knowing your own personality can really help you go in the right direction when it comes to building in different types of freelance services or passive income. If you love this episode, please drop me a line at info@betterbizacademy.com. I'd also love it if you left the show a review on Apple iTunes. Thanks again for tuning in. And we're almost to Episode 100, where I will be recapping my top 10 favorite episodes from the show. It's time for another episode of the Advanced Freelancing podcast. And today we're talking about a topic that comes up all the time with freelancers who have scaled their business to the point where they're relatively successful.  They're fully booked or close to fully booked and it's time to start thinking about expanding. Another common issue that a lot of freelancers run into is, ”Okay, I'm only making money when I sit at my computer and work for my clients.  Which means if I'm sick, if I take vacation, or if there's some other reason I can't work, no income is coming in.”  And that's why I'm so excited about my guest today, Rachel Richards.  We are going to be talking all about passive income. And she is the queen of passive income. I'd love to kick off by hearing about one of the things that jumped out from Rachel’s bio.  And that is that she graduated with no debt. I know that that's so rare. These days, most of us, myself included, we graduate with tons of debt.  And it almost feels like you're going to be paying it off the rest of your life. So I'd love to know how Rachel made that transition and paid and graduated with no debt. Rachel’s take for graduating without debt. It's definitely a tough thing to accomplish, especially with the crazy cost of college these days. But I do have a couple tips. So the first thing I did is I started thinking ahead when I was in high school, in terms of what scholarships I could apply for. So that got me motivated to do really well in high school.  I was academically doing really well. I had a great GPA. I was also getting involved in as many clubs and everything as I could. And that helped me to earn scholarships to pay for school. So I went to a Centre College which is a private liberal arts school here in Kentucky.  And it costs over $40,000 a year. That's a ton of money. So with the scholarships that I was able to earn, I had a really big academic scholarship and I also had a piano scholarship. That helped me out a lot. But I was able to cover $30,000 out of the $40,000 in scholarships. Another tip I would say is that I took a lot of AP classes in high school.  And I actually ended up graduating in only three years. So when I went into Centre, I was going in as a second semester freshman and almost a sophomore. I was able to graduate a year early, which saves me that entire year's worth of tuition. And then finally, the most important tip I would give is that, when I was in high school looking at this enormous expense, I was starting to feel really discouraged and afraid. I had this really big fear of going into debt. And I was discouraged because, at the time, I was working at American Eagle and I was making paychecks that were maybe $200 per week. I knew that to make $10,000 a year to cover that gap and be able to pay for my tuition that American Eagle just wasn't going to cut it. No matter how many hours I worked, I wasn't going to be able to afford that $10,000. So I looked into other jobs and I actually ended up selling Cutco cutlery.  So it's not an MLM let me just say that first because I know there's a lot of MLM hate out there these days, but it's not an MLM. It's a direct sales company. And the reason I loved it so much is because it was the first time I was in a job where the harder I worked, the more money I made. I knew I could outwork anybody. I could work all day long and make a ton of money. So it really got me motivated and I was able to earn a lot of money from commission. So I worked hard that first summer before entering college. And I was able to make $10,000 that summer. So I was basically paying my way through school. Even though my parents were less than thrilled about the idea of me selling sharp objects to their family and friends. That's what I did. And I did it successfully. So those are kind of my three tips. That's the way I was able to pay for school. There's so much good information there. And I love the idea of taking as many AP classes as you can. I also know people who in college would take community college classes over the summer to get ahead.  If there's certain things you have to take, like intro to biology or a math class, why take that as part of your traditional education at an expensive college? Why not just make that be something you take for much cheaper at a community college?  Knock it out of the way.  You could even do that the summer before you go to college. I think that's super important.  We have a fair amount in common there because I went to a private women's college in Virginia. And our price tag was not as bad as yours, but it was $32,000. And it was the same thing. It was like we had after scholarships, we had a shortfall of like, $2,000 a year and my mom and I were like, “Okay, there's a way we can make this work.”  And when I got one more scholarship to cover that, then I was able to keep my work, study money to buy groceries or little things that I might need throughout the semester. But I love that idea of kind of speeding up your time in college.  It's so expensive.  Even if you're getting great rates at an in state school, it's still expensive. And if you can cut that one year off, maybe put in a little bit of extra work, and prepare for it in high school with those AP classes, that’s a great way to save a lot of money and graduate with very little or no debt at all. So Rachel is like the queen of passive income. Why don't you give us a little bit of a brief introduction? How did you get into generating passive income streams? Rachel’s take on passive income. For those listening, just to kind of define what passive income is. And I know this sounds too good to be true, but passive income is money that is earned with little to no ongoing work. So I'm sure you're familiar with JK Rowling. She is the author who wrote the Harry Potter series 25 years ago. She did all the hard work and the writing back then. And today, she's still making millions of dollars from the Harry Potter series. So that's passive income. It takes time to create, but once it's in place, it takes little to no ongoing work in order to maintain that income. And that's why it's so beautiful. Why I think that’s helpful. That's very helpful because I think one of the things that bothers me about the term passive income, is that people are always asking me about it.  And they're like, “What are your passive income streams?” And I have a side business. We sell all my old lesson plans from my teaching days. We have over 250 lesson plans for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers. In a sense, it's passive, because I spendless than an hour a month even looking at it. But that being said, we do put some work into it.  We pin pins on Pinterest. And so it'll be interesting to hear more about what your passive income streams are, and if they are truly passive.  But I was just curious, how did you get into them? I mean, obviously, he previously worked as a financial advisor and had more of a traditional job. How did you branch out into these passive income streams? Rachel branches out into her passive income streams. So a few years ago, as I was learning about this amazing concept of passive income, I had this epiphany that once your passive income exceeds your living expenses, you're retired. And I just mean retired in the sense of being financially independent and not having to go to work anymore. So that's what my husband and I started working towards. We actually started in 2017. And it only took us about two and a half years to build up enough passive income to retire. So in 2017, the first thing we did is we had always wanted to invest in real estate. We always knew that real estate was a really great tool for building long term wealth. And it wasn't even necessarily at the time. I didn't even think I put together the dots of creating the passive income, but it was just something we always wanted to do. So in January of 2017, we bought our first duplex. We live in Louisville, Kentucky, so it's a low cost of living area and it's a great area to invest in. And the duplex we bought, we got a crazy good deal on. It was $100,000. So we put we only had to put about $20,000 in for the down payment. And it was immediately generating $500 per month in profit and profitable cash flow. That's after expenses. So that was such a great income stream for us. We immediately took that money, saved, and reinvested it so that we could afford to save up enough money for the next down payment for the next rental property. Now rental property, I'll hear something people that will say, “Wow, that's so passive and amazing.” And I'll hear some people that say, ”No, rental properties are not passive at all.” I think it's definitely in the passive category and that you're not having to work a 40 hour week to maintain it. Within a passive income, though, there's a wide spectrum.  Some things are completely passive. And some things are less passive. I personally think it really depends on whether you have a property manager or not.  So in my book, when I'm talking about how to create passive income, I always say invest in real estate, get rental properties, but make sure you have a property manager.  Otherwise, it's not going to be as passive as you want it to be. So that's kind of the first income stream we started with. And then later on in 2017, I launched my first best selling book “Money, Honey”. I was generating royalty income off of that as well. So we had these two passive income streams, rental income and royalty income, and we focused on growing those as much as we possibly could for the next few years. Fast forward to today, we now own over 35 rental units in Louisville, Kentucky. And I just launched my second best selling book. So I think last year, at some point last year, we hit this $10,000 per month mark, where we were making $10,000 a month in passive income.   Which was more than enough to cover our expenses. So that's when we were able to call ourselves retired. And that's when I quit my job. I love the distinction between different ways you can define passive. You can decide how passive really is this and the more you can build in the right structure from the beginning, the easier it is. And that was something I did too with my side business of selling lesson plans. I really didn't want to maintain this every month. I don't want to deal with the customer service questions if someone has problems with the download. So from the beginning, I had all these lessons and I hired a virtual assistant and said, “Hey, are you comfortable with this?  It's going to take you less than five hours a month to deal with all of this, but I don't really want to be part of it.” I just wanted it to be there and be running on the side. And it's really nice to have that because I never have to get involved in any of that administrative stuff. But money's being generated every month. So I have two questions following up on that. So the rental property thing is so interesting. I think we hear this a lot from people who are very wealthy and very successful financially. You've got to invest in real estate. So my first question is, how did you get that initial money for that down payment of your first property? Did that come from personal savings? Was that another passive income stream that paid for the down payment? Rachel shares where her initial investment money came from. Yeah, so that came from personal savings. And I'll talk a little bit about how I did that. But then we'll also talk about the ways that people can invest in real estate without having a large chunk of money. So don't let that stop you. I was in a situation where I graduated without debt. My husband also graduated without debt because he was in the military. So he used his benefits to pay for school. And then we both had pretty lucrative careers. I have always been a financially frugal person.  As a former financial advisor, I knew how to manage my money well. So, we didn't have debt. I was managing my money. Well, we were both making good money and didn't have kids, which is a pretty big expense. So we were just able to save pretty aggressively. I graduated from college when I was 20. And then I invested in my first rental property when I was 24. So, after four years, or I think it probably took less time, we had more than enough money for the down payment on the first rental property. The big difference… I was just curious, it's obviously quite a big difference, going from having one property where you're getting your feet wet, figuring out how this works. And now you have 35 rental properties. How do you keep all of that straight? I'm sure you have a property manager for each one. But how do you monitor all the logistics with those different rental properties? Rachel gets real on logistics. Yeah, so we did have property managers for a while. We're between them now, because the last people didn't work out. But just to clarify, we have 35 rental units, not property. So we have five buildings.  Three of them are apartment buildings where it's 11 or 12 units in each building. But it is a lot to manage. It's a lot of work when you don't have a property manager, especially when you get to like 25-30 units, then it's really it's a lot of work. And you can't really call it passive anymore.  Which is why you really have to start out knowing that you're going to have a property manager in mind. But in terms of how to keep everything straight. I am a luckily an Excel wizard.  And I love Excel spreadsheets. So I keep everything very organized in terms of the finances, the tenants, the payments, and the maintenance.  We have a pretty good system in place that helps us be a lot more efficient. Perfect system for a financial whiz. That's really amazing. And it sounds like it might be the perfect fit for someone who's already a financial whiz or virtual assistant who's really good with spreadsheets and numbers.  It's going to leverage your existing skill set. Now, I love the fact that you've written books. A lot of people assume that books are the fast track to passive income. I know when I published my first book, which was done through the traditional publishing process, a lot of people have this vision of what it means to write and sell books.  But it still takes a lot of work to market a book.  And I know that most books that are published never sell more than 250 copies. Obviously, you are a major exception to that and are seeing continued success with multiple books. What are your recommendations for someone who's thinking about writing a book and really wants to get traction on Amazon or on any of the other platforms where books are sold? Rachel’s recommendations when writing a book. I think you made a great point about over the long run you still do have to market your book. So when you're thinking about passive income, you really need to consider how passive do I want it to be? Because there are things you can certainly outsource.  You can hire a social media manager.  You can outsource or whatnot. And if you choose not to do things like going on the radio or the TV or doing or you know doing podcast interviews, then you can certainly make it a lot more passive. So everyone that's trying to create a passive income stream really just needs to think from the beginning. How passive do I want this to be? And what can I outsource to make it more passive? Now books specifically… Yes, the statistics say that most books sell 250 copies. So to have launched a book that's been so successful is still just shocking to me. My first book “Money, Honey” has now sold over 15,000 copies. And my second book, “Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement” has already sold over 3000 copies. And I just launched it a couple months ago. I think there's a lot to be said for doing market research. I could write a book about cooking and launch it.   There are thousands of other cookbooks or books about cooking out there. So how could mine be different? And it's the same thing or maybe even more competitive in the financial industry. There's thousands of books about money and finance out there. So why on earth would somebody want to read mine over somebody else's? If you can't answer that question, then your book won't be successful. You have to be able to articulate what is the unique value that I am bringing.  What's different about my book that nobody else can find in another book? So for example, in “Money, Honey”, I had this epiphany. That people my age, female millennials, were coming to me all the time for financial advice.  My family and friends would come to me.  And I loved helping them. And at some point, I began to wonder why they're not taking advantage of some of these websites or books that are out there or trying to learn? And then what I realized is that a lot of finance books are dry, boring, complex, and intimidating. So then I thought to myself, “Well, how can I make this subject sassy and fun and simple?” So that's what I did with “Money, Honey”. It's sassy and humorous. It's really, really easy to read. It's a quick read. And it has resonated so much with female millennials. So it really hit a nerve with them. It’s really taken off because of that. It’s just spread like wildfire. Basically, through word of mouth. I haven't done any paid advertising. I know a lot of people have a dream of writing a book. That's amazing. And I think a lot of people have this dream of writing a book. I believe that a lot of people, most people do, have at least one good book in them that they could write. But we all know many people who say, “Oh, yeah, I want to write a book. I've always wanted to write a book.” And then it never happens. I know one of the biggest challenges is when you have a full plate.  Obviously, Rachel had other things going on in her life.  She was working on all of these different rental properties and having that happening at the same time as writing a book. What tips do you have for someone who's busy? I mean, a lot of my audience, they're freelancers who are successful. So they've probably got a close to fully booked or fully booked schedule.  And a lot of people start off with the best of intentions and motivation, but lose that energy. So what recommendations do you have for people who think they might want to write a book and somehow need to find a way to fit that around their existing business and obligations? Rachel’s recommendations for writing a book. Yeah, that's a great question. And I totally agree. I think everyone has at least one book in them. So I get really excited when I can help people with this topic. But I would say I have two tips. The first one is to set aside time at the beginning of every day.  Because if you wait until after work, or after whatever activity you have planned, the further you go along in your day, the less likely you are to actually sit down and set aside those 10 or 20 minutes to start writing. When I was writing my first book “Money, Honey”, I was employed full time.  And I was investing in real estate. We all have crazy schedules. We're all busy. So it's just about prioritizing that time and making sure you do it first thing in the morning before things start getting in your way. And then the second tip... So one day, I sat down and I decided I'm going to track how I spend my time in 15 minute intervals for two days in a row. So literally every 15 minutes, I would write down what did I do the last 15 minutes? And yes, it was kind of tedious to do that and kind of a pain for two days. But man was that eye opening. It's sort of like doing a budget for where your time is going and where you want it to go or not. And what I realized after two days is that I was saying that I was the busiest person in the world. I couldn't possibly take another appointment. I didn't have any time to do anything. Once I saw how I was spending my time, and this is embarrassing to admit, but I realized I was spending three or four hours per day on social media, or watching TV. Most times we don't have any perspective. You don't really know where your time is going until you actually sit down and track it. So I think that's an eye opening exercise. Anyone can do that and really easily figure out where am I wasting my time and where can I free up time so I can spend it writing my book or researching book ideas. It's so powerful to be able to track your time. That's something I also recommend to business owners who are thinking that they might not need to outsource anything to a virtual assistant or a subcontractor. Because you think that you're being productive and doing all of these things. But when you track your time, you realize how much of your time you're spending on silly things like answering the same questions in an email over and over again or formatting a blog post and WordPress. And that might not be the best use of your time. I think any of the tedious nature of keeping track of that is more than balanced out by the fact that it really calls your attention to what are you doing with your time. Because you'll find yourself being more mindful.  You’ll say, “Hey, I wasted the last 15 minutes. How did I go down this rabbit hole on Instagram scrolling?”  Now you're going to be more mindful for the future time periods that you're tracking even within that day and it can really help open your eyes. I also really support our advice of writing first thing in the day. Being a full time freelance writer for seven years, if I used up all of my writing energy and creativity on things for my clients, there was absolutely no way that I was even typing one word on my books at night. And so it had to be that first priority. The first thing you work on every day. And I think sometimes people set these big, crazy goals that you can't really accomplish like, “Well, I'm going to add 5000 words to my book this Saturday.” Wouldn't it just be easier if you said you're going to do like 1000 words every morning, Monday through Friday? Don't set these giant, enormous goals that put so much pressure on you and feel like such a letdown if you fail. If you miss Tuesday morning’s 1,000 word writing session, you still got at least 4000 words towards your book. That's much more effective than putting this pressure on. I'm going to spend the whole day writing Saturday and I'll get 5000 words. And you get zero and that disappointment is crushing because then it's like, “Well, I guess I have to wait to get another week until my next Saturday to write.” So breaking it down into that morning activity is really important. So we've talked about two different types of passive income streams, books and rental properties. Are there other recommendations for passive income or side income streams that you can recommend for people who have online business savvy and skills? Rachel’s other passive income recommendations. Yes, absolutely. And this kind of gets into the meat of my newest book, “Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement”. In that book, I talk about 28 different passive income models. And anyone can do it. Passive income either takes money or time or sometimes both to create. So you really have to start with asking yourself, do I have more time? Or do I have more money that I can put into building this passive income stream? Royalty income is a really big category of passive income. So that includes what we talked about launching and writing a book. But it could also include launching a course. It could include something called print on demand platforms where you're earning royalties off of products that you sell without having to touch the products, without having any inventory. A print on demand platform. There's also passive income that would fall into the e-commerce or advertising category. So that could be affiliate marketing, blogs, or offering some type of membership. And again, you have to be careful about the way you set this up. Because when you start a blog, it could either be not passive at all, it could be completely active. Or if you build it the right way, and outsource the writing and content creation, then it can be passive. That's something that Bobby Hoyts did. He's the founder of the Millennial Money Man, the website and the blog. And he has a really large community and online classes that he offers. I actually interviewed him for my book as well as a ton of other different subject matter experts. But yeah, there's tons of ideas out there. So I would encourage people to research, get started, and don't hold yourself back because you don't think that you can do it or that you have the right skill set. Excellent advice. Now how long do you think it takes to really get traction with passive income streams? And does that vary based on the different type of income stream you're pursuing? Yes, it definitely varies. And, for example, portfolio income is probably the only passive income that's truly 100% passive.  It literally doesn't require any work. And when I say portfolio income, I mean investing it in investments that are earning dividends or producing income for you. So when you decide you're going to, you have to have a large amount of money to do this. But the good thing is, it doesn't really require any time. You just invest the money and then it's generating income for you. So that's something that has no time requirement in the beginning and it can generate passive income immediately. Of course, you need to have a ton of money to do it. So you kind of have to  pick your battles there. There are other income streams like writing a book. Of course that's going to take months of researching and outlining, writing the book, and putting together a marketing plan. And then to actually launch it and sustain the success long term requires marketing and having a really great strategy. So for example, for my first book “Money, Honey”, I started writing it in January of 2017. And I launched it in September of 2017. So it's about nine months. But I was also working full time. And I also quit for four months in the middle of that because I was convinced that my book was awful and it was going to be an embarrassment. So I quit writing for four full months. And if not for that, I really think I could have launched it within four or five months. In my first book, or in my first month of lunch, I made about $500 or $600. And then I quickly grew that income stream to over $1,000 per month within the first few months. But you have to account for all the time it took to launch the book in the first place. And then another example would be real estate investing. You do need some money for that. It doesn't have to be a ton of money. Then you're gonna have to spend time just finding the right property and doing the research. And sometimes you'll get lucky and the right property will appear out of thin air and you'll make an offer and everything will happen really fast. But it's something I always say you have to be really patient with. Because it could take months to find the right property. I think it took us nine months of searching before we found our first duplex and closed on it. So you just have to be patient, you have to put the work in in the beginning so that you can then enjoy the fruits of your labor later. That's perfect advice. Because I think a lot of people hear these great stories about somebody like you who's very successful with passive income streams. And of course that started smaller and you were willing to invest the time and wait for the right thing. So it wasn't like you said, “Okay, I'm going to create online courses. I'm going to write books. And I'm going to buy rental property. I'm going to try all the things all at once and it should be successful in 90 days or less.” That's not how it works. But you started off with a lot of motivation. And then you continued to tweak and improve things as you went. I think that's so important for anyone thinking about passive income. It might be a slow build, but the long term payoff is really something that can be worth it. So it sounds like you've built a lot of your financial knowledge and your gold around your previous career as a financial advisor. So what strategies or advice did you take with you when you left that career? And which ones did you leave behind? I was a financial advisor at first very early on in my career. And then the last few years, I was actually a finance analyst. But there were a lot of things that I learned as a financial advisor. And one of the things I actually learned just kind of on a more personal note. The reason I went into financial advising is because I had this awesome sales experience selling Cutco knives. And then I also wanted to help people invest their money. So I thought it was going to be the perfect career for me. It turns out that when I actually got into that job, I realized it was a lot cold calling and prospecting. And although I could be really good at that, if I forced myself to be, it was just draining and exhausting, and it didn't come naturally to me. So it probably took longer than it should have for me to realize this wasn't the career for me. And I really needed to make a change. It's hard because when you're a millennial or a recent grad, and you're trying to navigate your way through  the job market, you don't want to have all these short stints on your resume. Because they say that looks bad to an employer. But at the same time, there's time to do that early in your early in your career where it's really not going to hurt you. So you really have to give yourself the opportunity to work at a few different jobs and see, what do you not like about this job? What do you like about this job?  That way, you can really figure out what you want your long term career to be. So that's kind of my takeaway, just from a career and personal perspective.  I think that most people can manage their money and invest on their own. Yes, they will have to do some learning and some reading. But I think that we really overcomplicate the subject of investing. We make it way harder and more intimidating than it needs to be. And in reality, investing can be a super simple activity. I would also say to educate yourself if you do choose to use a financial advisor. I think that's great because it's better to invest with a financial advisor than not to invest at all, but make sure that you're aware of how financial advisors are paid. Some financial advisors are paid based off commissions. That means that they are not incentivized in the correct way and they're not acting as your fiduciary. But other financial advisors are fee only financial advisors.  So they're being paid a fee of the total percent of assets they have under management. That means that if they grow your money successfully, they will get paid more. So those incentives are lined up the exact way they need to be lined up for them to be their fiduciary. So if you are going to work with a financial advisor, just make sure you understand how they're paid, how they're incentivized, and whether they are truly acting in your best interest. That is such excellent advice. I've heard a lot of the same. And I think a lot of people are scared about how you get started with investing knowing that there are a lot of brokers and advisors out there who have the reverse incentive to make a lot of transactions and move things around so that they can collect a fee every time that happens. And as someone who might not be educated on how all that works, it's hard to tell that balance of are these moves really benefiting me? Or is this being done more for the benefit of the advisor? So you mentioned that everyone should do a little bit of research about getting started with that. And as far as investing, do you have some recommendations of some books or some resources that you love for total beginners? Yes, I would give my book “Money, Honey”, a five star review.  But I'll give some more resources. But in my book “Money, Honey”, I do talk about how to invest. And I include screenshots and everything. Because one of the questions that would get from my friends was, “Okay, but how do I physically buy the stock? Like what do I do?” So I have screenshots of literally how to set up an investment account, a discount brokerage account, and how to trade and how to buy your first stocks and some advice on how to do that. Some other really great books. I've read tons of finance books over the years. I love “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. Another really great book is “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” by Ramat Sethi. I don't know if I'm saying that correctly. And that's not so much about investing as it is just about practical money hacks and things you can do to just easily save yourself some money. And for those of you who are interested in getting Rachel's books… If you have Kindle Unlimited, both of them are available through the Kindle unlimited program, which I really recommend if you don't have Kindle unlimited is well worth the monthly cost that you pay to be able to have up to 10 titles out at a time. I've already added both of her books to my downloads. So no excuses to not at least start with Rachel's books. So my kind of last wrap up question for you is, how do you balance the fact that passive income can vary from one month to another? How do you balance that when you've got multiple things that can change every month? That's a great question. And something my husband and I were really careful to do when we were working towards early retirement is, you know, if your living expenses are $5,000 per month, and your passive income is $5,000 per month, yes, you're technically retired.  You've covered your expenses. But that leaves you no room in case you don't make as much income as you thought or in case your expenses are more than you thought. Or if you just want to continually be saving money, which we did. Then we kind of really re-evaluate it. And we said, “Well, for our living expenses are $5,000 a month, and we want our passive income to be $10,000 a month.” So that's an enormous margin of error or buffer room. Most months, we're able to still save a lot of money. But that means that if our passive income is only $7,000 or $8,000, which is a lot less than what it should be, or what we would think it would be, that means we're still more than offsetting our expenses. So when you're kind of projecting out and planning out how to achieve this, I would just basically do it based on the worst case scenario. So in your worst month, if your passive income is only x, is it still enough to cover your expenses? And if not, then you need to work on getting your passive income higher or reducing your expenses. That's perfect advice. So aside from getting your books, which are available on Amazon, where else can people go to learn more about you and all of the great work that you're doing? Anyone can follow me on social media. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter if you just search Money Honey Rachel. You can follow me. And you can message me there. Both of my books are available on ebook and paperback. And my newest book “Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement is” available on audiobook. And “Money, Honey” audio book is about to come out any day now. So definitely follow me! Don't hesitate to reach out because I love to help people with this stuff. Well, it's really been a pleasure to get to interview Rachel. I know I've learned a lot and I can't wait to read her books. Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the advanced freelancing podcast. For more freelance advice, get a copy of my book Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business—available now! Buy it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and more.

Choosing your diabetes technology can be complicated. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was sort of a Consumer Reports for pumps and CGMs? We found out about Diabetes Wise from people who know it’s about more than the hardware. Check out Stacey's new book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Stacey talks with Dr. Korey Hood who lives with type 1 and is with Stanford University as well as Laurel Koester, with the Helmsley Charitable Trust. Together, these two groups created Diabetes Wise. Stacey, Korey & Laurel talk about how it works and  why it’s needed. Stacey spoke to Korey on a previous episode about diabetes gear and mental health. Find that episode homepage here.  Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! In Tell Me Something Good – the greatest game of Marco Polo every played.. and Stacey finds her diabetes doppleganger. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.   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 (it's a rough transcript, please excuse grammar, spelling & punctuation)    Stacey Simms  0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by one drop treated for people with diabetes by people who have diabetes, and by dexcom, take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with dexcom.   Announcer  0:17 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Sims.   Stacey Simms  0:23 This week, choosing your diabetes technology can be complicated. Wouldn't it be nice if there was sort of a Consumer Reports for pump and CGMs? Enter DiabetesWise from people who know it's about more than the hardware,   Korey Hood  0:38 there's the physical side to wearing it, then there's this mental burden that is related to having to pay attention to it and to think about what's going on. And then there's also the social side that is the distractions and the potential workaround. So you have to come up with in these various settings, whether it's school work, family relationships,   Stacey Simms  0:56 that's Korey Hood, who lives with type one. He's part of the Team at Stanford who along with the healthy trust created DiabetesWise, we'll talk about what it is how it works and why it is needed. In Tell me something good, the greatest game of Marco Polo ever played, and I find my diabetes doppelganger. 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 Diabetes Connections. I'm your host Stacey Simms. So glad to have you along. And I'm really excited about what we're talking about today. Because I don't know about you. But when we went to pick out our pump for Benny, and I'll tell the story during the interview, it was just overwhelming. And while our educator was fantastic, I really wish we'd had just something to kind of compare and contrast the different types of tech like now exists with DiabetesWise. So we'll get to that and the interview in just a couple of minutes. But you know, I get so many great things emails and messages and I'm so terrible at reading reviews and sharing this stuff with you. You know, there's all sorts of techniques and strategies for getting people to share more reviews and email you more in blah blah blah. I'm just terrible at that. But I have to share this one with you. Because it was like getting a message, like a message in a bottle from a time machine. So here's what happened. Casey messaged me. “Hi, Stacey. I'm sure you get messages like this one all day every day, but I couldn't resist reaching out. I wanted to reach out and tell you how you impacted my world for the better. My son was diagnosed with type one on the 21st of November of 2019. We are soaking in all the new information, trying to get sleep keep up with our jobs, all while trying to keep our regular life intact. I came across your podcast and more specifically, the episode titled all about babies and toddlers with Type One Diabetes. I immediately thought finally a podcast discussing everything we have been dealing with lately. Plus, it's run by a type one mom – score! and Anyway, long story short, she writes, I listened to it and learned a lot.” “But that's not why I'm messaging you. I am messaging you because my son's name is Benny. And he was diagnosed just six weeks before his second birthday. His sister is four. If that wasn't enough similarities for you, we are also from Charlotte. They live in Charleston. Now, I know this might not mean that much to you. But for me listening to your podcast, shifted my world, listening to your story somehow made me feel not so alone. All I can say is thank you. Thank you for telling your story and putting your life out there for the world to see.” It took me a minute, I had to reread it to be honest with you. Because if you're not familiar with our story, my son, Benny, was diagnosed right before he turned two his older sister had just turned five. So it's a very similar story. I mean, they have used to live in Charlotte. It was just this feeling of kinship. Yep, I'm not sure I we're still talking. I'm kind of working out the emotions, because it is kind of like looking at a time machine. And I'm so grateful for the people that were there for us when Benny was diagnosed, and the blogs I read and the people that I talked to. So to be that for somebody else now is really remarkable. So Casey, thank you so much for reaching out. Definitely. Let's keep in touch, our Benny's. Maybe we'll meet at some point, how much fun would that be? I mean, we go to Charleston every summer. That's where we go to the beach. So I'm really hoping to follow up on this because man, those connections are really what it's all about. For me, it sounds really hokey, but if you've listened to the show for any length of time or met me, I think you'll say that that's the truth. Alright, so DiabetesWise coming up in just a moment. But first, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop and it is so nice to find a diabetes product that not only does what you need, but also fits in perfectly with your life. One Drop is that it's the slickest looking at most modern meter My family has ever used. It's not just about the modern meter setup. You can also send your readings to the mobile app automatically and review your data anytime, instantly share blood glucose reports with your healthcare team. It also works with your Dexcom Fitbit or your Apple Watch. Not to mention they're awesome test strips subscription plans, pick as many test strips as you need and they'll deliver them to your door. One Drop diabetes care delivered, learn more, go to diabetes, connections dot com and click on the One Drop logo.   My guests this week are Korey hood PhD professor of pediatrics and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford School of Medicine. We did a great episode a while back about the mental burden of wearing devices. With Korey It was really eye opening for me and I will link that up on the episode homepage. And we're also talking to Laura Kester T1D program officer at the Helmsley trust. I should note, we taped this interview a few weeks ago. So when they Talk about things added to the website. Some are already there. And starting this year, all of our episodes are transcribed on the homepage. Have you checked that out, you can go right to the episode homepage on diabetes, connections. com, scroll down just a little bit. And the whole episode transcript is there so you can read the episode, if you prefer. love to know if you're doing that. So let me know what you think. Here is my interview with Korey and Laurel. And I start out by asking Korey, what is DiabetesWise?   Korey Hood  6:30 Well, thanks again, Stacey for having us on. And we're always happy to talk about diabetes life. So this is a website that we collaboratively worked on. So I'm a psychologist and clinical researcher and one of the things that we've noticed in practice and and also in research is that people are not always aware of the different device options they have and I'm not always aware of the different technologies available to them for managing Diabetes. And so we wanted to create a resource that was unattached to device manufacturers to companies that hopefully is unbiased and and can be free and people can go there and compare different devices and understand a little bit about what other people who are using those devices have, you know, thoughts on it. And so, we've been doing some collaborative work with the Helmsley Charitable Trust for four or five years on understanding some of these device and psychological factors related to device use. And so we have support from them and have been working on this for much of the past year and a half.   Stacey Simms  7:45 Laurel, let me ask you, I remember years ago now, looking for the insulin pump for my son who was two at the time and it just seemed overwhelming what was out there. I had no idea how to make a decision. What would I find at DiabetesWise how would this have helped me?   Laurel Koester  8:03 Sure. So one thing I think is really critical about DiabetesWise and makes what makes it so different from what's out there is the use of personal stories from real people living with diabetes. So, you know, our ultimate goal at the trust is to help people be aware of all their technology options that are out there, and kind of get the inside story and real talk from other living with type one about their experiences, trying, maybe stopping, maybe trying, again, different types of technology. And we found through some market research that we've done is people really you know, they're kind of two groups of people. There's a group of people that you really trust their doctor above everyone else. Then there's other folks that really look to online information sources. Know, like a DiabetesWise, like beyond type one. But there was nothing really focused specifically on technology. And what is really great about DiabetesWise is that it has a short questionnaire at the beginning that basically serves as an algorithm to help see where people are when they come into the site, and then provide suggestions on what device is right for them through the use of the personal story.   Stacey Simms  9:40 And we're like, I definitely want to talk more about the homestay trust and why it got involved here. I mean, so much for people with diabetes, but Korey, okay, so you've and I've talked before about the mental load people with diabetes carry when we carry when one of these devices is attached. Right and how we kind of don't think about that. I mean, it never occurred. occurred to me when he was two and a half we put the Animas 2020 on him, it never occurred to me to think well, What's this doing mentally to my child? You know, as a teen, it's kind of easier to see. But can you talk about that a little bit about how it's beyond? I mean, they all work really well. There's not a bad insulin pump out there.   Korey Hood  10:19 Yeah, absolutely. I think that, and what you just mentioned, I think is a great a great example of why we have to think about this at different stages. And, you know, for somebody who's, like your son diagnosed the two, and then the family is adjusting and I mean, the burden around the mental burden around diabetes management at that point, even devices are not as really on the parent and so the it's really just a physical side that's on the child, but as they develop and then you know, as you know, many of the people with diabetes using these devices are adults that there's a I think there's a couple different parts of Did that sit in the psychological impact and one of them that we noticed a lot, especially in the teen years, there is the social side. And so what kind of attention is drawn to the person based on wearing these devices and having alerts, alarms, having, you know, disruptions and various things that they're doing. And so I think that the there's the physical side to wearing it, then there's this mental burden that is, is related to having to pay attention to it and to think about what's going on. And then there's also the social side that is, you know, the distractions and the potential workaround, so you have to come up with in in these various settings, whether it's school work, family relationships. And so I think that there's a, there's a lot to think about, that we often I think, especially in the clinical care side, we forget that as soon as people leave the clinic, this is what they deal with.   Stacey Simms  11:56 Just this quiz, well this take me through which pumps beeps Am I going to actually listen to which CGM sensor alarm? Well I respond to I mean, I'm kind of joking. But you know, alarm fatigue and things like that. Are things that really happen. Are those kinds of things taken into account when you're trying to figure out what to choose?   Korey Hood  12:17 Oh, absolutely. I think that you know, one of the things that we wanted to do, and I think that this is best illustrated with our CGM comparison tool, which we did a lot of collaborative work with Laurel and her team to make sure that we got it right. And one of the things that we have there, you know, people can compare the sensors compare the different devices on whether or not it provides, you know, you have to do calibrations, you have to do finger six, but you also know the kind of alerts whether they're customizable or not. Because, I mean, as you know, as you just stated in all the user testing that we did, that is a big concern for People are these alarms and alerts and and what are the ways that we can at least notify people of them and what it's going to be like that also, in our, in our stories, people talk about that. And they talk about it being disruptive at different times and some of the little tricks that they found to actually help those situations. And so we try to, you know, it's just, you know, essentially just real talk about what it's like to use these different devices.   Stacey Simms  13:27 Also, Korey mentioned your team and some of the research that you did you had done. Can you talk about that a little bit?   Laurel Koester  13:33 Yes, absolutely. So I think just want to take a step back is, you know, we know the technology works, but how do we get more people to be aware of them, and not only aware, but to then use them and found them. And so we know that there are a lot of different factors that kind of play into the space around technology adoption, you know, there's a lot of barriers, but also facilitators out there. And so we really wanted to hone in on, you know, we know their system level barriers, like insurance coverage. So our idea was, let's go directly to people living with diabetes and, you know, just understand their awareness around different technologies. And some of the market research we did was specific to CGM, but we thought, hey, if there are the system level barriers, and we also know that, you know, maybe not all providers actually know about these diabetes technology, you know, especially if you're talking about primary care providers. And, you know, given the number of people living with Type One Diabetes, but also type two in the number of endocrinologist in the US there’s just not enough to meet demand. There are a lot of people that are seeing in the primary care sphere. primary care providers just, you know, don't have the bandwidth. So some of the market research we did was to, you know, we wanted to learn about information sources that people trusted. And the the two main points that I alluded to earlier was, there was a group of people that really trust a variety of information sources, ranging from their doctor to diabetes bloggers, to online community groups, and then there's another group that overwhelmingly trust their doctor. So for us, this told us that we need different approaches to raising awareness about diabetes technologies, one being through patient facing resources, like diabetes lives, but I think part of our larger vision is to also we understand now from this research that we also need to involve healthcare provider. Ultimately, the truck vision is to increase the use of diabetes technologies for people living with diabetes and others who are on intensive insulin therapy because it really is a an effective tool to help improve management.   Stacey Simms  16:22 Cory I'm curious as somebody who lives with type one, and I assume I shouldn't assume, but I was gonna say I assume who wears devices? Do you use a CGM or a pump?   Korey Hood  16:33 I do. Okay, yeah. So you probably too many of them.   Stacey Simms  16:36 Wait a minute. So tell us how many are you wearing at the moment?   Korey Hood  16:40 Oh, no, I'm just, I'm just exaggerating. I've tried I think everything that's on there.   Stacey Simms  16:45 That leads to my question, which is, do you mind sharing separate from DiabetesWise? How did you choose? And you can mention brand names if you want to, but I'm curious how you go about before there was a resources like resource like this. How you You went about choosing what devices you would at least try and then wound up with?   Korey Hood  17:05 Yeah, I think it's a great question. And I think it's something that   there's there's probably a few themes about how everybody arrives at this place about devices. And I'll tell you mine, but I think that it's there are not that many different routes to people getting on devices. And so for me, I mean, I it was fairly straightforward. This is when you know, back in, this was 10 years plus now when the first CGM came out on the market, and my insurance would pay for it, that was what made me kind of intrigued about it. You know, I heard a I was I've been working in the diabetes space, so I knew that it was coming and and so I wanted to try it because I could, but if I had to pay for that out of pocket, I probably wouldn't have paid for it. I probably wouldn't have done it at that time. So it was it was accessible to me, which was, you know, an important part. And then also, you know, I was   I liked the idea of something that gave me a continuous, you know, feed of what was going on with my glucose because I knew from finger sticks and we still know most people are still using finger sticks that there's you miss a lot of the peaks and valleys with those kind of intermittent glucose readings and so for me that was appealing because then I could maybe catch a low I could. And so I just for the management purpose, I think that I was really drawn to it from the pump side. You know, I've been, you know, you've mentioned the Animas earlier and, and I that was my first pump and I use it for a long time and I still have it in my you know, diabetes Museum of devices at home. But I I, for that it was it was just because of provider said you should try this. I didn't know really a lot about it. You know, I was 1819 years ago and I thought you know, I'll try this and and so I think what I can tell you though now I currently use the Omnipod with the Dexcom g six within the loop system. And so my movement to the occupied was was just because it was working with that system and I was I wanted to give it a try to have to blitz and, and for me and my lifestyle and my you know, when I do physical activity, it's just so much better and so so they do have too long of an answer to your question, but I think it's evolved over time about why I've used devices and I've been drawn to ones more recently that are smaller that don't have to be in and that that make it a little bit easier to do the things I like to do you know, outside of work and family.   Stacey Simms  19:59 Our experience was, was not exactly similar and choosing an insulin pump in that we were given a lot of choices. And at the time, back in 2006, there were actually more pumps on the market, which is kind of sad to think about. And we chose the Animas 2020. Because I felt like of all of the devices that I was shown, it kind of seemed the easiest. I said to my educator, I really said, I need devices, including pump insets. And everything else. I need the the Venn diagram of idiot proof, and does really good does what it's supposed to do with diabetes, because I really was so overwhelmed. And that's what we wound up with. And as Benny got older, and you know, every four years you're changing and making decisions. We stayed with a two pump. We now use the tandem. One of the reasons we stayed with it is because my son is very responsible, great kid does well loses everything. And we felt the Omnipod PDM would be gone in about 30 seconds, but I'm curious. So when you go through the quiz Your pump and sensor and that kind of thing. What kind of questions are you asking? I mean, I should have taken the quiz before I talked to you, sorry. But I'm wondering like, do you want everything attached to your body? So you don't lose it? If that's one of your questions, or if that's, and I'm laughing, but you know, you understand I'm saying that's one of the No, absolutely, yeah, form factor or your lifestyle factor?   Korey Hood  21:22 Absolutely. And I think you raised a really good point about that. The systems that that work well, and are easy to use, have been designed with the person in mind. They've been designed to be, you know, to have the form factor, like you mentioned, but the user experience is something that is positive. And I don't think that all of them are designed and created equally, in that in that sphere. And so I think that, this really great examples of that, and I would say that the tandem is one of those that has You know, and using use an interface that especially for anybody who's been diagnosed in the last few years, you know, that's that's what they're used to in terms of touchscreen. And so with that said, it's a good question about the quiz and one of the things that we did just quickly give you a little bit of history of it. So, in our we did a lot of work serving over 1500 adults with type one 700 adolescents, 700 parents of kids with with type one, to really understand what are the main questions that we need to ask people so that we can put them on the right path toward, you know, an experience where they become more aware about devices and then also maybe matches better to what their lifestyle is. And so we were able to take hundreds of questions and and derive a quiz that have five questions in it. And a part of those questions is about the level of distress and burden that they perceive about that. BTS because we found that that's a really critical factor in making sure that people get the right kind of information about using devices. But we also ask them what their priorities are, what are their concerns? And what are their main ones. And although we don't specifically phrase it, the way that you mentioned, it is that we, we get it, we get at a number of different priorities that people have. And then that starts them on this path. And then because of the way that it's framed, and as Laurel said, around the algorithm, that it will then take people to, based on their responses that will take them to individual stories of others who have those same concerns or same priorities. But then when it one of the parts that's not live on the website, yet, is a device readiness tour device Finder. And so in there, you can drill down a lot more deeply about what your priorities are, and so For example, if someone really wants it to be discreet, if someone wants it really ease of use ease of use as one of the ones that we have in there as a priority, if someone really wants to avoid fingerstick there's all of this that you can tailor the advice or the recommendations that you're going to get based on what your priorities are. So that's great for people who have some idea of what it is, but it's also great for people who are just trying to get a sense of I'm not even sure what my priority is. I'm not even sure what I want out of this so you can learn about it as well in the process.   Stacey Simms  24:34 Alright, so I'm looking at the website, and I know that as you said, more is coming. But it does say there's stuff about pump and smart pump. There were only three pumps in the US as far as I know right now. Which ones are the smart pumps? to dump I'm sorry.   Korey Hood  24:50 Right? Exactly. I there was something funny there that I couldn't quite come up with but I do agree with you that it what we found and said this is Why is it so important to ask people and involve them in in user testing and development? One of the things we found were that people really wanted to distinguish between something you just put on your body that administers insulin that doesn't make doesn't have any kind of alteration or it doesn't change what it's doing based on anything else. And so, you program a pump and they're, they're, you know, they're sophisticated for, say, 1995. They haven't evolved a lot. But they, they still do a great job and are reliable and precise. With what's what we wanted to distinguish is this idea that a pumpkin do something like low low glucose suspend or can be part of a larger closed loop system. And so the smart pump idea really came from what we heard from people and although it's not a, you know, an FDA category of devices, we really heard from people that they wanted to that distinguish between kind of the traditional way that you would pump versus something that has the capability to be within a closed system or to have low glucose suspend. So that was really the distinction there.   Stacey Simms  26:11 Got it. So in other words, if you use an Omnipod on its own, that's a pump. But if you use an Omnipod as part of the non FDA approved loop with a Riley link, now you have a smart pump.   Unknown Speaker  26:26 Exactly. Okay.   Unknown Speaker  26:27 Let me ask you. We talked   Stacey Simms  26:29 about this at the very beginning that one of the things that makes DiabetesWise unique and very, very helpful is that it is not put out by a company with a stake in what device people   Unknown Speaker  26:41 choose. The   Stacey Simms  26:44 Helmsley charitable trust I think many people are familiar with is so much of what it has done for diabetes research and funding and grants. And we've talked to some folks from the homestay family on the show in the past. What was the purpose here? You know why did Helmsley want to get into involved, it seems really obvious, because you're helping people. But I just wanted to ask you about the involvement here.   Laurel Koester  27:08 Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think they see the point that you raised about the the fact that we are an independent entity really speaks to kind of the trust factor not only in you know, what Helmsley because we don't have a financial stake in this. But we're also partnering with some of the leading diabetes researchers in the field at Stanford University. So we really want to ensure that that we're supporting information that is unbranded and unbiased and that people can trust. And I think, again, to underscore that this website is really informed by People living with diabetes is their voices. And, you know, for example, one of the tools that Korey mentioned of this device readiness tool, some of the research that's going into that is, you know, from a sample of people with diabetes, so when people see, you know, different priorities and, you know, writing, as you know, kind of just a sneak peek into some of the features that are going to be coming out, those are actually based on input from people living with diabetes, who are using diabetes was for the first time so it's a really unfiltered real deal.   Stacey Simms  28:44 Cory, what's your hope for this? Do you do you hope that like a CDE would say, hey, let's sit down together go through the quiz on DiabetesWise, or is it a question of people just kind of seeking a little bit more, or even people. What I find fantastic about this is that you have empty I'm on here as well, you're not assuming everybody wants an insulin pump, some curious what your hope is going forward?   Korey Hood  29:07 It's a great question. And I think that the ultimately what we want to do is we want to be able to match the device with the person and their lifestyle and their interests and their priorities. And, and I think one way to do that is that we traditionally don't do a lot of in clinical care is to spend more time objectively figuring out what's what's going to be the best fit, because clinics are busy, providers are busy, it's hard to get that dialed down really closely. And so my goal really is to get the right one for the person and so it's not a one size fits all approach. And if people are using multiple daily injections, and using a meter, you know, I could argue most of the time that you know, add a CGM add dilib re add something that will give you a little bit more glucose information to dial it in. So there's Maybe a little bit of room, but if you don't want to move, and you are really happy with it, then maybe there's some other some areas of distress related to diabetes that we've learned about in this process that we can help you with. And so, you know, I, it's, it's really intended to be a resource that can match and fit with anybody's interested in what they want to do around devices. But also, you know, at a minimum, you know, it educates the person about it, it also can be a resource that like you said, CDs could use one of the things that we found really helpful is we went to a D over the summer and in August and Houston and one of the things that we learned and, and talk a lot about with CDs was, you know, how this could be a helpful tool for them. And so that's another thing that's in process is making sure that we have something that is that can be used by them in a in a helpful way so that they can also get people on the right devices. I mean, I think that everybody If you get the right device on somebody, and they use it effectively, everybody, when there's less time and involved in on the clinical side, they're better outcomes. The person's happier. I think that there's just so many reasons that we want to do this. And then the other vision for this is that we keep it completely free, that we keep it disconnected from are not connected, not tethered to any kind of device manufacturers, we need them, they have to be part of this. And they're doing great work. But we don't want to be as Laurel said, we're not you know, we don't want to be biased or branded in any way we want it to be free and an objective tool for people to use.   Stacey Simms  31:43 I'm curious, what do you mean by you need them for this?   Korey Hood  31:48 Well, I mean, I think that we don't necessarily, we don't necessarily need them for DiabetesWise, although, I mean, you could argue that, you know, we wouldn't have DiabetesWise if we didn't have devices, but that's Maybe getting a little   Stacey Simms  32:02 device.   Korey Hood  32:04 Right, exactly. But But I think what I think I'm just noting that we need for I think the person with diabetes, to have the best chance of the best outcomes we need device companies who are pushing the edge and who, who are, you know, are the competition is a healthy competition. And so I think it's good that they all exist and that they do the work. We just don't want them. We don't want people with diabetes to feel like they have to go to a certain device. And so that's why we we created this so that they could have a more   you know, unbiased view of what's available.   Stacey Simms  32:47 I just didn't want to make sure I just wanted to make sure I didn't misunderstand there that you didn't need them. In other words to give permission to recommend or that they had to somehow sign off on DiabetesWise.   Korey Hood  32:58 Right, right. Okay. There we go. We, you know, if if we want to, we want to work with them on this and make sure that we have accurate information. But ultimately, this is driven by us and our team and our collaborations. And so if there's something on there, that isn't that they don't like then or a story that someone bashes their device, and it's still going to be on the website. But it's also that we we appreciate that they've done a lot of work to bring us to this place where we can actually have these discussions and we can actually have options.   Stacey Simms  33:35 Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, I mentioned when Benny was diagnosed, there were more pumps on the market. And while there are fewer now at least the technology is improving. Before I let you go, Cory, could you speak just for a moment about where it's been for you? And you know, where you are looking for to go in the next couple of years?   Korey Hood  33:54 Yeah, you know, I think that I mean, I've been it's a little bit of background I've been using For over, I think two and a half years now and, and I've found a great deal of benefit from it mainly on glucose control, but also in on the mental side and having longer chunks of time throughout the day where I don't think about diabetes, which is really nice. So I, for me, I've been really happy with the progression, it's not perfect, and there are still pieces, you know, multiple pieces you have to wear, we still have to, you know, stab ourselves with sharp pieces of metal. So there are a lot of these things that aren't going to go away and I don't think are going to go away anytime soon. But I do think that the ability to put something on and to not pay much attention to it for a few days is we're close to that. And I think that that's what is really appealing. For me and I think for others that we talked to is that if we do Just continue to decrease the amount of time that people have to think about it, and they feel safe, and feel like it's reliable. And that's really what we're aiming for. And I really do think that that's where we're moving in the next few years.   Stacey Simms  35:12 Laura, let me give you kind of the last word here, you know, what are your hopes for DiabetesWise and how it helps people   Laurel Koester  35:19 just positing said, That's quite a big question. You know, I hope. I think from the homepage standpoint, we want to make the information about diabetes devices and technology is available to everyone living with diabetes, you know, no matter where they live in the US, you know, um, you know, a lot of times just information isn't accessible for people and we want to make sure it's a trusted source of information. And you know, if someone lives in rural America, for example, and they don't have access to support CT groups or an endocrinologist that they can still connect with people like them to learn about the different technologies and devices and experiences of people that are navigating there. They're the same disease.   Stacey Simms  36:18 I'm thrilled that this is available. I really wish it was around when we were choosing our devices, because it was a little bit like throwing darts at a dartboard. Luckily it worked out. Okay. But Korey and Laurel, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate your time.   Unknown Speaker  36:38 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Sims.   Stacey Simms  36:44 More info about DiabetesWise on the episode homepage and of course, the link is there to go ahead and take the quiz and tool around on their site and see what you think. Up next. What Marco Polo has to do with type one that's in our Tell me something good, but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. It's hard to think of something that's changed our diabetes management as much as the Dexcom, share and follow apps. The amazing thing to me is how it's helped us talk less about diabetes. That is the wonderful thing about share and follow. As a caregiver, a parent a spouse, you can help the person with diabetes manage in the way that works for your individual situation. Internet connectivity is required to access Dexcom follow separate follow up is required. You can learn more just go to diabetes, connections dot com and click on the Dexcom logo.   It is time for Tell me something good. And this one made me smile when I read it. Oh my goodness. So Rachel shared a story: “We were at Target today and my son's low alert on Dexcom went off and we heard in the distance, ‘T1 I hear you – Marco’ my boy lit up. ‘Yes, you do T1 – Polo!’ and another kid pops up out of breath. And the two of them just chat for a few minutes about Legos or with with everything in common. I melted.” So how about that? I mean, we've heard some Dexcom alerts or seen somebody checking their blood sugar. And of course, I want to run over. And how are you and what are you doing here? But I don't I try to contain myself. But every once in a while, I'll say something. But I can honestly say it has never occurred to me to yell Marco, and hope to hear back a Polo. Dexcom alert. So kudos to these kids. And Rachel, thanks for letting us know about it. any follow up? You have we would love to find out. I mean, I can see her son doing this again, and maybe they became friends. I don't know. But I thought it was a really cute story. And if you try it, and it works, let me know. I think the closest we ever came was interestingly enough at a hotel pool speaking of Marco Polo, this years ago, we took a road trip to Chicago. That's a story in and of itself. We took an RV from Charlotte to Chicago. And we did six states and five days to go see Syracuse play in the NCAA Tournament. Anyway, long story short, we did not bring the RV actually into Chicago, it would have been very expensive to do that. So rather than you know, pay a lot and find a place to park it, we parked our RV at my husband's friend's funeral home in Skokie, outside of the city, but that's not what I wanted to tell you about. Um, so we're at the hotel pool. And we look over and there's a little girl with the Dexcom and Omnipod on the backs of her arms. And of course, Benny at that age, was willing to go say hi, be social. So he did and we struck up a whole conversation and they were so nice. It was a lot of fun. Sometimes those diabetes spottings in the wild, really give you more than you'd expect. There. Just something so rewarding and so affirming about knowing you're not the only one, I think as much for parents as for the kids, and someday I'll tell you more about our crazy road trips, we're on a quest as a family to try to hit all 50 states and the kids were so excited about this when they were younger, I think we're on 27 or 28, I'd have to check. And I think I'm the only one who's still excited about trying to do it has to be all four of us together, you have to have feet on the ground, airports do not count. And so feet on the ground, you can't drive through either you have to actually get out and stop and take a picture. You need picture evidence. You don't have to have all four faces in the photo because sometimes people are grumpy and don't want to take pictures. But we need all four of us. So we have one or two pictures where everybody's holding up a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. That one was like at 6am in Ohio on that road trip. I have another one in Las Vegas where we're all holding up gelato, and you can't see our faces. So I'm hoping this summer not to get completely off track to go to New England with the kids because we've got a lot estates a hit up there. Anyway, if you have a Tell me something good story can be a road trip or anything of the kind, whatever works for you. You can send it to me Stacy at Diabetes Connections. com or post it in the Facebook group Diabetes Connections to the group or send it to me on social media, it'll find its way to me, just tell me something good.   Keeping that busy schedule, which I'm actually having so much fun with. I'm going to Raleigh, North Carolina for the JDRF type one nation summit this weekend, doing not only the world's worst diabetes mom presentation, but also my favorite one about making connections in real life Diabetes Connections. I have been doing this talk since before the podcast came about. That's where the podcast got its name. And I'm also talking about social media. So I'm really excited to meet some new people right here in my state. And then in two weeks, I'll be in Maine, for an event in South Portland, Maine dizzy calendar as I head out on the world's worst diabetes. Mom book tour. And if you've got an event later in the year, things are still pretty busy. Definitely through April. But after that, it slows down to about one event a month right now. So if you've got a jdrf summit, if you've got another event, especially in the fall, please let me know. So we can plan for it. I would love to come and meet you. I can do those presentations. We can do a live podcast, we can just hang out and talk. It's always fun to meet new people. And I do love making those in real life connections. All right, coming up later this week, another mini episode, where I'm taking on what I think is a pretty controversial topic. In fact, when I posted about this on my personal page recently, I was shocked at the response I got. I'm going to be talking about why I think it really is a bad idea to post pictures of your child in the hospital. Yeah, I know a lot of people do this, but it's just not good. So I'll be talking about that coming up on Thursday. In the meantime, thank you as always to my editor john ducatis. audio editing solutions. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms and I'll see you back here on Thursday.   Unknown Speaker  43:12 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Sims media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

New for 2020, it’s Scotch Pursuit! Ok, not really. But what better way to start the new year by trying something new and having Dr. Rachel Barrie, the master blender for The GlenDronach, BenRiach, and Glenglassaugh of Brown-Forman, come and show us the ropes. We talk about malting, peat, Glens and Bens, rules and regulations to be considered a scotch, the temperatures and more. This is a fantastic 101 to the scotch world and even made us, not so much scotch curious, but more single malt curious. Since this recording, we’ve tried numerous single malts and found some great ones. If you have an “entry Scotch” for bourbon drinkers, drop it here in the comments. Show Partners: At Barrell Craft Spirits, they explore whiskey in an entirely new way. The team selects and blends barrels of whiskey into something greater than the sum of its parts. Find out more at BarrellBourbon.com. Receive $25 off your first order at RackHouse Whiskey Club with code "Pursuit". Visit RackhouseWhiskeyClub.com. Show Notes: This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about Al Young. Why all the Glens and Bens? Does the altitude affect the whiskey? Talk about growing up around scotch. Tell us about your doctorate. Tell us about the the brands. What is an old school malt? How do you keep malts consistent? What is malting? What is the process for making scotch? What kind of stills do you use? What is your favorite cask? How do you make a blend? How old does scotch have to be legally? Is there a lot of evaporation loss in the barrel? What proof does BenRiach come out of the barrel? How many barrels are in a typical batch? Do you have a team helping you blend? Is there a limit to the number of times you can use a barrel? Tell us about the special releases. 0:00 All right, and I want to make sure that I'm saying these right. Ben Ben. Ben rush when we have Ben react. Oh, gosh. Ben, Ben react. Well, no, I want to be able to introduce and kind of talk about it. So Ben, we are going to hear him fumble. Glenn chronic, right and then Glenn glassing Oh no, glass, glass, I 0:23 have a glass of wine glass. Okay. 0:27 I must leave that one and 0:32 I'm gonna butcher this so bad. 0:45 Happy New Year everybody. It is Episode 234 of bourbon pursuit. And with the new year it comes time that we can all reflect back and start with a clean slate. It gives us a chance to focus on where things are exciting and where we see change happening and we looked at the world of bourbon 1:00 Saw that there's too much drama. So we explored what else this wonderful water whiskey has to offer. And we decided that we're going to start venturing off into scotch. So now you can look forward to a whole lot more scotch podcast happening in 2020. All right, that was a bad joke. We're not gonna be doing any of that. We don't have any other scotch playing episodes, except for this one you're gonna hear today. So you're in the clear. All right. Now let's get on with the news. The bourbon world loss and other great on Christmas Day at 2019. With the passing of Al young from four roses. Alice served in various roles at four roses for 52 years. In 1990. He became distillery manager and in 2007, was named four roses bourbon brand ambassador. He was also historian and published the book for roses. The return of a whiskey legend in 2010. I was inducted into the whiskey magazine Hall of Fame in 2015. And he's also a member of the Kentucky distillers Association, Kentucky bourbon Hall of Fame. After the dedication of the 50th anniversary bottle in 2017. He was boosted in the spotlight and he was regularly seen during 2:00 Private barrel selections. We captured him telling the story of four roses and part of his career. Way back on episode three in 2015. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and the entire four roses community. We covered this in the podcast way back in July because on July 3 2019, lightning struck a warehouse at beans maturation complex on the site of the former Old Crow distillery on McCracken road. The warehouse held an estimated 40,000 barrels of whiskey and collapse resulting in a fire. The site is located in the banks of the Glens Creek, which flows into the Kentucky River, which eventually goes into the Ohio River. State Fish and Wildlife investigators later found dead fish along 62 miles of all three waterways with the most impact happening in Glens Creek in the Kentucky River beam. Suntory has agreed to pay the state of Kentucky more than $700,000 following the environmental damage from July's warehouse fire, according to Global's courier journal that Kentucky Energy and Environmental cabinet negotiated a $600,000 fine with the 3:00 Companies Jim beam's brand new unit, an additional $112,000 to reimburse the agency for its expenses from the fire. Now we've talked about the rise of shipping alcohol on the podcast plenty of times before. But now there are studies coming out, the volume of liquor sold online in the US should be more than quadrupled by 2020 for reaching an estimated value of $13.4 billion. And this is according to I Ws or who is the global benchmark for beverage alcohol and data intelligence. out there hurdles that come on this, you've got the antiquated three tier system, you get blue laws and individual states that take care of age verification. And you also have perception because half of the people that were surveyed during this thought that purchasing online was illegal, with companies like drizzly leading the charge, along with other retailers using things like instacart for Costco, people like this. They're doing same day delivery. Expect to see more that it didn't happen in 2020. Thank you to everyone who supported the bourbon pursuit Christmas charity. 4:00 raffles, we raised $13,740 for the USO pets for vets and love city. We appreciate everyone who took the time to donate to these good causes and the winners, you'll be receiving your items in the mail over the next two weeks. We've been truly impressed by our latest pursuit series offerings. Episode 18 of pursuit series was our first ever ride barrel. And it came from Finger Lakes distilling. It's a four year old but it packs fruit and spice all in one for $65 and we also released Episode 19, which is from our Tennessee stock. It's a 10 year old bourbon and it tastes like those orange push ups that we all used to love as kids. We have less than 15 bottles remaining of Episode 18 and about 80 bottles left of Episode 19 we also have less than 10 bottles remaining of Episode 12 so you better act fast. You can get the links to purchase all these by going to pursuit spirits.com this was an exciting episode for Ryan and I we don't know anything about scotch like none 5:00 Least when we started this podcast, we were curious about bourbon. And we started to learn a whole lot more before really diving into it. So what better way to get the full experience about scotch, then by having Dr. Rachel Barry, who is a master Blender for multiple lines of scotches, come on the show and show us the ropes. We talked about multi Pete regulations be considered a skoshe temperatures and a whole lot more. This is a fantastic one on one to the scotch world, and even made us not so much scotch curious, but more so. single malt curious. Since this recording, we've tried various American and foreign single malt and found some that we've really loved and enjoy. So there's a lot more out there than bourbon for most of us. Now. Sit back, Let's relax. Let's hear what Joe from barrel bourbon has to say. And then you've got Fred minich with above the char. 5:51 I'm Joe Beatrice, founder of barrell craft spirits, we explore whiskey in an entirely new way. My team at barrel craft spirits selects and blends barrels of whiskey 6:00 into something greater than the sum of their parts. Next time ask you bartender for barrell bourbon. 6:06 I'm Fred MiniK. And this is above the char. There are a few people you meet in life, where they just instantly feel like they're a brother or a family member, or someone who just cares so deeply about another human being that they would just do anything for a total stranger. 6:27 That's who al Young was. Al young, was probably the most knowledgeable person in bourbon that never wanted any credit. Al Young was this incredible brand ambassador for four roses, who had started working for the seagrams company in 1967. And had been all over the place in the distilling business. You know, to me that the pinnacle of his career was when he served as the plant manager for four roses, everybody talks about the master distiller but our was 7:00 plant manager. And when it came time to retire, they found another job for him because they didn't want to let him go. Because anybody who ever met our young just felt this Kismet kind of special relationship to him. He was, he was avuncular, caring kind, and he wanted to know about you. That's what made our young so special was that it was about bourbon and he loved four roses. But it was never about really anything other than the people. I wanted to know where you grew up. How many kids you have, what you love about whiskey, what you don't like, he wanted to talk to you and learn about you. And so when he passed away on Christmas Day, this past week, 7:50 I think 7:51 a lot of us felt that we felt this big hole that we lost a friend and yeah, we 8:00 always talked about how we lost a whiskey legend. But more than anything, Al was everybody's friend. And if you ever did a barrel pick with him if he ever shook his hand if you ever had a drink with him in a bar or, or had a sandwich in a cafe, you know what I'm talking about. Now, Young was one of a kind, and he will be missed. 8:25 And that's this week's above the char. If you want to learn more about al Young's contributions, go check out my Forbes article, visit forbes.com. And you should also check out the book he wrote about four roses. You can just find it on Amazon search for four roses. Until next week. Cheers 8:48 welcome back to this episode of bourbon pursuit the official podcast of bourbon, Kinney and Ryan here on site in in another studio or at Brown formance. Yes, but today we're talking about 9:00 topic that's so green to us. Like, um, I, we got this email from Andrea who set this up. And I said, Let's take it, let's do the opportunity because we need to branch out a little bit because we've been so bourbon focused in our podcasts and our lives. We forget about this. Oh, there's this whole other world of whiskey that we're not even touching on. And then actually, if you look at it sort of Trumps even what bourbon does on the global map to Oh, yes. But by far and it's funny on the way here, I was thinking like, all right, what we're going to talk about and then like, start thinking, like, when I was when you're like in your 20s, early 20s, you like, kind of make all these rules for yourself. Like, I will never pay someone to mow my lawn or my kids won't be the ones that screaming at the restaurant. And another role for me was, because I'm from Bardstown. I will never drink scotch. But today, I'm changing that and I'm excited to learn about it and drink some scotch. I know it's going to be exciting to do that. And that's really why we have it. It's a 10:00 This is what I love about this is that we have a guest on today that is is pretty world renowned, especially for the scotches that she blends and she touches. You know, I think we might be a little jaded, we might be sitting in the bounds of royalty right now not even really recognize it. Yeah, we're peasants, Scott. 10:19 So let's go ahead introduce our guest today. So today we have Rachel Berry. Rachel is the master Blender for Ben wreck, the Glen. Glen glass and all i got i hope i got that right for single malt Scotch whiskies in the brown Forman portfolio. So Rachel, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. You did well with those Kenny Yeah, I know. He was kind of fumbled through this quite quite comical 10:42 because we want to have a glass of Glen glass and though it was that, is that how it was? I said a glass of glass. Ah, let's see. That's a very basic question. It starts off while the Glens and Ben's what like there's, you know, Glenlivet, Glynn morenci Glen, Glen glass and Glen dragon 11:00 We're with altitude Really? Okay, so Glenn doneck is very deep down a valley in the valley of brambles. 11:09 So it's a Glen. Okay, and Glenn Glasser is deep down beside the sea. Okay. So you have to again, go down and tickling glossa and then Ben reacts a little bit higher altitude we call those dollars here. 11:28 dollar Yeah, yeah. go fishing. Exactly. You can go fishing. They're absolutely good surfing there. Oh, no, there's no service 11:39 whereby the see Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah. And then Ben react is slightly higher altitude. So it's a bad. Okay. Yeah. So I'm assuming the altitudes do something to the whiskey that really kind of pushed into the name is it as well? Yeah, everything makes a difference with scotch. I mean, scotch whiskey. 12:00 been around since 1494. 12:03 If not for centuries before that was our earliest recorded evidence and we've got 128 distilleries in Scotland and no to disillusion the same is the spirit with the greatest diversity of style and individuality of character in the wild. 12:19 And we're gonna be tasting three years a little bit later we'll dive into those I probably jumped ahead. itinerary or 12:26 so yeah, altitude is a part of it is a part of it. It's one part of many parts. Okay, glad we got it kind of like you know pinos, you kind of grew up you know, to our wine, you kind of grow in the more lower humid regions, then you have grapes in the higher regions, they get more sun and sky kind of gives different flavors white, right? It affects it affects the maturation effects of fermentation, where the distilleries, gotcha. Cool. And so you're based out of Scotland too. Is that correct? Absolutely. We're in Scotland. Well, I was born, five minutes from Glen donek distillery, and I was brought up the air 13:00 Then I went to Edinburgh University and the head office the brown Forman production head offices in Edinburgh, or the Scotch whisky. merry go round by so you're destined to be in scotch? Absolutely. And, you know, I've come home working for Glenn doneck and bendrick and going glass, because, say born near Glen donek. I learned to surf with my dad at Glen Glasser and learn to glide at Ben REAC. That's cool. So I guess talk about growing up around it. I mean, was it was your family having influence into it at all? Or was it just something that you just kind of naturally gravitated towards? Well, my dad was the first to share with me a weed jam when I was far too young. I shouldn't say this to be having a weed drum. 13:46 beat everybody. 13:48 And he also collects malt. So it was a big promote efficient model. 13:52 And, you know, it's more actually being involved in farming as well. You know, it's more of that side of things. 14:00 Then distilling, but yeah, it was serendipity getting into really, 14:05 because I'm a chemist by trade, and I could work for oil or, you know, pharmaceuticals and offer jobs with those. But then I just happened to be cycling past the Career Service on the last day, adult was advertised at the scotch whiskey Research Institute didn't even know such a job existed and got the job. And then I've never looked back for years and researching the alchemy of scotch and then making it so that's even a fun journey. Now the other thing we forgot to mention you're also a doctor the trade might not it might correct so last year, I got an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh so I was honored to be given that feel even worse about myself now. 14:49 You're not only seeing the hands of greatness we're also a doctor. 14:53 Well, I actually studying medicine first as well. It's quite funny. Well was good medicine. 15:00 Why See? That's why I say you know we drama D keeps adult 30 yep away 15:07 How much have you been drinking already today? Not in this kit. 15:12 So let's let's talk a little bit more about you know your history. You know going because I know that you've had your hands in a lot of the Glens and bends of the region as well before you were a master Blender here at Brown Forman taking care of the brands here. So kind of talk about some of that history too. Yeah, I mean, I started off with a Glen and the far north of Scotland and to Glens. The margy Glen Murray, and then also eila with our bag and work with their blends as well creating them so that was, that was a fun journey. I was 1617 years and then move to more worked more with xyla 15:54 with the highlands clan, and also with the lowlands 16:00 was a Glasgow distillery. And then 16:04 a couple more. 16:07 I lost and another Highland. But I've left the best to last working with Baron Corbin because it's truly going home. So I've done my whiskey exploration. Yeah, you've seen them all. Yeah, whenever I see a bottle Glenmorangie I'm like, is it tastes like oranges? Or you know, like, I don't know it, it looks like an orange bottle like, I don't know, what's, what's the difference between like you talked about, I'll guess that's where Laphroaig and you know, different types of brands. What makes the region different? Like one part is one part. I mean, a lot of it is down to the conditions. So 16:46 we'll talk about space side and stuff like that to 16:49 go 50 to 60 distilleries in it. So that's where most of the distilleries are. And Ben react is right in the heart of space sites. 16:57 Halfway between the mountains See, and it's beautiful. 17:00 Beautifully balanced. And, you know, it tends to be you know, fruit laden moles are from Speyside so when rain is particularly fruit Laden, like orchard fruit. 17:12 So everything makes a difference. shape of the stills water the barley. 17:18 Yeah. And then the highlands I've actually would like with Glendora there's actually very few distilleries in the eastern Highlands there's only three. So Glendora is incredibly distinctive. 17:29 And it's a real old style old school mode, which makes it an old school because you gotta understand we're coming to this you know, we know mash but let's start the basic like, what is is God's vs. Okay, here we go. Here we go. We've only got four malt whiskey anyway. Yeah. single malt and that's the caterpillar that's growing. That's what people are really loving. And, and we've got three award winning top distilleries. three ingredients. malted barley, so has to be malt for single malt 18:00 Whiskey meter. 18:02 Like sir deserves 100% one all. Gotcha. So when you go the tour, it's like it has to be 100% Well, 18:11 they're always like 15 you 1% corn You know, that's the thing 100% malt because malted barley is the most complex material you can create flavor from in the world. There's hundreds of flavor compounds created from malted barley. And there was that versus other grains, because it's just all cast in a pool of amino acids of lipids as well as the starch that gives you the sugars. So there's just so much on the on the husk, you even get vanilla, you get searchers, there's so much to be extracted and converted by the yeast to flavor so it's much much more than just 18:51 alcohol. So in you know, in fermentation, you actually create the same flavors as you would do in a wine. So, you know, people often say Oh, how come 19:00 This great penis from mote 19:03 mall is magical. It just creates all this flavor. And that's why notice those are the same. It's a very complex material. And it's the synchronicity of, of where the seller is every single step of the process that creates quite a distinctive character as well to say how do you keep that consistent 19:20 between the distilleries because I would imagine that you know, one farmers multi bar one farmers barley that you got to bring in and malt like you had to have some sort of process that try to get a consistency. Yeah, but I mean, there's always going to be some sort of variations. Yeah, I mean, the malted barley varieties per year might be slightly different and more to do with the harvest. But generally, you know, most of Scotland will be growing the same, the same varieties because they're the ones that are working and you know, disease resistant and and grow and give you the highest yield. 19:53 But I mean, multi process can affect it. Ben Rhea, we've got all more tanks, which is something really special 20:00 one of only two distilleries of those, you know, 55 distilleries in Scotland that to have the Maltings so that's you know, something something special we don't maltol year but we do batches somebody doesn't know can you describe what multi malting is just bring that would be that somebody 20:18 is bringing the barley to life. So the barley is harvested spring barley is harvested in August and then it will be melted typically, you know, in the autumn 20:34 or it can be kept as but just the green barley as we call it before it's melted for longer and malted in the spring. 20:41 But malting means that you basically steeping water. Okay, so you're giving it some moisture, which is encouraging it to grow. Yep. And the growing phase is called germination. And that's where the mall is layout and the floor and the old style is with a, you know, to shovel it, basically 21:00 Mo shovel and turn it starts routing together it stops it from knitting together with sprites, okay and ensures an even temperature. And this allows the the enzymes to start working and the fooling the barley into thinking it's growing right because given that those conditions and so when we got the enzymes just perfect and the body is modified so this activate those enzymes, it's then we need to stop it. And that is done through mulk killing. And that's where the the germination barley is, is is raised on to Multi Floor. And beneath that there is heat and that's the kill. Okay. 21:42 Traditionally, Pete was used and most distilleries when we were back, but then you know, in the 20th century there was gas etc. So, so so most distilleries these days are undefeated. 22:00 with Ben reate, we've got both. So we're very lucky to have both. But Pete itself, is is, is found a lot in Scotland. 22:12 For Ben REAC. We source it from nearby the distillery and there was Caledonia forests 10,000 years ago and over 10,000 years, the Caledonian forest is as broken down over time over this time, and created the piece that we use. So Arpita actually, you can see fibers in it almost like fibers of wood. So is this like, like sphagnum peat moss or anything like that type or no, this is more like woodridge widger Okay, this is because it's from the northeast where you have Caledonia forest. Whereas if you went to Iowa, which is an island off the west coast, which makes the most 22:53 was the highest density of peated whiskies when it is a peat moss, a peat moss. Yeah. 23:00 No moss and also only because I use peat moss. I've agrico like turf. He's, he's 23:07 a 23:09 horticulture degree and we we use peat moss to like improve soil profiles and textures because it's rich in organic matter 23:18 all that organic matter you see this decade over 10,000 years and different parts of the geography of Scotland and you have you know different types of vegetation. And when you burn the peat, which fuels the fire that most of barley, 23:35 the aromas from from that material that vegetation and permeate the barley. So this introduces smoky flavors and you know, more nyla you find something more medicinal, more CBD decaying sweet seaweed type of smell. 23:54 Whereas, with Ben REAC it's that sweets would smoke on 24:00 Like a barbecue smell I think people in Kentucky would love it. 24:04 You know, it's really, really sweet. I guess that's based on the native vegetation there. Yeah, absolutely. But also in space side this is very, very rare, right? We Pete, every year we do about 15% of what we do. And then I get to have fun playing tunes with the beat on the competed stock and with flavor and create flavor so so it's great fun but space I typically is undefeated malts they tend to most of your glands 24:34 So Ben Ben reacts really very bold and adventurous and having Is there anything like heat shortage or is that ever word like people here talking about you know, uses evoke or whatever they're like, oh, Ukrainian oak shores they ever complained about they're all using all our Pete. We thought plenty. 24:55 There's plenty of pee. Gotcha. doesn't actually take that much Pete to create smoke. Gotcha. 25:00 etc. So it's all relative, isn't it? probably use more in your horticulture. Yeah, farmers and weekend gardeners. Let's see, I was kind of curious about like, what was the shift of moving away from Pete? Was it just in efficiencies of scale? Or was it a change in flavor that people were looking for? Like, what was that? Because you said most distilleries are kind of shifting away from that. 25:22 Well, this know historically, 25:25 it was more to do with the fact that we could get natural gas to to 25:33 drive barley and which is more efficient. 25:36 And also, you know that for the environment overall. So yeah. 25:45 We got, we got we got barley, they were melting it and then we're killing it. Yeah, dry it out to stop the germination process. All right, where we at steps the next step? Oh, we get the multi barley in 26:00 millat we have to put in a mill. And there's two different types of mill and distilleries. porcius or Bobby mill, and they've got four different rollers. And when it goes through the mill, this cracks open the husk, which is the surface of the barley. And then it goes down to the next level of rollers. And it gives you three different particle sizes, which are the husk on the outside of the barley, the grist in the middle and the flower, and you have to get perfect combination to give you the best taste and to get the most extraction. How do you get the perfect combination? Well, you just know what's right for you guys. And then you can use a sieve and use a sieve and you you work out your different particle sizes percentages, got a really simple process to for the guys to the distillery 26:45 analogous to like the corn that we take in, you know, basically turn into a powdered form. We're sitting there getting ready to do our mash. I guess the 26:55 flower package is not good because it would clog up the mash tun 27:00 Okay, okay give it will give you lots of alcohol and also it's not as good from flavor. 27:06 husk is great because it gives us a filter bed and mash tun and we want to produce a clear war target. So when we drain it off, and you know it filters through, and then the rest is the majority of 70% in the middle size particle skips great flavor and alcohol. Awesome. Alright, so we're moving past the mills where we're going next we're going into the mash tun and there's different sort of mash tons and scotch. I Glenn jornet. We've got copper mash tun 27:37 which goes right back decent job six, it's incredible. Lots of content with copper. It's a traditional recompile very slow process takes six hours to mash. Ben react also takes a long time to to mash very slow, where some more efficient, bigger distilleries might take three hours. But we believe slow and steady wins the race. That's right. The the tortoise always wins when I read this 28:01 Yeah, you know, Peter Pan, do you know the tortoise scene? Yeah, well, you get complexity in whiskey if you take your time. That's right. So with bedrick, for example, we we add one water at around 6065 degrees, 28:23 we mash this and then we drain it off through the filter bed. And then we add another water, a higher temperature around 74. And we drain off and they both go into the fermentation process. And then we add two more waters, which just clean it all out and go back into the first with the first water from the next run. And so we saw remash water, so it kind of 28:51 so we, we basically are great economists in Scotland. We don't let any job goes to waste. Yeah. And so with 29:00 mentation Are you all hanging your head on like this is our own yeast we've had for since 1400 or whatever, you know, we've got great distillers yeast that the whole industry uses which are perfect for scotch, she'll be black distillers uses profit for scotch. But when we ferment as well, you know, this is where the magic comes in, you know, we know we've got 29:23 wash backs that you know, air does the natural Flora can get into so it can influence the fermentation as well. 29:33 Tanks kind of sort of thing. Gotcha. Well, it's a Glen Donna, we have Scottish large wash backs. And sorry, I thought it's large. It's a wood. Oh, okay. I'll never would see he knew exactly was not miss anything. Yeah, like I got nothing here. So 29:52 my computer 29:54 was like, you know, you think about some disorders we go to and they've got the Cypress tanks. You know, that's my guys, man. That but yeah, this is 30:00 Uh, 30:01 yeah, so yeah, so squad is large and therefore, you know, it can you know pick it can breathe. You can never get it fully cleaned. But that's great because it gets more of the micro flora. Yeah. Your 30:15 character character. 30:18 Character Yes. funks a good boss. Robust, robust Highland character. Yes. That's how royalty says yeah. 30:29 Alright, so we're through fermentation. We're, I'm saying distilling copper stills, right pot stills. Oh, copper ports tell ya, I noticed again, notice no column stills ever never call themselves from all over. And while they're saying it's because it's pretty efficient and what we see around here that's kind of what a lot of the lot of the stories hang their hats on are doing a lot of bourbon and a lot of runs at once is basically using a really massive column stills. We have one of the most inefficient process 31:01 Incredible complex to flavor. It's all about the flavor and the end of the day. And with single malt in particular. 31:10 There's lots going on. So you want to take one cut this special for your distillery in the second distillation. So there's two distillations, typically in scotch. first one's called the wharf style tends to be the bigger style. And the second one is the spirit. So 31:30 in the first still, you distill the beer from around 8% alcohol up to around 20 24%. That's called low winds. And then you take the low winds, which is 24 and two, the second still the spirit still, and we, we cut the middle point, so whether it's the ceiling over 31:52 with bendrick, for example, 13 minutes, we just recycle. So we cut it, it goes into one 32:00 chamber. And then the middle heart goes into another chamber and that is for Philippians cask. And then the tales go back into that first chamber and then they're all recycled. So it's a very slow process, but it means that we capture very specific flavors. And then the still design is has an influence as well. So a Ben reate we've got very pure shapes so they just look quite beautiful pairs. And the this captures almost a fully peer job. Apple characters like an apple or church and the sales were that Glen Drona. We have 32:40 almost like saxophone stills. 32:43 Very unusual design. Certainly in terms of the neck, it curls around, up and down just like a swans neck. And this is very, very unusual. 32:53 So we have a boil ball that gives you lots of reflex and then the swans neck so we get this unique character. 33:00 How many different kinds of stills Have you seen over your course of time? You know, with all the time so I mean there's there's not kind of like a 33:09 I guess a good recipe that everybody kind of follows along like around here everybody goes oh, let's just call them down and we'll call today Yeah, well yeah, write a check and then in Dumbo Scotland all the stuff for sites Yeah. Oh coppersmith and the replace the stels member scotch whiskey is been gone for a long time Glendon It was 1826 You know, when I got those cells, so they'll replace them. Exactly. You know, every every little batch every you know, everything just the right, same, exactly same dimensions, but each distillery Yeah, so they're the man they're the coppersmith. Gotcha. Yeah. So quite often, you see stills just driving along the road. 33:49 being replaced. Yeah, that's awesome. Though. The corporate does where I mean corporates makes great conductor. It's wonderful for flavor because it catalog 34:00 is more fruit takes it the harshal elements. It's, it's magical. Absolutely. And so from there you've got your hearts and you're swimming you're filling barrels. Now you're filling barrels lately. Is it typical still 53 gallon sometime x bourbon cask like we're talking about the book is interesting because if you go back to 1826 for example, back then, it was Sherry principally that was important into into Scotland and bottles. And then the cast's were just use the surplus before then it was Aquavit, I Water of Life clear spirits. And you know, that farmers made because they had surplus barley. Who wouldn't? Yeah, 34:46 a little bit different around here. Normally, you would call that moonshine? Yeah. 34:51 Yeah, so it was serendipity, as many things and then the scotch industry that these Sherry cast and the main but the results are 35:00 podcast klarich cast what at that point? And we're used to, to host the whiskey which 35:08 you can ask me that. I love with no. I mean, I've spent so much time analyzing oak from around the world. I just love them all. I cannot say that. That's a cop out. Yeah. I love the one. I'm creating the whiskey with that day better. So today Yeah, yeah. Today president with that cast, I'm fully present with each cast. Gotcha. Absolutely. Alright, so what was the last cast you used? What was the last before? Well, I came to Louisville a few days ago. And the last cast I knows from was 35:44 definitely Glenn Dornoch, Patrick Hammond f cask. The last one px px Sherry right. And yeah, so that was the last one I'm learning the beauty of scotch and parvis 35:57 authenticity as well. 36:00 That we have this incredible selection we have to use a walk. Walk is the best. Yeah. You know, other words just do not cut the mustard. They don't have the complexity. 36:11 But apart from that it can have been you know, virginal we can use just like in Barban and or use casts So, for example with Ben redic we have the most eclectic collection of casks in space eight if not in the whole of Scotland. And we're has 13 we've got everything from the virgin not to bourbon to rum, to red wine, Bordeaux, New Yorker to Moscow masala to Tawny port report to a Miss Miss Miss Spano. 36:50 Madeira, so turn Okay, yeah. So you have all these different cask and I guess we'll get into to your your black magic of blending 37:01 Well let's talk about blink. So like here, like the master distillers like you know the celebrity or the you know the person that everyone looks to like but I hear over there the master blender is kind of like the runaway hit and away nosing lots of casks I know is about 5000 samples per year from casks 37:23 because it's such a complex spirit and no two castles in there very can be very different. 37:31 So I've noticed about hundred and 50,000 casks well my lifetime so far, 37:37 and counting and counting. But, you know, is the key part of, 37:44 of, of delivering a perfectly balanced single malt is knowing, obviously, what would you use what your wood policy is because we can reuse them more than once and then the different recipes of such 38:00 are almost in the cast selection. So the percentage you might use a bourbon cask virginal although very few us first you know we've got a real we're onto a winner here with Brian for men because we have source of virgin oak it's absolutely amazing it's great to play with and tons of us to work and tons of great dad Daniels barrels good for desirable for so take your pick so yeah so it's up to the master blender to kind of work out in conjunction obviously in collaboration with various people in the business so our influence in various various people in the business to see I think this will really work and consumer love it and you so like we're doing it. Are you like all right I went 30 bourbon expert and blends and when 35 x Madeira blends and or Derek has finished and then to blend to make you know a brand or like or no formula. Well it's it's really up to 39:00 whiskey. And to be honest, it's the whiskey that tells me 39:04 because she can keep me in Kim, it tells you it tells you the story tells you what it wants to be, you have to listen. And see you're not the guidance counselor. 39:16 Like Jackie says, when you know when she gets barrels off, she can like taste them and be like, all right, you're going off to be the old forester. You're going to be the prohibition series. You're going like here and there, but yeah, actually, you actually let the whiskey Tell you what, what to do with it. Absolutely. You know, like, 39:36 the characters whiskey Jasmine, what to do with it. I mean, with Ben react, it's got perfect balance of fruit Mononoke you know, and that is the key for me is to create character individuality. 39:50 Make it shine, just bring it all out, you know. 39:54 So, with Ben week 10 for example, general this is an appropriate time so yeah. 40:00 Yeah So Ben Murray lunch 40:08 with the careers of master distiller spanning almost 50 years, as well as Kentucky bourbon Hall of Famer and having over 100 million people taste his products. Steve nalli is a legend of bourbon who for years made Maker's Mark with expertise and precision. His latest project is with Bardstown bourbon company, a state of the art distillery in the heart of the bourbon capital of the world. They're known for the popular fusion series, however, they're adding something new in 2020 with a release named the prisoner. It starts as a nine year old Tennessee bourbon that has been finished in the prisoner wine companies French oak barrels for 18 months. The good news is, you don't have to wait till next year to try it. Steve and the team at Bardstown bourbon company have teamed up with rackhouse whiskey club rackhouse whiskey club is a whiskey the Month Club on a mission to uncover the best flavors and stories that craft distilleries across the US have to offer. Their December box features a full size bottle of Bardstown suffusion series and a two 41:00 Hundred milliliter bottle of the prisoner. There's also some cool merchant side. And as always with this membership shipping is free. Get your hands on some early release Bardstown bourbon by signing up at rackhouse whiskey club.com. Use code pursuit for $25 off your first box. 41:19 So, with Ben week 10 for example, general this is an appropriate time. So yeah. 41:25 Yeah, so Ben Murray. 41:30 So this is the core whiskey from Ben REAC. It's unpainted, or just make sure we're going which way Left to Right Left, left, right, left Bell know if you're not. 41:40 Yeah, well, the last time we did this, were wells with with Jackie and I went right to left and I was like, I'm not getting the same notes as you all but you know, that's me for not following directions. So this is this is the great label one that we're trying. So this is Yeah, this is the core product and this is 42:01 A marriage of 42:05 bourbon so principles john Daniels car says the main constituent of this product and also some Sherry cask from European oak and then also some of the brain for forming cooperage virgin oak, which is medium toasted and medium charge the same chat Tanya yes or no for a smell like Hawaiian Punch or like you know like the pineapple. Pineapple like like a toasted coconut like yeah more you know is that the more fruit you're gonna get? It just keeps on giving memory it just like is so fruit laden it's like a pina colada or something. 42:48 Well, you get pina colada Yeah. I got an apple orchards how work with ripened ripening peaches. Yeah, Rhino come up with the best tasting notes for you. 43:00 They're everything I had as a child. And I'm like, All right, we're gonna find this in the whiskey. Yeah. And you find it. I did. Well, I didn't have pina coladas when I was a child, but 43:11 I did have lion punch. Yeah. You ever had Hawaiian Punch? Yeah. Okay, cool. I know what you're talking about for all relatable still. 43:19 So very fatty. very fruity. Yes. Very nice. pear shaped cells. Yeah. You know. Beautiful. And you got a Yeah, I mean, some people who who drink wine really loves us. So, you know, becoming from Shapley or, you know, sharni you know, that fruitiness 43:37 is very, very distinctive layers of fruit. So, what kind of proof what kind of proof we're looking at 43% alcohol, which is 86 degrees proof. 43:49 So, it's a good strength. It's just the right strength to keep the fruit martynuk in perfect balance. So like with scotch like bourbon, they typically like art for years. We can start selling this one 44:00 Are you all like we can start selling this? Well legally it can be from three years old. Okay, okay, but I would never sell think about three years old because 44:11 the complexity is so much richer. It just gives you more a 10 years old so at three years is that for the single mother to be called a scotch? It has to be at least three years over boss. Okay, so any scotch whiskey be a blend of Multan green, because we do have green distilleries as well. 44:33 Like what other kind of grants or you know, we focus on the single malt because that's where all the flavor is. 44:41 So, if you look at other grains then is like like filler, like it doesn't really have it doesn't bring as much complexity or character to 44:51 the Scotch whisky industry was built on the complexity of single malt 44:58 and the green 45:00 Yeah, was pretty much there as a as a filler. Gotcha. See? Yeah, greens cheaper. So like, yeah, we're saying a mall is, you know, expensive to make the match process. It's handcrafted. It's you know, it's barley is expensive, sort of talking about aging. 45:18 Because it seems that barrels seem to like, retain a lot more liquid over in Scotland and Lino The longer they sit, I mean, you've you've got scotches that are yet wanting to learn 50 years old gin gin? Yeah, it's hot as hell. Yeah. And so we never get so Scotland. 45:39 I know sometimes I wish I lived there because be so easy to grow grass is the perfect weather. You know, we've got I guess that's why 45:49 we have an incredible landscape. Yeah, Scotland is so lush. And yes, it's perfect for barley as well on the east coast and then P on the west coast. 46:00 Public question. Well, yeah, 46:04 it's add, it's okay. I didn't count grass. Well, it's like, we're talking about how hot it is here versus Scotland. And I'm like Scotland is the perfect place to grow grass because grass here in June, July, it's like, it hates it. But it's good for bourbon because it's evaporating and moving it out of the barrel, you know, and I guess that was the question more along the lines of evaporation. I mean, you see in a lot of evaporation last over in Scotland that you would compared to like bourbon that are that's coming from Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, what what's considered a we call it a short barrel here, you know, like, if it's like below, like 100 bottles were like, Ooh, that's a short barrel. That one's gonna be good. Do you have Scotland? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We lose about on average for the whole industry. And it does vary. And then we get into another discussion. We lose about 2% of the volume and leasers about cold per year 46:57 of the original desk, which is ok. 47:00 We're about what five to 8% I think is kind of what you see around here at least at the first year. I think it's upwards double digits. But yeah, after that it kind of settled. Yeah. So what that means because it's a very slow reduction and also the the apple strength goes down. I know in bourbon, it goes up. Oh, really? Wow. Yeah. 47:21 There you go. I told you you were coming in with 47:24 no idea. Yeah. So the ankle strength goes down. And that means that you're extracting different things from the the old cast the longer you leave it because that strength is going down. But you're only losing 2% volume, meaning that you can leave it for longer. It's got more interaction with the word more oxidation, most importantly for single malt because that gives you the elegance of complex to the top notes, etc. The finesse that you find in a single malt is nice, but I'm how much different flavor now to get in this. You know, 86 proof tenure. What does this 48:00 single malt Yeah, yeah Ben REAC there's a lot going on it's like it's incredible the flavors you can get out of it. Like I said, we're pretty amateur and scotch and you know, most of the scotch I've had had been very heavy peated so it's like really pungent kind of earthy like smoky type. This is definitely more on the fruity or side and more like Captain Crunch berries. We ever can crunch with the berries. Sorry, talking to him, but I can imagine what you're enjoying. Well, so it's kind of like, you know, cereal in the milk. What will sugary substance yeah you have like a really sugary berries. And absolutely. 48:44 That is the 10 years or cheers for another delicacy here in Kentucky Fried pizza. 48:53 Fit pizza. Never heard of a big sugar cookie with the 49:00 Oh, I had that with this whiskey for lunch. See we're on the same wavelength. And it was just amazing because you get the fruit you get the malt which is like the creaminess of custard and vanilla. And then you get the oak, which is like the actual sediment on top and the lovely pastry base. Yeah, you know, so layered. Have you have you tried it yet? for pizza? If you tried this? Oh, no. Yes. I noticed you having a Oh yeah, we said we 49:29 are Ryan. Kenny. Ryan. Yeah. And then we have both been drinking. 49:35 So 49:37 we see Oh, 49:40 sounds good. Cheers. Cheers. 49:44 Y'all for pizza? Yeah, somebody new pairing? Take them take them back to Scotland. I will. Yeah, I said I probably I need to visit our local patisserie. Oh, yeah, maybe they 49:56 call it them. But it is it's just like a bakery. And that's the beauty. 50:00 Henriette, because it's in a sweet spot between the mansion in the sea and has a perfect environment to give you this balance of fruit modern look, if you go up the hill of it to other sellers, you get a little more kind of delicate fruit but without the malt. And if you go down it gets a bit more oil and it loses fruit. So we have the perfect balance to 50:19 little higher up. Yeah, yeah, cool. But this, I like the hierarchy. Yeah, yeah. Power up. Yeah. 50:28 What about the next Ben? And while I do the same facility? Yeah, yeah. It's the same, same. 50:34 different, different a different expression. But the different expression here and Black Label for anybody. Yeah, I mean, anyone that's curious. We have curiosity is anyone that's curious about beat because this is the piece of all there it is. Yeah. And going back to the 1970s. This is the only way 50:57 this is the only space side to have peace and welcome back to the 97 51:01 And and off space site. So an RP 51:05 is there has to be there has to be a ton of people that love that the taste and the smell of Pete. And I don't know for me it's hard to kind of gravitate towards like a more fan of of the the other Ben versus the peated. But yeah, I think this is also could have been my upbringing. I don't know if it's our upbringing it could be, you know, our palates not adjusted to it, you know, because a bourbon Bourbons very sweet. We've had torn pieces. Yeah, maybe that what it is, but you know that we come from Bourbons. It's very sweet. Yeah. Well about the barbecues. 51:38 Smoking weed like a ha ha. Yeah. 51:43 He likes to smoke me. I got my green and I got do some brisket, some pulled pork and some ribs. Yeah, like that. It does. And you have any forest you have forest. Burnham forest. So salvus in the forest, your brother a few boys, guys. 52:01 Tiger scout Yeah, start playing baseball maybe it wasn't about it I never really never really made it ever have the pleasure of maybe you know as you age just wow I love having a little campfire Yeah, I had I had flint and steel at one point I think that was the coolest thing ever got out of Boy Scouts was actually having my lens steel. Oh yeah, yeah, being able to actually create a fire with that like just, you know, well have a sniff back there. It will take you back there. You're in that forest. You feel like with your fire steel. You've got some marshmallows being toasted. 52:35 Ah, you've got some sugar maple in there as well. sugar maple. 52:43 It's just so it's just so radically different than what we drink. You know? That's, that's, that's why it's so like, it's still 52:50 just as you haven't tried to, you know, 52:54 open your mind. I knew I was coming into the diversity of flavor we got here you little bin is 53:00 The gateways are gateways God gateways gods and this is like Big Bang 53:05 well big bands little bit higher and strength as well okay 6% alcohol non chill filtered and nice to decrease gotcha what uh what are they? Were they coming out of the barrel typically at you didn't already say that did you know I didn't know we know they go down 53:20 okay so over 10 years, we're probably going to go from the felling strength of around 63.5% you say 163.5 is what you go into the barrel so 63.5% 136 730 737 degrees proof and then it goes down to losers over 10 years but 5% alcohol so I'll go down to about 5859 Okay, basically, pen Twitter's in the warehouse, concert warehouse it ends up in size of the warehouse. Traditional dunnage or tall is there an idea in the scotch world of like single barrels 54:00 Because I guess Glendora can Ben Rick, we we do single bottles for for for customers for you know for retailers, you know some of the specialists. So to see the single cast Yeah. 54:14 So yeah, absolutely. And we've got we've got cast strength and expressions as well so yeah. All right around the corner. So but this is 4692 degrees proof 54:33 right? Oh yeah, this one reminds me of like my 54:38 smoke a turkey every year for Thanksgiving and has this like Cajun rub that I put on it's like a real spicy and smoky so like, kind of get kind of makes me regret reminds me of that. And this is Barban cast. Cast. No wonder 54:57 I feel like I'm 54:59 still suffering. 55:00 That's why you're loving it because it's still got the sweetness. Remember I said it was the Pete has wood rich so yours like smoking mood. Yep. And then got the Emperor front caviar. And then unlike the island malts, we are very fruit laden even in distillation so we get all that fruit in there as well as the smoke. So like smoking a fruit pizza, smoking a fruit pizza. I love it. Yep. Get it on the cam everything. Everything is under the fruit pizza around here. Yeah. Oh, and maybe some some bananas on the barbecue with some chocolate in them as well. Dark Chocolate Chocolate. Banana croquettes it since you've been to Kentucky I've not had the pleasure. Oh, wow. Change Your Life. But I'm gonna ask for about Banana. Banana, rolled in. Mayonnaise and then bake. It sounds so good. And you could crush that peanuts on it. It's magical. 55:57 Barbecue that and it's this is exactly 56:00 Glass right here, nailed it. You know, you just have to open your minds and Kentucky to the flavors that you can join your food. You know? So I guess another question that we get to kind of, you know, kind of related back to bourbon a little bit is with inside of bourbon, we have this idea of like, oh, like there's a huge shortage, like, all these higher age expressions are getting very hard to find. They're very, very expensive. And everybody rushes and jumps and like there's this huge influx of people that are really starting to buy. Now, do you see that still happening like in the scotch worlders that scotch has just been around for so long? It's had the luxury of time and stocks and that you're able to still put out 10 2030 year old expressions and they've been agent since 1400. Yeah, you know, may I ask, Is there any actually left in the battle and Kentucky after 10 1520 years? Yeah, not much after, I'd say. What was it I think, you know, we have we know some distilleries around they have they have some 15 57:00 20 year old releases, but you're looking at 70 to 95 bottles in the bank cash during a cash drink something like that. You know you, you talked to Chris Morris we've talked about before and birthday Bourbons and stuff like that with the heat cycled warehouses that there are times that even 12 years old that they haven't the casks. Yeah. So imagine Christus forgot to put the plug. 57:24 I would imagine with Virgin oak, there would just be wood, wood and more wood. And lots of food. Yeah, I would imagine for a very long Oh, yeah, definitely. I'm sure like, it takes a lot. You're like, all right, this is very tacky, or Yeah, like, bitter kind of finished to it. So there's like we're all just going for balance. I mean, the fact that single malt. Ben music is so fruit Laden. It means that with maturation over a long time, you're just getting the escaping that balance convert in the woods into a softer flavors and 58:00 Get a lot of reactions happening rather than just a distraction. So it's very, very complex. But in answered your question, yeah, we've got some older songs and we're very lucky at Ben react because started putting in 1972 again, and we've got starts going back to the end of the piece of models. So we've got 21 year old Tim porous Well, it's fully peated but tastes like caramelize Pier. It's incredible. And Honey, I need to enable untoasted ever had a pair caramelized? There you go get on it on Oh, yeah, it's amazing. You know, so really, yeah. peachy, but you know, so And yeah, so we have all this wonderful whiskey that for people to discover 58:48 in flavor, you know, people are just waking up tomorrow. Well, so I guess the I go ahead and I was gonna say and these so what like a typical barrel dumping these blends like how many barrels are 59:00 Yeah, typically bad. Yeah. And Ben Rhea typical batch would be around 50 to 60. Okay, it's pretty small. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean it's pretty small batch single malt 59:13 per bottling and obviously I want to keep it consistent as well each time so yeah, very cool. Well, yeah so we bought mostly bourbon bourbon for the the Curiosity is the 10 year old was the virginal the Sherry and the the bourbon. And we've got lots more expressions besides using wine cast, etc. Oh, yeah, I get to play. So you're getting like me, it's like a pessary you get so much different flavor going on. He's going into that cake shop. Is it like here we have like a like, 59:47 I don't know what this word comes. My accountability partners are like tasting panel tasting panel. That's what I'm looking for. To like. 59:54 You know, just make sure that everything you're blending is consistent with the brand 1:00:00 Rachel or is there? Or is there a team behind you as well? That's sort of like to be on the team. I do. I think I've passed. 1:00:07 I think I could do just for pizza. You know, I've got an assistant. This is just one, just one assistant. On flavor side. Here. There's like a likes like five or six, five or six. However, however, you know, the distillery team as well, everyone gets involved. Everyone gets involved. Gotcha. You know, the final product is and speaking the final product, let's talk about the last one we have on our right, which is the Glen dronicus. So talk about what this is. And really what this expression is, as well. Yeah, you said it so perfectly drawn. Know, 55 minutes later, I think I figured it out. 1:00:41 Well, that means valley of the brambles. You've heard the brambles, brambles, brambles, no blackberries, blackberries there. Oh, 1:00:49 it's beautiful. It's in Highlands. But isn't a valley in the highlands. And it's I was born very close to silly brought up there. It's the richest most abundant 1:01:00 landscape for agriculture. You'd love it. 1:01:03 It's great soil. Great, just best barley and Scotland near Glendora distillery and primarily we use Sherry cask that's what really sets us apart 1:01:18 we say 1:01:20 there you go 1:01:22 really going hard with the apples here lots yeah like applesauce or rather not baked because what oh no they're not baked not be 1:01:31 there you go oh wow well I get everyone's nose is different of course Oh, sorry 1:01:39 yeah I mean ourselves she said yes we've got saxophone shape skills which means that we have a robust kind of earthy character and on top of that we've got all these fruits which are picking up 1:01:52 but Bramble fruits is quite dominant I think a picots figs 1:01:57 Oh yeah, all that going on. Kind of 1:02:00 Soft fruits and the and the darker fruits come through. So, with gone donek we source Spanish oak, from from Spain from Galicia is filled with two types of sherry, primarily 1:02:17 Pedro Jimenez and all the Russell and Pedro Hammond. I think we buy the most pedra Hammond f casks in the industry because Pedro Hammond eth is known as the King of cherries. And it gives you a really anxious kind of sweetness, dates, raisins, dark chocolate, all that going on. And that really sweet and then the other also is dryer and nuts here. 1:02:41 So yeah, so we for the 12 year olds 1:02:45 have 12 year old petropolis 12 year old are also and we bring them together, and the combination is the perfect balance for Glen tonic. So a question about when you're using 1:03:00 You know, x px and alluro. So barrels and stuff like that, because you use them multiple times over. Is there like a, because you're going to only extract so much of that flavor, you're not going to get it every single time. So it's like, Is there like a chalk line? It's like you like 123? Like, like we've used this three times. Yeah. And so and so you know, like we need, we need one that's first new fill or a few new fills to add into this to kind of keep that sort of consistency to it. Yeah, absolutely. It's just 1:03:32 my path I've got archaeon flight path and working on because obviously as volume grows, and it will people love going john, we're just gorging casks for the 12 year old and they're all first fill. pajamas and all their also you did ask in this first fill, and we just scored those and then we'll maybe refill them with new make the new fill. And then I know that it's going to take longer for a second fall. So it might be 18 years. 1:04:00 are more or am I even have to rewrap it back into ourselves? If it's not? If it's not if it's not worked as well or it's not extracting enough, but Spanish is incredibly deep in color and talents. It's like Spanish podcast last a long time. So, typically in the industry going back to the 19th century, there would have been used to be four or five times, you know, and they would have still been strong when it leaked, etc. The solid the Gothic. Steve's a big casks. And, but we only use them 1:04:35 twice, really? And if I was to fill a third time, I would probably not gonna give me Yeah, I'm gonna be back after a few years. I mean, reracked I take it take the risk out of that cast and put it into First of all, gotcha. Okay. So, you know, it's like, if you've got kids, you know, if they're doing well at school, you leave them as that school and doing well and they're flourishing and they're, you know, becoming great individuals, if they're not doing so well, that 1:05:00 school you might take it out and put into for school. Rachel, you hit the park with this one. This one's awesome like that you like the Glen? Yes. I think I'm a Glen fan. I like I like the valleys in the highlands. Yeah, well the thing about Glen janyk is I'm a judge at spirits competitions. Okay. And for me the whole mark of fine whiskey full stop. But especially fine single finest single malt is that it must be complex balanced loads of character. And always deliver more on the taste than on the nose. Yeah. xid expectations every time. This is Yeah, this reminds me of like a apple cider with all the you know the get the cinnamon sticks and the morning spices all in there kind of just like a little bit prettier version of that. But 1:05:52 I see again, the spice from the all are also cast. So you could get gin, warm gingerbread bake in the oven center. 1:06:00 Thanks absolutely great for Christmas. For me, like no, I think all our Christmas in a glass you know? Or Yeah, definitely fall as well. So you get a nuttiness at the back of the palette from the other also. So when you taste it up or just have another sip, yeah, go for it. Yeah, I guess I another question about because I know that Glenn tronic has a really big kind of cult following sort of behind it to like it's it's one of the most popular brands that are out there. And I know I joined 1:06:28 it I know there was a head of in in a probably a year, maybe a year and a half ago there was released called like 1993. It was kind of talk about sort of that and sort of some of these, these sort of special releases that are coming out that a lot of these sort of a whiskey nerds and scotch nerds are really going for Yeah, I mean, the beauty of Glenn donek is that its traditional, and we haven't changed anything. So it's that's why I call it it's kind of old style. 1:06:56 And what that means is your recommend nature and obviously we 1:07:00 You have seasons. So for example, the spring and the spirit of steel and I get a little bit more kind of like vines and almost a grapey quality from all it's incredible. And then into June I'll get more kind of dark fruit and jamee into October and Autumn in the fall. You get more of this nutty tobacco leaf leather is incredible. So what does this mean? Well, obviously when I create 12 year olds, I'm using whiskey from all the seasons and I'm giving that perfect balance taste, getting all that complexity that you love with a single casks, individual cask bottlings. You know, it's giving the connoisseurs an opportunity to wow they're appreciating all these different complex flavors that are coming through and different cast at different times. They're getting that chance to really have a taste of complexity of Plantronics and different individual cast. So it might be a cast that's more robust and more full body Normally, you know all our offices 1:08:00 Maybe from from November. Or it might be one that's a bit more spicy from the winter. Or maybe one that's just before Jeremy from the summer. Like, you know, no, that's awesome. So yeah, so and they love and they love discussing it. They love it. They love it, but you know your stuff. 1:08:21 Listen, I read a few forums and I see what people are talking about what they're buying, and I just get curious and that's just one of the things that happened. That's not quite a following Glenn Dornoch has got quite a following and more and more gravitating and I think you know, with this quality I think people in Kentucky are gonna love it. Yeah, and this one actually, you know, it has a little bit of a darker and richer color than than the Ben but well the Ben and Ben Maria can go and donecker all natural color. And that means it's just from the from the cast naturally cast imparted color. 1:08:53 Other other malts might be have caramelize for example. 1:08:57 But you know, it's all natural for us. 1:09:00 So, the color that you see is coming from the Spanish shock and pedra menethil are on the roster, Cherie. So, yeah, you get a more intense, more intense color. Well, you know, that's, that's awesome. And thank you so much for the information. And, you know, also, thank you so much for flying all the way to Scotland to have this interview with this unbelievable. I mean, this was a pleasure for us. So I know, I know, it was definitely an honor for us to actually have you on here. Because there's, there's probably so many people in the scotch world that know who you are. And it was a pleasure for us to finally have this introduction from somebody like you to say, you know, lead us through a scotch tasting like this. So it was it was really an honor. That's absolutely my pleasure to be with you. I hope I've managed to convert at least one of you to add single malt Scotch to your repertoire. I think we might have like a Glen and Ben might be in the ticket here. Yeah. So I agree. Glen and have been glad in the back. Yeah, yeah. So you're going for 1:09:59 Yeah. 1:10:00 glendan have been Yeah, I agree. I mean this cleanse dronicus really good. And then the I'm still I'm still not on board with the Pete yet. Maybe it just it's like everything else it just makes you like your coffee. I don't drink coffee I don't drink 1:10:13 coffee. 1:10:16 I either like it like black nothing in it like, like Peru or Nicaraguan blends, like they're real kind of fruity like panicky kind of, or I like it as an almond milk latte where you go nutty that's why you like them but don't like milk coffee cuz kind of like brings it down. See you like both bands Don't you like smoking on to you were there in the forest. I was in the forest in the camp, you know? Turkey and mark you were? Yeah, you see it's interesting because interesting. Y

As you can probably imagine, a lot of the people I coach are currently on the hunt for a new job. Some of them are desperate for a new job, like, yesterday … and others are happy where they’re at for now, but know this isn’t their “forever” career, so they want to be open to new opportunities. Whatever your reason for looking for a new job, I wish I could tell you with complete sincerity that job searching is usually a breeze … but most of the time, that’s a big fat lie. Now, I’ve taken enough clients successfully through the job searching process that I know for a fact there are ways to make the job hunt significantly simpler, more effective, and generally less miserable. (We actually provide a detailed worksheet in our Passion Profile Short Course all about “Job Searching According to your Values,” which has been a game-changer for our clients.) But most of the time, job searching kinda sucks. Not to be a total downer, but I think most of you would agree that it can be time-consuming, frustrating, and overwhelming … and worst of all, it can make you question yourself and your abilities. I’ve heard just about every complaint you can imagine about job searching, but the one I hear the most is also the one you have the greatest ability to change. More than anything else, I hear clients tell me, “I found a few jobs I would absolutely love, but I’m not qualified for them, so there’s no use applying.”   In this week’s blog, I’m getting into why you should apply anyway. READY TO APPLY FOR A JOB YOU’RE NOT 100% QUALIFIED FOR? HERE’S HOW TO DO IT… Now that you know you absolutely CAN apply for jobs you're not 100% qualified for, you probably want to know HOW to do it so that you actually have a good chance of getting the job (even without tall of the required experience). So Rachel and I recorded a 35-minute audio for you where we're sharing our top 3 tips for how to apply for jobs you're not 100% qualified for. You're going to want to know this stuff before you start sending out applications! To download this free audio recording, scroll down to the end of this blog and enter your name and email address. LINKS Leave us a comment on this episode Take the Passion Profile Quiz Submit your question for a future episode of Dear Krachel Check out our YouTube channel

Rachel Grunwell is one of New Zealands' best know health and wellness experts and enthusiastic marathon runner. She is an award-winning journalist and has just released the book Balance: Food, health + Happiness which which features 30 global experts sharing science-backed advice on living healthier and happier.  But Rachel wasn't always a fitness queen. Up until 7 years ago she was a hard hitting investigative journalist and had three small children and was by her own admission extremely unfit. She had never been into any type of sport and thought those people that did all that just had different genes that she did. But then she was offered a column writing about fitness and health and this led her on an unexpected journey of self discovery and a complete change of lifestyle. Now Rachel helps others turn their lives around and teaches running, yoga and mindfulness when not writing books and articles. She is also the ambassador for the Achiles Foundation and helps support disabled athletes compete in marathons and other races.  In this interview Lisa and Rachel delve into some of the learnings she discovered through interviewing 30 global leading health, fitness and performance experts from neuroscientists to nutritionists and about her own personal journey. Here’s a link to find out more about Rachel and Balance https://inspiredhealth.co.nz We would like to thank our sponsors Running Hot - By Lisa Tamati & Neil Wagstaff If you want to run faster, longer and be stronger without burnout and injuries then check out and TRY our Running Club for FREE on a 7 day FREE TRIAL Complete holistic running programmes for distances from 5km to ultramarathon and for beginners to advanced runners.   All include Run training sessions, mobility workouts daily, strength workouts specific for runners, nutrition guidance and mindset help Plus injury prevention series, foundational plans, running drill series and a huge library of videos, articles, podcasts, clean eating recipes and more.   www.runninghotcoaching.com/info and don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel at Lisa's Youtube channel  www.yotube.com/user/lisatamat and come visit us on our facebook group   www.facebook.com/groups/lisatamati Epigenetics Testing Program by Lisa Tamati & Neil Wagstaff. Wouldn’t it be great if your body came with a user manual? Which foods should you eat, and which ones should you avoid? When, and how often should you be eating? What type of exercise does your body respond best to, and when is it best to exercise? These are just some of the questions you’ll uncover the answers to in the Epigenetics Testing Program along with many others. There’s a good reason why epigenetics is being hailed as the “future of personalised health”, as it unlocks the user manual you’ll wish you’d been born with! No more guess work. The program, developed by an international team of independent doctors, researchers, and technology programmers for over 15 years, uses a powerful epigenetics analysis platform informed by 100% evidenced-based medical research. The platform uses over 500 algorithms and 10,000 data points per user, to analyse body measurement and lifestyle stress data, that can all be captured from the comfort of your own home Find out more about our  Epigenetics Program and how it can change your life and help you reach optimal health, happiness and potential at: https://runninghotcoaching.com/epigenetics You can find all our programs, courses, live seminars and more at www.lisatamati.com  Transcription Speaker 1: (00:00) Well. Hi everybody. It's Lisa Tamati here at pushing the limits. It's fantastic to have you tune in for today's show and I'll have a wonderful guest coming up for you, but before I reveal who that is this week, I just wanted to let you know once again, if you want to reach out to me, you can do so. Lisa at Lisatamati.com,if you've got any questions around today's show or any of the past episodes or anything about running fitness, nutrition mindset, epigenetics, any of the things that we like to talk about on the show, then please don't hesitate to reach out to me. You can also check us out on Lisatamati.com that's our main website where we have all our programs listed and you can find out about live retreats and follow our blog. We'd really appreciate you checking out that stuff on there and getting back to us if you need any help with anything. Umow today I have a really amazing interview with one of New Zealand's top, ealth and wellness experts, a lady by the name of Rachel Grunwell. Now, many of you might've heard of Rachel. She's just put out a book called Balance, u,ich I'm going to talk to her about today. Um,e's a mom of three. She was an investigative journalist who tuned them her hand to learning about everything, health, fitness. And when she does something, she does it properly. Does our Rachel. So without further ado, I'd like you to introduce you to Rachel Grunwell. Speaker 2: (01:25) Yeah, well, hello everybody. It's Lisa Tamti here at pushing the limits. It's fantastic to have you back again for another fantastic episode. I'm really, really excited about this one. I've got a lady that I've followed for a long time on social media and heard great things about here. So I've got Rachel Grunwell. (01:40) You should hear that, right? She's on pushing the limits and it's really, really exciting. So, Rachel, welcome to the show. Speaker 3: (01:46) Thanks for having me on, Lisa. It's great to be here. Speaker 2: (01:49) Well, it's fantastic to have you now for those of you who live under a rock and don't know who Rachel is. Rachel is a journalist and she's also an author and a wellness and health experts. Uand Rachel, I want you to go back and just give us a little bit background about you, your life, your, your, you know, how you got into this because you came from investigative journalism of all things and like you've very, very different so, right. So take it away. Tell us, tell us a little about yourself. Speaker 3: (02:19) Yeah. So on a previous life, I was a very hard noise journalist for 25 years actually. And I would hope politicians to account and people in power to account. And I really love the industry because you could create incredible change, you know, you could help change policies or help, you know, beyond the door when they needed help and you know, publicly whole people and power to account. And I had a dream to become an award winning journalist and I reached there,which I was very lucky to do. Speaker 3: (02:55) And I went on to, you know, have family and I still keep as a investigative journalist and I would work out from one day a week to two days to three days. And I had, I worked for some really amazing Editors who just met me and would take,uhow many days a week than I, I could work and build up to after I had my food, some,ufun. It was by luck. And by chance they, I was offered a column, a weekly column,uby the Herald on Sunday and it was a well bang column and I would try and survive all these fitness and health activities every week. And, and I always joke that if at the time I was offered the wine column, I would have believed it. That plays.,So I was, you know, it harm our circuit on, but I never been this kind of fit creature. Speaker 3: (03:50) And Yeah. So when I was offered the a column, it was, yeah, it was really great cause I thought, yes, please. I'd really like to learn myself. I was really confused about nutrition. I was so unfit. I was really unfit mom, I would struggle to push a pram around the block and look, I was half in path and I found it really difficult. And I thought people who are really fit were like lady Gaga. They were born this way. Seriously though, different base. They had different genes to me and you know, I was such a Guinea pig with it column and you know, I tried juicing diets and got really hangry, hungry, angry. I tried a soup thing,tried dancing and I was worse than a certain politician. I had totally fate., nd I started a run and I started, u, it would've been seven years ago now. Speaker 3: (04:47) And I really, I just thought I've just got to show up. I've just got to try and I really don't understand this, but I'll just see if I can run a fun run one day. And I started with a 20 minutes walk from routine around the block today, two times a week. And I did that for a few weeks and I hated it. I was kind of a firing John. I was awful. And I, you know, it was really hard and I was there on foot and it was horrible. But I just, I, one thing I'm really good at is just being bloody-minded running. Yeah. Yeah. And especially in your realm. Oh my God. I don't know how you do it. You're like, I be principals really just go one step further than you've been before. And seriously, Ollie. God, yeah. Sorry. I just, I started there and you know, after a few weeks I thought, oh my God, I actually, I can run a little bit longer or I'm doing least walking then then I was before I can run a little bit longer. I, I feel a little bit stronger. Wow. I can really feel less in HD. You can really measure it. That's the coolest thing about running, right, is it you can meet your major, your progress and yeah. So once I could run 25 minutes I went to a PT and I said, look, if you can get me to run 10 k's you or 30 minutes unbroken, you won't be a PT. You'll be an m him. And he's like, what's that? Right. And he's like, miracle. Like you'd be a miracle Micah. Speaker 2: (06:29) Okay. Speaker 3: (06:31) And yeah, and, but I just showed up to training and I just keep going and got stronger and fitter and yeah. And then I did a ten km then a half marathon and then within a year I did my first marathon in. Fast forward to today and I'm about to run my 25th marathon. And a lot of them are give backs, which is guiding disabled athletes. Yeah. Speaker 2: (06:55) That's amazing. We'll get into that. Yeah. Speaker 3: (06:57) And since I've qualified in the industry, so qualified coach, I help people lose weight, get for level life, they love and and a really holistic way. So I don't just help them train or really care about how they're living their lives and how, how to be them best selves and Qualified Yoga teacher minutes in meditation. And there's a cross of passions as you would a little bit similar, like as, I love what you do, cause I've worked with a lot of athletes elite runners to weekend warriors crossfitters dancers to moms, moms and daughters are teaching yoga. And I worked with a lot of big brains teaching mindfulness and meditation and Yoga and stuff now. So that year were the bet athletes, you know, you need to rebalance your body or otherwise you're going to break. Speaker 2: (07:49) I'm sorry I went to that too. You know, as coaches, you know, we've, we've, you know, like I as an athlete did it all wrong for many, many years of broke myself basically by not having that holistic approach. And it's really important for us to be as conscious as that. We really look at the whole person their whole life and where they're at and how do we keep them forward without, without breaking them, without boon out, without getting lots of injuries and really looking at the whole health and not just their run times, you know. So that's why, you know, our philosophies align really nicely there. And you know, you've, you've touched on meditation and Yoga there. What's your take? I mean, I'm right into meditation and I actually self hypnosis and things like that as well and reprogramming. Have you, how's meditation help you in your life and you know, what's your take on the whole, you know, Yoga, meditation sort of world? Speaker 3: (08:50) Yeah. So I teach it now at retreats and in, you know, big events with and things like that and what's been really transferable formative for me, like I was the worst and meditator and I had a terrible monkey mind, you know, like my mind was all over the flies and what helped me was just starting small. It's like starting at run journey, right? It's like the first person who prescribed meditation to me gave me 30 minutes and I just went like, oh no, I'm going to do that. Like it was so overwhelming and I just didn't do a minute of it. But the second and I started small and I started slowly and I did a minute, then, you know, he's huge magic in there and I can do that. And that's how I train my mind in mindfulness has been transformative for many and how I live my life. Speaker 3: (09:44) And, you know, mindfulness just for anyone out there who, who's not,uhugely ensuring whether it's about not being stuck in the past. Sorry, I spent, I wasted a lot of my twenties and thirties,,feeling really angry and upset in stuck about certain things that had happened to me or how people were with me. And I really, yeah, keep too much, I think about pleasing people, but I really hung on to stuff in the past and you can't change anything in the past. So mindfulness is about leading, you know, acknowledging the past,uin , you know, not getting stuck in it. I mean, that's not been,you know, in the future cause you can't control the future. So it's, you know, having this letting go process. Uand yeah, it's just about living in an hour, celebrating the, now, seeing the absolute beauty and magic. Speaker 2: (10:40) And this is just so crucial. Like our lives are run by our subconscious. And that is always, you know, it with their conscious minds. We are either in the past and we were in in the future. We were always scared of what's going to happen to us or we're anticipating stuff or with, we're upset about what's happened to us in the past and we replaying those, those things with our subconscious programming, controlling 95% of our lives. Say, you know, that we only have a very small processing capacity with our prefrontal cortex and our subconscious is actually doing 95 to 99% of the work. So we can do what we want with their conscious thinking and still not have that breakthrough because the race is happening at another level. And when you do meditation, when you do mindfulness, this is you know, what's really important is about letting go of, of the, of the past and understanding it, not blaming and not staying stuck in that cycle of emotion. Speaker 2: (11:38) Basically, isn't it break out of those emotional responses? Because otherwise if you're reliving every day a trauma that you had in your childhood or your past at some stage, then your body is experiencing all of that pain every damn week, you know, and every day and only doesn't know the difference between a, that was 10 years ago or what is right now. It's having those same reactions. And so we get stuck. And this is where I saying, you know, the, the meditation, the deep breathing and it's, it's totally not woo woo , is it Rachel? It's not just Speaker 3: (12:12) No art science back and really heavily, sorry. So, you know, psychologists prescribe mindfulness, it's in the workplace. Like I w I worked with a lot of corporates in this field and they now are really welcoming that transition to understanding the science and these disciplines. And yet it is so, transformative. And you know, part of it's getting older and a bit wiser and you know, wow. But you know, like how you choose to experience the world, it's such a big thing. You don't get to choose what happens around you or how other people behave, but you always get to choose how you show up and, and you know, I like you, you know, energy goes way energy flows. And so like, I want to put my energy into really good things and positive things. Chase dreams get shut down. You know, Speaker 2: (13:12) I mean to go from seeing, you know, within, within seven years, I mean, being as hard-hitting journalist to now being a wellness expert and a fitness expert and having run nearly 25 marathons that's a massive transformation. Well, bringing up three children and writing a book. I mean and I mean on the book journey, like let's, let's go there for a little bit because often the model of my third book and to go balance, everyone listening or watching this on the video, you can say, write to his book balance. It's a hell of a journey to get a book out. Isn't that right? Show? Speaker 3: (13:48) Oh my God, it's s hard I can't relate up to your third, like one seriously almost broke me. Speaker 2: (13:57) Well that's one of my third one is excellent. You was breaking Beta. I wasn't an ultra marathon runner chapter. I like it. Speaker 3: (14:04) Yeah. Yeah. You know, the insurance tastes thing. Yeah. Speaker 2: (14:07) So how did you always come about and what is your book about and tell us a little bit about the interviews and things that you've got on the consumer interested to, to find out all about that. Speaker 3: (14:16) Yeah, sorry. It's cool. Balance, food, health and happiness and it's like this ducky beautiful blue color and just really simple and design. So a lot of main rating. So that's not candy, floss, pink and color. I really love that because I work, you know, as a coach and Yogi and things I work with mean and woman. And so I, I'm sorry, plays a designer's. We with a beautiful clean design. So how it came about was I have still kept it writing arm, sorry, I'm a wellness columnist for magazine and also indulge magazine and one of those goes on the Herald online every week. And I'm so a blogger with a lot of brands and things, I've kept it writing on going as well as well as the wellness work. And over the years I'm sort of lucky because I get to interview some of the beast minds in the wellness industry, you know, nutrition, fitness, movement,umindset, a lot of the most amazing minds, not only in New Zealand, but throughout the world. Speaker 3: (15:22) And my journalism background as suits me really well because you know, there's the writing craft, but also, you know, the question, you know, having those, the curiosity with questions and things. And so, yeah, we took a publish a couple of years ago. I got a publishing deal. I feel very grateful for that. So hard to get there. And it's based on footie experts from throughout the world. Sharing science stacks wellness, wisdom and all the kind of categories like psychology, neuroscience is for nutritionists and the the you know, these doctors in the air, there's researchers and you know, there's a neuroscientist on the who works with all blacks, our top rowers in Formula One racing car drivers to perform at the beast everyday. Kiwis can use those pillows to live their best lives these amazing stuff on emotional intelligence. Speaker 3: (16:22) Like, you know, how to relate better with kids, with friends, with colleagues to be a better human I guess. And you know, there's also 30 recipes, so 30 experts and 30 recipes. So there's a lot of you know, there's like a great beetroot juice on there for runners actually because I'm such a patient at runner there's even like the exercise high explained to me by doctor and like what's going on in your brain. And there's, you know, some core science concepts in there as well, like flow, which is a secret to a life worth living is finding flow. And you know, you and I know how to find it through running. And they were at such a gift we can access, cause you know, it helps as the yogurt. That's when you lost in the moment. You are immersed in the doing, you've got this reasonably high skill set. And so, you know, we can just run and get lost in the moment and it's moving meditation, Speaker 2: (17:25) It flows state as something I've studied. Have you read the book? Stealing fire tonight, fantastic book. Being able to tap into flow states and what flow states are. And I think that's a really important part of, I mean I have flow states like when I'm, I'm a journalist, so I create, you know, jewelry I haven't been doing as much lately because I'm so busy with, with things. And I miss that being in that state where I, you know, five hours go by and I, and I, and I've not even notice because I'm just in the creative process. And it takes a while to get in there and you know, but it's, it's something that's just fantastically, you know, that you're actually doing what you are, you know, made to do, so to speak. And you can get that running. You can get that role acting. Depends on what your thing is, but finding that flow state, it really pulls out the beast in you. This is when you're actually in your genius. Okay. Speaker 3: (18:22) Yeah. It's honestly, it's the psychologist who came up with a term called it Kale. I think you know, it's a secret total life worth living. Like if you can find your flow state, whether it's making jewellery, whether it's, you know, I'm getting lost in the moment doing netting or you know, even surgeons can find flow doing surgery, they are immersed in the moment and they won't even notice like music hall on the room. They don't like just lost in the moment in the, in the doing though you can say it. Great. Great. Yeah, sorry. And I find my flow state, you know, through music as well. Also saxophone. It's like, music's really cool. And even if you love listening to music, Oh my God. And like mix music you know, great place it where you're running. Speaker 2: (19:15) Absolutely. I mean, yeah, my husband's a museum and it's just like I just watch him and instantly go into a flow state when he's playing his guitar and stuff. And He, I could be yelling at him that Dennis was not hearing anything cause he's [inaudible] Speaker 3: (19:28) I might be selective hearing Speaker 2: (19:32) Cause mining, but you'd think he'd come for food, but he just, he's just in a different world. And, and unlike in VM that, you know, like I know I don't have a musical instrument. So,uthat, that's just a beautiful thing to watch. And this is when humans are at the highest potential. And if we can spend at least a little bit of time everyday in that state, in, we were much happier as humans. I, yeah. And we're choosing what we want to. Yeah. I wanted to sort of, mou know, taken a left hand turn in the road and talk a little bit about, our work with Achilles and your, you know, giving back to, u,rough your running. Um, I know we actually meet through our mutual friend Ian Walker, uwho has been on the show before. Absolutely. I, Rachel, just amazing man. Ian was hit by a truck years ago while he was out and on his bike and Speaker 3: (20:27) And he was an amazing marathonner. I mean like really fast marathon. Speaker 2: (20:35) Yeah. Walk in the wheelchair and in any back to doing marathons in is a hand bike and so on. Absolutely amazing story. And then you get hit by another, a truck., I think it was a while out on his hand bike and he's ahead head to go back and he's actually even further up paralyzed now and I don't know the technical term, but it's further up the back, basically a quadriplegic now and he's fighting back again. And he just absolutely blows my mind whenever I'm feeling down about, you know, I can't run as fast as I used to run as far or whatever. I think about Ian and I thinking about, you know, get over yourself and you've had the privilege of traveling to the New York marathon with Ian and the Achilles crew. Tell us a little about you, your work with [Achilles and how it has worked out for you. Speaker 3: (21:24) Sorry. It was really special being on that trip with Ian Actually and we forged this incredible friendship from that time and with [inaudible] it science like, you know, cure very much about 'em and you know, it's just a great mate and yeah, I love hanging out with him. Yeah. He inspires me hugely with his capacity to train and I love his determination to, to want to do well on these races. And you know, he's an amazing hand cycle athlete and yeah, really, really awesome to have a minute. [inaudible] And yeah, so I'm going to bet though for Kelly's something I'm really proud of and I've helped quite a lot of different athletes over the years. So just quickly for any viewer listeners who don't know what I can use as about we just help anyone with any kind of disability or barrier to participate in running kind of events. Speaker 3: (22:20) So half marathons fund runs marathons and I've gotten through quite a lot of races over the years and yeah, I love, I love being part of that charity in just about to take someone to New York visually appeared go with a spirit just as well gonna help you throw New York marathon learn and also Sydney half marathon. So not helper Tom Idi another inspiring athletes. But yeah, just, you know, like it's a hot connected thing. Like it's amazing to run your own rice lightly. You know, it's incredible to like to be chasing a time or just to be out there running your own race, but to help someone else that the drain. How about lifting and wonderful and you work, you connect it for ever and you know, through the tears and snot at the finish line. But to ne Speaker 2: (23:21) You're really emotionally already, your, your in you, he just, some way he was with one of your race lights. Yeah. Speaker 3: (23:27) There's a lot of pride through and you know, I, I've done enough races now and you know, qualified as a coach and I think one of my biggest gifts to share in their charity is to get them through to the finish line and a pretty good state in. So I know when they need to back. I know when they need to fuel, I know when they're, you know, they're on their mind struggle and you know, just helping them through those different stages and yeah, it's wonderful to share. Speaker 2: (23:58) Absolutely. My [inaudible] and this would be, you know, like this is, this is so grateful, not just with disabled, escalate athletes and not just, wouldn't it be fabulous to have someone like that that got talkies through everything in life, you know? Speaker 3: (24:12) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, if you got a card, she gonna get to your goal. A goal smarter and faster. Yeah. Like everything in life, right? Yeah. Speaker 2: (24:23) I mean, you know, we buy and, but honestly, all cost speed. The spent the first 10 years of my ultra marathon career without a coach. Back then there wasn't really anybody that knew too much about ultra marathoning and in the area that I was in and all the mistakes, the injuries, the burnout that the horrific stuff that you did all wrong that you could've saved yourself. And then, you know, Neil Wagstaff, who's now my business partner at running hot coaching, ou know, like he just flipped everything on its head and I had the base performances and you know, we've had, you know, lifelong friendship and now business relationship. Umnd it, it's just like, Oh man, you, you shortcut the process. Why reinvent the wheel? And now in every area of life I search out, and this is one of the selfish reasons I do this podcast, is because I get to meet people like you and, and other amazing people who have done incredible things. And I get to learn, this is my way of learning. As much as there's a selfish aspect of us Speaker 3: (25:27) Could learn so much from you too, Lisa. Speaker 2: (25:33) Oh, well hiey Yeah. Well let's go there. I'll get you through to an ultramarathon. Oh my God. Fabulous. I'll teach you up on that. Or if you, if you kind of, I'll help you get to the next distance. ,But coming back to the Achilles, you know, like helping other people. It doesn't matter if a disabled people or,uit just, it's just so you, you get out of your own skin, don't you? When you, when I of even in the middle of a running race, I've been doing ultramarathons and middle of deserts or something. And you're just like dying. And you know, sometimes, literally and sometimes just feeling like it. And then you come across somebody who is in deeper trouble than you. Instantly you forget your own suffering and you're there for them. And then you help them through their crisis and youth and the time flies. Speaker 2: (26:26) Once again, you're in a flow state because you're actually focused on somebody else. You're outside of your own Missouri. And then you know that saying pain is not optional, but suffering is, and it is like when you, when you understand how to switch, and I'm not saying it's easy, but when you actually on, in your case I'm someone with a visual impairment or in a wheelchair or something and you're helping them fight the battle and you can see how massive that bale is, it makes you feel like, well, what am I complaining about? My sore legs and lackluster on my tire. You know, that it's not as bad as what my friend is going through and it lessens your suffering and it gives you a complete new perspective on life, I think. Speaker 3: (27:05) Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, we would get by in this world, depending on the barriers that we place on ourselves and the not barriers that others put in front of us, the ones that we've put in front of ourselves and I case the isolates who has, you know, real disabilities, they inspire me. So, you know, people, the rest of the world sees it as me helping them. And but actually it just, they end up becoming, you know, my friends and a lot of them are like family to me. Like I care about them that much and yeah. And, Speaker 3: (27:48) Yeah. Yeah. They inspire me and I think, look, you know, they can't see, they're not living their barriers and on the way and actually win. You know, it's a, it's a good lesson to share. It's like, you know, what, what barriers are in your way and how are you allowing them to a feature. Yeah. Speaker 2: (28:07) It's fantastic. Right? Joy. And I hope you continue to do that. And you know, to people like Ian Walker that just for me, they're my role models, you know, that is, and, and I mean, I don't know if you know my situation, the listeners who listen to my show, not, but my mom had an aneurysm three years ago. So working with her on a day to day basis and your rehabilitation and you know, with of disabilities, Speaker 3: (28:29) Oh, it's amazing what you've done. Speaker 2: (28:31) Yeah. Like she's just incredible. But it's given me a complete new perspective on, on life and what we're capable of and that replaced with an s selves. And you know, it's not that it's an easy thing to go through and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, but by the same token, I'm, I'm always, when I have adversity, I try to find the silver lining, the, the, the lessons, the learnings, what, what, how has this helped me and how has this been an advantage? And this journey has just shown me so, so much about everything like to perspective, you know, like for here, you know, here's me moaning. I can't run, I can't run my a hundred k's anymore or my 200 k's or whatever, you know, why was me my life's over? Because you're the athlete who's always been able to do these sort of things and then you're looking at a person who can't stand. Speaker 2: (29:23) We can't take a single step or can't even sit properly. And you sort of just relativizes everything in your life. And it's a really good reminder to have things like that. You know, in your mind, in your mind's eye to just, you know, okay, you're not a, you know, you're never got to meet Usain bolt when you're never going to be pulling a red cliff who case get out there and done stuff anyway, you know, do what you can do. Don't be miserable for the fact that, oh, I used to. And as a coach we get a lot of people. I used to be able to do this and now I can't and I'm trying to get them to let go of the past and just be here now. And once again, we limit ourselves sometimes by the achievements that we've had in the past in turning that around in a hate to go, okay, I've had an accident. Speaker 2: (30:11) Like Ian, you know, he, he, he'd gotten to being so good and then he was head again and then he's had to start from scratch again. That just absolutely blows my mind that he would get up again and fight again, you know and knowing how long that, that journey is. So yeah, I think, I think the work that you're doing is wonderful. So Rachel, what w talk to us a little bit about your change in your nutrition side and things like that. What do you, what sort of advice did you get out of doing the book or what learnings have you had on the, on the nutrition side of things? Speaker 3: (30:49) Yeah, sorry, I, you qualified to PT level to level five. So there's a really nice underpinning of our new national guidelines and you know, how w how we should be feeling about days. I'm actually personally quiet low carb, healthy fat almost, But I do like some,good ciabatta bread. It was great mornings on top, so I'm not perfectionist. Actually, you know, my book is called balance because I believe in all things in life and balance. Uhort of. I drink coffee, I drink wine, love of beer with a mate. Umnd I eat chocolate. I love chocolate. But you know, I think some 90% of my food is actually a pretty good and you know, it's about putting in an amazing fuel, mating nutrients. Uhut it's got to taste good. So for years and years now, I've been designing, healthy recipients for good magazine. Speaker 3: (31:47) And so why I put a city recipes and balance because I often talk about like the hero ingredients and how they feel your body and how the magic, you know, they bring about like Avocados you know, great for beautiful like, you know, eat for vanity as well. And these actually for runners,uyou know, there's some cold smoothies on here and what I hate is smoothies that tastes like swamp water I like food. I love food. I love fruit too much. So if you can, you know, eat or drink anything. , T's got to taste good in the assemble. Awesome. Umo there's a chocolate, a smoothie bowl. Speaker 2: (32:35) Oh, very. Oh my God. That looks great Speaker 3: (32:37) And so I think it's actually really amazing for your scan there. Sorry. And delicious nutrient dense. Am I saying? But these are great. A by trick drew some here, which is amazing. It's you, all the runners I know. A hugely of victory juice. Yup. Totally bomb into my truth. Yeah. So there's some great,uParse Rum,upar states, the size of smoothies and juices and snacks and stuff like that. And the,,and again, it's just kind of weaving in the stories of, you know, or what to eat and drink to, to feel amazing, but to look amazing. And some of the science behind why,you know, there's some really cool stuff around in fasting right now, you know, long, Speaker 2: (33:26) Really important that you, you enjoy your food and it's not just all, you know, horrible. You know, like I do get up in the morning and have this most awful, awful whole litre of vegetable juice, basically with everything from celery to, to lemon juice to, you know, turmeric and stuff. But that, you know, and that gives me my good start to the day, but then I don't want to have all my food like tasting right. And they don't want to. Yeah. We'll enjoy. Speaker 3: (33:54) Yeah. So, yeah, I am, yeah. Often is like four ingredients and a smoothie and that we really need nutritious and really good for you. Uand like some of the experts in the book, they really cold, like naughty 11 talks about, you know, banging and the whole orange She's like, you just, you know, being in all the nutrients, that's pretty quick and easy, you know, question. Umnd Sarah Wilson as in my boyfriend, she's fraught. She's the, I quit sugar queen. She's one of the largest, hike true hundred top authors in the world. Uhhe's amazing and she's put out all these incredible, m0 books. Umnd yeah, she talks about, you know, sustainability and my book actually not so much about food but umome awesome sustainability. Heck and but she's about using everything in the food, you know, like he gets celery, use the white butts, use the leaves, like use the whole damn thing, like you've paid for it and it's all nutrition. And so sorry. Yeah, it's kind of changed how I look at food. Umnd quite a few different ways like hearing about where it's coming from, how it feels, my body. Like it affects how you, you think and how you feel. It's like movement, right? Umovement affects and rewires your brain. So you know, you get incredible energy levels and you know, creativity and, and yeah. Your whole sense of how you show up in the world as linked to, you know, how you think, how you feel, how you move, what you eat. Speaker 2: (35:28) I'm not, I'm not like, it's really like when you understand the science behind things, you're more likely to do it. I find for me, you know, when I was told years ago to do to meditate and I was like, well, when I run, I meditate. You know, I can't stay in Still, , let's stay in the difference between, use it as a type of flow state and so on. But it's, there's a need for the other part of me, the meditation and why and how that quieting of the mind and checking into the, you know, the parasympathetic nervous system. And when you're running, you're in the sympathetic nervous system so that it's not going to, you know, create that balance. And when you understand a little of a science, I find it's far more interesting to actually do it. Then you get, you get why you're doing it and it gives you that, not just that, well, the your head to do this and you don't know why. I mean, maybe like learning maths as a kid and going, what the hell am I ever gonna have to work out all this stuff? It's a lot of inapplicable stuff to my life. You know? I've got to say that if they explained to me how it applies, if you want to build some, I don't know, a wall, you have to understand all this mess, then I might've gone, oh, okay, I'll get it now while I'm doing this Speaker 2: (36:37) U so I think understanding and doing that research is really important. Now. Rachel, we'll, we'll wrap it up in a moment. I just want to, to give you the full from a moment to what is your main message? What do you, what does Rachel stand for? What do you want to get out into the world? What's your big message, and I'm putting on the spot, but what, you know, if there's one, two or three things that you just really desperately wanted to share with the audience today, what would those be? Speaker 3: (37:04) I guess love, life and balance and least perfectionism. I thought about progression a, be really kind on yourself. We start hard on ourselves to be perfect. Sorry. There's this kind of process of letting go and like, I'm my mission in life to it as inspire, Kiwis or inspire anyone to, to live healthier and happier and yeah. Like, look, I'd love everyone to read my book. And you know, it's not an ego-driven thing. It was for a long time as a journalist, I really wanted to, to be an author, but when it came to doing my book, it needed to be a whole lot more than that. Like for anyone to actually spend money on my book. I wanted to be incredibly proud of it, but I actually want it to it to authentically, like genuinely help people. So I brought together the best minds who helped change my life to be a lot healthier and happier. I'm more, you know, got way more emotional intelligence than I ever had. I'm still working on that. But yeah, these people in the bark are amazing. And like, even if you read one chapter and it changes your household, happiness is incredible magic in there. So, yeah, during read it, connect with my, I love it. Speaker 2: (38:30) Yeah. And that that is so important. Rachel, you know, when you, when, when you know you're in I's office know how much you go through to get a book out. People would not believe how hard it is to get a book out in what you, you know, it cannot be about your ego and you want to sell millions of copies cause that's a dream that's not gonna happen. Generally you know it, you have to be thinking about the individuals that are reading this book and that it's gonna really impact the life. And you are talking for the next what the stuff about that sudden your book. So Rachel, where can people get your book? It's available in the book scores as well as on your website. Speaker 3: (39:07) Yeah Sir. It's on my website and spot health.co. Dot. NZ. If you want a signed copy, but it's actually in paper Plas crows or wherever you are in the world. It's on Amazon U K or book deposit. Trey just Google it. You'd be able to find it and it's great. It's a great gift for like an old woman. And the, the beauty of it is it's, yeah, just read one chapter. Like it's not a novel. You don't have to read the whole thing. If you're not into yoga, please don't read the architecture. But if you're into, you know, how the science of the feminist high works which is really fascinating. [inaudible]. Or how to live your base life or how to have, you know, five layers of listening so you can actually listen. Well, that was quite transformative for me. Just read that chapter. And yeah, connect with me on Instagram, which is just my name, Rachel Grunwell. Speaker 3: (40:02) Well my Facebook pages is fine. Health inZ age. Uyeah, connect with me. I love, I love those communities. I am really connected. And,uthe last thing I just wanted to, she was,uI did have a massive crisis of confidence,uhalfway through writing the book. It was two year journey and I almost walked away from it. UI was an award winning journalist, but I, yeah, I just had this really tricky time in my life and art. One more skive out. And, you know, you hit the self talk going on. I'm not good enough. Like I'm not, you know, I'm not as good as my friends who are amazing writers. Uand I had a really tricky time and are really vulnerable stage. I almost walked away. I had a publishing deal for Christ's sake. I'm sorry if I what's it so glad you did it. Yeah. And sorry mater it was, it was my biggest dream, right? And Yeah. And it was frightening to do it. And I think you've just gotta be bribed and follow through on your dreams. Don't give up on them. And I'm so glad I didn't. I love my book and so proud of it. And I feel emotional. Every diamond I get messages from riders. Ubut yeah, my message to anyone out there don't ever give up on your dream. And I know you're all about that, Lisa. Speaker 2: (41:21) Absolutely. And say, I hope people are listening. Cause you know, you look at Rachel Grandma and you think, wow, beautiful, amazing three children, Super Korea bought Blah retreats and you got, and a lot of were lot of people that's intimidating, right? And they look at it and go, well I couldn't even do that. But when they hear from some people like you saying, you know, I nearly didn't make it with the sport, I struggle with this or I have problems with that and people realize you, like you said at the very beginning of this and can you, I thought people who did health and fitness and sport, just different genes, Speaker 2: (41:56) No, all have different things. They did Dweck and I, one of the main themes running through this interview today, which I already picked out again and again and again in your talking was to start small and do something every day towards your goal of think, if I could sum up this whole interview, it would be, there is one, you know, takeaway is break things down and then when it seems overwhelming, just do a tiny little bit today. And you obviously did that with the book and I congratulate you on getting that book out because I know what a mess of journey it is. I'm still in the deep deck going, how the Hell I was, this and that. But it will, and I have enough experience down in there that I will eventually get through. And there's a lot of tears, is a lot of love, so we can tease that goes into these, into these box. So I do encourage you guys to go out there and grab Rachel's Book. You're obviously not going to regret it. Rachel, thank you so much for being on the show today. So go to inspired health.co. Dot. NZ. That's right. Speaker 3: (42:56) Yeah. And you can find out all about the broken, like read who the experts are involved on anxiety and personal on depression. Like the experts are really cool when other top happiness researchers in the world. And you know, I did ear guitar when he said he'd be involved. Thank God he couldn't see Speaker 2: (43:14) A read them and then try and try and get these people with someone on the podcast. So, you know, thank you very much for this as farm talk today. Rachel, I wish you well in your new business, in Davis, in the, in the work that you're doing and with your Achilles people. My love to you and thank you very much for being on the show today. It's been awesome. Speaker 3: (43:31) Thank you so much. You inspire me. So thank you. Speaker 2: (43:35) Thanks. Sorr Speaker 1: (43:36) That's it This week for pushing the limits. Thanks so much for stopping by and we really hope you enjoyed that interview. If you could do us a favour and please do a rating and review on iTunes, that would help the show immensely. We love getting feedback from our listeners,and it really helps the show get exposure. So if possible do us a really big favour, please make sure you go and do a rating and review in subscribe, and please share this content as well with your networks. If you could do that for us, would be very appreciative and we'll see you again next week. Thank you very much.     

Acclaimed fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi has it all: humor, heart and hot takes on the culinary world. He knows what he likes (beefsteak tomatoes from his Long Island summer garden) and what he doesn't like (today's pickling trend), and he shares it all with award winning host Rachel Belle in the latest episode of the James Beard Award nominated podcast "Your Last Meal." Isaac sends Rachel on a mission to uncover a mint chocolate chip ice cream mystery. So Rachel summons Ben & Jerry's flavor guru, Eric Fredette, who's responsible for creating flavors like Tonight Dough and Brownie Batter Core, Heather Hodge, head chef and manager of culinary operations at Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream in Seattle, and Nestle's test kitchen manager Meredith Tomason. Nestle invented the chocolate chip, or the "morsel," back in the 1940s and Meredith shares the history of the legendary Toll House chocolate chip cookie. Everything Isaac Mizrahi, including how to get his new book I.M.: A Memoir, is available at helloisaac.com.

Listen to part 2 of 4 of my keynote presentation from FHL. During this part of the presentation, I start diving deeper into how to create your irresistible offers. On today’s episode you will hear part 2 of 4 of Russell’s first presentation at Funnel Hacking Live 2019. Here are some of the super awesome things you will hear in this part: Hear Russell give ideas for a written offer, an audio offer, and a video offer, that are all super easy. Find out why it’s so important to not be a commodity and how you can avoid it. And see why Russell always has several things he can use to bulk up his offers. So listen here to hear the second part of Russell’s keynote presentation at this year’s Funnel Hacking Live. ---Transcript--- Hey everyone this is Russell. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets podcast. I hope you enjoyed the first 25% of my keynote presentation at Funnel Hacking Live. During today’s episode I’m going to start diving deeper into actually how you create an offer. We talked about so far the fact that the offer increases the value, you have to have amazing offers because that’s how you decommoditize yourself and how you make people desire and lust and go crazy for the thing you’re trying to sell. So the next thing is like, “Okay, that’s cool Russell, but you know I’m selling physical products, and I’m doing this or whatever and I don’t know how to bulk up my offer.” And the easiest way to bulk up offers is with information products. So the next section of my presentation, I started going deeper into exactly how to create information products. I walk through nine different ways that I think you’re going to enjoy. We’re going to kind of go through nine different ways, and then do a couple of potential exercises and things like that, and then we’re going to move into story. So with that said, I’m queue up the theme song and jump into part two of my keynote presentation. So the question is, how do you do that? Some of you guys are like, “I sell this thing, how do I make it sexier? How do I make an offer?” So the fastest way to increase an offer is to bulk it up by adding other types of information products. So I’m going to go through a couple of ways you guys can create quick information products to bulk up any offer without actually having to write a book. Does that sound like fun? Alright cool. So I’m going through 3 different things you can do. Number one, there are written words, but I’m going to show you how to do that without actually writing any words. Number two is audio and number three is video. This will give you guys ideas so no one will be able to say, “I can’t create an offer, Russell.” With these things I’m going to show you, you can create millions and millions of offers. In fact, if you start looking at everything I do, you’ll notice there’s always one of these three things I’m using to bulk up my offers every single time. So the first are written things. So the first thing I want to show you guys is, how many of you guys would love to have a book but you don’t want to write a book? Books are the most painful part of anything I’ve ever done, ever. By far. So this is a book that was a crowd source book called chicken soup for the soul. How many of you guys have read Chicken Soup for the Soul? How many of you guys have read one of the 8 million versions since then? The most amazing thing about this book is that they authors who wrote this book didn’t actually write any of the words in the books. Isn’t that great? Yet, they still made millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars. The other day my son came into my little office, it was Bowen again, he came in and he saw this book and he said, “Dad, is that your new book?” and I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “You wrote another new book?” I was like, “Well, kind of.” And he’s like, “What do you mean kind of?” I’m like, ‘Well, I wrote the title and that was it.” He’s like, “Did you cheat?” I’m like, “No, I didn’t cheat. I have 30 people who’ve got Two Comma Club awards write how they would get a two comma club award if they could do it again.” He’s like, “And then they just wrote the chapter?” I said, “Yeah, then I put it in a book, then we sell the book.” And he’s like, “But you didn’t write anything.” I’m like, “I wrote the title. It’s a really good title.” And he’s like, “I don’t think that’s a real book dad.” I’m like, ‘No, it really is.” How many of you guys inside whatever business you’re in could find a whole bunch of experts in whatever it is, and you could write a book like this? This book alone, we did the very first launch of the one funnel away challenge where we gave this away, and we closed it down for like four months, people were auctioning these things off. Someone sold one for over $500 on eBay. People were going crazy for this book. Now when we’re launching one funnel away challenge again, we’re like, ‘you guys get this book.” And people flip out. People buy just because they want the book, and I didn’t write a word of it. So think about this, how could you guys like, Chicken Soup for the Soul trailblazed it for us, I trailblazed it for you, how could you guys do that same thing in your market? Find people around you and be like, “Let me interview you,” do 30 of you, or 20  of you, or 10 of you and put together and make a book. There’s a million things you could do with that, but it’s a fast, easy way to create a book but you don’t actually have to do it. Number two way to get written books really fast is to compile examples of stuff. How many of you guys have read my 108 Split Tests book? This is literally just screen shots of 108 of our split tests and people go crazy for it. How many of you guys are doing stuff in your business or whatever it is you do, where you have this byproduct? We weren’t planning on selling this, we were just doing split tests and it takes screen shots of the split tests and eventually two years later we’re like, we should just put these all in a book. We just compiled a whole bunch of examples and we sold it. This right here, how many of you guys are members of Funnel University? Every month we find a couple of funnels, we compile them, talk about them, and show them to people. Not my funnels, other people’s funnels. We just find the cool ones and we show them and put them in a newsletter. How many of you guys have seen this book, the 74 Funnel Swipe File? None of you guys have seen it yet. Another product coming out soon to a funnel near you. Same thing, we’re just compiling cool stuff. How many of you guys have seen cool stuff before? You should just compile it then, make a book, and then it’s amazing. More people have probably read this book than my other books that I spent years slaving on to write, and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is better.” One of my favorite ones, this is kind of a tricky one. How many of you guys have heard of the public domain before? This is where Walt Disney got all his ideas by the way, he never wrote anything. He just went to the public domain and he’s like, “Oh sweet, someone wrote a story about a beauty and a beast, or about a snow princess, or about all these things.’ He found public domain stories and produced movies out of it. Anything that was written pre-1923 in the United States is in the public domain and you can republish it as your own. One of my friends, Matt Furey, he took this old 1914 wrestling course, Farmer Burns, published the book and made over a million dollars selling that course. Have any of you guys read Think and Grow Rich? Master Key Systems? Tons of the books that you guys know and are aware of are all in the public domain, you can republish them. There are two places I go for public domain stuff. Number one I go to Gutenburg.org, everything on Gutenburg.org is on the public domain. They just publish, there’s like 50,000 ebooks there, you could find one in your market, you can take it and republish it as your own. The second secret, I go to eBay and eBay in the non-fiction book section, you can search by year, so I search by year and I start typing keywords in my market. And you will be amazed at how many amazing books that have been written that people are selling on eBay for $1.50, that you can then republish and sell for whatever you want. Bundle inside of your offer to quickly get amazing books. Okay, so there’s three fast ways to make books. Crowd source them, compile a bunch of examples, or go in the public domain. Okay now here’s a concept I need you guys to understand as we move from the first three to the next three and beyond. This will make this whole process simpler for you. The concept is this, people will spend more money for the exact same content packaged in a different way. I’ll say it again. People will spend more money for the exact same content packaged in a different way. When I first started this business, I remember going to events like this and the speaker, it seemed like every single time some speaker would say, “Who here has read Think and Grow Rich?” By the way, how many of you guys have read Think and Grow Rich? Which is in the public domain by the way, so you guys can all publish and make Think and Grow Rich for Dentists, Think and Grow Rich for Surfers, Think and Grow Rich for whatever, it’s ready for you. But anyway, I kept hearing that so I went and bought the book and I was like, I’m so excited to read the book, and I put it next to my bed stand and it sat there for months and months and then years. And every time I’d go to an event, they’d be like, “Who read Think and Grow Rich?” I’d raise my hand, well I haven’t actually read it. I have it, someday I’ll read it. And one day I remember feeling guilty and I went on eBay and I typed Think and Grow Rich Cd’s and someone was selling the CD course of it. So I bought the CDs, go it in my car and for the next 3 weeks, I started “reading” Think and Grow Rich in my car. What’s interesting about this, the book Think and Grow Rich cost me $9.97 on Amazon. The CDs cost me $97 on eBay. So I literally paid ten times more money for the exact same thing packaged in a different way. Was there any difference between the book and the audio? It was literally word for word. Some dude read the book and then it became CDs and I spent ten times as much. This is the lesson for you guys. How many of you guys read the Dotcom Secrets book? How many of you guys read the Expert Secrets book? Why are you here then? Everything I know is in those books.  I got nothing else. Oh, because it’s packaged a different way. Does that make sense? I want you guys all to understand that what you have you can package in so many different ways, and because of the experience, how it’s being fulfilled, all those things, it shifts the value of it. This is way more valuable than a $10 book, this experience being here. So I’m going to shift over to audio now. This is a book that we republished, this is in the public domain, it’s called the Life Work of Farmer Burns. I had my father in law get a microphone out, he read it, we turned it into a CD and started selling, this is ten years ago, started selling this book on CD. So you can find a book, you can read it, you can have somebody else read it, find the book in public domain, find something like that, and make an audio book.  A very simple, easy way to do it. Number two is you can interview others. So this is a book, how many of you guys have read this book, by the way?  I know all our Two Comma Club X members, I sent you guys a copy of it. Everyone’s like, “This thing is bigger than the phone book.” It’s one of the best books ever. I remember when it first came out, David Frey, where’s David at? So David got it and he’s like, ‘This book’s amazing.” And he called up Vince James’ is the author, and he interviewed him for a whole bunch of stuff, and he made a whole audio course out of it, and Dave’s a genius, so I should just do what Dave did. So then I called him up and I said, “Hey can I interview you too?” and he’s like, “Sure.” So I interviewed the guy who wrote this book. The guy made, he was a 20 year old kid and made a hundred million dollars through direct mail selling supplements. So I called him on the phone and I interviewed him and he let me interview him for six hours. When it was done he was like, “You can have the rights to the audios, I have the rights too. We can do whatever we want with them.” I’m like, “Sweet.” So then like 2 years later I launched it and this actually became my very first ever Two Comma Club Funnel. I made a million dollars selling interviews of the interview I did with this guy who wrote the book. Is that amazing? So how many of you guys have ever read a book before? How many of you guys could call the author and be like, “Hey can I interview you?” And if someone’s like, “He’s too famous, he wrote all these big books. He’s never going to interview me.” I’m going to tell you the life of an author, if you guys really want to know how it works. They geek out on a topic, they spend their whole life writing this book and they’re so proud of it and they’re so excited. And then they tell their spouse or their family and friends and they’re like, “Okay. That’s weird.” And they’re like, “Oh, nobody cares.” And then there’s an audience who gets the book and they love it and read it and they’re like, “My people did read it.” right. And then somebody calls and they’re like, “Hey, that book was amazing. Can I interview you?” The person is like, “Yes, you can.” Just so you know. They want you to talk to them. They want to share this stuff. It does not happen enough. If you went to Amazon and find the top ten authors of books in your market, I guarantee you 9 out of 10 will get you on the phone that fast. Or you can actually, I don’t know if Jason Fladlien is here this year, but Jason gave me an idea that was brilliant. He was doing an offer and this kind of ties back to the story we’ll talk about here in a minute, but he was doing an offer where he was selling a funnel course and he was like, “I want to interview someone who did ecommerce funnels. Well, Trey Lewellen has got the highest grossing ecommerce funnel right now inside of Clickfunnels, I want to interview Trey.” So he calls up Trey and he’s like, “Hey, can I interview you?” and they’re friends. And Trey’s like, “Sure man, you can interview me.” And Jason’s like, “Well, I need to wire you some money first.” And Trey’s like, “No, don’t worry about it. I’ll do the interview.” And he’s like, “No, no, I need to wire you the money because otherwise there’s no value in this interview. And Trey’s like, ‘What” so Trey’s like, “Whatever.” So Jason wires him like $5000 and he does the interview and then when you see when Jason is selling his product, he does the stack and goes through the stack, “Number one, number two, number three….” He’s like, “Number three right here, do you see this right here? This is the guy, he’s the number one ecommerce seller in Clickfunnels. He had a funnel that did $20 million dollars in six weeks selling flashlights and I wired him $5000 to interview because I wanted to find out, he does interviews but I wanted to find out the real stuff, so I paid him $5000 to interview him. And that interview you guys could have.” All the sudden that bullet point in this stack slide went from, “Oh it’s an interview.” to “that’s worth $5000 now.” The value instantly shoots up. So interviewing people is huge. In fact, when I launched the 10x Secrets course I had my offer and it was good and I was like, “How do I make this sexier?” so the first thing I did is I interviewed a bunch of people. I interviewed this man right here, where’s Myron at? Everyone loves Myron. Anyway, I interviewed Myron, I wrote a bunch of people who I learned how to close from stage from. I interviewed all of them, plugged that into the course, increased the value of the course. So interviewing people is huge, for any product. I don’t think there’s a product I put out that I don’t interview people. I do it even if it’s my product. I’m like, “Who are the 10 other people I can interview who have done something similar?” because all those things increase the value of what it is I’m selling. And then the last audio one is compiling hard to find podcasts, and audios and things like that. If I told you guys, I’m like, ‘Hey, my favorite podcast is Mixergy, you guys should go listen to it.” How much value is in that? Not much, right. But if I was like, “There’s this one interview that Andrew did and in the interview he started talking to the guy and he literally, the guy showed three different websites that were the key to ‘blah, blah, blah’ and I listened to those things and found the websites. I never knew they existed. I started doing the thing, and that’s how we got Clickfunnels to whatever.” If I tell you that, you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I want to hear that podcast.” I’m like, “Cool, when you sign up for my thing right now, I’m going to give you a link directly to that podcast so you can find it.” You curating stuff for people there’s value in that. YouTube videos, I’ve done it tons of times with opt ins where we’re like, “Opt in here to get a free video from Robert Kiyosaki teaching the number one tax strategy for middle aged Americans.” And I just found a video on YouTube of Robert Kiyosaki teaching the number one thing on whatever, and that’s what I give people when they opt in. So you curating stuff you think is cool, can be bundled into offers as well. Okay, so there’s the audio ones. Really quick, so audio books, interviewing other people and compiling hard to find audios is a big thing. The last one I’m going to go through really quickly is video. There is a program, how many of you guys here use Windows? How many of you guys use Macs? Holy cow. Okay, there’s a program. If you are using Windows you should be using Camtasia, if you’re using Mac, use Screen Flow. This tool has made me and probably most people more money than anything else on earth. It just records whatever is happening on your screen. So you make a presentation or slides, or literally the very first version of Funnel Hacks training, the one that got us from zero to ten thousand customers, I had a word document opened on the screen with my notes, on the right hand side, I had a little picture. I just clicked record on Screen Flow and I talked for an hour as I read through my outline. We did like $10 million plus dollars in sales, and that was what the product looked like. “But Russell, I have a professional video studio.” You don’t need one, just get a microphone, screen flow or camtasia, record your screen, have a presentation and just teach it. It’s super easy, it’s simple. It’s like the easiest thing in the world to do. Number two video thing, just get your iphone out. Literally you can just get your phone out and just make videos. Where is Rachel at? Is she in the room right now? We were on, did you finish the course, by the way? Can I talk about that? So Rachel, we were on this little cruise thing after the 10x event and she came up to me and she’s like, “I have an idea, it’s going to be a course called Selfie Secrets” Am I going to ruin this? “I’m going to record the whole thing on my iphone.” And then she the next day, recorded the entire course on her phone teaching the entire course, which is amazing. And it was all on her phone. Okay, so how many of you guys have a phone. You have everything you need. You guys should all buy her course when it goes live. And the last thing is you should throw a workshop, teaching people stuff. You don’t even have to speak, you can bring other speakers to teach for you. When I first got started, I didn’t have any product to sell. So the first thing I did, I threw a workshop. And it was really exciting to have a workshop, I was pumped about it, but I had nobody coming and so I emailed my tiny list at the time and said, “I’m doing a workshop, it’s $5000 a ticket.” And then the first day nobody bought, and the second day nobody bought. And the third day one guy bought. And at first I was like, “Yeah!’ and then I was like, “Oh crap, now I have to do a workshop and there’s only one person coming. This is awkward.” Then luckily 2 other people bought. So I had three people buy. I was like, “Okay, now we have a workshop with three people.” So I called everybody I knew, my friends, my family, everybody. I was like, “Okay, I’m doing a workshop, people paid to be here. You have to come and just sit in the audience and don’t tell them you didn’t pay, because I need this to look good on video or it’s going to be super embarrassing.” So we set it up, we had it all set, and it was like not like this, it was really bad. We literally had curtains, the windows behind me were too bright, so we got sheets from the bedrooms, and electrical taped sheets over the, it’s so bad. But we recorded and that became the very first course I ever sold, the videos from us at the holiday inn, with electrical tape over the sheets, literally behind me the entire video and it looked amazing. So throw a workshop, even if nobody comes to it, or just invite your friends. Do something at your house, bring people in, just record yourself teaching your thing, and you can bundle that really, really quickly. So for videos, we’ve got screen captures, iphones, and workshops. So here’s a quick recap of the nine ideas. Crowd sourcing books, compiling examples, public domain, audiobooks, interviewing, compile hard to find audios, screen captures, iphones, and workshops. Tons of easy ways to do that quickly. So what I want to do right now, is I want to actually, I’m trying to think if we should do this or not. I’m going to let you guys do this on your own, but in your paper that I handed out, I have this little section here for you guys to figure out, what are potential products I could bundle inside of my offer? This is something we do all the time. Every time we have a new product that comes out, I talked about this last year, we have bat meetings. We literally send out a bat signal to voxer to everyone on our marketing team, we all come on zoom, from wherever they’re at around the world, and they get in front of a whiteboard and we’re like, “What could we create from this product? We could put this in it, and this…” and just start dumping out as many ideas as we can. So now you guys have, let’s say I’m selling this product, “what else could we do?” “We could interview this guy, I could compile these things here, I could do this, I could make a video, I could do a workshop, we could do….” And all these things you can quickly create to turn this into an offer. Now really quick, I guarantee I know the number one thing going through some of your heads right now is, “Russell, that’s cool for all the coaches and the consultants and the info product people, but not for me. I’m different. I sell real stuff. I sell physical products.” Or, “I have a local business.” Or whatever your excuse is right now. I want to shatter these excuses because the biggest thing that’s going to keep you guys from having success over this week, is the thought of, “Oh, this doesn’t apply to me.” I’m excited, I think either tomorrow or the next day, we’re going to have Jaime Cross who’s going to be coming up here and speaking. Jaime is amazing because two years ago she came to Funnel Hacking Live, she was sitting in the audience, and she sells soap. And I was on the stage talking about webinars. I’m doing this huge thing about webinars and stories, this whole thing. And every other ecommerce person, I’m guessing, in the audience is like, “This is not for me because I sell physical products.” And Jaime said, “How could I make this work for me.” Twelve months later she’s on the stage getting a two comma club award. Twelve months later she’s onstage sharing her story with you. She took this concept of the webinar and made an ecommerce webinar. She took it and didn’t say, ‘This isn’t going to work for me.” But “How can I make this work for me?” And shifted some things and made it work for her and blew up her company. I’m so excited for her to tell her whole story. But I want you guys thinking the same thing. So I’m going to some examples right now. This is a product that I sell. This is a physical product called Viagon. How many of you guys have ever seen this before? The three people on my team. So back in the day when I launched 15 companies in a year, which is a horrible idea, don’t do that, one of them was this thing right here. I had a friend who had this company and he was getting in trouble and this little machine here, if you start getting a cold sore, as you as you feel it, how many of you guys get cold sores? You feel it tingle, you pull this out, if I can open it. This is a new one so the seal hasn’t been cut yet. Alright, then you peel the seal off. Alright so when you open this thing up, when you feel the cold sore coming on, come on. There we go. Alright you open it up and there’s these two little electroids, and you take and push the button, and let’s say you have a cold sore, you put it on your cold sore, and somehow, I don’t know how, some scientists figured out something. It’s actually patented and everything. It goes in and zaps the cold sore, destroys it, kicks it in the face and destroys it and the cold sore never shows up. Isn’t that awesome? How many of you guys want one of these right now? Really, I gotta get my funnel back up. So this is a physical product I sell, right. And you’re like, “Well Russell, I don’t sell information. This isn’t going to work for me.” But imagine if I did this, how do I turn this into an offer? This is a physical product, it does what it does. It’s just a thing. And the guy who I buy these from, he sells it to other people, so I’m not the only one. It’s a commodity. There’s like 30 other people who sell this same thing, only mine’s better. So for me, how do I compete over everyone else, when everyone’s got the exact same thing, it does the exact same thing. So I have to turn this from a commodity into an offer, because if it’s a commodity, I gotta be like, “He’s selling it for $150, I’m going to sell it for $130.” Then the next guy says, “I’ll sell it for $120.” “Crap. $110.” “$109” “$105” Boom, boom, boom, soon this thing is like $90.95 right, retail. That’s the problem when products are commodities. Or I could say, “Okay, this is amazing. This helps with cold sores, but what else could I do with cold sores? What else could I do? What else could I do?” I could go on Amazon and be like, “Cold sore cures and remedies.” And I guarantee there’s people on Amazon who have written books on how to do cold sores. I could message one and be like, “Hey man, you are the definitive expert on cold sores, can I interview you talking about all the tricks you know how to prevent cold sores from happening? I’m sure there’s stuff in your diet and exercise, right?” like, “Oh yes.’ So I get him on the phone and I interview him, now it’s like, “Okay, when you buy from anybody you get the same thing, but when you buy from me you get the cold sore inhibiter, plus you also get the interview with this dude over here who’s the number one highest stars on Amazon, writer of a cold sore book. You get his book as well, plus my interview where I actually interviewed him. And then number three, there are 7 supplements I’ve found that help get rid of cold sores. 7. There’s a whole bunch of people who claim the supplements, but there are actually 7 that work, and there’s two that work almost instantly. The second you feel a cold sore coming, you pop these two pills, gone instantly. And I wrote a report about those, because I want to make sure you get the right ones, if you get the wrong one, you get the right product but you get the wrong brand, you are screwed. So I’m going to show you the 7 supplements as well. So you get this first, plus you’re going to get the interview with the number one expert in the world, plus you’re going to get the 7 supplements, the actual brand names, where to buy them, how to get the discounts to all the 7 supplements. And the next thing you’re going to get is, blah, blah, blah.” I take a physical product and I’m bundling information around it to increase the value of the thing. So it doesn’t matter if you’re selling information or not, if you’re selling physical products, it’s the same thing. Information is the easiest way to bundle this. The problem though with infomercials, the only way they bundle is like, “If you call now, I’ll give you another one for free.” That’s what almost all ecommerce people do. It’s like, that’s good but its, “Now I got two of these things. So I have cold sores I can have one at my house and one at my office. That’s kind of weird.” But if I bundle with information products, it doesn’t increase the cost to you at all, but dramatically increases the value. Now when I’m competing with the 30 other people selling this, I can sell it for higher and people will still buy from me versus everybody else because my offer is better than theirs. Another good example of this is my friend Mr. Stephen Larsen. How many of you guys know Stephen? So this is a good example for any of you guys who are like, ‘I’m here Russell, but I don’t have a product yet.” So Stephen he has his own products, but he’s also an affiliate for Clickfunnels, he’s an affiliate for a bunch of other things. So we did the one funnel away launch, the 10x launch, a couple other things, he said, “Okay, Russell already created an amazing offer that he’s selling, but there’s a thousand other affiliates that are all selling this product as well. Everyone’s doing it, so how do I compete against this.” He said, “Okay, here’s Russell’s offer, how can I make my own offer to make it better?” People always ask me, “How can I make money as an affiliate, Russell?” The first thing you do is you don’t sell the product that they’re already selling. That’s like, “Buy Russell’s thing.” That’s like number one on your list, then it’s like, “Now I need to make my own offer.” How many of you guys bought the one funnel away challenge from somebody and then bought it again from Stephen later because you wanted his bonus? Okay how many of you guys have bought twice from Stephen because you wanted the new bonus the second time? There’s a lesson in this. So even if you don’t have a product yet, that’s okay. Find someone else with a product and then, “How can I now make an amazing offer? What could I bundle together to increase the value of this offer so people buy from me versus somebody else? Or if they did buy from somebody else, they’ll also buy from me because my offer is so valuable.” Alright, so this is kind of the exercise for you guys to start doing. Going through here and listing out all the different ideas you can have. So tonight, this weekend with that paper I handed out, start writing out these things, start putting them out there, and start putting as many as you can think of, and make it, the biggest problem you can have is you’re kind of putting in your potential products that are going to make an offer, is to be like, “Oh, that’s not going to work. That’s not going to work.” When you start it, be creative. When we first did this probably 12 years ago, we sat in front of a whiteboard and we were doing this and we were like, we were at a point where we needed a funnel to save us from everything. It was the bottom of everything. We were like, ‘We have to make the most irresistible offer ever or else we’re shutting the doors.” So we sat in front of a whiteboard and I’m like, ‘Okay, what can we give them? Okay, they can fly to my house and I will give them a massage and feed them food, and then we’re going to do this, and then we’re going to do this….” We made all this crazy stuff, we had it all on the whiteboard, and then we started saying, “What’s the offer actually going to be?” and we’re like, “Well, pretty sure my wife would be mad if I come to my house and had to give them massages. So let’s not do that one.” But it was there. And then it’s like, “Well, what if we did this and this…” It gave us the time to brainstorm and then from there we start pulling things over to actually make an amazing offer. Anytime I create a new funnel, new thing, I’m always looking at creating an offer, with as many potential things as possible, then think, “What can I actually create?” pull them into my little stack slide and it’s like, “Now I know what I need to create to increase the software.” Now, one thing I want to mention is well, the reason why I have a whole bunch of things as well is because there’s more than just one offer in every funnel. You guys understand that? So I need a lot of stuff that I can give away. So if you look at this right here, there’s an offer on my ad. I’m trying to get someone to click on something. So I’m like, “Click on this thing and I’m going to give you your free report.” There’s an offer happening there. Luckily that was one of my ideas that I already created, because I can now pull that down and it becomes this. Then they land on my landing page and I’m like, “I need their email address, I’m trading them. What am I going to have? Well I have something up here I’ve already created, potential products. I’m going to give them my interview with so and so.” “Give me your email address and I’ll give you an interview with so and so.” Boom there’s the next product. Then it’s like, “Now buy this product, I’m going to give you these 5 things.” Then my upsell is these three or four things. I think so many of us go into this thinking, “Okay, here’s the product I’m going to sell and I’m going to try and build a funnel around it.” And it’s like, no, no, no. Understand that it’s like, you’re looking at more of how do you serve your customers? What are all the things you could possibly give them to do that, and then you’re breaking down the different parts of the funnel. Okay, alright, come back to the hook, story, offer. So that was the offer section of this part.

Former teen crush Tiffani Thiessen has come a long way since her days at Bayside High. She's a mother, wife, cookbook author, and host of her own show "Dinner at Tiffani's" on The Cooking Channel. And her artistic outlet is also her last meal! We get tips from Tiffani on how to set up the perfect charcuterie board, and then Rachel heads down to Seattle's historic Pioneer Square neighborhood to learn all about the art of cured meats from Martinique Grig and Clara Veniard, owners of Salumi - a beloved salumeria and restaurant founded by Armandino Batali, father of celebrity chef Mario. Tiffani's characters on "Saved by the Bell" and "Beverly Hills 90210" spent a lot of time hanging out at diners, and when Rachel asks Tiffani if the food was better at The Max or The Peach Pit... it didn't bode well for either place. So Rachel tracked down one of Hollywood's favorite veteran food stylists, Chris Oliver, who has been making the iconic foods you've seen in TV and movies for over 30 years including Seinfeld, Friends, and even 90210. Check out Tiffani's new cookbook "Pull Up a Chair: Recipes from My Family to Yours." Learn more about culinary behind the scenes from Chris Oliver at hollywoodfoodstyling.com. Order some of the most delicious meats you'll ever eat at salumicuredmeats.com. And follow yourlastmealpodcast on Instagram!

Day 2 at Funnel Hacking Live focused on how you’re just one funnel away… On today’s episode Russell recaps day number two of Funnel Hacking Live, which contained amazing things about funnels like: Several different kinds of funnels such as, Free Plus Shipping Funnels, Documentary Funnels, Webinar Funnels, Relationships Funnels, etc. Russell goes into a little detail about his Funnel Audibles presentation, as well as a few other people’s presentations. And Find out how much money Clickfunnels was able to donate to World Teacher Aide from all live funnels. So listen here to find out about all the stuff you may have missed during day two of Funnel Hacking Live. ---Transcript--- What’s up everybody? This is Russell Brunson, welcome to Marketing Secrets podcast. Today I’m going to be covering day number two of the Funnel Hacking Live event. Hey everyone, so first off, I totally failed you all. I was planning on recording all these while I was at Disney with my kids and my family while it was still top of mind. The problem was that Disney with my kids and my family was insane. We did Disney, day one we went to Magic Kingdom and then day two we did Animal Kingdom, which were both awesome. We also paid for one of those guides that lets you in the front of every line, which was really, really nice. Not going to lie. Then we took a day off, but that day was super, even more hard. We had sick kids, and sun and fever and I got sunburned, it was awesome. Then the next two days we went to the Harry Potter land, did that and it was amazing. Then the next day we flew out and now we’re here. So I’m a little behind but I still want to go through the last three days of Funnel Hacking Live because it was such an amazing experience. So the last episode I talked about day number one, which was we kicked off Funnel Hacking Live and talked about going from 0 to a million, a million to ten and ten to 100. Kaelin talked about building her culture, Natalie talked about vulnerability. Then I did my Conversation Domination presentation, which was showing you how to get your dream clients addictively binge watching you on every platform that you live on. Warning this aggressive approach is only for people who truly believe in their message. That was a kind of fun one. Then we did the Operation Underground Railroad where we raised over a million dollars, I think I told you guys that last episode. If not, spoiler alert, we raised over a million dollars for Operation Underground Railroad, we showed the documentary and it was amazing. So that was day number one. I remember going to bed that night at about midnight. I had been crying all night and it was so emotional and intense and amazing and I was like, how are we supposed to go on for day number two? But the show must go on. So day number two started. Devon did what he always does and brings energy into the room, which was awesome. Then we started with actually, World Teacher Aide, and usually World Teacher Aide we do a big fundraiser for them, but unfortunately we weren’t able to this year because we were doing the project with Operation Underground Railroad, but inside Clickfunnels, a lot of people know this, every time you have a funnel that goes live, which means it gets at least 100 visitors, we donate a dollar towards World Teacher Aide. And we save that up for the entire year and we don’t tell Stu and Amy, we keep it top secret and then at Funnel Hacking Live we give them a big check for that. So this year’s check was $133,000, is that the right number? Over $133,000, so they came on stage, talked about World Teacher Aide. They showed a really cool video about it and we gave them this huge check, which was really cool. And what’s fun is that Stu then took the check, he had to fly home that night, through the airport, through baggage claim, and videoed him taking the check home, which was really, really funny. It was a big ol’ huge check. So that was amazing. After that I did a presentation called Funnel Audibles. I think of all my presentations at this event, that was the one with people I think resonated the most. I was really proud of it. It took us, about six of us 3 ½ - 4 days to gather all the data to be able to show that and create a presentation and everything. I think it gave people hope. Oh my gosh, this is not that hard. I could actually do this. I’m sure someday we’ll make a front end product or a video or a book, I don’t know, something because I think it was that powerful and important. But it was really cool. I saw people taking notes like crazy, taking pictures of everything, gasping. It was really cool. I was proud of it. So the title was, “Funnel Audibles: how to nail it so you can scale it.” I basically talked about how most of my funnels when we first launch them don’t have success. They kind of flopped. I showed a bunch of them like, this is the numbers. And most people, they create the first funnel and then they launch it and it doesn’t make money and they’re like, “Oh, this funnel thing is a scam. Russell is a scam.” And the reality is, no. It’s all legit. You just have to understand it. You have to make audibles. What was cool, my dad was actually in the room, the first Funnel Hacking Live he came to. So I actually had him come up on stage and I shared a story about when I started wrestling my junior year my plan was to win the state championship. My very first match I wrestled this kid named Nick Fresquez, and he had taken 2nd place the year before and he beat me pretty good. I remember I was devastated. I wanted to pout and tell people that wrestling was a scam and the whole thing was…you know what I mean? But my dad filmed the match and my dad was smart enough that that night he’d watch the match over and over and over again and the next morning I woke up and he’s like, “Okay, here’s what we gotta do.” I’m like, “No dad. I’m sad, I’m depressed, I don’t want to.” And he’s like, “No, we have to learn how to beat him.” So we started practicing the moves and how to counter the moves he did against me and all sorts of stuff. And we did that every single day for four months until the state tournament. At the state tournament I actually ended up wrestling Nick Fresquez in the finals. And what’s crazy is I actually ended up beating him with the same move he beat me with. And it was kind of crazy, cool. So I told that story with my dad, which was really cool and then he sat back down. Then I talked about funnels the same way. Most of our funnels don’t work amazing the very first time out the gate. You put them out the gate and then it’s like, you drive traffic to it, you see where all the numbers lie and then you make the audibles, the tweaks, the changes. We walk through what we did and why we did, and the psychology of what we’re looking for in each page. It was really cool. I showed the difference between trip wire funnels versus webinar funnels versus high ticket funnels, the tweaks and the changes that we have based on those, which was really cool. Then I actually had James P. Friel come on stage and he was talking about, he had a funnel called Rose Club for Men that he launched and it completely bombed, it was like negative in the hole. And then he messaged me and I told him to make a couple of tweaks, he made the tweaks and then it blew up and he showed the stats and numbers. It was really, really cool to see. It was these little, tiny tweaks and changes. So that was one of my favorite presentations. I really enjoyed that one, it was awesome. Then after that I had the time to take a break which is nice. I sat in the back green room and I had a chance to watch a whole bunch of our inner circle members share their types of funnels. The first is Dean Holland, he talked about the Ultimate Funnel, which are his free plus shipping funnels. Dean and I have had a fun thing, he’s been in my inner circle now for a couple of years and it’s funny because I’ll do something and he’ll be like, he’ll vox me and be like, “Russell, wait, I just saw that thing you did.” I’m like, “Yeah.” “Whoa, that’s awesome.” And then he’ll do it and try to one up me and be like, “Well, I’m going to try this.” And he does something else and I’ll see it and be like, “Dude, Dean you did that.” And he’s like, “I know.” We go back and forth to keep one upping each other. So his business, his model is pretty simple. He’s got free plus shipping, upsells, and then a thank you page webinar. And that’s kind of similar to what we’re doing nowadays and it’s really cool going back and forth. It’s so simple, so easy. So he showed his ultimate funnel and it was awesome. The way he does his free plus shipping funnels are amazing. Next was Nick Daughterty, I always say his name wrong. Nick Daughterty, did I say that right? Daughterty, boom I got it. Anyway, maybe not. Sorry Nick, I apologize. The gh is silent, anyway, it’s confusing. Anyway, he used to work for a company called The Truth About Cancer and they’ve done a whole bunch of huge documentary funnels. They did a 20 million dollar one on Truth About Cancer, they did The Truth About Vaccines, they did The Truth About Pet Vaccines and a bunch of other ones. So he came and talked about documentary funnels, which was really, really cool, especially since I’m building a documentary funnel right now for Operation Underground Railroad. So it was cool to see that. In fact, if you guys are Funnel University members, I recently funnel hacked the Truth About Cancer funnel, it’s one of the newsletters there. So you can go and see behind the scenes. But he talked about the strategy and how they did it and the psychology and how it worked and why it worked and it was really cool to see the behind the scenes of that. Nick did an amazing job there. After that Jason Fladlien got up and talked about three different webinar funnels that he uses. Evergreen one, NDA ones, Live ones, it was really cool to kind of hear different ways to do webinars that he’s done, which brought to my attention,  he talked about he does an NDA webinar where you have to sign an NDA then you can get on the webinar. It’s a big deal and it causes this intrigue. It reminded me, back in the day with Rippln we did this really cool thing where, it was really cool. To join Rippln you had to sign an NDA to be able to get in and it was a big NDA thing, which was really, really cool. So we got half a million members to join Rippln through this NDA process and it kind of re-sparked my mind about that and got me excited. In fact, you may be seeing a secret NDA thing coming out in the near future, maybe. So that’s exciting. Then we had lunch, after lunch Rachel Peterson came on stage, Rachel’s amazing, she’s like 9 months pregnant. It’s funny, I asked her to speak and at the next inner circle meeting I saw her and she was pregnant, and I was like, oh that’s exciting. Then I was like, “Wait a minute, when’s your due date?” and she’s like, “I’m speaking on your stage, I’m not going to tell you my due date.” So I didn’t know when it was, obviously it was close. But she was up there on stage and she killed it. I think she brought doctors in the audience, just in case she had a baby while she was onstage. Right before I met her, the very first time she went on stage, I gave her a hug and she’s like, “I hope my water breaks on stage.” I was like, “That is the coolest thing ever.” So Rachel got on stage and she talked about the hidden funnel, the relationship funnel, how you build these relationships with your audience. Her story is amazing. Two or three years ago she wrote a blog post about her tiny wedding ring. It was about how she was making money now and a bunch of people asked her when she was going to upgrade her ring and she’s like, “I’m not. This symbolizes my love and my husband and my family.” And it went crazy viral and had like 70 million reads before she got picked up by the Today Show and all these other things. It was just crazy. And then her whole thing, she had this huge flood of insane traffic and it’s like what do you do with all this? And it’s this huge transition to a relationship funnel, bringing them into this relationship with you. That’s the magic and the power and her presentation was awesome. After that, my man who was the most nervous about speaking at Funnel Hacking Live was Dave Lindenbaum. Dave’s amazing, he had this intro-rap that he spent two or three months writing that intro’d him getting on stage. He came out and his energy is so high and he did an amazing job talking about redemption funnels. So what’s a redemption funnel, I don’t want to spoil the surprise, the concept behind it is brilliant. The first time I heard him talk about this I was like, “Dude, your brain thinks in a way that’s different from anyone else I’ve ever met.” So redemption funnel is basically using sites like Groupon and there’s a lot of other ones, but Groupon is a good example. You sell something on Groupon or find other people who are selling things on Groupon and then you give them your product as a bonus. So he sells Kombucha kits, I never say it right. So he’ll go and either sell Kombucha kits through Groupon, or he’ll find other people selling similar things and he’ll give them on their thank you page after the buy a Groupon offer, “hey get a free Kombucha kit.” Which was basically a free plus shipping offer. So people who already bought something on Groupon then come to redeem their free offer, which is a free plus shipping funnel and it brings people into the funnel. And it’s insane because basically you’re getting the top buyers to come and redeem your free plus shipping. But they come because that’s what they bought. The free plus shipping is how they’re redeeming it. Anyway, it was brilliant and insanely good. Dave is a genius. He makes me nervous, with a microphone in his hand. Did he stick to his time? He was a little over, but he did good. We were very nervous about him sticking to his time, but he did awesome. After that Alison Prince got on the stage. Alison didn’t know what Clickfunnels or Funnel Hacking was a year ago. She came all in and she made the Two Comma Club before we got there, and she did it by building an amazing case study first and she did an amazing job telling her story. She is insanely cool. She is in the process now of selling off all her ecommerce businesses because she’s having so much fun teaching people how to do ecommerce stuff. She’s got three or four multimillion dollar ecommerce businesses, but she’s enjoying this part of the process even more. I tell people all the time, ecommerce is awesome, but the info side is so much more rewarding, I think. So she’s doing a lot more coaching now, which is cool. She’s killing it. She had a goal to hit Two Comma Club, before she got on stage, and somehow magically she did it, she crushed it. So Alison was amazing. After that Myron Golden got on stage, and if you haven’t heard Myron speak you should just go and search him on YouTube and listen to his Facebook. I could listen to Myron speak for days and never get tired of him, he’s amazing. So he got up and talked about four levels of value, which were so cool. I’m so grateful he shared that. Then after Myron got off stage, then James Barber, who is the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, came and sang, which was cool. Not only did he sing, which was amazing, during his singing we had a couple who actually came up on stage, James actually brought the girl up, sat her on the stage and sang to her. Soon to be fiancé, she came on stage and he had her close her eyes, “I’m going to sing to you and I want you to imagine this whole thing.” So she had her eyes closed and while we were doing that, her boyfriend came up on stage, stood behind him, and then when he got done, he turned her around and her boyfriend was there and dropped to a knee and proposed, which was so cool. She said yes luckily for all of us, we were nervous. But she said yes which was cool. That was awesome. Then after that Todd, Ryan and I got on stage and did our Multi-Dimensional Marketing presentation, which was all the new Actionetics MD, which stands for Actionetics Multi-Dimensional, the new features in Actionetics. We showed it all and people went crazy and it was really, really cool. So we showed that off. You guys will hear more about that soon. I’m not going to go deep into that, because I don’t want to ruin the surprise for those who will find out about it here in the future, but for everyone at the event, they got to unlock a whole bunch of cool features and things that they’re all playing with right now. After that, we had Roundtable. So we had, how many Roundtable’s did we have? 48 Two Comma Club members sitting at a table, each at their own table and you could come ask them any questions you want. I had people tell me they would have paid $10,000 alone just for the Roundtable session. Because they’re like, I can talk to this guy and this guy. And it was cool because the coaches who were doing it were like, “I’m really good at this, but if you need traffic you should talk to this guy.” And they’d run to that Roundtable. “Hey that was good, but you should talk to this guy for this part.” And they were running around and everyone got a ton of value. So that was awesome. And that was day number two. Isn’t that crazy? We’re two days in and it’s like we’ve done more in two days than most events do in the entire event. It was amazing. So that’s kind of what day number two was. So day number one the theme was Impact and Income. Day number two the theme was One Funnel Away. So I talked about the Funnel Audibles, we  had people share a whole bunch of different types of funnels from free plus shipping funnels, documentary funnels, webinar funnels, relationship funnels, redemption funnels, what to do before the funnel begins, the four levels of value, then the multi-dimensional follow up funnels. So it was all about funnel strategy, it was all day number two and it was amazing. So the next podcast I will talk about day number three, which was called the Two Comma Club, how to get into the Two Comma Club, how to go from 0 to a million dollars before this time next year. So I’ll talk about that during tomorrow’s podcast. Thanks you guys for listening. Appreciate you all, and we’ll talk to you guys soon. Bye.

By Visitor7 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link What are we to do in life…and in firefighting. Catch Me When I Falla sermon by Rev. J. Christy RamseyClick the title above for a mp3 recording Audio from South Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church, edited from a flawless transcription made by edigitaltranscriptions all errors are mine. Micah 6:1-8 &Matthew 5:1-12 Sermons also available free on iTunes I don’t know if you remember the first time you heard the Beatitudes, especially if you heard them from Luke, because Luke doesn’t mince words. He just straight out says, “Blessed are the poor.” Doesn’t even add that “in spirit.” Straight out poor. Have you ever, first time you heard that, did you say what is this guy talking about? These people are not blessed. I know blessed. I seek blessing. I know what it is. It is carefree, not woe-foe. And woe-foe is what all these are: persecution, insult, mourning of all things. Blessed? Not blessed. Jesus, something’s wrong there, either with our translation or maybe even with what I’m understanding blessed is about. I know about mourning, and I know about crisis. I know about persecution. I know about insults. I know about trouble. And not because I’ve served the church as a pastor. Not this church. This church is wonderful, I know. But because I served as a firefighter. And we did fires, and we did heavy rescue, which means auto accidents. We had 224, 55 both ways, one lane each way, and they didn’t really do 55 out in the country. I know some mourning. I know some grief. I know some trouble. We were on the fire department after a meeting. It’s a volunteer fire department, and that’s an important underline there. Volunteer, which means when that alarm went, we dropped everything and ran to the fire station to get in there. You had five minutes to get on that truck fully geared because that truck was rolling in five. When I started, I missed several runs and went to an empty – because I was not quick. God bless them, they offered, they were trying to help me, they said, “Rev, here’s what we’ll do.” Now, did I mention the church was next door to the fire house? I still missed the runs. They said, “Rev, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll get out all this hose out of the back of the fire truck. We don’t hardly ever need it. We’ll put your desk right here in the truck, and your chair, and your computer. And then you’ll be right here, and the alarm will go off, and then you’ll be in the truck.” Well, from then on, I made those runs. And we were talking to the guys, a new guy, about the volunteers and how we go, and go run, and there’ll be training, and it’ll be great, and oh, yeah, you need a partner. And he said, “You know what you should do, you should go on the run with us.” “I can?” “Yeah. Yeah, just come along, you should come, you’ll see, and then you’ll see, it’ll be great, and then you can do training and all that.” So we’re talking. And suddenly the room fills with beeps. Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep. Our pagers off. It’s a run. We’re starting to move. It’s like that poor prospect, he’s the only one stationary. He’s in an eye of a hurricane. Things are flying all around, we’re getting ready, we’re going. We’re listening as we’re running. Then in comes an EMT on our squad. He comes in, and he just yells one word. “Code.” Well, now it’s like that hurricane went over an erupting volcano because now that means someone is trying to die. We do not allow dying people after the alarm goes. That is not allowed. We gather up – we went from very fast to no time at all. So instead of six people fully dressed in the cab ready to go, it’s going to be three people, the first three that threw their stuff in the truck, and we’re going to be on the move, and we’re going to be rolling as we’re getting in the truck. And that poor new guy, seeing all this, he says, “Should I go? Should I go? Can I go? Can I go?” And he just got grabbed and thrown in the truck with the gear. And he’s down on the floor, we’re all there, we’re rolling out, and I made that truck, God bless it. So I’m in there. He’s in there. He’s on the floor. And he’s, like, actually looking up at me. And he’s saying, “What do I do?” That’s what Micah says. “What do I do? What does the Lord require of me? What do I do?” And Micah has an answer, says God tells you three things. And the way I learned it: Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God. That is what you do. What, Christy? No sexual purity code? No things about righteousness? No spiritual laws? No things, credos that you have to say and believe these four things in the correct way? No way to understand the ordination and unbroken line from the line? Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God. Those three things. Now, we’ve got to talk about them, of course, because I got time. Do justice. Now, justice has been perverted. Justice has been watered down. Justice has been changed into generic, been secularized, and I’m here to tell you I’m not talking about that justice. I’m not talking about those criminals must pay. I’m not talking about throw them away in the jail and lock them up and throw away the key. I’m not talking about us being the number one country in locking up our people. I’m not talking about that kind of justice. I’m not talking about making them hurt, making them pay. I’m not talking about they’re going to have to suffer as much as I suffered. That’s not justice. That’s not Bible. That’s something else. In Bible, justice means everybody has what they need to live. You know a just society when everybody has what they need to live. That’s justice. Do justice. Make sure everyone has what they need to live. Do justice. And that’s what we were about in that fire department. You know, when that EMT, he didn’t have to come in and say a lot of words. He didn’t have to say this is a really good person, a friend of mine, has lived a good and moral and upstanding life and has kids that depend upon him and has, through [indiscernible], quit smoking years ago. You know? None of this [indiscernible]. So we have to go and make sure that person has what they need to live. No. All he had to say, someone needs us to live. Code. That’s our code. Someone needs us to live. That’s done. That’s it. No more questions. We are going to make sure they live. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been on emergency services, but emergency service, you’ve got something called the “golden hour.” You’ve got one hour between whenever you had a problem – the heart attack, car accident, whatever your problem is – you’ve got one hour from there to get into definitive care. That means a hospital. You’ve got one hour. After an hour, your chances of recovery and survival go way down. So in Ottawa, Ohio, God bless us, we had one hour. But there’s a thing. The hospital’s a half hour away. So we’ve got a half hour. Everybody else got an hour. We got a half hour. But we’re okay with that, really. So we are – whatever it takes. Because, you know, they could die without the fire department. And we’re sad like normal people. Oh, that’s sad. You know, I didn’t know. It was sad. They died. That’s happened. But you didn’t call us. Or they could actually die after we got them to the hospital. We’d like a couple hours, maybe a day or two. That’d be okay. We’re sad. We’re still sad. But we say, you know, we did what we could. But you do not die during that hour, half hour that we have you. Whatever it takes to live, you’re going to get it because that’s us. Justice. Whatever it takes for you to live, we’re here to make sure you’ve got it. So I made a visit of one of my church members. And I only come up here once every six months, so you’re going to get, like, three sermons. So I only come up. So I made a visit to one of my church members. She was trapped inside of her car that got hit by a semi on the highway. It was a rather unique pastoral call. And she was trapped in there, and we were going to have to cut her car, cut her out. So for some odd reason, they thought I should be in charge of this call because I was the most senior, the first one there. I learned my lesson. I made them trucks, buddy. So they said, what are we going to do? We’ve got to cut her out. Got to cut her out. It’s going to take 20 minutes to cut her out. We’re there working on it. And he said, “We’re going to have to call a copter. We have to call it. Call the copter.” “You want me to call them?” “Do it, call it.” So they call it. That’s a $7,000 decision, then. And you really don’t have time to plan and say, you know – now. You’ve got to decide now. $7,000. In comes the helicopter. Only question is, what do you need to live? You’re getting that. And you know what? I did not know she was a member of my church until she was on that helicopter. And they turn to me, go, “Boy, that’s really strange. We’ve got a member of your church.” What? Because my job, my sole job there, besides making very difficult decisions, was to hold the door so when they cut it off, it didn’t fall on the leg that wasn’t hurt. We try not to make it worse when we save people. And I was, like, totally focused on her leg. I was, like, holding that door: the leg, the leg, the leg, the leg. I didn’t know who she was until off she went, and it was somebody else’s, and we got her there. Extreme example, but all our questions was what does this person need to live? What has to be done? Do we have to call in a backhoe? Do we have to wake up somebody? Do we have to do that? Let’s do that now, get it. No one dies on our watch. No one dies on our call. Do justice. What do you do? What do you need to live? You’re going to get it, no question, because we’re a just society. We’re the fire department. No one dies. You get what you need to live. The second one is loving kindness. And it always is translated different. Sometimes it’s show mercy. It’s all sorts of things because we don’t have a good word for “hesed” in our English language, because it is God’s love to people, and that’s just a lot of things to figure out. What is God’s love to – it’s just overwhelming. It is what is unmerited, undeserved, no reason you should expect it. You get all the love you need. And here you go. Guess what. It’s about the fire department floor. You know, Bob called me Friday to preach, and I said, “I’m going to go talk about the fire department. I like doing that. I’m going to do – you called me Friday night, buddy.” So we’re down there, and the fire department started out in most towns as an insurance company in that it was insurance, fire insurance. And they were really good with the fire insurance. You bought the insurance, and they took a little placard – and you can see these. Carson has some in the museum. They took a little placard – the Historical Society goes, oh, yeah. You take a little placard and put it on your house saying, “Protected by Company No. 14 Insurance Company.” And that means that, when you’re caught fire, you know, they come in, “Oh, yeah, that’s us.” You know? But if they come and say, “Oh, too bad for you. Oh, wait a minute, your neighbor’s got it. Well, you’re good, but I want to make sure they don’t burn down.” And this would literally burn down, but the neighbors would get it. And there are stories of people coming out, trying to pay up their premium as their house is burning. Such capitalism. You know, oh, my goodness, supply and demand. Imagine what you could charge for a premium, while the house was burning, for fire insurance. Oh, that was a lovely system. But we rejected it. We said, no, we’re going socialist. We’re going socialist. I’m sorry. We’re going to love you all, no matter what you did, paid your premium or not. Gosh darn it, we’re going to put out your fire. You don’t deserve your fire put out, but we’re going to put it out anyway because that’s the kind of people we are: loving kindness, undeserved love that takes care of you when you’re in trouble. I need some loving now. I need water. My house is on fire. I need help. Well, you didn’t pay up, so no. No. That’s not the fire department. That’s certainly not God. And that’s certainly not the way God wants us to be. Love kindness. Put out the fire. Don’t be asking if they deserve it, or if they paid their premium, or if they’re in our club, or if they’re here according to the rules that we put in this year or that year. Don’t ask them the questions. You see they need some love. They need some help. Love them anyway. I’m going to take care of you. Yeah. The last one’s a two-parter, sneaks it in there. Did you notice? The walk and humbly. Both of those things are tough. I know about humbleness. I don’t know if you know about this. But I was the Grand Marshal of the Humble Parade three years running. Humbleness is hard because humbleness, I think for me, is admitting to the possibility that in some universe maybe parallel to ours, I might be wrong. It’s very difficult for me, very difficult. Usually right about now – my wife’s not here, but usually my wife is shouting “hallelujah” right here. But it’s the humbleness, and I think that, you know, I might be wrong about that. I might not have all the answers. I might not be able to stand up all by myself all the time perfectly well. I just might need some help sometimes now and then. Humble. And part of that humbleness is walking with God. You know, did you see that’s walking “with”? It’s not walking ahead. Do you have people in this church – I’m not looking at anybody, you know. Do you have people in this church that get out in front of God? You know, God is here and there. You’re way over there saying, “C’mon, God, you’re supposed to be over here. Hurry up, God.” You know that saying, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread?” I think that fear may be the actual kind of fear in the Bible, the kind of the holiness, awesomeness, respectful kind of fear of God. So angels are saying, you know, I’m just going to wait on God with that; you know? You go ahead and run up there, fool. But I’m going to walk with God on this. My son Robert – I can tell family stories, too. So my son Robert is different than my daughter Rachel. And they just – they had little meetings and decided, oh, I’ll be this way, you’ll be that. Okay, I’ll do this. I’ll like that; you’ll hate it. Okay. So Rachel would never hold your hand, from birth. You know, usually little kids will hold your hand till they learn they’re not supposed to, and they go, “No, I’m going to walk by myself, I’m can do it all myself, I’m a big girl.” You know. Rachel was like that from birth, could not hold your hand. Oh, that child. So we have Robert. Robert, reach out for holding your hand. Even through grade school – is Carter still holding hands? ATTENDEE: He does sometimes. Sometimes. But my Robert went all through grade school. And he didn’t hold your hand. He wanted to touch your hand, just palm the palm, like this. And he says, “I like it when I can touch your hand because I can feel your speed, and I can walk with you.” If you’re in front of God or behind God, you’re not walking with God. You’re not feeling. You’re not holding hands with God. So you know we’re annoyed by those people that are way in front of God, going where even God doesn’t want to go yet. But don’t be thinking that the people that are just back here standing where God has already left is any good. You know, the people that say, “I am taking a stand for God.” That’s almost never a good thing, you know, because it’s a walking thing. It’s a walking thing. You’re moving. If you’re standing with God, you’re supposed to be walking with him. The world’s not perfect yet. I hate to tell you this. Even in Lake Tahoe, which is pretty close to heaven. Still not perfect. God is still walking. So if you’re taking a stand, God might be walking away from you. Reach out your hand for God. Be humble, saying, you know, God, I need a hand. And that brings me on back to that scene in the cab of that poor prospective volunteer, on the floor of the cab, lots of noise, then he’s screaming, grown men trying to get dressed in a small area. Not the most hospitable kind of place. He’s yelling at me, “What do I do? What do I do?” And I looked at him, and I said, “Catch me when I fall.” Because when you’re up on one leg, putting on your turnout, and there’s this humongous fire truck and a crazy man’s driving there as fast as he can because remember, no one dies after that alarm goes. And he’s taking the corners just about up on two wheels. Chances of falling over are pretty much close to 100 percent. And sure enough, we’re whipping around a corner, and I’m on one leg, and I’m starting to go over, and I say, “Now.” Two hands come up, push me back up straight. And I say, “Good job.” Humbleness, that someday we might fall, and we’re going to need someone to catch us when we’re going over. Now, right about now you’re thinking, gee, Christy, those are great stories, and I love to stand here all day listening to you talk. But what about those Beatitudes you just read, and you were talking about craziness? Are we just going to leave them there? No. Because it turns out that when ministers have a hard time with the scriptures as presented, they go back to the original language and try to find another word. Pro tip. Always good. So you look at it, and you say, well, what else does “blessed” mean, makarios? What else could it be? And you look, and you say, oh, here’s one. Happy are those that mourn. Happy are those that are persecuted. Happy are those – that is not helping. I know happy better than I know blessed, and that’s not happy. But if you look a little bit closer, you can see it can also mean happy and blessed are in the aura in the region, and it’s like you’re going to be taken care of. You’re going to be all right. Things are going to be set right. You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be all right. I sold computers also with a guy, Jeff Elliott, and he was a much better salesman than me, hit his quota every month. And he would be constantly on the phone with people, and he’d say at least a dozen times on every phone call, “You’re okay. You’re okay. Yeah, yeah, you’re all right. You’re all right, you’re okay. You’re okay. Yeah, yeah, you’re okay. You’re okay, okay, okay.” And I knew they weren’t. I knew, no, we really screwed that up royal. That’s not happening. And, “Oh, yeah, okay. You’re okay. Yeah, we got it. You’re all right. You’re okay. Yeah, okay, good, good.” And he’d hang it up. And then he would work to make it okay. He would just be on fire to make that okay because he already told them a dozen times. And I think that’s the Beatitudes saying, hey, it’s okay if you mourn. It’s okay if you’re persecuted. It’s going to be okay because we’ve got this community that I’m bringing together, that I’m working on, that I want you to be a part of, that’s going to catch you when you fall. I’m working on this community that’s going to do justice, going to make sure that everybody has what they need to live. I’m working on this community that’s going to be loving kindness, you know, like God, that’s just going to love you whether you deserve it or not and is going to be there when you need them because they love you. Even though they don’t know you, they just love you, and they’re going to be walking with you humbly, and we know that we need, not only God, but we need each other because we’re all humble. We’re not absolutely convinced we have all the answers, and we need each other to find out the truth. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. Friends, be okay. Catch all the people when they fall. Do justice. Love kindness. And walk humbly with God. Amen.

In this episode, we have Rachel Chetham, the CEO of her own consulting firm, The Foodscape Group. She combines media, policy, and nutritional sciences to make an amazing food communication platform. This episode is a bit different, one.. because I messed up the audio, Apparently, I had to move my audio equipment halfway through the interview and recording on my end just stopped working! I panicked for about 5 minutes. However, Rachel’s content saved the day. Since Rachel’s answers were so good, I was able to edit in the questions I asked to her So Rachel’s interview has such amazingly good information. You’ll learn so many things about being a good food communicator. Mainly strategies. For example, what’s the best way to communicate to people about food? Or how can you absorb the right media quickly. She also gives you tips on the best ways to progress through your career. About Rachel Dr. Rachel Cheatham holds a doctorate in nutritional biochemistry from Tufts University, where she is an adjunct professor of food marketing and communications. She is Founder & CEO of Foodscape Group, a nutrition strategy consultancy designed to help businesses develop and market healthier foods based on global wellness trends and insights. She has been a commercial television producer, Director at the International Food Information Council, and Senior Vice President at Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm. She is a Professional Member of the Institute of Food Technologists, and member of the American Society of Nutrition and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Key Takeaways (a lot of good ones this time) Rachel has TV experience and has helped her a lot in her job. Her soft skills helped her in her consulting company How Rachel doesn’t have to be the best at nutritional science, but rather be unique Americans want to be uniquely and exotically healthy How marketing and actual nutrition are like ying and yang Why it’s lame to climb up the corporate latter (join a startup!), but you shouldn’t job hop Why Point of View matters when reading science articles. Media is everywhere. From newspapers, social media, and conferences Find a way to line up and skim the sources you find interesting. Read outside of your point of view Question Summary Career Map: Marketing and PR, Fitness instructor, doctorate in nutrition science, policy in Food Information, consulting company My Food Job Rocks: I get to chart my own course How do you get your first client?: The network that you build up over time. Have some patience around the jobs that may lead to a more ideal job and the connects you make can be unexpected Other Links Tufts University International Food Information Council – Food Policy and Information Inherent Nutrition versus Boosted Nutrition Boosted Nutrition- Fortification Processes that perverse nutrients Food Scientists now need to make processed food healthy Pea Protein Ripple Acquisition Rachel's Media Diet (only some of them) Food Politics Blog with Mariom Nestle Center for Science of Public Interest American Science of Nutrition Academe of Dietetics Mind Body Green Food 52 Fast Company Business Insider Recommended Comferences IBIE (Gluten free workshop) New Products Conference for prepared foods Supply Side West Food Vision USA Food Matters Live in London Foodscapegroup.com