Podcasts about southeast united states

JACK MCCOY BIOJack McCoy designs residential and commercial landscapes in Knoxville, the Southeast United States, and beyond through his practice, Jack McCoy Garden Design Company. His work reflects a deep understanding of plants, shaped by global experiences in some of the world's most renowned gardens.Jack's horticultural journey began in landscape construction as a teenager, followed by earning an Undergraduate Degree in landscape design and construction from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 2012. He furthered his design education at Inchbald School of Design in London, UK, where he received a Postgraduate Garden Design Degree.In 2016, Jack volunteered at Great Dixter, the iconic garden of Christopher Lloyd and then returned as the Christopher Lloyd North American Scholar which is supported by Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania to train under head gardener Fergus Garrett. This marked the start of a transformative time at both Great Dixter and Chanticleer where he refined his design skills and plant knowledge.Jack then received a fellowship at The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, managing Israel's rare and endangered plant species. He credits this experience with deepening his understanding of plant ecology and survival. To expand his propagation expertise, Jack worked at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, North Carolina, known for its rare and unique perennials.In 2022, Jack returned to Knoxville to focus on garden and landscape design, drawing from his diverse experiences to create gardens that are both beautiful and enduring.You can learn more about Jack on Instagram at @jackmccoygardendesign, where he shares updates on his projects.THE PLANTASTIC PODCASTThe Plantastic Podcast is a monthly podcast created by Dr. Jared Barnes.  He's been gardening since he was five years old and now is an award-winning professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX.  To say hi and find the show notes, visit theplantasticpodcast.com.You can learn more about how Dr. Jared cultivates plants, minds, and life at meristemhorticulture.com.  He also shares thoughts and cutting-edge plant research each week in his newsletter plant•ed, and you can sign up at meristemhorticulture.com/subscribe.  Until next time, #keepgrowing!

2024 has been quite a year.I spent most of the year as a nomad, traveling throughout the Southeast United States moving from town to town, housesitting for a lot of awesome cats (and a few awesome dogs). It was an amazing adventure that led me to see lots of new places, meet people in real life I'd only known online, and discover a few things about myself along the journey.But as I moved around, I lived with uncertainty. Tonight I would be in this one house, but where would I be tomorrow night? Would I have a place to go the next night after my current gig ended? When would I find out? Not only that, but this past summer my dad passed away. I was fortunate to be able to spend the last week of his life with him in Florida, however it also served as a reminder of how things change, how things come and go, and how important it is to cherish and savor what we have now.As we wrap up the year, I find myself settled down in a new apartment in Charlotte, North Carolina, determined to begin a new and different kind of adventure. As I traveled around the country in 2024, one of the things I missed out on was a sense of community. In 2025, we're changing that.Now, as your 2024 comes to an end and you look forward to the new year, give yourself the gift of tuning into this episode and discovering the takeaways that may serve your journey as you move to the next chapter in your life. And as you do so, take a moment and ask yourself these questions:✅ What is your theme word for 2025? (Mine are "community" and "transformation".)✅ What are some things that you want to do and bring into 2025 in your life? ✅ Conversely, what are you leaving behind? What is no longer serving you that you do not need to drag into 2025 with you?✅ What are your intentions for this coming year? ✅ What are you building for yourself? ✅ What would you ideally like your life to look like?✅ What are you committing to doing or not doing to get there?✅ What do you feel good about right now having accomplished or done in the past year?✅And how are you going to celebrate?My hype songs as we enter 2025 are "I Am Not Okay" by Jelly Roll and "Fearless" by The Goo Goo Dolls.Resources:My Website: https://ZenRabbit.com/ LinkedIn: https://zenrabbit.com/linkedin/ Facebook: https://zenrabbit.com/facebook/ Instagram: https://zenrabbit.com/instagram/Visit the “FINE is a 4-Letter Word” store at https://zenrabbit.printful.me Also check out Episode #67, Gratitude Through Hard Times with Chris Schembra.Invitation from Lori: Let me ask you, if there was a simple way to reclaim your peace of mind and not feel so frazzled, would you want to know what it is? Enter the “10 Proven Habits Top Leaders Use to Stay Calm and Focused Every Day” checklist — your quick guide to creating calm, intentional days.These practices are so incredibly simple, you'll probably question their effectiveness. Like, how could just doing THAT alleviate my stress?! But take my word -

A look back at local response to the hurricanes in the Southeast United States. 2024: The Wright County News Year in Review - a production of KRWC Radio News.

Court Lewis is the BREDL chapter President of Unicoi Clear in Unicoi County, TN and currently living in Upstate, South Carolina.  In late September of this year, category 4 Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction and death across the Southeast United States including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. More than 230 people have been killed and it has caused more than $2 billion in damages.  Court witnessed the effects and aftermath of Hurricane Helene first hand. He tells about how unprecedented this disaster was, stories from neighbors and community members, the aftermath and clean up process, and what local organizations you can donate to. From talking with people from Western NC who were affected - here are 4 steps you can take to help with Hurricane Helene efforts: 1. Donate to Hood Huggers International. They are a resiliency organization in Asheville, NC that are providing immediate and direct support for those hit hardest in the area. 2. Refuse to shrug this off as a natural disaster. Talk to everyone about how unprecedented this was and how the destruction was due to human induced climate change. This can't be the new normal. 3. Learn - learn how to bring more balance and justice to the world by educating yourself and others. 4. Vote - vote for people who support policies rebuilding impacted communities better before the storm. Donate: Hood Huggers International: https://hoodhuggers.com/ Helene was NOT a natural disaster: https://www.yahoo.com/news/helene-shows-that-hurricanes-in-the-age-of-climate-change-dont-wreck-just-coastlines-210015013.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJiD87rnbHmYtfOtq6X3HBm-xG6D7RzwZawgYkJwNxh8vbY3jfi_9J1Hns47GF-yMLr5jkYvVoe6MR50wY00NjY8-TlUekQWxaq8g1-Y0Lq32VV-AksvSDQ8QWC4iZzISFEpecHvNRmKS8fCOqku7s7UCI4lempBtfHuwiagYSX1&emci=4e0a2ebe-1780-ef11-8474-6045bda8aae9&emdi=d02158fd-4380-ef11-8474-6045bda8aae9&ceid=1121357&guccounter=2  Contact and connect with Court: cslewis1@mindspring.com  

In this episode of the Building Texas Business Podcast, I speak with Amyn Bandali, CEO of Ivy Kids Systems. Amyn shares the story behind Ivy Kids, a premier childcare and education provider founded by his parents. He reflects on how their move to Pearland, Texas, and the challenges they faced finding quality childcare led to the establishment of their first school. Since then, the family business has grown to 20 locations, with 16 more under development. We discuss the decision to franchise the business, the importance of building a culture of empowerment within teams, and Amyn's philosophy on leadership. He explains how empowering employees with autonomy, transparency, and responsibility has been key to Ivy Kids' success. Amyn also talks about navigating challenges, including the impact of the pandemic, which required the business to pivot toward virtual programs and innovative approaches to childcare. The conversation highlights the critical role of early childhood education in shaping lifelong success, the importance of continuous innovation, and how technology like coding and robotics is being integrated into Ivy Kids' curriculum. Amyn also shares insights into managing a franchise system and the value of fostering strategic relationships and learning from setbacks. This episode is filled with practical lessons for entrepreneurs and leaders who aspire to create sustainable growth and a strong company culture. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS Amyn Bandali is the CEO of Ivy Kids Systems, a premier childcare brand founded by his parents in Pearland, Texas, offering education from infants to pre-K and afterschool programs. The company was inspired by the founders' personal experience of struggling to find high-quality childcare when they first moved to the United States from Canada. Amyn joined the business in 2015 and initiated the franchising strategy, growing from 5 corporate locations to 20 total locations with 16 more under development. The company emphasizes a culture of empowerment, focusing on giving employees autonomy, transparency, and timely feedback while understanding the "why" behind strategic initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ivy Kids pivoted to online learning and alternative programs, generating a million dollars in revenue for franchisees despite significant enrollment drops. The company is innovating its curriculum by incorporating coding, robotics, digital parent assessments, and classroom camera access to enhance early childhood education. Amyn's leadership style prioritizes empowering team members, setting clear visions, and allowing individuals to develop their own key performance indicators (KPIs). The company values continuous learning, participating in franchise associations, mastermind groups, and local business networks to share best practices. Amyn learned a critical leadership lesson during the pandemic about truly empowering his team by trusting them during challenging times. The company's educational philosophy is grounded in research showing the critical importance of early childhood learning in a child's development. LINKSShow Notes Previous Episodes About BoyarMiller About Ivy Kids Systems GUESTS Amyn BandaliAbout Amyn TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Chris: Amyn, I want to welcome you to Building Texas Business. Thanks for agreeing to come on the show. Amyn: Yeah, thank you for having me, Chris. Happy to be here. Chris: So you're the CEO of Ivy Kids Systems. Tell the listeners what Ivy Kids is. What do you do? What are you known for? Amyn: Yeah. So Ivy Kids, we are a premier childcare brand, not just a daycare where parents just come in to pick up and drop off. You know, we provide education and that's from the infant level, so as young as two months old, all the way to our pre-K program, which is five and six year olds. And then we also have an afterschool program as well, where parents pick up and drop off from elementary school. The kids come in for homework help. And we're next year celebrating our 20th anniversary. Chris: Congratulations. That is amazing. Amyn: Yes. So what was the inspiration to get into this primary childcare, education, afterschool learning? Where did that emanate from? Amyn: Yeah. So, you know, a little bit about our history. So Ivy Kids was actually founded by my parents, Allen and Layla. You know, we had moved from Canada to the States or to Houston in 1995, and we lived in Pearland. So, as you're probably aware with Pearland, it experienced massive growth during that time. You know, 518 had one stoplight. Now it's a six-lane highway, it feels like. But you know, my parents, you know, with my brother and I being young children, they found out very hard time finding high quality care for us. You know, we would be in the daycare system, mom and pop childcare, quote unquote, you know, prestigious childcare program, and it was, you know, observation, where there was no learning going on, or my brother and I would, you know, be picked up and we'd have a bump or a bruise, and nobody would be able to point out why. Amyn: My parents being engineers and also having a history of entrepreneurship from their parents and their grandparents, you know, they thought about this industry and they thought, hey, we can do a better job of running high quality schools. So I like to say they reversed engineered the childcare. You know, they put a lot of thought, time and thinking, and over that course of 10 years from when we moved to Pearland, to 2005, we opened our first school, and that was in the Pearland area, and it did really well. So from that, we grew from that one corporate location to then five corporate locations. And then when I joined the business in 2015, and I can talk about the reasons why, but that was when we decided to franchise our brand. And, you know, today we are at 20 locations. We actually just opened our 20th location about a month ago and we have 16 under development right now throughout Texas and the Southeast United States. Chris: And, just curious, I mean, the 20 that exists in the 16 under development, how many of those are franchise versus corporate owned? Amyn: Yeah. So we still own all of the corporate locations today. We are at five corporate locations and we are at 15 franchise locations. You know, I think one of the things that shows maybe a strong brand and, you know, happy franchisees is folks opening their second or third locations. And even though we opened our first school in 2017, you know, that's been one of the great things to see. As a franchisor, you know, seeing folks open their second or third location, looking for sites for that. And that's kind of where we are right now in the evolution of the business, which is really exciting to see. Chris: That sounds exciting. So you're going back to the beginning in listening to the story you were telling about your parents. Yeah. It sounds like a very common entrepreneurial inspirational moment where they see a gap and figure out a way to fill that gap or need, right? And in this case, you know, quality childcare. Amyn: Yeah, absolutely. You know, they saw a lot of great things about this business, which really stand today. And it's, you know, if you do right by that family, you do right by that child, you know, you're having that parent for 10 years from when they're infant to that afterschool program. You know, they saw that childcare is a need, not a want. You know, if you have a dual income family, you have to put your child somewhere where, you know, they'll feel safe where they're learning. And from that they saw a need in building their first Ivy Kids to, well, there's so much research out there about the importance of education at an early age that then, you know, catapults a child into future learning, future success, as opposed to not getting that in the early ages. Chris: And the kind of the downward trajectory of the backing cause. Amyn: Yeah. I mean, there's some amazing studies. There was one that was done about eight years ago by Harvard University that basically said 95 percent of who you are is from the first five years that you were born. You know, everything from what your passions are to your ability to learn. So much of that comes from those first five years. And then if you think about, hey, what is the best return on investment then for my education? It's not necessarily those prestigious universities that does have a high rate of return, but the best ROI actually that a family can spend, that a government could spend is that first five years and getting that part right. Chris: Right. You know, if you're doing that, then you are truly building that foundation. And I think that's one of the drivers for why, you know, why families make a decision. You know, they're looking for, they're seeing the benefits, they're understanding more and more of, you know, the link between high quality learning and how their child is going to do. And they're making a smarter decision now with where they're choosing to enroll their child. Chris: So let's go a little bit, so we understand your parents' inspiration. You alluded to this, but I don't understand what drew you into the business. What were you doing before and what was it that caused you to leave that to step in and kind of take over? Amyn: Yeah. So by the time we had opened our first school, I was in, you know, college or close to college and seeing the business up front, you know, seeing the ability to build your own path, create your own destiny, working in the business from everything, from us assembling the furniture when we were opening our first school, actually laying the grass and the sod down in order for us to get our CEO inspection passed, you know, I was just so enthralled by it. I was so excited about it. The ability of owning something and really charting your destiny. And that really didn't leave me. You know, in college, I also took a job. It was with Student Agencies, which is a business run by undergrads and I did sales there. And that also really excited me too. Amyn: And then, you know, I kind of went the route that a lot of students at Cornell did for undergraduate business, which was pursue finance, look at the business consulting route or the investment banking route. And, you know, I learned a lot going down that path, but I missed being in that small business, you know, really building something that was my own working with a dynamic team and a small team. And, you know, I think building some of that foundation, this amazing opportunity came that was presented by my dad to say, hey, let's franchise the business. You know, we've got something great going. This would be an amazing opportunity for other like-minded people to open their own locations and thrive. Amyn: And I just thought, man, this marries what I did earlier. I've got a bit of foundation for working at larger organizations. You know, maybe there's something there and it turned out to be a good decision. Chris: Very good. That's a great, I love the story and how you were able to, I think it's important. You got an education and you got real world experience outside of that, right? To then bring that into and maybe help professionalize a little bit the company, especially as it was launching into being a franchisor. Amyn: Yeah. So you mentioned, you know, working with the team, let's talk a little bit about, you know, some of the ups and downs that you've experienced and maybe you saw your parents early on experience and building the team around you so that the company can achieve that success. Because if I know anything about hiring, it's an imperfect thing, right? Is that part science, part art? But you do your best to get it right. So tell me, let's talk a little bit about those experiences, you know, what you've learned from that. Amyn: Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, going into small business entrepreneurship, there's very much a feeling of working in the business, you know, being so kind of head down and focusing on, hey, how do we survive today? And, you know, I think when you're joining or launching a new business, which really was the franchising part of our business was a brand new business, you are really thinking in that lens and that mindset. And I always feel like hiring, building an infrastructure, it just allows you to think more long term and that just prolongs the lifespan of your business too. So I think making those right strategic hires as soon as we have that capital, thinking ahead about, hey, where do we want to be in the next 5, 10 years and investing in those people and really giving them the freedom and empowerment, you know, to expand their careers, expand their responsibilities as you're seeing them master their role. Amyn: I think that really helped, you know. So one book that I read early on about a year or two after I joined the business was Traction by Gina Wickman. Sure. You know, the entrepreneurial operating system. I mean, that's something that we do today. And I think that was foundational in how I look at people, helping the assistant. Hey, do we have the right people in the right seats? And then are we creating a culture of empowerment? You know, I think about what attracted me to Ivy Kids and starting this franchising part of the business. And it was this idea of taking ownership, having accountability, you know, maybe having a little bit too much rope. Chris: Right. Right. Amyn: And I just think, hey, at a size that we are, those are probably the people that I'm going to be attracting to. And how can I create that where if I were in their shoes, I'd want to be a part of this business. And I think some of that where, hey, there's alignment on goals, but hey, you have the empowerment and you have the ability to achieve it and how you achieve it and how you get to that final product is up to you. You know, I always feel like that allows you to really grow people, especially when you're smaller, maybe you have that limited capital base, you know, and now you can start thinking strategically about your business and then your business can really grow. Chris: So I love that term culture of empowerment. Let's talk about culture. You know, everyone agrees culture is king, right? And every book you read and each strategy, you know, all those clichés. What have you done to kind of foster and build this culture of empowerment within Ivy Kids? Amyn: You know, I think of myself as a generalist. And I think of myself as, hey, I am not the best person in any department. And I think as you grow as a leader, that is just what naturally happens. You know, you have to build a team of people that are smarter, more experienced. I would say better than you in each of these divisions in each of these areas. Amyn: So I think just thinking, hey, if I'm growing or if the business is growing, I have to increase the skill sets of everything around me and I have to play more of that generalist mindset. And with that, it's let me bring these people on and have and let them be the experts in the subject matter experts of what they're doing now. Amyn: Alignment and vision and where we are and ensuring that, hey, prove to me that you can do this job is still very important. Sure. You know, We still need to have check-ins and make sure that, hey, are we all marching in that direction and where we want to go as a company. But at the end of the day, I do think that people are more passionate if they feel a sense of ownership, if they can look back and see, "Oh, I or my team accomplished this." I'm getting praise for those kinds of things. You know, one of the things that we do, we have quarterly town halls and we do shout outs, and it's a thing that I love. We just had ours on Friday. And, you know, the team gives each other shout outs, but I think when people are empowered and we are able to showcase, you did a great job and this is why, and this is what your team is doing, is getting the company moving forward, is amazing. And that might be harder to create that visibility as a company grows. But it is something that I like to keep on the forefront of my mind because empowering people, it's just like this flywheel of positivity, right? Chris: Right. Amyn: It just, it's like the snowball or flywheel effect. It just grows upon itself. You know, the shout outs that you mentioned, I don't think it can be overstated, the value in just simple recognition. Private recognition is great, but the public recognition amongst someone's peers, I mean, it doesn't replace cash rewards, but some people value it as much or more, right? And I think that you would take the time to do that in a thoughtful way, and I can see where that would inspire your people to do more, right? Or, well, gosh, your coworker got it. I'm going to do something so that the next quarter I get it. And it just, to your point, that flywheel effect, it just creates this atmosphere and culture of wanting to achieve and be successful. ADVERT Hello friends. This is Chris Hanslick, your Building Texas Business host. Did you know that Boyer Miller, the producer of this podcast, is a business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations, and business leaders? Our team of attorneys serve as strategic partners to businesses by providing legal guidance to organizations of all sizes. Get to know the BoyerMiller.com and thanks for listening to the show. Amyn: The other thing I heard you say is there's a key piece of autonomy to create the culture of empowerment within Ivy Kids and giving your people the autonomy to go do what they do, what they've been hired to do without being micromanaged. Chris: Yeah, that's exactly right. Amyn: I mean, I always think back to when I first started out, you know, in my career, you know, as an investment banking analyst, you know, you're spending 80, a hundred hours a week, you're working on these pitch decks. You're grinding until 2 a.m. You're working on this project and now all of a sudden you have this package, you deliver it to your managing director and then they go to a meeting and you never hear back. You come up from the dungeon, right? Chris: Exactly. Amyn: And I always was like, hey, you know what, I wonder what that client thought or if that what I did had an effect. And you know, that's that part where I'm like, well, am I doing that as a leader? And am I these blockages? You know, because people want to learn and people want to be in those meetings. I think everybody wants to be in that meeting and see where their work is leading to. And I just always think, hey, if I were working for me when I was starting off, would I have liked myself as a boss? Chris: Right. Amyn: And that also means, hey, clear vision of where that person is heading. What am I doing right? And what am I not doing well? You know, I think feedback transparency, you know, I really try and instill that criticism is not a negative word, you know, problems are not bad. You know, problems are just identifications of what we can all do better. Chris: Right. Amyn: I like hearing problems to not, you know, and that could be a, you know, what we're doing and just what's going on within the organization. You know, what the way I would phrase what I just heard you say is about, it's about mindset, right? You can view someone's performance from a positive mindset or a negative mindset and say, look, okay, this didn't go well, but that's a learning moment. Let's find the learning as opposed to chastise and criticize and beat someone down. Chris: Yeah, right. And I think, you know, same situations handled, you know, one versus the other can encourage and empower someone to want to do better or discourage them to, you know, put their tail between their legs and maybe leave, even leave your organization when it's not someone you necessarily want to leave. Amyn: Yeah, and this is a thing that comes over time. It comes with empowerment. It comes with, you know, celebrating that publicly. It comes with a culture of positivity. You know, it is also something that I feel like is so important when you are owning a small business, when you're opening a business is separating yourself and your identity and ego in some ways from your business. Chris: Right. Amyn: You know, it's something that I, you know, try and share with our franchisees when they're opening a school and they're having a quality assurance visit or their first, maybe, you know, not ideal interaction with the parent. I mean, there's a real personal feeling there. It's easier said than done, right? Chris: It is. Amyn: But I, to your point, very important to do. So let's kind of dive into some of those subjects because you start the franchise part of the business, I think you said 2017. So it seems to me you're getting it off the ground. It's going well. And then a global pandemic hit. So let's talk about managing through kind of uncertainty, economic downturn, especially when your business is predicated on kids coming into a public, basically facility and gathering together when that wasn't going on. Amyn: Yeah. I mean, I remember March of 2020, I think our average school enrollment was about 200 children. And I think it went to 40 in two weeks, so very stressful period as you can imagine. You know, and one thing that I learned from the pandemic or from our team and in business is you can really pivot on a dime. You know, and I think that's something that I've taken from me too is we went to online learning, you know, for two, three hours every day we were able to orient the company in that direction. You know, it ended up generating a million dollars of revenue for our franchisees, which was a benefit. You know, we were able to do things like private kindergarten. We were able to do a virtual program for elementary school children. They were able to come in our schools and do the virtual learning from the elementary teacher at our schools, and everybody was separated apart. Chris: Wow. Amyn: So we were able to come up with revenue-generating ideas. We weren't able to make up entirely for the lost revenue due to COVID. But we were able to do some really amazing things and stay in really close communication with our franchisees. Yeah. Because as you know, each city, each state had their own requirements. Chris: Right. Amyn: I think I learned a lot from that, that, hey, if you've got a long-term goal, a long-term plan and things change within your business, that doesn't mean you don't change your goal. You know, you can orient things, you can turn things on a dime. And, you know, although things have returned to normal and in many respects, right? Or pre-COVID, I think the learnings from that have helped our innovation and just saying, hey, let's push a little bit more. Let's try a little bit more. Chris: I love it because I think the lesson there is despite what comes at you, whether it was in your control or not, there's always opportunity. Amyn: So again, it goes back to mindset. I thank you. Okay, get the team, you or your team together and go, okay, where are the opportunities out of this that we probably wouldn't have seen before? And I think, like you said, you see so many people, especially in your industry. Now that kids are back in your facilities, it doesn't take away the opportunities for online learning you can do. Chris: Right. Amyn: And it's just added revenue. Chris: Yeah, that's right. You know, I think, you know, a franchisee, they open and they think, oh man, you know, these problems are just centered around me and oh my gosh, I'm opening a business. And it's luckily now you're around 20 years of experience of us operating, but also imagine those franchisees that had that same feeling and they opened during 2020, 2021, right? Amyn: Where we had to do everything virtual. So, you know, I think, you know, a business owner, you have to be an optimist. You have to look for, hey, what are ways that either I could turn this around or generate some revenue. Growth mindset is just so important. Chris: Yeah, so true. So you mentioned innovation. What are some of the things that you have done or that you may be doing now to kind of foster innovative ideas, innovative thoughts within your team that you can then implement with your franchisees, etc.? Amyn: You know, I think so much of that comes from our goals and seeing, hey, what can we continue to do to further differentiate ourselves as being the leading provider of early childhood education? Right. I mean, you look at our curriculum, you know, we have a lot of, you know, mom and pops that are great, you know, and in varying levels of quality and large franchise organizations too. Right. And what you find is there has not been a great deal of innovation in the curriculum space and in education, you know, so really it's us thinking at things differently, like, hey, just because everybody else is doing the same thing. Chris: Right. Amyn: That grounded in the research of today? Right. Does that relate to the teachers of today? What children need to learn in order to be successful in the elementary school, middle schools in the communities that they're in today. I think just always trying to understand the why, you know, I think why is one of the most important questions that you can ask. And that's really what I do in the meetings is understand, hey, why are we doing this? How are we doing this? You know, I think that generates a lot of thought within our team. Then once we have those strategic tools in place, we have those systems in place. Okay, then what is our cadence to see how we're executing on it and seeing how we're going within that? Amyn: So I always think goal setting at the year, understanding what those rocks are each quarter, but then, hey, just because it's a status quo does not mean that's good enough. You know, so even in our curriculum, implementing coding and robotics, parent assessments that are digital. So you can see every, you know, every month, every two months, exactly what your child's doing in the classroom. Camera access. So as a parent, you can see exactly what's going on in your child's classroom. You know, those are not just tried and true things. Those are things that came from great communication with our parents, a team that is, you know, flexible, forthinking about what they would want to see as a parent and then great execution. Chris: Wow. That's great. So you mentioned robotics. I've got to ask, what are you doing or kind of what's on the horizon as it relates to your curriculum and your delivery of this, your childcare and child education, early childhood education as it relates to AI? Amyn: Yeah, I think that's a great question. You know, I think tools like AI are amazing. You know, there's so much that you can do in regards to communication, idea generation. You know, I think for us is just, hey, when it comes to technology, you know, how do we ensure that children today are well-equipped for their technological future? So when we talk about coding and robotics, it's not just sitting in a computer and coding, you know, for it. It's even from that two or three-year-old level of doing logic puzzles, if-then statements. If I take a certain input and I am bringing code puzzles to it, what do those outputs look like? So it's a great way of them to manipulate in a coding language, but not also spending time in the computer and being in front of a screen too, which also which shows you know, a negative impact due to research for that young and FNH, right? We're making steps towards that direction. We are not diving full ahead, you know, to me, it's one thing to be first in an area, but I'd rather do it best, right? And I'd rather do it where, you know, we're not just testing things on children, but we are providing something that is impactful. That's based on research that we know we can implement really well. And I think you're going to continue to see growth in that area, too. You know, other things is just back to a naturalistic component, having things like gardens in our schools, you know, teaching children, hey, the food does not just come from H-E-B. It comes from the ground, and this is why. So, you know, I think innovation is a big part of it. Chris: That's great stuff. I mean, I can imagine parents get excited about hearing about that fundamental learning that their kids are going to get to experience with you. Amyn: Yeah, absolutely. Building strategic relationships, you know, partnerships and things that you have, you know, obviously relationships with franchisees, but other key, you know, advisors or relationships you have. Let's talk in the context of the value you've seen in that, how you think that's helped grow the business and how you lean on those, you know, from time to time to get you through to the next stage, if you will. Chris: Yeah. I mean, I think you always want to be around people that are adding to your skill set and have exceptional talents in those skill sets. You know, I think about continual learning. Luckily, in franchising, it's an amazing model and way for people to share best practices. You know, the IFA International Franchise Association has amazing resources, especially for emerging franchisors. They have great conferences and that's a great way to share ideas. Amyn: You know, I'm part of a mastermind group of franchisors, 50 to 100 units. And just learning and seeing what best practices that they do. You know, they advocate a lot for transparency within a franchise system. Franchisees sharing what their P&Ls look like. What's going well, what's not going well in the business. And franchisees learning from each other and sharing best practices. You know, that's something that is important. We're implementing more in our business with benchmarking and KPIs and performance groups. Even being part of a local community, you know, I'm part of a Vistage group here in Houston. Chris: That sounds like an amazing asset. Amyn: Yeah, I think that is an amazing asset, going and meeting people in person, seeing their businesses, touring their locations. You know, I think sometimes being an entrepreneur, being a CEO can be a very isolating experience. Chris: For sure. Amyn: You know, all the fingers are pointing at you and all the hard questions come to you too. So being able to learn from others. I mean, learning from mistakes is great. Then you're not making them and they're less costly. So I'm always about trying to learn from other people. Chris: You alluded to one of my favorite questions there. So I always, I like to ask a guest, cause I do, we do learn from mistakes and it is nice if you can learn from someone else's, but has there been a setback or something you would describe, you know, a mistake or, you know, again, learning moment, like I mentioned earlier you've encountered? And let's talk about what that was, but what did you do to overcome it? What was the learning and how did it make you better? Amyn: You know, I think the learning that I encountered is not stepping into the business. And I think my idea of being a generalist came from mistakes, you know, being young and eager, wanting to jump in, hey, I can write this operations manual because I've spent time in the business or, you know, hey, use this marketing plan or this idea because it worked for me. You know, I think the big one was COVID early on. Oh my gosh, I was seeing the business totally transform. I felt the need to be in this. I need to be a wartime, you know, CEO or senior member. I need to be here. I need to be calling the franchisees. And really, our team had great ideas and approaches and they were thinking about the business and their fears around the business in a similar way that I was. Chris: Right. Amyn: Yeah. And the moment I snapped out of it was, hey, this training is great. I mean, but think about X, Y, and Z that the franchisee is going through. And I had my operations person tell me that. And I think it was a, oh my gosh, I've sucked myself into this business. Yes, there was a big change, but I talk about empowering my people. That also means not just when moments are good, but when moments are bad as well. So I think that goes both ways and people and relationships strengthen sometimes when you're giving someone the rope when the business is not going that well. Chris: Right. But I mean, that's powerful. I can certainly see how that was an aha moment for you. And again, for your people, right? That you trusted them enough in those times had to go a long way. Amyn: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, it's kind of like war stories during COVID or the up and down, but, you know, having a kind of a business history and having institutional knowledge, I mean, those are amazing tenants. You know, a franchisee joins, they have now someone on the operations team that's been with you for 20 years. But you're also incorporating, you know, newer people who are excited about the culture that we're trying to build. That's really important. Chris: Yeah. Well, I think you've talked around this, but just to kind of crystallize it, I do want to ask, how would you describe your leadership style and how do you think that's changed or evolved over time? Amyn: That's a really good question. I mean, I would say I like to empower people, you know, I like to set goals and a vision. You know, we have a vision of where we want to be as a company, and I want to understand what people think and how they see us getting there. And I want us, and I'd like to see that individual develop KPIs. What they think are the right metrics. And I want to understand the rationale behind that. And then we'll get together and figure out alignment there. But I like to see how people think. I like to see thinking. I want a demonstration of why they are getting to that problem or what their reasoning is around that problem. Chris: That makes sense. Amyn: Then we check in and I let them do it. I always think about how I, you know, if I was the low man on the totem pole, how empowered would I feel? You know, what are my responsibilities? And I think that attracts, you know, passionate people. Chris: Yeah. Amyn: And that's what I want to see. I want to see passion because I'm giving that responsibility. You know, as you were talking, it made me think. You know, we talked about learning from bad experiences or, you know, maybe learning, seeing something and going, okay, I experienced this, but I don't want to repeat that. And I can't help but think you learned so much as an early analyst and how you were treated. Chris: Yes. Amyn: You go, if I'm ever in a position of leadership, I'm not going to do these things. And it probably serves as a good reminder and a guidepost for you. Chris: Yeah. Amyn: To say, no, you know, remember what I didn't like, and let's do the opposite. Chris: Right. Amyn: Yeah, you learn a lot from great managers and you learn a lot from not so great managers. Yeah. And, you know, I think I had a lot of those on my bucket list and I think a lot of just reflection too. I mean, you know, I really try and take feedback and I really try and understand. Hey, you know, I mean, I've made a lot of mistakes and I think it's just, hey, let me try not to make that same mistake a second time. Chris: Right? Amyn: But you know, the sad truth is you're going to make some more, as will I, and the goal is trying to make the same one twice, right? Chris: That's right. I mean, this has been great. What an exciting business you have going. I want to, before we wrap up, I just always like to ask a few, you know, maybe less serious questions. What was your first job outside of Ivy schools? Amyn: My first job was a company called Student Agencies, in college. I sold ad space on the maps that you'd see around the Ithaca campus and these brochures. And I also helped with marketing promotions. A promotion I actually dressed up in a mascot outfit was a big light bulb because it was for an entrepreneurship idea competition. Chris: That's great. Amyn: So, I was a light bulb for a few weeks around campus. Talk about humility, right? Chris: That's right. And if you sold ad space for a brochure, I have to believe you got used to hearing the word no. Amyn: Oh man, yeah. No is common. No is very common. Chris: Okay, so, grew up in Pearland, you know, Texan as you can get, so do you prefer Tex-Mex or barbecue? Amyn: Oh, Tex-Mex for sure. Chris: Something you missed when you were up in Ithaca, I guess. Amyn: Oh, man, yeah. You didn't see much Tex-Mex over there. Chris: Well, I mean, this has been a great conversation. Congratulations on the success of the family business and where you've taken it, you know, since joining and the franchise side of things. Really appreciate you sharing that story with us and wish you the best success in the future. Amyn: All right. Thank you so much, Chris. I enjoyed it. Special Guest: Amyn Bandali.

Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas and architect of the October 7th attacks that killed 1,200 in Israel, was killed in a firefight with Israeli soldiers in Gaza. How will recent hurricanes in the Southeast United States affect voter turnout in the presidential election, and how is climate change affecting the mental health of young people.

In this episode, our founder Dr. Gaby Kafie and President Armen Caprielian take a moment to reflect on recent events unfolding across the Southeast United States. From the devastation caused by hurricanes to the looming 2024 Presidential elections just three weeks away, there's much to discuss. With so much happening in these challenging times, Dr. Kafie and Armen share their thoughts, updates, and hopes for the future. Let's come together, stay informed, and pray for a positive close to the year. Tune in for insightful commentary on these pivotal moments and what lies ahead.

For this episode, Brett sat down with his friend, colleague, and fellow DEP alum Andrew Ketchel as Hurricane Helene barreled toward its collision with the Southeast United States. Andrew is a former Legislative Affairs Director for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; college football player for the University of South Florida; and an Eagle Scout. He's currently a partner with Capital City Consulting, one of the largest lobbying firms in the state of Florida. They discuss his parents' forays into national and local politics; growing up in a military town; why he chose USF for college; the challenges of a student athlete who sees a life after football; how he ended up in the “family business”; how lobbying government is different than lobbying for government; and his philosophy for how to be an effective, and more importantly - ethical, lobbyist. Special Note: To our fellow Floridians who are recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, our hearts are with you. The Florida Specifier/Water for Fighting team is pulling for you and hoping for a safe and speedy recovery for your families and communities. To visit Capital City Consulting's website and find out how to reach Andrew, go here. Watch Andrew score a touchdown versus the Florida Gators here. This episode is brought to you by my friends at Resource Environmental Solutions (RES) RES is the nation's leader in ecological restoration, helping to restore Florida's natural resources with water quality and stormwater solutions that offer communities guaranteed performance and outcomes. Check them out at www.res.us This episode is also brought to you by my friends at Sea and Shoreline. Sea and Shoreline is the Southeast's leading innovator in protecting coastal communities from devastating storms and restoring ecosystems that once faced ecological collapse. Visit their website at www.Seaandshoreline.com. Please be sure to check out the Florida Specifier Podcast hosted by Ryan Matthews and myself as part of the environmental news and discussion brought to you by the Florida Specifier. To learn more about our flagship print publication, weekly newsletter and more, visit The Florida Specifier. You can follow the show on LinkedIn and Instagram @flwaterpod, and you can reach me directly at FLwaterpod@gmail.com with your comments and suggestions for who I should be talking with.

Darrell Castle talks about Democrats in general and Kamala Harris in particular and their complete indifference to the suffering of the people in the Southeast of the United States along with their priority of making America a one-party state similar to the pre-breakup Soviet Union. Transcription / Notes: UNFIT TO LEAD Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today's Castle Report. This is Friday the 4th day of October in the year of our Lord 2024. I will be talking about Democrats in general and Kamala Harris in particular and their complete indifference to the suffering of the people in the Southeast of the United States along with their priority of making America a one-party state similar to the pre-breakup Soviet Union. Times of crises are the toughest test of leadership and in that regard our current non-leadership fails miserably. Yes, it seems that Vice President Harris is a lot more comfortable begging her Hollywood friends for money than she is providing aid and comfort to Americans who are suffering and have truly lost everything. Finally, after several days of photo ops and fundraising she was apparently told by the Secretariat of Democrats who direct her that she should go down to Georgia to show some sympathy to all those southern deplorable peckerwoods who have lost everything. I thought about calling this Castle Report the devil went down to Georgia but I was afraid I might run afoul of whoever owns the rights to that song. It would also be an insult to the song and especially to Charlie Daniels. This disaster has been a different kind of disaster for Biden-Harris and her efforts to become President. Who would vote for this completely unfit and unfeeling woman after seeing her response to this disaster. Democrats and illegals I guess. Well, there are a lot of people in the Southeast United States who will not be able to vote at all this year except maybe the dead ones who can vote Democrat of course. This is a tragedy of such immense proportions that sometimes a little humor is about the only way to deal with it. The federal government just doesn't seem to care. George W. Bush took all kinds of criticism for flying over Hurricane Katrina damage but at least he went and released FEMA aid. The Harris campaign has proven so incompetent and uncaring and unable or unwilling to do anything to help people who are helpless that I don't understand how anyone outside of Hollywood and the New York Times could even consider voting for her. What happened to all that FEMA aid that was showered on Katrina victims. As reported by the Federalist it has been diverted to services for illegal immigrants. You heard that right folks more than a billion dollars of FEMA money provided by congress for disaster relief has been diverted to the service of illegal invaders who I'm sure will all vote Democrat. The allocation is called the Shelter and Services program to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants from short-term holding facilities. That was a quote from the FEMA website. The director of Homeland Security, Alehandro Mayorkas said “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through Hurricane season.” I So, Kamala Harris surveyed the damage and did her mandatory photo op and then offered $750 to some of the victims. No military assistance, no Army, Marine Corps, and AirForce rescue helicopters and no aircraft carriers full of disaster relief. This is not Ukraine or the Far East after all it's the Southeast United States. Perhaps all those deplorables perishing in the floods could find a Ukrainian flag and fly it and then the United States military would move mountains to help them. Yes, almost $200 billion for Ukraine but as for the Southeast sorry folks we are tapped out. I hope even Democrats can see how completely evil that is but no that is not something one should even hope for. The response of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, at their own personal expense to the floods has been extraordinary as ha...

Today on America in the Morning   VP Debate Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sparred over immigration, the Middle East, abortion, child care, and gun violence, among the many topics in their 90-minute and only Vice Presidential debate. Steve Futterman covered the face-off from New York.    Israel Attacked By Iran U.S. officials are backing Israel after Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state, the majority intercepted by Israeli defense systems and American interceptors. John Stolnis has the latest from Washington.     Latest On The Dockworker's Strike Dockworkers in the U.S. from Maine to Texas are on strike. Correspondent Donna Warder reports with no talks scheduled, the nation could soon face new supply chain issues.    Lawsuit Heard Over Georgia Election Changes Democrats are behind a lawsuit in Georgia surrounding the state's election laws, with November Fifth just 5 weeks away. Correspondent Clayton Neville reports.    Jobs-A-Plenty Some good news on the jobs front, as a report shows there's a lot of openings if you're thinking of making a change. Correspondent Haya Panjwani reports.    Trump Says No To 60 Minutes They do it every 4 years, but this time they'll be one candidate short. Correspondent Norman Hall reports Donald Trump has declined an interview for a '60 Minutes' election special.     VP Debate & Spin Room Highlights They were civil as they gave their positions on a number of issues, including foreign policy, fentanyl, climate change, and even who won the 2020 election, without moderators fact-checking. Steve Futterman reports from the Vice Presidential debate in New York on the highlights, and what was said after in the spin room.             Washington Reaction To Iran Attacking Israel Washington D-C is reacting to the missile attacks on Israel by Iran. Correspondent Clayton Neville reports on the American response.     Rescues Continue In North Carolina Rescuers are scouring the mountains of western North Carolina for survivors cut off by Hurricane Helene, as the death toll mounts and people are desperate for food, clean drinking water, and for many, communications with the outside world. It is estimated that Helene dumped 40 trillion gallons of water on the Southeast United States, and it is now the second deadliest storm in America in the past 20 years. Correspondent Julie Walker reports.    California Sues Hospital Over Abortion The state of California has filed a lawsuit against a hospital for denying a pregnant woman having medical issues an emergency abortion. The details from correspondent Sue Aller.    Too Close To Call The election so far is shaping up to be a nail biter. The New York Post released the latest poll, showing Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump by four points nationally.     DEA's Torture Troubles An internal review shows the Drug Enforcement Administration failed to timely report torture by its Latin American partners. Correspondent Norman Hall has details.    Urgent Recall Jeep is recalling more than 194,000 of its plug-in hybrid SUVs worldwide because they can catch fire with the ignition turned off.    Tech News Apple is being investigated by the National Labor Relations Board for violating their employee rights to organize. Here's Chuck Palm with today's Tech news.     Sports – Robert Workman   Baseball Playoffs & more.        Finally   An already bad week for Sean Diddy Combs just got much worse. Kevin Carr reports on more than 100 new sex assault accusations against the music mogul, including involving two dozen minors.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Megyn Kelly begins the show by discussing the catastrophic devastation of Hurricane Helene all throughout the Southeast United States, the horrific damage and flooding in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and more, the muted response from the Biden-Harris administration, Kamala Harris attending a fancy fundraiser in LA Sunday night instead of getting to work, and more. Then Victor Davis Hanson, author of "The Case For Trump," joins to talk about the potential political fallout over the lack of federal response to the hurricane, Kamala Harris's recent photo op at the Southern border, her hypocrisy about the border wall, the truth about the criminals who have entered the country through illegal immigration, the bizarre rhetoric and communication style of Kamala Harris, if Harris is intellectually lazy for not preparing for this moment, her strange way of constantly saying "right?" while talking, MSNBC's Jen Psaki saying Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is "reshaping masculinity" during her interview with him, Emhoff's history with his first wife, and more. Then the hosts of The Daily Wire's Crain & Company join to discuss the controversy surrounding WNBA players injuring rising star Caitlin Clark, the backlash faced by a woke reporter who dared to ask a question to a player about her hard foul on Clark, the attempt to make race and sexuality a part of the story, and more.Hanson- https://www.amazon.com/Case-Trump-Victor-Davis-Hanson/dp/1541606434 Crain & Company- https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company Price-https://www.instagram.com/travelingenes1/Hari- https://foodbabe.com/babyshark/ Birch Gold: Text MEGYN to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold Club for Growth: Text GROW to 60967 Tax Network USA: https://TNUSA.com/MEGYN Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow

With homes destroyed and entire communities isolated, residents of the Southeast United States face the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi targets over the weekend in Yemen after recent attacks on Israel. The Israeli military also said it bombed Hezbollah command centers in Lebanon. Dozens of people were killed, including Hezbollah's longtime leader. CBS News contributor and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster explains the latest on the conflict in the Middle East amid fears of a widening war and the U.S.' role.Around the world, 2.6 billion people are not connected to the internet. Verizon's CEO Hans Vestberg talks with "CBS Mornings" about how his company along with the Edison Alliance, which Verizon co-founded, are working to bring digital access to communities in more than 100 countries.After surviving a tour bus crash in 1990 that left her temporarily paralyzed, Gloria Estefan has donated more than $42 million to paralysis research. The Grammy-winning icon shares her passion for finding a cure.Coldplay's Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland add more in their "CBS Sunday Morning" conversation with Anthony Mason, discussing the success of their "Music of the Spheres" tour, their latest single, and why they plan to release only two more albums.Thirty-five years ago, Alyson Brittain overcame a rare autoimmune condition and credits her nurse Ceddie Persaud with saving her life. The two lost touch after Brittain left the hospital. Recently, Brittain stumbled upon a picture of her and Persaud together and decided she wanted to thank him. She reached out to CBS contributor David Begnaud for help.Acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates joins "CBS Mornings" to talk about his new book, "The Message" and about the banning of his work in South Carolina.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Ostreicher is the President of The Brookview Companies, a real estate investment firm specializing in luxury, Class-A multifamily properties across the Midwest and Southeast United States. Under his leadership, Brookview has expanded its portfolio to over 2,600 apartment units, with investments totaling more than $400 million. David shares the story of his journey from corporate attorney to company leader. Learn more about The Brookview Companies and David here. -- If you enjoyed the episode, please give us a follow and hit the notification bell to stay up to date with new episodes! You can find more about the How To Business Show by clicking the link below: ⁠https://linktr.ee/htbs⁠

Time to bust out the fiddle and rosin up the bow!Today's guests--Sheryl, Reggie, and Jenifer Wrinkle--are fiddle virtuosos of the highest order. Hear them share how their early experiences playing the fiddle in Southeast Texas led them each on a musical journey of a lifetime.Their conversation with Buck and Wanda Carole covers a wide range of topics, including:Their early years playing the fiddle in performances and contests throughout the Southeast United States;The role that their mom and dad played in their development as artists;Sheryl's current endeavors as a band leader and a playwright;Reggie's current undertaking as a West Texas country music entrepreneur--the construction and opening of the new Lime Rock Amphitheater;Jenifer's thoughts on playing with country music's biggest stars, and also the on the release of her upcoming album;An update on the musical trajectory of Cameron Wrinkle, Reggie's son who is on the precipice of country music stardom;An added bonus of hearing Jenifer's latest hit song Living My Dreams (Momma's Song), and Cameron's latest hit single In My Heaven;and much, much, more!The podcast brings up a wide names from Southeast Texas and country music, including Jimmy Wrinkle, Carol Ann Wrinkle, Juanita Wrinkle, Tracy Byrd, Cameron Wrinkle, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Pam Tillis, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Trisha Yearwood, Blake Shelton, Scotty McCreery, Charlie Daniels, Grandpa James Wrinkle, Grace Wrinkle, Wallace Wrinkle, Neal Wrinkle, Hardy Wrinkle, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, MacDavis, Jimmy Dean, Tanya Tucker, Roy Orbison, the Gatlin Brothers, Bob Wills, Gary P Nunn, Natalie Maines, Benny Brocato, Frazier Moss, Dakota Wrinkle, Lainey Wilson, David Lee, Mark Mesler, Bud Lee, Dale Ernheart,...and more! So don't fiddle around! Spend a little over an hour with the Wrinkle Family Fiddlers--it's worth the price of admission!Right here, on Down Trails of Victory podcast!

Main Theme:This episode delves into the lucrative world of Flex Industrial real estate, particularly focusing on the revitalization of secondary properties in the Southeast United States. Grant Reaves, managing director of Stoic Equity Partners, shares insights on how his firm capitalizes on high construction costs and demographic shifts to transform legacy properties into profitable investments.Key Discussion Points:Revitalizing Secondary Properties:Targeting markets like Birmingham, South Alabama, and Jackson, Mississippi.Opportunities arise from retiring legacy property owners.Profiting from areas with population growth and new business influx.Flexibility and Market Demand:Creating adaptable spaces for diverse business needs, from online boutiques to life science companies.Enhancing the visual appeal and balance of industrial spaces to attract tenants.Commercial Real Estate Insights:Explanation of triple net leases.Distinctions between self-storage and flex industrial spaces.Investment strategies tailored to current market conditions.Industry Trends:Institutionalization of the self-storage industry.Emerging trends in the flex industrial sector.Practical Advice:Importance of engaging with local brokers to understand market dynamics.Strategic location choices for property investments.Transitioning from brokerage to property ownership as a pathway to long-term wealth building.Connect with Grant Reaves:greaves@stoicep.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-reaves-69876163/https://twitter.com/reaves_granthttp://www.stoicep.com

The upcoming 4-part docuseries ROOTS SO DEEP executive produced by Peter Horton ("New Amsterdam", "Grey's Anatomy") and directed by Award-Winning Filmmaker Peter Byck follows ten farm families across the Southeast United States, including Alabama band's own Teddy Gentry, as well as 20+ scientists to bring an extensive look at what could revolutionize modern day farming. With ROOTS SO DEEP, Byck sets off on a ten-million-dollar groundbreaking research project comparing Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing with conventional grazing. Ultimately, finding that AMP not only saves money for farmers and improves the health of their farms, but is also an effective climate solution. Directed by Peter ByckExecutive Produced by Peter Horton ("New Amsterdam", "Grey's Anatomy")A Groundbreaking Research Project 10 years in the making Featuring: 10 farm families across Southeast US20+ scientists from 7 universities, USDA and 3 private research firmsPeter Byck led a $10 million research project comparing Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing with conventional grazing focused on soil health & soil carbon storage, microbial/bug/bird biodiversity, water cycling and much more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

The upcoming 4-part docuseries ROOTS SO DEEP executive produced by Peter Horton ("New Amsterdam", "Grey's Anatomy") and directed by Award-Winning Filmmaker Peter Byck follows ten farm families across the Southeast United States, including Alabama band's own Teddy Gentry, as well as 20+ scientists to bring an extensive look at what could revolutionize modern day farming. With ROOTS SO DEEP, Byck sets off on a ten-million-dollar groundbreaking research project comparing Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing with conventional grazing. Ultimately, finding that AMP not only saves money for farmers and improves the health of their farms, but is also an effective climate solution. Directed by Peter ByckExecutive Produced by Peter Horton ("New Amsterdam", "Grey's Anatomy")A Groundbreaking Research Project 10 years in the makingBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Highlights today include: The IALD Establishes New Chapter for Southeast United States, How to Dance the VE Shuffle, BEGA North America Expands Partnerships in Northeast USA, Electrical Trends: NAED National Meeting Observations, Senior Channel Manager – Cooledge Lighting Inc.

In the first episode of the new season of the Rural Voice, we talk about the research of place and process of rural education from a data-informed perspective. We discuss the role of Ground Truthing and connecting data within the domains of politics, culture, and fear of consolidation. Dr. Mitchell talks about somewhere (rural) and anywhere (urban and suburban). The politics of these are what many would expect. Somewhere, lean more conservative, and anywhere is more liberal. However, these trends in the data are not uniform. In some rural areas, some voters lean liberal, particularly for those people of color. More rural suburban locations vote more conservatively. These spaces include many small business owners. More diverse suburbs lean more liberal as well. Similarly, we are seeing a shift toward skills-based education in high schools, such as trade education (e.g., Information Technology). Thus, educational pathways should be more connected to local needs. We discussed the role of emotion and between-group conflict, such as city and rural tension, the reemergence of populism, women's rights, diversity, and others. These trends have a trickle-down influence on education. We discuss psychology's role in explaining the American shift toward being "groupy" and how it insulates us from perceived threats to our values and groups. We talk about access to resources such as money, natural resources, services, etc. This directly connects to educational offerings and how policy influences local schools, particularly concerning policy and law. From the cultural perspective, it relates to migration and the changing rural demographics. At the same time, we see a change in Hispanic populations in rural America, but African Americans also move to rural areas, including the Southeast United States. This can place a financial strain on these small communities as, in some cases, these communities are seeing an increase in migration, particularly for public schools. This will create new challenges for educators in rural education to meet the needs of these populations (e.g., ESL services). The final domain concerns the fear of consolidating small communities to merge services where rural communities may lose their identity. Dr. Mitchell suggests that these issues will play a role in rural education in the future. Much of the curriculum and policy will be related to places, resources, and job markets and how rural education changes to meet these challenges through the somewhere versus anywhere paradigm.

Join Devin Robinson as he explores an innovative way of acquiring and wholesaling properties: the installment sale method. Discover expert tips for successful wholesaling and elevate your investment game in today's dynamic market. Tune in now and accelerate your journey to financial success!     Key takeaways to listen for   The power of storytelling in capital raising Actionable steps to get started on your real estate investment fund Effective investment strategies to use in the RE foreclosure market  How to leverage the installment sale method to acquire properties Criteria you need to consider to close deals using the installment sales method Valuable advice for entrepreneurs struggling to find deals     Resources      Zillow Bloomberg  Michael Franke Start With 'Why' by Simon Sinek  The Brewer Method by Eric Brewer  The Game w/ Alex Hormozi on Apple Podcasts What It Takes by Stephen A. Schwarzman | Kindle and Hardcover Larry Fink's BlackRock by John Miller | Paperback  The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett      About Devin Robinson  Devin Robinson is an extraordinary entrepreneur, from the streets of Los Angeles to the vibrant communities of Charlotte, NC. Spearheading a dynamic real estate investing company and fund in the Southeast United States, their commitment to "Experiential Investing" focuses on creating unique investment experiences backed by tangible real estate assets, delivering high returns to investors.     Connect Devin Website: The Installment Method Freebie | Media Kit  Facebook: The Installment Method | Real Life REI      Connect with Us Ready to level up your real estate game? Take action now to access exclusive resources, live events, and valuable insights from our experts:   1. BOOK A CALL: Visit our website at www.sendmoreoffers.com to book a call today. Our team of real estate professionals is ready to provide personalized guidance and help you achieve your investment goals.   2. JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP: Don't miss out on exclusive live events, networking opportunities, and valuable discussions. Simply search for "Send More Offers" on Facebook and hit the "Join" button. www.facebook.com/groups/sendmoreoffers   3. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: Gain access to full video interviews, expert tips, and in-depth analyses by subscribing to our dynamic YouTube channel. Stay up to date with the latest trends and strategies in real estate investing. Subscribe now at https://www.youtube.com/@sendmoreoffers   4. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK: Stay connected and motivated by following us Socially! Get daily doses of inspiration, success stories, and valuable insights by following @sendmoreoffers. Join our community and be part of the conversation!   Remember, success in real estate investing starts with taking action. Visit our website, join our Facebook group, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Instagram today. Let's achieve your real estate goals together!

From the streets of Los Angeles to the thriving communities of Charlotte, North Carolina, Devin Robinson's journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. As a serial entrepreneur with a diverse portfolio of 16 ventures since 2013, his career spans across a global photography company with projects in 30 countries to spearheading a dynamic real estate investing company and fund in the Southeast United States. Now settled in Charlotte with his wife and their three adopted children, his life is dedicated to more than just business success. His family's journey through fostering and adoption has ignited a strong desire in him to address the affordable housing and foster care crises in the United States. Devin's Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) is transformative: to impact the lives of 10,000 families by providing 1,000 units of affordable housing across 10 states and wield enough influence to drive significant change in the foster care system and affordable housing programs.In this episode, Devin will do a complete breakdown of The Installment Method. He explains why it is one of the most secure ways to acquire real estate using creative finance and also how it can help overcome regulations being brought down on wholesaling real estate.Learn more about The Installment Method at https://www.installmentmethod.com/a/2147575710/fx6hfFZ7With over 1,200 Videos, this is the #1 channel on YouTube for all things Virtual Wholesaling. SUBSCRIBE NOW!   https://www.youtube.com/@RJBatesIII_________________________________FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU:Get my comprehensive list of Systems we use at Titanium Investments for FREE: https://www.kingclosersformula.com/fleetIf you want to learn how to close deals just like me, The King Closer, then download the free King Closer Formula PDF: https://www.kingclosersformula.com/closeJoin our exclusive FB group community for real estate investors and wholesalers ($0 to join) : https://www.facebook.com/groups/titaniumvault/_________________________________Learn more about the systems I use to virtually wholesale nationwide using the links below!Propstream Free 7 Day Trial (Nationwide Data & Comping Tool): http://trial.propstreampro.com/titanium/Get 66% off LeadZolo Motivated Seller Leads using our exclusive link: https://www.leadzolo.com/titaniumSpeed to Lead PPC Marketplace:  https://app.ispeedtolead.com/TITANIUMGet 1000 FREE Buyer/ Seller Leads with a Batch Leads Trial: https://batchleads.io/titaniumClose 30% More Deals Using our preferred TC ezREIclosings: https://www.titaniumtc.com Support the show

When the siren blares and danger looms, it's our first responders who charge into the fray. But what about the personal battles they face once the uniforms come off? This episode features a riveting conversation with two authorities on first responder wellness: Annette Zapp and Kelly Kennedy. Annette, a retired lieutenant with a fire service career that spans two decades, now champions the cause of firefighter health through her wellness coaching enterprise. Kelly brings her expertise from training over 3,500 police recruits, offering a deep dive into the unique challenges of maintaining law enforcement fitness.Annette Zapp MS CISSN is a recent retiree from a 20-year fire service career. She held the rank of Lieutenant and owns Fire Rescue Wellness, a coaching business dedicated to elevating the mental and physical wellness of firefighters worldwide. In 2020, Zapp served on an Illinois Senate task force focused on mitigating first responder suicide. She is a recognized industry leader in the firefighter health and wellness field, co-authoring the ISSN Position Stand on Tactical Athlete Fueling, and a proud member of the newly formed Associated Firefighters of Illinois Resiliency Committee. AZ also hosts the FRW podcast. Zapp earned a master's in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. She is a National Strength and Conditioning Association CSCS *D and TSAC-F *D and certified by the International Society of Sports Nutrition and the Society for Sport Neuroscience. She is a former adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver in the graduate program for Sport Coaching and a frequent conference speaker.Kelly Kennedy, PhD is one of the nation's leading experts in fitness training for police. While working forthe largest Police Department in the Southeast United States, she has physically trained and tested thousands of police recruits and officers since 1999. During this time she has lectured on physical fitness to classes for Police, Corrections and specialized units such as the Special Response Team, Rapid Deployment Force (RDF), and Defensive Tactics Instructor. She earned her PhD from Lynn University.About the ShowWe cover all things related to sports science, nutrition, and performance

Today, we are going to introduce you to strategies to finance real estate creatively with our next expert guest Bill Ham. Bill is the Chief Operating Officer of Broadwell Property Group, a Multifamily Investment Firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. He has many years of experience in owning, managing, and operating large and small Apartments throughout the Southeast United States. In addition, he is one of the most sought-after speakers, coaches, and mentors in the Multifamily Industry. He has been featured on some of the top Real Estate Podcasts in the country, and is a frequent speaker at global private mastermind retreats. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aysha-turgut/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aysha-turgut/support

On this episode of the Kentucky Afield Podcast we're joined by one of the leading experts on flora and fauna in the Southeast United States, KDFWR's John MacGregor. John has lived a lifetime catching and studying critters both for fun and as a professional. Although he's never listened to a podcast before he was nice enough to join us on ours, and we're essentially just seeing where the conversation takes us. Thanks for listening, and feel free to email John any and all pictures of unusual creatures that you might find... Just don't be surprised if he asked for a GPS coordinate for his records.

BlueCollar.CEO –Fallon Dyle is a Research and Development Chemist at Highside Chemicals, a chemical product manufacturer for HVAC purposes. Fallon is responsible for creating chemical solutions that combat common problems found in the field. Currently, she is developing a product to target and eliminate drain buildup caused by aluminum coils.In this episode, Ryan and Fallon discuss why there has been an increase in drainage system clogs and how she plans to rectify the issue.Blue Collar CEO is a podcast that is all about helping you build a better, more profitable, more sustainable & kick-ass home service business. Join Levergy® CEO Ryan Redding each week who will be joined by industry experts who will break down their success stories and give their best-kept secrets for industry domination. You do not want to miss it! Learn more at https://www.bluecollar.ceo/, or https://www.levergy.io.

In this episode, Brandon Cobb shares his remarkable journey from being a medical device sales rep to becoming a successful real estate mogul. He discusses his passion for creating affordable housing and the valuable lessons he's learned along the way.   You'll hear about Brandon's innovative approach to building a legacy, managing stress, setting visionary goals, and navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship. Tune in as Brandon shares his insights and offers practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs in this engaging and inspiring episode.   About Brandon Cobb Brandon was a former medical device sales rep before becoming a fund manager & licensed GC in TN managing 35 Million+ of new development annually in entry level first time home buyer housing and build to rent communities. He was featured on the cover of REI Wealth magazine, Realty 411 Magazine, and has been quoted and published in Forbes magazine. Brandon is the owner and partner of HBG Capital, a vertically integrated real estate firm providing investors with superior risk adjusted returns and downside principal protection backed by real assets in the residential single family construction sector in Nashville, TN & Commercial Multifamily Acquisitions in Southeast United States. HBG Capital's construction arm - HBG Construction, executes ground up new developments, land development, and residential property rehabilitation in Nashville, TN. HBG Capital's acquisition arm HBG Holdings sources off market land for redevelopment by working with the local communities to identify, rezone, and entitle land to bring the community's vision to life.    Connect with Brandon Cobb Website: http://HBGCapital.net  LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hbgcapital    About Aleya Harris Aleya Harris is the spark for your spark™. A trailblazer in purpose-driven story crafting, she is a former marketing executive and ex-Google Vendor Partner who brings her dynamic experience to her role as the CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc. Aleya is a StoryBrand Certified Guide, international award-winning speaker, and the host of the award-winning Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast. Her unique approach as a Strategic Storytelling Consultant has revolutionized the way businesses communicate, transforming workplace cultures and market positioning. With her dynamic energy and proven methodologies, she guides clients to unlock their potential, articulate their radically authentic stories, and achieve unparalleled success.   Sign Up for a Free Workshop Each month, Aleya hosts a free 90-minute, hands-on workshop to help you use the power of radically authentic strategic storytelling to improve your personal growth, career, and company. Register at https://www.aleyaharris.com/workshop    Book Aleya to Speak To book Aleya to edutain your audience at your next event as a keynote speaker, please visit www.aleyaharris.com/speaking to check out her speaking topics, reels, and why.  Click "Schedule a Call" to secure the speaker with "that something new" you've been looking for.   If you are a Corporate Event Planner, Employee Experience Professional, Head of Marketing, Learning & Development Professional, Executive Assistant, Speakers Bureau Destination Management Company, or Destination Management Organization who is looking for a top-quality, energetic speaker, you should definitely hop on a call with Aleya.   Connect with Aleya Harris Speaking & Media: https://www.aleyaharris.com  The Evolution Collective Inc.: https://www.evolutioncollective.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleyaharris/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleyaharris/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thealeyaharris   

Founded in 1975, Melting Pot has offered a unique fondue dining experience for more than 45 years. As the premier fondue restaurant franchise, Melting Pot has 94 restaurants in 31 U.S. states and Canada. Known for offering a variety of fondue cooking styles and unique entrées, Melting Pot's menu also features cheese fondues, salads, fine wines, spirits and chocolate fondue desserts. Melting Pot is an affiliate of Front Burner Brands, a restaurant management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida.  Today's guest is Franchise Growth Strategist, Collin Benyo. He assists potential franchisees in their journey to ownership. Having worked for Melting Pot for almost 15 years, he knows the ins and outs of the day-to-day process and strives to convey the success and wins he obtained to a new chapter of entrepreneurs and business leaders.   Key Takeaways: [2:10] - Collin shares the story of Melting Pot's beginning. [3:32] - Starting out as a dishwasher for Melting Pot is the current CEO of the company. [4:45] - At the height, Melting Pot had roughly 130 locations. But their growth retracted a bit for a time. [6:39] - Currently, Melting Pot has 4 corporate locations. [8:30] - Josh shares his impression of Melting Pot from many years ago. [10:27] - Melting Pot's previous reputation was as a fancy dining experience that customers only went to once or twice a year. Their look and feel is different now. [13:50] - Collin completed his Master's degree internship at Melting Pot and loved the experience. [16:09] - What sets Melting Pot apart from other hospitality franchises? [18:59] - The focus for growth is primarily in the Southeast United States, but franchisees can come from anywhere and usually come as a Melting Pot fan. [21:54] - The selling point for franchisees is Discovery Day. [23:09] - An goal for Melting Pot is to partner with hotels and be present as hotel restaurants.   Mentioned in This Episode: Melting Pot Website Melting Pot Franchise Site

Kim “Kid” Curry is the author of Come Get Me Mother, I'm Through!; The Death of Fairness; and Bonnie's Law: The Return to Fairness. A renowned radio broadcaster for 33 years, Kim worked in some of America's finest cities including: Pueblo, Knoxville, San Antonio, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Miami. He was a DJ in different time slots and the Program Director of two of America's legendary stations: KTSA-AM San Antonio and Power 96, Miami. As a DJ, creative freedom and owner trust led to huge ratings for Kim, where he consistently scored the highest market rating in his time slot. As Program Director, Kim led Power 96 to the highest ratings in the station's history and achieved the most significant cumulative audience in the Southeast United States. In 2005, Kim was forced into retirement after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Sixteen years later, modern science offered hope and a path to recovery. In his debut memoir, Come Get Me Mother, I'm Through! Kim details his celebrated radio career and devastating diagnosis.

Bradley Flowers is the founder of Portal Insurance based in Mobile, Alabama, a scratch-independent agency he founded and is building on the back of social media, personal branding, content, and technology. In 2019, Portal Insurance was named the "Agency for the Future'' by Safeco Insurance for the Southeast United States. Bradley is an acclaimed speaker in the insurance and real estate sector and is the co-host of the “Insurance Guys Podcast,” the most downloaded podcast in the insurance industry, which is featured on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, and iHeart Radio. If you like our podcast, please don't forget to subscribe and support us on your favorite podcast players. We also would appreciate your feedback and rating to reach more people.We recently launched our new newsletter, Principles Friday, where I share one principle that can help you in your life or business, one thought-provoking question, and one call to action toward that principle. Please subscribe Here.It is Free and Short (2min).

Each year, forestry associations across the Southeast United States gather in Alabama to share what each is doing to spread the word about the benefits of managed forests and support the forestry industry. The people who work in communications for the associations often work on a joint project and this year decided to talk about what the associations do and forestry issues in each respective state. This conversation includes Susan Stutts of the Texas Forestry Association, Lee Ann Fisch of the Florida Forestry Association, Seth Stephenson of the Arkansas Forestry Association and yours truly (Jeff Zeringue) of the Louisiana Forestry Association. There is a lot of overlap of what forestry associations do, as one would imagine, but there are some interesting differences and approaches. For anyone who listens to Minding the Forest, of Louisiana, and Voices of Forestry, of Arkansas, might get some overlap, but the message is consistent: Managed forests are better for the environment, wildlife and water; and we have a great story to tell. The LFA would like to thank the three participants in this project, as well as the Alabama Forestry Association for being such great hosts!Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to jzeringue@laforestry.com.If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, go to forests.org.Check out our website at laforestry.com.Click this link to join the LFA.

Exiting News the 30 in 5 Waitlist is Officially OPEN: SAVE MY SEATWhat's in this episode:- Transitioning from captive to independent- Moving from referrals to outbound calling- Importance of spousal support- Navigating obstacles and difficulties- Industry trendsAbout Bradley:Bradley Flowers is the founder of Portal Insurance, based in Mobile, Alabama, a scratch independent agency he founded and is building on the back of social media, personal branding, content, and technology. In 2019, Portal Insurance was named the "Agency for the Future'' by Safeco Insurance for the Southeast United States.Bradley is an acclaimed speaker in the insurance and real estate sector and is the co-host of the “Insurance Guys Podcast,” the most downloaded podcast in the insurance industry which is featured on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, and iHeart Radio.Contact Bradley:LinkedIn: Bradley FlowersYouTube: @Bradleyflowers Instagram: @bradleyflowers__Podcast: The Insurance GuysCatch the full video of this conversation: https://youtu.be/MmKOk6E0H0AZero to 6 Figure Producer Course: Click Here1:1 Coaching: More InfoMastermind:  More InfoJoin Weaver Sales Academy: Click Here6 Figure Life Producer Course: Click HereBook a call with Michael: Schedule NowText BUZZ to (816) 727-7610 to connect directly with us and share your favorites from the episode or learn more about upcoming events and challenges happening in our industryJoin Weaver Sales Academy: https://www.weaversa.com/Follow Michael & Courtney on social media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mandcweaverInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandcweaver/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mandcweaverMichael LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-weaver-a2940095

For the past decade, Santa Warren Keyes, Stafford Braxton, and the rest of the folks with santasjustlikeme.com have travelled the Southeast United States, igniting and sharing in the excitement and anticipation of the magic of Christmas to little kids and big kids alike, especially those of color. Their experience has been captured in the award winning documentary American Santa. In this season of acceptance and love, join us for this Christmas message of truth and beauty. Support the showHave comments or questions for us? Interested in sharing your story on Aging Well? Please send your information and questions to Hugh via email at willowwaycreations@gmail.com or through any of our social media links on our website, findingbeautyinthegray.com. We'd love to hear from you and appreciate your feedback. Leaving feedback on your podcast host site (Apple, Spotify, etc.) is the single most important and effective way for us to stay viable and to continue to bring you great stories and helpful resources. And if you are enjoying the show and getting value from our topics and guests, we would most welcome your financial support. Producing a quality resource does require appreciable financial investment. Thank you!

From Medical Device Sales To Over $22 Million In Real Estate Development With Brandon Cobb: Discovering Multifamily Podcast 245Brandon Cobb joins us as the owner and partner of HBG Capital, a vertically integrated real estate firm providing investors with superior risk adjusted returns and downside principal protection backed by real assets in the residential single family construction sector in Nashville, TN & Commercial Multifamily Acquisitions in Southeast United States. HBG Capital's construction arm - HBG Construction, executes ground up new developments, land development, and residential property rehabilitation in Nashville, TN. HBG Capital's acquisition arm HBG Holdings sources off market land for redevelopment by working with the local communities to identify, rezone, and entitle land to bring the community's vision to life.YouTube: https://youtu.be/n4QuDs_TCMEWebsite: www.redknightproperties.com/media   iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/discovering-multifamily/id1506820688   #financialfreedom #passiveinvesting #activeinvesting #investsmart #investwisely #buildingwealth #multifamily #podcast #Red Knight Properties #Anthony Scandariato #Brian Leonard #investing in real estate

Anthony Dilweg, veteran real estate investor and Founder & CEO and of Dilweg, joins Forward Guidance to share shocking information from the world of commercial real estate (CRE) in general and office in particular. Dilweg, whose firm owns over 5.5 million square feet of real estate, mostly located in the Southeast United States, argues the challenges CRE will contend with may be greater than those faced during the 2008 Great Financial Crisis (GFC). Dilweg's base case is that office as an asset class is structurally broken as the trends of remote and hybrid work are here to stay. He expects over a billion square footage of U.S. office space will be rendered obsolete in the coming years. With all these challenges notwithstanding, Dilweg is optimistic that there will be great investment opportunities for well capitalized players who can take advantage of market distress. Filmed on November 29, 2023. __ MetaMask Portfolio is your one-stop shop for all things web3. Instead of connecting to multiple exchanges, dapps, and tools, you just need to connect to one simple dapp to track and manage all your assets across different networks and accounts. MetaMask Portfolio provides a secure and convenient way to perform common tasks such as Buy, Sell, Swap, Bridge, and Stake. Try MetaMask Portfolio: https://metamask.io/portfolio/?utm_source=blockworks&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campai[…]_Podcast_ForwardGuidance&utm_content=pDapp_podcast_FG_shownotes __ About Dilweg: https://www.dilweg.com/ Follow Jack Farley on Twitter https://twitter.com/JackFarley96 Follow Forward Guidance on Twitter https://twitter.com/ForwardGuidance Follow Blockworks on Twitter https://twitter.com/Blockworks_ __ Disclaimer: Nothing discussed on Forward Guidance should be considered as investment advice. Please always do your own research & speak to a financial advisor before thinking about, thinking about putting your money into these crazy markets.  Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (00:19) Dilweg's Background in Football and Real Estate (04:10) Dilweg's Start In Real Estate: "Ready, Fire, Aim" (09:00) Office Is The Most Capital-Intensive Sector Of Real Estate (12:15) Interest Rate Surge Has Been A "Jolt To The System" (20:30) Office Is Structurally Broken Right Now (34:10) It's A Lot Worse Than The Headlines (43:10) Lease Term: Comparison To "Duration" In Bond World (44:10) Interest Rate Hedging In The Real Estate Business (Public REITs and Private Investors) (45:00) Are Office Rents Going Down? (50:35) Dilweg's Forward Outlook On Returns (53:10) A Lot Of Properties Will Go Back To Banks (01:09:00) Dilweg's Outlook on Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Other Than Offices (01:14:50) The Rise Of Experiential Hospitality (01:17:50) WeWork & Adam Neumann (01:23:00) Dilweg's View on Office Markets In Big U.S. Metropolitan Cities (01:29:10) The Work-From-Home Debate (01:46:00) The Rise of Private Credit

In this episode of "Raise Private Money Legally," join special guest Mario Dattilo and host Attorney Kim Lisa Taylor as they discuss "Mobile Home Park Investing: The Affordable Housing Alternative to Multi-Family." Mario has built a portfolio of manufactured-housing communities in the Southeast United States, primarily in Florida. He will share his knowledge of the state of mobile home park investing; why it's a great alternative to multi-family, and how you can learn more so you can add this asset class to your own toolbox.Episode at a glance: Do mobile parks include RV parks?Characteristics to look for in a mobile home parkHow Mario self-manages his mobile home parksHow Mario found investors for his early deals

We're excited to bring you another special News Guest episode this month featuring former New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet and The Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith, who spoke at last year's Independent News Sustainability Summit about the future of local watchdog journalism — and how national newsrooms like the Times can support it. P.S. Our next in-person event is only a few months away! The Southeast News Sustainability Meetup in Durham, North Carolina this October will bring together publishers from across the Southeast United States, and it will also host the 2023 LION Local Journalism Awards Ceremony. 

We're excited to bring you a special News Guest episode this month featuring Charlottesville Tomorrow CEO and editor-in-chief Angilee Shah and The Markup editor-in-chief Sisi Wei, who spoke at last year's Independent News Sustainability Summit about how to reimagine newsroom culture and build more sustainable workplaces. P.S. Our next in-person event is only a few months away! The Southeast News Sustainability Meetup in Durham, North Carolina this October will bring together publishers from across the Southeast United States, and it will also host the 2023 LION Local Journalism Awards Ceremony. 

[00:00:00] Paul Maurer: I've had mentors for probably close to 45 years now, and early on it was people who reached out to me. And then as I got older and hopefully a little bit wiser, I began to reach out to others to ask them to mentor me. People who I thought were wiser, more experienced, had something to contribute, could sharpen an area where I wasn't particularly sharp. And so the collection of mentors over the course of my lifetime is not small and in the aggregate has played a very powerful role in my life. +++++++++++++++++++++++ [00:00:37] Tommy Thomas: Today, we'll begin a two-part series with Paul Mauer, the president of Montreat College. When Paul was selected to be the president of Montreat, the college wasn't very far from closing its doors. What's happened at Montreat over the past nine years is nothing short of miraculous. Today Paul will share a bit of his leadership journey and the early days of his presidency at Montreat.  Before we dive too deep into your professional career, let's go back to your childhood a little bit. What two or three experiences do you think happened back then that shaped you into the man you are today?  [00:01:16] Paul Maurer: I think being raised in a stable home with a mother and father who stayed together and taught me the value of work and they modeled consistency. They modeled resiliency, they modeled work ethic. In addition to the DNA that I got from my parents, I was deeply shaped by watching a low drama, stable home environment.  [00:01:45] Tommy Thomas: So, what was high school like?  [00:01:48] Paul Maurer: Honestly, pretty unremarkable except for the fact that I came to faith during high school as a sophomore through the Ministry of Young Life, and that changed everything. I began to understand friendship. I began to understand love. I began to understand family in a whole new way. I began to understand the power, the body of Christ. I began to understand fellowship. I began to understand purpose and meaning in life. I'd grown up in a stable moral home, but not a home of faith. And so as I got plugged into the church and youth group as a 15 year old sophomore in high school, I felt like I began to see things that I simply could not see before that.  [00:02:38] Tommy Thomas:   When you got to college how did you decide on your major? [00:02:42] Paul Maurer: Anything without math.  So, I chose psychology and communications as my two majors, and early in college, I began to sense a call to ministry and I was at the University of Cincinnati, so I wasn't at a faith-based college. I chose majors that would help me understand people better and to communicate better. And those were things that were interesting to me.  [00:03:13] Tommy Thomas: What's something that most people are always surprised to learn about you?  [00:03:19] Paul Maurer: I am a first gen. My parents were immigrants. I don't know whether they're surprised by that, but it's an important part of my past and informs a lot of how I think about the college presidency today and how I think about our students. I had the benefit of immigrant parents and the challenge of immigrant parents, and both were real, and both were formative and powerful in my life.  [00:03:45] Tommy Thomas: So go back to maybe to your first management job when you actually had some people reporting to you. What do you remember? [00:03:53] Paul Maurer: I don't know if it was my first management job, but I learned early in management that there's a reason people don't want to manage people. It takes a lot of time. It's hard to build culture. There's a lot of self-interest. There's a natural silo mentality to individuals who work for you, and in the worst-case scenario, there are lawsuits to deal with. And so as I've observed human behavior and leadership I've observed a lot of people who simply don't want to manage people. And so I think if you're in a role of leadership, you've got to decide pretty early on or certainly somewhere early along the way, whether or not you're willing to manage people and take the challenges that come with the benefits of management and leadership. [00:04:47] Tommy Thomas: It seems like in our culture that that's a natural career track that maybe people expect you to go to work and become a manager. And there doesn't seem to be a key contributor role necessarily at the forefront. Do you have any observations on that? [00:05:03] Paul Maurer: I think as a young person the expectations I think ought to be toward how do I contribute, how do I learn, how do I get mentored? How do I show that I'm worthy of more responsibility? And, as a young person, I demonstrated trust in those areas. They may be given leadership but not everyone, of course, is a natural leader and some people don't want to lead, and others learn the leadership skills along the way.  And so I think it's a very organic process, particularly for someone in their twenties and thirties.  [00:05:50] Tommy Thomas: Successful people are asked all the time, what makes you successful? And I'm sure you've been asked that question. I'd like to frame it a little bit differently. What's a factor that's helped you succeed that most people on the outside probably wouldn't realize or recognize? [00:06:06] Paul Maurer: For me I think the most important part of that was mentors who believed in me. Again, I was a first gen. I didn't have a lot of confidence in my academic ability. I didn't have a lot of confidence in who I am. And I was a young Christian by the time I'd gotten to college. The power of affirmation was very great in my life. A couple of mentors who said who I regarded and respected, people who spoke into my life, and then they spoke affirmation into my life. And I'll never forget how incredibly powerful that was in helping me gain confidence in who God might be making me into, and the roles that God might be leading me into. And I'm mindful of that in my role in leadership, that the power of affirmation spoken in the right context, in the right hearing can be extraordinarily powerful, disproportionately powerful, to how a young person develops and believes in themself and believes what God has in store for them. [00:07:19] Tommy Thomas: Did these mentors just show up or do you think they were intentional in terms of seeing you and taking you on as a mentee?  [00:07:29] Paul Maurer: It was a combination. I've had mentors all my life, so I've had mentors for probably close to 45 years now, and early on it was people who reached out to me. And then as I got older and hopefully a little bit wiser, I began to reach out to others to ask them to mentor me. People who I thought were wiser, more experienced, had something to contribute, could sharpen an area where I wasn't particularly sharp. And so the collection of mentors over the course of my lifetime is not small and in the aggregate has played a very powerful role in my life. [00:08:11] Tommy Thomas: Do you think college students today are open to mentors? Do they seek that out or are they on a different wavelength?  [00:08:18] Paul Maurer: I wouldn't generalize that. I think some are and some aren't, and I think that was probably the way it was when I was a college student. Some aren't. If you're hungry, if you want to grow, if you want to learn, if you have a vision for the future, if you have some requisite version of humility that you don't have all the answers, don't know everything, then I think people are very open to mentoring. I've got a student who works in my office 10 hours per week every semester here, so-called the Wilson Scholars Program here at the college. And my Wilson Scholar this year was a sophomore student from Ukraine. And she was hungry. She's really eager to learn and she has tremendous promise. But not everyone is like that, not everyone has those qualities. So I would be very hesitant to generalize about a generation and say it just depends. +++++++++++++++++++++   [00:09:12] Tommy Thomas: Okay. I've never asked this next question to anybody because I don't think I've interviewed anybody that studied the American presidency in graduate school and I just think that's fascinating. And I'm just wondering if you might just reflect back on that for a few minutes and talk about are there any generalizations you learned about the American presidency and leadership and influence? [00:09:35] Paul Maurer: Yeah, I love talking about that topic and I was drawn to the American presidency because I'm very interested in leadership and I'm very interested in faith and scripture, and I'm very interested in American politics, and the intersection of all those things led me to the American presidency and to do research on the role of moral and religious rhetoric during the course of the American presidency. And so I created a lexicon of distinctly religious rhetoric for the American presidency that stretched from Washington through Clinton. I was in grad school at the time, shortly after Clinton, so that's where the research took me. And I discovered that there was a tremendous amount of increased use of distinctly religious rhetoric, beginning with Jimmy Carter in the White House and the modern era, starting with Carter and extending to Reagan. And then Clinton as well, had very high levels of religious and moral rhetoric as part of how these presidents spoke. And that before that they weren't exceptionally low in particular, but they spiked during the, particularly the Carter and Reagan years. And so the focus of my research was a comparative analysis between Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, a Democrat or Republican back-to-back presidents and how they used religious and moral rhetoric in their presidency in particular, did they tie it to any public policy initiatives that were important to them as US President? [00:11:14] Tommy Thomas:  Was it Reagan? No, I guess it was the Bush White House that did the faith-based initiative. Did any of your research have a tie to that initiative? [00:11:25] Paul Maurer: So for Jimmy Carter, he tied his faith rootedness, his understanding of scripture - his belief in a transcendent God. He tied that to human rights. What was interesting to me as I studied his rhetoric and record and policy on human rights is that the definition of human rights really expanded pretty dramatically in Carter's thinking and rhetoric. And I think it extended beyond his biblical understanding of faith. He might argue differently. But I thought it went beyond that. And for Reagan this question of liberty was directly tied to his belief in God and the Bible, and tied directly to his disdain, even hatred of communism. He thought that communism was a suppression of God-given liberty, and we needed to exercise our right to that God-given liberty and anyone who sought to oppress it he had very low esteem for, and of course, before he became a politician, he was an actor in Hollywood.  It was a time in Hollywood where there was infiltration in Hollywood of certain communist elements. Tax rates were for him as an actor and the 90% range. And so there was a disincentive for him to work beyond a certain level of income. And so he grew both personally, professionally, but also politically to a point where he really sought to unhinge communism if he could possibly do and of course, as the forces of history were what they were, we saw the Berlin Wall come down. It wasn't simply Ronald Reagan. There were obviously economic factors in the Soviet Union. It was the economic pressures at the time. There were things being done behind the scenes from the papacy in Rome, but ultimately his focus on liberty resulted in part in the Berlin Wall coming down. So that was Reagan's primary connection to his faith as a public policy endeavor.  [00:13:50] Tommy Thomas: Man, I bet that was some fascinating research in writing.  [00:13:53] Paul Maurer: It kept me interested, which is what you want in a dissertation. You don't want to wake up going, gosh, I hate my dissertation today. ++++++++++++++++++++   [00:13:59] Tommy Thomas: Absolutely. Let's go to Montreat for a little bit. Depending on who one talks with, many would say it was nothing short of a miracle - what's happened in Montreat over the past few years. Can you take us into that?  [00:14:13] Paul Maurer:  Montreat today is 107 years old. Our campus is physically a small campus set against a mountain cove in Montreat, North Carolina, just outside of Asheville and the western mountains of the state. The campus was built for 500 students, but economics, the course of higher education in the last 20 or 30 years make that very difficult to survive. And so over many decades, really, as I'm told, Montreat had a number of near-death experiences where, of course, Montreat is where Billy and Ruth Graham lived for most of their lives after they got married.  They actually got married in what today is our college chapel. We have a church that meets there, and they attended there when they were in town. But the college was too small and enrollment had declined. And in 2013, the college went into merger conversations with the school in Georgia. A year later, that merger conversation collapsed, and the college really had two options. As we see it, one is to close and the other is for God to show up in a big way. And there's a longer version of the story. But the quick version is that there was a donor who had visited the area a year and a half earlier and attended the church of one of our adjunct faculty members. And they began, after they went back to their home state after a seven-month sabbatical here, they began sending gifts to the church. The pastor didn't know these people well and wondered what was going on, but they were sending 50 and a hundred thousand dollar checks out of the blue without request. And a year and a half later, that faculty member, Jerry, is his name, reached out to the couple and said, we don't have a lot of needs at the church, but the college is in dire straits. Might you consider something big for the last fully Christ-centered four-year college in the state of North Carolina, in over six weeks of email only. Never a call, never visit. They never talked to a trustee. They made a 6 million pledge to the college. And so the trustees interpreted that as a miracle, I think rightly they started a search and I started a few months later and we got busy fast. There's a Gospel Coalition article that was written in 2019 by Sarah Altra entitled The Montreat Miracle. And if anyone wants to read that, just Google Montreat Miracle Gospel Coalition and the article will pop up. It's a remarkable story and we do think that God has a future and a purpose for this college, and he made it clearer when he prompted that couple to make that 6 million pledge. [00:17:03] Tommy Thomas: So what did your first hundred days look like?  [00:17:07] Paul Maurer: It's all a blur, Tommy. We knew the clock was ticking even with a 6 million pledge, because at $300,000 per month hitting our back account, you're getting to $6 million in about two and a half years. We knew that wasn't enough, but we knew it was something very significant and we considered it what we called gas money. So we're fixing the plane while it's flying. And that was gas money to keep the plane in the air while we fixed it. And when a college has been in merger discussions for a year, there are a lot of things that aren't going well and that get reconfigured, org charts get squirrely, people leave. When I walked in the door in July 2014, I had five open cabinet positions and my VP of student life had started on July 1st. He was a green newbie to the role. And so, I had to find a cabinet. I had some interims in place, but I didn't have permanent people in place. I'd hire a cabinet to a college that had just gone through a near death experience. And we knew we had to grow enrollment. We knew we had to have a stable enrollment in fall of 2014. And by God's grace there were, a hundred fifty, a hundred forty-six new students, which is right at the five year average. But you can tell from 150 new students if you know anything about college enrollment, that is just way too small for sustainability. So we knew that we had to make a promise to the marketplace, but the most important thing that we did was to clarify our Christ-centered identity. We knew that if we were going to be a Christian college, we had to actually make that known and make sure that the core documents of the college, the mission statement, the statement of faith, the vision statement, the community life covenant, reflected a biblical worldview. The board agreed with that, and we got busy with that and we made some adjustments to the statement of faith. We put infallibility back into the statement of faith in a community life covenant that we added. We affirm that marriage is between one man and one woman as a biblical standard society. But God's design for marriage is exclusively one man and one woman. And that life begins at conception. And these are biblical principles that we believe are taught clearly in scripture. And we made those documents a condition of employment for the first time in the college's history and we took a lot of heat for that. It got really hot and we took a lot of criticism, and then 30 days later, the criticism kind of dried up, honestly. And the people who were supporting the fact that we took a courageous stand began to come out of the woodwork. They were there on the first 30 days as well, but they were left alone standing after 30 or 45 days. And so we've hired a mission. We have unity on campus, and the families of our region who care about that kind of education, who care about the moral compass for their sons and daughters, caught their attention. So all that bad publicity was actually great publicity for the college.   [00:20:43] Tommy Thomas: So on your team you mentioned you had one rookie. Did you have a kind of a mixed bag of seasoned veterans and upstarts, or did you have to groom everything from the get-go? [00:20:56] Paul Maurer: It was a bunch of interims and so I had to hire five cabinet members for my first year, and a friend of mine suggested that we were a version of Ernest Shackleton's or Antarctic Exploration. And if you know anything about those years, Shackleton had an ad that he placed in the London Times in 1912 and the ad read as follows, men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return, doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success. And I gulped a few times, and then I went, that's actually who we are. We're the Christian college version of that. And I began to overtly recruit with that ad to the cabinet members who I was interviewing as finalists. And my simple question was, I asked them, I pulled up my phone, read this aloud, and then I would ask the question, does this ad excite you? Hint, hint. The only right answer is something like, oh yes, very much. And that's the team that I hired to come here. In 2014 and 2015 they came from all over the country. My CFO had a Harvard MBA. My Chief Academic Officer had his PhD from Cornell. And these were really high achieving, high academic, highly experienced people. But they came because they believed in this mission. They wanted to give their lives to something bigger. And I think they loved the challenge and to some degree they were willing to take the risk. Becuase I told them the only thing I can guarantee you is that you'll work harder than you've ever worked and you'll work faster than you've ever worked. And beyond that, I don't know if we're going to be open six or 12 months from now. And they came.  [00:22:49] Tommy Thomas: So fast forward we're recording this in May. You've got the fall quarter coming in August. What do things look like for the next term?  [00:22:58] Paul Maurer: So enrollment has grown here by over 70% in the last eight years, our traditional undergrad. And we're anticipating a new record enrollment for the fall of 23. We've added a number of new programs in our hundred percent online division. Most of those are master's programs. We now have 10 master's programs. Seven of them are in the last two years, and our online enrollment is beginning to grow because of those master's programs. And then our signature program has become cybersecurity and we've added a organization underneath Montreat College to help harden the cybersecurity defenses for the state, but also to generate a new revenue stream for the college because in the end, we've got to build a new business model, a new revenue economic model for the college, which is not aimed at survival, but is aimed at thriving. We have no interest in survival. We have interest in leadership and thriving, and so we're trying to build something that's very robust in both educational and economic terms.  ++++++++++++++++++++++= [00:24:10] Tommy Thomas: Let's say that you had another one of these mega donors or foundations that came up to you and said they had a pretty large amount of money that they would give to you for your next big venture. Do you have a guess of what that might be or that might be classified?  [00:24:28] Paul Maurer: I wouldn't say it's classified, I've got two or 300 million worth of those ventures because our vision is to become the school of choice for thoughtful evangelicals for the Southeast United States, the Premier Christ Center University for the Southeast United States. Combining academic rigor with biblical orthodoxy. We have a whole campus to build, to sustain the growth or to accommodate the growth that we envision. We'd like our traditional undergrad to be between 1,200. We're a little under 700 today, and our facilities are maxed out. We've been out of beds for five years. We've been renting beds from camps and conference centers for five years now, six years. We've got residence halls to build. We've got academic buildings to build. We've got athletic facilities to build. We've got the property. We just need the capital to build the campus. I need to build the endowment. We know that. We have to be able to fund scholarships beyond our discount rate, operational scholarships and we want to start things in surrounding cities around us. I'm looking to really become the college to be known and trusted as is the premier Christ Center University. Like in the city of Charlotte, which is two hours from us. It's far enough for the students, not too far for the parents and because we're the last Christ-centered four year college in the state of North Carolina, that's a footprint that we need to grow. So I literally have, Tommy, probably two, three, four hundred million worth of projects and we're ready to go with a good bit of that. We just need the cash to do that. [00:26:24] Tommy Thomas: I want to bring this part to a close before I switch over to board service. What's the main thing you wish somebody had told you earlier in your career?  [00:26:34] Paul Maurer: Not to think more highly of myself than I ought, pride is a way of creeping in with leaders. It certainly did with me and my first presidency. This is my second presidency and my first presidency, honestly there was a part of me that thought they're lucky to have me. And I know that humility was not at the top of my value proposition. I don't think I was overbearing or narcissistic or anything but if you don't have humility as the top of your value proposition as a leader, and you allow yourself to drink some of the Kool-Aid that's going to have a bad effect. And honestly, probably someone probably did tell me that ahead of time, I'm not sure I had the ears to hear it or that I heard it, but I wish I'd have embraced that lesson earlier in my career than I did.  [00:27:39] Tommy Thomas:  If you were speaking next week to a group of incoming presidents from small liberal arts colleges around the United States, what would be the theme of your address? [00:27:51] Paul Maurer: I started my first presidency 13 or 14 years ago, and I remember going to the president's conferences and coming back after two or three of those, and I said to my cabinet, here's my takeaway, change or die. And then I was out of the presidency for a couple years. I began to go back to those meetings again. When I came to Montreat nine years ago, and I came back to my cabinet, I said, they've inserted the words fast change, faster, die. We've taken on the mindset of a startup. So we consider ourselves a 107 year old startup. We're not a turnaround. We're not maintainers, we're not traditionalists. We try to employ the principles of a startup, meaning we're creating something new. And so I think in the next five to 10 years, we're going to see a pretty dramatic change in the number of colleges and universities in the United States. The enrollment cliff is real. The declining birth rates are real. And it's going to have a really major impact on the number of schools that close. The most vulnerable schools are the state universities that are losing enrollment and not filling space. So I think in those cases, the state systems will do mergers. Privates aren't prone to mergers. And so I think we're going to see more closures of small privates unless the presidents of those institutions are creative and agile and willing to take risks and invest heavily in things that work and starve things that aren't, and end tenure and act more like a startup. Fail fast, make decisions with deliberation and speed. And I think to the degree that we're going to see success among the privates in particular, I think the presidents will embody some combination of those qualities.  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Join us again next week as we continue this conversation with Paul Maurer. That episode will take a deep dive into Paul's experience in board service and governance.    Links and Resources JobfitMatters Website Next Gen Nonprofit Leadership with Tommy Thomas Montreat College Website The Miracle at Montreat Montreat College Facebook Montreat College Instagram   Connect Tommy Thomas - tthomas@jobfitmatters.com Tommy's LinkedIn Profile Paul Maurer's LinkedIn Profile  

Life-changing MS diagnosis and moving forward. “I felt a deterioration of my walking gait and couldn't feel my feet contacting the ground. My toes would curl up at the touch, “floaters” appeared in my right eye and the bladder was becoming a problem. Weeks of testing resulted in the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis that ended my radio career in 2005.” Kim's Nugget of Hope: Open your mind to solutions. It's in your DNA to give and work hard. Take the time to find it (solutions). As a 33-year radio broadcaster, Kim Curry was forced into retirement after a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis at age 50. “Come Get Me Mother.” was a two-year writing education that doubled as therapy. Now living in Loveland, Colorado with his wife and enjoying life, he's a dedicated foodie who loves to cook, is an International soccer fan, and an MS advocate who makes the rounds at different “Men with Multiple Sclerosis” meetings in Northern Colorado. Writing is his new hobby. Kim Curry was a radio broadcaster for 33 years in some of America's finest cities: Pueblo, Knoxville, San Antonio, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Miami. Curry was a DJ in different time slots and the Program Director of two of America's legendary stations; KTSA-AM San Antonio and Power 96, Miami. Curry was a broadcaster in the days when ownership was limited to seven AM and seven FM radio stations before the radio's corporate takeover. Creative freedom and owner trust led to huge ratings as DJ, consistently scoring the highest ratings in his timeslot. As Program Director, “Kid” Curry led Power 96 to the highest ratings in the station's history and achieved the most significant cumulative audience in the Southeast United States. In 2005, Kim Curry was forced into retirement from the radio business after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. You can follow the story of Curry's career and battle with a chronic disease at KRCurry.com Check out his books here: Amazon Learn more about your Host, Kim Lengling at www.kimlenglingauthor.com Buy Me a Coffee, it helps support the show. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Letfearbouncet --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letfearbouncepodcast/message

Michael talks with singer, songwriter, performer and outdoor enthusiast Jade Moore. Jade has been gigging in the Southeast United States for 10 years and has recently taken over as the host of our Singer/Songwriter Open Mic, held every Wednesday night from 7pm to 12am. https://www.facebook.com/musicbyjade https://www.instagram.com/jademooremusic/ https://linktr.ee/theroostergastonia --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theroostergastonia/support

GUEST 1 OVERVIEW: Lina Nealon is committed to promoting the dignity of every human being and creating a society where every person can flourish. As the National Center on Sexual Exploitation's Director of Corporate and Strategic Initiatives, Lina spearheads NCOSE's campaigns against corporations profiting from sexual exploitation. As Founding Director of Demand Abolition, Lina designed and led the first national program holding sex buyers accountable for driving the global sex trade. GUEST 2 OVERVIEW: Brett Oubre, the CEO of the six top-performing auto dealerships in the Southeast United States, wants to recognize the leaders, the teachers, the mentors who exhibit the way forward for everyday people and their future tomorrows. A featured speaker for business schools and universities nationwide, Oubre's powerful leadership has captivated the young business future leaders of tomorrow.

Today we sit down with Ishaan, one of the principals at Serenity Capital Managment. SCM is a real estate development firm based in Tampa, Florida. Ishaan is originally from Orlando, lived in Miami, and worked for a commercial real estate firm before founding SCM with his brother, Shree. From Serenity Capital Managment's website: Serenity Capital Management is a leading real estate development company with a focus on commercial and residential properties throughout the Southeast United States. Our goal is to create vibrant, sustainable communities that enhance the lives of those who live, work, and play within them. With a team of experienced professionals and a commitment to excellence, we work closely with local communities, governments, and partners to deliver high-quality developments that meet the needs of all stakeholders. Serenity Capital Management's investment strategies and target market analyses are tied to a research-driven process that identifies areas having stable and growing demand with limited exposure to economic risks. Drawing upon the decades of experience of our principals and the skill sets of the Serenity Capital Management team, the company has been able to identify unique real estate investment opportunities, produce exceptional investment performance and provide lasting impacts on the tenants and communities it serves. www.serenitycm.com

Quick Clips today with our amazing guest, Ted Williams, who has been loyal to Sherwin-Williams for almost 30 years.Ted Williams has been the Global Director of Business Services of The Sherwin-Williams Company for almost 4years. He's assigned to design and deliver business solutions that provide unique, measurable value to customers. He has extensive experience in sales and operations management and improvement. Before he became a Global Director, he was an Area Sales Manager for more than 13years. Ted managed a sales and operations organization of 30+ branch stores, and 200+ employees tasked with growing market share for the Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes brand across six states in the Southeast United States. He successfully implemented conversions with large collision shops and multiple shop operators and has—long history of building strong business partnerships with customers. Ted is a strong, creative, inspirational leader who focuses on continuous improvement. He believes that the best leaders lead by example and provide a clear vision of what can be. Ted became a Member of the Global Paint for Charity Board of Directors from Dec 2015–May 2018 (2 years 6 months). Its mission is Changing Lives, Protecting the Environment One Gallon at a Time.Click the link below to listen for the full episode 28:https://www.buzzsprout.com/1895628/11394884If you are interested in learning more about ClarityCoat, you can visit us here-Website: https://claritycoat.comFacebook: https://facebook.com/claritycoatofficialInstagram: https://instagram.com/claritycoat_official

On this episode of Free Range, Host Mike Livermore is joined by two University of Virginia Law students, Matt Disandro and Elizabeth Putfark, who have produced this explainer episode on the pros and cons of wood pellets as a replacement for fossil fuels. To make wood pellets, wood from trees is broken apart, heated to reduce moisture, converted to a fine powder, and compressed to form dense, short pellets. According to Daniel Reinemann from Bioenergy Europe, a nonprofit based in Brussels that advocates for biomass energy, wood pellets are the closest thing that the biomass market has to a commodity. (6:50-8:09) Dr. Knight, the Group Director of Sustainability at the U.K energy company Drax, explains the key difference between biomass and fossil fuels: fossil fuels take millions of years to turn biological matter into fuel; biomass, on the other hand, was carbon in the sky a few years ago. Disandro, Putfark, Knight, and Reinemann discuss carbon sequestration, the carbon dividend, and the potential technology known as “BECCS” – bioenergy carbon capture and storage. Many policies encourage the use of wood pellets, including the European Union Renewable Energy Directive. (8:10-19:57) The biomass industry doesn't just affect Europe; it also impacts wood pellet manufacturers in the Southeast United States, which is very rich in timber. To discuss the market for pellets in the Southeast US, Disandro and Putfark are joined by Professor Bob Abt, a forest economist at North Carolina State University. Abt discusses the tradeoffs and distributional consequences of the growing demand for wood pellets from the Southeast. (19:58-24:42) Notwithstanding support in the EU for wood pellets, conservationists have been raising alarms. Lousie Guillot, a journalist at Politico, provides some background on the controversy. (24:43-26:46) According to Dr. Mary Booth, the director of the Partnership for Policy Integrity's science and advocacy work, burning wood is not a carbon neutral energy source. Dr. Booth and the hosts discuss the urgency of reducing emissions now and the important role trees play in taking carbon out of the atmosphere. (26:46 – 31:20) One feature of the controversy is how the Renewable Energy Directive classifying wood pellets as a zero-carbon energy source, despite objections from some environmentalists. (31:21 – 33:27) An additional question is whether wood pellets are mostly derived from forest refuse -- which is the treetops, branches, and diseased trees left behind from logging – rather than whole trees. Heather Hillaker, at the Southern Environmental Law Center, explains her research on wood pellet sourcing in the U.S. Southeast. Using satellite imagery, SELC's geospatial team found that 84% of the hardwood material being used for bioenergy came from whole trees instead of refuse. Guillot shares details of similar problems happening in European forests. (33:28 – 38:49) Hillaker goes on to discusses the social and community impacts of the wood pellet mills on environmental justice communities. (38:51 – 44:59) Livermore, Disandro and Putfark wrap up the episode by discussing their own views on the pros and cons of wood pellets and what, if anything, the wood pellets experience teaches about broader issues in climate policy. (45:00 – 51:43)

Abortion funds work overtime to help patients hurdle financial and logistical barriers to abortion access, and their work has gotten increasingly more difficult after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Oriaku Njoku, Executive Director of the National Network of Abortion Funds, sits down with us to talk about the power of abortion funds, what they do for communities, and how they facilitate access to abortion care across the country.  An abortion fund acts as mutual aid, facilitating and providing access to logistical help for those seeking abortion care. This help may include financial support, transportation, patient education, and more. Patients often reach out to a fund after they've scheduled an appointment, and the fund will work closely with the patient to come up with the financial difference needed to receive medical services (which is $500 on average). Funds work with other funds across the United States to ensure that money, resources, and support are given to those seeking an abortion. Oftentimes, people that reach out to abortion funds for assistance are those in already marginalized communities, such as Black folks, Indigenous people, non-Black people of color, young people, those living rurally, etc. Those living in rural Mississippi-- a state that only had one abortion clinic before the overturning of Roe v. Wade—have compounding and intersectional factors that make accessing abortion care increasingly difficult, such as transportation, geography, income, race, ethnicity, and pre-existing abortion restrictions in the state, among others. In fact, over 90% of those living in the Southeast United States live in a county without an abortion provider.  At the core of abortion funds is reproductive justice, or the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities, as defined by Sister Song Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. It is important to understand the difference between the reproductive health, rights, and justice frameworks and what it means to have human rights and social justice at the center of these conversations.  LinksNational Network of Abortion Funds on TwitterNational Network of Abortion Funds on FacebookTake ActionIt's the holiday season, which means it's the perfect time to challenge misinformed opinions around abortion and other reproductive healthcare when they occur at the dinner table. Talking about abortion destigmatizes and normalizes care, so let's make sure we have these conversations now and year-round. Donate to abortion funds! You can find NNAF's donation page here, where donations can be made to specific funds or be split across their network of 90 funds! Wear your support for abortion and abortion funds by buying some of this amazing merch. Support the showFollow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfbFacebook: rePROs Fight Back Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.comRate and Review on Apple PodcastThanks for listening & keep fighting back!

In today's episode, Ashley Mays sits down with Tara and Bekah about her clean YA novel The Great Date Experiment. She is now a creativity connoisseur, nature nerd, and ardent fan of all things peanut butter. Ashley and her husband live in the Southeast United States where they enjoy stargazing, exploring local parks, and humidity. Listen as they discuss Ashley's heart for teens—specifically teen girls—her unique ability to taste(?) names, and her journey from being surrounded by books to writing them. Enjoy! Due to character limitations, please find a full version of our show notes and links on our website at: https://www.tarakross.com/podcast-1Ashley's book can be ordered from the Hope Prose Podcast bookshop.org storefront (benefiting indie bookstores) at: https://bookshop.org/shop/thehopeprosepod

There is no question that Mary Alayne Long (@thealabamahousewife) is a "Southerner" through and through. After hearing her read at an Emerald Coast Storytellers gathering, I knew I had to meet her. After all, true Southerners can spot each other a mile away. Born and raised in Heflin, Alabama, Mary Alayne married in her early twenties and began raising her two wonderful children. Along the way, she nurtured a love for writing, which led to writing for Good Grit Magazine. Anyone who encounters this genuine Southern Belle will quickly discover her captivating humor, wrapped tightly in an engaging personality that captures the essence of "Southern Hospitality." Mary Alayne Long is the obvious choice for any U.S. President to name an Ambassador for the South. I sat down with Mary Alayne at SOWAL House, a creative studio in the heart of Rosemary Beach, FL, to discuss our shared admiration for all things Southern and her plans to launch a magazine highlighting her absolute favorite region, the Southeast United States.

It is such an honor to welcome my guest, Andrew Cushman, to the podcast! For over a decade, Andrew has been growing real estate investment businesses full-time. Starting off with single-family properties in 2007, Andrew completed 27 single-family flips. In 2011, he transitioned to the acquisition and repositioning of multifamily properties and now acquires B-class, value-add properties throughout Texas and the Southeast United States. In total, Andrew and his team have acquired and repositioned over 2,000 multifamily units to date and, of course, each one of those units requires property management. In this episode, you will hear Andrew's experience of managing the property manager, and the techniques he uses to keep his property management team motivated and connected. Andrew also reveals his opinion on the positive and negatives of in-house property management. Join me and tune in today! Connect with Andrew at: Website: https://www.vpacq.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.cushman.5 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcushmanvpa/ Andrew's Book Recommendation: Long Distance Real Estate Investing by: David Green, The Hands Off Investor by: Brian Burke Andrew's Prayer Request: Safety while traveling. Wisdom in this uncertain market. Connect with Lee: Website: THREEFOLD - Real Estate Investing (threefoldrei.com), Email: info@threefoldrei.com, Facebook: Threefold Real Estate Investing | Facebook, LinkedIn: Lee Yoder | LinkedIn, NEW!!! YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGM93x6ZEDa4n9yH7UP97iA Check out our Free E-book! https://threefoldrei.ac-page.com/5-steps-to-passive-income-for-the-full-time-dad

Acquire a leadership mentality with Tim Vitale as he shares ways you can double down on your best entrepreneur qualities, exude confidence, and inspire others to move to the next level. Learn the right mindset to break your limiting beliefs and succeed in the multifamily investing space when you tune in to this episode!WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE Risks and benefits of investing in real estate full timeThe value of leveraging other people's skillsets for your businessBest lessons you can learn from having and being a mentorRelationship-building strategies to help your business scaleBenefits of creating good relationships in multifamily investingInvesting advice for a successful investing journeyRESOURCES/LINKS MENTIONEDMultifamily Millions by David Lindahl | Hardcover  https://amzn.to/3AWoDFc and Kindle https://amzn.to/3KTAmcmWho Not How by Dan Sullivan | Paperback https://amzn.to/3D0kVx6 and Kindle https://amzn.to/3RACYOEStreamYard https://streamyard.com/ABOUT TIM VITALETim is the founder and owner of Upside Capital, based in Wilmington, North Carolina. He spent ten years in corporate finance, rising to the position of AVP of Finance for a Fortune 500 insurance company before quitting his W2 job to pursue real estate full-time. He specializes in budgeting, underwriting, and analysis. Tim grew up in a real estate family, owns rental property in Charlotte, and syndicates apartments and other commercial properties around the Southeast United States. He operates his own Facebook community, Makin' Moves in Multifamily, where he helps other investors and syndicators by hosting instructive and uplifting Facebook events and postings. He is also an admin and moderator for the Facebook group My First Million in Multifamily.CONNECT WITH TIMWebsite: Upside Capital https://www.upsidecapitalgroup.com/LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/timvitaleFacebook Group: Makin' Moves Real Estate Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/makinmovesrealestatecommunity/CONNECT WITH USGreen Light Equity Group - http://www.investwithgreenlight.com/For a list of Virtual Meetups - Email: tate@glequitygroup.com | chelsea@glequitygroup.com Special Announcement! Tate's brand-new audiobook “F.I.R.E.-Financial Independence Retire Early Through Apartment Investing” is downloadable! Go to: Green Light Equity Group: http://www.investwithgreenlight.com/.Do you have difficulty underwriting deals? Never worry about getting your numbers wrong with Real Estate Lab, a cloud-based platform for investors. Sign up at https://www.realestatelab.com/ using the promo code TAG2 to get 10% off your first 12 months. Automate your acquisitions and underwriting like a boss now!

Brandon is the owner and partner of HBG Capital, a vertically integrated real estate firm providing investors with superior risk adjusted returns and downside principal protection backed by real assets in the residential single family construction sector in Nashville, TN & Commercial Multifamily Acquisitions in Southeast United States.  HBG Capital's construction arm - HBG Construction, executes ground up new developments, land development, and residential property rehabilitation in Nashville, TN.  Brandon was a former sports medicine medical device sales rep before becoming a licensed GC in TN managing 16 Million+ of new development annually and active ownership in 33 million in commercial real estate. He was featured on the cover of REI Wealth magazine, Realty 411 Magazine, and has been quoted and published in Forbes magazine. What You Will Learn: Who is Brandon Cobb? What is HBG Capital? What is Brandon's career before Real Estate Investor? How does he start as an Investor? Brandon shares how they build up their company. What are the strategies they are implementing? How do they give the best experience? Brandon introduces his books. What are the topics inside his books? Make a list of what the client wants. What are the types of deals they invest in? What is his very first deal closure? Brandon shares how he can be contacted. Additional Resources from Brandon Cobb: Website: www.hbgcapital.net Email: housebuyinguys@gmail.com Phone: +1(901) 596 -6425 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hbgcapital Facebook: www.facebook.com/hbgcapital Attention Investors and Agents Are looking to grow your business? Need to connect with aggressive like-minded people like yourself? We have all the right tools and the knowledge to properly put those tools to use. Visit: http://globalinvestoragent.com/ to see what we can offer and to schedule your FREE consultation!   Register HERE for Monday Night Live Investor Agent Training! 7:00 pm EST Time This link will register you for every scheduled Monday Night Live Investor Agent Class through November 2022. Registration URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sNMjT-5DTIakCFO2ronDCg