Podcasts about Spiff

Doug Houghton, director of global channels at Alkira There’s a line from this episode that’s worth leading with: “Networking is not sexy until it doesn’t work.” That’s Doug Houghton, Director of Global Channels at Alkira, and it’s a pretty concise summary of why his company exists. Alkira was founded by the team behind Viptela – the startup that essentially created the SD-WAN category before being acquired by Cisco. The lesson they carried out of that experience is that SD-WAN, for all its promise, still ran into the limits of underlying infrastructure. You ended up with disparate networks, latency constraints, and complexity that didn’t disappear – it just moved somewhere else. What they built in response is Network Infrastructure as a Service (NIaaS) – a cloud-native, consumption-based global backbone that abstracts multi-cloud connectivity into a single managed plane. The pitch to partners is concrete: consolidate 50 physical firewalls into virtualized functions, reduce total cost of ownership by 40-70%, and do it without a rip-and-replace cycle. The timing matters, and Houghton is direct about why. AI workloads – distributed large language models, agentic workflows reaching across multiple clouds simultaneously – demand a level of network elasticity that legacy infrastructure simply wasn’t designed for. Alkira’s argument is that they’re the smooth road that makes AI-driven infrastructure actually work in practice. For Canadian partners, Alkira has real resources on the ground: a solution architect based in Toronto, a dedicated channel account manager, and publicly referenceable Canadian customers including contact center provider ContactPoint 360. The Connect Partner Program, launched in March 2026, puts approximately 20 percent total margin on the table across base discount, rebates, MDF, and POC SPIFFs – with average initial deals around $500,000 USD and typical expansion of 4x in year one. Canadian partners interested in the conversation can reach the team at partners@alkira.com. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. If you were around when SD-WAN was the big disruptive idea in networking – the promise of simplifying branch connectivity, cutting costs, getting smarter about traffic – you probably also remember it didn’t quite deliver everything it promised. Not because the technology was bad, but because the underlying network architecture couldn’t keep up. You still ended up with complexity. It just moved somewhere else. That problem is essentially the founding insight behind Alkira. The company was built by Amir Khan and Atif Khan, the same team behind Viptela, the startup widely credited with creating the SD-WAN category before Cisco acquired it. What they learned in that experience is that SD-WAN, without a proper global backbone, just creates a different set of headaches. So they started fresh and built what they call NIaaS – Network Infrastructure as a Service – a cloud-native, consumption-based approach that abstracts the complexity of multi-cloud connectivity into something you could stand up, as my guest today puts it, with just a username and a password. The timing is not accidental, because what AI demands from a network – elasticity, low latency, the ability to reach distributed workloads almost anywhere instantly – is exactly what legacy infrastructure wasn’t built to handle. My guest is Doug Houghton, Director of Global Channels at Alkira. Doug has been in the channel a long time, knows the technology in a way that might genuinely surprise you coming from a channel chief, and has a lot to say about what it all means as a real business opportunity for Canadian VARs and MSPs. Let’s get right into it, my chat with Doug Houghton. Doug, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Doug Houghton: It’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me on today, Robert. Robert Dutt: So you were part of the team that built up the SD-WAN market at Viptela back in the day. What did you learn there that told you the next big thing was going to be NIaaS, and why now? Doug Houghton: First off, that’s a great question. I felt a bit like a passenger in a car racing a thousand miles an hour when we were doing software-defined wide-area networking. What we learned was that without organizing your cloud infrastructure properly, your cloud bill gets ridiculously large – especially if you keep your control element decoupled from your data plane in the cloud with all these workloads churning. But what we really learned, and what’s applicable to what we’re now doing at Alkira, is that SD-WAN truly did deliver on its core promise. It allows customers to influence traffic based on link quality and improve the user experience. If you’re on a phone call and it starts to get goofy, you can move over to a better-performing link in real time without dropping the call. That’s powerful. And the same with data traffic. What I hadn’t fully thought through was what happens as global companies start to adopt SD-WAN and disaggregate across locations in Southeast Asia, China, Latin America, and everywhere else. The latency back to the control element isn’t easy to contend with. So you ended up with organizations making decisions that effectively created four separate, disparate networks for latency purposes. And that was not part of the original promise. What we learned was that you need a global backbone that’s high throughput and low latency. The edge can still be SD-WAN – there are real things in SD-WAN that people still want, whether that’s WAN optimization, deduplication, caching, policy-based routing, forward error correction. All of that still has practical application, and site-to-site communications are still needed in many use cases. But Alkira was built inside the cloud first, employing the same principle of decoupling control plane from data plane for scale. By abstracting the cloud infrastructure, we were able to remediate the latency that those four geographically dispersed networks created. We’re the global backbone – that middle mile with high throughput and low latency – and then you connect these clusters of SD-WAN networks together and all of a sudden the promise of SD-WAN gets a lot more consumable. You have a singular network managed from a singular control plane and element management orchestrator, and you can still get all the benefits of SD-WAN at the local sites. Robert Dutt So in plain language, a Canadian MSP or VAR is used to selling network hardware or managing someone else’s infrastructure. How is selling, deploying, and managing NIaaS different from what they’re already doing, and what makes that distinction important? Doug Houghton: Let’s take a half step back and talk about what NIaaS actually is. It’s Network Infrastructure as a Service. What Alkira does is abstract the cloud infrastructure and build a routed overlay on top of it. We think of it as a virtualized colocation facility that connects and normalizes communications across your entire network. For managed service providers and service providers, our solution accelerates bringing their customers to cloud applications, cloud workloads, storage, and everything else the cloud promises. The way I explain it to my mom – and I’ve told this joke once already today because I’m sitting in a partner’s office right now – is this: if you went to Russia, Japan, Argentina, and San Francisco all in one day and had to transact in each place, and you could speak the native language in each one, that would be ideal. What we focused on was normalizing communications regardless of the cloud service provider, colocation provider, data centre – private or public – or whatever type of router is at the branch office. As an MSP or service provider that comes in, what we give to our customers and partners is a username and a password. That lets you come in and – for your old-school folks in the audience – essentially etch-a-sketch your network together. You can turn a couple of knobs, and it’s not that we’ve cranked the amp up to eleven, we’ve just removed all the numbers and automated everything. It just knows what you want to do. It’s a routed BGP overlay with the control plane abstracted from it, so the forwarding plane can route around things like the CrowdStrike outage, or losing an AWS region – which happens more frequently than AWS would like to admit – or any cloud service provider incident. The multi-cloud reality has accelerated adoption, but it presents a new problem: you’ve got an AWS expert on staff, but you don’t have an Azure, GCP, OCI, or Alibaba Cloud expert. Those are all different languages. When I tell my mom that we normalize the communications between all the assets in the network and make it easy to connect to all of them, she gets that. For the MSP looking to monetize something new or add another revenue stream, we offer a couple of compelling things. In the middle of our stack, we place a solution inside the cloud – sitting in a VPC, VNet, VCN, or Google VPC – right in the middle of all the cloud, SaaS, and WAN workloads. We’ve pleased a lot of customers by lowering total cost of ownership through the consolidation of network services they already have in their environment, in the form of virtualized network functions. Take a Palo Alto firewall deployment – say you have fifty Palos out there, all talking to Panorama, with a security engineer managing policy centrally. Instead of having fifty firewalls on the ground, you consolidate them. You go from the ground – five to ten milliseconds to the nearest public cloud PoP – hop onto the Alkira fabric, and terminate that traffic on a virtual port on our exchange point. In the middle of that exchange point, sitting in a VPC or VNet, you place a Palo Alto virtualized network function. You get the IP address of the Panorama server, and if you didn’t tell the security engineer anything had changed, they would not know. The form factor changes, but not how they interact with Panorama, how they build policy, or anything about how they secure the traffic. That remains exactly the same. We virtualize the instance and place it on a global high-throughput, low-latency backbone inside our exchange point. We deploy exchange points in HA pairs, anywhere from 100 Mbps to 40 Gbps. The customer or service provider consumes one, and we maintain the other on their behalf – because every thirty days we’re fixing bugs and doing maintenance. We swing production workloads to the backup, do the work on the primary, then reverse the order, all while keeping these customers up and running. Because we’re delivering this as a service, it has to always be on. One of the most important architectural decisions we made from the start was ensuring those two exchange points are always running active-active in a full mesh configuration, buttressed by hundreds of other exchange points globally distributed – all synchronized and aware of each other’s states. Robert Dutt: You’ve said that legacy networks can’t handle what AI demands, specifically in terms of elasticity. Can you unpack that a little? When an MSP’s customer starts deploying language models or agentic workflows, what is it that actually breaks? Doug Houghton: Good question, and I’ll give you an honest answer. I’ve started to fall in love with Claude – I think it’s one of the coolest things in the world. I can do all sorts of creative things with it. But Claude isn’t talking only to me. He’s a bit of a flirt – he goes to a lot of different places to get knowledgeable about various things and produce the outcomes I’ve asked for. And those other places are where you run into problems. I used to say the three biggest AI providers are GCP, AWS, and Azure. That’s still largely true. But the likes of Anthropic and other AI labs are distributing LLM workloads everywhere. Without the right network underneath that, it’s like buying the hottest car and driving it down a pothole-filled road. What we offer is a high-throughput, low-latency, elastic network. If you need to turn it up in a heartbeat, you can. We helped complete the S&P Global and IHS Markit merger network integration in about a tenth of the time they expected, because we’re natively segmented. Think about those two networks as large datasets that AI agents need to access. You have to secure the traffic, and you need it to be elastic – able to reach anywhere, instantly, to produce the outcome the agent was asked for. The ability to go anywhere on a road that’s smooth as glass, in the hottest car possible – that’s what we offer. Our network infrastructure solution is an abstraction: a forwarding plane that goes everywhere, and your imagination is really the only limitation. Speed, elasticity, and securing access – even for agentic, self-directed workflows – it’s still a critical element. And nobody – I said this earlier today, so I’ll say it again – networking is not really sexy until it doesn’t work. If I have to get in and route-peer and manually configure transit gateways, I’m going to punch myself in the face repeatedly. I just don’t want to do it. It slows everything down. I can automate it with Terraform, sure. But I want to consume it now. I want to prompt it now. I want the outcome now. Robert Dutt: You’ve launched Alkira NIA, your AI co-pilot and network infrastructure assistant, along with an MCP server last year. It’s interesting – you’re essentially putting AI on top of the infrastructure that’s enabling AI. What does NIA actually do for an MSP’s day-to-day operations? Doug Houghton: Maybe I have a limited imagination, but I still use it like a utility. NIA is great because it allows you to search through all our documentation in a more organized way. We have amazing documentation – there’s a lot of it – and when you’re looking for a specific configuration or something captured in a knowledge base, that tool is really useful. But continuing the utility theme: how do I do something? If I want to create a micro-segment to distribute to a bunch of business units, or build an isolated Layer 3 routing table and get it to various business units, and then set up billing with specific billing tags for each segment – I know how to do that because I’ve done it many times. But a new user may not. You can use the NIA agent to search the documentation, search previous implementation notes, best practices, all of that. That’s real value. But you can also ask it something like “why is the sun bright” and it won’t return the answer you expect. I’ve done that too. Robert Dutt: Let’s talk about the Connect Partner Program and the economics. You’ve got the Partner Profit Stack – tiered margins, quarterly rebates, MDF, SPIFFs, the Connect Pipeline Fund. It’s a full toolkit, and it’s stuff partners have seen before. What’s the real math? What does a Canadian MSP at the Premier tier actually walk away with on a typical deal after they’ve done the work? Doug Houghton: Usually about nineteen percentage points – maybe a little more. On the pre-sale side, when we get into a POC, our Premier partners can earn a $1,000 SPIFF. We close about 85% of our POCs, so there’s real value in that. Add in the rebates and MDF access, and the total haul is closer to 20% on each deal. Worth mentioning: we’ve been a 100% channel company since May 2022. My partner David Klubinoff, my technical counterpart – we worked together at Viptela and we started the Alkira channel together. It took a couple of weeks to convince our CEO that going 100% channel was the right call. I think he’s a believer now. We’ve driven significant revenue for the company, and our partners are our thought leaders – out in the market talking about our solution and solving customer problems. I was in Chicago yesterday doing a technical enablement session with thirty-plus SAs and SEs. We had the classic SD-WAN questions, and a lot of questions about segmentation and M&A. There’s enormous consolidation happening in insurance, healthcare, and other sectors, and the overlapping IP address problem that comes with mergers is something MSPs face all the time. We’ve entirely simplified that. You build a NAT policy right in the solution and the overlapping IP issue is resolved within an hour. In the case of S&P Global and IHS Markit, they thought their merger network integration was going to take a couple of years. The issue was largely the overlapping IP addresses – IHS couldn’t talk to the HR applications at S&P, and vice versa, plus all the other interdependencies. You need a fast way to solve the overlapping IP problem before you can even get to the real work. That’s been a core design element of our solution from the very start: take care of the small things, and people can move faster and get to market faster. Our biggest MSP – and this is a publicly referenceable customer – is CEDA, a French-based organization that provides managed network services to 95% of the world’s airlines. For them, it means being able to turn up a new customer faster, connecting on-premises assets to their control elements so they can begin actually managing that network. Speed, and the efficiencies and cost reductions that come from it – that’s what it does for all MSPs. If you’re consolidating fifty firewalls into virtualized functions, you’re making a good commission, getting MDF support, quarterly rebates, and a SPIFF when you engage us collaboratively on a POC. All of that happens at an accelerated rate. I’ve been screaming from the mountaintop about our solution for about four years. Invariably, you’d walk into a room, say “Hi, I’m Doug Houghton from Alkira,” and they’d say “Who?” That’s starting to happen a lot less, which is a genuinely nice thing. Over the last twelve to twenty-four months, the business has grown exponentially, the diversity of our partner ecosystem has increased, and partner margins have been very healthy. The tiered structure was really about celebrating partners who have invested in us. Honestly, I’m waiting for the day my boss tells me to stop incentivizing partners – because when that happens, I’ll know we’ve hit the apex. Our partners will be generating so much revenue that someone gets uncomfortable with what we’re paying out. I can’t wait for that day. Some of the more interesting things in the program came from actually listening. I went around and talked to a bunch of partners about their ideal partner programs and built from there. And one of the realizations – I thought it was significant – was what we were actually doing on the post-sale side. We white-glove every implementation right now, because it’s critically important to us. We haven’t lost a customer, and we intend to keep it that way. But that doesn’t scale forever. So the question became: why don’t we help our partners productize the post-sale work? We built a product catalog, a pricing calculator, and a new partner portal we’re about to release, with its own AI agent for searching market assets. The product catalog was a light bulb moment. We pay healthy margins on the pre-sale side at every tier of Alkira Connect. But we had never touched the post-sale side at all. We’re largely automated and NIaaS is as simple as possible to consume – a username and a password. My thirteen-year-old could configure a network, and she’s really smart. But there’s still some implementation work. You still need to build policies in Panorama. There’s still DDI work. There are still services that partners can benefit from – and all partner types, MSPs, VARs, master agents, sub-agents, service providers, now have a post-sale commission opportunity. Robert Dutt: You mentioned services – you’ve got services attach plays around modernization assessments, segmentation design, migration sprints. Starting from zero, how long does it realistically take a partner to get their first deal with those services attached through the door, and what does the ramp look like? Doug Houghton: There’s a lot in that question. Let’s take a half step back. We have virtual sales and go-to-market training – three modules – and then five or six technical training modules. We’ve got a lab-in-a-box environment, foundational and advanced technical training, and DDI training. Partners typically start there. Then we run regular in-person and virtual sessions – one partner has regular office hours with me, my SE counterpart David, or our architect Christopher Arenas, and we just invite partners to come and ask questions. Getting partners genuinely comfortable with the technology is the most important thing we do, because nobody goes out and sells anything unless they’re confident they can explain how Alkira solves their customer’s problem. That’s what I’m doing in Chicago today. Our customers tend to be fairly large. We’ve got our first Fortune 10 customer now. The more complex the network, the larger and more global the deployment – multiple countries, security vendors, firewalls, DDI providers, load balancers, service providers, colos. We sit right on top of all of that. The average sales cycle is about 190 days – a little over six months. A newly enabled partner might encounter an M&A overlapping IP use case, recognize the problem, and say “I think we can solve this with Alkira.” They go through a POC together with us, the customer commits, and that first deal closes around 190 days. A little class week: it’s actually 190 and a half. The average deal size is about $500,000 USD. We then see significant expansion: typically 4x growth in the first twelve months after the initial close, and around 8x in the second twelve months. Real incentive to stick with it. We’re loyal – if the customer doesn’t kick the partner out, we go to bat with that partner on every expansion deal. We land, then expand, with the same partner. BNSF, one of our other public references, has expanded several times to address more and more use cases. The solution gets sticky and customers are genuinely surprised by how easy it is. On the post-sale side, we come in and help with implementation, especially early on. But we’re reaching the point where more capable partners can handle it themselves. We’re building a post-sale certification for Alkira right now. In the meantime, we ride shotgun through the first couple of implementations – virtually in Slack or in person – until partners are fully up to speed. All partners have access to our Slack channel, along with our entire solutions architecture and SE staff. One partner working on a Fortune 10 engagement has a great habit of putting a subject header in Slack and starting a conversation. He’s been on services at this customer for three or four months – a significant engagement. He’s the one who originally described the network as a “spaghetti mess,” which I still chuckle about. I actually built the product catalog based on those Slack headers – pulled them together, socialized them with a group of partners, got input, and built from there. To directly answer your question: you’ve got to get through that first deal, and we’re going to ride shotgun with you through the first couple of implementations. The partner learns, gets comfortable, can monetize it, and can deliver independently from there. We have no illusions about going back to being a direct company after May 2022. It’s ride or die – 100% channel, and we enable our partners to solve their customers’ problems and support them while they do it. Because our partners have been our biggest growth engine. Robert Dutt: You’ve talked about a goal of doubling revenue through partners. What does the ecosystem look like when you get there? This sounds like it could primarily be a GSI or large integrator play, given the customer complexity you’re describing. Or do you genuinely see a path for mid-market MSPs and VARs to build a meaningful NIaaS practice? Doug Houghton: Another tough question. Yes, I do have GSIs as partners. We have a fairly robust and diverse partner ecosystem, and we see small shops rising up while larger shops are moving a bit more slowly, honestly. We’re still in that brand awareness honeymoon period – people are realizing our technology is compelling, getting themselves enabled. Some large partners we’ve recently brought on are still ramping. The biggest and most established organizations aren’t yet as capable as they will be, but we’re working diligently on that. Some of our smaller partners, on the other hand – I’m thinking of a friend of mine in Utah who is just an absolute champion. He knows our solution better than almost anyone. He closed six or seven deals in the past year, supported the implementations, did it largely on his own, because he’s curious, motivated, read all the documentation, and has been through full implementation cycles with us. He works at a ten-person shop. They just happen to have really good customers, and he knows the solution cold. So we’re at different stages with different partners in terms of maturity. The answer to your question is genuinely both. The small shop in Utah and the large national partner dedicating more resources as they see more customer problems Alkira can solve – we see wins across both. In the networking space, a six-month sales cycle is about as fast as it gets. I’m giving you a username and a password and you’re going in and connecting all of a customer’s assets together. The path exists for partners of every size. Robert Dutt: You’ve called out Canada specifically in your expansion plans, alongside the UK, EU, and the Middle East. What does that look like operationally – localized support, a Canadian channel team – or is it more of a global platform available to Canadian partners? Doug Houghton: Let’s talk personnel. We have a dedicated rep in eastern Canada, based out of New Hampshire, and a brilliant solutions architect just outside of Toronto. We’ve got a channel account manager – very capable teammate of mine, Savannah Stone – and the entire global solutions architecture staff accessible via Slack. We recently closed a very significant logo in Canada – a large insurance company – and our publicly referenceable Canadian customer is ContactPoint 360, a contact centre and BPO provider. They wanted to connect their Latin American operations back to Canada and couldn’t find an effective way to do it without us. We route them through the US West region, and the results have been excellent. We’ve also added CDW Canada as a partner, and I’ve got a value-added distributor that helps with field events. It’s not a massive footprint yet – it’s a bit of “they come first, then we build” – but there is a tremendous amount of opportunity in Canada and in Latin America that I’m genuinely excited about. Nobody’s told me no yet on spending budget, so here we go. A great story on the Canadian side: a gentleman named Chris Thelosinos, an architect and consultant who works with others in our space, is a member at a wine shop in Toronto. During the Toronto International Film Festival last year, we hosted a wine event right next to TIFF. I don’t drink alcohol, so it was entirely about the conversations for me – and I had the best time. We had significant customers come out, and the demand for simplicity, ease of implementation, and everything Alkira does well was just as strong in Canada as anywhere else. The market need is real. We talk about global backbone as a service all the time. Connecting China to San Francisco carries a distance and time tax, but it’s easy to configure. For organizations navigating geopolitical complexity around China access, or needing GPU connectivity in and out, we just abstract the Azure and AWS mainland China instances. They operate the same way as their Canadian or US equivalents. And you can consume it pay-as-you-go – stop using it, stop paying for it. That’s a compelling model for MSPs looking to grow into different regions. Robert Dutt: Last question then. For that Canadian MSP who’s listened to this and is thinking, “This sounds like a real opportunity” – what’s the one thing you’d want them to take away and act on? Doug Houghton: I’d ask them to go to partners@alkira.com and send us a note. And I will ply them with all sorts of content – videos, learnings, deal registration information, everything they need to get started in the space. Tongue in cheek, and also completely seriously: partners@alkira.com. If you’re looking to grow your business as a managed service provider – managed network, managed security, managed load balancing, managed DDI, managed connectivity – we’re a really great place to start. Because it’s never unpopular to walk into a customer and solve their problem quickly and say, “I can help you with X, Y, and Z, and I can do it in the next couple of hours – and that’s going to drive a total cost of ownership savings of 40 to 70%.” Nobody ever kicks you out of the office when you say something like that. Robert Dutt: Amazing. Doug, I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you very much. Doug Houghton: Robert, thank you for the engaging conversation. I hope your listeners get some good stuff out of it. Robert Dutt: There you have it – Doug Houghton from Alkira. I’d like to thank Doug for his time, and honestly for being one of the more entertaining guests I’ve had on in a while. “Networking is not sexy until it doesn’t work” is a line I’m going to be thinking about for a while. Thanks to you for listening as well. If this conversation sparked something – whether it’s curiosity about NIaaS, the AI infrastructure angle, or what roughly 20% total margin on a $500,000 average deal could do for your business – Doug made it easy for you to take the next step. Drop a note to partners@alkira.com. That’s the front door. And from what I heard today, they will absolutely get back to you. Here’s the thing that stuck with me most in this conversation: the argument that the AI moment isn’t just a software or services play. It’s going to force a reckoning with network infrastructure that a lot of organizations have been deferring for years. The partners who treat that reckoning as an opportunity rather than a fire drill are probably going to look very smart in about three years. If you’re finding the In The Channel podcast from ChannelBuzz.ca useful, the best thing you can do is follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most major directories. And if you’re enjoying the show, ratings and reviews are genuinely appreciated – they help other people in the Canadian channel find us. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

February and March are famously not-great months for new movie releases, with Hollywood dumping some of its most forgettable products into theaters and focusing all its energy on the Academy Awards. But Spokane movie fans are in luck, because they're about to have access to an embarrassment of cinematic riches from around the world. On this week's show, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the five documentary features vying for the Oscar on March 15th and then preview the upcoming Spokane International Film Festival, running March 6th to 8th.

My friend, John Macario, returns to the show and we pick up right where we left off back in late 2024 when he first shared his amazing story.  It's been 19 months since John lost the love of his life and fellow Deadhead, Meg, at age 52 to complications following a liver transplant.  We catch up on how he and their 12-year old daughter, Gloria, are doing facing the world together as the dynamic duo.  John shares how single parenting is going, and how every now and again he gets out to fuel his soul with live music, including the likes of Bulgarina-American pianist, Kristina Marinova.  Marinova's recent solo release, The Bus Came By and I Got On, is unlike any Grateful Dead music that I have ever heard before and is a must-listen.In honor of our beloved Bobby “Ace” Weir, John insists that we tune into NPR's Tiny Desk with Bob Weir & Wold Brothers, where Mikaela Davis sits in on harp. Their rendition of Birdsong is simply magical and instantly transports the listener with its first few notes.  We wrap up with John's story of Gloria's early love of Jerry Garcia, and how at just 5 years old she became attached to Jerry Garcia Band's 1980 rendition of After Midnight.  “More Jerry, Dad!”  How cool is THAT, I mean really.Finally, John reveals for the first time how he got the nickname I never knew even existed - “Spiff”!Join us, and let's see where the energy takes us!Morning Dew / Kristina MarinovaSmells Like Teen Spirit / NirvanaPlease Don't Bury Me / John Prine Birdsong / Wolf BrosI Know You Rider / Grateful DeadAfter Midnight / JGBhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1983015048745357

The Spokane International Film Festival visits the SPR studio to discuss this year's SpIFF events.

Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked FileWhat if the pay plan you've been debating isn't actually the problem?In this solo episode, Hunt Demarest tackles one of the most argued topics in the auto repair industry: how to pay your technicians. After seeing it debated online once too often, Hunt pulls from hundreds of real shop benchmarks to cut through the noise — and his answer might surprise you.Hunt breaks down the three main structures — flat rate, hourly/salary, and hybrid — explaining what each one actually incentivizes, where each one breaks down, and why half of his top-performing shops use flat rate while the other half don't. The takeaway: no pay plan alone will fix a production problem.From the classic flat rate with no minimums to California flat rate, tiered hourly structures, and spiff-based systems, Hunt walks through the real-world mechanics of each — including the overtime trap that catches shop owners off guard when non-discretionary bonuses are in play.This episode also covers team-based vs. individual pay plans, with a detailed real-world example of a six-tech shop that saw production climb for six months after switching to a team bonus structure — then slide consistently for the next 18. Hunt explains exactly why it happened and what the senior tech said that made it all make sense.The bottom line: if you change the pay plan without changing how you manage, communicate, and operate, you're just changing the numbers on a piece of paper.Hunt also previews next week's episode on manager and advisor pay plans, and announces that Reed Melis of Paar Melis & Associates will be teaching a class on shop pay plans at Vision in Kansas City.What you'll learn…(00:08) Why Hunt dedicated a full episode to tech pay plans(01:30) Why half of top benchmark shops are flat rate — and half aren't(02:59) Understanding flat rate: the core appeal for money-motivated players(06:46) Can flat rate mask a bad manager — and can hourly survive one?(09:00) The downsides of flat rate: comebacks, culture, and sick time(12:00) California flat rate explained(14:38) Hourly and salary: the easiest pay plan — and its one massive drawback(17:00) The awkward conversation every hourly shop owner eventually has to have(19:30) The compliance issue most shops don't know they have(21:00) The most important rule of any pay plan: if they can't understand it, it won't work(22:05) Hybrid and tiered rate structures: how they work and who they work for(24:00) Spiff systems: how a simple $100 bonus can drive a 10% production increase(25:30) Team-based vs. individual pay plans: the theory, the appeal, and the culture risk(27:30) Why a team bonus structure boosted production then quietly tanked it(30:00) Pay plans as a forever-moving target: why honest conversations matter more than the structure itselfThanks to our partner PromotiveIt's time to hire a superstar for your business; what a grind you have in front of you. Introducing Promotive, a full-service staffing solution for your shop. Promotive has over 40 years of recruiting and automotive experience. If you need qualified technicians and service advisors and want to offload the heavy lifting, visit https://gopromotive.com/Thanks to our Partner WickedFileTurn chaos into clarity with WickedFile, the AI for auto repair shops. Transform invoices into insights, protect cash flow, and stop losing parts, cores, or credits to maximize your bottom line. visit https://info.wickedfile.com/Paar Melis and Associates – Accountants Specializing in Automotive...

In its third decade of existence, the Spokane International Film Festival continues to prove that there is an appetite for quality film in our fair city. On this week's show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart preview this year's festival, which began March 7th and ran through the 9th. They also have a few words to say about the recent Oscars broadcast.

Spokane International Film Festival representatives Tom Dineen, Aaron Spickelmire, and Pete Porter join host Henry McNulty in the studio for a conversation about SpIFF 2025.

Welcome to the Personal Development Trailblazers Podcast! In today's episode, we're diving deep into what's really holding you back—self-doubt—and how to finally break free.Ebi Sheila Diete-Spiff is a Self-Love & Transition Coach dedicated to empowering women to reclaim their worth and break free from limiting beliefs. Born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, her journey was shaped by overcoming toxic relationships, a 2000 divorce, chronic illness, and the demands of single motherhood. A profound awakening in 2014 led her to prioritize self-love and self-acceptance, transforming her life. Through programs like "Break Free from Toxic Relationships" and "Journey to Self-Mastery," Ebi inspires women to rewrite their stories, heal from past traumas, and step into their power with confidence, fostering growth and empowerment worldwideConnect with Ebihere: https://www.facebook.com/dieteshe; https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachebi/https://www.instagram.com/ebisselflovecoach/ebisheila.comGrab the freebie here:https://designrr.s3.amazonaws.com/dieteshe_at_gmail.com_132122/leading-with-resilience-women-breaking-barriers-in-business-the-workplace_679d2048.pdf===================================If you enjoyed this episode, remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Then share this episode with your friends.Thanks for watching the Personal Development Trailblazers Podcast. This podcast is part of the Digital Trailblazer family of podcasts. To learn more about Digital Trailblazer and what we do to help entrepreneurs, go to DigitalTrailblazer.com.Are you a coach, consultant, expert, or online course creator? Then we'd love to invite you to our FREE Facebook Group where you can learn the best strategies to land more high-ticket clients and customers. QUICK LINKS: APPLY TO BE FEATURED: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/podcast-guest-applicationDIGITAL TRAILBLAZER: https://digitaltrailblazer.com/

Chris Dankowski is a Sales Strategy Consultant and Coach to Sellers and Founders in tech. Based in Austin, Texas, Chris has previously sold at top companies like: Evernote, Outreach and HubSpot. In this episode, Chris shares insights on managing your tech sales career.SPONSORS:• Surfe (LinkedIn Prospecting Streamlined) - SP Discount link: https://www.surfe.com/?kfl_ln=jesse-woodburyEPISODE LINKS: • Connect with Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdankowski/ • Website: https://www.dankow.ski/CONNECT WITH JESSE: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessewoodbury/ • Website: https://jessewoodbury.com/HELP GROW SP: • Join Sales Players Slack Community: https://www.launchpass.com/saas_sales_players • Subscribe! • Leave a rating, write a review, and share • Check out the above sponsors, it's the best way to support the showGUEST HIGHLIGHTS:Morgan J. Ingram, Chris Orlob, Ian Koniak, Jeb Blount, Brandon Fluharty, Scott Leese, Sarah Brazier, Jamal Reimer, Jen Allen-Knuth, Andy Paul, Collin Mitchell, Tim Zielinski, Christian Banach, Rajiv 'RajNATION' Nathan, Belal Batrawy, Christine Rogers, Chris Beall, Patrick Baynes, Jeroen Corthout, Nate Nasralla, Gabe Lullo, Vince Beese, Brandon Bornancin, Girish Redekar, Guillaume Moubeche, Lloyed Lobo, Corey Quinn, Danny Delvecchio, Tom Slocum, Todd Busler, Richard Harris, Krysten Conner, Dan Goodman, Kris Rudeegraap© Sales Players, LLC

Henry McNulty interviews Washington-based filmmaker Stimson Snead about his debut feature film "Tim Travers & the Time Traveler's Paradox," coming to SpIFF this March and streaming platforms this spring.

In this episode, Sasha Orloff is joined by Andrew Gazdecki, founder of Acquire.com, who shares his expertise on successfully selling companies, maximizing exit value, and key lessons from his own acquisition experiences, with over $500 million in closed deals. —

Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legend Spiff Sedrick for #RugbyHive Episode 34.   Sedrick is an American 7s player from Salt Lake City, Utah, who has represented Team USA on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series since 2021 and competed at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games winning a Bronze Medal. She scored one of the most iconic tries in rugby sevens history this year, with an 85-meter solo effort in the final play of the Bronze Medal match against Australia, then kicked the conversion to win the first ever medal in sevens for Team USA! It was a pivotal moment for rugby in North America, resulting in trailblazing businesswoman and investor Michele Kang immediately donating $4 million to the USA women's sevens team.   Sedrick debuted for the USA Eagles at the 2021 Dubai Sevens, placed 4th at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town and won Gold at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. She also won the Premier Rugby Sevens title with the Northern Loonies in 2021 and in 2023 won the United Championship with the Rocky Mountain Experts.   In this episode we talk about how Sedrick found rugby at Herriman High School, her journey playing the sport collegiately at Life University and winning the prestigious MA Sorensen Award for the top collegiate women's rugby player in the country. We talk about her time playing in the Premier Rugby Sevens including two years being coached by Robin with the Northern Loonies. We delve into “that iconic match-winning try” plus the whole 2024 Paris Olympic Games experience including the record crowds for women's sevens rugby! Sedrick also reveals more about being on Team USA with sensation Ilona Maher and how she will do on Dancing with the Stars!   We hope you enjoyed listening or watching The Rugby Hive, plus catch us on The Rugby Network 

USA Women's 7s player Spiff Sedrick and Head Coach Emilie Bydwell talk about that moment, and the Olympic journey in general. You'll learn about why time management and a too-small jersey contributed to the USA's Bronze Medal-winning performance, and find out also how Sedrick's life has changed since THE TRY.   _________________________________________ Support what RMA and Goff Rugby Report does here: https://www.goffrugbyreport.com/support-grr/ Or support us directly through Paypal here>> IG: @goffrugbyreport X: @goffrugbyreport FB: @goffrugbyreport   Music by Bensounds. See all of our Podcasts: https://www.goffrugbyreport.com/tags/ruggamatrix  

This week I sit down with my brother Chad Sedrick to talk about our experience at the 2024 Paris Olympics watching his daugther "Spiff" Sedrick play on the USA Women's Rugby Team. We explore our experience and the highlight of the Olympics when Spiff broke three tackles and ran the entire length of the field to tie the Bronze Medal game against Austrailia and then to score the extra point to win the Bronze Medal.Yes it was over the top amazing. Join in to hear what it was like to be there at the 2024 Paris Olympics!

One of the stars of Team USA 7s Rugby in the Olympics on how she got into rugby, scoring the game winning try to clinch the Bronze Medal + more

¡Hola! Soy Jaime Sotomayor, conductor del podcast Innovación Sin Barreras. En este episodio, descubriremos cómo potenciar las ventas de tu empresa con SPIFF y Gamificación. Para ello, nos acompaña Gabriel García da Rosa, CEO de Foccuz, quien compartirá la importancia de los incentivos SPIFF en la estrategia comercial de una empresa. Gabriel nos comparte:¿Qué son los incentivos SPIFF y por qué implementarlos?

More great radio stories from their Fox 97 Morning Show days. Plus, both offer advice for building a successful morning show. Hosted by the Fox 97 PD who brought them to Atlanta, Dennis Winslow.

A conversation with Fox 97's iconic morning duo Randy and Spiff…where they spent 14 years right up until the station flipped out of the oldies format. That didn't stop ‘em, they went on to Atlanta iHeart oldies Cool 105.7, then over to Lite 94.9, then to news talk GST, and finally to WYAY/106.7 when it was doing oldies. A total of 21 years in Atlanta radio, and still as entertaining and funny as ever!

It's been over two decades now and the Spokane International Film Festival (SpIFF), despite a number of obstacles, continues to thrive. On this week's show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss what to expect from the 2024 Spokane International Film Festival, which begins its eight-day run this weekend. Prior to that, though, they discuss “The Zone of Interest,” a German-language film—written and directed by British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer—that has been nominated for five Academy Awards.

On this week's show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a big-screen feature titled “Origin” and a Hulu streamer titled “Self Reliance,” and also give a quick preview of the coming Spokane International Film Festival.

USA women's 7s player Spiff Sedrick talks about what it took to earn more playing time and how the Eagles feel about their first two tournaments of the 2023-24 season. Support what RMA and Goff Rugby Report does here: https://www.goffrugbyreport.com/support-grr/ See all of our Podcasts: https://www.goffrugbyreport.com/tags/ruggamatrix  

Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Spiff, a provider of a new class of incentive compensation management (ICM) software that combines an intuitive low-code UI, the familiarity of a spreadsheet, and a powerful processing engine to drive commissions automation at scale. Qlik announced the acquisition of Mozaic Data, an innovative AI-driven data management technology. ECI announced it has completed the acquisition of Treetop Group, a software company specializing in business software solutions for the Netherlands residential construction and craft industry.Connect with us!https://www.erpadvisorsgroup.com866-499-8550LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/erp-advisors-groupTwitter:https://twitter.com/erpadvisorsgrpFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/erpadvisorsInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/erpadvisorsgroupPinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/erpadvisorsgroupMedium:https://medium.com/@erpadvisorsgroup

In this interview with Leona Cobham, granddaughter of pioneering pilot and aviation advocate, Sir Alan Cobham, we talk about her wonderful middle grade book, Flying Circus Takes to the Skies, which features the adventures of four anthropomorphic vintage aircraft: Spiff, the Spitfire; Vul, the Vulcan; Tom, the Tomcat; and Woody, the Tiger Moth. Leona was inspired to write the book by her experience working with children and her concern over boys becoming ever-more reluctant readers. She created these characters in the hopes that boys would get excited about both reading and aviation history. Her next installment of Airplane Adventures will include a female Nighthawk.The story is well-complemented by line drawings from aviation artist Timothy O'Brien. https://www.timobrienart.co.uk/Leona's book is very thoughtfully available in two English versions - one with British spellings, and one with American, so be sure to select the one appropriate for your young reader. Affiliate links for both can be found on the Literary Aviatrix website:British: https://literaryaviatrix.com/product/aeroplane-adventures-flying-circus-takes-to-the-skies/American: https://literaryaviatrix.com/product/airplane-adventures-flying-circus-takes-to-the-skies/Toward the end of our interview,  we talk about Frederick Forsyth's The Shepherd, and the Canadian Broadcast Company's annual broadcast of a 1979 reading done by "Fireside Al" Maitland. If you'd like to join us in the Christmas Eve tradition, here's a link: CBC - As it HappensThanks so much for listening! Stay up to date on book releases, author events, and Aviatrix Book Club discussion dates with the Literary Aviatrix Newsletter. Visit the Literary Aviatrix website to find over 600 books featuring women in aviation in all genres for all ages. Become a Literary Aviatrix Patron and help amplify the voices of women in aviation. Follow me on social media, join the book club, and find all of the things on the Literary Aviatrix linkt.ree. Blue skies, happy reading, and happy listening!-Liz Booker

The Cult of the Dead Three live beneath the streets of Baldur's Gate, terrorizing and torturing its citizens. Spiff's Angels continue to cut their way through their lair, coming upon more and more horrors in their search for the greensteel. But, they are about to find out that there are even more insidious plots at work in this city. We have a Discord server! If you like the show and would like to hang out, come visit us here! https://discord.gg/CzHp7bTg Music in this episode was produced by Vindsvept (https://vindsvept.bandcamp.com/)

Carthule was not the Earthman's god, but Carthule protected him while he was a guest in the temple—even if he tore the temple down! The Guest Rites by Robert Silverberg, that's next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode. Our latest 5-star rating and review was posted on Apple Podcasts Canada. Sgt. Spiff says, “A treasure trove of classic Sci-Fi! You could spend a lot of time hunting around various podcasts for a smattering of classic takes, or you could just subscribe to this one and get it all in one place! This podcast provides a rich and well-curated collection of stories from well-known and lesser-known authors. All of them expertly introduced, narrated, and produced. This collection holds its own against the efforts of sci-fi editing luminaries like Neil Clarke. Thank you for such an incredible array of stories. Keep them coming!” Thank you, Sgt. Spiff, for that rousing review. Your reviews make a difference and, if you think we deserve it, we would appreciate it if you would give us a 5 star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Special thanks to Johnathan G who bought us another cup of coffee. There's a link in the description if you'd like to buy us a coffee and support us that way.Support the show - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/scottsV Merch - https://lostscifi.creator-spring.com/ Sign up for our newsletterhttps://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/266431/102592606683269000/share We received many comments and emails regarding last week's episode by Murray Leinster featuring the memorable character, Bud Gregory. Gregory appeared a total of 4 times in Thrilling Wonder Stories and, thanks to your response, Bud Gregory will be back on the podcast. It's no secret we are fans of author Robert Silverberg, he's back today with a story from Infinity Science Fiction Magazine in February 1957. Our story can be found on page 112, The Guest Rites by Robert Silverberg… In two days on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A ten-year-old boy grows up fast when history catches up with the human race. Tony and the Beetles by Philip K. Dick. That's in two days on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Holzman is the Content Marketing Manager at Spiff Marketing, a commission-automation platform. Today, he shares how to connect when writing for a new persona, get more engagement, and infuse information with personality. Brett and Sam also discuss his background in journalism and the importance of research and authenticity. Great content should start conversations, spark new ideas, and offer value to the reader.0:00 Intro1:25 Introducing Sam and Spiff3:50 Journalism background8:50 Writing with personality14:20 Different personas16:10 Research21:10 What does the person want out of this?26:30 Engagement29:30 OutroCheck out The State of the B2B Podcast Listener report: Exclusively on The JuiceSign up for Modern Day Marketer (the newsletter)Follow Sam: LinkedIn | Spiff Follow The Juice:| Website | Blog | Twitter | LinkedInFollow Brett:| Twitter | LinkedIn

Great recording studios have always been built on the idea of providing solutions for their clients. Problem solving is a key skill for any engineer, mixer, or music producer. In this episode Travis explores the importance of being a solutions-oriented person in a world that has increasingly become obsessed with focusing on problems.

Ben Wallick, host of Secret Sonics, joins me for this deep dive into the top traits and mindsets that all successful people in the music industry possess. With over 250 interviews between the two of use we each lay out the top 5 mindsets for success that we've seen in our guests.

After you reach 10,000 hours of practice do you magically become the greatest music producer in the world or the most successful songwriter that ever lived? Most likely not. Travis explores the idea that mastering your craft is just the beginning of your music career.Inspired by Jason Jaggard's book "Beyond High Performance" and the "10,000 Hours" concept made famous by Malcom Gladwell.

Spiff's Angels are on a mission to reach Avernus and pay Tiamat a personal visit. To get there, though, they first need a way to get there, and already, they are finding enemies at work in the shadows to impede their progress. We have a Discord server! If you like the show and would like to hang out, come visit us here! https://discord.gg/CzHp7bTg Music in this episode was produced by Vindsvept (https://vindsvept.bandcamp.com/)

Today's guest is two time Grammy winning producer, engineer, and mixer Daniel “Vago” Galindo. Born in Mexico, but now based out of Los Angeles Vago has worked on a long list of amazing projects including artists such as Juanes and Elvis Costello, as well as TV and film projects such as La La Land, Beauty and The Beast, and Ni Tu Ni Yo. We have a great chat about finding mentorship in the music industry, what music engineers can learn from post production workflows, tips for recording remotely, and why we should work with people because of their musical taste and not their skills.

Today's guest Melbourne, Australia based mastering engineer, entrepreneur, YouTube creator, and general all round mad scientist Nicholas Di Lorenzo. This his second time on the show, he was last on the show back in episode 64, if you want to learn more about Nick check that one out. We have a great chat about where AI tools can come in to your audio workflow, when to use clippers vs when to use limiters, work life balance and how that fuels being present in every part of your life, and why Nick goes so deep in this YouTube videos.

In this episode of The Role Forward, host Joe Michalowski brings together a panel of industry leaders for a Q&A-style discussion. The guests include Bijan Moallemi, Co-Founder and CEO at Mosaic, Chauncey Kerr Hamilton, Partner at XYZ, and Jeron Paul, CEO of Spiff. The conversation revolves around board management, investor communications, and effective strategies for keeping the board up to speed.The panelists delve into the intricacies of board meetings, emphasizing the importance of storytelling and understanding the 'why' behind business numbers. They also discuss the CFO's role in maintaining great attention to detail and the need to elevate conversations to a digestible level for the board. The discussion further explores the importance of building relationships with board members and the value of regular communication outside of board meetings.The episode concludes with a lively discussion on the format of board reports and the benefits of using templates like the one provided by Mosaic. The panelists share their experiences and insights, providing valuable advice for businesses at different stages. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to improve their board management and investor communication strategies.Guests-at-a-Glance

Today's guest is mixing engineer, music producer, and brand strategist Carl Bahner. Carl has helped countless audio pros and artists from not only the mixing chair, but also as a mentor helping them shape their brands and careers. For Carl's second appearance on the podcast he shares his wealth of knowledge and experience in attracting ideal clients and elevating your brand communication skills. Uncover strategies to curate a distinct brand that resonates with your target audience, enhances perception, and leads to working on music you are passionate about with artists that you love.

In this episode of The Role Forward, host Joe Michalowski brings together a panel of industry leaders for a Q&A-style discussion. The guests include Bijan Moallemi, Co-Founder and CEO at Mosaic, Chauncey Kerr Hamilton, Partner at XYZ, and Jeron Paul, CEO of Spiff. The conversation revolves around board management, investor communications, and effective strategies for keeping the board up to speed.The panelists delve into the intricacies of board meetings, emphasizing the importance of storytelling and understanding the 'why' behind business numbers. They also discuss the CFO's role in maintaining great attention to detail and the need to elevate conversations to a digestible level for the board. The discussion further explores the importance of building relationships with board members and the value of regular communication outside of board meetings.The episode concludes with a lively discussion on the format of board reports and the benefits of using templates like the one provided by Mosaic. The panelists share their experiences and insights, providing valuable advice for businesses at different stages. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to improve their board management and investor communication strategies.Guests-at-a-Glance

Today's guest is recording engineer and mixer Wil “Greazy” Anspach. Wil is a veteran in the Los Angeles recording scene with credits including Killer Mike, Vic Mensa, Imagine Dragons, Frank Ocean, X-Ambassadors, The Greatest Showman, and Ariana Grande. He's also become the defacto “TikTok Engineer” by amassing a following of over 50k people by sharing real world experiences and calling out some of the nonsense on the platform. We have a great chat about what it takes to break into the engineering world, his time coming up at East West Studios, the importance of mentoring and sharing knowledge, where art and psychology meet in the recording process, and why he wants to return to Iraq to help foster music culture there.

Jeron Paul is the CEO of Spiff.Inc, a company specializing in commission management. Spiff offers a platform that optimizes sales compensation plans, making them more efficient and collaborative for finance and sales teams. By automating manual processes, Spiff improves sales performance and lightens the commission-related workload for finance departments. He acquired coding skills on his own and has extensive experience in SAAS and business.Prior to leading Spiff, Jeron founded and served as CEO of Capshare, Scalar, and Boardlink. On this episode of Rollercoaster, Jeron and Tyler discuss about the seismic shift that is reshaping software development as OpenAI and superintelligence take center stage. To thrive, individuals and organizations must actively align with this new paradigm. Blockchain, synonymous with trust, honor, and expectation, is revolutionizing the concept of money by enhancing efficiency and transparency. It replaces traditional intermediaries with decentralized and immutable ledgers, redefining how scarcity is managed.Exceptional founders embody four key qualities: boldness, perseverance, deep care about the problem, and founder-market fit. Their audacity to challenge norms and persevere through obstacles sets them apart. They possess a genuine passion for solving pressing issues and demonstrate unwavering dedication to making a meaningful impact. Moreover, they understand the unique synergy between their capabilities and the target market, leveraging their strengths effectively.Where to find Jeron Paul:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeron-paul-35824/Twitter: https://twitter.com/jerondanielpaulWebsite: https://spiff.com/Sirva SoundbitesExplores the latest trends and topics on global talent mobility and the future of work.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify-Where to find Tyler Hall: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerchall/ Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-tyler-hall-archives-7018241874482122753/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sirTHALL Work with Tyler: https://www.tylerchristianhall.com/

Today's guest is artist manager, educator, and entreprenuer Evan Price. He and his team at Artist Collective are on a mission to transform artists into what he calls “artistpreneurs” and help them build a profitable business around their passions. Prior to founding Artist Collective, Evan wore countless hats in the music industry from musician, to promoter, to manager so we've got insights for everybody in this one. We covered everything from the “4 Elements Needed to Scale a Creative Business” to why your new song might not be the best “offer” for your audience. We also got into ways that producers and engineers can diversify and stabilize their income, the importance of prioritizing your time, and hot to frame the “story” of the music.

There's no getting around the fact that you need confidence in your at and in sharing it with others. It's also true that you will be plagued by doubt and fear at points throughout your art career.  It might be helpful to know you are not alone. It happens to everyone, and you're going to be okay.  In the meantime, you have to get through the days. In this episode I talk about 6 tips to help you project confidence while you're trying to regain it.  Load up on experience. Spiff up. Work on the outside. Visualize the situation. Try the charm offensive. Never belittle your work. Never apologize.  To read a transcript of this episode, get links, see my featured artists, and leave a comment, visit https://artbizsuccess.com/project-confidence Sponsored by Magnetic You, a program to help you create or freshen up your marketing materials and improve your professional presentation. Start now: https://artbizsuccess.com/magnetic 

Today's guest is audio engineer, mixer, producer and front of house engineer Rob Seifert Gage. Rob is the owner and operator of Audio Evidence Mobile, a former police van turned mobile recording studio. He started his career in the Los Angeles scene working at renowned studios such as Paramount, A&M, and Shangri La where he notched credits with artists like Porno for Pyros, Skinny Puppy and Mike Watt. Currently he's splitting time between running front of house for various venuse and acts, including Wyclef Jean, and bringing the studio to the artist with his mobile truck. We have a great chat about building out his mobile truck, comping and flying vocals on analog tape, how to be great at live sound, and the importance of being in touch with the vibe in the studio.

Many growing companies go through a phase where things are loose, messy, and undefined. This episode's guest, Johnathan Warren, affectionately refers to this phase of a company's growth as “the wild west.”Johnathan is the Head of Revenue Operations at CaptivateIQ. Having built out the Ops functions at other startups like Spiff and KeyedIn, Jonathan is now on his third ride through and out of the wild west.In our conversation, Johnathan gives us two specific examples of ways you can graduate from the wild west, he gives a crawl-walk-run approach for building your first territory model, and together we realize that there's an opportunity cost to chaos.Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Sean on  LinkedIn and Twitter @Seany_Biz.This episode is brought to you by the RevOps experts at Fullcast.io, the go-to-market planning platform. To learn more about them, visit fullcast.io and tell them Sean sent you!

Today's guest is music sync licensing veteran Ben Morris. Ben is co-owner of the Hauler Music Group and a past employee of EMI and Domino Records. We chat about the art and business of sync, building your brand on your own values, the dos and don'ts of sync licensing, how best to pitch your music, and why artists should be open to doing custom music for brands and agencies.spot

Trying to build the music career you want? Try this mindset... stop asking for permission and start giving it.

Today's guest is music producer, songwriter, and mix engineer John Velasquez. John has gone being signed to Cherrytree Records as a member of the band Max and the Moon to working behind the glass as a producer and songwriter for artist such as Zella Day, Lindsey Black, Ella Vos, and Vacations. We have a great chat about what skills make a producer irreplaceable in the room, why creating your own sounds and samples ages way better than using presets and splice loops, how to create a safe space for artists to be authentic, and when he learned the best way to collaborate is to never try to satisfy your own needs or ego.

Feeling stuck in your music career? Stop setting goals that won't work and start setting goals that are trackable, actionable, and achievable. In this video we talk about the dos and don'ts of setting goals, how to build momentum, and ultimately how to have a career in music.

Today's guest is session and touring guitarist and songwriter Adam Tressler. Adam has performed or recorded with a long list of artists including Aimee Mann, Selena Gomez, Lil Nas X, Camila Cabello, Lord Huron, and many more. He's also played on scores for TV shows such as Modern Family, A Million Little Things, Central Park, and films like Birds of Prey, and This is the Year. We cover everything from the importance of having a strong network to tips for touring musicians and how he broke into the Los Angeles studio session scene.

Today's guest is award winning film and television composer Roger Neill. Roger is best know for his scores for the films “20th Century Women,” “Don't Think Twice,” “Beginners” and for his work on television series such as Amazon's “Mozart in the Jungle,” CBS's “Mom” and the long-running Fox series “King of the Hill.” He's also worked extensively in the video game world on blockbuster titles such as Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Borderlands 2, and many others. He holds a PhD from Harvard University, he arranges and orchestrates for recording artists like Beck, Kygo, and Michael Jackson, is a multi-instrumentalist and world music enthusiast. We have a great chat defining the tone of a film, the importance of never being complacent, never tying your self worth as an artist to some one wanting to hire you, and finding inspiration by breaking patterns.

Today's guest is music producer, recording engineer, and songwriter Ebonie Smith. Ebonie has been a house engineer for Atlantic Records for 10 years, working on projects for artists like Cardi B, Janelle Monae, Jason Mraz, Charlie Puth, and Misterwives. She is also the founder and President of Gender Amplfied, Inc, a non-profit focused on celebrating women in music production. She holds a Masters in Music Technology from NYU and is currently a governor for the New York Chapter of the Recording Academy. We have a great chat about the mission of Gender Amplified and how it got started, as well as tips for producers running sessions and why it's important to not always do the same thing.

Today's guest is Madison, Wisconsin based mastering engineer Justin Perkins. Justin currently works out of his studio Mystery Room Mastering where he has worked on projects for artists such as The Replacements, Jason Mraz, Busta Rhymes, and North Mississippi Allstars, as well as countless independent artists from around the world. He's also worked at Butch Vig's Smart Studios, actively played in numerous bands, and written various articles for The Pro Audio Files. We have a great chat about the importance of communication, how to choose a mastering chain, and why relationships still matter more than social media.

On the 329th episode of K100 w/Konnan & Disco, AdFreeShow's Conrad Thompson returns to the show to discuss his experience at AAA TripleMania in Mexico City, and the future of Starrcast! Music, film & wrestling entrepreneur Spiff is back, to talk his history in hip hop, film, and pro wrestling, plus his thoughts on WWE, AEW, Enzo, and Jim Cornette, plus his future projects! HOT NEWS covers reckless in ring work, concussions and CTE, Bray Wyatt's WWE return, WWE doctor changes, and a German WCW Tour! And the listener mailbag answers questions about a Tony Khan heel turn, ROH's integration into AEW and their future on TV, Konnan vs. Joe, Kidman's WCW push, AAA & Marvel, Cody's slot when he returns to WWE, Brett Lauderdale & GCW, Dom vs. Rey, Konnan vs. Sabu, and so much more! Get Interactive on Twitter @Konnan5150 @TheRealDisco @MaskedRepublic @JFFeeney3rd @TheCCNetwork1 @K100Konnan @TheHughezy @lockbetting Check out our Patreon site at Konnan.me and Patreon.com/Konnan for extra audio, FULL AD FREE episodes, exclusive video, listener roundtable discussion shows, weekly watch-a-longs, call in shows with Konnan and DI, plus so much more! Go to Manscaped.com and use our new code K100 for 20% off all your below the belt male grooming needs, including a trimmer, razor, cologne, wash and deodorant and more! PLUS, the NEW Lawnmower 4.0!Check out LegacySupps.com and use the code K100 for 10% off of their fat burner, pre workout, testosterone supplement, and sleep aid! Brought to you by friend of the show, Nick Aldis! Plus they now carry Women's supplements, brought to you by Mickie James!Fightcamp.com/konnan is your source for the best home boxing work out on the market! Go to the link and see what they have to offer, a unique and fun home fitness system combined with boxing training!