Podcasts about Summit

Ingrid Michaelson sits down with Kanika at the Mom 2.0 Summit in Nashville to discuss her journey as a singer/songwriter, grieving the loss of her parents, the launch of The Notebook musical on Broadway, and how to find joys in the ups and downs in life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the last 2-3 years, I have highlighted by top 2 favorite podcasts of the year in my year-end Best of Series. This week, I am highlighting my coach, friend, and colleague Jay Fields. I would like to thank Jay for her guidance and instruction this year on inner child and parts work because it has made a huge difference in life. If you are not familiar with parts work, I am going to do a solo show on it soon, so stay tuned!If you missed this show, you want to go back and listen. I promise; it's a good one! Even if you did listen to this one, it doesn't hurt to listen in again because Jay has wisdom galore. During the podcast, Jay and I chatted about: What is the purpose of the nervous system and why is training it to serve us important.Why is it easier to remain in our heads vs. listen to our bodies' signals?What does it mean to be embodied?What is Jay's Overthinking Quiz and why should you take it?The meaning behind Jay's popular phrase and podcast, “Hey Wait.”How we can leverage these learnings to protect our energy.Here is more about Jay:Jay Moon Fields, M.A. is a leading educator, coach and author. Nearly a million people have taken her courses featured on LinkedIn Learning, and her book Teaching People Not Poses is used by yoga teacher training programs globally. Her Hey, wait framework teaches people how to honor their emotional experiences and share them authentically, helping them to break free from the cycles of overthinking, people-pleasing, and self-doubt.For over twenty years, Jay has taught the principles and practices of embodied social and emotional intelligence to individuals and groups from Patagonia, Wieden + Kennedy, Apple, the UN, and Baker Tilly. She has been a guest on over 30 podcasts and was named one of the top 50 health and wellness bloggers making a difference in the world by Greatist.com. Jay has been a featured speaker at the GoPro Women's Summit, The Fifteen Seconds Festival and the Omega Institute. She received her BA in Psychosocial Health and Human Movement from the College of William and Mary and her masters in Integral Transformative Education from Prescott College.If the Brave Women at Work Podcast has helped you personally or professionally, please share it with a friend, colleague, or family member. And your ratings and reviews help the show continue to gain traction and grow. Thank you again!

Recap from Zoom.....The Listener Drunken Summit podcast episode featured a debate between two music records: David Lee Roth's "Skyscraper" and Van Halen's "OU812." The episode included four participants: Scotty from Canada, Brad Foss, and Dennis Waldron, who served as the Jewish counter. Izzy hosted the event, which was part of their Patreon family series, and noted that while Laurie from Australia was unable to attend due to family issues, the remaining participants enjoyed drinking Tom and Jerry's while discussing the musical selections. The episode was described as Izzy's favorite show of the year, featuring the usual format of Christmas-time debates and festive drinking, though Scotty maintained sobriety.PATREON - https://www.patreron.com/realizzypres...WEBSITE - https://www.izzypresley.comIzzy's linkshttps://www.lasvegasguitartradeshow.comhttps://www.sotastick.comhttps://vintageguitarsrus.comhttps://www.beeteramplification.comhttps://www.thesmokinkills.comhttps://www.7thavenuepizza.comhttps://www.lockecustomguitars.com https://valkenburgusa.com https://www.monstersofrockcruise.comMERCH https://official-izzy-presley-store.creator-spring.comhttps://www.teepublic.com/user/official-izzy-presleyCAMEOhttps://www.cameo.com/realizzypresley RAISE YOUR GLASSEShttps://www.amazon.com/RAISE-YOUR-GLA...

In this episode special episode from Beyond the Summit, Jordan and Michael are back with a fireside reading of the Christmas as told by the Gospels and the Prophets. Between the holiday festivities, take a moment to listen to the beginning of the greatest story ever told.

Mike Wendt and Andy Ferg discuss PornHub releasing their year-end stats and lots of influencers got beat up over the weekend. Plus, Christmas Movie Rushmore, Songs, Cartoons, FMK, and other nonsense. We're the food show your deserve.Special THANKS to The Gary Girolamo Group, Ben Franklin Print Co., Twisted Fate Brewing, Anthony's Roast Beef in Reading, Jamie's Roast Beef, C&S Pizza and Beef, Summit's Place in Middleton & Brother's in Peabody!Thanks to the very talented Mark DiChiara for the original F-Buddies theme music.

Pass the Eggnog! Happy holidays to all of our drunken court listeners! This week, King and Snowman are joined by Jolly Ol' Saint Nick from the Anime Summit Podcast. Tune in to hear our most memorable Christmas presents ever and the classic what we're reading, watching, and gaming on.  As always, enjoy responsibly and remember LESS IS MORE!Check out our merch this holiday season and use promo code NICKISSANTA25 for 20% off at checkout at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠animesummit.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!!!

Dr. Greg hits record on a Christmas group call with the CatholicPsych Leadership Council, and things immediately go off-script—in the best way. It's a chaotic, joyful, surprisingly deep year-in-review with candid moments, real humanity, and honest conversation about vocation, formation, and the Holy Spirit, plus a few teasers for 2026. Key Topics: The unseen personal work behind CatholicPsych's growth this past year Why real formation often feels disorienting before it feels hopeful Why integration of faith and psychology can't be fully explained—only experienced What the Summit revealed that no amount of planning could have predicted What's emerging next for CatholicPsych as it moves beyond a single voice or brand Hints about what 2026 will hold (including JP2, pilgrimage, and deeper community) Learn More: Summit of Integration 2026 – Be the first to hear updates on CatholicPsych's annual gathering focused on integration, formation, and community.  Further reading: The Art of Existential Counseling by Fr. Adrian Van Kaam   The Flight from Woman by Karl Stern  Pilgrimage to Poland (in the footsteps of St. John Paul II) – Interested in joining? Sign up to receive updates. Previous episode on Our Lady of Guadalupe: Ep. #257: This Book Just Changed My Life: Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Flower World Prophecy Previous episode on St. Thomas Aquinas and women: Ep. #250: Correcting Luther…and Aquinas? Calling Out Disintegration in the Church Dating Back to the Reformation Need help? Schedule a free CatholicPsych consultation Want to help? Learn more about our Certification in Professional Accompaniment Follow Us on Socials: Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter (X) | LinkedIn

The Trail Dames podcast continues the dream as we go full-on Tolkein while hiking in New Zealand!                   Links- All the details - https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/milford-track/ Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwCyDuJ3Lk Official Site - https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/things-to-do/tracks/milford-track/ Mt. McKinnon Web Cam - https://metdata.net.nz/doc/mackinnon/cam1/live.php Connect with Anna, aka Mud Butt, at info@traildames.com You can find the Trail Dames at: Our website: https://www.traildames.com The Summit: https://www.traildamessummit.com The Trail Dames Foundation: https://www.tdcharitablefoundation.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traildames/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/traildames/ Hiking Radio Network: https://hikingradionetwork.com/ Hiking Radio Network on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hikingradionetwork/ Music provided for this Podcast by The Burns Sisters "Dance Upon This Earth" https://www.theburnssisters.com

Send us a textWe trace the hidden holiness of Saint John Canti, the scholar priest whose charity mended jugs, multiplied bread, and converted thieves. His fidelity to the magisterium and deep Eucharistic devotion offer a practical path to mercy today.• scholar priest forming minds and hearts• hidden works of mercy shaping city life• the broken jug and multiplied loaves• honesty that disarms violence on the road• fidelity to the magisterium with humility• Eucharistic devotion fueling service• holy friendship with John of Capistrano• practical steps to live mercy and truthVisit Journeys of Faith and take your next step with us because our goal is heaven, and we invite you to walk this journey togetherBe sure to click the link in the description for special news itemSince there is more to this article, finish reading and check out the special offerVisit journeysoffaith.com website todaySaint John Kanty CollectionOpen by Steve Bailey Support the showJourneys of Faith brings your Super Saints Podcasts ***Our Core Beliefs*** The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Faith." Catechism 132 Click Here “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” 1Thessalonians 4“ Click Here ... lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...” Matthew 6:19-2 Click Here The Goal is Heaven Click Here Why you should shop here at Journeys of Faith official site! Lowest Prices and Higher discounts up to 50% Free Shipping starts at $18 - Express Safe Checkout Click Here Cannot find it let us find or create it - - Click Here Rewards Program is active - ...

Key TakeawaysReflections: Grant reflects on last year's AI Agent & Copilot Summit, acknowledging the in-depth learning opportunities given the newness of AI at the time. Although it was the first year, he says it "felt like a really mature conference." The upcoming AI Agent & Copilot Summit can enable attendees to dig deeper into "how we actually accomplish things as a business, as an organization, and even as individuals.Session considerations: Looking forward to the event in March, Grant is excited to attend various sessions. He finds sessions on Microsoft products interesting as well as sessions that provide an individual point of view. "I'll look at the content of a session, but I look almost equally as much at the speaker to think about, 'What is this person like? What's their perspective in the world and on business? And how are they using this in a way that other people aren't yet?' I think that's where we start hitting and tapping on innovation."Learning from insights: AI Agent & Copilot Summit speakers come to the event prepared to share their experiences and expertise with attendees. Grant outlines what topics attendees might expect and what sessions he submitted to speak at the event. "The world is changing by the minute, and I think it's important for us to go into this eyes wide open and think about what we're doing right and how we're doing it. It matters," he states. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

This isn’t a regular episode—it’s a heartfelt thank you from Stacey to YOU. As we wrap up 2025 and head into a well-earned break, Stacey jumps in with a quick message of love, gratitude, and encouragement. Because running your own business is bold. Investing in your growth is brave. And you deserve a moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate how far you’ve come. Inside this short and sweet episode: ✨ A huge thank you for being part of our podcast, coaching, and event community✨ A reminder to stop, breathe, and give yourself credit for all you’ve created this year✨ Reflection prompts to help you wrap 2025 and dream boldly for 2026✨ A gentle nudge to rest, delegate, and not try to do it all (yes, even during the holidays) Stacey also shares her love and appreciation for everyone who showed up this year—at Summit, the Roar Awards, ADEAs, in coaching, or right here on the podcast. You are what makes this community so special.

The 2025 Kern EDC Energy Summit was a huge success, we re-cap the event with Kern EDC Chairman RIchard Chapman. Greg Garrett and Corey Costelloe attended the Energy Summit and talk in detail about energy in Kern County and what a huge impact it has on our economy. Send your questions, thoughts and suggestions to Media@TehachapiCityHall.com. 

COP30 took place in Belém, Brazil, at the heart of the Amazon, setting the stage for high-stakes climate negotiations amid one of the planet's most critical ecosystems. This episode of Fixed on ESG examines the summit's defining outcomes: the formal acknowledgment that the 1.5°C target is no longer attainable without overshoot, debates over fossil fuel phase-outs, and the shifting balance of influence as emerging markets assert a stronger role amid the absence of U.S. leadership. We also explore new climate finance pledges, adaptation funding, and the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever initiative, alongside the EU's trade measures and revised emissions targets—analyzing how these developments could shape the trajectory of global climate action. PGIM's John Ploeg, CFA, Co-Head of Fixed Income ESG Research, hosts this discussion with Roma Wilkinson, ESG Specialist. Recorded on December 9, 2025.

As St. Paul begins to conclude his second letter to the Thessalonians, he encourages them to pray for the ongoing missionary work that he and his companions are doing. The Lord is faithful, and the apostle knows that the Lord's Word will bear good fruit. In that confidence, he commands the Thessalonians to continue to work diligently to receive their living, just as he had done while among them. This is God's gift, that Christians would work quietly and so receive their daily bread from Him.  Rev. Steve Andrews, pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Lee's Summit, MO, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study 2 Thessalonians 3:1-12.  To learn more about St. Matthew Lutheran, visit GraceFaithLove.org. “Yearning for the Day of Christ's Returning” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that studies St. Paul's two epistles to the Thessalonians. Although Paul's time in Thessalonica was brief, he had great affection for the Christians there. His two letters to the Thessalonians show us the joy that God gives us together in the Church and encourage us to live faithfully in expectation of Jesus' coming on the Last Day.  Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God's Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Submit comments or questions to: listener@kfuo.org

Send us a textThis week on The Renaissance Podcast, Sydney sits down with Courtney Spritzer — entrepreneur, author, angel investor, and co-founder of Socialfly and Entreprenista — for a conversation about building businesses with intention, heart, and long-term vision.Courtney co-founded Socialfly in 2012, leaving a corporate career to build what would become an award-winning, social-first marketing agency working with Fortune 500, middle-market, and emerging brands. Over the next decade, she scaled Socialfly alongside her longtime business partner, Stephanie Cartin, ultimately leading the company through a successful acquisition in 2024.But Courtney's impact didn't stop there.What began as a podcast to support women founders evolved into Entreprenista Media, a powerful platform and community dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs grow businesses, build meaningful connections, and feel less alone along the way. Today, Entreprenista supports thousands of founders through content, community, education, events, and visibility opportunities.In this episode, we dive into:Navigating a long-term business partnershipBuilding a company with the end in mindWhat it really means to build a business as an assetHow to scale, delegate, and create a company that can run without youDifferentiating in a saturated industry through human connectionTurning community into a powerful growth engineWhy entrepreneurship doesn't have to be lonelyCourtney shares candid insights from her journey — the risks, the growth, the exits, and the lessons learned from building not just companies, but ecosystems of support.Ready to build alongside other women founders? Learn more about Entreprenista and their Founders Weekend at entreprenista.com.Support the showAbout The Host:Sydney Dozier, the visionary behind Renaissance Marketing Group, has been at the forefront of social media excellence since the agency's inception in 2014. Over the past 10 years, Sydney has cultivated a full-fledged team of social media aficionados and creative minds, elevating Renaissance to its current status as one of Nashville's premier agencies. With an extensive and diverse clientele, they've consistently delivered exceptional results. From coast to coast, Renaissance offers a comprehensive suite of services, spanning social media management, strategic guidance, content creation, paid digital advertising, email marketing, influencer partnerships, graphic design, branding, in-house professional photography and videography, and beyond. Their mission is simple: to drive optimal revenue and online growth while consistently surpassing client expectations. Beyond her role as a business maven, Sydney wears multiple hats. She hosts The Renaissance Podcast, an enlightening resource for entrepreneurs seeking to spark a modern-day Renaissance in their lives and businesses. Her passion for championing women in business gave rise to The Mona Lisa Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to supporting and accelerating women entrepreneurs in Nashville through mentorship, grants, education, and a vibrant community. Sydney is also the driving force behind The Renaissance Women's Summit, an annual...

In case you missed it last year (or you're in full holiday chaos and need an easy listen), this week is a Trip Tales Replay of my Park City ski trip recap and it's packed with tips you can actually use to plan your own trip.I'm sharing all the details from our family's winter getaway to Park City, Utah, including why skiing The Canyons side of Park City Mountain Resort is our favorite. Plus, you'll get my go-to restaurants, where we ate, and how we rang in the New Year in Park City. If a Park City ski trip is on your list for this winter or next, this replay is full of great, relevant info to help you plan it.If you'd like to share about your trip on the podcast, email me at: kelsey@triptalespodcast.comBuy Me A Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/kelseygravesFollow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelsey_gravesFollow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mskelseygravesJoin us in the Trip Tales Podcast Community Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1323687329158879Mentioned in this episode:- Trip Tales Episode - Park City, UT - The Ultimate Family Ski Guide: Why We Only Ski The Canyons Side of PCMR: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trip-tales-a-family-travel-podcast/id1731455602?i=1000678149908- White Amazon Ski Bibs: https://urlgeni.us/amzn/Oqhp9WhiteSkiBibs- Tipsy Elves Retro Ski Jacket: https://www.tipsyelves.com/products/womens-navy-retro-striped-winter-ski-jacket- Long Johns: https://urlgeni.us/amzn/vrNMMThermaJaneWomens- HESTRA Ski Gloves: https://amzlink.to/az03rZ0zIj3TW (Size 8)- White Ski Helmet: https://amzn.to/4gOfbYt (Size Large)- BlackStrap Ski Mask: https://urlgeni.us/amzn/BlackStrapSkiMask- Ski Goggles: https://amzn.to/48DptJc- Favorite family games: It's In the Bag https://amzlink.to/az08s05VqwhMb & Flip 7 https://amzlink.to/az0ecfatrzQIM- Restaurants: Red Tail Grill, Drafts Burger Bar, Billy Blanco's, Lookout Cabin, Pine Cone Ridge, Park City Roadhouse Grill, Main St. Pizza & Noodle, Edge Steakhouse- Hotels in the Canyons Village: Westgate Resort, Hyatt Centric, The Summit, The Sundial, The Pendry, Yotel Pad- Westgate Presidential Suite booked through StayLuxe Park City- Bootworks bootfitters in Park City, shin bang, Lange ski boots

Text me Your email for my Booking Link“You can have multiple income streams and run a thriving Yoga Studio — as long as you have a plan and a team aligned with your values.” – Aly, Summit Sol Yoga & WellnessI sit down with Aly from Summit Sol Yoga & Wellness in Dillon, Colorado — a studio owner who brings a rare blend of executive leadership, yoga philosophy, and grounded business strategy into everything she does.Aly didn't walk away from her career in healthcare technology.She expanded her life.She found yoga during a period of anxiety, traveled to India to study it, and eventually stepped into studio ownership with intention, clarity, and a real business plan. Within three months of buying her studio, she rebranded it, aligned her team around new values, elevated the customer experience, and built a studio that became profitable in year one.Inside this conversation, we get into:• What it's really like to take over an existing Yoga Studio• Rebranding fast — without losing the community• Leading a team you didn't hire and setting new expectations• Building systems, KPIs, and processes that keep the business stable• How technology supports growth• Creating seasonal programming that feels aligned and sustainable• How to balance multiple income streams without burning outAly brings a powerful reminder that yoga and leadership can coexist beautifully — and that a Yoga Studio becomes profitable when there's a vision, a structure, and a willingness to step fully into ownership.Her story is honest, refreshing, and full of insight for any Yoga Studio owner who wants to grow with confidence instead of chaos.summitsolwellness.com

AGA ERM Summit 2026 by AGA

When it comes to running a sports franchise, wins and losses only tell part of the story. The business side has its own scoreboard, and that is where Jen Millet thrives. She's a seasoned sports executive and now the president of the newest National Women's Soccer League team, Denver Summit FC. Jen arrives in Denver fresh off helping launch another NWSL franchise, Bay FC, and after leading marketing for the NBA's Golden State Warriors. Her next challenge? Bringing professional women's sports back to the Mile High City for the first time in nearly three decades. On this episode of Voices of Experience podcast, Jen shares her goals for Summit FC both on and off the pitch, her vision for the club's inaugural match at Mile High Stadium and what she sees on the horizon for women's professional sports in Denver. Table of Contents • 1:11 Building a franchise from scratch • 3:54 Why community drives early momentum • 5:31 The decision to play at Mile High Stadium • 6:37 What's next for women's sports in Denver • 8:53 Don't underestimate your audience • 10:50 How Jen defines success off the pitch • 14:25 Turning season tickets into real membership • 18:29 Leading through wins, losses, and chaos • 24:10 Supporting working parents at work • 27:05 Show notes and credits

This special episode features Insights from the 2025 ABCA Youth Baseball Summit, with powerful voices from across the game: Rob Hahne Duke Baxter Mike Cassidy Deven MorganTogether, we dive into the conversations, challenges, and solutions that came out of the 2025 ABCA Youth Baseball Summit in Austin, Texas.  You'll hear about coaching education, parent education, player health, and creating better long-term outcomes for young athletes.This episode isn't about opinions for the sake of opinions. It's about collaboration, solutions, and taking responsibility for the future of the game.If you're a coach, parent, or organization who wants to be part of the solution in youth baseball, this is a must-listen.

Send us a textWe lead a guided pilgrimage to Bethlehem's cave, tracing how prophecy, place, and liturgy meet in the Incarnation and flow into the Eucharist. Along the way we learn from Joseph's silent courage, Mary's Fiat, and the Franciscans' faithful custody of the Nativity.• prophecy fulfilled in Bethlehem and Emmanuel made present• the grotto's geography as sacrament of humility and grace• manger to altar and the Eucharist as Bethlehem today• Midnight Mass, chants and veneration at the silver star• praying the Joyful Mysteries in the shepherds' fields• Saint Joseph's model of fatherhood and steadfast action• Marian devotion as doorway to the Word made flesh• Franciscan custodianship and unity among Christians• invitation to virtual pilgrimages, retreats and givingBe sure to look at the description for special information of interest to you in Bethlehem at ChristmasVisit journeysoffaith.com website todayBe sure to click the link in the description for special news itemAnd since there is more to this article, finish reading and check out the special offerJourneys of FaithOpen by Steve Bailey Support the showJourneys of Faith brings your Super Saints Podcasts ***Our Core Beliefs*** The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Faith." Catechism 132 Click Here “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” 1Thessalonians 4“ Click Here ... lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...” Matthew 6:19-2 Click Here The Goal is Heaven Click Here Why you should shop here at Journeys of Faith official site! Lowest Prices and Higher discounts up to 50% Free Shipping starts at $18 - Express Safe Checkout Click Here Cannot find it let us find or create it - - Click Here Rewards Program is active - ...

In this episode, Seth covers all the growth of the podcast this year! Thank you for all you do.

It's Christmas at Summit Park! Join us as we learn about the wonder of Christmas! Summit Park Church is a life-giving church in Lee's Summit, MO, with an incredible kids program, Bible-centered teaching, and an encouraging atmosphere for the whole family. Plan your visit at https://www.summitparkchurch.com. 425 SW Oldham Pkwy, Lee's Summit, Missouri 64081.

Megyn Kelly sits down with Jack Posobiec at Turning Point's AmFest 2025 conference to discuss what's really behind the right on the right, the truth about the Candace-Erika summit, what's next for the conservative movement and Turning Point, and honoring Charlie Kirk's legacy.  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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

December 11, 2025On our 5-year anniversary, the admin team at S2S met virtually to have another Roundtable discussion.2025 has been a busy and productive year, as this discussion shows. Besides growing our current projects, we are expanding into some new territory.Check it out!The following links point to timestamps in YouTube:0:00 — Welcome and intro4:59 — Kingdom Connect Europe (website)12:43 — Seekers Café (website)19:14 — S2S Books (website)28:12 — Church Index (website)35:46 — Sacred Roots (website)46:21 — Caleb Summit (website)https://strengthtostrength.org/behind-the-scenes-kingdom-connect-europe-seekers-cafe-s2s-books-church-index-sacred-roots-caleb-summit/

Welcome to another edition of HSSS with Tate Mathews! This episode features deep dives into women’s basketball and wrestling, alongside reflections on the local community and coaching legacies. In This Episode: Forest Lady Rockets Basketball: Coach John Wild Forrest joins the show to discuss the Lady Rockets' recent 66-30 victory over Franklin Christian Academy. He shares insights on building team depth, the importance of coaching relationships, and the impact of former players returning to the coaching ranks. Nolensville Knights Wrestling: Coach Johnny Melzoni checks in from Orlando to discuss the Knights' ambitious schedule. With the program growing to record numbers, Melzoni details splitting the team to compete in major tournaments in Florida and Georgia simultaneously. He highlights the leadership of seniors Nolan Barton, Cruz Pryor, and Brody Melzoni, and the rise of promising freshmen like Dalton Poteet. The End of an Era at Barbara’s: The hosts reflect on the upcoming closure of the iconic Franklin meat-and-three, Barbara’s, on December 31st. They reminisce about the restaurant’s 30-year legacy as a community staple for coaches and athletes alike. The Tennessean’s Year-End Rankings: Tom Kreager provides a preview of The Tennessean’s "All-Midstate" football teams and the final "Super 25" rankings. Discussion includes the remarkable turnaround at Centennial under Taylor Burks and the historic #6 finish for Nashville Christian. Athletes of the Week: Recognition for Nolensville’s Nyla Johnson (31 points vs. Summit) and Brody Melzoni (undefeated season through the McCallie Invitational). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a textWe explore how to encounter the child Jesus through the Holy Family, grounding daily life in Scripture, the catechism, and living traditions. We share practical ways to make a little Nazareth at home through prayer, consecration, and the witness of saints.• biblical roots of holy family spirituality• nazareth as a school of love and obedience• mary's fiat as a model for surrender• joseph's creative courage and protection• praying with the crèche as visual catechesis• eucharistic echoes in family routines• feast of the holy family practices• rosary with a holy family focus• insights from thérèse, teresa, and john paul ii• resources and invitations from journeys of faithBe sure to look at the description for special information of interest to you in Holy Family SpiritualityVisit or experience the Holy Family mission, whether on site in Morralton, Arkansas, or virtuallySubscribe to our newsletter and follow our latest virtual pilgrimages where faith meets modern mediaBe sure to click the link in the description for special news itemAnd since there is more to this article, finish reading and check out the special offer.Journeys of Faith Online ShopOpen by Steve Bailey Support the showJourneys of Faith brings your Super Saints Podcasts ***Our Core Beliefs*** The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Faith." Catechism 132 Click Here “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” 1Thessalonians 4“ Click Here ... lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...” Matthew 6:19-2 Click Here The Goal is Heaven Click Here Why you should shop here at Journeys of Faith official site! Lowest Prices and Higher discounts up to 50% Free Shipping starts at $18 - Express Safe Checkout Click Here Cannot find it let us find or create it - - Click Here Rewards Program is active - ...

Mr. Beast Biography Flash a weekly Biography.Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, made waves just weeks ago with a candid appearance at the New York Times DealBook Summit on December 3, where he dissected his sprawling empire alongside Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold. According to the New York Times video transcript, Donaldson admitted newer YouTube videos havent hit the mark, vowing to refocus on gripping stories over spectacles amid a packed schedule of 27-to-28-day shoots. He revealed working every day, even holidays—if it ends in Y, its a workday—while his fiancée knew what she signed up for.Housenbold dished on Beast Industries three-pronged empire: media, now half the revenue with YouTube anchoring, TikTok shorts, Instagram, Beast Games season two dropping in January, fresh animation channels, and plans to diversify beyond Donaldsons face using replicable viral concepts. Consumer products shine with Feastables as the worlds largest ethically sourced chocolate brand, top-selling MrBeast Labs action figures, Lunchly snacks, Jack Links beef jerky collab, plus upcoming Beast Mobile phone service and a financial literacy platform. Philanthropy weaves through it all, from Kenya projects to making kindness viral for Gen Z and Alpha.They eyed a future IPO to let 1.4 billion unique viewers in 90 days own shares, boasting one billion global followers—70 percent outside North America—and Beast Games as the top show in 80 countries after building a contestant city. Donaldson stressed role-model vibes, skipping vice for positive inspo, while addressing lawsuits quietly post-season one.No major headlines in the past 24 hours, but this summit chatter underscores long-term shifts: scaling IP, global dominance, and blending profit with purpose amid legal hiccups—all verified, no speculation here.Thanks for tuning into this MrBeast episode of the podcast. Subscribe to never miss an update on MrBeast and search Biography Flash for more great biographies.And that is it for today. Make sure you hit the subscribe button and never miss an update on Mr. Beast. Thanks for listening. This has been a Quiet Please production."Get the best deals https://amzn.to/4mMClBvThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

This is the story of the Great Range Athlete BIG SLIDE Team and our recent team winter ike up Cascade Mountain in 60 mph winds. What a ride it was!Tired of physically struggling on your hikes? Looking for help to improve your your fitness for hiking? Here are 2 ways I can help you do that:1.) Work with James 1-on-1 (online)Apply to work with directy with James 1-on-1 in his Seek To Do More program where he'll help you build the right kind of strength & conditioning for better hiking adventures, along with the nutrition and daily habits needed to support long term transformation. Book a call with James to see if it's the right fit for you HEREwww.seektodomore.com 2.) Join the next GREAT RANGE ATHLETE Team training programA 6-week online fitness program to help you imporve your strength and endurance for hiking mountains. Train alongside a likeminded team of fellow hikers who will give you the support, guidance, and accountability you need to succeed.Over 200 hikers worldwide have joined the Great Range Athlete team program with great sucesss from first time hikers to multi-round Adirondack 46'ers and everywhere inbetween. Plus, enjoy an Adirondack group hike at the end of the program with your coach and teammatesJoin the next team HEREwww.GreatRangeAthlete.comFollow on Instagram & Facebook:@46of46podcast@jamesappleton46Get my Adirondack hiking books:1.) The Adirondack 46 in 18 Hikes: The Complete Guide to Hiking the High Peaks 2.) Adirondack Campfire Stories: Tales and Folklore from Inside the Blue Line3.) Pick up my digital eBook "From 1-to-46" instantly HEREVisit my websites:www.46OUTDOORS.comwww.46OF46.com

On today's show we catch up with the resident alien Robby Swan, is motion and static monitors correct?, an update on the Asetek sale, need a triple screen DDU?, 2026 eNASCAR Coke Series updates, one week in and two patches already, tell you why you need to turn off the racing line and we take a look back at 2025 and a look toward 2026. So sit back, relax and join us on the iRacers Lounge Podcast. iRacers Lounge Podcast is available on iTunes and Apple's Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, Spreaker, Podbay, PodFanatic, Overcast, Amazon, and other podcast players. Sponsors: Hosts: Mike Ellis – https://x.com/mikedeanellis David Hall – https://x.com/dmixmage Greg Hecktus – twitter.com/froozenkaktus Donnie Spiker – https://www.instagram.com/spikerman19/ Brad Wrenn – https://x.com/bradwrenn John Kerley – https://x.com/KerleyJohnE Justin Pearson – https://www.facebook.com/justin.pearson.5811 Bobby Jonas – https://x.com/bjonas71 William Westbrook – https://www.facebook.com/william.westbrook.35 Kris Randall – https://www.signalcraftstudio.com/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579217706429 Links: Facebook – www.facebook.com/iRacersLounge/ Twitter – twitter.com/iracerslounge Instagram – instagram.com/iracersloungepodcast/ Web (Show Notes) – iracerslounge.com/

TRSA President & CEO Joseph Ricci, TRSA Chair Randy Bartsch from Ecotex Healthcare Linen Service and TRSA Vice Chair PJ Dempsey from Dempsey Uniform and Linen Supply give an overview of the highlights to look forward to at the 2026 Annual Conference & CEO Summit, scheduled for May 12-14 in Napa, CA. Thanks to SonicAire for sponsoring this episode of the podcast. Visit SonicAire.com for more information.

What happens when curiosity, resilience, and storytelling collide over a lifetime of building something meaningful? In this episode, I welcome Nick Francis, founder and CEO of Casual Films, for a thoughtful conversation about leadership, presence, and what it takes to keep going when the work gets heavy. Nick's journey began with a stint at BBC News and a bold 9,000-mile rally from London to Mongolia in a Mini Cooper, a spirit of adventure that still fuels how he approaches business and life today. We talk about how that early experience shaped Casual into a global branded storytelling company with studios across five continents, and what it really means to lead a creative organization at scale. Nick shares insights from growing the company internationally, expanding into Southeast Asia, and staying grounded while producing hundreds of projects each year. Along the way, we explore why emotionally resonant storytelling matters, how trust and preparation beat panic, and why presence with family, health, and purpose keeps leaders steady in uncertain times. This conversation is about building an Unstoppable life by focusing on what matters most, using creativity to connect people, and choosing clarity and resilience in a world full of noise. Highlights: 00:01:30 – Learn how early challenges shape resilience and long-term drive. 00:06:20 – Discover why focusing on your role creates calm under pressure. 00:10:50 – Learn how to protect attention in a nonstop world. 00:18:25 – Understand what global growth teaches about leadership. 00:26:00 – Learn why leading with trust changes relationships. 00:45:55 – Discover how movement and presence restore clarity. About the Guest: Nick Francis is the founder and CEO of Casual, a global production group that blends human storytelling, business know-how, and creativity turbo-charged by AI. Named the UK's number one brand video production company for five years, Casual delivers nearly 1,000 projects annually for world-class brands like Adobe, Amazon, BMW, Hilton, HSBC, and P&G. The adventurous spirit behind its first production – a 9,000-mile journey from London to Mongolia in an old Mini – continues to drive Casual's growth across offices in London, New York, LA, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong and Greater China. Nick previously worked for BBC News and is widely recognised for his expertise in video storytelling, brand building, and corporate communications. He is the founding director of the Casual Films Academy, a charity helping young filmmakers develop skills by producing films for charitable organisations. He is also the author of ‘The New Fire: Harness the Power of Video for Your Business' and a passionate advocate for emotionally resonant, behaviorally grounded storytelling. Nick lives in San Francisco, California, with his family. Ways to connect with Nick**:** Website: https://www.casualfilms.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@casual_global  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casualglobal/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CasualFilms/  Nick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickfrancisfilm/  Casual's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/casual-films-international/  Beyond Casual - LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6924458968031395840 About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson  01:21 Well, hello everyone. I am your host, Mike hingson, that's kind of funny. We'll talk about that in a second, but this is unstoppable mindset. And our guest today is Nick Francis, and what we're going to talk about is the fact that people used to always ask me, well, they would call me Mr. Kingston, and it took me, as I just told Nick a master's degree in physics in 10 years to realize that if I said Mike hingson, that's why they said Mr. Kingston. So was either say Mike hingson or Michael hingson. Well, Michael hingson is a lot easier to say than Mike hingson, but I don't really care Mike or Michael, as long as it's not late for dinner. Whatever works. Yeah. Well, Nick, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're Nick Francis  02:04 here. Thanks, Mike. It's great to be here. Michael Hingson  02:08 So Nick is a marketing kind of guy. He's got a company called casual that we'll hear about. Originally from England, I believe, and now lives in San Francisco. We were talking about the weather in San Francisco, as opposed to down here in Victorville. A little bit earlier. We're going to have a heat wave today and and he doesn't have that up there, but you know, well, things, things change over time. But anyway, we're glad you're here. And thanks, Mike. Really looking forward to it. Tell us about the early Nick growing up and all that sort of stuff, just to get us started. Nick Francis  02:43 That's a good question. I grew up in London, in in Richmond, which is southwest London. It's a at the time, it wasn't anything like as kind of, it's become quite kind of shishi, I think back in the day, because it's on the west of London. The pollution from the city used to flow east and so, like all the kind of well to do people, in fact, there used to be a, there used to be a palace in Richmond. It's where Queen Elizabeth died, the first Queen Elizabeth, that is. And, yeah, you know, I grew up it was, you know, there's a lot of rugby played around there. I played rugby for my local rugby club from a very young age, and we went sailing on the south coast. It was, it was great, really. And then, you know, unfortunately, when I was 10 years old, my my dad died. He had had a very powerful job at the BBC, and then he ran the British Council, which is the overseas wing of the Arts Council, so promoting, I guess, British soft power around the world, going and opening art galleries and going to ballet in Moscow and all sorts. So he had an incredible life and worked incredibly hard. And you know, that has brought me all sorts of privileges, I think, when I was a kid. But, you know, unfortunately, age 10 that all ended. And you know, losing a parent at that age is such a sort of fundamental, kind of shaking of your foundations. You know, you when you're a kid, you feel like a, you're going to live forever, and B, the things that are happening around you are going to last forever. And so, you know, you know, my mom was amazing, of course, and, you know, and in time, I got a new stepdad, and all the rest of it. But you know, that kind of shaped a lot of my a lot of my youth, really. And, yeah, I mean, Grief is a funny thing, and it's funny the way it manifests itself as you grow. But yeah. So I grew up there. I went to school in the Midlands, near where my stepdad lived, and then University of Newcastle, which is up in the north of England, where it rains a lot. It's where it's where Newcastle Football Club is based. And you know is that is absolutely at the center of the city. So. So the city really comes alive there. And it was during that time that I discovered photography, and I wanted to be a war photographer, because I believe that was where life was lived at the kind of the real cutting edge. You know, you see the you see humanity in its in its most visceral and vivid color in terrible situations. And I kind of that seemed like an interesting thing to go to go and do. Michael Hingson  05:27 Well, what? So what did you major in in college in Newcastle? So I did Nick Francis  05:31 history and politics, and then I went did a course in television journalism, and ended up working at BBC News as a initially running on the floor. So I used to deliver the papers that you know, when you see people shuffling or not, they do it anymore, actually, because everything, everything's digital now digital, yeah, but when they were worried about the the auto cues going down, they we always had to make sure that they had the up to date script. And so I would be printing in, obviously, the, you know, because it's a three hour news show, the scripts constantly evolving, and so, you know, I was making sure they had the most up to date version in their hands. And it's, I don't know if you have spent any time around live TV Mike, but it's an incredibly humbling experience, like the power of it. You know, there's sort of two or 3 million people watching these two people who are sitting five feet in front of me, and the, you know, the sort of slightly kind of, there was an element of me that just wanted to jump in front of them and kind of go, ah. And, you know, never, ever work in live TV, ever again. But you know, anyway, I did that and ended up working as a producer, writing and developing, developing packets that would go out on the show, producing interviews and things. And, you know, I absolutely loved it. It was, it was a great time. But then I left to go and set up my company. Michael Hingson  06:56 I am amazed, even today, with with watching people on the news, and I've and I've been in a number of studios during live broadcasts and so on. But I'm amazed at how well, mostly, at least, I've been fortunate. Mostly, the people are able to read because they do have to read everything. It isn't like you're doing a lot of bad living in a studio. Obviously, if you are out with a story, out in the field, if you will, there, there may be more where you don't have a printed script to go by, but I'm amazed at the people in the studio, how much they are able to do by by reading it all completely. Nick Francis  07:37 It's, I mean, the whole experience is kind of, it's awe inspiring, really. And you know, when you first go into a Live, a live broadcast studio, and you see the complexity, and you know, they've got feeds coming in from all over the world, and you know, there's upwards of 100 people all working together to make it happen. And I remember talking to one of the directors at the time, and I was like, How on earth does this work? And he said, You know, it's simple. You everyone has a very specific job, and you know that as long as you do your bit of the job when it comes in front of you, then the show will go out. He said, where it falls over is when people start worrying about whether other people are going to are going to deliver on time or, you know, and so if you start worrying about what other people are doing, rather than just focusing on the thing you have to do, that's where it potentially falls over, Michael Hingson  08:29 which is a great object lesson anyway, to worry about and control and don't worry about the rest Nick Francis  08:36 for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, it's almost a lesson for life. I mean, sorry, it is a lesson for life, and Michael Hingson  08:43 it's something that I talk a lot about in dealing with the World Trade Center and so on, and because it was a message I received, but I've been really preaching that for a long time. Don't worry about what you can't control, because all you're going to do is create fear and drive yourself Nick Francis  08:58 crazy, completely, completely. You know. You know what is it? Give me the, give me this. Give me the strength to change the things I can. Give me the give me the ability to let the things that I can't change slide but and the wisdom to know the difference. I'm absolutely mangling that, that saying, but, yeah, it's, it's true, you know. And I think, you know, it's so easy for us to in this kind of modern world where everything's so media, and we're constantly served up things that, you know, shock us, sadness, enrage us, you know, just to be able to step back and say, actually, you know what? These are things I can't really change. I'd have to just let them wash over me. Yeah, and just focus on the things that you really can change. Michael Hingson  09:46 It's okay to be aware of things, but you've got to separate the things you can control from the things that you can and we, unfortunately aren't taught that. Our parents don't teach us that because they were never taught it, and it's something. That, just as you say, slides by, and it's so unfortunate, because it helps to create such a level of fear about so many things in our in our psyche and in our world that we really shouldn't have to do Nick Francis  10:13 completely well. I think, you know, obviously, but you know, we've, we've spent hundreds, if not millions of years evolving to become humans, and then, you know, actually being aware of things beyond our own village has only been an evolution of the last, you know what, five, 600 years, yeah. And so we are just absolutely, fundamentally not able to cope with a world of such incredible stimulus that we live in now. Michael Hingson  10:43 Yeah, and it's only getting worse with all the social media, with all the different things that are happening and of course, and we're only working to develop more and more things to inundate us with more and more kinds of inputs. It's really unfortunate we just don't learn to separate ourselves very easily from all of that. Nick Francis  11:04 Yeah, well, you know, it's so interesting when you look at the development of VR headsets, and, you know, are we going to have, like, lenses in our eyes that kind of enable us to see computer screens while we're just walking down the road, you know? And you look at that and you think, well, actually, just a cell phone. I mean, cell phones are going to be gone fairly soon. I would imagine, you know, as a format, it's not something that's going to abide but the idea that we're going to create technology that's going to be more, that's going to take us away from being in the moment more rather than less, is kind of terrifying. Because, I would say already, even with, you know, the most basic technology that we have now, which is, you know, mind bending, compared to where we were even 20 years ago, you know, to think that we're only going to become more immersive is, you know, we really, really as a species, have to work out how we are going to be far better at stepping away from this stuff. And I, you know, I do, I wonder, with AI and technology whether there is, you know, there's a real backlash coming of people who do want to just unplug, yeah, Michael Hingson  12:13 well, it'll be interesting to see, and I hope that people will learn to do it. I know when I started hearing about AI, and one of the first things I heard was how kids would use it to write their papers, and it was a horrible thing, and they were trying to figure out ways so that teachers could tell us something was written by AI, as opposed to a student. And I almost immediately developed this opinion, no, let AI write the papers for students, but when the students turn in their paper, then take a day to in your class where you have every student come up and defend their paper, see who really knows it, you know. And what a great teaching opportunity and teaching moment to to get students also to learn to do public speaking and other things a little bit more than they do, but we haven't. That hasn't caught on, but I continue to preach it. Nick Francis  13:08 I think that's really smart, you know, as like aI exists, and I think to to pretend somehow that, you know, we can work without it is, you know, it's, it's, it's, yeah, I mean, it's like, well, saying, you know, we're just going to go back to Word processors or typewriters, which, you know, in which it weirdly, in their own time, people looked at and said, this is, you know, these, these are going to completely rot our minds. In fact, yeah, I think Plato said that was very against writing, because he believed it would mean no one could remember anything after that, you know. So it's, you know, it's just, it's an endless, endless evolution. But I think, you know, we have to work out how we incorporate into it, into our education system, for sure. Michael Hingson  13:57 Well, I remember being in in college and studying physics and so on. And one of the things that we were constantly told is, on tests, you can't bring calculators in, can't use calculators in class. Well, why not? Well, because you could cheat with that. Well, the reality is that the smart physicists realized that it's all about really learning the concepts more than the numbers. And yeah, that's great to to know how to do the math. But the the real issue is, do you know the physics, not just the math completely? Nick Francis  14:34 Yeah. And then how you know? How are the challenges that are being set such that you know, they really test your ability to use the calculator effectively, right? So how you know? How are you lifting the bar? And in a way, I think that's kind of what we have to do, what we have to do now, Michael Hingson  14:50 agreed, agreed. So you were in the news business and so on, and then, as you said, you left to start your own company. Why did you decide to do that? Nick Francis  14:59 Well, a friend of. Ryan and I from University had always talked about doing this rally from London to Mongolia. So, and you do it in an old car that you sort of look at, and you go, well, that's a bit rubbish. It has to have under a one liter engine. So it's tiny, it's cheap. The idea is it breaks down you have an adventure. And it was something we kind of talked about in passing and decided that would be a good thing to do. And then over time, you know, we started sending off. We you know, we applied, and then we started sending off for visas and things. And then before we knew it, we were like, gosh, so it looks like we're actually going to do this thing. But by then, you know, my job at the BBC was really taking off. And so I said, you know, let's do this, but let's make a documentary of it. So long story short, we ended up making a series of diary films for Expedia, which we uploaded onto their website. It was, you know, we were kind of pitching this around about 2005 we kind of did it in 2006 so it was kind of, you know, nobody had really heard of YouTube. The idea of making videos to go online was kind of unheard of because, you know, broadband was just kind of getting sorry. It wasn't unheard of, but it was, it was very, it was a very nascent industry. And so, yeah, we went and drove 9000 miles over five weeks. We spent a week sitting in various different repair yards and kind of break his yards in everywhere from Turkey to Siberia. And when we came back, it became clear that the internet was opening up as this incredible medium for video, and video is such a powerful way to share emotion with a dispersed audience. You know, not that I would have necessarily talked about it in that in those terms back then, but it really seemed like, you know, every every web page, every piece of corporate content, could have a video aspect to it. And so we came back and had a few fits and starts and did some, I mean, we, you know, we made a series of hotel videos where we were paid 50 quid a day to go and film hotels. And it was hot and it was hard work. And anyway, it was rough. But over time, you know, we started to win some more lucrative work. And, you know, really, the company grew from there. We won some awards, which helped us to kind of make a bit of a name for ourselves. And this was, there's been a real explosion in technology, kind of shortly after when we did this. So digital SLRs, so, you know, old kind of SLR cameras, you know, turned into digital cameras, which could then start to shoot video. And so it, there was a real explosion in high quality video produced by very small teams of people using the latest technology creatively. And that just felt like a good kind of kick off point for our business. But we just kind of because we got in in kind of 2006 we just sort of beat a wave that kind of started with digital SLRs, and then was kind of absolutely exploded when video cell phones came on the market, video smartphones. And yeah, you know, because we had these awards and we had some kind of fairly blue chip clients from a relatively early, early stage, we were able to grow the company. We then expanded to the US in kind of 2011 20 between 2011 2014 and then we were working with a lot of the big tech companies in California, so it felt like we should maybe kind of really invest in that. And so I moved out here with some of our team in 2018 at the beginning of 2018 and I've been here ever since, wow. Michael Hingson  18:44 So what is it? What was it like starting a business here, or bringing the business here, as opposed to what it was in England? Nick Francis  18:53 It's really interesting, because the creatively the UK is so strong, you know, like so many, you know, from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones to, you know, and then on through, like all the kind of, you know, film and TV, you know, Brits are very good at kind of Creating, like, high level creative, but not necessarily always the best at kind of monetizing it, you know. I mean, some of those obviously have been fantastic successes, right? And so I think in the UK, we we take a lot longer over getting, getting to, like, the perfect creative output, whereas the US is far more focused on, you know, okay, we need this to to perform a task, and frankly, if we get it 80% done, then we're good, right? And so I think a lot of creative businesses in the UK look at the US and they go, gosh. Firstly, the streets are paved with gold. Like the commercial opportunity seems incredible, but actually creating. Tracking it is incredibly difficult, and I think it's because we sort of see the outputs in the wrong way. I think they're just the energy and the dynamism of the US economy is just, it's kind of awe inspiring. But you know, so many businesses try to expand here and kind of fall over themselves. And I think the number one thing is just, you have to have a founder who's willing to move to the US. Because I think Churchill said that we're two two countries divided by the same language. And I never fully understood what that meant until I moved here. I think what it what he really means by that is that we're so culturally different in the US versus the UK. And I think lots of Brits look at America and think, Well, you know, it's just the same. It's just a bit kind of bigger and a bit Brasher, you know, and it and actually, I think if people in the US spoke a completely different language, we would approach it as a different culture, which would then help us to understand it better. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, it's been, it's been the most fabulous adventure to move here and to, you know, it's, it's hard sometimes, and California is a long way from home, but the energy and the optimism and the entrepreneurialism of it, coupled with just the natural beauty is just staggering. So we've made some of our closest friends in California, it's been absolutely fantastic. And across the US, it's been a fantastic adventure for us and our family. Michael Hingson  21:30 Yeah, I've had the opportunity to travel all over the US, and I hear negative comments about one place or another, like West Virginia, people eat nothing but fried food and all that. But the reality is, if you really take an overall look at it, the country has so much to offer, and I have yet to find a place that I didn't enjoy going to, and people I never enjoyed meeting, I really enjoy all of that, and it's great to meet people, and it's great to experience so much of this country. And I've taken that same posture to other places. I finally got to visit England last October, for the first time. You mentioned rugby earlier, the first time I was exposed to rugby was when I traveled to New Zealand in 2003 and found it pretty fascinating. And then also, I was listening to some rugby, rugby, rugby broadcast, and I tuned across the radio and suddenly found a cricket game that was a little bit slow for me. Yeah, cricket to be it's slow. Nick Francis  22:41 Yeah, fair enough. It's funny. Actually, we know what you're saying about travel. Like one of the amazing things about our Well, I kind of learned two sort of quite fundamentally philosophical things, I think, you know, or things about the about humans and the human condition. Firstly, like, you know, traveling across, you know, we left from London. We, like, drove down. We went through Belgium and France and Poland and Slovenia, Slovakia, Slovenia, like, all the way down Bulgaria, across Turkey into Georgia and Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea, and through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, into Russia, and then down into Mongolia. When we finished, we were due north of Jakarta, right? So we drove, we drove a third of the way around the world. And the two things that taught me were, firstly that human people are good. You know, everywhere we went, people would invite us in to have meals, or they'd like fix our car for not unit for free. I mean, people were so kind everywhere we went. Yeah. And the other thing was, just, when we get on a plane and you fly from here to or you fly from London, say to we, frankly, you fly from London to Turkey, it feels unbelievably different. You know, you fly from London to China, and it's, you know, complete different culture. But what our journey towards us, because we drove, was that, you know, while we might not like to admit it, we're actually quite, you know, Brits are quite similar to the French, and the French actually are quite similar to the Belgians, and Belgians quite similar to the Germans. And, you know, and all the way through, actually, like we just saw a sort of slowly changing gradient of all the different cultures. And it really, you know, we are just one people, you know. So as much as we might feel that, you know, we're all we're all different, actually, when you see it, when you when you do a drive like that, you really, you really get to see how slowly the cultures shift and change. Another thing that's quite funny, actually, was just like, everywhere we went, we would be like, you know, we're driving to Turkey. They'd be like, Oh, God, you just drove through Bulgaria, you know, how is like, everything on your car not been stolen, you know, they're so dodgy that you Bulgarians are so dodgy. And then, you know, we'd get drive through the country, and they'd be like, you know, oh, you're going into Georgia, you know, gosh, what you go. Make, make sure everything's tied down on your car. They're so dodgy. And then you get into Georgia, and they're like, Oh my God, you've just very driven through Turkey this, like, everyone sort of had these, like, weird, yeah, kind of perceptions of their neighbors. And it was all nonsense, yeah, you know. Michael Hingson  25:15 And the reality is that, as you pointed out, people are good, you know, I think, I think politicians are the ones who so often mess it up for everyone, just because they've got agendas. And unfortunately, they teach everyone else to be suspicious of of each other, because, oh, this person clearly has a hidden agenda when it normally isn't necessarily true at all. Nick Francis  25:42 No, no, no, certainly not in my experience, anyway, not in my experience. But, you know, well, oh, go ahead. No, no. It's just, you know, it's, it is. It's, it is weird the way that happens, you know, well, they say, you know, if, if politicians fought wars rather than, rather than our young men and women, then there'd be a lot less of them. Yeah, so Well, Michael Hingson  26:06 there would be, well as I tell people, you know, I I've learned a lot from working with eight guy dogs and my wife's service dog, who we had for, oh, gosh, 14 years almost, and one of the things that I tell people is I absolutely do believe what people say, that dogs love unconditionally, unless they're just totally traumatized by something, but they don't trust unconditionally. The difference between dogs and people is that dogs are more open to trust because we've taught ourselves and have been taught by others, that everyone has their own hidden agenda. So we don't trust. We're not open to trust, which is so unfortunate because it affects the psyche of so many people in such a negative way. We get too suspicious of people, so it's a lot harder to earn trust. Nick Francis  27:02 Yeah, I mean, I've, I don't know, you know, like I've been, I've been very fortunate in my life, and I kind of always try to be, you know, open and trusting. And frankly, you know, I think if you're open and trusting with people, in my experience, you kind of, it comes back to you, you know, and maybe kind of looking for the best in everyone. You know, there are times where that's not ideal, but you know, I think you know, in the overwhelming majority of cases, you know, actually, you know, you treat people right? And you know what goes what goes around, comes around, absolutely. Michael Hingson  27:35 And I think that's so very true. There are some people who just are going to be different than that, but I think for the most part, if you show that you're open to trust people will want to trust you, as long as you're also willing to trust Nick Francis  27:51 them completely. Yeah, completely. Michael Hingson  27:54 So I think that that's the big thing we have to deal with. And I don't know, I hope that we, we will learn it. But I think that politicians are really the most guilty about teaching us. Why not to trust but that too, hopefully, will be something we deal with. Nick Francis  28:12 I think, you know, I think we have to, you know, it's, it's one of the tragedies of our age, I think, is that the, you know, we spent the 20th century, thinking that sex was the kind of ultimate sales tool. And then it took algorithms to for us to realize that actually anger and resentment are the most powerful sales tools, which is, you know, it's a it's something which, in time, we will work out, right? And I think the problem is that, at the minute, these tech businesses are in such insane ascendancy, and they're so wealthy that it's very hard to regulate them. And I think in time, what will happen is, you know, they'll start to lose some of that luster and some of that insane scale and that power, and then, you know, then regulation will come in. But you know whether or not, we'll see maybe, hopefully our civilization will still be around to see that. Michael Hingson  29:04 No, there is that, or maybe the Vulcans will show up and show us a better way. But you know, Nick Francis  29:11 oh, you know, I'm, I'm kind of endlessly optimistic. I think, you know, we are. We're building towards a very positive future. I think so. Yeah, it's just, you know, get always bumps along the way, yeah. Michael Hingson  29:24 So you named your company casual. Why did you do that? Or how did that come about? Nick Francis  29:30 It's a slightly weird name for something, you know, we work with, kind of, you know, global blue chip businesses. And, you know, casual is kind of the last thing that you would want to associate with, a, with a, with any kind of services business that works in that sphere. I think, you know, we, the completely honest answer is that the journalism course I did was television, current affairs journalism, so it's called TV cadge, and so we, when we made a film for a local charity as part of that course. Course, we were asked to name our company, and we just said, well, cash, cash casual, casual films. So we called it casual films. And then when my friend and I set the company up, kind of formally, to do the Mongol Rally, we, you know, we had this name, you know, the company, the film that we'd made for the charity, had gone down really well. It had been played at BAFTA in London. And so we thought, well, you know, we should just, you know, hang on to that name. And it didn't, you know, at the time, it didn't really seem too much of an issue. It was only funny. It was coming to the US, where I think people are a bit more literal, and they were a bit like, well, casual. Like, why casual, you know. And I remember being on a shoot once. And, you know, obviously, kind of some filmmakers can be a little casual themselves, not necessarily in the work, but in the way they present themselves, right? And I remember sitting down, we were interviewing this CEO, and he said, who, you know, who are you? Oh, we're casual films. He's like, Oh, is that why that guy's got ripped jeans? Is it? And I just thought, Damn, you know, we really left ourselves open to that. There was also, there was a time one of our early competitors was called Agile films. And so, you know, I remember talking to one of our clients who said, you know, it's casual, you know, when I have to put together a little document to say, you know, which, which supplier we should choose, and when I lay it on my boss's desk, and one says casual films, and one says agile films, it's like those guys are landing the first punch. But anyway, we, you know, we, what we say now is like, you know, we take a complex process and make it casual. You know, filmmaking, particularly for like, large, complex organizations where you've got lots of different stakeholders, can be very complicated. And so, yeah, we sort of say, you know, we'll take a lot of that stress off, off our clients. So that's kind of the rationale, you know, that we've arrived with, arrived at having spoken to lots of our clients about the role that we play for them. So, you know, there's a kind of positive spin on it, I guess, but I don't know. I don't know whether I'd necessarily call it casual again. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not, but, oh, Michael Hingson  32:00 it's unique, you know? So, yeah, I think there's a lot of merit to it. It's a unique name, and it interests people. I know, for me, one of the things that I do is I have a way of doing this. I put all of my business cards in Braille, so the printed business cards have Braille on them, right? Same thing. It's unique completely. Nick Francis  32:22 And you listen, you know what look your name is an empty box that you fill with your identity. They say, right? And casual is actually, it's something we've grown into. And you know it's we've been going for nearly 20 years. In fact, funny enough for the end of this year is the 20th anniversary of that first film we made for the for the charity. And then next summer will be our 20th anniversary, which is, you know, it's, it's both been incredibly short and incredibly long, you know, I think, like any kind of experience in life, and it's been some of the hardest kind of times of my entire life, and some of the best as well. So, you know, it's, it is what it is, but you know, casual is who we are, right? I would never check, you know? I'd never change it. Michael Hingson  33:09 Now, no, of course not, yeah. So is the actual name casual films, or just casual? Nick Francis  33:13 So it was casual films, but then everyone calls us casual anyway, and I think, like as an organization, we probably need to be a bit more agnostic about the outcome. Michael Hingson  33:22 Well, the reason I asked, in part was, is there really any filming going on anymore? Nick Francis  33:28 Well, that's a very that's a very good question. But have we actually ever made a celluloid film? And I think the answer is probably no. We used to, back in the day, we used to make, like, super eight films, which were films, I think, you know, video, you know, ultimately, if you're going to be really pedantic about it, it's like, well, video is a digital, digital delivery. And so basically, every film we make is, is a video. But there is a certain cachet to the you know, because our films are loved and crafted, you know, for good or ill, you know, I think to call them, you know, they are films because, because of the, you know, the care that's put into them. But it's not, it's, it's not celluloid. No, that's okay, yeah, well, Michael Hingson  34:16 and I know that, like with vinyl records, there is a lot of work being done to preserve and capture what's on cellular film. And so there's a lot of work that I'm sure that's being done to digitize a lot of the old films. And when you do that, then you can also go back and remaster and hopefully in a positive way, and I'm not sure if that always happens, but in a positive way, enhance them Nick Francis  34:44 completely, completely and, you know, it's, you know, it's interesting talking about, like, you know, people wanting to step back. You know, obviously vinyl is having an absolute as having a moment right now. In fact, I just, I just bought a new stylist for my for my record. Play yesterday. It sounded incredible as a joy. This gave me the sound quality of this new style. It's fantastic. You know, beyond that, you know, running a company, you know, we're in nine offices all over the world. We produce nearly 1000 projects a year. So, you know, it's a company. It's an incredibly complicated company. It's a very fun and exciting company. I love the fact that we make these beautifully creative films. But, you know, it's a bit, I wouldn't say it's like, I don't know, you don't get many MBAs coming out of business school saying, hey, I want to set up a video production company. But, you know, it's been, it's been wonderful, but it's also been stressful. And so, you know, I've, I've always been interested in pottery and ceramics and making stuff with my hands. When I was a kid, I used to make jewelry, and I used to go and sell it in nightclubs, which is kind of weird, but, you know, it paid for my beers. And then whatever works, I say kid. I was 18. I was, I was of age, but of age in the UK anyway. But now, you know, over the last few 18 months or so, I've started make, doing my own ceramics. So, you know, I make vases and and pictures and kind of all sorts of stuff out of clay. And it's just, it's just to be to unplug and just to go and, you know, make things with mud with your hands. It's just the most unbelievably kind of grounding experience. Michael Hingson  36:26 Yeah, I hear you, yeah. One of the things that I like to do is, and I don't get to do it as much as I would like, but I am involved with organizations like the radio enthusiasts of Puget Sound, which, every year, does recreations of old radio shows. And so we get the scripts we we we have several blind people who are involved in we actually go off and recreate some of the old shows, which is really a lot of fun, Nick Francis  36:54 I bet, yeah, yeah, sort of you know that connection to the past is, is, yeah, it's great radio. Radio is amazing. Michael Hingson  37:03 Anyway, what we have to do is to train some of the people who have not had exposure to old radio. We need to train them as to how to really use their voices to convey like the people who performed in radio, whatever they're doing, because too many people don't really necessarily know how to do that well. And it is, it is something that we're going to work on trying to find ways to get people really trained. And one of the ways, of course, is you got to listen to the old show. So one of the things we're getting more and more people to do when we do recreations is to go back and listen to the original show. Well, they say, Well, but, but that's just the way they did it. That's not necessarily the way it should be done. And the response is, no, that's not really true. The way they did it sounded natural, and the way you are doing it doesn't and there's reality that you need to really learn how to to use your voice to convey well, and the only way to do it is to listen to the experts who did it. Nick Francis  38:06 Yeah, well, it's, you know, it's amazing. The, you know, when the BBC was founded, all the news readers and anyone who appeared on on the radio to to present or perform, had to wear like black tie, like a tuxedo, because it was, you know, they're broadcasting to the nation, so they had to, you know, they had to be dressed appropriately, right, which is kind of amazing. And, you know, it's interesting how you know, when you, when you change your dress, when you change the way you're sitting, it does completely change the way that you project yourself, yeah, Michael Hingson  38:43 it makes sense, yeah, well, and I always enjoyed some of the old BBC radio shows, like the Goon Show, and completely some of those are so much fun. Nick Francis  38:54 Oh, great, yeah, I don't think they were wearing tuxedo. It's tuxedos. They would Michael Hingson  38:59 have been embarrassed. Yeah, right, right. Can you imagine Peter Sellers in a in a tux? It just isn't going to happen. Nick Francis  39:06 No, right, right. But yeah, no, it's so powerful. You know, they say radio is better than TV because the pictures are better. Michael Hingson  39:15 I agree. Yeah, sure, yeah. Well, you know, I I don't think this is quite the way he said it, but Fred Allen, the old radio comedian, once said they call television the new medium, because that's as good as it's ever going Nick Francis  39:28 to get. Yeah, right, right, yeah. Michael Hingson  39:32 I think there's truth to it. Whether that's exactly the way he said it or not, there's truth to that, yeah, but there's also a lot of good stuff on TV, so it's okay. Nick Francis  39:41 Well, it's so interesting. Because, you know, when you look at the it's never been more easy to create your own content, yeah, and so, you know, and like, in a way, TV, you know, he's not wrong in that, because it suddenly opened up this, this huge medium for people just to just create. Right? And, you know, and I think, like so many people, create without thinking, and, you know, and certainly in our kind of, in the in the world that we're living in now with AI production, making production so much more accessible, actually taking the time as a human being just to really think about, you know, who are the audience, what are the things that are going to what are going to kind of resonate with them? You know? Actually, I think one of the risks with AI, and not just AI, but just like production being so accessible, is that you can kind of shoot first and kind of think about it afterwards, and, you know, and that's never good. That's always going to be medium. It's medium at best, frankly. Yeah, so yeah, to create really great stuff takes time, you know, yeah, to think about it. Yeah, for sure, yeah. Michael Hingson  40:50 Well, you know, our podcast is called unstoppable mindset. What do you think that unstoppable mindset really means to you as a practical thing and not just a buzzword. Because so many people talk about the kinds of buzzwords I hear all the time are amazing. That's unstoppable, but it's really a lot more than a buzzword. It goes back to what you think, I think. But what do you think? Nick Francis  41:15 I think it's something that is is buried deep inside you. You know, I'd say the simple answer is, is just resilience. You know, it's, it's been rough. I write anyone running a small business or a medium sized business at the minute, you know, there's been some tough times over the last, kind of 1824, months or so. And, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine who she sold out of her business. And she's like, you know, how are things? I was like, you know, it's, it's, it's tough, you know, we're getting through it, you know, we're changing a lot of things, you know, we're like, we're definitely making the business better, but it's hard. And she's like, Listen, you know, when three years before I sold my company, I was at rock bottom. It was, I genuinely thought it was so stressful. I was crushed by it, but I just kept going. And she's just like, just keep going. And the only difference between success and failure is that resilience and just getting up every day and you just keep, keep throwing stuff at the wall, keep trying new things, keep working and trying to be better. I think, you know, it's funny when you look at entrepreneurs, I'm a member of a mentoring group, and I hope I'm not talking out of school here, but you know, there's 15 entrepreneurs, you know, varying sizes of business, doing all sorts, you know, across all sorts of different industries. And if you sat on the wall, if you were fly on the wall, and you sit and look at these people on a kind of week, month to month basis, and they all present on how their businesses are going. You go, this is this being an entrepreneur does not look like a uniformly fun thing, you know, the sort of the stress and just, you know, people crying and stuff, and you're like, gosh, you know, it's so it's, it's, it's hard, and yet, you know, it's people just keep coming back to it. And yet, I think it's because of that struggle that you have to kind of have something in built in you, that you're sort of, you're there to prove something. And I, you know, I've thought a lot about this, and I wonder whether, kind of, the death of my father at such a young age kind of gave me this incredible fire to seek His affirmation, you know. And unfortunately, obviously, the tragedy of that is like, you know, the one person who would never give me affirmation is my dad. And yet, you know, I get up every day, you know, to have early morning calls with the UK or with Singapore or wherever. And you know, you just just keep on, keeping on. And I think that's probably what and knowing I will never quit, you know, like, even from the earliest days of casual, when we were just, like a couple of people, and we were just, you know, kids doing our very best, I always knew the company was going to be a success act. Like, just a core belief that I was like, this is going to work. This is going to be a success. I didn't necessarily know what that success would look like. I just but I did know that, like, whatever it took, we would map, we'd map our way towards that figure it out. We'd figure it out. And I think, you know, there's probably something unstoppable. I don't know, I don't want to sound immodest, but I think there's probably something in that that you're just like, I am just gonna keep keep on, keeping on. Michael Hingson  44:22 Do you think that resilience and unstoppability are things that can be taught, or is it just something that's built into you, and either you have it or you don't? Nick Francis  44:31 I think it's something that probably, it's definitely something that can be learned, for sure, you know. And there are obviously ways that it can there's obviously ways it can be taught. You know, I was, I spent some time in the reserve, like the Army Reserve in the UK, and I just, you know, a lot of that is about teaching you just how much further you can go. I think what it taught me was it was so. So hard. I mean, honestly, some of the stuff we did in our training was, like, you know, it's just raining and raining and raining and, like, because all your kits soaking wet is weighs twice what it did before, and you just, you know, sleeping maybe, you know, an hour or two a night, and, you know, and there wasn't even anyone shooting at us, right? So, you know, like the worst bit wasn't even happening. But like, and like, in a sense, I think, you know, that's what they're trying to do, that, you know, they say, you know, train hard and fight easy. But I remember sort of sitting there, and I was just exhausted, and I just genuinely, I was just thought, you know, what if they tell me to go now, I just, I can't. I literally, I can't, I can't do it. Can't do it. And then they're like, right, lads, put your packs on. Let's go and just put your pack on. Off you go, you know, like, this sort of, the idea of not, like, I was never going to quit, just never, never, ever, you know, and like I'd physically, if I physically, like, literally, my physical being couldn't stand up, you know, I then that was be, that would be, you know, if I was kind of, like literally incapacitated. And I think what that taught me actually, was that, you know, you have what you believe you can do, like you have your sort of, you have your sort of physical envelope, but like that is only a third or a quarter of what you can actually achieve, right, you know. And I think what that, what the that kind of training is about, and you know, you can do it in marathon training. You can do it in all sorts of different, you know, even, frankly, meditate. You know, you train your mind to meditate for, you know, an hour, 90 minutes plus. You know, you're still doing the same. You know, there's a, there's an elasticity within your brain where you can teach yourself that your envelope is so much larger. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, like, is casual going to be a success? Like, I'm good, you know, I'm literally, I won't I won't stop until it is Michael Hingson  46:52 right, and then why stop? Exactly, exactly you continue to progress and move forward. Well, you know, when everything feels uncertain, whether it's the markets or whatever, what do you do or what's your process for finding clarity? Nick Francis  47:10 I think a lot of it is in having structured time away. I say structured. You build it into your calendar, but like, but it's unstructured. So, you know, I take a lot of solace in being physically fit. You know, I think if you're, if you feel physically fit, then you feel mentally far more able to deal with things. I certainly when I'm if I'm unfit and if I've been working too much and I haven't been finding the time to exercise. You know, I feel like the problems we have to face just loom so much larger. So, you know, I, I'll book out. I, you know, I work with a fan. I'm lucky enough to have a fantastic assistant who, you know, we book in my my exercise for each week, and it's almost the first thing that goes in the calendar. I do that because I can't be the business my my I can't be the leader my business requires. And it finally happened. It was a few years ago I kind of, like, the whole thing just got really big on me, and it just, you know, and I'm kind of, like, being crushed by it. And I just thought, you know what? Like, I can't, I can't fit other people's face mask, without my face mask being fit, fitted first. Like, in order to be the business my business, I keep saying that to be the lead in my business requires I have to be physically fit. So I have to look after myself first. And so consequently, like, you know, your exercise shouldn't be something just get squeezed in when you find when you have time, because, you know, if you've got family and you know, other things happening, like, you know, just will be squeezed out. So anyway, that goes in. First, I'll go for a bike ride on a Friday afternoon, you know, I'll often listen to a business book and just kind of process things. And it's amazing how often, you know, I'll just go for a run and, like, these things that have been kind of nagging away in the back of my mind, just suddenly I find clarity in them. So I try to exercise, like, five times a week. I mean, that's obviously more than most people can can manage, but you know that that really helps. And then kind of things, like the ceramics is very useful. And then, you know, I'm lucky. I think it's also just so important just to appreciate the things that you already have. You know, I think one of the most important lessons I learned last year was this idea that, you know, here is the only there. You know, everyone's working towards this kind of, like, big, you know, it's like, oh, you know, when I get to there, then everything's going to be okay, you know. And actually, you know, if you think about like, you know, and what did you want to achieve when you left college? Like, what was the salary band that you want? That you wanted to achieve? Right? A lot of people, you know, by the time you hit 4050, you've blown way through that, right? And yet you're still chasing the receding Summit, yeah, you know. And so actually, like, wherever we're trying to head to, we're already there, because once you get there, there's going to be another there that you're trying to. Head to right? So, so, you know, it's just taking a moment to be like, you know, God, I'm so lucky to have what I have. And, you know, I'm living in, we're living in the good old days, like right now, right? Michael Hingson  50:11 And the reality is that we're doing the same things and having the same discussions, to a large degree, that people did 50, 100 200 years ago. As you pointed out earlier, the fact is that we're, we're just having the same discussions about whether this works, or whether that works, or anything else. But it's all the same, Nick Francis  50:33 right, you know. And you kind of think, oh, you know, if I just, just, like, you know, if we just open up these new offices, or if we can just, you know, I think, like, look, if I, if I'd looked at casual when we started it as it is now, I would have just been like, absolute. My mind would have exploded, right? You know, if you look at what we've achieved, and yet, I kind of, you know, it's quite hard sometimes to look at it and just be like, Oh yeah, but we're only just starting. Like, there's so much more to go. I can see so much further work, that we need so many more things, that we need to do, so many more things that we could do. And actually, you know, they say, you know, I'm lucky enough to have two healthy, wonderful little girls. And you know, I think a lot of bread winners Look at, look at love being provision, and the idea that, you know, you have to be there to provide for them. And actually, the the truest form of love is presence, right? And just being there for them, and like, you know, not being distracted and kind of putting putting things aside, you know, not jumping on your emails or your Slack messages or whatever first thing in the morning, you know. And I, you know, I'm not. I'm guilty, like, I'm not, you know, I'm not one of these people who have this kind of crazy kind of morning routine where, like, you know, I'm incredibly disciplined about that because, you know, and I should be more. But like, you know, this stuff, one of the, one of the things about having a 24 hour business with people working all over the world is there's always things that I need to respond to. There's always kind of interesting things happening. And so just like making sure that I catch myself every so often to be like, I'm just going to be here now and I'm going to be with them, and I'm going to listen to what they're saying, and I'm going to respond appropriately, and, you know, I'm going to play a game with them, or whatever. That's true love. You know? Michael Hingson  52:14 Well, there's a lot of merit to the whole concept of unplugging and taking time and living in the moment. One of the things that we talked about in my book live like a guide dog, that we published last year, and it's all about lessons I've learned about leadership and teamwork and preparedness from eight guide dogs and my wife's service dog. One of the things that I learned along the way is the whole concept of living in the moment when I was in the World Trade Center with my fifth guide dog, Roselle. We got home, and I was going to take her outside to go visit the bathroom, but as soon as I took the harness off, she shot off, grabbed her favorite tug bone and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog. Asked the veterinarians about him the next day, the people at Guide Dogs for the Blind, and they said, Well, did anything threaten her? And I said, No. And they said, there's your answer. The reality is, dogs live in the moment when it was over. It was over. And yeah, right lesson to learn. Nick Francis  53:15 I mean, amazing, absolutely amazing. You must have taken a lot of strength from that. Michael Hingson  53:20 Oh, I think it was, it was great. It, you know, I can look back at my life and look at so many things that have happened, things that I did. I never thought that I would become a public speaker, but I learned in so many ways the art of speaking and being relaxed at speaking in a in a public setting, that when suddenly I was confronted with the opportunity to do it, it just seemed like the natural thing to do. Nick Francis  53:46 Yeah, it's funny, because I think isn't public speaking the number one fear. It is. It's the most fit. It's the most feared thing for the most people. Michael Hingson  53:57 And the reality is going back to something that we talked about before. The reality is, audiences want you to succeed, unless you're a jerk and you project that, audiences want to hear what you have to say. They want you to be successful. There's really nothing to be afraid of but, but you're right. It is the number one fear, and I've never understood that. I mean, I guess I can intellectually understand it, but internally, I don't. The first time I was asked to speak after the World Trade Center attacks, a pastor called me up and he said, we're going to we're going to have a service outside for all the people who we lost in New Jersey and and that we would like you to come and speak. Take a few minutes. And I said, Sure. And then I asked him, How many people many people were going to be at the service? He said, 6000 that was, that was my first speech. Nick Francis  54:49 Yeah, wow. But it didn't bother me, you know, no, I bet Michael Hingson  54:54 you do the best you can, and you try to improve, and so on. But, but it is true that so many people. Are public speaking, and there's no reason to what Nick Francis  55:03 did that whole experience teach you? Michael Hingson  55:06 Well, one of the things that taught me was, don't worry about the things that you can't control. It also taught me that, in reality, any of us can be confronted with unexpected things at any time, and the question is, how well do we prepare to deal with it? So for me, for example, and it took me years after September 11 to recognize this, but one of the things that that happened when the building was hit, and Neither I, nor anyone on my side of the building really knew what happened. People say all the time, well, you didn't know because you couldn't see it. Well, excuse me, it hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building. And the last time I checked X ray vision was fictitious, so nobody knew. But did the building shake? Oh, it tipped. Because tall buildings like that are flexible. And if you go to any tall building, in reality, they're made to buffet in wind storms and so on, and in fact, they're made to possibly be struck by an airplane, although no one ever expected that somebody would deliberately take a fully loaded jet aircraft and crash it into a tower, because it wasn't the plane hitting the tower as such that destroyed both of them. It was the exploding jet fuel that destroyed so much more infrastructure caused the buildings to collapse. But in reality, for me, I had done a lot of preparation ahead of time, not even thinking that there would be an emergency, but thinking about I need to really know all I can about the building, because I've got to be the leader of my office, and I should know all of that. I should know what to do in an emergency. I should know how to take people to lunch and where to go and all that. And by learning all of that, as I learned many and discovered many years later, it created a mindset that kicked in when the World Trade Center was struck, and in fact, we didn't know until after both towers had collapsed, and I called my wife. We I talked with her just before we evacuated, and the media hadn't even gotten the story yet, but I never got a chance to talk with her until after both buildings had collapsed, and then I was able to get through and she's the first one that told us how the two buildings had been hit by hijacked aircraft. But the mindset had kicked in that said, You know what to do, do it and that. And again, I didn't really think about that until much later, but that's something that is a lesson we all could learn. We shouldn't rely on just watching signs to know what to do, no to go in an emergency. We should really know it, because the knowledge, rather than just having information, the true intellectual knowledge that we internalize, makes such a big difference. Nick Francis  57:46 Do you think it was the fact that you were blind that made you so much more keen to know the way out that kind of that really helped you to understand that at the time? Michael Hingson  57:56 Well, what I think is being blind and growing up in an environment where so many things could be unexpected, for me, it was important to know so, for example, when I would go somewhere to meet a customer, I would spend time, ahead of time, learning how to get around, learning how to get to where they were and and learning what what the process was, because we didn't have Google Maps and we didn't have all the intellectual and and technological things that we have today. Well intellectual we did with the technology we didn't have. So today it's easier, but still, I want to know what to do. I want to really have the answers, and then I can can more easily and more effectively deal with what I need to deal with and react. So I'm sure that blindness played a part in all of that, because if I hadn't learned how to do the things that I did and know the things that I knew, then it would have been a totally different ball game, and so sure, I'm sure, I'm certain that blindness had something to do with it, but I also know that, that the fact is, what I learned is the same kinds of things that everyone should learn, and we shouldn't rely on just the signs, because what if the building were full of smoke, then what would you do? Right? And I've had examples of that since I was at a safety council meeting once where there was somebody from an electric company in Missouri who said, you know, we've wondered for years, what do we do if there's a fire in the generator room, in the basement, In the generator room, how do people get out? And he and I actually worked on it, and they developed a way where people could have a path that they could follow with their feet to get them out. But the but the reality is that what people first need to learn is eyesight is not the only game in town. Yeah, right. Mean, it's so important to really learn that, but people, people don't, and we take too many things for granted, which is, which is really so unfortunate, because we really should do a li

On April 13, 2018, when President Xi Jinping announced that China would support Hainan, a tropical island about the size of Taiwan province off China's southern coast, in exploring the creation of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics, the message traveled far beyond China's southern shores.2018年4月13日，习近平主席宣布，中国将支持位于中国南部沿海、面积与台湾省相当的热带岛屿海南，探索建设具有中国特色的自由贸易港。这一消息迅速传遍中国南方海岸之外。It reached Atyrau, a city on Kazakhstan's Caspian coast, where Ruslan Tulenov, then working at a local chemical company after spending more than a decade studying and living in China, followed the news closely.这一消息传到了哈萨克斯坦里海沿岸城市阿特劳。当时，在中国学习和生活十余年后、正在当地一家化工企业工作的鲁斯兰·图列诺夫，密切关注着这条新闻。The moment Xi's announcement was broadcast, Tulenov knew it was the right time for him to return to Hainan, where he had completed his undergraduate studies.习近平讲话播出的那一刻，图列诺夫便意识到，重返他完成本科学业的海南，时机已经成熟。"I was constantly observing this country — how it developed and where it was heading," Tulenov recalled. "I wanted to find my own career chance in that process."“我一直在观察这个国家——它是如何发展的，又将走向何方，”图列诺夫回忆说，“我希望在这一进程中找到属于自己的职业机会。”Speaking that day at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hainan province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone, Xi highlighted Hainan's special advantages, including its status as China's biggest SEZ, its unique geographic location and the best ecological environment in the country, as reasons to make it a test ground for reform and opening-up.在当天举行的海南建省办经济特区30周年庆祝大会上，习近平强调了海南的独特优势，包括其作为中国最大经济特区的地位、独特的区位条件以及全国最优的生态环境，并指出正是这些优势，使海南具备成为改革开放试验田的条件。The decision to build a pilot free trade zone and eventually a free trade port was, Xi stressed, a major move by the Communist Party of China Central Committee to signal China's resolution of further opening up and promoting economic globalization.习近平强调，建设自由贸易试验区并逐步探索建设自由贸易港，是中共中央着眼于进一步扩大对外开放、推动经济全球化作出的重大战略部署。On Thursday, the Hainan FTP will officially launch island-wide special customs operations — a move that Xi has described as a landmark step by China to unwaveringly expand high-standard opening-up and promote the development of an open world economy.周四，海南自由贸易港将正式启动全岛封关运作。习近平将这一举措称为中国坚定不移扩大高水平对外开放、推动开放型世界经济发展的标志性一步。China's plan for the island's future also opened the door for young talent like Tulenov. When the Hainan International Economic Development Bureau, established in 2019, launched a global talent recruitment campaign, he applied right away.中国对海南未来发展的系统规划，也为图列诺夫这样的青年人才打开了机遇之门。2019年成立的海南国际经济发展局启动全球人才招聘计划时，他第一时间提交了申请。The bureau is the first government agency of its kind at the provincial level dedicated to attracting global investment for the Hainan Free Trade Port.该机构是中国首个在省级层面专门负责为海南自由贸易港吸引全球投资的政府机构。After rounds of tests and interviews, the multilingual Kazakh became the bureau's first foreign employee, reflecting Hainan's growing international orientation.经过多轮考试和面试，这位精通多种语言的哈萨克斯坦人，成为该局首位外籍员工，体现出海南日益增强的国际化取向。As policies for the Hainan Free Trade Port continued to take shape, China released a master plan in June 2020 to build Hainan into a globally influential, high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.随着海南自由贸易港相关政策不断完善，中国于2020年6月发布总体方案，提出到本世纪中叶，将海南建设成为具有全球影响力的高水平自由贸易港。The document said that supporting Hainan's construction of a free trade port system with Chinese characteristics is a significant move designed, arranged and promoted by Xi.文件指出，支持海南建设具有中国特色的自由贸易港体系，是习近平亲自谋划、亲自部署、亲自推动的重大战略举措。Two years later, in 2022, Tulenov found himself standing in the audience at the Yangpu Economic Development Zone in Hainan, listening as Xi spoke about Hainan's development path.两年后的2022年，图列诺夫站在海南洋浦经济开发区的会场中，现场聆听习近平阐述海南的发展路径。The province, Xi said, had spent decades debating its industrial positioning. Now, the priorities were clear: tourism, modern services, high-tech industries, and tropical high-efficiency agriculture, he said.习近平指出，海南在产业定位问题上探索多年，如今方向已经明确，即重点发展旅游业、现代服务业、高新技术产业和热带特色高效农业。As China's only tropical province and a major maritime region, Hainan had natural advantages in developing these four industries. The four sectors already accounted for 67 percent of Hainan's GDP in 2024.作为中国唯一的热带省份和重要海洋区域，海南在发展这四大产业方面具备天然优势。到2024年，这四个产业已占海南地区生产总值的67%。During that trip, Xi also raised expectations: Hainan would become a paradigm of reform and opening-up in the new era, he said.在那次考察中，习近平还提出更高期望，指出海南要成为新时代改革开放的示范样板。At the China International Import Expo, the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference and the G20 Leaders' Summit, the Chinese president has, on many international occasions, highlighted China's efforts to develop the Hainan Free Trade Port and develop new systems for a higher-standard open economy. Xi said that all are welcome to share in the vast opportunities of the Chinese market.在中国国际进口博览会、博鳌亚洲论坛年会以及二十国集团领导人峰会等多个国际场合，习近平多次介绍海南自由贸易港建设进展和中国构建更高水平开放型经济新体制的努力，并表示欢迎各方共享中国市场的巨大机遇。In December last year and again this November, Xi returned to the province to hear detailed work reports from local officials — trips that highlighted the central leadership's close attention to the FTP's progress.去年12月以及今年11月，习近平两次赴海南听取地方工作汇报，凸显了中央对自由贸易港建设进展的高度关注。This focus is especially significant as the Hainan FTP will officially launch island-wide special customs operations on Thursday.在海南自由贸易港即将启动全岛封关运作之际，这种高度重视尤显重要。The shift will raise the share of zero-tariff goods in the Hainan FTP from 21 percent to 74 percent, while further opening sectors such as tourism, modern services and high-tech industries.封关运作后，海南自由贸易港零关税商品比例将从21%提升至74%，同时进一步扩大旅游业、现代服务业和高新技术产业等领域对外开放。"The launch of island-wide special customs operations will provide Hainan with the foundational conditions to advance opening-up across a broader scope and at a deeper level," Xi said during his trip to Hainan last month, stressing the need to free minds, advance reform and explore new ground, and promote reform and opening-up across various sectors more proactively.习近平在上月考察海南时指出，全岛封关运作将为海南在更大范围、更深层次推进对外开放提供基础条件，并强调要进一步解放思想、深化改革、勇于探索，在各领域更加主动推进改革开放。For Tulenov, each of Xi's visits carries a personal meaning. "Every time President Xi comes, we feel encouraged," he said.对图列诺夫而言，习近平每一次到访都具有特殊意义。“每次习近平主席来，我们都备受鼓舞。”他说。As the International Economic Development Bureau's global press officer, Tulenov has traveled extensively, promoting Hainan's advantages to companies and investors across the world.作为海南国际经济发展局的全球新闻官，图列诺夫走访多国，向全球企业和投资者推介海南的优势。"I always tell them that Shenzhen was where China first opened to the world. Now Hainan is the next chapter," he said. "Personally, I benchmarked the FTP against Hong Kong and Singapore. I firmly believe Hainan will become a port like those — it just takes time and steady steps."“我总是告诉他们，深圳是中国对外开放的起点，而海南正书写着新的篇章，”他说，“就我个人而言，我将海南自由贸易港对标香港和新加坡。我坚信，海南终将成为类似的国际港口，只是需要时间和稳步推进。”Thursday also marks the 47th anniversary of the third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee — the milestone meeting that launched China's reform and opening-up. Observers said the latest move represents another significant step in the opening-up of the world's second-largest economy, even as unilateralism and protectionism intensify globally.周四同时也是中共十一届三中全会召开47周年纪念日。这次具有里程碑意义的会议开启了中国改革开放的历史进程。观察人士指出，在全球单边主义和保护主义加剧的背景下，海南的新举措标志着世界第二大经济体进一步扩大开放的重要一步。"The Hainan Free Trade Port occupies a uniquely prominent place in China's reform agenda," said Matteo Giovannini, an Asia-Global Fellow at the University of Hong Kong. It is one of the national strategies reaffirmed by President Xi, underscoring its role as a test ground for the next stage of high-level opening-up, he said.香港大学亚洲全球研究员马特奥·乔万尼尼表示，海南自由贸易港在中国改革议程中占据着独特而突出的地位，是习近平反复强调的国家战略之一，凸显了其作为新一轮高水平对外开放试验田的重要作用。Hainan's performance is likely to become a key reference for how China balances deeper openness with economic security amid global uncertainty, Giovannini said.乔万尼尼表示，在全球不确定性加剧的背景下，海南的发展实践有望成为中国在深化开放与维护经济安全之间寻求平衡的重要参考。"Lessons from Hainan may inform reforms in areas such as cross-border capital flows, data governance, services trade and green finance, offering models that could be scaled up elsewhere," he said. "In this sense, Hainan is not just a regional experiment, but a signal of how China sees reform evolving under more complex external conditions."他说：“海南的经验可能为跨境资本流动、数据治理、服务贸易和绿色金融等领域的改革提供借鉴，并形成可在其他地区推广的模式。从这个意义上看，海南不仅是区域性试验，更是中国在复杂外部环境下推进改革方向的重要信号。”Wang Ying, a researcher at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said that the strategic emphasis placed on the Hainan FTP reflects China's confidence in its development path and commitment to globalization.对外经济贸易大学中国开放经济研究院研究员王颖表示，中央对海南自由贸易港的战略重视，体现了中国对自身发展道路的信心以及持续推进经济全球化的坚定承诺。She said that the FTP, which serves as a platform for engagement with frameworks such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, also signals China's determination to align with top-tier international trade rules.她指出，海南自由贸易港作为对接《区域全面经济伙伴关系协定》《全面与进步跨太平洋伙伴关系协定》《数字经济伙伴关系协定》等框架的平台，也释放出中国主动对标高标准国际经贸规则的明确信号。By taking a pioneering approach, Hainan is positioned to contribute Chinese solutions to the evolution of international economic rules and help guide the development of global standards, Wang added.王颖补充说，通过先行先试，海南有望为国际经济规则演进提供“中国方案”，并在全球标准制定中发挥引导作用。Giovannini noted that Hainan is well positioned, both geographically and strategically, to become a connective node between China and Southeast Asia, with its focus on services trade, logistics, tourism, and digital and green industries closely matching ASEAN's growth priorities.乔万尼尼指出，从地理和战略层面看，海南具备成为连接中国与东南亚的重要枢纽的有利条件，其重点发展的服务贸易、物流、旅游以及数字和绿色产业，与东盟的发展重点高度契合。"If regulatory credibility and policy consistency are maintained, the FTP could evolve into a meaningful gateway for two-way flows of capital, talent and services, connecting China more deeply with ASEAN and other emerging markets," he said.他说：“如果能够保持监管可信度和政策连续性，海南自由贸易港有望发展成为资本、人才和服务双向流动的重要门户，使中国与东盟及其他新兴市场实现更深层次联通。”free trade port (FTP)自由贸易港island-wide special customs operations全岛封关运作zero-tariff goods零关税商品economic globalization经济全球化regulatory credibility监管可信度

In this episode of the Summit podcast, Bob Turner interviews Eric Ernisse, who shares his unique journey from sailing around the world to becoming a successful contractor in Hawaii. Eric discusses the challenges he faced in both sailing and contracting, the importance of mentorship, and the shift in mindset that has helped him grow his business. He emphasizes the value of building a strong team and the necessity of developing sales skills to achieve success. Eric also shares his future aspirations and offers advice on exploring the world and committing to hard work. Takeaways Eric sailed around the world for seven years after college. Dealing with nature is easier than dealing with people. The hardest part of contracting is communication with clients. Problem-solving skills are essential in both sailing and contracting. Mentorship has played a crucial role in Eric's growth. Shifting from an ego-driven mindset to a team-focused approach is vital. Building a strong team is key to business success. Sales skills are necessary for growth in contracting. Success is about having time for family and business. Exploring the world can provide valuable perspectives. Sound Bites "I decided to sail around the world." "I couldn't make any more money." "I gotta learn to close." Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Eric Ernisse 02:00 Sailing Adventures and Life Lessons 03:48 Transitioning to Contracting 06:54 Challenges in Contracting 08:58 Parallels Between Sailing and Contracting 11:23 The Importance of Mentorship 14:46 The Shift to Teamwork 16:52 Sales and Business Growth 20:29 Defining Success 22:44 Finding Calm in Chaos 25:02 Final Thoughts and Advice https://www.coastalviewconstructionllc.com #Resilience #ContractorMindset #EntrepreneurJourney #SummitPodcast #LeadershipLessons

Keynote event featuring Dustin Goetz, Acting Chief Information Officer for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The event covers crucial topics such as modernization strategies, asset inventory, data standardization, and cybersecurity integration. Goetz emphasizes the importance of seamless cybersecurity integration, automating tier one security operations, and preparing for evolving threats, including AI and post-quantum computing. The episode underscores ICE's commitment to modernization and collaboration with industry to enhance cybersecurity capabilities.Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org.Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join.Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate. Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria TellsCourtesy of Epidemic Sound(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young CommunityCourtesy of Epidemic Sound)

Max and Donatienne discuss recent comments by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declaring the end of ‘Pax Americana'. Then, they preview a high-stakes European Council meeting, where leaders will discuss the Mercosur trade deal and the European Commission's proposal to leverage frozen Russian assets to provide a crucial loan to Ukraine.  Finally, they turn to a conversation with Dr. Thu Nguyen, Acting Co-Director of the Jacques Delors Centre, to discuss the state of democracy in the EU.  (00:00) Intro (02:05) Friedrich Merz ‘Pax Americana' Speech (05:19) Frozen Russian Assets Loan (13:13) Mercosur Trade Deal (19:00) Interview with Thu Nguyen   Learn more: Russian Roulette | CSIS Podcasts

Send us a textWe trace how Francis's living nativity at Greccio and Clare's Eucharistic miracle unveil Christmas as a present-tense invitation to incarnate love. From Marian devotion to family practices, we show simple ways to turn homes into living mangers.• Greccio as the first living crèche and its meaning• Clare's Christmas vision and Eucharistic devotion• Christmas as foreshadowing of the Eucharist• Marian reverence shaping Franciscan humility• Distinct vocations of Francis and Clare in harmony• Practical steps for families to live the mystery• Adoration, simplicity, and service as daily habitsBe sure to look at the description for special information of interest to youVisit journeys of faith todayBe sure to click the link in the description for special news itemAnd since there is more to this article, finish reading and check out the special offerVisit Journeysoffaith.com website todayJourneys of Faith Online CollectionsOpen by Steve Bailey Support the showJourneys of Faith brings your Super Saints Podcasts ***Our Core Beliefs*** The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Faith." Catechism 132 Click Here “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” 1Thessalonians 4“ Click Here ... lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...” Matthew 6:19-2 Click Here The Goal is Heaven Click Here Why you should shop here at Journeys of Faith official site! Lowest Prices and Higher discounts up to 50% Free Shipping starts at $18 - Express Safe Checkout Click Here Cannot find it let us find or create it - - Click Here Rewards Program is active - ...

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As organizations race to adopt AI, learning leaders face a critical challenge: how to embrace innovation without losing sight of performance. In this episode of Performance Matters, Bob Mosher is joined by Frank Nguyen for a candid, thoughtful conversation about what responsible L&D leadership looks like in an era of rapid disruption. Drawing on Frank's experience across industries—from Amazon to Genentech—the discussion explores how learning teams can move beyond order-taking to become true strategic partners. Together, they unpack the balance between delivering today's results while preparing for tomorrow, the risks of being distracted by AI hype, and why performance—not content or tools—must remain the north star. Listen or download now.   Have questions about this content or another resource on the site? Let us know! Use this form to let us know you're interested in scheduling a call with a member of the team. We're always happy to discuss your current, future, or aspirational initiatives in real-time. For more 5 Moments of Need resources, visit our website, join the conversation, attend our upcoming Summit, and subscribe to this podcast so as not to miss a single episode. Copyright © 2025 by APPLY Synergies, LLC | All Rights Reserved. 

In this episode, I sit down with J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Under J.D.'s leadership, The Summit has grown from a church of about 300 people to a movement of over 12,000. They have a bold vision to plant 1,000 churches by the year 2050. Woah!!  But what I love about this conversation is that it's not about numbers. It's about leadership in real life. We talk about the complexities and weight of leadership, how to find balance when everything feels overwhelming, and what it looks like to lead faithfully in a divided world without becoming cynical or jaded.  If you're leading people, carrying responsibility, or just trying to stay hopeful and healthy in the middle of it all, I think this conversation will really encourage you. Find JD's book here: https://a.co/d/eyosndF   Subscribe to The Conversation on YouTube and watch the full interview with JD: youtube.com/@adamaweber  Sign up for The Crew: https://www.adamweber.com/thecrew   Thanks to our amazing partners on this episode:  First Interstate Bank has a mission to help people and their money work better together. They do this by ensuring clients can manage their money conveniently wherever they are while also providing the friendly service. They have over 300 locations throughout 14 states! For more information and to find a location near you, visit https://www.firstinterstatebank.com/ Vern Eide Motorcars is a growing employee-owned company that offers sales, service, and financing of automotive, motorcycle, and power sports lines, including Acura, Ford, Chevy, GMC, Honda, Hyundai and Mitsubishi brands. Whether you live locally or across the country, visit https://www.verneide.com/  

Today I just want to take a moment to say a genuine thank you to everyone who has been involved in the Summit Strength community over 2025. 

How do you go from seven employees to seven figures 11 years? Heather Piselli, Aliscia Martinelli and Monica Rivera did it together. They're co-owners of Privé Salon Co., with three comission salon locations and a suite rental facility in the Phildelphia metro area. The also co-host the GoHam podcast, featuring unfiltered conversations on business, leadership, and the beauty industry.On this episode, Blake is joined by Healther, Alisica, and Monica; and their Summit salon coach, Kierstin Nemer, who's been at their side throughout the journey. Yes this is the most guests we've ever had on a single episode -- but the conversation really demonstrates how each team member plays to her strenghts! You'll hear about their strategies for hiring, taking risks, growing service providers, and why the phrase "Go Ham" describes their business ethos.    Follow Summit Salon Business Center on Instagram @SummitSalon, and on TikTok at SummitSalon. SUMM IT UP is now on YouTube! Watch extended cuts of our interviews at www.youtube.com/@summitunlockedFind host Blake Reed Evans on Instagram @BlakeReedEvans and on TikTok at blakereedevans. His DM's are always open! You can email Blake at bevans@summitsalon.com. Visit us at SummitSalon.com to connect with others in the industry.

Mike Wendt and Andy Ferg get an update on Andy's health. Plus, we discuss the retirement of John Cena, the death of Rob Reiner, our Mt. Rushmore of Revenge Movies, and other nonsense. We're the food show your deserve.Special THANKS to The Gary Girolamo Group, Ben Franklin Print Co., Twisted Fate Brewing, Anthony's Roast Beef in Reading, Jamie's Roast Beef, C&S Pizza and Beef, Summit's Place in Middleton & Brother's in Peabody!Thanks to the very talented Mark DiChiara for the original F-Buddies theme music.

Send us a textWe explore Miracles of the Child Jesus and why devotion to the Holy Infant still heals hearts, strengthens families, and renews trust in God. Stories from Scripture, saints, Eucharistic miracles, and global traditions show a living faith that is tender and powerful.• authors' conversion and apostolate rooted in Eucharistic miracles• purpose of the book as catechesis and invitation to trust• historical and biblical roots of devotion to the Christ Child• Eucharistic signs that foster childlike faith and sanctity• saints' encounters with the Child Jesus and their fruits• Marian connections at Guadalupe and Loreto• healing testimonies linked to the Infant of Prague• practical steps to deepen devotion at home and in parish lifeOrder your copy of Miracles of the Child Jesus from our online store or visit the Holy Family Mission in Arkansas to experience our vast collection of Catholic resourcesGift this book to your loved ones, parish library, or Catholic gift shopJoin our global faith community, subscribe to our newsletter, watch our EWTN series, and connect on pilgrimage, physical or virtual, so you never journey aloneYour purchase helps fund retreats, media, and our apostolate's missionChild Jesus CollectionOpen by Steve Bailey Support the showJourneys of Faith brings your Super Saints Podcasts ***Our Core Beliefs*** The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Faith." Catechism 132 Click Here “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” 1Thessalonians 4“ Click Here ... lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...” Matthew 6:19-2 Click Here The Goal is Heaven Click Here Why you should shop here at Journeys of Faith official site! Lowest Prices and Higher discounts up to 50% Free Shipping starts at $18 - Express Safe Checkout Click Here Cannot find it let us find or create it - - Click Here Rewards Program is active - ...

WhoMike Giorgio, Vice President and General Manager of Stowe Mountain, VermontRecorded onOctober 8, 2025About StoweClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Vail Resorts, which also owns:Located in: Stowe, VermontYear founded: 1934Pass affiliations:* Epic Pass: unlimited access* Epic Local Pass: unlimited access with holiday blackouts* Epic Northeast Value Pass: 10 days with holiday blackouts* Epic Northeast Midweek Pass: 5 midweek days with holiday blackouts* Access on Epic Day Pass All and 32 Resort tiers* Ski Vermont 4 Pass – up to one day, with blackouts* Ski Vermont Fifth Grade Passport – 3 days, with blackoutsClosest neighboring U.S. ski areas: Smugglers' Notch (ski-to or 40-ish-minute drive in winter, when route 108 is closed over the notch), Bolton Valley (:45), Cochran's (:50), Mad River Glen (:55), Sugarbush (:56)Base elevation: 1,265 feet (at Toll House double)Summit elevation: 3,625 feet (top of the gondola), 4,395 feet at top of Mt. MansfieldVertical drop: 2,360 feet lift-served, 3,130 feet hike-toSkiable acres: 485Average annual snowfall: 314 inchesTrail count: 116 (16% beginner, 55% intermediate, 29% advanced)Lift count: 12 (1 eight-passenger gondola, 1 six-passenger gondola, 1 six-pack, 3 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 1 triple, 2 doubles, 2 carpets)Why I interviewed himThere is no Aspen of the East, but if I had to choose an Aspen of the East, it would be Stowe. And not just because Aspen Mountain and Stowe offer a similar fierce-down, with top-to-bottom fall-line zippers and bumpy-bumps spliced by massive glade pockets. Not just because each ski area rises near the far end of densely bunched resorts that the skier must drive past to reach them. Not just because the towns are similarly insular and expensive and tucked away. Not just because the wintertime highway ends at both places, an anachronistic act of surrender to nature from a mechanized world accustomed to fencing out the seasons. And not just because each is a cultural stand-in for mechanized skiing in a brand-obsessed, half-snowy nation that hates snow and is mostly filled with non-skiers who know nothing about the activity other than the fact that it exists. Everyone knows about Aspen and Stowe even if they'll never ski, in the same way that everyone knows about LeBron James even if they've never watched basketball.All of that would be sufficient to make the Stowe-is-Aspen-East argument. But the core identity parallel is one that threads all these tensions while defying their assumed outcome. Consider the remoteness of 1934 Stowe and 1947 Aspen, two mountains in the pre-snowmaking, pre-interstate era, where cutting a ski area only made sense because that's where it snowed the most. Both grew in similar fashion. First slowly toward the summit with surface lifts and mile-long single chairs crawling up the incline. Then double chairs and gondolas and snowguns and detachable chairlifts. A ski area for the town evolves into a ski area for the world. Hotels a la luxe at the base, traffic backed up to the interstate, corporate owners and $261 lift tickets.That sounds like a formula for a ruined world. But Stowe the ski area, like Aspen Mountain the ski area, has never lost its wild soul. Even buffed out and six-pack equipped and Epic Pass-enabled, Stowe remains a hell of a mountain, one of the best in New England, one of my favorite anywhere. With its monster snowfalls, its endless and perfectly spaced glades, its never-groomed expert zones, its sprawling footprint tucked beneath the Mansfield summit, its direct access to rugged and forbidding backcountry, Stowe, perhaps the most western-like mountain in the East, remains a skier's mountain, a fierce and humbling proving ground, an any-skier's destination not because of its trimmings, but because of the Christmas tree itself.Still, Stowe will never be Aspen, because Stowe does not sit at 8,000 feet and Stowe does not have three accessory ski areas and Stowe the Town does not grid from the lift base like Aspen the Town but rather lies eight miles down the road. Also Stowe is owned by Vail Resorts, and can you just imagine? But in a cultural moment that assumes ski area ruination-by-the-consolidation-modernization-mega-passification axis-of-mainstreaming, Aspen and Stowe tell mirrored versions of a more nuanced story. Two ski areas, skinned in the digital-mechanical infrastructure that modernity demands, able to at once accommodate the modern skier and the ancient mountain, with all of its quirks and character. All of its amazing skiing.What we talked aboutStowe the Legend; Vail Resorts' leadership carousel; ascending to ski area leadership without on-mountain experience; Mount Brighton, Michigan and Midwest skiing; struggles at Paoli Peaks, Indiana; how the Sunrise six-pack upgrade of the old Mountain triple changed the mountain; whether the Four Runner quad could ever become a six-pack; considering the future of the Lookout Double and Mansfield Gondola; who owns the land in and around the ski area; whether Stowe has terrain expansion potential; the proposed Smugglers' Notch gondola connection and whether Vail would ever buy Smuggs; “you just don't understand how much is here until you're here”; why Stowe only claims 485 acres of skiable terrain; protecting the Front Four; extending Stowe's season last spring; snowmaking in a snowbelt; the impact and future of paid parking; on-mountain bed-base potential; Epic Friend 50 percent off lift tickets; and Stowe locals and the Epic Pass.What I got wrongOn detailsI noted that one of my favorite runs was not a marked run at all: the terrain beneath the Lookout double chair. In fact, most of the trail beneath this mile-plus-long lift is a market run called, uh, “Lookout.” So I stand corrected. However, the trailmap makes this full-throttle, narrow bumper – which feels like skiing on a rising tide – look wide, peaceful, and groomable. It is none of those things, at least for its first third or so.On skiable acres* I said that Killington claimed “like 1,600 acres” of terrain – the exact claimed number is 1,509 acres.* I said that Mad River Glen claimed far fewer skiable acres than it probably could, but I was thinking of an out-of-date stat. The mountain claims just 115 acres of trails – basically nothing for a 2,000-vertical-foot mountain, but also “800 acres of tree-skiing access.” The number listed on the Pass Smasher Deluxe is 915 acres.On season closingsI intimated that Stowe had always closed the third weekend in April. That appears to be mostly true for the past two-ish decades, which is as far back as New England Ski History has records. The mountain did push late once, however, in 2007, and closed early during the horrible no-snow winter of 2011-12 (April 1), and the Covid-is-here-to-kill-us-all shutdown of 2020 (March 14).On doing better prepI asked whether Stowe had considered making its commuter bus free, but it, um, already is. That's called Reeserch, Folks.On lift ticket ratesI claimed that Stowe's top lift ticket price would drop from $239 last year to $235 this coming season, but that's inaccurate. Upon further review, the peak walk-up rate appears to be increasing to $261 this coming winter:Which means Vail's record of cranking Stowe lift ticket rates up remains consistent:On opening hoursI said that the lifts at Stowe sometimes opened at “7:00 or 7:30,” but the earliest ski lift currently opens at 8:00 most mornings (the Over Easy transit gondola opens at 7:30). The Fourrunner quad used to open at 7:30 a.m. on weekends and holidays. I'm not sure when mountain ops changed that. Here's the lift schedule clipped from the circa 2018 trailmap:On Mount Brighton, Michigan's supposed trashheap legacyI'd read somewhere, sometime, that Mount Brighton had been built on dirt moved to make way for Interstate 96, which bores across the state about a half mile north of the ski area. The timelines match, as this section of I-96 was built between 1956 and '57, just before Brighton opened in 1960. This circa 1962 article from The Livingston Post, a local paper, fails to mention the source of the dirt, leaving me uncertain as to whether or not the hill is related to the highway:Why you should ski StoweFrom my April 10 visit last winter, just cruising mellow, low-angle glades nearly to the base:I mean, the place is just:I love it, Man. My top five New England mountains, in no particular order, are Sugarbush, Stowe, Jay, Smuggs, and Sugarloaf. What's best on any given day depends on conditions and crowding, but if you only plan to ski the East once, that's your list.Podcast NotesOn Stowe being the last 1,000-plus-vertical-foot Vermont ski area that I featured on the podYou can view the full podcast catalogue here. But here are the past Vermont eps:* Killington & Pico – 2019 | 2023 | 2025* Stratton 2024* Okemo 2023* Middlebury Snowbowl 2023* Mount Snow 2020 | 2023* Bromley 2022* Jay Peak 2022 | 2020* Smugglers' Notch 2021* Bolton Valley 2021* Hermitage Club 2020* Sugarbush 2020 with current president John Hammond | 2020 with past owner Win Smith* Mad River Glen 2020* Magic Mountain 2019 | 2020* Burke 2019On Stowe having “peers, but no betters” in New EnglandWhile Stowe doesn't stand out in any one particular statistical category, the whole of the place stacks up really well to the rest of New England - here's a breakdown of the 63 public ski areas that spin chairlifts across the six-state region:On the Front Four ski runsThe “Front Four” are as synonymous with Stowe as the Back Bowls are with Vail Mountain or Corbet's Couloir is with Jackson Hole. These Stowe trails are steep, narrow, double-plus-fall-line bangers that, along with Castlerock at Sugarbush and Paradise at Mad River Glen, are among the most challenging runs in New England.The problem is determining which of the double-blacks spiderwebbing off the top of Fourrunner are part of the Front Four. Officially, the designation has always bucketed National, Liftline, Goat, and Starr together, but Bypass, Haychute, and Lookout could sub in most days. Credit to Stowe for keeping these wild trails intact for going on a century, but what I said about them “not being for the masses” on the podcast wasn't quite accurate, as the lower portions of many - especially Liftline - are wide, often groomed, and not particularly treacherous. The best end-to-end trail is Goat, which is insanely steep and narrow up top. Here's part of Goat's middle-to-lower section, which is mellower but a good portrayal of New England bumpy, exposed-dirt-and-rocks gnar, especially at the :19 mark:The most glorious ego boost (or ego check) is the few hundred vertical feet of Liftline directly below Fourrunner. Sound on for scrapey-scrape:When the cut trails get icy, you can duck into the adjacent glades, most of which are unmarked but skiable. Here, I bailed into the trees skier's left of Starr to escape the ice rink:On Vail Resorts' leadership shufflesTwelve of Vail's 37 North American ski areas began the 2024-25 ski season with a different leader than they ended the 2023-24 ski season with. This included five of the company's New England resorts, including Stowe. Giorgio, in fact, became the ski area's third general manager in three winters, and the fourth since Vail acquired the ski area in 2017. I asked Giorgio about this, as a follow up to a similar set of questions I'd laid out for Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz in August:I may be overthinking this, but check this out: between 2017 and 2024, Vail Resorts changed leadership at its North American ski areas more than 70 times - the yellow boxes below mark a new president-general-manager equivalent (red boxes indicate that Vail did not yet own the ski area):To reset my thinking here: I can't say that this constant leadership shuffle is inherently dysfunctional, and most Vail Resorts employees I speak with appreciate the company's upward-mobility culture. And I consistently find Vail's mountain leaders - dozens of whom I have hosted on this podcast - to be smart, earnest, and caring. However, it's hard to imagine that the constant turnover in top management isn't at least somewhat related to Vail Resorts' on-the-ground reputational issues, truncated seasons at non-core ski areas (see Paoli Peaks section below), and general sense that the company's arc of investment bends toward its destination resorts.On Peak ResortsVail purchased all of Peak Resorts, including Mount Snow, where Giorgio worked, in 2019. Here's that company's growth timeline:On Vernon Valley-Great GorgeThe ski area now known as Mountain Creek was Vernon Valley-Great Gorge until 1997. Anyone who grew up in the area still calls the joint by its legacy name.On Paoli Peaks versus Perfect NorthMy hope is that if I complain enough about Paoli Peaks, Vail will either invest enough in snowmaking to tranform it into a functional ski area or sell it. Here are the differences between Paoli's season lengths since 2013 as compared to Perfect North, its competitor that is the only other active ski area in the state:What explains this longstanding disparity, which certainly predates Vail's 2019 acquisition of the ski area? Paoli does sit southwest of Perfect North, but its base is 200 feet higher (600 feet, versus 400 for Perfect), so elevation doesn't explain it. Perfect does benefit from a valley location, which, longtime GM Jonathan Davis told me a few years back, locks in the cold air and supercharges snowmaking. The simplest answer, however, is probably the correct one: Perfect North has built one of the most impressive snowmaking systems on the planet, and they use it aggressively, cranking more than 200 guns at once. At peak operations, Perfect can transform from green grass to skiable terrain in just a couple of days.So yes, Perfect has always been a better operation than Paoli. But check this out: Paoli's performance as compared to Perfect's has been considerably worse in the five full seasons of Vail Resorts' ownership (excluding 2019-20), than in the six seasons before, with Perfect besting Paoli to open by an average of 21 days before Vail arrived, and by 31 days after. Perfect's seasons lasted an average of 25 days longer than Paoli's before Vail arrived, and 38 days longer after:Yes, Paoli is a uniquely challenged ski area, but I'm confident that someone can do a better job running this place than Vail has been doing since 2019. Certainly, that someone could be Vail, which has the resources and institutional knowledge to transform this, or any ski area, into a center of SnoSportSkiing excellence. So far, however, they have declined to do so, and I keep thinking of what Davis, Perfect North's longtime GM, said on the pod in 2022: “If Vail doesn't want [its ski areas in Indiana and Ohio], we'll take them!”On the 2022 Sunrise Six replacement for the tripleIn 2022, Stowe replaced the Mountain triple chair, which sat up a flight of steep steps from the parking lot, with the at-grade Sunrise six-pack. It was the kind of big-time lift upgrade that transforms the experience of an entire ski area for everyone, whether they use the new lift or not, by pulling skiers toward a huge pod of underutilized terrain and away from longtime alpha lifts Fourrunner and the Mansfield Gondola.On Fourrunner as a vert machineStowe's Fourruner high-speed quad is one of the most incredible lifts in American skiing, a lightspeed-fast base-to-summit, 2,040-vertical-foot monster with direct access to some of the best terrain west of A-Basin.The highest vert total in my 54-day 2024-25 ski season came (largely) courtesy of this lift - and I only skied five-and-a-half hours:On Stowe-Smuggs proximity and the proposed gondola and a long drive in winterAdventurous skiers can skin or hike across the top of Stowe's Spruce Peak and ski down into the Smugglers' Notch ski area. An official ski trail once connected them, and Smuggs proposed a gondola connector a couple of years back. If Vail were to purchase sprawling Smuggs, a Canyons-Park City mega-connection – while improbable given local environmental lobbies -could instantly transform Stowe into one of the largest ski areas in the East.On Jay Peak's big snowmaking upgradesI referenced big offseason snowmaking upgrades for water-challenged (but natural-snow blessed), Jay Peak. I was referring to this:This season brings an over $1.5M snowmaking upgrade that's less about muscle and more about brains. We've added 49 brand new HKD Low E air-water snowmaking guns—32 on Queen's Highway and 17 on Perry Merrill. These aren't your drag-'em-out, hook-'em-up, hope-it's-cold-enough kind of guns. They're fixed in place for the season and far more efficient, using much less compressed air than the ones they replace. Translation: better snow, less energy.On Perry Merrill, things get even slicker. We've installed HKD Klik automated hydrants that come with built-in weather stations. The second temps hit 28 degrees wetbulb, these hydrants kick on automatically and adjust the flow as the mercury drops. No waiting, no guesswork, no scrambling the crew. The end result? Those key connecting trails between Tramside and Stateside get covered faster, which means you can ski from one side to the other—or straight back to your condo—without having to hop on a shuttle with your boots still buckled. …It's all part of a bigger 10-year snowmaking plan we're rolling out—more automation, better efficiency, and ultimately, better snow for you to ski and ride on.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

The Trail Dames podcast is on full-out fantasy mode and this week we are dreaming about hiking at the end of the world! Links- All the details - https://worldlyadventurer.com/torres-del-paine-w-hike-without-tour/ Torres del Paine video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V6L8CVU8hk&t=854s Torres del Paine video 2 - http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZCNo9f_kJBs&t=469 Connect with Anna, aka Mud Butt, at info@traildames.com You can find the Trail Dames at: Our website: https://www.traildames.com The Summit: https://www.traildamessummit.com The Trail Dames Foundation: https://www.tdcharitablefoundation.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traildames/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/traildames/ Hiking Radio Network: https://hikingradionetwork.com/ Hiking Radio Network on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hikingradionetwork/ Music provided for this Podcast by The Burns Sisters "Dance Upon This Earth" https://www.theburnssisters.com

Check out these highlights from Day 2 of this year's awesome event!!! 00:10 - Kristie Achee, Sr. Project Manager @ QK & Kathy Nitayangkul, Land Surveyor and Partner @ Polaris Land Surveying 14:00 - Carol Morman, Owner @ CLM Surveying & Engineering and Program Chair, Professor Land Surveying @ Cincinnati State Technical and Community College & Cara Tryling, Professional Land Surveyor @ Brandstetter Carroll Inc.  28:45 - Isabella Totra, Student @ Saint Louis University & Iris Saldana-Zapata, Senior CAD Technician @ Sabak, Wilson & Lingo, Inc and Student @ Vincennes University AND 2026 Geoholics WSS Scholarship WINNERS!! 45:10 - Kaitlin Constantine, Professional Land Surveyor @ DOWL and YOUNGEST female licensed land surveyor in NV & Rita Lumos quite possibly the OLDEST female licensed land surveyor in NV!!! 1:01:20 - Evi De La Rosa Ricciardi, Professor Land Surveying Engineering @ University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez & Genesis Feliciano, Student @ University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez & Yanielyz Paola, Student @ University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez    

   The Chiefs season is over for all intents and purposes and it's time to get real.  You have an aging quarterback that has slowed down and now has an ACL surgery.  High priced older players that don't play to the level expected and a team that is poorly coached.  Ya, that's pretty much everyone.  The only thing to say is there is no continuing with the same plan to keep the band together.  If the Chiefs want to chase more Super Bowls with Patrick Mahomes they need a completely different blueprint for Part II.    A pastor at Journey church in Lee's Summit jokes about these sloppy Chiefs in his sermon to inspire the congregation.    The Royals trade for a left fielder, KU's Darren Peterson gets hurt again.  Trump's coin toss at Army-Navy was an incredible scene.  Taylor Swift hands out massive cash bonuses to her crew.    Then, a new documentary by KMBC Channel 9 took 19 months for Donna Pittman and her team to produce.  It features Kansas City area women that served in Vietnam and it airs Tuesday night at 7:00.  It sounds incredible.    Our Final Final is a cold sack of burgers.

Chad Godfrey has been running Summit Video Services for over 20 years, and he's built something most video pros overlook: a thriving business where 60% of revenue comes from video transfers and archival work. In this conversation, we dig into why his transfer business keeps growing year after year, how local networking and in-person relationships are still the best marketing strategy, and why teaching free workshops can actually land you more clients instead of giving away the farm. Key Takeaways Video transfer and archival services can be a massive, consistent revenue stream—Chad's business grows every year despite assumptions that the market would dry up Building real relationships through chambers, boards, and local networking events is still the most effective way to generate buzz and trust in your community Teaching free workshops positions you as a leader and keeps you top of mind when people need professional help—it's counterintuitive but it works Having strategic relationships with complementary businesses (graphic designers, photographers, etc.) creates a powerful referral network About Chad Godfrey As a young child, Chad Godfrey was constantly infatuated with film and video cameras, audio recorders, and early personal computers. In 2004, Chad linked these interests together and started a business. For the past 21 years, Chad has been the owner of Summit Video Services, an audio and video production and photography services company based in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Chad is an Emmy-nominated and nationally-awarded video producer with recognitions in the areas of video production, editing, photography, design, documentary, motion graphics, and sound design. Chad's professional work in video production includes documentary and brand films for businesses and the non-profit sector. He is a creative storyteller with a unique ability to structure a narrative, whether for a short film, commercial, music video, or YouTube vlog. Chad has an exceptional capability to pace a story, build tension, and create emotional engagement; all critical skills to the clients he serves. Chad's photography is primarily commercial, providing services for architectural firms, municipalities, and the commercial real estate industry. Though less for profit, Chad's true passion is landscape and astro-photography. He's had many opportunities to travel internationally with a backpack full of gear (sometimes too full) to "chase the light." Chad is a contributing member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Chad's spouse of 24 years, Suzie, is an elementary teacher in the Lee's Summit School District. Together, they have three kids, ages 22, 19, and 15. In This Episode [00:00] Welcome to the show! [06:42] Meet Chad Godfrey [16:17] Advertising Strategies [17:07] Documentary Video Production [24:57] Things That Sustain a Business [26:42] Aha Moments From The Mastermind [37:09] Advice to New Business Owners [40:15] Finance Resources [46:28] Being Involved In Local Groups [47:41] Connect with Chad [52:41] Outro Quotes "There's no substitute for just talking to people and inviting them to and going to events and shaking hands. If you're not generating some buzz about what you do in your local area, then you're just not doing enough." - Chad Godfrey "That seems counterintuitive—you're giving away the farm. But when people can actually see you as a leader in that realm and that you're giving away some of your knowledge, they're gonna wanna come back to you and pick your brain some more." - Chad Godfrey "The quickest and easiest way to build trust with somebody is in person so they can really see what you're like. People will hire people that they know, like, and trust." - Ryan Koral Guest Links Follow Summit Video Services on Instagram Visit Summit Video Services Website Links Find out more about the Studio Sherpas Mastermind Join the Grow Your Video Business Facebook Group  Follow Ryan Koral on Instagram Follow Grow Your Video Business on Instagram Join the Studio Sherpas newsletter