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The river flows so cold like the blood in your veinsOh, oh no, I'm just a window painYou see right through meYou see right through me, ohThere's nothing I can say that'll make you stayAs loud as I call, you still walk awayYou see right through meYou see right through me, ohI'm just a window pain

Sexting - what is it? How do you do it? Why would you want to do it? And...most importantly...how do you ensure it goes well - and how do you keep it from going horribly wrong? Whether you have been with your partner for a long time - or are just getting to know someone - sexting can be a fun way to connect and expand the range of your intimacy with another person. There's a lot of serious stuff going on in the world right now, so I thought we'd take a moment on the show to dive into something playful. Sexy texting (or messaging) can be a new (or improved) relationship-building skill for you to experiment with. As always, I’m looking forward to your thoughts on this episode and what revelations and questions it creates for you. Please join us in the Relationship Alive Community on Facebook to chat about it! Sponsors: Find a quality therapist, online, to support you and work on the places where you’re stuck. For 10% off your first month, visit Betterhelp.com/ALIVE to fill out the quick questionnaire and get paired with a therapist who’s right for you. Resources: I want to know you better! Take the quick, anonymous, Relationship Alive survey FREE Guide to Neil’s Top 3 Relationship Communication Secrets Guide to Understanding Your Needs (and Your Partner’s Needs) in Relationship (ALSO FREE) Support the podcast (or text “SUPPORT” to 33444) Amazing intro and outro music provided courtesy of The Railsplitters Transcript: Neil Sattin: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Relationship Alive. This is your host, Neil Sattin. There is a lot going on in our world right now. A lot. And as much as I personally would like to fix everything overnight, that's not going to happen. And so I'm doing my best, as always, to mix things up because this topic of how to do relationships well, how to find relationships, how to stay in relationships, how to leave relationships, sometimes, let's be honest, it can be kind of heavy, or if not heavy, at least serious. Today, I want to take a step towards a topic that's actually quite useful, quite important, and also on the lighter side of things. I want to talk about sexting. Neil Sattin: I want to talk about sexting in terms of how to sext, how to sext well, what not to do, what to do, why you might want to do it. And we'll talk about sexting also from the perspective of where you might be on the spectrum of how well you know your partner. So we'll talk about what it's like to use sexting as a tool for connection and fostering desire in your main relationship, if you have a primary partnership. And then we'll contrast that with what it's like to do that with someone that you've never met, or maybe you've had some Tinder interaction or online dating interaction. I don't want to necessarily promote just one thing. Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty Of Fish, whatever the hell it is. Neil Sattin: Whatever it is, if you're meeting people there and if you are being responsible about whether or not you are keeping a distance from them, right now we're in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, then you might consider sexting as a way to boost your intimacy and to have a little fun with someone that you're meeting. But it's very different when you sext with someone that you don't know in person or whom you barely know, especially if you don't actually have a sexual history with that person. We're going to get into the ins and outs of sexting, and hopefully have some fun while we do it. Because I think when done right, sexting can be pretty amazing. And if you don't know what I'm talking about when I say the word sexting, I'm talking about communicating via instant message or texting about sexual things. And not just about sexual things, but actually taking your partner and yourself on a sexual journey, on a fun journey, on a connecting journey, on an intimate journey, it can be intimate, and all over some texting or instant messaging medium. Neil Sattin: So that is what sexting is, at least the way that I'm defining it right now. And before we dive in, I just want to remind you that Relationship Alive is an offering for you so that you can have the best relationships possible. And I can't do it alone. In fact, I really can't do it alone. Over the coming weeks and months, I'm going to be probably putting out a call for some assistance. Because for a long time, this has been pretty much a solo show, although I have had amazing help from my editor, Christy, and some various assistants along the way. It's time to really have a team who's helping carry on the mission. Neil Sattin: Right now, one of the most important people on the team is you being there - listening, putting this stuff into practice, talking to people about Relationship Alive, turning other people on to the show and, if you are able, supporting us through a contribution. You can choose any amount that feels right to you, because every little bit counts. If you're finding the show to be helpful, just visit neilsattin.com/support or text the word "support" to the number 33444 and follow the instructions. This week, the team members I would like to thank are Joseph, Ruthanna, Holly, Mark, Ruth, Jenny, Marie, Timothy, David, Angie, Sylvia, Drew, Lydia, Ann and Valerie. Thank you all so much for your generous and, in many cases, ongoing support of the Relationship Alive podcast. Neil Sattin: Oh, and I don't want to forget that it's been a little bit, Mark, since your donation came through, but I wanted to mention that Mark's donation was made in honor of Annie. You can do that, too, when you contribute to the show. Just tell me who you'd like to thank, who's important or special in your life, who has been, is currently or will be, and I'm happy to thank them as well here on Relationship Alive. Neil Sattin: Before we get into the topic, just a reminder that we do have a free group on Facebook, if you're still on Facebook, I'm not sure honestly how much longer I'm going to be there. But if you are there, we have a Relationship Alive community where we have more than 4,000 people who are listeners of the show gathered to create a safe space to talk about relationship stuff. So, come join us there. It is a closed group, so the only people who see what you post are the people who are in the group. Generally, it's a really supportive community. And the times occasionally when people need a redo, they're generally pretty good about asking for that and giving positive, supportive, constructive feedback so that you can work on your skills at supporting other people as well. So that's the Relationship Alive Community on Facebook. Neil Sattin: If you have a question for me on the show, just email it to questions at relationshipalive dot com. You can record yourself asking the question or you can just email the question to me. I was thinking the other day about how it might be fun to actually have people interview me for the show, so that's something I'd consider, too. If you want to interview me around a particular topic for Relationship Alive, let's do that experiment. That will be fun. Just again, questions at relationshipalive dot com. Neil Sattin: And lastly, if you are looking for ways to improve your communication, we're going to be talking about one particular aspect of communication today. But in general, if you are looking for ways to communicate about things that are intimate or challenging and to stay connected to your partner while you do, then please download my free guide to my top three relationship communication secrets. These are special strategies for communicating in relationship that are a little different than your conventional wisdom around how to communicate well. And by putting them into practice, you can stay connected no matter how challenging the topic that you are talking about. You have a pretty good chance anyway. Nothing is 100% certain, right? You never know. You can do your best, and the other person might not be their best, or they might still be doing their best and it might still go poorly. But to get a really good chance of it going well, start with my free communication guide. To get that, just visit neilsattin.com/relate or text the word "relate" to the number 33444 and follow the instructions. Neil Sattin: Let's get on with the show and talk about sexting. Sexting, when it's done right, it can be super hot, super fun and super connecting. And when it's done not so right, then it can be really horrible and go poorly and really be disconnecting or alienating even. So, let's talk about sexting and some of the principles, 'cause I'm not going to... The way that it unfolds, and the way that it needs to unfold for you or for the person with whom you are sexting, that's going to be different based on every person. In fact, one of the things that I love most about sexting is that when it's done well, it's generally because it's following the rules of good improvisation. Neil Sattin: Now, we've had a couple episodes on the show where we've talked about improvisation and how to do that well, and so I want to give you those episode numbers so that you can listen to them at your leisure. The first is episode number 17, which was called "Stop Worrying, Start Playing", and that was with Patti Stiles who's one of the world's foremost improv teachers. She's based out of Australia. And that was a super fun conversation. And then we had another conversation later with Cathy Salit, that was episode number 78: "How to Have More Fun in Your Relationship." Neil Sattin: If you're not sure how to locate episodes based on number, you can scroll through your podcast app that you use, if you're using a smartphone or something like that. Or you can just go to neilsattin.com, which is the Relationship Alive website, and there's a little search magnifying glass up at the top, and you can just go - in that magnifying glass, you can type in the episode number, and it will pull up the episode for you. I'm going to do that right now just to prove that it works. I just typed in "78" and it brought up episode 178, episode 78, and then some random episodes, so I don't know what to tell you there, but it started with the right episodes. Neil Sattin: Okay, great. Good sexting follows the rules of good improvisation. And basically what that means is first creating space for the other person to respond to you. Second, to be really paying close attention to how they are responding to you and looking for ways to amplify what they do or say or add to it. And there's some responsibility that we have as communicators in general, to be listening well, to be responding to what is actually being offered rather than off on our own tangent. And also, there's a responsibility for us to participate, like in good faith. Neil Sattin: One of the first things about sexting that is important to establish with a person is whether or not they want to sext. Now, some people just don't. For some people, that can be a super edgy thing or it can bring up bad memories about some bad experience, so it's not like everyone necessarily right off the bat wants to be a sexting partner. It might be helpful to have a conversation. Again, download that free relationship communication guide. It might be good to have a conversation about sexting so that you know where the person who you're talking to stands, whether that person is your close intimate partner that you've been with for 10 or 20 years, or whether that person is someone who's totally new to you. Questions you might ask are things like, "Can we talk about a topic that might be a little edgy or a little risky?" Neil Sattin: Hopefully they'll say yes, and then you might say, "I've been wondering if we can talk about sexting and what that would be like." Or, "I'm curious to know if you would ever be interested in having sexy texting time with me." There are a couple ways. Now, you can think of something that feels good for you or that feels right, or that feels right with knowing your partner. But I think it's helpful to, one, get their agreement to even have a conversation with you about something edgy so they know what's coming. And then the second thing is to make it explicit that what you're talking about is being explicit to some degree via texting. Neil Sattin: Now, as you talk about it, if you have a conversation about it, then you'll be able to gauge how well you or your partner... How much you actually want to get explicit. And there are ways to sext that actually don't involve a single naughty word. Sometimes using the naughty words can be fun, other times you don't have to go there. And there's an important reason for that that I will tell you about in just a minute. But it's good to get a sense of whether or not someone is into that. One way is the direct way, which I just gave you. Now, a second way to explore whether or not someone might be into that would be to actually start something with them, to start a chain of potential sexting. But you gotta start off really lightly. It could be something like, "What are you wearing right now?" Something like that, especially once you have the precedent with someone of doing this sort of thing, then it might be very easy for you to just say something like that, and suddenly there you are getting each other in the mood. Neil Sattin: But if you're not sure about another person and their willingness, and you're not sure you even want to ask them directly for whatever reason - although I gotta say, being direct is far and above the best way to go about it - then you can do a little foray into something that leaves the door open for things to be sexy, but isn't next necessarily sexy in and of itself. And I'll give you an example of that in just a moment. Neil Sattin: Actually, I'll give that example to you now 'cause I wasn't even sure - I've had something I was going to say, but now I'm going to give you the example. So something like that might be... Oh, I remember what I was going to say. I'll say it next. You might text something like, "I was thinking of you a moment ago... " and that's it. Now, remember the whole idea of sexy texting is that you are in a conversation with the other person. So if I text you something like, "I was thinking about you just a moment ago, and I was imagining your beautiful eyes and your curves, and I was thinking about un-zipping your dress." If you just go off like that, you don't know what's going on with the other person. They might be in the middle of a business meeting, or they might be changing a child's diaper, who the hell knows. It could be something that is absolutely not sexy, and it might not be the right time for them. Neil Sattin: So if you just kind of launch off onto your sexy talk at the wrong time, then it could be funny, and it could very well have the opposite effect of what you would be intending, which would I hope be to have a hot, fun connecting time with this other person. So you want to engage them. Something simple, "I was just thinking of you... " and then you wait. And sometimes, as one of my favorite musicians, Tom Petty, used to say, "The waiting is the hardest part." But you gotta be patient because what comes after a text like that is so important. You might get a response like, "Oh, yeah?" with a question mark, which is an invitation for you to say something more. Or you might just get a, "Oh, that's cool. What were you thinking about?" Or you might get a, "Awesome, babe, see you later," or you might get a non-response that shows you that the other person isn't really there, or they're not really ready to play with you. Neil Sattin: And then a response like, "Oh, yeah?" that could be an invitation, that could be a, "Hmm, what's going to happen here, I might be willing to play." Or it might just be, "I'm curious, you were thinking about me, how come?" Even then, you don't want to launch right into something. In fact, you don't ever want to launch right into something, and here is why, because the most important thing that happens in sexting, and this actually might be true in any form of communication. I should really think this through, but definitely in sexting the most important thing is not what you say. The important thing is what is happening in your imagination or in your partner's imagination. This is truly one of those times where saying less could be more, because really what you're both trying to do is to go on a journey together, a journey of fantasy together. Neil Sattin: Now, this is why sexting can sometimes be problematic when you don't really know the person, you don't know them, you haven't spent any time with them in person, you've just had some communication with them online or maybe a phone call or something like that, but you've never actually been with them, and you've never even been with them sexually like... So we'll talk for a minute about the risk of that. But right now, just know that so much of what you are trying to do is you're trying to create this shared story that's going to unfold under your fingertips and in between your ears, in other words, in your mind and in your body, because when you're sexting, you're going to be able to have a very visceral experience that incorporates most, if not all of your senses, and your own erotic energy. Neil Sattin: So that is the important part of sexting. Knowing exactly the right thing to say or the perfect combination of words, trust me, that is not as important as saying things that inspire the other person to get into their bodies, to get into their experience, and to get into their imagination about what might be happening. For instance, if you text, "I was just thinking of you... " and the other person responds, "Oh, yeah?" Then you might say, "Yeah, I was thinking about your big broad shoulders," or "I was thinking about your deep blue eyes." Or if it's someone that you don't even know, like an online dating person, you might refer to a conversation that you've had, "Yeah, I was thinking about when you were talking about blah, blah," whatever it is, "and how that made me feel inside." Or you could refer to something, "I'm thinking about you in that red dress or you in that suit, and the way it makes me feel inside." Neil Sattin: Now, that's a pretty edgy thing, especially if you add the, "and the way it makes me feel inside part," 'cause you're basically putting it out there like, "There's something going on, I'm thinking about you." And let's face it, any improv is a risk, and definitely sexting when you don't know if the other person is quite ready for it, or willing or wanting, it's a risk to put yourself out there. So you gotta be willing to be courageous. When you say something like that, now the door is open, and now you wait again to see how the other person is going to respond. If they start asking you questions about how you feel - where they are really with you and they're really curious - then I think most likely the game is on. If they don't respond or if they respond in a business-like manner, or if they respond in a way that leaves you really questioning over and over again, whether they're there with you, then they're probably not there with you, 'cause most people, when they're ready for something like that, it's only going to take a little bit of back and forth before it's super clear what's happening. You gotta take my word for that. Neil Sattin: And the thing is, you don't want to force anyone into it. There's nothing quite as unsexy as trying to continually get someone into this sexy journey with you when they're not interested, so pay attention to what you're receiving, and wait and see how the other person responds. They may respond with something really forward and even graphic. If you said, "I was thinking about you with your big broad shoulders," they might say something like, "Oh, and that makes me think about wrapping my arms around you and pulling you close." Well, if someone responds that way, game on. If they say something like, "Yeah, I used to... They came in really good in rugby," then you really don't know where the person's at. They could be joking with you. They could be just being playful, or they could be not interested. And so you're going to have to take the conversation a little bit further to find out. Neil Sattin: So if someone says, "Yeah, those shoulders came in really handy when I was playing rugby." Then you might say something like, "Tell me a little bit more about what the scrum is like...?" Isn't that what it's called in rugby the scrum? I don't know. I never played rugby, but... "Tell me more about what that's like being all huddled together." You're staying with what they offer you, which in improv is known as "yes...and". You're taking what someone gives you, and you're saying, "And something else" that goes along with what they gave you. So if someone talks about rugby, you don't want to say like, "Well, I hate rugby," or you don't want to say, "Well, let's get off the rugby field and into the bedroom." There might be a time to say something like that, when it's clear that the person is talking about more than rugby. If all they really want to tell you about is rugby, then it might be a little out of place to invite them into your imaginary bedroom. So you're going to have to take the conversation, the play, the improvisation a little bit further to see where they go. Neil Sattin: The reason that this can be challenging when you don't know someone very well - and maybe you've had this experience in the past, I've had this experience before - where because so much of sexting and really any sort of written correspondence... This is one of the most challenging things about online dating is, so much of the interactions that happen are through the written word. We are different people when we're writing versus when we're talking, versus when we are seeing another person versus when we are right there in the flesh with another person. Those are all different modes of communication, and the way that we represent ourselves isn't always the same. Partly that's because the more removed you are from the direct experience of a person, the more you are creating that experience in your mind of the person. Neil Sattin: So perhaps you've had that experience of having a written correspondence with someone that feels passionate and playful, and light, and sexy and engaging, and then you meet them in person and there's just no chemistry, or there's none of that fire, that playfulness or no attraction, or no interest, or no engagement, or whatever it is. Or it's just like awkward and shy and weird, and we will talk in a moment about what to do when that happens. But just recognize that the risk here, when you are sexting with someone that you don't actually know, is that you are going to be creating this whole fantasy world that might not fully be in alignment with what your experiences of that person in real life, real time, and that's challenging. Especially if you've spent days and days and days, maybe even longer, having more of a virtual relationship with a person. If you find yourself there in person and it's just not clicking, well, that can be a real downer. Neil Sattin: In fact, maybe some relationships are just meant to be virtual. They can be fun and perfect just like that, and don't ever have to be more. That could be true. However, I think that it's more common that people will have this amazing virtual experience in real life, it won't go so well, and then the after-virtual experience just never is quite the same, 'cause so much is in the anticipation, so much is in the story that you have told yourself about the other person, about what they are like, what they look like, how they are as lovers. So, yeah, it can be challenging, whereas if you have experience with someone as an intimate partner, then you have some of that experience to draw on in terms of the picture that you paint for each other of what's happening. And also, the experience that you're creating for yourself in your head as you go through it is going to be aligned with what you naturally create with your partner in real life. Neil Sattin: Now, sometimes you can just get a little bit into the sexting with someone that you are with in real life as a way of simply stoking the fire of something that could happen in person later. So all of that, "I was thinking of you... Blah, blah, blah." That can become, "I can't wait to see you tonight," or "Let's make sure we get the kids to bed early," or "I'm grabbing takeout so that we don't have to worry about cooking dinner," whatever it is. And in days like we have now, where you might both be sheltering-in-place in your house, even texting to each other under those circumstances can be fun because again, it is a different mode of communication, and because it allows you to take advantage of the fact that it activates your imagination and your partner's imagination. Neil Sattin: And sometimes that's one of the hardest things about getting out of the routine and into something that's a little bit more intimate or erotic, it's because we're just... We're in the flow of something that's purely domestic, and it can be hard to change gears. So sending a little text, even when you're in the same house as someone can be a way to tap into a different part of them and their experience, and to change up the conversation and the vibe a little bit. That is if someone is willing to do this with you. I'm a big fan. I think it really activates a lot of our imagination and our eroticism, and there are things that we can text to each other that we might not ever say to each other. Sometimes that comes through in a negative way. I don't know if you've ever gotten a text from someone where you're like, "This person would never say that to me in person, but here they are texting it to me." But here it works to your advantage in a positive way where you can say things that you would never say. Neil Sattin: And if it doesn't go so well, whatever it is you say, then you can always kinda laugh it off. So getting back to the whole process of getting started on a sexting-capade, if it's clear that the other person isn't going there with you, then the best thing to do is to just kind of blow it off with a little joke, and that could be like where you just let it go, and that's fine. Or you could be like, "Sounds like you're really busy right now." And if they say, "Yes," then you might be like, "Okay, well, I'm going to leave you alone 'cause clearly my mind was elsewhere." So you're naming it for the other person, which I think is actually a huge mark of integrity where you're not leaving them guessing, "What was that all about? Were they trying to sext with me? What was going on with them?" So you can actually say, "Hey, yeah, my mind was elsewhere, and yours isn't, and that's totally fine. That's totally okay." Yeah, you definitely want to let the other person off the hook so that they don't feel bad about it, because you don't want to create any pressure around this at all, really around anything sexual, if you can avoid it. Neil Sattin: So, if someone is a no, then that's okay, you can be like, "Alright, no worries. I was glad to... It's good to talk to you. It's good to text with you a little bit. I just wanted to check in more than anything." And if someone is reaching out to you in that way and you want to let them down gently...If you barely know the person, and it's actually offensive, then you might not want to be so gentle. You might be like, "Wow, you're really going for it, aren't you? I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of conversation between us," simple as that. Or if you are more intimate with the other person or you know them well, then you might be like, "I would so want to go there with you, but right now really is not the time for me. I'm so sorry, and I really appreciate that you were willing to put yourself out there like that." Neil Sattin: So you probably heard a lot in there. There is me taking responsibility for myself. There's me naming what I think is going on with the other person. There's me appreciating them. There's me even apologizing, "No big deal. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I can't do this with you right now, but I would love to later. Thanks for bringing it up. Can I have a rain check on this conversation?" There are all sorts of ways where you can let someone down gently and still honor that they were being courageous and taking a risk. This is part of the dual responsibility in relationships. There're any number of ways that this can be illustrated, but here's one clear way where we are taking responsibility for just recognizing, "Oh, you were taking a risk, and I honor that in you," or "I'm taking a risk, and I just wanted you to know that. I'm naming that. Neil Sattin: And these are great opportunities both for shared vulnerability in relationship, but also sharing responsibility for the moment, really owning your part in any moment that's happening goes such a long way to increasing the generosity that you both experience, because when you're taking responsibility for yourself fully, then I won't end up feeling taken for granted, because I know that you've got you and that you recognize how much work I'm putting in, how much effort, how many risks I'm taking. It's so important, 'cause in the end, it's that spirit of generosity and reciprocity that makes for good sexting. It makes for a good relationship-ing. It makes for good everything. Neil Sattin: Now, I need to take a quick break before we dive into a little bit more of where you go, once the sexting starts happening, where you go with that. I want to tell you more about that, but before I do, I just need to mention this week's sponsor. Now, I'm not sure that they can offer you much to help you with your sexting technique. But if you are nervous about sexting or in general, you need some extra support around the things that are getting in the way of your happiness or achieving your goals, then this sponsor offers a great way that you can do that from the comfort of your own home, or from your office, or from your car, anywhere really, and their name is BetterHelp. Neil Sattin: BetterHelp will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist. You can chat via text with your counselor at any time, and you can schedule weekly video or phone sessions all without having to go anywhere. It's more affordable than traditional offline counseling, and they do offer a financial aid if you qualify. They also offer a broad range of expertise so that you can find the person most suited to helping you with your own unique situation. So whether it's needing to muster up some courage, or dealing with depression or stress, or anxiety, trauma, whatever is up for you, try out BetterHelp to help you move past the places where you're getting stuck. Neil Sattin: So to start living a happier life today, you can try BetterHelp. And for being a Relationship Alive listener, you can get an extra 10% off your first month. Just visit betterhelp.com/alive, and join over 800,000 people taking charge of their mental health. Again, that's betterhelp.com/alive. And, thank you so much BetterHelp for your support of our mission here at Relationship Alive. Neil Sattin: Now, let's get into the nitty-gritty of what to do when you're in the middle, when sexting is on, when it's happening. What do you do? How do you make it sexy and keep it sexy? Now, I'm going to just give you my thoughts on this, and my experience. So, this might be different for you, and I'll do my best to cover a few different scenarios so that you might find yourself fitting into some way of doing this that I describe. Amusingly, I just glanced at the clock and I realize that I've been talking for almost 40 minutes about sexting, and who knew I had so much to say about sexting? But there's actually quite a bit to say. And, as you can tell, it branches off into so many other aspects of relationship that are so important. I love that about this topic. Every piece of it is a fractal that opens to a whole different world that's related but different. Neil Sattin: So, what do you do? Let's go back to those conversations about sexting that we talked about at the very top of the episode. What you might want to get clear on is, what kind of language is a turn on for your partner and for yourself, and what kind of language isn't. Now we may have to get a little explicit here. If your children are for some reason listening to this episode, this would be a good time to hit pause and to resume later. I'm assuming you did that. Some people want just delicate language about sex. They don't even want genitals named. Neil Sattin: In fact, even the word genital, if you're one of those people, it probably just turned you way off right now, they probably just want to talk about things that are a little bit more metaphorical. I'm thinking of, for some reason, a good romance novel like, "That's making me feel warm between my legs," or, "Oh, I'm getting really excited, or, "I'm feeling all this energy in my body." Or even just saying that you're getting turned on in a gentle way. Saying turned on is a little bit more gentle. "Oh, I'm feeling so turned on right now." It's a lot different than like, "Man, I want to fuck your brains out right now." Totally different. Neil Sattin: They're essentially saying the same thing, but they're saying the same thing in a very different way. And you want to get a sense of what works for you so that you can communicate that to your partner. And you want to get a sense of what works for them, so that you can communicate to them using the language that is going to be most powerful and evocative for them. So you might talk about things like, "Well, what words do you like to use for your various body parts? What words are turn on to you? What words are turn off to you?" Those are really important things to know because when you are texting, you are in the realm of words. Neil Sattin: You're in the realm of the words that you say, and then you're in the realm of the thoughts that those words get you to think, or get your partner to think. If you're able to have a conversation about it, or if you get a sense of where they land, or just from how you've known them to be, you could be wrong. You could think that someone is super innocent and vanilla, and find out that they really love to talk really dirty, and say really dirty things. That could be true, and you will find out as you try this out, because usually if that is true for them, and they're feeling safe with you, then they'll start by taking a risk with words like that. Neil Sattin: When your partner offers something like that, then you get to be a "Yes, and" to it. The "and" can be steering it in a new direction. The "and" can be just going with it, even if you might not necessarily use that word, but you know that they like to use that word. It could be like, "Wow, you just said that, didn't you?" Where you're actually calling attention to what you're doing in the moment, which can be fun too. It can keep things playful. If you say to someone like, "Oh, I just want you to put your cock in me." A totally legitimate sexting response to that might be like, "Wow, you just went there, didn't you?" Now, you might want to use an emoji there, like a smiley face or a winky face or something like that, just to show that you're not being mean, that you're being playful. The goal here is to be playful and fun, and to also pay attention to what you are saying and what is being said to you, how that makes you feel in your body. Neil Sattin: Now, I'm just going to say it right now that when you are sexting, you have license to touch yourself. Now, if you're at the office, you may need to exercise some discretion about that. Depending on the circumstances, you may just have to be totally in your imagination. But if you have a little bit of privacy, then I give you permission hereby to touch the parts of your body that feel good, to even take a break for a minute from whatever conversation you're having, and just to go into your fantasy about what is happening, and to explore that for yourself, to explore the way it makes you feel, to touch yourself in ways that feel really good, to build the pleasure in you, and to build your story about what's happening and what's unfolding in your imagination, in your experience. And then once you've done that, you can transmit that to your partner. Neil Sattin: It's funny, some of the most hot sexting experiences that I've had that have lasted even the longest, and I've had some that I've gone pretty long - and some can be super short. But it's funny, I'll look back at them and realize that we actually didn't say a whole lot. It's like the art in sexting isn't about how much you say or how graphic you get. It's saying just the right things that evoke the pictures, the experiences for your partner, and then creating the space for them to have that experience and to appreciate it in them. Neil Sattin: A moment ago, when I was talking about those meta moments where you might say like, "Wow, you just went there, didn't you?" I think it is really helpful to the experience to name things like, "Wow, I am so turned on right now," or "I wish you were right here next to me right now," or "Oh my God, I can't wait until you're next to me." Or if you know how it feels to be actually being sexual with the other person, you might say, "Oh, I know exactly what that's like. It feels so good." You're, of course, saying all that with your words. Neil Sattin: Now, as you sext, I think it's a good to note on the punctuation, as silly as that sounds. I think it's really helpful to use dots like dot dot dot, and question marks, and to use those as ways of reminding the other person that you're waiting for them. Again, you don't want to just sext AT your partner unless they've asked you to do that. I could see that happening. "Just send me sexy texts. I'm not going to be able to text back to you because I'm in the middle of making dinner for the kids, but just keep sexting me up, 'cause every time I read those, I get totally turned on." So there's a case where you've been given permission to just monologue your sexting. Neil Sattin: But for the most part, you want to constantly be creating space, so you want to offer a few things and you might... This is a great way to use pauses in your texting, so you might just text a phrase. And I gave an example of this at the very beginning. So here's another. It might be something like, "Now I trace my fingers" and hit Send. Or actually it would probably be like, "Now I trace my fingers... " Send. "Starting at your collar bone... " Send. "Working my way down... " Send. And then you might ask a question like, "Where do you want me to go?" Or, "How do you like that?" So you offer something and then you ask a question. Neil Sattin: Now, sometimes you're going to just offer something, you don't have to always put a question at the end, you don't want to be formulaic about it. So you might be offering something and then your partner might just start texting you back, and then you're in a back and forth. So there's no hard and fast rules about how to do this, or "I need three phrases with ellipses at the end, and then a question with a question mark at the end." It doesn't work that way. If you're stuck, then sure, use those things as ways to foster your own creativity, or to help remind your partner, "Hey, I'm over here. I'm waiting for you. Are you still there?" And in fact, if you lose your partner to some sexy reverie, then you might even ask them like, "Are you still breathing over there?" Neil Sattin: So you want to be kinda playful about it, but it's a way of reminding them like, "Hey, we're on this journey together. Where'd you go?" In this zone, this is a good time to think about painting a picture of how you want to touch your partner, how you want them to touch you, and describing it in ways that aren't too specific unless specificity is asked for. If you asked me, "Where do you want me to go?" I could respond, "Just keep going down." That's one way, or I could respond like, "I want you to grab my cock." Neil Sattin: There's just any number of ways, or like "I want you to tease me and... " And you could leave it at that, "I just want you to tease me. What do you do next?" And now it's back in your court, so you can be like, "Oh, okay, how am I going to tease Neil?" There's all kinds of possibility there. One of the best things I think, is for you to describe something about what you like or what you want to do, and then to be an invitation to whatever comes next. Now, hopefully, that's becoming clearer. As I'm talking about this, I'm thinking "hmmm...maybe I should make a little how-to guide on sexting?" You'll be the first to know if that happens, but I'm hoping that this is giving you a lot of good pointers. Neil Sattin: As this goes on, with you inviting each other into the dance, talking about what you're really enjoying, what feels good, what you want to do, what you want to be done, giving your partner really appreciative feedback, "Oh, like you said that, that just really... That felt so good." or, "I'm just imagining that and that's so amazing." or whatever it is. So you're giving each other feedback. In many ways, this can be great practice for being in the bedroom and learning how to communicate better as lovers when you're actually in the bedroom with each other because it's required here. Neil Sattin: But at the same time, also allowing each other that space to be in your own experience. And if your partner is not squeamish about this kind of thing, you might even say something like, "I can't help myself. I'm just...I'm touching myself right now." Or, "Are you touching yourself? I am." And if they say, "I am, too," then you might say, "Oh, tell me a little bit about that." 'cause you can be in the fantasy world, and then you can bring people into their own experience, "Tell me about what is happening for you right now. I'm so turned on right now." "Oh, tell me more about that. Tell me more about how you're turned on. What are you thinking about? What's getting you? What's getting you the most turned on right now?" So you can learn about each other, too, by asking questions. You're asking questions, you're staying in the flow, you're ramping things up, you're getting more and more excited, and then there's the question about how you bring things to an end. Neil Sattin: Now, if you only have like 10 or 15 minutes to begin with, then you might say that at the beginning so that you both know that you're operating within certain time constraints. If you don't have time constraints, that's a totally different thing. But if you do, then you might ask each other something really blatant like, "Do you want to come now?" And I'm trying to think of even a less direct way. You've probably got something - if we were here talking about this, and we'd come up with probably a half dozen different ways to ask the same question. Or you might offer it, if you're feeling like you don't want to. For instance, you might be like, "Just so you know, I'm totally good right now. I don't need to come but if you want to, I'm totally here for you. Tell me what you want me to do." So you're showing that you're available and you're taking responsibility for yourself. Or you might be like, "I really, really... I have to go in two minutes but I have to come before I do." Neil Sattin: Now, for me personally... And I've talked about this on the show before. I don't like to have traditional climax orgasms all that often. I like to explore more the energetic spaces that happen, that open up when you stop having peak orgasms, and that's just one type of orgasmic experience. But there are all kinds of different nuances to how you have orgasms, and the kinds of orgasms that your body is capable of in different parts of your body, different ways of experiencing it. There's so much more than the tension, tension, tension, and then release that you can feel from a more physical climax kind of orgasm. Neil Sattin: For me, I am often good - not necessarily ejaculating and having to clean all that up. I'm usually good not doing that. No, that's not always true but often it is. But this is something that's very personal. You might have a little conversation like, "Do you want to? Do you not want to? Do you want to just like... " If you decided you didn't want to, then you might just start transitioning your sexting into something a little bit more sweet and connected like you might have after actually having sex. For instance, you might say something like, "Let's just cuddle up and hold each other. I'll be the big spoon. What do you think about that?" So you're even in your story about what's happening. You're transitioning to a different kind of mood that allows you to just bask in everything that you've stirred up. Or again, you might be like, "This has been so amazing. I can't wait to see you later." or, "I can't wait to see you in person, whenever that happens." Neil Sattin: Now, let's say you decide though, that you've gotten to a point where you both just want to come like crazy. Well, that's something that you can do together, too. And you can play with that like, "You want to? I want to. Alright, let's do it. Don't do it yet. Let's sync up with each other." And so you might have to figure out where you're each at and what each of you needs a little bit more of. So if you're both right there on the edge... Neil Sattin: Now, this is something that is so funny, I think. It's not universally true, but for a lot of people, it can be a lot easier to have an orgasm when you're by yourself than when you're with another person. And so you might find that someone with whom orgasm-ing when you're actually having sex is challenging, that when you're there sexting with each other, that they're right there and ready. Hey, we know our own bodies better than other people know them, and that's why sexting can be so powerful, because so much of what's happening is happening in our own heads. And so we are really in control of how the fantasy is unfolding. We can make it unfold exactly like how we would want it to be in real life. Neil Sattin: But then you can experiment with things like you can switch to recording yourselves, sending little audio recordings to each other. You can have a little countdown and you both are like, "Alright, we're going to count down from five, and when we get to one, we're both going to orgasm." And there are any number of ways that you can do this. But in all of those magical, "We came at the same time and the world exploded into beautiful fireworks of ecstasy" moments. You can do that in your sexting because you have that much more control over what's happening. Neil Sattin: So I invite you to play with what feels right in the moment and to show up for each other. If you do go for the big 01 orgasm, then don't just fall asleep on your partner. Take a few moments afterwards to be, one, "How was that?" Or checking in like, "Oh my God, that felt amazing," or, "That was crazy," or whatever it is. Share with them about your experience and give them space to share about their experience, and then offer each other so much appreciation. "That was amazing. That was so fun. You're so good at that. I loved when you talked about blah, blah. Let's definitely do this again." whatever it is, offering each other lots of appreciation and good feelings so that it becomes something that can become part of your repertoire with how you nurture the erotic energy in your relationship. It can be such a useful tool if you are willing and able to go there with each other. Neil Sattin: And lastly, yeah, you might want to offer some closing moments about how great that is or how you can't wait until you can do that in person, or how now you're going to just imagine curling up with the person, and what that feels like, or what that might feel like, and bringing your sexting to a close in a way that feels right for you. Wow. I'm sure when I go back and listen to this or read the transcript, I will realize that there's more that I could say. Oh, I remember I talked about something earlier on, I do want to cover this before we go. So what do you do if you've been sexting with someone that you don't really know all that well, and then you meet in person and it's awkward, you're not totally feeling it, what do you do? Uh-oh. What a downer. Neil Sattin: Well, it's possible that it's not salvageable. It's possible that that's just the reality. The reality is that in-person interactions are different. And when it comes right down to it, the in-person reality of you and this other person just aren't going to work, and that's okay. You can be thankful for the fun experiences that you had in virtual space with that person and just acknowledge graciously that you're not totally feeling it. So that might be one way. Another way might be to acknowledge, particularly leading up to it, because I imagine that if you're anything like me, that if you have incredible virtual experiences with a person, then you might be a little nervous about meeting them in person. What's this going to be like? Is it going to live up to what the virtual has been like? Etcetera, etcetera. Neil Sattin: By the way, I am a huge fan of actual phone calls or video chatting with someone. That can be a step between texting or messaging and actually meeting someone in person, so that can be a good way to get a sense of how it feels with that person. But let's say, you're nervous about it. Well, one of the best things that you can do is to just voice that for the other person. When you're there with each other, you might name it like, "Wow, I'm noticing that I'm feeling a little nervous and a little awkward." or, "Yeah, it's so weird 'cause we've shared such intimate moments virtually, and I'm realizing here in front of you that I actually don't know you at all in this way." Neil Sattin: So talking about what your present moment experiences... You've probably heard me talk about this before, can be such a great way to connect with another person. If things are a little weird and awkward, if you're able to name it, and you're able to name the experience that you're having of that, that can help put you at ease. It can help with the other person at ease, and it just might get you to a place where you can be exploring connection again. Neil Sattin: Again, that's not always going to work, and there's probably more I could say about that, maybe we'll do a whole segment on online dating and transitioning into real life from the online space. But that's my helpful hint for you right now, is to be able to name it as it's happening. And then another thing you can do is, you can talk about the experiences that you've shared together. So you could talk about, "Wow, when we were sexting two nights ago, that was amazing. That's one of the best sexting experiences I've ever had." You're actually building on experiences that the two of you share. "What was that like for you?" Neil Sattin: Now you're in conversation, you're getting related, you're talking about ways that you've known each other. It could be a huge advantage that you've already opened up that erotic intimate space between the two of you, once you get over whatever awkwardness there might be about suddenly being in person when you haven't been in person before or much. Neil Sattin: Okay. Thank you so much for being with me here today to talk about sexting, a very important topic. And just know that I'm available for practice sessions. No, just kidding. Well... No, I am just kidding. That being said, maybe the Relationship Alive Community on Facebook might be a good place to share some of your experiences around sexting or you can always email me. My email address is neilius at neilsattin dot com. I hope you've had fun day, 'cause this has been a lot of fun to talk about. Neil Sattin: I will be back next week. Am I back next week? Next week might be... No, next week is a week off, so I'll be back the following week. I haven't quite decided yet who you're going to hear from, but we've got a couple great possible episodes on tap for you and more are always coming. Until then, take care, happy sexting, and I'll talk to you soon.

Welcome to 21st episode of Confidence Rockstar Podcast.Job interview may be quite stressful experience but there is a way to reduce that level of stress. The more prepared you're, the less stressed you'll be. Job interview is an exam that you need to prepare for. It's the same as with driving licence exam, or exams that you needed to pass at Uni, you have to to get ready. The better prepared you're, the more confident you feel and you'll be able to present that confidence in front of potential employer.There're many quesions that may be asked in a job interview and there're ways on how to answer them.In this episode I'll focus on 5 most common questions from job interviews and will give you proven ways on how to respond, so you'll rock that interview. Links from the show: Grab Free 5 Day E-mail Course: Confidence Rockstar here: www.alexgrzybek.com/5days/Join Facebook Group: Confidence Rockstar here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/confidencerockstar/Contact with host Alex Grzybek:Website: www.alexgrzybek.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexgrzybekcoach/Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/confidencerockstar/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexgrzybekcoach/

There're still conflicting views on what sisters who have Covid-19 did on their trip from Auckland to Wellington. It's now emerged the two women did, as National MP Michael Woodhouse said, have contact with two friends as they were leaving Auckland. Director general of Health Ashley Bloomfield says they did not kiss and cuddle them after they helped them navigate their way out of the city. Michael Woodhouse stood by his story when he spoke to us earlier.  Behind all this is criticism of how people coming into the country are isolated and a lack of clarity over compassionate leave from that isolation. Jane Patterson is RNZ's Political Editor.

If you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with, who are you spending quarantine with? From: On (or Close to) Schedule - Only two types of people --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this episode, I share strategies that will help you to increase your wealth by shifting your identity. There're 5 levels of wealth, and you can make more money easily by shifting from one identity to another. Hopefully, you'll like the episode. Feel free to hit me up with any questions you have. My Instagram profile is @n.velikov Winners are not born, winners are self-made! It's a podcast by Niko Velikov that is here to remind you that all you need to do is put in the work. Niko Velikov is an entrepreneur and marketer who made it to the world-class marketing scene and personally managed online marketing campaigns that generated over $10,000,000 in sales. Niko's life is dedicated to helping others win bigger, and reach their goals faster. To find out more about Niko, check the links below: https://www.niokvelikov.com/ https://www.instagram.com/n.velikov/ https://www.facebook.com/nikovelikovmarketing/

*Quarantine episode #1 -- Broadcast from home via Instagram Live*A part of a thing is never the whole of the thing.  That's easy enough to get behind, just don't forget that anything constructed is necessarily partial.  So you can spend your time thinking about anything you want, just don't make the mistake of presuming you now know it all.  Things are changing everyday! Originally aired and recorded 3/18/2020

Machine Guarding ranks number 9 out of OSHA’s Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, with 1,743 violations in 2019. (https://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2019/09/osha-reveals-latest-top-10-list-of-violations-at-nsc-2019/). According to OSHA’s Machine guarding eTool, there are over 18,000 injuries and 800 deaths each year attributed to worker exposure to unguarded or inadequately guarded machines. Does your workplace have presses, shears, gears, rollers, conveyors, or shafts?  How about mixers, jointers, portable power tools, or power saws?  What do they have in common?  Their moving parts can cause a multitude of serious or life changing injuries like amputations, crushed limbs or digits, and blindness.  And all may fall under the machine guarding standard.  In this episode, Peter speaks with Hartley Webb, MEMIC’s expert on machine guarding, about what machine guarding is, hazards of unguarded machines, and common strategies to control worker exposure.  Listen in as they discuss different types of guards from fixed to interlocking and self-adjusting, as well as devices like light curtains and two hand controls/trips that protect the worker from moving parts. Peter Koch: Hello, listeners. Welcome to the MEMIC Safety Experts podcast for today's episode, Machine Guarding. I'm speaking with Hartley Webb, Safety Management Consultant for MEMIC, to better understand the impact machine guarding has on us in the workplace. Hartley has been a safety management consultant with MEMIC for over 25 years, almost since its inception, working with all varieties of businesses. He's a frequent speaker for the Maine and New Hampshire Safety Councils, and Hartley is a CSP and a firefighter in his hometown in northern Maine. Hartley joins us today on the phone. And welcome to the podcast, Hartley. Hartley Webb: My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Peter Koch: Fantastic. So happy to have you here. Before we get into this topic, a little bit of talk about machine guarding. Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself and your position here with MEMIC? Hartley Webb: Well, I graduated with industrial technology degree and I went to work for heavy industrial account work there for a few years and then was offered a job as safety consultant for heavy construction. Spent a few years in that trade. And then the insurance company that was handling the contractors working with asked me to come to work for them. And that got me into the insurance industry. And I was there for about two years when I was able to take a job with MEMIC back in 1993. And I've been with MEMIC ever since. Peter Koch: Wow. Long, long history and some good work experience to bring you in to MEMIC to be a safety consultant. And certainly so really having that heavy industry experience gives you some insight into machine guarding across the board, whether it be through heavy industry or it could be in the many woodworking shops that we have here in Maine or any of the manufacturing or industrial operations that we have across the England or throughout any of our insureds. Peter Koch: So, we're to talk a little bit about well, a lot about machine guarding today. And what I'd like to know from you is like, what is the definition? Let's start with that. What's the definition of safeguarding or machine guarding? Hartley Webb: Well, the idea behind machines safeguarding is to prevent the accidental contact with some hazard operation associated with a piece of machinery. And there's various types of hazards. We'll probably get into discussing, but the whole goal behind it is to prevent that accidental contact with those hazard areas, either while operating machines, servicing a machine or working in proximity to a machine. Peter Koch: Ok, so accidental contact, obviously, you know, no machine guarding is going to prevent a purposeful contact with a hazard operation of the machine. So accidental contact. Is it designed to have there for normal operations, or for maintenance operations? Does it have to be there all the time? So, is it designed to protect the employee at all times or are there certain times where the machine guard doesn't need to be there? Hartley Webb: The machine safeguarding should be there at all times. Anytime that safeguard is either removed or bypassed, that would bring about the need for controlling of hazardous energy or using alternative measures in order to protect the employee. Once again, put those same hazard points that the guard was put there to begin with. Peter Koch: Nice. I think that's a good framework to start with. So, when we look at a machine, we've got to look at where those hazard areas are, where there could be accidental contact and those should always be guarded at all times. And then if we got to remove it, then another process has to be in place to protect the employee. Perfect. So, what industries or job activities need to be aware of or understand machines safeguarding? Hartley Webb: It's really all industries. It's amazing. The different jobs you could go into where people won't think that there is a need for safeguarding. But I mean, typically we think about the metalworking industry, the woodworking industry. I mean, food processing that I deal a lot with has a lot of need for machine guarding because again, there's a lot of material. I'm sorry, a lot of machinery that's handling product. The printing industry has as a strong need for machines safeguarding course. You have completely different exposures in the agricultural industry, in the forestry industry, and you could even include stuff like even grounds keeping industry where you have a lot of that mobile equipment that still has a lot of requirements for machines safeguarding. But I've helped businesses from, you know, retail, wholesale. I mean, is conveyors in a lot of different businesses. Almost any business has some type of either small power tool or something. It's in the maintenance shop or groundskeepers’ shop or whatever that that could bring about the need for safeguarding. Peter Koch: Nice. So, every industry, like you said. So, it doesn't matter where you're at. Could be a. Mom and pop business. It could be a multi-national or multi-state corporation that has a lot of different functions, but every industry, if you've got a machine that has moving parts, you've got a more than likely you'll have to have some machine guarding on it, whether you have to install it or there comes that way from the manufacturer. Would that be a fair statement? Hartley Webb: Yes. Yes. Correct. Peter Koch: Awesome. Ok. So when we start to look at our machines and especially our older machines, or we found this to actually in the recreation industry, when we're purchasing a piece of equipment from overseas, they don't always have the same safety standards that we do for production. And if you don't know and you know, ask for it, parts may not come guarded to the extent that we expect them to be in the states. So, when we're looking at a piece of machinery, what are we looking for to determine whether or not it needs to be guarded? Hartley Webb: Again, you're gonna be looking for those common hazard areas to start with. You're gonna do like an assessment. Well, the first one we'll be looking at any rotating motion. Are there any shafts? Are there any surfaces at all that may be rotating where you could either get pulled into some type of day nip point like in running net point, which we can talk about more. Is there any reciprocating kind of motions that are taken place where you could have a struck by or a pinch type exposure? Are there any transverse motions that would be something you would find them like chain drives or belt drives where you would have, you know, transverse motion or, you know, surfaces moving in opposite directions. Anytime that happens, typically you will also create a nip point type hazard. We'd be looking for any like points of operation where you would have a cutting action that would be taking place or punching, shearing or bending kind of action where there's the potential for a part of the body or something deep to get caught into that hazard area. Peter Koch: Okay. So, you mentioned rotating parts in running nip points, transverse motion like a chain drive point of operation cutting operations. So, as you're assessing your piece of equipment, first of all, you'd be looking for moving parts. What those moving parts are doing, are they rotating? Are they driven by a sprocket or a socket? And then can you touch those points? Right. So, I guess if you can see it, does it mean that you have to guard it, or do you actually have to be able to contact it? Hartley Webb: Well, no, you don't actually have to come in contact with it because I mean, a lot of those actions that we just spoke about were, you know, hazardous activities that are taking place. But you could also have the potential for falling into walking into or struck by of material, you know, coming off of the machining process due to failure. And there's a lot of equipment that requires just like a debris shield would be required in a lot of pieces of machinery that’s actually classified as a guard. And a simple example, that would be something like a milling machine or a blade where there are rotating motions. Some of those can't be physically guarded on some of the manual type machinery but would have like a barrier debris type a barrier to prevent access, but also a to prevent contact with any debris that may be coming off of the point of operation. Peter Koch: So, in the… Hartley Webb: And also,  we also didn't include heat would be another one. So, if there's any hot surfaces, I mean, that would be a different type of exposure, but that would also bring about the need for, you know, for safety. Peter Koch: So, any hazardous energy that you could be exposed to there, looking for it to be guarded from accidental contact, like you said, from for the employee. OK, so a debris shield that be something to look at. Let's go back to those different types of points and let's talk about those in running neck points. I know that's a question that comes up all the time. Describe for me what that in running nip point is and what are the hazards around those? Hartley Webb: Again, it's probably one of the from my experience, that has been the hazard that has caused them the greatest amount of both severity and frequency of injuries within the industries that I work in, the food products, wholesale warehousing type, where there's conveyors that in running nip point, it can be created in several different areas. But typically, it's like a belt coming in contact with a rotating drive wheel or tension wheel. You're going to find those on a conveyor system. You're going to get those nip points created on any type of conveyor, whether it be a chain conveyor, a belt conveyor or a roller compare to inward moving wheels in opposite directions like you would have on a on a conveyor roller conveyor type thing has that potential. At the end where you could come in, where you get two adjoining. Systems where they could get pulled in. But the most common ones would be a belt and pulley, a conveyor rotating or drive wheel or tension wheel along with the belt. Even in a transverse type of belt, the hazard where again, if part of your clothing party, a body or even a tool or something that you're working with or a piece of the product that's moving on the conveyor that has a possibility or on a machine that has the ability to get caught, which could then inadvertently pull you or injure you if you're standing nearby when that takes place. Those types of hazards would have to be guarded against that occurring. Peter Koch: Ok, I'm gonna ask you here to give me an example. So, can you frame for us and kind of give us a picture of what type of machine would have an in running nip point and kind of describe for where and how that might expose the worker to that energy? Hartley Webb: Yeah, probably the best scenarios would be a chain and sprocket. So, where that chain needs that dry sprocket on the in running portion of that, obviously there's no hazard on the outrunning but that in running would have to have protection. So rather it's a belt pulley or a chain sprocket. Typically, would be found on some type of power transmission or derived system that would have to be guarded or that portion would have to be guarded so that you cannot make contact that would draw you into that hazard area. Peter Koch: Gotcha. Perfect. So that makes sense. So that the section where the sprocket or the drive wheel is coming in contact with the chain or the belt typically really at the bottom as it starts to pull that in where those two pieces come together. That's that in running that point. That's what you're talking about. Hartley Webb: Correct. And there's almost nobody around that has an experience that was like a bicycle where your pant leg got caught onto that in running neck point of that chain and sprocket on your bike. The only difference is when we're dealing with industrial, we have motors behind that energy. So, the rotation doesn't stop. And that's where you could it could have some serious injury from basically continuing to draw in, you know, the clothing or the body part. Peter Koch: Sure. That makes a lot of sense. I think that's a great description. That chain and sprocket for the bicycle and I. Yeah, everybody has written a bike has had that. Has that happened before? But the benefit of the bicycle, like you said, is it will stop if you get too much, too much in there or you just fall off. But the machine's not going to stop it until someone pushes the button or until it reaches its maximum tolerance. OK, so in earning the points, we've talked about those another rotating part. You talked about rotating shafts. So, there's a lot of rotating shafts that are out there. What part of that shaft has to be guarded? And what are the guidelines around what has to be guarded for that rotating shaft? Hartley Webb: Yeah, the if it's a shaft itself. Well, I guess this first we'll talk about the shaft. And so if you take a shaft and connect it to some type of the pulley or a gear or something like that, there's potentially going to be an exposing shaft end like you would find on a like a grinding wheel where you'd have that shaft coming through the center of the wheel. And then on the outside, you would typically have like a hex knot or in that same thing's gonna be in an industrial facility, may or may not have a nut on the end of it. It could just have a set caller on the end of it. It's connected by some type of this that screw with or without maybe a keyway. So that shaft end that has some very specific requirements to it. If it doesn't have any burrs. If it's smooth. If it's less than one half the shaft diameter. What's sticking out of the of the surface that it's uprooting through? So, one half the shaft diameter or less, you can leave it alone and don't have to safeguard it. But if you're going to let more than that stick out, if it has any exposed keyways or if it has a collar with a set screw on it. In that set screw is sticking out so that it might it could come in contact with clothing or be able to catch something that now has to have a guard on it. Hartley Webb: So, the shaft and is one of the areas you'd want to focus on. Anytime you have any type of the shaft on a piece of machinery, then the shaft itself you would want to be taking a look at to see if it's an extremely slow-moving shaft. And I can't remember exactly the rotation. It is in some letters of interpretation that have been documented. But if it's really slow, I mean, slow enough that you could almost sit on the thing and, you know, get off of it without it moving more. I mean, if it's really moving slow, it's not much of a hazard, but it fits. But if it has any rotation to it, it could accidentally catch clothing or catch material or hair or anything like that. It's going to have to have some type. The shield on it. If it has a keyway in it. Now we have a surface. It can easily catch material that has to have a guard on it. So, if your shaft has an exposed keyway, it's gotta be guarded. If it has any rough surface, it has any anything on it. All set callers or anything that could do again could catch clothing, hair or strike you as it rotates. It's going to have to have a guard on it to prevent contact with that hazard. Peter Koch: So, a smooth shaft that's greater than one half the diameter of the shaft itself. That that much is sticking out beyond the machine that is protruding from if it's smooth. No keyway. No castle. No. No set screw. Totally smooth. No damage to it. Does that have to be guarded? Hartley Webb: If it's less than half the shaft diameter total sticking out? No. As far as size and in it in its protrusion. But again, looking at it like you just mentioned, any of those items that could accidentally cause you to get caught on it. Hair, clothing, or even as a struck by if it's coming around, you can catch the body. It's going to have to be safeguarded. So sometimes we'll try to eliminate the need for a safeguard by cutting those shafts back. There’re no exposed keyways, no exposed set screws. So therefore, the shaft can be left unguarded. Peter Koch: Very good. But if it is longer than half the diameter, then it's gonna have to be guarded regardless or if it has any protrusions from it. Those are all good to remember. OK. So, you're looking at are the rotating shaft ends. Those are some good points as a have something that's going to catch the person, their clothing, their hair, a tool or strike someone as it comes around. Then those have to be guarded. The length is something you have to look at. Any you brought up a good point, too, that you don't have to guard it. If you can make it shorter than half the diameter of the shaft itself. So, you can if it's possible to cut it back, you can cut it back and therefore eliminate the need to do that. So, it's another tool in your box as you're thinking about machine guarding. Hartley Webb: Correct. Peter Koch: Excellent. Hartley Webb: And a good example of that would be like a buffer. Put a buffing wheel on like a bench grinder but use a buffing wheel again. The guards could come on the manufacturers guards can come off because of the buffing wheel and you may need the entire surface. So, if you need the entire surface of the wheel, you can justify the removal of the barrier guard. But you still are gonna be required to guard that and that. And you're still going to be required to guard the shaft. If there's an expose shaft between a motor housing and the buffing wheels. So that stumps a lot of companies that just want to have an open buffing wheel. But they still need to either have a smooth, not smooth cap on the end or they're going to have to come up with ways of guarding the end nut along with the drive shaft. Peter Koch: So that's another option there. I was thinking that as you described that I'm thinking about the buffing wheel that I've used in some woodturning shops for two to two polished finished products. And some of them have three or four wheels right on the shaft itself that comes out. And at the end of the shaft is machine. So, the last buffing wheel stops right up against this. So, there's nothing sticking out. However, if there was something, stick it out. You can put a smooth cap on the end of that too, then. Hartley Webb: Correct. Usually that's usually that's a hex nut on that end. And oftentimes my counsel machine, a smooth almost like an acorn nut without any hex fittings on it that will actually get rate over that in fitting or if you're a connection point. And so now that you get a nice smooth shaft, it doesn't stick out more than half the diameter. They can now leave that out there in case they have to use the entire surface of that blast buffing wheel. Peter Koch: Perfect. Without putting a large guard around that to prevent contact. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, very good. We talked about the ends of shafts. When does a shaft itself need to be guarded? Hartley Webb: Typically, is when you have access to it. I mean, again, this is going to be every industry is a little bit different, but a lot of places can guard by location, which we can get into. You know, the methods of safeguarding. But if you can't have access to it, you can't you know, if you tried to reach it, you cannot with the full arm's reach, gain access to it. Then, you know, you can have basically administrative procedures and say, look, you need to go in. That area is going to be basically you'd have to control hazards, energy prior to entering. So, it can be guarded by location. Oftentimes what I see is it's where the operator station may be and they have that again, the potential for that accidental contact where clothing or something that could drape like hair, could drape over that rotating chair. And in that case, you're gonna have to guard or put a guard on to prevent contact. I mean, that's gonna be the same as any revolving surface or rotating motion that we talked about initially as a hazard. In the end, a lot of times in our mind, we're thinking of that horizontal shaft. But if you think about rotating motions, the one that most people can reference would be like a chuck on a drill press that has to be protected against accidental contact of that rotating surface. And that's no different than a chef would be. Peter Koch: Yeah, that makes sense. I was thinking, as you're talking about, that actually a vertical rotating shaft back in my history of employment, working in the recreation industry. We had some large vertical pumps for snowmaking systems and the older pumps had a vertical rotating shaft below the motor that went down to the impeller into the pump pit itself. And that was exposed. So, once it started up, you could easily come in contact with that. And in one of the first places I worked, it wasn't guarded initially. It did get guarded after a while. No one got no one touched it because no one was allowed into that area except the operator during operation. But still, that's the way it came from the manufacturer, or at least that's the way it looked like it came from the manufacturer as a 22-year-old working snow making for the first time. Hartley Webb: Something like that, there's basically the two most common ways would be to put a fixed guard over it so that you don't have access to it. And some of the most common methods that I see in the woodworking industry is and what actually in a lot of industries. But to put a slip collar over it, which is basically like a piece of TVC pipe, one size larger than that rotating shaft, kind of works like the shaft on a PTO for a like a farm tractor. When you're using an implement behind it, you'll put a slip shaft over that. So, in the event that you accidentally come in contact, land on it, your clothes drape over it, that the shaft, if it is rotating, may actually mean the covering like the TVC pipe. You could actually grab that pipe and the pipe would stop at the shaft but continues to spin inside it. You don't have access to that rotating surface. So, a lot of times I'll see those shafts like that just with a simple slip bag placed over it. And know that works effectively as long as it's installed properly. Peter Koch: Excellent. That's another really that's another really good point. So, we've been talking about a number of different ways to guard. So. you talked about slip collars. You talked about a fixed guard. You talked about a smooth cap on the end of a rotating shaft. What are some other ways that you can guard some of the machine guarding hazards that we've talked about so far? Hartley Webb: If you looked at it from a compliance standpoint, the one that they the one that compliance really likes to look is a fixed guard. So, the best guard is an actual fixed, solid fastened down, you know, some type of guard measure that protects you from that hazard area. If so, if you can't put a fixed guard on it, can you put an adjustable? So, an adjustable guard would probably be the next guard. So that's something that maybe manually would have to be adjusted each time a machine or something was used. But again, that would be the next level. So, you've got fixed, you've got adjustable. Then you would go to like self-adjusting. You know, where that would be like in a lot of the machines or saws where you thought of your table saw and you put some of the standard guards at table saws have that's gonna be just self-adjusting guard that just it just itself to the stock as it's being fed in. Obviously, the hazards of that type of guard is if you can continue to, you know, pass a part of your body in there. The guard is going to adjust into whatever is being fed into it will adjust over it. It really just protects you from having that accidental contact coming in from the side or above. But so, you've got fixed, adjustable, self-adjusting, and then the next level would probably be like an interlock type device that would be on some type of a fixed barrier or a door or gate that might be around the hazard area. Hartley Webb: Then you're then at that point you'd probably be looking at devices and without getting into a lot that we can get into some discussion. But basically, there's like six common devices. There’re those present sensing devices that will sense when you're in the area and stop the machine or prevent access. You've got a safety trip device where again, that's going to trip, he just stops the machine or trip some safety measure that will prevent access to the hazard. You have two-hand control. There’re basically two types of that two-hand trip and then two hand control. So, two-hand trip with the you know, you put your hand somewhere, the machines. But then they let you remove your hands and do something else where a two-hand control, you'd have to leave your hands in place the entire time. The machine's functioning and if you remove your hands, the machine stops. Then there's pull back and restraints, which now I've actually got the employee somehow harnessed where each time the machine cycles, it literally pulls their body out in a way from the hazard each time that machine does a hazardous activity at the point of operation. Or you can have restraint. That's basically just putting the person on a on a tether that prevents them from reaching a hazard area. So, if we go to that, it's fixed, adjustable, self-adjusting, interlocked. You can use your devices than the next one would probably be by location. So, in the world of safeguarding, if it's above seven feet from a walking, working surface, it mostly doesn't need to be safeguarded unless for some reason an employee elevates himself. Hartley Webb: Then it would have to be addressed or taken in. And then there's some standards about fast moving belt's large belts and stuff where it still protects in the event of the belt breaking over your head. But pretty much you can guard by location and that's kind of a 7-foot rule. Then obviously you could use stuff like robotics and stuff to remove the human out of the hazard area and auto feed type systems, so the employees aren't involved with the hazardous activities. And then it really goes into administrative where that's just using everything we just discussed. But that's including the necessary signage as an awareness, installing some type of, you know, barrier that you would have to go through before you get to even some of the guarding. And that would also include the employee training, training on what the guards are, what the signs are, what the do’s and don'ts are, along with the machine and the use of the guards and the injustice, some the guards. So, it's kind of a little toes were nine kind of key areas. But if you're doing a guarding assessment or if I was to come out and do a guarding assessment on a machine, I'd be basically looking at how many and which one of those nine items could potentially be used to safeguard that piece of machinery. Peter Koch: Great. There's a lot there. Looking at a piece of machinery from each of those places. But let's talk about some of the benefits of or the drawbacks as well for each of those. So, let's take them kind of in turn. So, the fixed guard you stated the benefit before of the fixed guard is it's fixed. It's in place. It's always there, protects the employee. What's the drawback of having a fixed guard? Hartley Webb: Well, the only drawback would be it's a fixed guard doesn't work for you. So, in other words, you need to have access. Product has to flow under it or through it, then obviously would be in the way. Or if you have to have visibility, sometimes a fixed guard can be an issue. The other thing with a fixed guard is depending on again your operation, you may not be able to install it. Fixed guy. Due to the hazard. It's just it's not physically possible. Example of that might be. See, you've got a conveyor system and that conveyor is two or three hundred feet long, which you actually install a solid fixed guard for the entire length of the now 200-foot-long conveyor. Or do you just guard the high areas of exposure such as the nip point and stuff, but yet you still have a moving belt system. So then they would let you go to another like a trip kind of device where you'd use like a trip wire or something like that, where if you were outside of those in running nip points and stuff that have physical guards on and that's where you've fixed guards would be located. You'd also be using alternative measures in lieu of completely encasing, you know, the piece of machinery so you can't get access to it. Peter Koch: So, the trip the trip wire or the trip guard be in addition to having a fixed guard then, is that what you're saying? Hartley Webb: Correct. Yeah. Because it's interesting because the most commonly not to get into citations is that the most commonly safeguarded violation is the one that says basically a machine needs more often needs more than one type of guard to be safely protected. I can remember exactly how the standard reads, but it's read at the very beginning of the general requirements for machine guards. And in you know, people sometimes just stop at implementing one guard when they really haven't addressed all the hazards of the machine. And it comes back to that point that the entire machine needs to be assessed. And what are there all the potential hazards associated with that given machine. So again, it will oftentimes need more than just one. But the other common one that a lot of accounts that I work with, a fixed guard tends to build up and accumulate debris. So, if you have like conveyor systems or machinery that has the ability to produce a lot of debris. Then those fixed cards can become a hazard because they lead to more maintenance type activities for having to do cleaning, which now is going to expose you to hazardous energy and elevated issues and, you know, elevated fall exposures. So, companies won't go with a fixed guard. They'll tend to go with area guards or barriers that going to keep you away. So, they tend to guard more by location and then allow the machine to run so that it doesn't have as much downtime for cleaning. Peter Koch: That makes sense. And so, a couple of points that I wanted to highlight from what you just said was that the entire machine has to be assessed and not just from what moving parts it has, but what moving parts does it have, and where will the employees or where might the employees get access to it during the course of normal operations? So, if they have to walk behind it, to walk around it, move above it. Do something with it, even if it's not in the point of operation area for the machine. If, say, the back of a powered press or something. You have access to it because you've got people walking back and forth. That area might need to be guarded just as well. So, in your assessment, you're not just looking at where the operator is, but you're assessing the entire machine. I thought that was a really good point that you brought up there. Hartley Webb: Correct. And probably almost anybody listening because either you don't care if it's a push mower or more or riding more. But everybody is familiar with like a riding lawn more. Well, if you looked at the guarding that's on that you have guarding on your power transmission. So that drive system that built pulley that has to be guarded. You've got your point of operation. You're cutting deck. The guides that are required on that to keep debris and stuff from being thrown out from the sides, along with the discharge chute in the stickers that are on that lawnmower are riding more from the manufacturer. Those are administrative controls. That signage is part of that guiding requirement. And that's something I often see in the agricultural industry where they'll have older tractors that they've repainted them or they've just from where. And those stickers that are on the rear fenders of the tractor, on the operating controls of the farm tractors that may even be attached to the PTO guarding mechanisms, those stickers have to be on there. They're part of the manufacturer's requirement for the safe use of that guard, and of the tractor. So that becomes part of that guarding that information of what are the hazard points and what to stay away from. Along with the actual physical fixed or adjustable God's. Peter Koch: Perfect. Perfect. So those stickers or the information parts are a part of their machine guarding requirement to giving instructions. Awesome! Hartley Webb: Correct. Peter Koch: Let's talk a little bit then about the pros and cons of those adjustable or self-adjustable guards. You talked a little bit about that. How? There's a couple of cons for the Self-adjusting Guards. But give us a little more insight into the pros and cons of using an adjustable or a self-adjusting guard. Hartley Webb: Well, the self-adjusting, that's just the maintenance criteria. So that has to basically be maintained so that it's functional and operating in the way that would that it was designed to be adjustable. Good is where I typically would see or we do see a lot of exposure areas because again, that comes back under the training of the employee, which is, you know, one of those administrative requirements. It's also part of the company's safeguarding effort. But there is a guard opening scale. So, it pretty much represents the human arm. So when you're adjusting any of those adjustable guards, they should be adjusted in a manner that in the event that your hand was to pass under that guard, you cannot make contact with that point of operation, with that hazard activity is taking place. So, you know, you can have that opening can become larger and larger the more you come away from the hazard. And once again, it represents really it represents the human hand. I think it goes down as far as a quarter inch. So any type of an adjustable, if you want to think of like a table saw or a band saw, which probably most people have at home or in the work, is that guard can't be graded in a quarter inch from the largest portion of the stock feature that you're feeding into the machine. So, you would want to be adjusting that all the time and keeping that within tolerance of the part. So, again, it comes back to a human requirement and knowledge to keep adjusting that. That's one of the biggest downfalls of that adjustability, is it doesn't get adjusted as much as it probably should. Peter Koch: Yes, you kind of put it in an either in an average spot, if you adjust it for the largest piece that you're going to have and then you start feeding. Pieces into the machine and you don't adjust it back down. Therefore, exposing the employee to that, that the hazard of the rotating parts of the moving parts inside the machine, that makes sense. So, comebacks that the human factor is the challenge with the adjustable guard. Sure. So, what about interlocks? I know quite a few of the machines that I've worked with before. You open the door. The machine stops. Or you know, you can't operate the machine again until the interlock is closed. Are there any there? There's a really great benefit for that. Like if there is a door that is enclosing all the rotator part, rotating parts or moving parts like a CNC machine. Another piece of machinery, you might have a window where you can see into the operation itself, but in order to access, you have to open the door and then the machine won’t operate until it's close. Great control, great guard. But what are the challenges that we might have with an interlock system as a guard? Hartley Webb: Well, they're allowed to be used. The biggest thing is, again, maintaining and making sure that they're actually functioning. Unfortunately, they have the ability to be overridden by the employee often times or, you know, shouldn't be, but they can they can make it so that the interlock is no longer functioning, either by turning it off, by putting some type of the mechanism in it that bypasses it. Obviously, that would create a very unsafe situation because now you wouldn't have a secured guard. And basically, it's just it's taking a fixed guard, making it easily removable or allowed to open. The other thing that it brings about the need for, which would be another conversation for another time. But again, once you open that guard, even though it may be interlocked and shut down or stop some functioning part of the machine or the hazard area, you still have to deal with the control of hazardous energy. If what you're about to do is classified as a service or maintenance activity, which typically would be the reason you would have to go beyond that, that guard. So, it's there, too, as a protection measure. But going beyond the interlock brings about the need for control of hazardous energy. At that point, we'd have to say probably ninety nine percent of the time. Peter Koch: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Makes a lot of sense. So, we're gonna take a quick break and we will continue with some more discussion with Hartley on the back side. So, we'll see in a moment. *********************************************** Peter Koch: Welcome back to the Safety Experts podcast by minute. Today, we're talking with Hartley Webb, safety management consultant at MEMIC. So, let's jump in with some more questions. Part of the break, Hartley, we were talking about the different types of machine guards and they're pros and cons and we talked about fixed, adjustable, self-adjusting and interlocks and now we're onto those devices. So why don't you talk to us about the devices and what the pros and cons are for those devices? Hartley Webb: Ok. Well, the first one would be the first one that comes to mind would be like a presence sensing type device. And there's a lot of different ones. Some of them there might be a sense mat on the floor. So, a few that can be wired either way say that the they want you that you want the operator to stand in a certain area and not leave that area so that they don't become injured. You can actually put a man on the floor that would be interlocked back to the piece of machinery. But you can have one or two ways. Either somebody steps onto the mat trying to enter into an area that would that would activate safety devices, or you can have it so that the employee literally has the standard or be station in one area in in order for the machine to function. So that's one type of present sensing devices. Other ones would be the most typical one. Probably people are familiar with would be like curtains or some type of barrier interlock where it senses some part of the body entering into an area. And when it does so, once again, it either sets off alarms it could it could stop the piece of machinery. It all depends on what the machine is and how close you are to the hazard area at that point in time. But those are good examples of present sensing some of the downfalls, short sides of those. Once again, they have to be maintained. So, people have to test them. They have to make sure that they're being serviced properly aligned properly, are given on what type of device that they're actually using. Peter Koch: How often... let me interrupt you for just a second, Hartley, how often do they have to be tested and evaluated, those present sensing devices? Hartley Webb: Most of it's going to come back. When I usually do that, I usually look for the what the manufacturer's requirements are for like a light curtain. So, in some of that may also be based on how dirty the environment may be. That may affect the sensors or the photo portion of the of the sensors. So usually I go right to the manufacturers literature to find out what they have. I believe OSHA’s got some requirements for like curtains. And I think that's only when used on presses that they do have some requirements. And I want to I want to say that's like a, it's like a pre-check where you'll just verify that the system's working based on its light mechanisms, where it's got a red or green to show you when it's been tripped. As far as maintenance, maintaining them and keeping them within the tolerance that’s required, that will go back in manufacturer's literature and following that requirement. Peter Koch: Ok, good. And all those can be adjusted based on the machinery. How far away? How big the thing that you want to identify is as it comes into the presence of whatever you're trying to, whatever you're sensing. So, whether it be a light curtain or the mat, all those tolerances can be set. So that can be tuned pretty well for really good safety or in good safety and efficient operation as well. So, you've really got to know what the manufacturer says about how to adjust it, when to test it and how it's supposed to function. Good. Good points there. Thank you. So, from there, from the other devices you had mentioned before, you had mentioned safety trips to hand controls, to hand trips, pull back restraints. So, what are some pros and cons of those different devices? Hartley Webb: I shouldn't say I've been fortunate of, I’ve been unfortunate, but I've been able to do some accident investigations where they used a safety trip. And once again, the safety trip just it's a two-hand trip. And sometimes you can actually have a one-hand trip if you want to use buttons. So that basically controls either one or both hands. So, you're able to control where the operator’s hands are at the time a piece of machinery starts. The difference between two-hand trip and two-hand control that I spoke about would be the control they would have to leave their hands on those two pressure points doing the entire cycle of the machine. Usually that would be used in the event that they could take a handoff and reach into the machine and still be injured. So sometimes you'll see just a control use just to like to shut a gate. Once the gate closes, you're able to let off the control and the machine can cycle. Other types of trips we had mentioned earlier would be your trip wires. Sometimes those run along the length of something like a conveyor. I also have a lot of industry where they'll use them to surround a piece of machinery such as a roll press, say, in the metal industry where you could be anywhere around that machine, 360 degrees. And if things are going if things aren't going right or there's a hazard anywhere, then you can quickly basically the trip wires down by your foot and allows you to quickly step on the wire on like a roll press that would basically stop that machine immediately or like on a conveyor, you would be able to pull it. So, it has a lot of various is a lot of different type trip devices. It can put out there. It can be out there, but it and it just allow some allow actually another one that's very common is device where you'll see it in a plastic or in the rubber industry, sometimes in the textile industry where if you accidentally get caught in a machine because you have to have the operation has to be open to gain access to the product. But if something happened, then you were to fall forward or you get caught on a product and got pulled towards a machine, you would come in contact with some type of either a swinging overhead bar or there'd be a bar crossed in front of you. That when you make contact with that, it would stop the machine prior to entering. Probably the one that most people would be familiar with that aren't into some of those industries would be if anybody is looked at like a woodchipper, they have one of those bars that would be a trip device where if you get caught on a tree limb and it started pulling you into the chipper, you would just reach up a party of body and hit that bar by the feet you and that would stop the feed mechanism. Peter Koch: So, it's a change your pants bar, pretty much because you're saying later, if your heart is going a million miles a minute, because you're just moments away from being incorporated into whatever product you have. Holy cow. Yeah. Peter Koch: So, question I have on those trip wires, though, those by themselves, are they considered an effective guard, a trip wire by itself, or does that have to be used in conjunction with another type of guard? Because it seems to be more of an emergency stop device that I would have to physically trip that. Like I'd have to reach out, I have to touch it. I'd have to kick it, but I could step over it or I could move around it. I don't actually have to touch it. So, can you use it trip wire or as I guess as you stop wire or something like that as an effective guard or would it be used with something else? Hartley Webb: I've almost never seen it used by itself. I can't think of any machinery where it would be the sole type of safeguarding. Usually it is used along with like an emergency stop button that would probably be at the operators control area. So that would be the primary emergency stop. And in the event that the operator walked away from the control panel. He's got access to that trip wire. That's what you would typically see on like if I go back to that, that roll pressed for steel. Right. But it's you know, if you'll start if you think about it on conveyers, which is probably where it's most predominantly used. Again, I go back to that statement that, you know, more than one method of safeguarding. And if you take here, you know, you take a conveyor. There’re all sorts of houses associated with that that need to be guarded. So, you it's going to have to usually be used along with fake guards, adjustable guards, interlock guards. I mean, every machine's different, but I've never seen it used just solely by itself. Peter Koch: So, the bottom line that makes a lot of sense. The bottom line is the guard that you have must protect the person from accidental contact of rotating parts or moving parts. So, it must be it could be a single type of guard or more than likely because of the complexity of the machinery. It might be more than one guard. And that example that you used of the riding lawnmower and the number of different guards that it has that has multiple different guards, has it just adjustable guards, has fixed guards and administrative controls on that to help protect the operator. So that's a really good description. I think a good rule of thumb going forward. Don't just think that one guard is going to do the trick. Really do the assessment and evaluate how can that employee common accidental contact with the moving parts that we've identified. In your travels around and again, working for MEMIC for so many years and then being in heavy industry prior to that? Hartley, in your experience. What's the most overlooked guarding exposure that you see? Hartley Webb: I have a lot of heavy industrial accounts that I tend to service, but it's not necessarily always heavy industrial, but the conveyor which we've talked about is for the most. Serious accidents that I've had to investigate from the frequency associated with people getting caught or injured when there's conveyors in the area. But I mean, I have conveyers in my warehouses to move freight around. I have conveyers in my food processing areas again to move product around. I mean, there's conveyers in the printing industry. There’re conveyers in the agricultural industry again. I mean, I don't really think there's not I don't think there's an industry out there are many that doesn't somewhere have, you know, a conveyor type exposure unless you're maybe the service sector. But I even have those in some of the back storerooms and stuff for a receiving area. So, it happens that conveyor. There's just so many things on that conveyor that have to be addressed as part of that. You know that machine safeguarding assessment. Peter Koch: That makes a lot of sense. I'm thinking as you're scrolling through all those different industries and I'm looking at some of the industries that I work with tend to be on the softer side of the service, retail, hospitality, recreation. And even there are guards looked back at the house from a food service standpoint. And you have multiple pieces of equipment that might have a conveyor like an automated pizza oven will have a conveyor to bring raw product from one side to cook product on the other side as it moves through. There're other conveyor systems that might move pizza or move dough from one area to another or through a platen machine to flatten it out in the recreation industry. What's becoming very popular to move people from point A to point B are carpets, magic carpets. So, think about an escalator without any steps. Right. So, it's just a basically a conveyor belt for humans. But you still have to maintain it. And there's been numerous injuries for people getting caught either trying to maintain and clear it from snow or debris or they're actually underneath it. And it starts up so a little different from a control of hazardous energy. That's the lockout tagout thing when you're in a maintenance process. But they still have to be guarded. So, you're right, they're all there all over the place. So, don't forget the conveyor. Hartley Webb: And you're going to have a, yeah, I kind of have a list of, you know, some items that if I'm looking at a conveyor, the first thing I'm looking for is the things you just talked about of those big ones, that that that's what I'm looking for, those fixed guards. So those nip points, those rotating surfaces, where can those where do those areas exist? Typically, on either the beginning of the end of the conveyor, we'll get that in running nip point of some stationary surface in the conveyor or can I get into the conveyor in between the two transverse motions where I can come in contact with those wheels or the drive wheels? You know, the ease or the return mechanisms. So those can be protected by fixed guards. If they do have some emergency stop mechanism, I usually ask that that has some type of a requirement for resetting before any type of resuming of the conveyor operation. So, if somebody does hit an emergency stop, just basically pulling that stop button back out will not restart that equipment. It's going to take some type of manual resetting to occur. I'm usually looking at protection from walkways. You mentioned that earlier. If somebody is going to walk alongside the conveyor, that's when we would look at the trip wires or you use some type of fixed guard if it's a possibility. How about those people that pass under a conveyor or have to pass over a conveyor? Again, if it's over the conveyor now, we would have the need for the fall protection or the railing system to keep access from landing on the conveyor. If you're going to pass under a conveyor, what type of overhead protection exists? Warning signs that we've talked about in the past, it would be on all of those hazard areas of the conveyor. So, is there signage there that explains the hazard? It signifies that in running nip point or whatever there has, it might be warning light stuff's going to either restart, start back up or is in operation. So, people realize it has that potential for either automatic restarts or manual restarts. If there's an opening through walls and floors in a building, you know, then that also has to be, you know, if you have access to those areas, can those create hazards? Do those need to be to be safeguarded either by location with some type of a barrier or whatever may be required? Guarding of star buttons for a compare. So, you don't get an accidental starting. So, it is either the star buttons have covers or the start buttons are recessed or some type of a sequential series of buttons that have to take place in order for a conveyor to start up. It's not just by pushing one single button where you can get accidental start up of the system. So those would be some of the things that I would look at along with his capability of being locked out during servicing or it's to be shut down, what's the process for overloading or jamming and that kind of stuff? So those are just a few of the simple things are the key things that I tend to look for any anytime I see a conveyor in any of those industries. Peter Koch: Well, I was just trying to keep a list of all those things that you are going to look for. And I couldn't keep up. So, if I'm looking after I listen to this podcast, then I'm looking back out on my factory floor and I'm thinking about, gosh, look at all those machines. We haven't done a machine guarding assessment or maybe we have, but we've changed some of the tooling. We've changed to the machines or the configuration of our shop. What are some resources that we can draw from and what are the standards that drive the requirements for machine guarding? So, let's take standards for. So where can someone find the standards and what are some of those standards that drive the requirements for machine guarding and then we'll talk resources. Hartley Webb: The best place to go to the standards would be to the most up to date would be to your ANSI standards and stuff. But OSHA has a lot of great publications that that really help out with machine guarding and they've really broken it down. You talked about like conveyers, which I just went over. There's so many different exposures on conveyers. Those are actually specifically addressed in the general industry standards, in the construction industry standards. And I believe they're even individually addressed in the marine standards. But you have it in general, in industry if you wanted to go to the OSHA regulations. Subpart O in your 1910 and your general industry regulations. Subpart O will cover all of your standards for machine guarding in the general industry. And they're very specific. It's very well broken down where they have a they have a section just dealing with the general requirements and then they get specific into all your woodworking tools, your abrasive tools, you know, your steel presses, forging machines and power transmission. So if you're actually looking at a power transmission type exposure, where it goes back into what we talk about, shafts, pulleys, we didn't talk about open flywheels, but if you have an open flywheel, is it a belt running through or even a sprocket maybe part or a chain maybe passing around? Again, you have to protect those openings, or those exposures and you've got a very specific standard so you can go right to the standard and that defines exactly what you can do. Hartley Webb: Your construction standards, Subpart I. So, in your general industry. Subpart O. and your construction is subpart I. Actually, addresses them with the tools, handheld and power tools and it gets into all again, it talks about almost the same standards for your woodworking, metalworking, power transmission, that kind of stuff. And if you looked at your Marine standard, your 1915, it's also found under this subpart H, but that's also your tools and related equipment and that gets into abrasive and again, some of the tools most commonly found in that industry. So, Subpart O, general industry, Subpart I construction and subpart H for your marine industry. Peter Koch: Oh, fantastic. So, it's a good place to start to look at the compliance side of things. And I give you the what and the where for. So talk to me a little bit about the different resources that might be available to someone who would want to do a machine guarding assessment or to put a program or a plan in place at their business or work and they turn to for some resources. Hartley Webb: Once again, I tell most of my accounts or businesses that I'll come in contact with that OSHA has some great resources and they have a they have a lot of what they call E tools. And if you can go right to their Web site and look for E tools and they have them for all of the woodworking and all of the metal working. And they also have a general some general ones that get into your power transmission and conveyor type systems in their great assessment. They're really easy to read. They're in bullet format. You can go right down through. And it kind of describes exactly what the guarding requirements are for those specific pieces of equipment. And they've just taken their standard. But they've actually they just made it easier to read, easier to understand. And some say you can almost use it as an assessment form when looking at a piece of machinery. Peter Koch: Perfect. So, the OSHA standards for looking at compliance and then the E tools for helping you with the different assessments that that you might need to do. Awesome. Any other resources? Hartley Webb: I mean, if you're looking at somebody, ask me about a specific machine and that's a machine that has been fabricated. I usually will want them to address or I'll go look at the manufacturers' literature for that machine. So, what does the manufacturer say is required? And you can when you started, you kind of mentioned that early on. That's a good reference point, but it is a lot of documentation by OSHA that is stated. The fact that the manufacturer of that equipment isn't responsible to install all the necessary safeguards. It's the employer of the person who purchases that equipment that has to identify is there an existing hazard? You know, you begin using this piece of equipment that I may need to add additional safeguards to in a great example of that is like a bandsaw. You can go out tomorrow and buy a vertical bandsaw. Yeah, vertical bandsaw. Almost anywhere being bandsaw to cut wood with. And there's no guarding requirements on that bandsaw does not meet the standard requirements. So you would basically you go in to the  standard for a vertical bandsaw and it would describe the you need to have a guard on that machine that prohibits access to any part of the blade other than the part that's being used to cut the product. So, but all of those bandsaws are fabricated so that you have access to a lot of the blade above the point of operation. And that has to be protected by the employer prior to putting it out into the workplace. And again, that's so unless it has some ventilation system or lighting system attached to it does not offer that safety mechanism. So, the employer would be responsible to add that as soon as they bought the machine. Peter Koch: Sure, that's a great point. So, with you have a particular tool, don't rely on the manufacturer to provide everything because like you said, the OSHA standard says the manufacturer is not responsible. The employer is. Do your own assessment, go back to the OSHA standards. Look at subpart H, I or O depending on the industry. Check out the E tools and then I mean you can even reference I know that you specifically Hartley, have developed some resources for MEMIC that have helped our policyholders do machine guarding assessments and address some of the challenges that they have. So where might they find some of those things that MEMIC? Hartley Webb: I believe all of the forms that you're talking about are on our resource library within the safety director. So, if you go into our website, references safety director and then go to the resource library. We were actually involved in a NIOSH study. MEMIC was we have some great resources for assessing metal work machinery, but some of that does cross over. I mean, a bandsaw is a bandsaw, but it's a very, very detailed. And those go into the NIOSH requirements for machine guarding, which are much more extensive than what you would find in your OSHA regulations. Peter Koch: Sure. But that could give you a good resource, especially when you might have a more complex machine or you're really looking at something that kind of fits the OSHA standard but might not fit the OSHA standard. And you're looking for or you have a very dangerous operation and you want to make sure that you're protecting your employees, that the NIOSH places is certainly a place to go. And yeah, you're right, we we did participate in that study and there are a lot of good resources out there. So safety director is a good place to stop into. Hartley Webb: Those resources that we have available for them for the metal working. Like I said, they're detailed, but that's not only looking at fishing guarding, that's also looking at electrical, looking at lighting, looking at personal protective equipment, employee placement. It does a full hazard assessment of the machine, not just the guarding portion. Does they all time to work together with the clothing that the employees wearing, debris protection, access to hazard point. So, there's a there's a lot more being assessed than just the physical hazards and the requirements regarding. Peter Koch: Yeah, awesome resource for a general hazard assessment for machines, especially those metalworking machines. Well, thanks a lot for sharing all this with us. But we're about at the end of our MEMIC Safety Experts podcast. And I really appreciate that you've shared all this expertise with us. Hartley, but before we close, I've got one final question for you, because this is a safety podcast. Why is safety important to you? Why is it important to you, Hartley? Hartley Webb: Nobody out. It wants to get hurt or should be getting hurt. And it's easy. I've made it a point in my life to enjoy what I do, be a consultant and try to do the best I can to try to prevent people out there from being injured in the workplace. And it's in their best interest. It's a passion of mine. It's just something that I don't think is ever going to be a driving force. I'm gonna to, you know, give up anytime soon and, um, you know, I just I look forward to it every day. But it it's all about, you know, employees being able to go home to spend time with their families and, you know, enjoy their lives without being at risk while they're in the workplace. Peter Koch: That's awesome. That moral component of safety is a is a huge part. I can see it working. Having worked with you for the last 12, 19, almost 19 years now for me, that I can definitely see it in the way you apply yourself to the work that you do. So fantastic. I appreciate that, Harley. Thanks a lot. Peter Koch: So, again, thanks for joining us today. Thanks for joining us today. And to all of our listeners out there. We've been talking with Hartley Webb, safety management consultant with MEMIC, about machine guarding on the MEMIC Safety Experts podcast. If you have any questions for Hartley or like to hear more about our particular topic on our podcast. Email us at podcast@MEMIC.com. Also, check out our show notes that MEMIC.com/podcast where you can find links to resources for a deeper dive into this topic. Check out our website, MEMIC.com/podcast where you can find the podcast archive and find all of the ones that we've recorded prior to today. While you're there, sign up for our safety net blog so you never miss out on any articles or safety related news updates. And if you haven't done so already, I'd really appreciate it if you took a minute to review us on Stitcher i-Tunes or whichever's podcast service you find us on. And if you've already done that, I thank you very much because it helps us out a lot to spread the word. Please consider sharing the show with a business associate friend or family member who you think will get something out of it. And as always, thank you for the continued support. And until next time, this is Peter Kotch reminding you that listening to the MEMIC Safety Experts podcast is good but using what you learned is even better. People, Ideas and Articles referenced in the Podcast MEMIC – https://www.memic.com/ Peter Koch – https://www.memic.com/workplace-safety/safety-consultants/peter-koch Hartley Webb – https://www.memic.com/workplace-safety/safety-consultants/hartley-webb OSHA – https://www.osha.gov/ ANSI – https://www.ansi.org/ OSHA E Tools – https://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/oshasoft/ NIOSH – https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/index.htm  

I'm very happy to offer this interview. Matt Black has been at the front lines of a lot of efforts: early cut-up based dance tracks as Coldcut (if you don't know it, you've *got* to check out Doctorin' The House...), some ground-breaking software development to support their live shows (both audio and visuals) and the development of Ninja Jamm and their newest app: JammPro. I didn't want to push Matt into just talking about Coldcut History, but it turns out that so many of the decisions about other work was based out of the Coldcut experience - so we ended up getting into it by default. But we also learned a lot about both Matt's personal tech journeys as well as the various collaborations that he's pulled together over the years. There're some interesting stories - and interesting results - that came out of Matt and Jon's efforts. You will want to learn more after listening to this interview. Probably the best place to start is coldcut.net, which is kind of ground central for the music, AV, apps, Live devices and political vision of the group. We spent a bit of time talking about JammPro; if you are into iOS music-making, it's worth checking out as a powerful way to work with realtime loop manipulation. Also, there is a bit of additional content on my Patreon site; jump over there to hear Matt rave about Puredata, how he sees the open source landscape, and catch a challenge he has for the community. Enjoy!

James: Hi, audience and listeners. This is James Kandasamy from Achieve Wealth at Real Estate Investing podcasts. Last week, we had Jake and Gino from Wheelbarrow Profits. You know, Jake and Gino have tons and tons of deals on their own and you know, recently have moved into syndication space as well. And their story is just very interesting in terms of knowing how did they get started, how did they refinance their first deal to launch their multifamily investing career.   Today I have Rich Fishman from Dallas, and Rich has almost 8,000 units right now across 23 complexes and he has been buying in Texas, Tennessee, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Mississippi, and South Carolina. So Rich is going to be giving us a lot of valuable insights into how he had bought so many apartment units. And imagine half of that 8,000 units is fundamentally owned by Rich itself and the other half of it is more of a partnership and syndication. Hey Rich, welcome to the show.   Rich: Well, thank you, James. Glad to be here.   James: Good, good. So, Rich, it's going to be a very interesting podcast because, and I'm going to be learning so much from you and I'm sure my listeners is going to be learning so much from you. How did you get started? I mean, you have like 8,000 units right now. You started almost 20 years ago. So walk back, how did you get started in multifamily immediately when you get started in real estate?   Rich: Well, actually, I was the owner of a mortgage company in the San Francisco Bay area in Berkeley, California and I financed mostly half homes, but I also financed apartment complexes. And I had a deal to finance, it was a six-plex in Alameda, California, and it was a foreclosure. Back then, there were a lot of foreclosures and the realtor gave me the deal, I got the loan, and then the buyer fell out of escrow; they didn't like the deal. And then there was another buyer; same thing happens. And I said to the realtor, I said, “What's wrong with this deal? It looks like it makes money.”  And she says “Nothing's wrong with the deal.”  And I said, “Well, I don't know how to manage anything like this.”  She says, “Well, I know management company, don't worry about it.” So I went to the property, then I dragged my wife there.   And it's a funny story because my wife is from Scandinavia and they don't do very well there. And so we went to the property and we had one of those, you know those long screwdrivers that the termite guys have because we are poking around, seeing if it was well-built. And the screwdriver went right through the wood into the drywall. And my wife says, "No, I can't buy this with you.”  I said, "No, we're buying this.”  And she looked at me and she said, “Okay.”  And so we bought this six-plex. And the six-plex was the beginning of us starting to buy real estate in earnest. So that's the story is we cut aside. There was a sidebar from the mortgage business.   James: Got it, got it, yeah. I always wonder, like whenever I meet brokers, mortgage brokers, and even brokers, I always ask them, why not you guys buy these deals, right? Why are you just doing transaction? And a lot of times, I mean not a lot of times I think once I talk to someone who went from a mortgage broker to become an investor. I'm sure you know him; it's like Michael Becker, right? Yeah. I think he's a big buyer in Dallas. I asked him this question because he used to be working in Wells Fargo and he told me not everybody likes to take risks like a business owner.   Rich: It's not only about the risk. The main reason that people get into the investment side is because, when you're doing transactions as a broker, you're making income and you're only as good as your last deal. You have to keep churning and closing deals to make a living, and every broker is off to the next listing, or the mortgage person is off the next loan and you'd live and die by the transaction. So eventually, most people either say, I've got to own this stuff; build wealth rather than income. Or I'm not interested; I really don't want to own anything. It takes the risk and the responsibility of owning property. So that's the thing, I had to make a decision to own it, take care of it, use my free time because I was still a mortgage broker. I had to use my weekends to run the real estate with my wife. We want to get started because we couldn't just go into multifamily; we needed the income from the mortgages. So it takes a lot of sacrifice for the first couple of years to get into something like this.   James: Got it, got it. So you must know the industry; working as well in the mortgage and to really successfully become owner and take advantage of that knowledge as well. So after how many years or after how many unit count that you, you said, okay, I'm going to give up this mortgage business, I'm going to be just a fulltime, a real estate investor?   Rich: I think we hit about a thousand apartments. And at that point, I let go of my duties in the mortgage company and concentrated on just buying and selling apartments.   James: Got it, got it. So, 20 years ago you started buying the six-plex, when did you see your fastest acceleration of purchase or acquisitions?   Rich: Well, we hit about 4,000 units and then the recession came 2009 to 14, 12, 13 as on the area of the country, and that was really hard. So we didn't really grow during that period. We were selling off as fast as we were buying, just kind of trying to keep our head above water. We got to about 5,000 units, about two or three years ago, and then we've grown a lot more. I could probably have 50,000 apartments today if I wanted them. I would have to basically align myself with someone on Wall Street or some investment banking for like a Goldman Sachs or something like that. And they would be happy to raise the money and give me all that money and I could then own five or 10% or 15% or whatever it is that is bought, BUT I'm not that going to ho for that strategy.   So the growth at this point is really about organic growth for me and our company, and also quality of life because when you have institutional mining, you have to take care of it in a way that suits the institutions. And they have requirements that family and friends and other people don't have. For example, they might want audited books every year. That doesn't sound like a lot because we don't; we have books [inaudible 08:46] and everything, but that just takes a lot of time to get an audit done. And if you multiply that by 15 or 20 EO, now you have to have a whole audit department, and CPAs work who for you and things like that. So it's been really about opportunity and raising money mostly from either my own, resources or family and friends and other methods.   James: Got it, got it. So, Rich, I think you bring a really good perspective in terms of economic cycle because you have went through, I mean, you started 20 years ago, you went through that 2008 and everybody said 2008 multi-family, you know, fat better than any other asset classes, they are very, very low. What you call, you know, who went into a receivership or bankruptcy; multifamily, so is that true?   Rich: That's not true at all. Most of the people who are in multifamily today, we're not even involved in the business.   James: Exactly, that's what I'm asking because everyone is sort of newbies--   Rich: A lot of people were wiped out in that recession and a lot of other people were underwater. I mean, there were thousands of apartment complexes that were foreclosed on. Now was it as bad as office buildings or retail? Maybe not, I really don't know, but it was bad. Now they say anybody who lasted eight years, they could come out the other side feeling good. But most people don't have the capital to take five or six or seven years of losses, and large losses. If you're not making debt coverage, if you're not able to pay your loan and you're coming out of pocket, that might be okay for one deal. But if you have 20 deals like that, yeah, that's a whole different story. So it's quite a different thing than when people say. Now, the multifamily was hitting extremely hard, and I think the default ratio was up to about 8%.   James: 8%. Okay.   Rich: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. That doesn't sound that bad compared to student loans. But if you think about it 8% is, you know, you're talking about housing that touches the lives of millions of people.   James: Got it. Yeah. It's very interesting data because you are giving me true data. I mean, sometimes we read in the news and they say low delinquency rate and it was not a hard hit and we don't have real, true story. Right, because a lot of it depends on the sub-marker, depends on which class we are talking about, and you know, depends on the operator as well. So how did you survive the 2008 crash?   Rich: Well, I have some properties that cash barge really well and I had others that really couldn't survive and I got rid of them. I sold them off or actually, I had you cut my portfolio down in order to survive and retrench a little bit, but I only had a few deals that were like that, the rest, I didn't have the leverage. If you were totally leveraged up in a bad market, then you cannot save yourself because, and if you're a partnership, you can't save yourself either. Because, if you own 10 or 20% of the deal and the loan is negative, then you would actually have to make a capital call every month on your partners in order to make those payments, and if you raise money. You know that there are two words that should never be spoken ‘capital costs’.   James: Exactly.   Rich: And so it's hard to really get money out of people to feed something that's losing money. So, there are a lot of people who gave; I know one fellow in the Houston market, he had property all over Houston, Atlanta, I think he gave up about 40 yields back. And there were other people like that who had just a tremendous amount of deals that they gave back to the banks.   James: So was this deal when they give back did Fannie and Freddie was giving non-recourse loan at that time?   Rich: Yeah, non-recourse loans, they just won't; if you give them deals back, they don't want to lend to you again unless you pay a heavy penalty to offset their losses because they take losses, themselves or the service or takes the loss. And in Fannie Mae's case, the loan originator slash servicer usually takes about five to 10% of the risk of the loan. So, you know, that could be pretty substantial too, to them because they're usually own companies by either large wealthy individuals or by banks. They don't like taking losses at all.   James: Got it, so they--   Rich: Hopefully we won't be there again.   James: Yeah, absolutely, we didn't want to be there again. So it was non-recourse and the owners were able to just give up their property, they lose their equity and the service that takes some loss and they gave it back to Fannie Mae and that's it.   Rich: Fanny Mae never own; one of the problems with the way the system was set up, is that Fannie may never really own the loan. People don't realize this, but Fannie Mae is just a broker.   James: Really? Okay.   Rich: There's really like nobody, you know, there's not like someone in Mumbai who owns or in Shanghai who owns all these loans. I mean, they basically securitize the loans and they sell the loan as a bond in the world financial markets. And so there's a special servicer who represents the interests of the bondholders and that person is delegated decision making, but they're not able to cut deals on Fannie Mae loan. So, they don't generally go and say, we see that you're negative, and why don't we go from 5% to 3% and you can owe us the money later? Things like that; they're not flexible. So, actually, Freddie Mac is, is more flexible, they act more like a bank, and so they can do workouts in a much better way than Fannie Mae can. It's just one of the things people don't know.   James: Got it. Wow, that's interesting. That's a lot of information out there. Yeah, I mean, Fannie Mae does a, securitize the loan and they sell it to the investor who buys it as a bond and they get certain percentage out of it. And in the middle there's servicer, there's Fannie Mae, everybody makes a few percent like this one [inaudible 15:59].   Rich: Everybody is making money, and at the end, the only people who generally lose money are the bondholders.   James: Okay, are the bondholders. But if the deal is given back, I mean the equity holder, whoever, the owner also lose the money as well, right? So there are two people, the buyer, and the seller, right?   Rich: The borrower absolutely loses a whole lot of their entire investment. And then the lender, if the lender can't be made whole by the sale of the real estate, they may lose money too. Things can get pretty bad in that cycle, that the value of the property often sunk below the outstanding balance of the loan. There're a lot of negative things to talk about, but let's talk about more positive things.   James: Got it. So you talked about people who are highly leveraged, right? So let's say you're buying a deal at 75% leverage. Do you think that's high level, I mean, can you define highly leverage? What is the highest leverage that you think?   Rich: Well, in today's world, you can leverage up to, Oh, even 90% for the first and second or preferred equity. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that you don't want to leverage that high on a stabilized property. It's one thing if you buy a property that's a value add and that you're going to add value and renovate a property, increased rents, increased value, and you're looking on a stabilized basis that okay, you went high leverage, but within a year or two you're going to be catching up and the leverage point will be at 60%, 65 or 75% or something. But if you're basically highly leveraged in stabilized properties without any value add then. If the rents go down five or 10%, then you're underwater, you want to have some protection; you want to certainly have 20% or debt coverage or something like that.   James: Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, that's the reason where I'm going with the question because we buy deals, we buy deals or value at deals even at 80% leverage, but in one to two years, that 80% leverage is going to be, 70 to 65% leveraged. So basically it's not leveraged at the start of the loan, it's basically, where are you going to be once you're stabilized; that's the more important thing. Sometimes people get confused that you shouldn't be highly leveraged? Why highly leverage and you don't understand that we are looking for buffer for DSCR? We want to be as further up from the debt service coverage ratio. That's the fundamental discussion about what highly leverage and costing higher risk.   Rich: Right, leverage is your friend, if you're using the leverage to invest capital, if you're using leverage to service debt or to pay out dividends, then you're making a huge mistake.   James: Okay, absolute point, that's an awesome point. That's well-said. I couldn't have said it better. So what about the guys who have done breach loans at that time in 2008 what happened to them and what would you give advice to that kind of people who are doing--   Rich: You mean the answer 2007 or 2008 with a value add deal, and then they had a bridge situation. While those people probably suffered, I mean they didn't execute. If they executed, that's fine. It was hard to push rents back then, everything is based on increase in rent. Fundamental multifamily strategy is how can I increase the rent? What value can I give the tenant so they'll pay more? Now, between 2008 and 2012, the only value add strategy that I know that worked was the fixed deferred maintenance to make sure you kept the lights on, for the most part. So beyond that, I didn't see people putting granite countertops in and all this other stuff because everyone was just trying to supply.   So those people, many of those people who got in at the cycle; at the end of the cycle, didn't make money unless they stayed all the way through 2015-16, so there were about seven years. But you would have to stay in that deal in order to make it. Now I did buy a property in the Midwest that I bought for about 15,000 units. You can get things that way back then. And I bought it in 2006 and I did do really well on it, but it was unusual because I got it so cheap; my basis lever was very high. But at the time it seemed like I had really jumped the shark as they say because the economy wasn't very good, and it wasn't easy to rent up any apartments for a while.   James: So coming back to Midwest, which I believe is MAVA secondary or tertiary market, right? So like right now in 2019 right now, market is so hard and people can't buy in the hot cities like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, people are, I mean, I'm just looking at Texas, right? I mean, we're in Florida, we have Orlando, Tampa, and what Jacksonville, and I mean a lot of people have started going to other States and tertiary market or States which is like supposedly supposed to be upcoming. So, what would you give advice to them?   Rich: Well, I think my advice on the States like South Carolina or those kinds of places, is that to study the local market and make sure that it's vibrant, that there are good jobs there. There are a lot of great secondary and tertiary markets. Huntsville, Alabama or Hoover, Alabama or you know, Greenville, Columbia, South Carolina, I mean there's just, you know, Asheville, North Carolina, there's a lot of great secondary markets. I think the biggest problem that people have in these markets, one is they think they can increase rents more than they can. Because if you go to some of these markets and you think you can get $200 for putting in a new kitchen, you might find out you can only get $35 and 20 cents because there's a limit to what a lot of these people were willing to pay in these markets.   And if you go too high, they just want [inaudible 22:56], but there are still some markets that are small that people are really surprised at. I mean if you've been to Indiana and you know, there is Columbus, Indiana, well that sounds like a real nothing place, but Commons is located there, it's a very large company, and it's a pristine town with really high rents. Bloomington is also a great town in Indiana; it's got the college there. So there's a lot of college towns and there are capitals and there are places where there's a lot of manufacturing that's particularly in the Southeast that they didn't have manufacturing before. Some of these places have become very desirable for retirement and for our businesses like Charleston, South Carolina, nothing was going on there except history about 20 years ago. If you've been they are now, they are building homes like crazy. People are moving there to retire. There's a huge tourism business, I think ranked the number one wedding venue one year recently. And then they have they're making small planes there; just tremendous amount of activity going on.   James: What happened to this kind of tertiary market? I'm sure you had similar tertiary market during 2008 where you thought, okay, this is really good to go in and invest in. Looking at some of the cities that you're looking at it right now, what happened to that kind of market in 2008 how did they do compared to the major cities that are well known for--?   Rich: I own the property, and the answer is different. Every tertiary market was different, just like every major market. For example, if you look at the major markets or the secondary major markets take Tucson. Tucson was wiped out in the recession, now people say it's a good investment. Phoenix was wiped out, Vegas was wiped out, Reno was wiped out. Today Reno; people think Reno is part of California. It's hard to buy something under 150 a door in Reno now. So back then it was 50 a thousand a door was a great retirement exit. So I own property in Sierra Vista, Arizona, and there is an army base there. Now, I will never buy another property next to an army base. I don't care what the numbers look like because the politics of the army base are things that I cannot control.   And they decided that army base that they didn't need hardly anymore. So they cut the enrollment at the army base there by about half. And it was the town that depended upon the army base almost completely, not just the army people, but the people who were feeding and the vendors, and everybody else. And so the town really; rents went down about 30-40% in the town, but then there are other locations. I owned a property in Davenport, Iowa and it got hit, but it didn't get hit that bad. And agriculture, which was a real feeder for Iowa, stayed pretty good. And you know, they had the ethanol and that was pretty good. We never got below in general 90% occupancy in the properties that we own there, so it just really depends, you've got to do your research. Just how you can't make a blanket and say tertiary market, secondary market; core markets; it wasn't long ago that people considered Baltimore to be almost a core market.   Because of its proximity to DC on the Amtrak corroder from New York, the new Harbor that they had built there with the aquarium and today, a lot of people don't think of Baltimore as a core market and back then people didn't see DC as a core market. They thought it was crime, wedding blah, blah, blah, you know, stay away from DC. And now today, I mean, you're talking about very expensive real estate all over DC.   James: Awesome, awesome. That is a lot of insights there. So Rich, which market have you been focusing on, I mean, you bought in a lot of markets before these and you probably own some of it over there, but what has your strategy has been at this hot--?   Rich: Right now my strategy is really to buy more in DFW.   James: Okay.   Rich: Our office is here. This is probably the best multifamily market in the country. The cranes are all over the skyline. The jobs are coming in like crazy every day or week there is another multinational company that's relocating from California generally to Dallas Fort worth. There's a lot of vibrancy here. Rents keep tricking up. I like DFW. I've liked Houston a lot in the past; Houston is very squatty though, and there's a lot, I can't just tell you that Houston's going to do well because every part of Houston is so different and there's no zoning, so it doesn't have a character. Neighborhoods don't have as much character that they do here. But Houston is great Austin is great, it's just the real question, isn't what do I like, the real question is, is there an upside? Where is the upside in multifamily today?   And the answer is that there isn't the kind of upside today that there was until a couple of years ago because we were still basically catching up from the recession; a lack of housing, deferred maintenance and household formation. During the people said to me, "aren't there going to be more renters?" Because people were foreclosed, I don't know if you remember that. They will say, "You're in a great business". All these foreclosures, they have to rent now. No, they didn't have to rent. They moved in with their families, they hold up; whatever they had to do. People are much more flexible and adaptable than statisticians and university professors. So people didn't create households, kids stayed in the basement, and so here we are 2012 wondering where are all the renters? Well, it turns out that they were hiding out.   So when the economy got good and they got jobs, they all came out and that created a lot of household formation, a lot more renters. And that created a boom in multifamily. So, either more and more people who need rental housing, absolutely, and particularly in areas like Dallas, Fort Worth where they're coming in for the jobs, they need housing; Austin, they need housing. That puts pressure on rents and they usually start building a lot more too. The areas that have a declining population, I wouldn't invest.   So if a deal's in a city that has a declining population, I automatically say no, I'm not interested in, even if I could fix it up and make some money, to me that's; I'm going against the tide. I'm just one guy, I can't make an ocean. I have to get in my little boat, and I have to have the-- I want the ocean to work for me and not against me. I don't want to fight that. Same or crime; if I'm in an area that has just tremendous amount of crime, it's still, crime is [inaudible31:42], but if it has a lot of crime, I don't want to own it because I can't do all the things necessary to stop crime in my neighbor. I'm not a police department. I'm just one person owning one complex or two in a neighborhood and I've got to have an ability to deliver safe housing to the people who rent from us.   James: Got it, got it. Just want to add one thing to the listeners and audience. If you want to find a city where there's declining on appreciating one free resource, which is very quick to check, it is called bestplaces.net. Bestplaces.Net, and you can go and enter the city information and you can go to a household. I believe it's a real estate statistics and it shows you whether there's a declining population or increasing population. I mean in general, I think Texas is increasing in general. Everybody's moving to Texas and I believe Florida as well, so--   Rich: I mean, if you're looking in Texas and you say, well, why don't I buy in Amarillo or Abilene or these kinds of places, I don't have anything to say. I don't know those markets, but those are not vibrant places generally.   James: It makes sense; vibrant. Okay, got it. But I think the major cities in Texas are pretty vibrant.   Rich: The major cities are really San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and Dallas. Then you have cities like El Paso, Lubbock, Tyler, you know, places like that that are in the second tier. Corpus Christi is another one that is in between the second and third-tier cities. Aon, actually in Corpus Christi real estate, and that's on a lot of people's radar because they are putting along money to the ports and the petroleum industry, but it's not as vibrant as it San Antonio or Austin.   James: Got it. Got it, got it, very interesting. So but Dallas, I mean, I know you're focusing on Dallas, but Dallas prices have appreciated from what 50,000 a door. I mean, I think all over Texas it's like this, right? For the past five years, $50,000 a door to almost a hundred thousand a dollar for a C-class property. So how are you planning to buy deals? I mean since, don't you think at some point the price per door is just going to be limited by the rent wage growth of the--?   Rich: Well, I think that it's a mistake to really focus on price per door. I think it's a better thing to focus on cap rates.   James: Cap rates, okay.   Rich: And if you could buy something over a five cap rate and put loan on it for under 4%, then you have positive arbitrage, and you're going to make money. So a lot of properties are expensive, but property in San Francisco is 350,000 a door. Now, I was a mortgage broker there when they were going for 100,000 a door, and I thought people were crazy. Who would ever pay that? So, we can't let a number and you shouldn't let a number per door impact your buying decision. What your buying decision should be based on is what return on your investment you're going to get. Now, it's true that you want to make sure there's an exit there, meaning that there's somebody else who would buy a property at more per door if that's a problem.   Now there are some markets where maybe that is an issue still, but they're generally very depressed; places like Detroit or things like that or Cleveland. But even those places are not any more per door oriented. So I've seen deals recently that are 120,130 a door. They were bought for 80 a door just three, four years ago. And before that, they had one for 55 a door. And I don't really care what people bought them for in the past, I just care what can I do? What's my return going to be? If I could hit my numbers and I don't really care. Now the question is, can I hit my numbers? Am I chasing a dream that's-- is the ship already sailed? Is there really any more room in this property to enhance value? And the answer has to be yes. And a lot of the areas in Dallas are improving. The income levels are going up in some of these places. The number of jobs in the area is going up, so they're not static environments. Today, a suburb of Dallas is not the same place as it was 20 years ago because now there are four times as many people living in the area, shopping in the area, working in the area, and those people are all competing for housing.   James: Wow, that's interesting. Okay, so how do you underwrite your deals? I mean I'm sure you're looking for upside, right? That's what you talk about in any deals and whether you can make a return on your investment, right?   Rich: I'll tell you my tricks of the trade, which is nothing unusual; first of all, we go into the numbers and make sure we understand the expenses. And we also increase the property taxes based on what we think the assessor will increase the taxes too. Yeah, that's a really big thing; people don't realize they come from out of the outside Texas that your property is assessed every year a new bag. So you can't look at a tax that your seller's paying and think that you're going to have the same tax. So we get the real expenses, and then if we're going to do a value add, we want to find a property that's very similar, same vintage and everything that's already done the value add and see what rent they're achieving, what they've done, and we're not going to go past that.   In other words, I'm not going to be a pioneer and decide that I need golden faucets or Berber carpets or whatever it is; I'm going to make a nice value-add, the same as everybody else. Maybe you are a little better, but I'm not going to a guest that I can get more rent, so that's where I get my revenue, just estimating how many of this was going to renovate? What rents can we get today, today in the marketplace, not tomorrow? And then use those numbers, and if those numbers show that I can get a great return based on what it costs and what the money we put into the property, then it's a go. If the numbers, there's nothing here, I can't get a return from doing this or the rents are tapped out, that kind of thing. Then I pass. And we use a model. I think we use the CRM model. We bought the model because it got too complicated for Excel for us. And so we use a model that we bought to program the IRR and all that stuff.   James: What about the rent growth assumption? How do you usually predict that?   Rich: We don't put more than two or 3% a year in there? We're not looking to create false expectations. 5% rent growth sounds nice, but that doesn't happen all the time. In fact studies in Houston show that there's been virtually no rent growth in two or three years in Houston. And every year they say that they had four or 5% rent growth. And I asked the realtors, is the four or 5% rent growth that these reports say? And nobody seems to know where the data's coming from.   James: Yeah, absolutely. But do you think we can get that 3% rank growth moving forward from now on the next five years? I mean, do you think it's real estate?   Rich: I think we can get the two to 3% rent growth just by doing nothing; if you're in a market that is strong.   James: So it depends on the market as well.   Rich: It all depends on one thing and one thing only, which is wage growth in the market you own.   James: Correct.   Rich: I own a lot of property in San Antonio and there was virtually no wage growth in San Antonio. And I have property that I've owned there now six years, seven years. And the last two or three years there's been virtually no increase in wage growth or rents in none of these markets. The cap rates keep going down, so people keep paying more for these properties. They expect wage growth and rent growth, so everyone has a different expectation.   James: Got it, got it. So what about the, I mean, you mentioned that I mean, you did this for 20 years, own like 8,000 units, you could have multiplied 10 X your holdings by going with private equity money which some people have done. And some people have gone to private equity and came back to be a [inaudible41:31]. Some people are trying to get into working with private equity because it's easier to rent and raising money from retail investors which is like family and friends. I know you mentioned some perspective, but can you give a full perspective on why you didn't choose that route at all?   Rich: Well, we do have family and friends, and private equity, and some family offices in our deals. I have three deals that I have is tuition in, and I just prefer the flexibility that-- I prefer working with individuals and with people I know because multifamily is not a straight line. You buy something a lot of times prizes after you close, you don't know, some problems that you run into. Sometimes you have to replace staff. A lot of times you have a staffing issue. It could take a year or two longer to execute your business plan. And still, it's very good. When you execute your business plan, you make a lot of money, but instead of taking one or two years, it could take five years or four years. And when you have institutional money, they're not very patient and they are very willing after; if you don't make your numbers for one to two years, they're very willing to take the management away or threaten you with your cramming, taking away your investment. Actually, you're cramming down; they call it crammed down; to make the return.   It can be pretty nasty, so that's one of the reasons. It's getting easier to raise money from family offices privately. There are a number of crowd-sourcing platforms; we've done some crowd-sourcing rising for a couple million dollars as infill, you know, to fill in a partnership after a family or friends invest, and we still have a couple million left. Well, we've been successful at raising that money there. We've also used preferred equity, which is kind of a hybrid deal. It's not secondary financing, like mezzanine financing, but it's similar. What they do is there is a pay, they want a pay rate of around four to 6%, and then they want a complete return of let's say nine to 11% or 12%. They'll take the difference when you sell the property well when you refinance. So, it gives you more leverage, you might say, but it's not partnership money, so it reduces the money that you have to raise as a partnership.   James: Got it, got it. And what would you give advice to people who are saying that you know, when the market turns, I mean, they will not be any more private investors anymore, I mean, you have to go back to private equity? Do you think that's the true case?   Rich: You mean institutional equity? You have to go back to-- that's all private equity. I think the reality is when the market turns, everyone goes back into their little clamshell, so what you call it and money is money. And if people don't feel that they can make a return, then they won't invest. Now, what happens is that if the market turns and people are not making return, some deals will go south and will go sour, and then you'll start a new cycle of this trust real estate. And then there'll be opportunity funds or vulture capital guys who are trying to invest in those deals and they'll be looking to invest. So every part of the cycle has a different kind of investor. Right now the profile of the average investor is looking to clip coupons. Most people know that the glory days of making two, 300% on their money is over and they're very happy with what they'd done and now they really don't want to lose their principal. There have gotten more conservative as wealthier people do, and then they say, well, can I get a seven or an 8% or 6% coupon clip every month when you send me a check? And there are a lot more of those people today. There is virtually none of those people in 2008, nine, 10, 11, 12. Yeah, but today, most people have the profile as investors of wanting to have lower risk and are willing to take less reward.   James: So what you're saying is in 2008, everybody disappeared; nobody invests retail, right? And then after that, there is some vulture capital and then now people are looking more into stabilized assets with lower risk.   Rich: The people who appeared in 2008 were the people who worked at Goldman Sachs or Blackstone or these other Carlisle group and these other large accumulators of capital. And what they saw is a tremendous amount of blood on the street as they say. They saw just a lot of financial suffering and they were looking at enabling because of their massive amounts of capital to scoop up troubled assets for pennies on the dollar. So a lot of the mortgages that went bad were sold off for 20, 30, 50% of their mortgage value to these conglomerate; these large companies. And then they went through the process of foreclosing on individual assets. Some of them actually created management companies themselves, and they got the properties back. A bunch of then they put them back on the market and made a lot of money. So there was a lot of business, a lot of wealth created in that time frame, but it wasn't created by people like you and I, it was created in Goldman Sachs, and in Blackstone, and these kinds of places.   James: Got it, got it. So where do you think we are heading in the next two or three years or five years? Are we going to have a slowdown bump or it's going to be a crash into like 2008 or there is just going to be a coupon rolling in multifamily?   Rich: I don't think that we're going to have a crash. I see it more that it's just a steady market and I just think it's going to go up and down a little bit here and there, and I don't see much change from where we are for a couple of more years. I can't see out too far into the future. Sometimes politics and things like that intercede, and we don't know if someone politically comes in and starts changing the tax code like they did in 1986 or something like that. But the way I see it is that America is fundamentally becoming a retro society. People are living a lot longer, and the longer people live the less they want to own a house. A lot of people will own houses and raise families there, but they will exit houses more and more frequently to live in places like central cities or small main street America so they can be near services and doctors and entertainment and [inaudible 49:41].   And I don't think that we're going to go back to the white picket fence for everybody's environment. Now, that doesn't mean people won't buy houses, but when people are not raising children, they will prefer generally to live in smaller environments, more like Europeans do, and I think that pertains, well, for multifamily. There are so many good trends that are feeding into the multifamily trough that I can't imagine right now that in general, multifamily would have a crash.   James: Got it, got it. And so we're coming almost to the end of the show. Can you give us one advice to people who are thinking of becoming like you owning thousands of units and they're just getting started?   Rich: Sure. So this is my main piece of advice is that if you want to be in this realm, then you must make it a full-time job. This is not an investment, multifamily is not a stock that you-- it's not putting money on Microsoft and watching it go up and down. It's an active business, and if we're going to try to be somebody who owns several apartment complexes, then you just really can't buy the complexes and hand away the keys to the management company and expect great results. You have to be very actively involved, visit your properties, know the rents in the market, walk vacant apartments, and make sure you hire good people. It really is a business, and if you're not prepared because of your lifestyle, your other job or something like that to devote most of your time to this business, then my recommendation is become a limited partner in a deal or two, try to make money that way. But don't think that you could become a principal and own five or 10,000 apartments that way, no, it's not going to happen.   James: Got it. I mean, this is one of the requests from our listeners. Is there anyone advice that you want to give to a passive investor who is investing in this deal? What they should look for [inaudible 52:14]?   Rich: Well, the big issue for passive investors is that they should really understand what they're investing in, like any other investment, and not take the offering that they get from the company or the operator at its face value because it could be too optimistic. You want to make sure you agree with the assumptions. So you would probably at the very least get on the computer and look at how much are units really renting for in that area. If they're going to renovate, well, what does a renovated unit look for? Is this an achievable rent that they're projecting and are their expenses realistic? Are they in line with what expenses really shouldn't be? So do a little homework; that's my main thing, and don't just trust that, just because somebody sent you something that said that there's a 30% return, that that's a real thing.   James: Yeah, I have many, many times some passive investors just look at the final return numbers and decide whether they want to invest or not, but they forgot that we are making thousands of assumptions in that spreadsheet. So you rather check the assumptions rather than just the final numbers.   Rich: Absolutely.   James: Right, so Rich we're really happy to have you here. How can the listeners and audience reach out to you?   Rich: Well, they could, we have a website, alcapgroup.com and they can send me an email through there. If they want to know about our upcoming deals, we'd be happy to put them on their list and work with them, talk to them, and see if we can do some business together.   James: Awesome, awesome. Thank you very much Rich for coming onto the show.   Rich: Thanks James, been a pleasure.   James: Pleasure to have you. Thank you.

We took some equipment with us to the theatre, and as soon as we finished watching #TheRiseOfSkywalker we went out to record our initial reaction in the car! Listen in on Josh, Pete, and Eden as we discuss our fresh thoughts. There're a few gonks, sniffles, and undying love for our favorite thing in the galaxy ... listen up y'all, it's #STARWARSDAY ! LISTEN to the new episode on iTunes, Podbean, or simply go to http://jammedtransmissions.com Share Jammed Transmissions with your best Star Wars friend today! Join in the conversation by sending us an email at comlink@jammedtransmissions.com or find us on Facebook and Instagram @jammedtransmissions as well as Twitter @JTcomlink. Emails and voice recordings received by Monday night will be included in that week's show! If you enjoy the show, please consider giving us a 5-star rating on iTunes as it really helps us out big time!  Also consider checking out the links below and sharing with your Star Wars friends!  May the Force be with you ... always. -- Facebook - Jammed Transmissions: A Star Wars Podcast Instagram - @jammedtransmissions Twitter - @JTcomlink Email - comlink@jammedtransmissions.com Website - http://jammedtransmissions.com Blog - http://jammedtransmissions.wordpress.com Patreon - http://patreon.com/jammedtransmissions YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDwMcpWQRD6S8u9zFzUZgfw -- Artwork by Josh Rowe.  Follow his work and direct commissions to: Instagram - @jdrowe812 Twitter - @joshuarowe24 -- Original music and audio editing by Peter Viox*  Twitter - @JTPeteyV -- Follow Eden Grey on social media here: Instagram - @edengreycosplay Twitter - @edenjeangrey Patreon - http://patreon.com/edengrey -- * (Regarding audio: all original music by Peter Viox *unless it's obviously a referenced song included in the mix, in which case: *no copyright infringement intended, *NO PROFIT is earned from free episodes, *all music in Patreon episodes is original by Peter Viox) #starwars #starwarspodcast #jammedtransmissions #episodeix #rey #kyloren #bensolo #princessleia #lukeskywalker #initialreaction #cinema #finn #emperorpalpatine #poedameron #rosetico #theresistance #thefirstorder #sith #jedi #podcast #starwarsislife #maytheforcebewithyou

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Douglas Skipworth has had an entrepreneurial heart from a young age. He began his journey in community banking and worked on earning his CPA and CFA certifications. Since then, he has been in the residential real estate industry for about 20 years and is passionate about partnering with others to develop thriving real estate businesses. He currently co-owns CrestCore Realty, which manages 2,500 properties in Memphis, TN. Along with his partner, they have built several real estate companies in brokerage, management, lending, and construction.  In this episode, he discusses his life and business, the advantages of community banks, ideal criteria for investing in a new deal, the importance of connecting with others and shares helpful advice on education for today’s world. Listen in as he shows us hows real estate and adding value to others tie it all together.  Episode Highlights: How Much It Helps Your Business If You Connect With More People Effects Of Borrowing Too Much Money For Education How Local Banks Help In Real Estate Investing Importance Of Establishing A Relationship With Local Community Banks Douglas’ Interest In Helping Certain Types Of People Via His Businesses   Connect with Douglas: Website: crestcore.com Email: Douglas@crestcore.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  TRANSCRIPTION  Intro: Hey guys, this is Eden your co-host. Welcome to the show where we talk about all aspects of commercial real estate investing. Today, Don is interviewing Douglas Skipworth. Doug has been investing in real estate in the past 20 years. And today he'll cover a lot of subjects including community banks, relationships in real estate and some philosophical issues like college and financial freedom through self-educating yourself with the tools that are available to us nowadays. I want to mention, again, our new website that's forming a decent shape you can visit us at DonandEden.com. Also, remember you can always reach out to us I answer all emails personally: Hello@donandeden.com. So, let's get started guys. Lady: Welcome to the commercial real estate investing podcast with Don and Eden where we cover all aspects of real estate investing with special attention to off-market strategies. Don: All right. Hey, Douglas. Welcome to the show. Douglas: Hey, Don. Great to be here. Don: Yes, I think you deserve it because you've been doing real estate since 2001. Right? Douglas: That's correct. My partner started in 2001. And I started in real estate in 2002. Between the two of us, we're going on 20 years. Don: Wow. So, you guys have been through a lot, right? So, you started, the market was going up, then there was a bubble, and then everything changed. And then you guys probably had to make some adjustments and change business models. Now, when the markets have been going up for a few good years. Douglas: Yeah, it's so funny, because I don't know when you always talk about the good old days. I don't know if the good old days were when things were running up, or the good old days, because we were, you know, we were buying and refinancing and things were great or when things kind of went bust, because that was a huge opportunity for us personally to add to our portfolio as other investors busted in community banks had deals to give away and then rates have been so low for the past 10 years that that's been a good time. So, if you kind of look back at the past 20 years it has been the good old days. Don: Yeah, I don't know who said it. I'm pretty sure it's Warren Buffett. "When there's blood on the street, buy real estate." Douglas: So true. Don: Yeah. So, tell us about the early stages of your career. How did you get started? What did you do? How did you even hear about real estate? And what were your goals at the time? Douglas: Great question. After college, I knew I wanted to start a business. So I kind of jumped into commercial banking and accounting, got my CPA and my CFA certifications to learn all I could about business and then I was working in New York City at the time and I had an opportunity to come to Memphis to work with an owner-operator of a real estate business when he was ginning up a tech company. It was kind of like a proprietary Zillow back in the early 2000s. It was a great chance for me to get on the owner-operator side of the business because I kind of knew from my first few years I wanted to be a business owner. So, I just kind of jumped in real estate tech and was learning a lot about real estate and I moved into a neighborhood and bumped into a guy who was a jogger. So, he and I started jogging together. He was in manufacturing, managing plants across the country mechanical engineer by training and he had in high school, a mentor who owned real estate and so he was building wealth through real estate while working his full-time corporate job. And I was working in real estate on a data in business side working with realtors and appraisers on the residential side. So, we had a lot of commonalities, shared some interest, but he kind of told me about what he was doing with his investing portfolio of properties, both multifamily and single-family, I got interested. So, I started doing the same thing on my own. And we would jog together and share war stories and share best practices and really developed a friendship and almost a partnership. So, we decided we wanted to try and do a deal together that neither of us had done. So, to kind of share the risk. We ended up doing a tax sale because we had never bought a tax sale, either of us. And so, we just kind of shared the risk on that and it went well. Then we shared the risk on another one and another one and then we bought a little portfolio together and then we bought a few more together then we started doing some third party management together and fast forward to today we've got several hundred units together, we manage several thousand units together, we've got a brokerage and property management and maintenance company would do some hard money lending. So, we've enjoyed our friendship and business relationship. Don: That's truly amazing. I mean, I think, you know, going on a jog, and then meeting your future business partner that you're going to do so many things with, it's just outstanding. And that's why people always say that when you are trying to get into real estate, then you should always say that this is what you're doing to people. Because people are going to tell you something back and they're going to tell you, hey, you should talk to this guy or I've heard about somebody who does that does this and then you get ideas. So, you always gotta talk to people. And that's a great example of how talking to people, getting to know them, listening to them, changes your life in a good way. Douglas: That's a great point. Especially I was laughing about This was somebody the other day, because when I was working in banking when I was working in accounting when I was working in real estate technology, I would tell people that and nobody seemed interested or knew what to talk about. But as soon as I started investing in residential and small multifamily properties, and I would mention that everybody had either thought of it or had a friend or a family member who had been an investor at one time, or were thinking about doing it themselves or just buying a house. So, to your point, it just opens up a wealth of conversations and connections, that being a real estate investor and talking about it highly encourage people to do that. Don: Definitely. Now, there's another thing that I want to talk to you about because I just had this conversation with my friend and you just mentioned it that you went to college back in '01 he said, right? Douglas: I wish and I graduated in '96. So, I'm a little older than that. Don: Yeah, so a little bit older. So, this is exactly the time where you're growing up, I believe. I don't know how old you are. If you want to share it. Douglas: I'll be 46 in two weeks. Don: 46. Happy birthday! Here's my question. So, you are growing up at the times where your parents must have told you for the people that were close to you to go to college, right? Get a degree if you want to be successful in life, right? Now, my generation, I'm 30 years old, and I never went to college. So... Douglas: Awesome.  Don: I've been investing in real estate since I'm 23 years old. My background is kind of different because I wasn't growing up in an environment that tells me that I have to go to college because we had the internet so we could hear other people talking. And so, there is the age of information where you could get a book for 10 bucks so you can listen to a podcast for free, right and get all the education you need. So, my question to you, would you recommend going to college in modern times or just jumping right in and just getting an education from a different source? Douglas: If you're entrepreneurial enough, and you have a plan and you have a determination, then yeah, you can do it on your own. There is a lifelong learning component that podcasts, books, resources now are at our fingertips as well. Well, it's just meeting people's mentors and connections. So clearly have learned more since I've been at a school then I learned in school. But for the right person, so for example, I got a master's in accounting. When I was out of school, I worked full time went to school at night, and I got scholarships and the company paid a little bit. So, to get that degree to get that knowledge and earned that credential at a private university cost me $2,000 of my hard-earned money. All the rest of that money came from somewhere else, which was, which was a good lesson that I learned how to do real estate as well. You don't have to go out and spend all your hard-earned money and borrow. There're ways if you can get creative, you use other people's money. So, what I wouldn't suggest for 99.9% of the people is to go borrow $70,000 a year to get an education, an undergraduate... Don: Exactly what I see. I mean, I see the age doing that. And I'm thinking you guys are taking debt for so long and you're also investing time. So, you're taking debt and investing time and I don't like doing one of them. I don't like investing my time for a long term period when I don't know if it's going to bear any fruits. And when you invest your time and your money, it kind of sets you back so much. Douglas: It's applicable in this because education is so important, whether you're learning through podcasts or books. Yeah, one of my mentors, he owns 5200 unit multi-family, mostly low income that they do a phenomenal job across the Southeast. And he told me many years ago, "Never borrow unless you're borrowing against an income-producing asset." That's where I was like, man, I can't borrow to go to school' I can't borrow for a car. I got to borrow against an income-producing asset, whether it's a business or a real estate piece of property. So that's a valuable lesson that a super successful multifamily investor gave me 20 years ago and I've never forgotten. So, very much on point to not borrow for that education, not borrow significantly for that education. Because it's going to put you back. Don: Yeah, I agree. And I think what I'm going to do, you just gave me an idea. I'm just going to record an episode later on that will talk about that subject specifically. I want to get back to borrowing money because I know you have a way of borrowing money. You're borrowing money from community banks. Douglas: Yes. Don: So, tell us a little bit about that. I know it's different now, you can make things happen when you work with the community bank. Douglas: Yeah, so we've worked with community banks since 2001. Part of the reason we like working with, some of the benefits is their local that you can go to church with them, to school, kids playing on sports teams, living in the same neighborhood. So, there's more of a story relationship aspect, and then there's also the local component to it. So, they're going to work with you and get behind you and understand that and then they're going to be a lot more interested in that relationship and kind of support you. They can't do as big a deal. They got lending limits, but they also have access to other local investors and kind of keep you in mind. So, for us, it's just been a great relationship. The Real coup for us was when the bad times hit for other investors and those banks had property, they were taken back. And they were looking to get it off of their balance sheet because they did not want to own real estate. And they didn't give it away. But there they created a win-win. It was kind of a "your price, my terms" situation, whereas they would say, "Hey, we want it at this price. We need to get it off at this price." And we say, "Okay, these are our terms." And if they said, "Hey, here, the terms we need," then we'd say, "Well, this is the price that we need." And we picked up hundreds of units during that '08 to 2014 probably working with community banks and borrowing and all the money from them on those deals. Don: Yeah, that's amazing. I know, multifamily was doing pretty well in '08 relatively. So, it's very smart to buy them at that time. I wish I was investing in real estate at that time, life would have been different. So, I want to ask you about your relationship with this bank. So, when you establish your relationship with the community bank, how do you do that? So how do you choose the bank? Is it more personal? Are they looking into your financials in a more personal way, not as strict of a guideline is what I'm asking. Douglas: There's no doubt to have guidelines. But you're right. It is a relationship. If someone were to look for a relationship with a community bank in their location, start with friends, family, mentors, anybody who knows somebody who was either sympathetic to you personally some way or to the real estate property investing or learning on real estate. So that's how we've established those relationships. There are plenty of local community banks that don't want to have anything to do with what we're doing. They don't like lending on real estate, they've got too much real estate, whatever. But some lots are in it's through those relationships where you develop a business strategic partnership with the banks. Don: Would you say that these loans are typically more expensive than what you would get with a regular loan? Douglas: So, for us, we kind of looked at loans and there's the traditional mortgage market where you can price things pretty cheap, but you got to have good credit. And then there's the community bank. And there are private loans. There's hard money lending. So, there are several different routes. Community bank financing is pretty cheap. It's got some strings attached, because they want you to jump through some hoops more so than a private lender would, more so than a hard money lender would. It will be things they're going to review past couple years of tax returns, they might run a credit check on you, they're going to ask for you sign a personal guarantee. So, they're going to be some things that some other lenders aren't going to have. But again, they're going to look out for you and they're going to keep you in mind when they're talking to other investors. Other investors want to get out of deals, they're going to say, "Hey, we're going to talk to Don and Eden they're doing this'' or "sell your properties to Don Eden, and we'll finance it" where they can just assume your mortgage or assume your loan. So, we've done that with banks and through relationships, which is a lot harder to do with national lenders as you know. Don: They lend for properties that are in their area, or they could lend for properties anywhere in the US? Douglas: Primarily they'll lend to either properties that are in their area or borrowers that are domiciled or headquartered or located in the area. Don: Yeah. Douglas: So, they will do deals outside of the state if it's somebody they know locally. Don: Yeah, that's very interesting. Yeah Douglas: It's great. And it becomes a network and they become part of your network, and they become one of your strategic partners. And you can develop relationships with multiple community banks and work with all of them. And it's a great mutually beneficial relationship. Don: Terrific. Yeah, I think that's critical information for somebody who's listening to that show. And they want to get a loan for a property that they want to buy and they don't know who to talk to. I guess that's just an option that you got to consider. Go talk to your community bank, establish a relationship and get to know the people there because real estate is a long play. You do something where you plant seeds right now, and you wait for the seeds to sprout in the future. So, I guess that's one seed that you got to plant right? The community. Got to go and talk to people when you want to do deals. Douglas: It's been everything from helping you find new deals to financing deals to providing opportunities for other lines of business. So, they can help you finance because you built up a track record with them and they understand who you are and how you operate. So, they become a champion for you within their organization and the community. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. It's been one of the keys to the foundation of our real estate business. You've got deals, financing, and management when it comes to investing and finding deals, financing or paying for those deals and then manage them after the fact. So that financing piece is huge, whether it's your cash or somebody else's cash. Most real estate investors use somebody else's cash. So, a community bank is a great option. Don: Awesome. You manage over 3000 units and you also invest in real estate. So, you bought together with your partner over 800 units and you haven't had any money partners or equity partner so you've done this by yourself, complete with both of your hands. And that's amazing. I gotta say, I host a lot of people here on the show. Most of the people that try to syndicate, try to get to raise funds, and then buy their deals. You've been investing for better of two decades right now, and you've been doing that on your own. But I want to ask you if you've been investing in real estate and creating your wealth, why do you still want to do property management? Is it because of your investments? Or is it just because that's your core business? Douglas: Probably all of the above. And we feel like part of what we're here to do is to serve people profitably, you know, so we're in business to serve. Because we have our rental properties, we have to do property management, and we'd like to have our rental properties for the duration. So, we need to do property management and then managing properties for others is a skill that we have developed so we can get paid for it, we can get better at it and we can use it to serve others. So, it's kind of a mutually virtuous cycle of things going around where we get better, it helps us manage our properties better but helps us serve our clients better. So... Don: Win-win-win-win-win. That's many things in real estate. Douglas: Absolutely all the way around. And that's why we've expanded to Jackson, Tennessee, and Dyersburg, Tennessee and you know, hopes to expand into Eastern Arkansas, Central Arkansas, North Mississippi, Central Mississippi over time because it benefits all of us to do that. Don: It's what I like about real estate that you could find so many things to do in real estate that creates a win-win-win-win in different types of businesses. It's not the way that it is in real estate. You can create a business that creates wealth for you, that helps you with taxes that appreciate that cash flows, and that is being managed by you as another business. It's just amazing. So, we've been doing all that. It leads me to ask you, what would be the criteria for buying a new deal? Douglas: We've kind of bootstrapped it on our own. So, we're limited because we don't have equity partners and we don't syndicate. We usually have to have the financing in place. So that's assuming a loan, or some type of owner financing, or working directly with a bank that can provide the purchase money. We're super limited on what we do, which just leads to more deals for everybody else clients and that's great, but we're super selective at this at least we have been for the past 20 years we look forward to someday where we can just go out bad things all cash and not worry about it. But so, we're selected looking for different things, whether it's a single-family home, small multifamily or small commercial building. The recent thing we bought a property management company and bought the building. So, we're now an owner occupant of our office in that building. So that's a great win-win. Don: You buy the tenant and the building and you're the owner of both. Douglas: Exactly. So that's the most recent that was a month and a half ago. So that's been great. Don: You've been working with your partner surely but slowly, right? You've been managing properties, investing, buying them one by one with your money, creating long-term wealth, going to stay in your family forever. What would be the next step? Douglas: One thing we've been very fortunate on it's just building and surround yourself with some great people and building a good team. We've got folks who help run the businesses and operate the day today. And that's been awesome for us. So, continuing to develop those folks and grow opportunities for them as well as for ourselves. So, with the businesses we have now, which are really real estate services, brokerage, property management, maintenance, like said financing, then we have some business services, we provide some virtual assistants and some business back end support to our businesses and a few others. Just growing those real estate service lines and business service lines in this geographic area is our next focus personally for the next five years. Don: Awesome. So, what kind of areas are you guys going to focus on it in case anybody wants a property manager or wants to consult with you on a few things that have to do with real estate? Douglas: Yeah, so we help folks like ourselves, people who are wanting to build wealth, people who are wanting financial freedom, people who are looking to create an income or buy something to pay it down over time in resident real estate, small commercial real estate, multifamily real estate in kind of this MidSouth Mississippi, Tennessee Arkansas area around Memphis, Little Rock, Jackson, Mississippi. So, anything related to that brokerage, property management, maintenance, construction, lending, helping people fix and flip, helping people bridge loans into a long term loan. And then we provide virtual assistant services for folks who are doing real estate services, whether it's just somebody operating on their own or a brokerage or property management company, we're happy to help that because we've got a lot of experience. We got about 120 virtual assistants right now in the Philippines that work for 18 companies. Again, we feel our calling is to help people succeed through business and real estate. That's what we're trying to do and we're trying to help other people do it too. Don: Try and make an impact when you’re already wealthy. That's the next thing is to try to make an impact and help other people and that's truly a remarkable goal. So, what would be the best way to contact you Doug in case anybody wants to get in touch? Douglas: I love to talk to anybody. Easy to send me an email at Douglas@crestcore.com or find me on LinkedIn or find me on BiggerPockets. Those are probably the three best ways to get in touch. Don: Right. So, I want to thank you very much for being on the show today, Doug. Douglas: Love that, Don. Thanks for having me. Lady: Thanks for listening to the Real Estate Investing podcast with Don and Eden. Stay tuned for more episodes. Till next time!

Here my story!

Our fiends spring their trap and resolve Thrasher's rat problem for the good of all involved. Well, almost all involved. There're a few complications. You'll see. A point of note: We had a recording error during the Narri & Arabet scene, and had to re-play it for contenuity. During the original play of this scene, Narri rolled a Natural 1, and his player insisted on keeping those consequences for the re-play. This is the "last time we played this scene" reference in the first scene of this episode.  Runelanders was created, written, directed, edited and engineered by 'Mad' Adam Tambeau, with gracious help from his incredible friends. Music used under license from SOCAN, via the YouTube audiolibrary, or in the public domain.  Full track-lists, cast credits, and credentials available at runelanders.com. 

There're a lot of things that fight for our attention in this world. Some of those things are worth our attention, while others are not. We gotta give our attention to those things that matter most! Let's Connect!Email: @bro.stan325@gmail.comTwitter: @brostandailyInstagram: @brostandailywww.diviniawater.org See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Download MP3 先週に引き続き、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」をお届けします。この11年間に配信した335本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、４本分を濃縮しました。今回は、Joeの選んだ4本の傑作エピソードをお送りします。 　 *** Joe's Best *** やさしい英語会話 (311) Go Carp, Go! やさしい英語会話 (240) Piano Delivery やさしい英語会話 (236) The Excitement of a Zoo やさしい英語会話 (79) Saving George *** Script *** やさしい英語会話 (311) Go Carp, Go! (Noisy Stadium Sound) Both: (the Cheer song) Carp, Carp, Carp Hiroshima, Hiroshima Carp M: Oh, this is so fun! Thanks for inviting me, Tomoka. My first Carp game ever in person! I didn't think that the fans would be so crazy. W: Hey, this is normal! Carp games are really intense! M: Yeah! Um, who's your favorite player, Tomoka? W: My favorite players are Tanaka, Kikuchi, Maru, and Suzuki! M: Ha ha! That's a lot. Who's your MOST favorite? W: Um… I love 'em all, but I guess I love Suzuki the most! Oh! Suzuki's stepping up to the plate now! Wohoo! M: Yeah, but we're pretty far out here in right field. It's kind of hard to see. Here, you can use my binoculars. (later) M: Tomoka… here's your Carp udon. Ha ha. It's funny that even the food being sold here is about the Carp! W: Yeah, and almost everyone's wearing their favorite player's jersey. Mine's 51, of course. That's Suzuki's number. M: Oh, I should get one too. But they're SO expensive! W: Yeah… Hey, who do you like right now? M: I think Johnson's pretty cool. And besides, we're both American! Ha ha! W: Yeah, I like him a lot too. Hey, this Carp udon tastes great! How's that Carp takoyaki? M: It's really good. (Sound of a ball hit by a bat) Hey, Tomoka look! The ball's coming this way. Let's get out of here! W: No way! I'm gonna catch this ball! Get out of here, Daniel! (Pushing Daniel to the side) M: Ah!!! W: Ah! I got it! I got a home run ball! M: Way to go, Tomoka! A home run ball! And thanks for pushing me out of the way! But I got takoyaki all over me! (Written by Mikael Kai Geronimo) やさしい英語会話 (240) Piano Delivery Kim and Bruce are attempting to carry a piano up 8 stories to deliver it to a client. M: (panting) Remind me again why we decided to become piano deliverymen. This lady lives on the 8th floor, and we've only made it up to the third floor! My arms already feel like spaghetti! W: It's piano delivery WOMAN! And I'll tell you why: this is all part of the four-year plan. Remember? M: Um... I'm so exhausted right now that I can hardly remember my own mother's name! Why don't you jog my memory? W: (sighs) Fine, Bruce. This is the last time I'm going to explain it to you. M: I CAN'T guarantee that. W: (huffing) Alright, the four-year plan is to work as piano delivery men... Ahem... piano delivery PEOPLE for two years in order to build up core body strength. Then, we spend the next two years training to be professional wrestlers. With the kind of strength we'll get from this job, we can become world champions! M: Wait, that four-year plan? You actually still think that's gonna work? I'm just working this job so I can see the inside of all the attractive women's houses in this city! W: You really are a hopeless pervert, aren't you? M: Hold that thought. I think my back's about to give out! W: You say something? M: Gahhhhh! (Bruce grimaces in pain and the cracking of his back is clearly audible. Bruce drops the piano and it falls down all three flights of stairs to its concrete grave.) W: What the... Bruce?! Do you know what you've just done!? You've ruined the four-year plan! M: Forget the four-year plan and just get me to a hospital! (shudders in pain) (Written by David Shaner) やさしい英語会話 (236) The Excitement of a Zoo M: Finally, we made it to the zoo! I wanna go see the T-Rex exhibit first! W: Robbie, how many times do I have to tell you: dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There're no T-Rexes in the zoos. M: And how many times do I have to tell YOU that that's just a government conspiracy fabricated to keep people from using dinosaurs as weapons. W: (Puts her palm over her face and sighs) OK, Robbie, OK. I believe you. Just stop talking about it already. I actually wanted to enjoy this trip to the zoo, and you're making that pretty difficult. M: Hey look! Lions! (Robbie grabs Regina's hand and makes a dash for the lion enclosure.) M: Wow! Lions are awesome! W: (giggling) I'm glad to see you've taken interest in an animal that actual exists. M: I always wished I could've been raised by lions. Living in the mountains, living off nothing but the flesh and blood of rhinos! W: Um, I don't think that's where or how lions live, Robbie. (Regina looks down at her phone to distract herself from how badly this date is going. Regina then looks up.) W: Hey Robbie what do you think of--. (Robbie is no where to be found.) W: Robbie? Robbie?! Where are you? (A few seconds later) M: I'm over here, Regina! (Regina looks over to see Robbie cuddling with one of the lions within the enclosure.) W: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LION ENCLOSURE ROBBIE!? THATS SUPER DANGEROUS! M: Just following my heart Regina, just following my heart. (Written by David Shaner) やさしい英語会話 (79) Saving George W: George!! Come down here!… Oh no, he can’t come down! What am I gonna do? Hmm… I better call the emergency number... (dialing phone) M: Emergency Services. Can I help you? W: Hello!? Help! My little George is in danger! M: Now, calm down. Is it a fire, or is someone breaking into your house? W: It’s an emergency. He… he’s up in a tree and can’t come down. M: OK. Where are you now? Is George hurt? W: I’m in the park…on Elm Street. I don’t think he’s hurt…He’s clinging to the branch. He’s trembling! Poor thing! He can’t come down by himself. I can’t go up and take him down either. It’s too high! M: OK. I’ll send a truck and ladder. Please don’t go up. Just stay there and wait for the truck…. Now, how old did you say George is? W: Um, he’s about three months. M: Three months?! How come he’s up in the tree? He’s only a baby! W: Well, he’s been naughty these days. He climbs up the tree every day and comes down by himself. I think he’s gone too high today… M: Huh? W: He was stuck in the rubbish bin the other day… He’s so cute. Now he can eat one tin of tuna each meal. He’s grown up so fast! M: So… he’s… he’s a kitten? W: Oh, didn’t I say that? M: No… Well, Ms., I’m sorry, but this number is for emergencies only. W: Yes. The IS an emergency! My little kitty is in danger! M: I understand. But there might be someone, some HUMAN, who is dying and needs help at this very moment. W: George IS my family and I need to rescue him! It doesn’t matter if he’s human or a cat. A: OK, OK. (in a small voice) Boy, I can’t take care of this old lady… B: You… you said I’m old? I’m not old! I’m only 83! Just send a ladder truck and help my George! Is that clear, boy? A: Yes, Ma’am! (Written by Ayumi Furutani)

Download MP3 先週に引き続き、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」をお届けします。この11年間に配信した335本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、４本分を濃縮しました。今回は、Joeの選んだ4本の傑作エピソードをお送りします。 　 *** Joe's Best *** やさしい英語会話 (311) Go Carp, Go! やさしい英語会話 (240) Piano Delivery やさしい英語会話 (236) The Excitement of a Zoo やさしい英語会話 (79) Saving George *** Script *** やさしい英語会話 (311) Go Carp, Go! (Noisy Stadium Sound) Both: (the Cheer song) Carp, Carp, Carp Hiroshima, Hiroshima Carp M: Oh, this is so fun! Thanks for inviting me, Tomoka. My first Carp game ever in person! I didn't think that the fans would be so crazy. W: Hey, this is normal! Carp games are really intense! M: Yeah! Um, who's your favorite player, Tomoka? W: My favorite players are Tanaka, Kikuchi, Maru, and Suzuki! M: Ha ha! That's a lot. Who's your MOST favorite? W: Um… I love 'em all, but I guess I love Suzuki the most! Oh! Suzuki's stepping up to the plate now! Wohoo! M: Yeah, but we're pretty far out here in right field. It's kind of hard to see. Here, you can use my binoculars. (later) M: Tomoka… here's your Carp udon. Ha ha. It's funny that even the food being sold here is about the Carp! W: Yeah, and almost everyone's wearing their favorite player's jersey. Mine's 51, of course. That's Suzuki's number. M: Oh, I should get one too. But they're SO expensive! W: Yeah… Hey, who do you like right now? M: I think Johnson's pretty cool. And besides, we're both American! Ha ha! W: Yeah, I like him a lot too. Hey, this Carp udon tastes great! How's that Carp takoyaki? M: It's really good. (Sound of a ball hit by a bat) Hey, Tomoka look! The ball's coming this way. Let's get out of here! W: No way! I'm gonna catch this ball! Get out of here, Daniel! (Pushing Daniel to the side) M: Ah!!! W: Ah! I got it! I got a home run ball! M: Way to go, Tomoka! A home run ball! And thanks for pushing me out of the way! But I got takoyaki all over me! (Written by Mikael Kai Geronimo) やさしい英語会話 (240) Piano Delivery Kim and Bruce are attempting to carry a piano up 8 stories to deliver it to a client. M: (panting) Remind me again why we decided to become piano deliverymen. This lady lives on the 8th floor, and we've only made it up to the third floor! My arms already feel like spaghetti! W: It's piano delivery WOMAN! And I'll tell you why: this is all part of the four-year plan. Remember? M: Um... I'm so exhausted right now that I can hardly remember my own mother's name! Why don't you jog my memory? W: (sighs) Fine, Bruce. This is the last time I'm going to explain it to you. M: I CAN'T guarantee that. W: (huffing) Alright, the four-year plan is to work as piano delivery men... Ahem... piano delivery PEOPLE for two years in order to build up core body strength. Then, we spend the next two years training to be professional wrestlers. With the kind of strength we'll get from this job, we can become world champions! M: Wait, that four-year plan? You actually still think that's gonna work? I'm just working this job so I can see the inside of all the attractive women's houses in this city! W: You really are a hopeless pervert, aren't you? M: Hold that thought. I think my back's about to give out! W: You say something? M: Gahhhhh! (Bruce grimaces in pain and the cracking of his back is clearly audible. Bruce drops the piano and it falls down all three flights of stairs to its concrete grave.) W: What the... Bruce?! Do you know what you've just done!? You've ruined the four-year plan! M: Forget the four-year plan and just get me to a hospital! (shudders in pain) (Written by David Shaner) やさしい英語会話 (236) The Excitement of a Zoo M: Finally, we made it to the zoo! I wanna go see the T-Rex exhibit first! W: Robbie, how many times do I have to tell you: dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There're no T-Rexes in the zoos. M: And how many times do I have to tell YOU that that's just a government conspiracy fabricated to keep people from using dinosaurs as weapons. W: (Puts her palm over her face and sighs) OK, Robbie, OK. I believe you. Just stop talking about it already. I actually wanted to enjoy this trip to the zoo, and you're making that pretty difficult. M: Hey look! Lions! (Robbie grabs Regina's hand and makes a dash for the lion enclosure.) M: Wow! Lions are awesome! W: (giggling) I'm glad to see you've taken interest in an animal that actual exists. M: I always wished I could've been raised by lions. Living in the mountains, living off nothing but the flesh and blood of rhinos! W: Um, I don't think that's where or how lions live, Robbie. (Regina looks down at her phone to distract herself from how badly this date is going. Regina then looks up.) W: Hey Robbie what do you think of--. (Robbie is no where to be found.) W: Robbie? Robbie?! Where are you? (A few seconds later) M: I'm over here, Regina! (Regina looks over to see Robbie cuddling with one of the lions within the enclosure.) W: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LION ENCLOSURE ROBBIE!? THATS SUPER DANGEROUS! M: Just following my heart Regina, just following my heart. (Written by David Shaner) やさしい英語会話 (79) Saving George W: George!! Come down here!… Oh no, he can’t come down! What am I gonna do? Hmm… I better call the emergency number... (dialing phone) M: Emergency Services. Can I help you? W: Hello!? Help! My little George is in danger! M: Now, calm down. Is it a fire, or is someone breaking into your house? W: It’s an emergency. He… he’s up in a tree and can’t come down. M: OK. Where are you now? Is George hurt? W: I’m in the park…on Elm Street. I don’t think he’s hurt…He’s clinging to the branch. He’s trembling! Poor thing! He can’t come down by himself. I can’t go up and take him down either. It’s too high! M: OK. I’ll send a truck and ladder. Please don’t go up. Just stay there and wait for the truck…. Now, how old did you say George is? W: Um, he’s about three months. M: Three months?! How come he’s up in the tree? He’s only a baby! W: Well, he’s been naughty these days. He climbs up the tree every day and comes down by himself. I think he’s gone too high today… M: Huh? W: He was stuck in the rubbish bin the other day… He’s so cute. Now he can eat one tin of tuna each meal. He’s grown up so fast! M: So… he’s… he’s a kitten? W: Oh, didn’t I say that? M: No… Well, Ms., I’m sorry, but this number is for emergencies only. W: Yes. The IS an emergency! My little kitty is in danger! M: I understand. But there might be someone, some HUMAN, who is dying and needs help at this very moment. W: George IS my family and I need to rescue him! It doesn’t matter if he’s human or a cat. A: OK, OK. (in a small voice) Boy, I can’t take care of this old lady… B: You… you said I’m old? I’m not old! I’m only 83! Just send a ladder truck and help my George! Is that clear, boy? A: Yes, Ma’am! (Written by Ayumi Furutani)

So, as I've said, my name is Joshua Lewis, I'm from Dorks Delivered, and I’ve got another company called Business Efficiency Experts. Business Efficiency Experts has been around for about five years, and Dorks Delivered for 12 years, so we've been going around for quite a bit. We started off as an IT company, and then we found that there was more of a need for businesses to be utilising technology better. Since then I've started writing as a columnist for my entrepreneur magazine, I've been featured on news.com.au, and soon to be published in every entrepreneurs guide focusing on your marketing. Learn more about technology, marketing and business management at https://dorksdelivered.com.au/blog/451-brisbane-tattersalls-special-episode Time to Talk About Your Business Today I'm going to be talking about your business, more than my business. So what I want to do is found out, who here is representing their own business. Yup. So who here is not, and here on someone else's behalf? Okay. So we just got one here, that's right, always the bloody troublemaker. It's going to be a very interactive session with the way we're going to go through with everything, and we're going to split off into groups and it's going to be fun, it's going to be exciting. Are we pumped? Yeah? Look, we've got to annoy the other groups. Yeah? Woo. Okay, perfect. Raise your hand if you have kids? I already know Carolyn has kids, and we've got Amanda with kids, so a lot of us have kids here, which is good. I'm lucky enough not to. But I've got 10 nieces and nephews, and treat them like my own. Who here would say they spend enough time with their kids? Who is there for all their critical moments in their life? Who would rather spend more time, or have at least the flexibility to be able to step in and out? I was talking to Tony, I was talking about some of the automation, or some of the things that he's put into his business which allow for better time management. And in particular we were talking about some of the Lean Management, which is fantastic, and I will be touching on that for some of it. Who started their business to earn money? Yeah. What did everyone else start it for? Who started their business to have more freedom? So we've got a few hands. It's nearly 50/50. Who believes that they've achieved both goals in that they're earning money and they can step in an out of the office at any time? Ideally we're going to split into three groups. I want everyone to have a think about what your time is worth per hour. I'm going to start and go around the room. Carolyn, what would you say your time is worth per hour? Carolyn: $350. Joshua Lewis: $350. Peta? Peta: I can't value. It's... Time is invaluable. Joshua Lewis: Invaluable. Time spent is worthwhile. Tony, how about yourself? Tony: Probably $2,50. Joshua Lewis: $2,50. That's good, that brings your averages back here. Tracey? Tracey: I don't know what it's worth but I charge $450 an hour. Joshua Lewis: Okay. And if we just continue around the room. I didn't actually get your name, sorry. Amelia: Oh, Amelia. Joshua Lewis: Amelia. Amelia: About $150 an hour. Joshua Lewis: Okay, is that what you're charging or what you think your time is worth? Amelia: Roughly about what I charge. Joshua Lewis: Okay, no worries. Melody: I charge between $200 and $300 an hour. Joshua Lewis: It gets wishy-washy, doesn't it? Amanda: So I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Joshua Lewis: That's okay. So has anybody been adding up the totals? I haven't been, but we're going to go back around with a more solid answer and everyone's saying what everyone's said. I'd say everyone's roughly saying what, two, three hundred dollars an hour, yeah? And it's about like what, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 of us in the room. So there's about $3,000 an hour being spent in this room right now, and for my talk that's going to go for 20, 25 minutes, it means you're spending roughly about $1,000 to $1,500 to listen to me, so thanks guys! I appreciate that and I'm going to make sure your time is spent well. I like that! If your business went down, how much would that cost you? A lot of people don't really take that into effect. We were talking before with Mark from ETG, a fantastic person who makes sure that businesses stay up and running, he's going to be answering the phone within 30 seconds. You know that your business is going to be able to stay alive and stay up and running, which is what you want. You don't want to have downtime, you don't want to have those problems. But people do have downtime, people get pregnant, people go on holidays, get sick, people change jobs, die, pass away, all these different terrible things and nice things that can happen. Ultimately it means you have more problems in trying to cope with the amount of hours that are either coming in or with hours that are going out, depending on the person that's disappeared. Either way, your business needs automation. Automation is super important, because if you can automate elements of your business, you no longer have to have those employees doing those repetitious tasks. So I'm going to go through and go around the room and ask everyone what their pain point is in business, and what they are wanting to overcome, and then I'm going to explain different ways that you can go about doing that using automation. So I'm going to start the other way around and start with Amanda first. Amanda: Uh, so I don't need a lot of staff in my office but when that one staff member is not there, it's an issue. Joshua Lewis: What do your staff predominantly focus on? Amanda: So the pain point... Oh well, it would be answering phones and answering emails. Joshua Lewis: Okay, and at the moment how many employees do you have? Amanda: Well, out on the field there's 15, and in the office... we're kind of in a vortex at the moment, there only needs about one to one and a half. Joshua Lewis: And that can be a problem because you're at that stage where if you have one and then you grow to two, you have to have twice as much work for people to answer the phones or they're costing heaps of money. Amanda: Yes. Joshua Lewis: So it's a good answer. What would you say your biggest pain point is in business? Melody: I'm a consultant so people... I'd say filling in tenders. There're so many different formats out there and it would be nice if they were standardised from your perspective. Joshua Lewis: Absolutely. Melody: It would help to standardise them so consulting with companies that are putting and that are filling in those tenders are spending less in [inaudible 00:06:08] because at the end of the day, translate in dollars for each individual out here of resource cost. Joshua Lewis: Makes a lot of sense and IT is one the industries that they haven't really standardised yet. A lot of the civil industries they have standardised tenders, but not in IT. And knowingly there's a lot of... it seems that there's not much legislation around IT, which is annoying to know who's good and who's a cowboy, etc. How about you Brendan? Brendan: Probably managing emails. Joshua Lewis: Managing emails? So how many emails do you get a day? Brendan: Last time I counted, probably about 360. Joshua Lewis: Yeah, that's a lot, that's a lot of time. Continue around, is anyone also relating to some of these problems? Does anybody have anything to be different to these that you'd say is a big problem that you'd have in business? I know you're only just starting out so that's... Brendan: Yes, my widest pain point is to bring awareness to some [inaudible 00:06:56], so making awareness, that would be my pain point. Joshua Lewis: Okay, and definitely that could be somebody getting your name out, they're getting your brand out, they're having people know about you, and especially you're in a marketing company but you need to still get yourself marketed out there, so it's a bit of a conundrum. Does anyone else have any different pain points that they would...? Yeah, Peta? Peta: Hi, organising customers to meet their deadlines. Joshua Lewis: Okay, and how many customers do you have that you find where you run into that problem with? Peta: 80% Joshua Lewis: 80%, that's a lot. Okay. So, are you one of them? Amanda: No. Joshua Lewis: Well that's not good. Amanda: An automatic puncher would be good. Joshua Lewis: Yeah, that's right. Well people getting paid is a huge pain point. I'm surprised no-one bought that up. People lapsing on invoices or waiting for invoices to get paid. Amanda: I have an automatic solution. Joshua Lewis: Are you using Zero or? Amanda: I'm using Zero integrated with Integripay. Joshua Lewis: Yeah, cool. So we also have Zero integrated with Integripay, so word up to the solution. Amanda: I don't have customers that owe me money, so I take it from them. Joshua Lewis: Yeah, and do you only deal with customers that you can set up directive requests with? Amanda: Yes. Yeah, cool. So that's a level of automation that you've put into your business, which is awesome. It overcomes that pain. So I'm going to try to go around the room and answer some of the questions. At the moment there's heaps of different places that you can jump onto that give you the ability to have a very scalable per call call centre where they can be answering five calls a day or 500 calls a day, and you can pay a very small amount per call. Now although that's not necessarily automating the calls being answered, that's offsetting the responsibilities allowing growth. Which the problem isn't really your calls not being answered as far as I can see, it's the growth and having to bring someone on having extra tasks that need to be allocated to that person. So we went to a solution where we found the same issue. So our business started off as an IT company very similar to Michael's but different, and we found by automating so much of the business, 98% of it was being done in the back of house and we didn't have any customers talking to us, which is great but it meant that we then had to have so much work to have one person sitting there answering the phones or have the technicians being interrupted while they're doing other work. We found there's solutions, one's called Call Assist and that we use all Euron CRM systems, Euron training manuals, the whole lot, and they can just sit there and answer the phone for you as part of your business. So would that overcome your problem?   Amanda: Yeah. Joshua Lewis: Woo! Amanda: Yay! Big clap, that's great! Hey, one down! So I'm just going to go through some of my other notes here. As I said I didn't really get to rehearse or do this. This is all off the cuff right now. So more freedom. See automation doesn't stop at the office. You need to make sure that the things that you're doing around the home aren't being wasted, your time isn't being wasted there as well. Who mows their lawn or has a lawn to mow? Yeah? No lawns? You have lawns, have you been mowing your lawns yet? Brendan: I mow the lawn, yes. Joshua Lewis: Yeah. And... Brendan: I'm thinking of astro turf Joshua Lewis: Not a bad idea. Tony: I'm just trying to think, for a weekend... you're away from the family. But it depends on how much you like your family. If you're able to do it with a beer in your hand, you can get a ride-on or something. Well I found that definitely things like mowing the lawn you can outsource that stuff, pruning the gardens, you can outsource that stuff. There's always different ways to repurpose the systems that you're using at home, the way that you're utilising your kids if you've got kids, to make sure that you're automating as much as possible so that the time you are spending with them is valuable time. Because if everyone's time here, as you worked out, is worth about $300 an hour, the time that you're spending at home is worth the same amount as the time that you're spending at work. You shouldn't be changing the dollar amount because you're at home. If your time is worth $300 at work, you shouldn't be mowing the lawn and taking an hour to do that. You can pay someone $60 to do that every two weeks and they'll mow the lawn and do all the things that you need to have done. And that's where you need to really make sure that your time is important. So automation isn't just about technology, it's about putting in place solutions and peoples and procedures to make sure that people are doing the jobs for you and you're not having to stress that maybe you have a big week, a big month at work, or you go away traveling and then you come home and the lawn's up here, and if you're a lawn connoisseur, which I am, that means I say I like grass but it's not what it means at all... Anyway, if you are a lawn connoisseur and then you have the grass grow up, it just completely destroys off the whole ecosystem in the lawn, creates too much shade and all these other different problems, and that lawn analogy goes into every aspect of your life. There should be always ways to make your business and your life better. So Carolyn was saying that she's using a product that helps her out with LinkedIn, but it's not helping her out right now with LinkedIn because the automation behind it is broken. But we've all said roughly, again just using rough numbers, our per hour rate is about $300 an hour. For $8 an hour you can get a virtual assistant online that would be sitting there looking at it, monitoring it and doing anything else, and that goes for your emails as well. For $8 an hour and they don't even have to be employed full-time, you can have them doing that. Some people are for and against outsourcing. Who's for outsourcing and who's...? Yeah? That's the majority. Who's against outsourcing? So why don't you like outsourcing? f there's no outsourcing, your IT company wouldn't exist. Brendan: Because when I was outsourcing for the Indian company and I got to a customer site, they want to pay in Indian dollars and I've got to make a living here. And also I'm looking at... you know you've got to balance books, billing the capability here or are you going to destroy the capability here and is this going to manufacture offshore everything? So then I had this dream one day and "Hey what will my kids do if we end up pushing all the manufacturing offshore, pushing all the IT development offshore, what will people do?" So we need to find a balance where you know this is like "We will go forward..." Joshua Lewis: Absolutely! Brendan: There's less crime... People need some kind of motivation in life to get up and do something in life. That's absolutely right! And most of us are operating a small business. Does anyone have more than 15 employees here? Yeah, so the big thing with automation is if you're running a one man shop and you're able to automate some of your tasks, even if you've got two or three or five people and you're able to automate some of your tasks or axe off some of those tasks, those tasks are giving you time to be able to focus on bringing in new business as opposed to giving you... where you're just spending a mundane task going through 350 emails in a day. If you know that they're being categorised into most important, middle important and least important, which I discussed in a podcast on our Business for Freedom podcast channel, you're able to think "Okay, this is important." Only spend 15 minutes in the morning and then one 15-minute break at lunch and then know exactly how much you're spending. If you're able to outsource the majority of it, although you are still creating wealth over there and you are outsourcing some of the dollars, it's a job that you wouldn't have been able to afford to outsource here. And don't outsource and go for the cheapest bidder, go for the person that understands your business, understands the model and you're not undercutting everyone. Eight dollars, US, an hour is someone that is going to go to do the work that you want them to do and normally where they're getting paid, they're getting paid significantly less than that. So you're still helping out them and they're giving you more time to get to grow your business which lets you employ more people locally, which is ultimately what you want to be able to do. All of us as business owners need to be the best salesperson at what you're doing, although it's a dirty word and no-one likes salesperson, we're the most passionate people about what we do. And so you need to be able to be there in front of people, which is the problem that you are having, be there in front of people so that people can hear your story and hear how passionate you are. When I started in business, I was introverted, overweight and did not want to talk to anyone. But your business doesn't work very well like that, and so my extrovertedness has come as a learned behaviour. After losing 38 kilos, it was easy to learn the behaviour, I will be honest, but it's definitely a learned behaviour. But you need to be in front of people because that's where things start to happen, where things really start to show. And if you're there reading emails or buggering around with LinkedIn and other stuff, you're not going to be able to be in front of the people to make a difference. Does that all make sense? Does anyone have any questions around that? A team is the most important aspect. As soon as you go from a single man band to a woman band to a larger team, that's when you really need to start investing in the right people. The News.Com interview that I did was on selecting the right candidates and filtering out any of the crap that you get on Seek, and it's definitely a process. You want to make sure you've got a team of unicorns that work together with your business to help your business grow into the future, and it sounds really wishy-washy but knowing that they're able to do things, and some people don't employ... because they go "Ah, they don't know what I know. I've been in business too long. I know everything that I'm doing and I'm just so good at it." The problem is, you are, and that means that you won't find someone like you. But if you're able to find someone that does 80% of the work and they're 80% of the way there, that's only 20% that you have to do. And as they grow with you, it becomes easier and they become your right-hand man or lady, or left-wing lady or right-hand man, and that's where you want to make sure your systems are growing as well with the people. You want to make sure you're documenting down your processes, it doesn't matter what size business you're in. I started off in business by myself, two years later got my first employee, thought this is amazing, and continued through. Two years after that we're going gangbusters. I was turning over more money that I could ever do. I was doing a lot of big contracts with Education Queensland. The problem came about when my offsider, as a 27-year-old and working 65 to 70-hour weeks at a stroke, and that then meant I was inundated, had to cancel contracts and it was shit spot to be at in business. I grew way too quickly and that's the same sort of dilemma that you're having, where do you put someone on and waste a whole bunch of money until they grow up, or do you just grow with the one person and then when you're too busy, not have time to train someone, which is another dilemma. But automating the on-boarding process is as simple as writing down every single task that you do per day in business, writing it in your daily list, your weekly list, your monthly list. I've got this exact process written out when I started doing it a number of years ago, there was 500 items on the list and I thought "My God, I have to go through 500 things. I'm doing 500 things at the moment. How am I going to do this?" And like eating an elephant just one bite at a time, and I've got anything on there from how do you go about replacing your coffee filters to how do you answer the phone to anything... how to onboard a customer, how to let a customer leave, how to onboard a staff member, absolutely every single process is there. It doesn't matter what size business you're in, start documenting it down because when you can bring someone on, instead of having three or four months for them to be trained up, it's a two-week period which is automating the process, which is giving you more time to be out there finding new business and making a business better. So as an element of what we do in business and how I've automated my life and my business, I can work 10 hours a week. Of the 10 hours that I work a week, I can spend one hour a week making YouTube videos, blogs and podcasts, and that gives me enough podcasts, that's three podcasts a week, two YouTube videos a week, five blogs a week, and it's only taking me an hour to do that whole process. The other nine hours, I'm talking with existing customers and finding new business, potentially things like this, but I only need to work 10 hours a week with what I'm doing, with the way I've automated everything. Most people, if you said "I need you to write five blogs a week"... because our web guy told us it's going to get us better ranking, which it will, you won't have the time to write five blog articles in a week. But if you have it automated to a spot, we're able to do that, which we've done that through a 78-page document which details exactly how to go about doing it, we then no longer have this problem and it only takes us an hour, which is awesome. So think about what you do. What takes up heaps of time in your business? What would allow you to remove that time away from your business and have it spent with your kids and with your family, going on holidays, mowing the lawn if you love relaxing by mowing the lawn... while reflecting on it. But that's definitely what you need to sort of just hone in and try and work out, so... yeah. Any questions? There's got to be a couple of questions. Amanda: I've got a question. Joshua Lewis: Sure. Amanda: At what point did you realise what this... that you needed to do, this more automation, at what point did you realise the benefit was offsetting the cost? How did you work that out? Joshua Lewis: If I was to start my business again... when you first start your business, a lot of the time you go "Okay, I'm just waiting for a new client and I've got all this spare time." If I'd started it then, I would've seen the benefits significantly sooner. Already now, if anyone has any question in the room, I've noted it down and then I'm answering that in a podcast, YouTube video or blog. So to notice the difference, I would say, it's probably about 18 months if I had to put a number on it and that is a process of a lot of documentation, but it meant that when I went from the next staff member and everything had been documented, the staff member after that and the staff member after that and the staff member after that, I had zero training. I did the interviewing with them and then that was it. The other person that I trained up to start off with, which is when I wrote the documentation, was the person who then trained up the next batch of people, so the business over the last number of years has grown to 11 employees and I've trained up three or so of them, that would be about it. Everything else has happened through documents that have already written up which everyone hates doing and everyone agrees with that. No-one wants to write that up, yeah? You can offset that as well, so doing something as simple as just clicking record on your computer screen, you can record what's happening and then have that transcribed and outsourced. Tony, you'd have to sit down with people in meetings all the time and take notes on what they're saying and very specific particulars on potentially companies, holding companies for assets and all sorts of stuff, and have to note that all down, yeah? And what are you using to do that at the moment? Tony: I need to get clients' confidence that everything I do for them is in confidence. The last thing that I want for my space is when recording them on file, I'll use diagrams and staples and a whiteboard to explain things in a diagrammatical way and I find that they're more responsive to that. Yeah, and that file might be saved and it's accessed through the network so I can pass the job onto another staff member and they can pick up the file. Joshua Lewis: So the difference between recording it as you're dictating it onto the computer versus recording it through a digital means nowadays has become very, very blurred, especially like Alexa and Google Home and everything else already recording what we're saying all the time, one of the key words. I found a lot of the time customers are more comfortable, especially if they already know, that as you said that you've got a built-in trust with them and they then understand that what they're saying is in confidence so if they were to say something untoward, you would have that potentially written down if you really wanted to anyway. There's a fantastic tool called Otter on your phone which, if you download Otter, it'll have everything that you say, it'll dictate what you say and if we were talking together in the same conversation, it would dictate your voice and my voice separately and then it'll pick up on different key words throughout the discussion and then you can add that to a file against that customer, which then means if you had... if we were to catch up and I was talk about some of the R&D stuff that I'm doing and I was talking about the trust distribution that we have and all the different models of our business, and he went "I know we caught up with Josh a year ago and I can't remember exactly what he said", this not only transcribes the whole lot, but transcribes it and adds key words and notes that are completely searchable down to the exact moment things were said, and it's completely free for 10 hours a month, so a pretty cool tool. Amelia: What's it called? Otter? Joshua Lewis: Otter, like the animal. Amelia: Yeah, it's a cool app. Joshua Lewis: Otter.ai is the name, it's on Apple. Amelia: Is that spelt correctly? Joshua Lewis: Yeah, yeah, like the animals that hold hands when they go to sleep. Yeah, so that would definitely help out a lot of businesses that have no taking... I would imagine that would help you out as well when you're trying to sort of key around different mortgages and how they want things to work and where income's coming from and how they can offset different expenses, and so it's an invaluable tool. But there's all these tools out there that can really help your business out, and the number one thing you need to be doing is asking the IT company that you're working with, or companies that you're working with, to see how you can automate any of the processes in your business. There should never be double-data entry. You should never be having someone fill out a form or 5-page application that states "Here is... List your income, your partner's income" and all these other different things. I'm sure you've got them in a digital form, yeah? You don't have people...? Yeah, okay, cool! That means you're ahead of the curve. Most people don't and it's so stupid because you're asking them to fill this out so that you can make money, and it's a hurdle that you've put in front of them to fill out so that you can make money. You need to sort of remove any of the hurdles and make it so it's easy for people to spend money with you. You want people to spend money with you and not have hurdles like that. Brendan: What's your number one piece of software for automation that you favour? Joshua Lewis: That could be used diagnostically with any business? Brendan: Yeah. Joshua Lewis: From a marketing perspective, it's all very hard to answer. Otter is fantastic for note-taking and that kind of relates to most people in this room, which is why I bought that one up. But from a marketing perspective, Active Campaign I think is fantastic. It's really, really useful but there's... if you're looking to having professional note-taking... because that doesn't go to any other third parties, that's just shared with you and done through artificial intelligence to work out who's saying what. There's another tool called Rev, so the way our podcast works... I'm recording this now, this'll turn into a podcast which is cool. All the ums and ahs and dirty jokes get edited out or not, and then that thing gets transcribed and then gets images added and then key parts are all outlined, and that's all done through other people, so outsourcing would be the ultimate way to automate your business, but that's not really a tool as you said. But from a transcribing perspective, Rev.com, fantastic, Otter is fantastic, Active Campaign amazing. What sort of element would you like to automate? Brendan: As much as possible. Joshua Lewis: Email follow-ups when you have someone call through, there's auto follow-up as an Outlook add-in which would be touching on what you were saying before. If someone hasn't responded to you, it automatically sends them an email back and you can tell if they've opened it, if they've looked at it, if they've responded or what the situation is. Carolyn: You've won awards for what you do, right? Joshua Lewis: Yeah. Carolyn: How do you stay on top of this game? Joshua Lewis: I hate it. It's a good question. Just the best way to do it is by not looking within your field, because if you're at any user meeting that you ever go to, you're already there learning the same information as your competitors at the same time, which means you, if you don't have as much work force to implement it, are learning it later, or you're implementing it later which means your customers and the ongoing effect is then later. So looking through other industries to learn about any of these different tools is my number one way to do that, so I go to lots of different industry meetings that have nothing to do with technology and IT. But then, yeah... Dorks Delivered is the IT, I'm Business Efficiency Experts is the business that I've been talking about with automation and getting your life back, which is described heavily in the Business for Freedom podcasts. But you really want to just make sure that you know what direction you want your business to go in as well. If your business is there to... well like a hobby business to have a bit of side hustle, a bit more money coming in, it's a completely different story. If that is what you want to be leaving your legacy to your kids and that's why you need to be building it up so that you can allow yourself to not be the primary key person in the business, so you can step out and in but still have the incomes. Does that make sense? Carolyn: Yeah. Joshua Lewis: Cool! Cool! Any other questions? Joshua Lewis: No-one's asked about the book! What about the book! So the "Go-Giver" is something I believe in very, very strongly. Bob Burg has a fantastic range of books. I don't know who he is personally, but it sounds like I'm doing a sales pitch for him. It's all about giving more than what you're... and you'll receive more. So you give more, you give more information, you give everything that you can. Any bit of... anyone that ever called me up, I would be more than happy talking on the phone or catching up for lunch or coffee and going through any problem that they have, because ultimately... and you guys should all be the same because ultimately you are all the best at what you do. And is anyone familiar with the Dunning-Kruger Effect? It's a statement that says "The more you know, the less you think you know." Anyone that does not think that they're the best at what they do, is because they're already more knowledgeable than their peers who haven't gone as deep into it as you. So everyone should be comfortable enough to talk and give the information to their clients as much as you can, and don't try and sell information, give it all away for free. That's why we started the YouTube channel and we found it to be very, very effective for all of our clients, more effective than even person-to-person conversations because it gives them a digital fridge magnet that comes through each week, they get to see what's happening, they get to understand from a technical pers... sorry, what's happening technically from a perspective of an advantage for a business owner. But he describes some of the different ways and how that benefits and how that comes back tenfold, so everyone needs to... we had a raffle here last time, man! That's why I bought the book. What is this? Tracey: I'll buy a ticket. Joshua Lewis: You'll buy a ticket, sweet! Everyone put their business cards into a bowl, it's not even a fishbowl here. Hey, there you go, perfect! I think I've got half of the business cards. Okay, ready? Amanda: Have you got the business card in a box or are you going to just say a name perhaps? Carolyn: Probably Joshua Lewis: So I bought a book! I bought a book and everything! Carolyn: But we have to take it off your hands. Joshua Lewis: It's a fantastic book. It's definitely... it's great! I've actually got another... Amanda: If I win, I'll share it. Joshua Lewis: I've got another book he has on what he calls a success formula which is just a smaller book around the same sort of principles, but more definitely based around sales more than just life, and how to do everything. Joshua Lewis: Sweet! Well, did everyone enjoy that today? Carolyn: Yes! Joshua Lewis: So you're all going to be on like a podcast and a blog and everything else. Peta: Thank you! Joshua Lewis: And you'll get an automated email from me with the latest blog that's just come through, and me asking you all about your hobbies and that, it was all done while I was sitting here, so utilise your time. Do it!

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Launch and Scale podcast. This is episode four, and I'm Khierstyn Ross. In today's episode, we are going to be taking a look at what is my recommended software stack to use when building up an engaged audience for your product online. And this question was inspired by really Fernando Perez. He emailed in asking how we can incorporate click funnels into our overall plan? So I'm going to spend the next few minutes of this episode really diving in to help you simplify that process because I know that when you're getting started online there could be some confusion as to which software solution do you actually need and what is it for. So, when you are building up a targeted audience of people to reach out to when building up that audience in anticipation for your product launch or even a new business that you have, you can have contacts in different areas. You may have friends and colleagues on LinkedIn that have messaged you to say, "Yes, I really want to help support you." You may have people at work, you may have people from an existing customer base or email list that all say yes, "I'd love to be kept in contact and let me know when you're launching." And the problem with that is if you look at managing communication between multiple platforms, you may get overwhelmed because some people are your friends and you may think that they need different information on the product then a new email subscriber, and how really do you compartmentalize that data? So the answer is that you want to have one central spot online where people go to sign up for information to get updates on your product launch. So that's the very first thing is any communication you have, don't complicate it. You want to have one universal spot where everyone goes to not only learn more about your product but be notified when you're live. So you want to have one spot online. This is a landing page. So a landing page is going to be a one-page website with a little bit of product information on your product, of course, and information on when you're launching, and you want to have this website on a domain that is relevant to the product you're launching. So it could either be yourproductname.com it could be yourpersonaldomain.com if you don't currently own something that's having to do with your product, but have one central spot online where people go to subscribe and join your mailing list, so that's one thing. One kind of software we need to look at is what to do to build a landing page? That's phase one is landing page software. And the second one is when people actually go to this landing page online and they like your product information and they want to join your mailing list to stay up to date with your launch updates and get notified when you're live then you need to have a spot to actually organize and manage those email addresses. The thing is that when you are managing multiple hundreds of people that want to stay in contact with you, think of how crazy that's going to be to try to manage all that communication in Gmail. It's going to get lost and it's just going to be a bit of a nightmare. So you want to have, the second kind of software you want is an email CRM system where when someone inputs their email address on the landing page, that that landing page software will push that email onto a list in a software that will keep that nice and organized. And so that's where we get into an email CRM system as well. And then when you actually go to email your full mailing list, you can do that from one spot where you can automate emails and do a bunch of cool stuff. So those are the two kinds of software I want to look at is what is the recommended landing page software we need so that you can go in, don't worry, you don't need technical coding skills to do this. There're a lot of really simple, straightforward solutions that give you landing page templates you can use. So the first one is what is my recommended landing page software? I have a couple, depending on your budget. Personally, I am a massive fan of ClickFunnels. ClickFunnels is a software that is $97 per month and I am an affiliate of ClickFunnels, but I'm a mega fan of Russell Brunson and the work that he does. I love ClickFunnels because they have really awesome templates and their builder is so easy so I can customize anything that I want to. And I found that when I was trying other landing page software’s a couple of years back that I got really frustrated by how clunky the system was and how not easy other software’s were to use. And so when I moved over to ClickFunnels, it's just, it's stupidly easy, which is awesome. So I love ClickFunnels because it's super customizable and you get really good analytics to tell you really how your landing page is performing in terms of how many people come to the page actually subscribe. And so that was excellent for me. That's more of the higher priced option. If you are on a budget or you don't want to spend $97 a month, other popular solutions, you could look at our Wix or Squarespace. They also have great builders, not necessarily as customizable as ClickFunnels. However, those are two lower priced software’s that end up being around the range of 20 to $40 per month. That's my first recommended software stack. And so Fernando, if you're, of course, you're listening to this, but you're wondering how to incorporate ClickFunnels into your overall plan, it's going to be to create that one spot online where people can go to learn more information about what you are working on. That's one thing. The second kind of software that we talked about is once people actually subscribe to your landing page, where does that information go? So the recommended software that I use is ActiveCampaign. Another popular solution is MailChimp and they start at, if you're just getting started with email marketing, they start around $9 per month and then they will increase in price based on the number of contacts you have. So that's more of a solution that you grow into. So those are the recommended software’s I use and that's really how the funnel works online. Where I find people get really stuck is when you do some research, you may look online and say, "Okay, well I need a website and a landing page and they're all these things happening and I don't really know. Maybe I need multiple landing pages for the different kinds of people I talk to. Maybe all these things." So just when you're setting yourself online with your landing page, just keep it simple. You don't need multiple URLs, you don't need multiple landing pages, you don't need all this fancy software. Just keep it really simple with what you need. Send everyone to one spot and that's going to help make your life a lot easier and make sure that you are keeping the same conversation with everyone so that you don't have all these different communications. So the other thing, I guess one common question I get, is what if you are coming into this episode and you say, "Okay, well I already have a website," what do you do in that case? So again, you have two options. If you've already built out a full website, then I recommend if you are planning on doing paid ads or sending people to a page, then I would still build a separate landing page specific to that product. Because if you already have a website where you're selling three to four different products, if you send traffic to the website where it's not specifically talking about your product, you're actually going to lose a lot of people because they may not know where on your website to go to find out more product information about the new launch. Right? So you want to have again, one central spot and if you have a landing page, what we did with Foundr is we did something, I don't remember the exact URL, but it was something like foundrmag.com/kickstarter so even though foundrmag.com was a full digital publication and it was their main business, Nathan didn't want to muddle the message on that by advertising the whole Kickstarter project all over his main page. So we had a designated spot, a designated landing page that again, you can use Squarespace, Wix, or ClickFunnels to set up, and then you would just set up a subdomain or a separate page on your website where you direct all traffic to. Again, just keep the conversation simple. So that's another easy way that you can really just navigate and set yourself up online so that you don't have literally a hundred different things going on. Keep it simple. One landing page. I love ClickFunnels, but again, if you don't want to use that Squarespace or Wix is good. If you do want to test out the different software’s, see which one works for you. I highly recommend that. I have links to all three software’s that you can access by going to Khierstyn.com/lso4. So in the show notes, so you can go down to recommended resources and there will be links to the software’s that we talked about in here. And apart from that, my name is really impossible to spell, so it's K-H-I-E-R-S-T-Y-N. So again the link for that is Khierstyn.com/lso4 and apart from that, if you are working on building up your E-commerce brand or are looking to launch a product in the near future, let's talk, you can schedule a strategy consult with myself and my team by going to kiersten.com/schedule again, that's K-H-I-E-R-S-T-Y-N.com you're listening today, guys. We will see you next time.

There're steps to prepare you mind before you start learning techniques to help you change your life. Today, I use this short episode to tell you the steps you should take.

Another week, another great episode of the Get Automated Podcast. This week for Episode 52 your favorite automation guru Kelsey Bratcher goes deep with how to pick the best CRM for you. There're many different factors that go into choosing a CRM for your business and in this episode Kelsey condenses over a decade worth of knowledge just for you. So grab this week's episode to learn the secrets of selecting the proper CRM For your business

Dr Carolyn Lam:                Welcome to Circulation on the Run, your weekly podcast summary and backstage pass to the Journal and its editors. I'm Dr Carolyn Lam, associate editor from the National Heart Center in Duke National University of Singapore. Dr Greg Hundley:             And I'm Greg Hundley, also associate editor of Circulation and director of the Poly Heart Center at BCU Health in Richmond. Carolyn, we've got a really exciting interview to follow our coffee chat and it's evaluating individuals with low complexity congenital heart disease. We often think of those with high complexity congenital heart disease and looking at their cardiovascular events. We're going to hear a little bit about low complexity congenital heart disease.                                                 Now you've got a paper you wanted to talk about first. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Absolutely. You've got to hang on for that because I'm going to delve into chromatin architecture in heart failure, and it's in this paper from corresponding author Dr Foo from Genome Institute of Singapore.                                                 So, as background, the human genome actually folds in 3D to form thousands of chromatin loops within the nucleus encasing the genes and assists regulatory elements for accurate gene expression control. Now, these physical tethers of loops are anchored by the DNA binding protein CTCF, also known as the weaver of the genome and the cohesion ring complex. Now, the role of CTC in binding and changes in chromatin structure in heart failure are not well understood. Well, until today's paper.                                                 What the author said is they undertook an independent analysis of chromatin organization with mouse pressure overload model of myocardial stress or transverse aortic constriction, and a cardiomyocyte specific knockout of CTCF. So, interestingly, they found that the cardiac chromatin architectural in adult terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes was unchanged in pressure overload from transverse aortic constriction. Now this was completely unlike the CTCF knockout model where they verified that there was generation of vast genome-wide loss of genomic insulation and near complete abolition of the CTCF chromatin loops.                                                 Instead of chromatin rewiring on the scale of that knockout, the myocardial stress response appeared to proceed through enhancer H3K27 acetylation epigenetic changes and gene network co-regulation driven largely by fixed cardiac 3D chromatin architecture. In other words, a stable chromatin architecture really set the stage for accurate enhancer promoter interactions required for basal gene expression control and induction of the classical myocardial stress gene response. Dr Greg Hundley:             So Carolyn, are there therapeutic implications here for this? Dr Carolyn Lam:                Now of course, that was preclinical work, but it really opens the door to consider these epigenetic regulators that control disease expression changes and interacting gene sets in heart as potential future targets for novel heart failure therapy. Dr Greg Hundley:             Very interesting. So, I'm going to review and switch gears a little bit and focus on diabetic cardiomyopathy and mitochondria associated endoplasmic reticulin membranes. And this paper is from Shengnan Wu from the Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine at Georgia State University here in the US in Atlanta, Georgia. So as we all know, mitochondria are essential for cellular energy production, but when they're damaged, they become a major source of reactive oxygen species and pro-apoptotic factors. In particular, increasing evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction is a central event in diabetic cardiomyopathy.                                                 Well, the mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum are key players that regulate many cellular functions and their structural and functional interactions are essential for cellular homeostasis. The contact points, however, through which the endoplasmic reticulum communicates with mitochondria, they're known as mitochondria associated endoplasmic reticulum membranes, or MAMS. Importantly, MAMS play a pivotal role in calcium signaling, lipid transport, energy metabolism and cell survival, and they've been implicated in a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer's Disease, cancer, lysosomal storage diseases, diabetes, obesity induced mitochondrial dysfunction and other metabolic disorders.                                                 But the role of these MAMS in the initiation and progression of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy is really unknown. So now, FUNDC1 is a highly conserved protein that's exclusively localized to the mitochondria. And this group had previously demonstrated that FUNDC1 was essential for maintaining the structure of MAMS and ensuring appropriate calcium transfer from the endoplasmic reticulum to the mitochondria normal hearts. Moreover, cardiac specific deletion of FUNDC1 induced cardiac dysfunction by inhibiting MAM formation. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Interesting. So that was their prior work? What did the current study show? Dr Greg Hundley:             Right, so what the investigator showed in this study is that high glucose driven inactivation of AMP-activated protein kinase increased FUNDC1 stability, but resulted in aberrant MAM formation, impaired mitochondrial calcium increase, mitochondria dysfunction and then cardiac dysfunction. And additionally, AMP-K activation reverses Diabetic Cardiomyopathy by suppressing high glucose induced MAM formation, mitochondrial calcium increase and mitochondrial dysfunction.                                                 And interestingly, Metformin, an AMP-K activator, used exclusively for Type 2 Diabetes, might be effective in treating Diabetic Cardiomyopathy in individuals with Type 1 Diabetes. So a very interesting mechanistic study providing some information of how MAMS, mitochondrial function and endoplasmic reticulum could be important in understanding how to prevent Diabetic Cardiomyopathy. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Indeed. And you know, that last note that you made on Type 1 Diabetes, also links very well with the next paper that I chose. Which really asks the question, in Type 1 Diabetes, what are the relative prognostic importance and optimal levels of risk factors for mortality and cardiovascular outcomes? And this comes from Dr Rawshani and colleagues from the Swedish National Diabetes register who studied more than 32,600 patients with Type 1 Diabetes in their national observational cohort study from the Swedish National Diabetes register, with a mean follow-up of 10.4 years and a mean duration of diabetes of 17.9 years.                                                 They found that the most important predictors for outcomes were HP-A1C, albuminuria, duration of diabetes, systolic blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL cholesterol. Now, the lower levels of HP-A1C, systolic blood pressure and LDL cholesterol than contemporary target levels were associated with lower risk for outcomes. Albuminuria was associated with a two to four times greater risk of cardiovascular disease and death. And each millimole increase of LDL cholesterol was associated with 35 to 50% higher risk for outcomes. Dr Greg Hundley:             Boy, Carolyn, those are interesting results. So, what do we take away from this in clinical management of patients? Dr Carolyn Lam:                The take home message is that in patients with Type 1 Diabetes, the strongest predictors for mortality and cardiovascular disease, with the exception of age, were mostly conventional and modifiable cardio-metabolic risk factors. And this in turn suggests that increased clinical focus on these risk factors, particularly in primary prevention, may result in the largest relative risk reduction for mortality and cardiovascular disease, even in Type 1 Diabetes. So, future clinical trials may be designed to test these findings. Dr Greg Hundley:             Very good. Well, Carolyn, my next paper, I'm going to talk about five year outcomes after off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting in those over the age of 75 years. And this paper comes from Anno Diegeler from Bad Neustadt in Germany. From June of 2008 to September of 2011, they evaluated a total of 2,539 patients that were 75 years or older, who had been randomly assigned to undergo off-pump or on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting across 12 centers in Germany.                                                 And the primary outcome was all cause mortality at five years, and the secondary outcome included a composite of death, myocardial infarction and repeat revascularization. What did they show in this study? Well, after a median follow up of five years, the hazard ratio for off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting was 1.03, confidence interval 0.81 to 1.19, no difference. The composite outcome of death, myocardial infarction and repeat revascularization, the same. Hazard ratio 1.03, confidence interval 0.89 to 1.18, P-value 0.7.                                                 So, first take-home message, no difference if you had your surgery off-pump or on-pump, if you're over the age of 75. Now, another outcome related to incomplete revascularization. And what was striking I this study is whether you underwent on-pump or off-pump bypass, if you were incompletely revascularized, that was associated with both the primary as well as the secondary outcomes. So, in elderly patients, in summary, greater than or equal to 75 years, the five year survival rates as well as the combined outcome of death, MI and repeat revascularization, was similar for on-pump versus off-pump CABG. And incomplete revascularization was associated with a lower five year survival rate, irrespective of the type of surgery that was performed. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Interesting. Beautifully summarized, Greg. Thank you. Dr Greg Hundley:             Absolutely. And let's head on to that featured article.                                                 Well, welcome everyone to the second half of our program. We are very excited today to have Dr James Priest, from Stanford University School of Medicine. And also our associate editor Gerald Greil from University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine in Dallas. And we're going to be discussing the article, Substantial Cardiovascular Morbidity in Adults with Lower Complexity Cardiovascular Disease.                                                 So, James, first could you tell us a little bit about what constitutes low complexity congenital heart disease? And then a little bit about your study population, your design, and the results that you found with your study? Dr James Priest:                So, low complexity congenital heart disease really derives from definitions of congenital heart disease in adults that are grown up and have different complexity of lesions. And so high complexity congenital heart disease, you see things that, as people may remember, adult cardiologists may remember from their training. People remember from medical school, things like single ventricle disease, hypoplastic left heart, tetralogy of fallot, transposition of the great arteries. But, non-complex, so our low complexity disease, really constitutes a relatively simple malformation. Things like atrial septal defects, ventricular septal defects, patent ductus arteriosus. Things that are treatable with a single surgery.                                                 You close the hole, you ligate the vessels, you dilate the valve, and the patient is affectively cured. So relatively low complexity diseases that can be treated with typically, a single surgery or minimal interventions to restore completely, or essentially normal, cardiovascular physiology.                                                 So, the study was based upon a very large you know, volunteer data set, the UK Biobank. It comes from the United Kingdom where 500 thousand individuals enrolled, and from those individuals there is genetic information, medical histories dating back to the 1990s, self-reported history. A variety of functional and neuropsychiatric measures. And if you get a group of 500 thousand individuals from anywhere, there's going to be some congenital heart disease in there. And so, we looked to see what types of congenital heart disease were in there. And in fact, there was lower complexity individuals.                                                 And because I spent some time on the research side of things with my adult colleagues, the first thing we looked at were from the common adult cardiovascular outcomes, things people write about in Circulation all the time. Coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, heart failure. We know these things are problems in adults with complex cardiovascular disease, but nobody had really looked for the most part in adults with low complexity or non-complex disease. And we were surprised to see such high event rates for these common adult cardiovascular conditions. Dr Greg Hundley:             So, what type of events did you appreciate in the population in follow up? Dr James Priest:                So, we really appreciated about a two-fold rate of let's say, acute coronary syndrome relative to the general population. Up to almost 13 fold risk of atrial fibrillation and heart failure, relative to the general population. So, really substantial and very impactful event rates. Dr Greg Hundley:             Very good. And so, just a couple points of clarification. Do you think that the events you observed, were they related to the congenital heart disease, per se? Or could it have been a result from the surgical procedure to treat that heart disease? Dr James Priest:                So, that's a great question. I think, in some ways, that's the fundamental question that the paper leads to. So, we thought of it in two different ways. You know, one, were these events, and they're perioperative events, for individuals receiving some type of care for their congenital heart disease, during their adulthood? And we performed a sensitivity analysis where we basically looked at those events and then looked for events occurring within a year of adult interventions. And we saw no difference in those event rates. So, they weren't perioperative or postoperative events in adults receiving adult congenital heart disease care.                                                 The second part of the question is really more of an existential question in some ways. You know, is there some fundamental relationship between the care these people received as children? Or the genetic basis of congenital heart disease in the first place that is somehow put people at risk long term for adult cardiovascular disease, acquired adult cardiovascular disease? And I think there's indeed a lot of different ways to try and get at that question and explore that more, which we're currently working on. Dr Greg Hundley:             So, Gerald, I wanted to turn over to you now and, in your practice that encompasses those that are young adults that have this low complexity congenital heart disease, how do you manage them now? And how might the results of this study suggest, potentially, a different management strategy? Dr Gerald Greil:                 Usually these patients, they're kind of thought to be cured or only needed minimal follow up in the past. So, if you take a patient with a VSD, rarely during childhood, young adult or even kind of in 20s and 30s, you have any major difficulties. And as a pediatric cardiologist, you rarely experience any major follow up problems with these patients. I think, particularly in the US, and I work actually for more than 10 years in the UK, the problem in the US is how can you organize follow up in these patients?                                                 There're insurance issues, there're issues about moving into different areas, and since these patients were kind of labeled as being healthy and close to normal, they were lost for follow up, particularly in the US. I think this study raises some concerns, we should probably be more careful and cautious and follow these patients up kind of in a lifelong session. And take care of them. This is definitely something, which is a new finding, and what the cause is, how we are following up, that's the question. I guess it could be a good question for future studies. Dr Greg Hundley:             You mentioned future studies. Specifically, what type of future studies do you think we need to perform next? This shows us that the events are occurring, are we ready yet for randomized trials to perform prevention? Do we need studies that have more frequent observation? What are your thoughts there? And I'll get your answer and then we'll come back to James and get his thoughts on the same question. Dr Gerald Greil:                 Yeah, I think the major thing is we need close follow up of these patients. And it will be a combined effort between pediatric and specialized adult cardiologists, with a special interest in patients with congenital heart disease. Once again, coming back to it, a closer follow up is a little bit dependent on the medical system, which you have. If you take Canada and the UK, it may be easier in these patients are under close follow up. And this allows large multicenter studies, large data bases like UK Bio Bank are kind of exemplary. And we should try to get something similar within the US or in other countries.                                                 I think that's the lesson what we take from that, we need larger data bases, probably more granular than what we have right now. I mean, James probably can comment in a second about the shortcomings and what can be done better in the UK Bio Bank to allow more detailed conclusions than we have currently from his study. Dr Greg Hundley:             James? Dr James Priest:                I would agree with that. I think as a person who does not, clinically speaking, take care of adults with congenital heart disease, my colleagues and I, or I have the impression from my colleagues that for most of the time, in most of these patients in the Unites States adults who had VSD or ASD repair as a child, they were essentially said, oh, you're cured. And they perhaps had some follow up during childhood, but then were otherwise discharged to live the rest of their lives.                                                 And so, in many cases I'd say the first step before performing any studies is to simply identify who these patients are, and figure out you know, what their risk factors otherwise for cardiovascular disease might be. Now, that being said, I think that was one of the powerful things about the UK Bio Bank study is that there's a large population in which all these traditional cardiovascular risk factors you know, obesity, lipid levels, hypertension, smoking status, all these things were uniformly measured in both the individuals with congenital heart disease, the adults with congenital heart disease. And of course the control population.                                                 And so that allowed us to make some estimates about what proportion of disease was attributable to these traditional cardiovascular risk factors. And what was attributable to other factors related, potentially, to the congenital heart disease. But all those things being said, I think the first questions that I often to tend to receive about these studies from the pediatric cardiologists and the adult congenital heart disease doctors, reflects the sorts of data sets that we're used to looking at.                                                 Well, what sort of an intervention did this person have? Did they have a ventriculostomy? When did they receive their diagnosis and their repair? Details of the surgical care and the perioperative of course, are not available in this data set because it's not a particularly pediatric cardiology focused data set. It's a broad population based data set. And so the relationship specifically the details of their perioperative care and diagnosis are not able to be attained. And so we'll need larger data sets that include that information to fully start to develop those sorts of relationships over time. Dr Greg Hundley:             So, we want to thank our lead author, Dr James Priest from Stanford University School of Medicine, and our associate editor, Gerald Greil from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. And reviewing this very interesting article on lower complexity cardiovascular disease and its association with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. And thank you both so much for clarifying. It sounds like an opportunity to collect more data through registries, et cetera, that we may need to expand around the world.                                                 Thank you everyone for listening to Circulation on the Run. Remember that's your back stage pass to our journal. And we'll see you next week.  

Your business is either lagging or leading when it comes to technology. You can't be sitting around in the same gear that you're on because you will be pushed back into the past. You don't want that. You can't be scared of technology. The invention of the wheel, that was technology, the light bulb, that was technology and these are things that we all just take for granted nowadays. But if you don't stay on top of the technology, other cool things come out and they will take its place. So today we're going to be talking about why technology matters in business and how you can utilise that to make your business grow. Learn more about modern technology for business at dorksdelivered.com.au New Accounting Technology Will Help Your Business Whatever It Is Let's talk about your business. One of the most important parts of any business is accounting. You can't avoid it. So if you're from the 1970s and the 1980s and you actually had a legit general ledger, probably an abacus off to the side then you know what I'm talking about you. New technologies came out, such as MYOB and QuickBooks, that allowed you to do better than what you were doing before with accounting. Accounting tools have evolved even more and the latest iteration now is Zero. Zero is a wicked tool. It does some awesome stuff and automates to the next level. Zero is something that every business should be considering talking to your account about as Zero is being used across the board. Retail Businesses: Get a Square Card Reader I've gone into businesses that don't have credit card facilities still. The cost to head down to Officeworks and buy a square that allows you to take credit card transactions is very minimal, around $60 or $70 bucks. It doesn't cost you any money having it sit there, and you can actually take even PayWave. PayWave is a new technology that you could be implementing into your business. Transactions and the money you take will get back to you faster with PayWave. It means you're not having to walk off to the bank and give them carbon copies. That is so old school! Take Advantage of Technology and Capture Data Any business can use technology to its advantage. You could use it if you're a plumber to start quoting using your tablet. You could use it if you're in manufacturing for the quality assurance processes to visualise whatever it is that you've been creating in 3D and see if there's any missing bolts or parts. The best thing that you need to do in your business is looking at analytics and start capturing data if you aren't already doing so You need to be looking at how much time is being spent on certain tasks. We went into a business, and it was taking them two days to do payroll. We implemented a few thousand dollars worth of technology and the amount of time that it took down to two hours a week instead of two days a week. Take a Step Back and Look at Your Business Bring it back down to what it is that your business spends the most time on and what that costs you and then look at a way to automate that. If you're not sure, you get a consultant such as Business Efficiency Experts or Dorks Delivered and see what they have to say. There're other companies out there that can do this too. If you're getting an efficiency consultant, they will look at the way that you can integrate products to make sure there's no double-data entry.  Consider Application Planning Interfaces APIs or Application Programming Interfaces are changing around the way that you're doing business. It is amazing at the number of man hours that they can save and how they can breathe new life into your business. By integrating a few applications together, it can stop double-data entry. It will make sure that the integrity of the data doesn't have the human connection involved in it, so it's going to be quality information. Think Outside the Box With Marketing Get a website as a 24-hour advertising tool for you. Do something different with the way that you're marketing your business. Unless you are truly unique and original and the connection you create with your clients is so unique and original that they'll never forget you, for the right reasons, then you need to make sure you're staying front of mind. Sending out a newsletter is a great idea. If you don't have a sexy industry that has things changing all the time, you can still create a newsletter showing customer experiences, new installations or anything else that you think people might want to hear. You might be just sending out Merry Christmas or something like that and they go, "Oh, yeah, I remember working with them. That was cool." And you'll be surprised at how many people will start doing business with you again, just because they got this newsletter and then, "Hi, I remember working with you guys." Learn More About Modern Technology for Business! The Final Word Be different in business. Be in front of mind for your clients. Utilise technology to speed up your deliverables and to monitor your staff. That is the number one take-home here. Thank you and stay good.

COMMENT:So unless Rugby Australia receives "compelling mitigating factors," Israel Folau is gone.I wondered why it was taking them longer than about five minutes to sack him.Folau is a repeat offender and his latest social media outburst was beyond the pale.What was he thinking? Talk about not reading the room.Have we ever had a more heightened awareness of hate speech than right now? Have we ever learned more powerfully than the past month in this country about the dangers of hate speech?And yet, there's Israel Folau. His comments of course are unacceptable at any time don't get me wrong, but now? What was he thinking? Was he trying to get out of his rugby contract?What surprised me, almost as much as the comments themselves though, was the reaction of the 'Rugby Australia Integrity Unit'. As all of social and mainstream media blew up with this, they put out a statement saying they would "investigate the comments".What? It was a bullet pointed list of hate speech, how hard is that to 'investigate'? What's to investigate? The spelling?In times like this it's important to remember that while many of us might be able to dismiss these words as crazy, hateful or stupid and not give it the time of day - others cannot.What about young kids or members of the rainbow community who may look up to Israel Folau? What about those who already feel persecuted, or fragile, having this crap sprayed all over social media again? What about young rugby fans?And worse, what about those who agree with him and see this as stoking the fire? It's a reminder of the damage one voice can do.And in the name of what? Religion.So Christianity, which is supposed to be inclusive loving and accepting, is used as a weapon to exclude? I don't believe that's Christianity."Judge not that ye be not judged" - ring a bell?There're other players with religious beliefs, but they are smart enough not to use them like this. Israel Folau had a platform. He abused it.Not only is the Australian Rugby Union now looking at tearing up his contract, the NRL have said they won't touch him either.So what's he achieved?In preaching about all those he believes will go to hell, the only person going anywhere is Folau.At 30-years-old, with a multi-million dollar four-year contract in his hands, what's he got now?Well he'll argue his faith. I can only hope that pays the bills.

Understanding and defining your definite major purpose In life will enable you to live how you want to live. It is the ultimate goal that you wish to achieve in your life. Once you define your definite major purpose and make a plan your life will be much easier. But how do you do that? There're several steps to obtaining your ultimate goals and dreams in life and I have outlined a few of them here. Keep your thoughts on target with your goals and dreams and do not let others tamper with them at all. Stay on your defined path towards your goal and let no one derail you. ****************** Please tell me your story, tell me how positivity is impacting your life, or how you think it's just out of reach. What can I do to help? http://bepositivepodcast.com/contact-me/ Please check out http://bepositivepodcast.com for more information. Please leave a review and subscribe on iTunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/be-positive-stay-positive/id1351156701?mt=2 Get your Stay Positive apparel and accessories: https://teespring.com/stores/stay-positive-4 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6JgCXL1PAdWui1bvQdKD0Y Listen on TuneIn Radio: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Philosophy-Podcasts/Be-Positive-p1205533/?topicId=129375245 Also on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nat-barouch/stay-positive?refid=stpr

This time I have Tory Reiss, co-founder of the TrustToken Asset Tokenization Platform. Tory shares how their company was bootstrapped, raised capital from elite VCs and launched one of the biggest regulated stablecoins - the TrueUSD. Recently they also launched the TrueGBP. Tory and I talk about the ways in which you can use TrueUSD to easily transact internationally or to simply earn passive income with the interest-earning product of Nexo. Among many other things Tory also explains: How fiat-pegged stablecoins can replace traditional digital money; What sets TrueUSD apart from all other stablecoins; How to convert your USD into TUSD; What is the business model of TUSD; Why Tory sees MakerDAO and DAI as a partner instead of a competitor; How TUSD combats money laundering. This was a conversation that sparked me to think even more about the importance and stablecoins and how are accelerating the removal of existing financial borders. Tory's Contacts: https://www.trusttoken.com TrustToken - https://twitter.com/TrustToken Tory Reiss - https://twitter.com/theetory Evangelists who converted Tory into crypto: Satoshi Nakamoto and the Bitcoin White Paper Leaders Tory continues to learn from: Arjun Balaji, https://twitter.com/arjunblj “Cryptoassets The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond” by Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar Feel free to message me, George, on Twitter @borderlessBTC   Full Episode Transcript   (01:52) George Manolov: Tory, I'm happy to have you today on the show. For everybody else; Tory Reiss is the co-founder of the TrustToken Tokenization Platform, which has been renowned for launching one of the biggest USD-backed stablecoins. But before we dive deeper into TrueUSD and the Trust Tokenization Platform, can you share a little bit about yourself, your personal professional path and how did you end up in the crypto space working on one of the biggest USD-backed stablecoins?   (02:31) Tory Reiss: Absolutely. My background is a good example of that you don't have to stay in one area or define yourself too narrowly, because whatever you're really curious about, you can learn almost anything online. The Internet has made learning simple; you can be a lifelong learner. If you look at my path, I went to school in Chicago and, and my studies revolved around entrepreneurship, international studies, behavioral economics, and neuroscience. All these topics that really have nothing to do with finance whatsoever. I started my career in enterprise software. So, the first two companies I worked for were very focused on B2B enterprise software. The first being Microsoft, where I spent a good chunk of my early career. And the second being a startup in San Francisco called Lob that was also selling APIs to the Enterprise.   I caught the crypto bug towards the end of college when I first started buying Bitcoin. Obviously once you have bitcoin, you follow the industry news over time. I saw how it was evolving and I was really excited about it, but I didn't really make the move into the crypto space or working in it full time until I saw what happened with Ethereum. In a way, the world was changing in terms of gaining a global compute layer or a global database layer that we could work on from virtually any country. It represented a paradigm shift in computing that I thought was very exciting, and particularly as it relates to finance. I'd always had a fascination with personal finance and financial technology. So, this company ended up being the perfect intersection of all those interests. We started working on what is now TrustToken in 2017 and then in 2018, we launched TrueUSD.   (04:47) George Manolov: What was the thought process of starting a company that is to tokenize other assets? Did you first come up with; Hey, let's tokenize the US dollar? Walk me through that process of how did you come up with the idea.   (05:06) Tory Reiss: It's a great question. At that time, when we saw what was happening with Ethereum and the ICO boom of 2017, what became apparent when we took a step back was that there was a new financial system emerging on the Blockchain. We saw exchanges, OTC desks, new forms of derivatives and lending products. We saw it cropping up everywhere. So, we did this exercise where we looked at traditional markets and tried to think of parallels in what would change in this new paradigm. The first thing we observed when we looked at Nasdaq or other traditional exchanges is that the majority of the value represented on those exchanges are hard assets such as real estate, commodities, etc. So, following that chain of thought, we thought, if Ethereum was going to be running the world's most important computations and many of those relate to financial services, there's going to be a need for a way to legally and technically represent real world assets on the Blockchain.   And following that chain of logic, we thought what asset or what financial instrument which is the most well understood and widely adopted instrument in the world? And it was pretty clear at that time that it was the US dollar. We thought; this is going to be a great proof of concept, that if we can prove to the world this idea of representing a dollar on the Blockchain, then we could represent any asset. We saw it as a first step in just proving out the thesis that we could represent real world assets on the blockchain.   (07:06) George Manolov: Alright. In terms of company building, what was the process? Because I know that you have raised capital from some of the top investors in Silicon Valley. So, did you first launch some sort of MVP? Did you have something prepared or in the running? or was it straight raising capital and then building it?   (07:31) Tory Reiss: I think people should know that the reality of startups is way messier than they appear from the outside. This company started in a totally different space. We pivoted into Blockchain and it was very painful in the beginning. We didn't have many resources. Over a year ago, there was just five of us working away and we didn't really have a chance to have an MVP because as soon as our product would go live, it meant that basically anyone in the world could use it. So, we just put together all of the pieces, it was very much what I would call MacGyver, in the sense that we took a lot of toothpicks and bubble gum in the beginning, like a lot of manual processes and a lot of hard work behind the scenes to get our first version of TrueUSD out of the door.   With that being said, the most important things are security and compliance. So, even if there were lots of manual processes for us on the backend in terms of how we interact with the banks or how we interact with our users, we still had to make sure that we had world class security and world class bank-grade compliance. We couldn't skimp on those, which was very tough. That was our biggest investment area early on.   We started in the same way as most other startups; we were literally working out of the same house that we were living in. It was both office and where we lived. Once we had our product out of the door and we had traction, it then became a lot easier to raise capital. Today, we have thirty-one people, both here and in Asia, and a great office here in Selma. But it's not easy; you might be sleeping on a couch for a year or two before you actually get traction and have enough capital to move into your own space.   (09:57) George Manolov: But then it's totally worth it, because you start building something big and TrueUSD is already quite big. If I'm not mistaken, it's the second largest USD-backed stablecoin after the notorious Tether. So, can you share a little more about TrueUSD? You say it's the most obvious asset to tokenize, but why so? What are the needs that TrueUSD solves and how do people use it? What deficiencies does TrueUSD solve?   (10:41) Tory Reiss: That's another good question. At the time, we thought it was a great move because anyone anywhere in the world knows what a US dollar is, almost anywhere. I shouldn't say 100%, but most places in the world recognize and accept the US dollar. That was our logic at the time, that okay, if we tokenize that, then we don't have to explain what the token is, because it's essentially a dollar and people understand what a dollar is. What we only realized after, was that the product we created was far more useful than we originally imagined. The first use case for a USD-backed stablecoin was trading. Traders were using it because they could only trade crypto to crypto and they needed a stable store of value during volatile markets.   Now, in the grand scheme of things, that's just a tiny use case. And by tiny, it's still a multi-billion-dollar market today. It's still about $3 billion in market, but it's still relatively small. What we've learned over time is that, the market beyond trading and beyond crypto is massive, because what we've actually created is a new payment rail. What's very important is that we've helped increase the velocity of money, the velocity of capital, and we've offered an alternative way to move value that's outside of the control of the traditional banking system. Traditional banks, which have been the gatekeepers for time immemorial, have been able to charge whatever fees they want on FX which is conversion between multiple currencies. Or if you want to move money internationally, they pretty much set the terms. But with TrueUSD, if you want to send money to anyone, anywhere in the world, you can do so in a matter of seconds and pay about 2 cents on average, which is the transaction fee on Ethereum. In many ways, it’s really a very powerful tool, because capital can now be moved more efficiently. If you're a lender, you can raise money in the US and deploy it in Indonesia the same day, that's never been possible. Or if you're doing remittances. The applications are so broad across financial services that we're now thinking much more broadly about how this technology can be applied. We're also going to be adding many more currencies to our offerings. And we think that this is just the start, currency is just the start.   (13:40) George Manolov: That makes total sense. I've been thinking about the same thing, when a crypto equivalent of a currency, like a crypto US dollar, has so many advantages over the traditional US dollar.  As you said, you can send it very cheaply and very fast locally and internationally. In regards to that train of thought, and specifically since you're saying you're going to be tokenizing more of the currencies out there, do you think that, in the not so distant future, fiat currencies will be essentially some sort of stablecoins on the Blockchain?   (14:26) Tory Reiss: First off, one of the common confusions is when people say "the Blockchain". I think the reason why it's worth pointing that out is that, I think that there will be multiple blockchains, for better or for worse. J.P. Morgan, for example, has illustrated that their coin will be on a private blockchain. So, technically that's on, quote unquote, the Blockchain or a blockchain, but it's not a public blockchain. I do believe that public blockchains are better than private ones, because they solve a larger problem that J.P. Morgan's chain won't solve, which is the visibility of the data. Right now, it's actually an incredibly powerful thing to be able to have those transactions be public. The perfect version now is a public blockchain that allows some amount of privacy. So, for example, if we have a use case with Microsoft or with an SAP customer that relates to how their customers move money for receivables or payments to publishers, which are real use cases that are being explored right now, they want privacy for those transactions, but they're okay with it being public for scenarios that aren't related to their affairs.   I think that's where things like Zero-Knowledge Proofs such as zk-SNARKs can become really useful, because you can then have some transactions that are private and maybe only visible to let's say a company and its audit partner, like Ernst and Young, and then have the majority of other transactions between the general public remain on a public blockchain.   That way, we can all rely on a single chain, but use different technologies to adjust the level of privacy. And I think that's more of what the future looks like, rather than today where only a few people have access to that data and they typically can't be trusted. Unfortunately, that's what history has shown us.   (16:35) George Manolov: That is very interesting. Would people still have any motive or incentive to use traditional currencies? Or what would it become the standard for all currencies, especially when Ethereum introduces zero knowledge proofs?   (17:13) Tory Reiss: I guess I didn't answer the original question. I do think that it's inevitable that, if not Blockchain, a similar technology will be standardized. Most people don't realize that most cash today is already digital, and I think this is just improving upon it. The benefit of a blockchain is that it acts as a shared database; it's one of the few technologies that people can have faith in and use as a shared database. And for that reason, it might be the earliest adopted technology for digital cash. I do think that within this year or at least within the next few years, we will start to see sovereign nations issue their currency on a blockchain. I can't say if the whole world will go that direction, but I do believe that some governments are going to make that decision and I think it's going to happen.   (18:29) George Manolov: When it comes to the use cases of TrueUSD, like you said, you didn't understand when you initially started the size of TrueUSD when it comes to payments, do you have such data or knowledge that people are already using TrueUSD for remittances or for other purposes outside of trading? Or do you think that today the main use case for TrueUSD is still trading?   (19:04) Tory Reiss: The majority is still trading. However, we know for a fact that it's being used now for a number of other use cases. For example, we know that there are companies right now that are paying their employees payroll in TrueUSD, and it makes perfect sense why that would be, because more and more often it's common that a company is distributed, remote or has teams around the world and it's incredibly expensive for an employer to use traditional payroll providers to pay employees all around the world, especially if you're a smaller business.   Let's say you only have 50 or 100 employees; you don't have the resources of a multinational corporation to have bank accounts in every single country where you have employees. Paying in TrueUSD costs nothing, it's super easy and wherever they are, they will be able to convert that TrueUSD back to something that has a utility.   We're working on making sure that everyone can use their TrueUSD in whatever way they want, whether that's spending on products through a debit card, which we think is an obvious next step, investing, saving and earning interest, lending the money out and getting loans, we want all of those services to be available and already a lot of that is happening. Even if you look at Nexo which just launched a fantastic product where any user of TrueUSD can deposit their coins with their full liquidity and no lockup, but they earn six and a half percent interest, which blows away the Fed funds rate of two and a half percent that we have here in the United States.   This is a long way of saying that these use cases are already happening, whether it's individuals using it just to save and store money or send it, or it’s businesses paying employees or using it for remittances. We know because we've talked to our customers that these are happening, but what matters to us is that they might be early adopters. We need to figure out how to build software and make it easier for entire industries to adopt the technology. That hasn't happened yet, but that's what we're working towards.   (21:23) George Manolov: How does it work today? I mean, what if we have somebody who's now listening and realizes, Hey, I want to start paying my employees with TrueUSD because they're international, or maybe I want to convert some USD to TrueUSD and deposit it on Nexo to earn 6.5 instead of 2%. How can I get TrueUSD?   (21:50) Tory Reiss: That's a great question. Today, the easiest way to get TrueUSD is probably using our app, if you have US dollars. There are two main ways to get it today, and this is something that we're actually investing heavily in and we want to make it ten or a hundred times easier to get TrueUSD.   Today, if you go to app.trusttoken.com which is our secure web application, that's where you can take dollars and convert them into TrueUSD. You can purchase one for one, there're no fees. You simply send a wire, we have the easiest book purchase and redemption process in the industry, you verify your identity and then you can make a purchase or redeem and get your dollars out at one for one, that's with dollars.   If you're using crypto; right now, we're traded on almost a hundred exchanges. So, any number of our partners is good. We obviously have the most volume and liquidity in finance, but we work very closely with many other exchanges and are constantly adding new partners in that regard as well. So, depending on how you want to make the change, those tend to be the best ways.   Businesses tend to use OTC desks, and we work with about 15 different OTC desks, so we're supported almost everywhere. But we're working on expanding the ways you can get TrueUSD and make it even easier.   (23:23) George Manolov: And anyone can get TrueUSD, alright? I mean, whether you're obviously in the States or not. Do you have certain limitations or can anyone just use the app? What was the website?   (23:34) Tory Reiss: app.trusttoken.com   (23:36) George Manolov: Right. Anyone can go there and basically you wire funds from your bank account, right?   (23:43) Tory Reiss: That's right. So, it's anyone with a bank account anywhere in the world. You don't even necessarily have to have US dollars, you can send the money and have your bank convert it, and then use the app to buy TrueUSD. We'll be launching additional currencies and support for crypto and purchasing with other currencies. All of that is coming, it's all in the pipeline.   (24:12) George Manolov: With that in mind, it would be curious to learn more about how do you compare TrustToken to other stablecoins, because there is a ton of them right there. At some point, I thought they're growing like mushrooms, everyone is starting his own stablecoin. Seriously, sometimes I don't understand to be honest with myself, why so many people are involved in this space? There are big and small players, how do you compare the TrustToken to other fiat-backed stablecoins, and then obviously as well to algorithmic stablecoins?   (25:03) Tory Reiss: Algorithmic stablecoins, none of them have launched yet, but crypto-collateralized stablecoins, obviously the only player in the game today is Maker and Dai, which we think is awesome, we think it's a great project and a great team. We actually work with them very closely, they're adding multi-collateral support soon, and TrueUSD is going to be part of that bundle. So, there's actually a lot of collaboration there.   In terms of fiat-backed, we've been able to win the fiat-backed market, it's still very much a competition and we admire most of the competitors that are in the market today which run really fantastic businesses. We are the only independent stablecoin in the world; we're the only one that is not owned or controlled by an exchange. And that's allowed us to invest really heavily in the user experience, but to do sell in a different way than our competitors. I think this is why the market has been choosing us. What I mean is that we tend to invest heavily in whatever's going to be best for the user, not relating to us, we don't have a platform, so we don't have a dog in the fight.   We just want to make sure that they have the broadest range of services, wallets and exchanges. We're dedicated to maximizing the value that anyone holding TrueUSD can realize. Whereas many other tokens are trying to lock you into an ecosystem of their services, their exchange and things like that, because that's the only way that they make money. That's what's in their best interest. Whereas, everything we do is in our user's best interest. That's always what we're thinking of. So, that's really helped us differentiate so far.   (27:09) George Manolov: Got It. And here comes another question, how do you make money then?   (27:17) Tory Reiss: Great question. There're a couple of different ways by which we make money today. We do have a trading desk, and that's necessary when it comes to things like OTC trading or providing liquidity and things like that, that is one source.   We are also developing relationships with other platforms - Nexo is actually a great example. There're so many partners and so many companies that are putting together crypto investments all around the world. It's important to us, that we only work with the top 1%, the best companies that we believe in and that we can endorse. And when we do, we want to affiliate revenue. This is a similar model to that of Mint.com and a lot of traditional players like Credit Karma who refer you to credit card companies or lending companies and then they earn a percentage of the return. So, we're setting up similar relationships with the companies that we work with and we plan to generate some affiliate revenue.   Lastly, we make money on the float of the TrueUSD that we hold. We generate interest on the float. Those are the main methods today.   We tend to think it's better that we're transparent than many other companies whose ways of making money are a little bit unclear and they maybe don't want the public to know. We want to make sure that we're well aligned with all of our customers.   (28:59) George Manolov: I want to just get back to something that you mentioned earlier; you're actually thinking of exploring ways to cooperate with Dai. Intuitively, one would think that since Dai is a stable coin, they should be more of a competitor to you. So, could you talk to me a little about how do you see your relation to them?   (29:25) Tory Reiss: We see them more as both a partner and a valuable part of the ecosystem. They appeal to different consumers than we do and they also allow for different use cases than we do. We might be the better choice if you’re a Forex company, a business that's doing remittances or an individual who actually want to hold US dollars, but doesn't have access to traditional US banking or a traditional US bank account or you know.   However, if you're a consumer that likes the idea of holding a stable currency that's not tied to any government and that’s truly independent, similar to Bitcoin, but you want the stability, I think Maker is clearly the better choice in that regard. I look at myself as a consumer and I genuinely do use TrueUSD to generate returns on my dollars. But I actually also hold a balance of Dai, and there are certain instances where it makes sense to use it. So, we believe that two great projects are better for this space than one. That seems clear.   (30:49) George Manolov: One second, sorry I'm thinking out loud here, but the Dai is essentially pegged to the US dollar today, right? Or that’s what they are aiming for. I know they had this problem of the Dai sometimes being traded for less than one dollar. So, they are discussing how they can solve this. So, it's still a dollar today, right?   (31:20) Tory Reiss: That's right. The difference though is that it isn’t redeemable for the dollar. So, it might be pegged to the dollar, there are many currencies around the world that are pegged to the dollar, but that doesn't make them a dollar. The example I would give you is this; think like a CFO or a merchant, and if you need dollars to pay your suppliers and they only want to deal with dollars, you know it's not good enough to say, "Hey, I'll give you this instrument that is pegged to the dollar", they want to know it actually is a dollar. In the instance of TrueUSD, for all intents and purposes, it is a dollar like you have a legal claim on a dollar that is sitting in a bank account. There will always be one to one parity and we just launched a real time platform with the top 25 US accounting firms. This real-time dashboard shows you that every single TrueUSD is backed by one US dollar, one to one, and it shows that information in real time. So, you can go and look at the dashboard and see for yourself that you really are holding a US dollar.   (32:39) George Manolov: I guess you introduced this because of the concern of the people who were asking, do you guys actually have the dollars? As it has been the question with Tether for a very long time. Does somebody guarantee or audit this? How does this work?   (32:59) Tory Reiss: What I was just explaining is that. Previously, we had been posting PDFs of attestations, which is a form of an audit, performed by a third-party accounting partner where they would review the funds that we hold in all of the various escrow accounts or TrueUSD, and compare that to the number of tokens in circulation, and then they issue a report confirming that it was one to one. However, we recently - about less than 10 days ago - announced this new product and big innovation, which is that we are going to be launching a real-time dashboard, and it's built and managed by a third-party accounting firm that will show in real time that it’s one for one. So, instead of once a month seeing a report, you're going to actually see, minute to minute, that it's always one for one and you'll see it go up and go down as people purchase new tokens or redeem tokens for the underlying dollars, and you'll be able to see the reserves.   (34:09) George Manolov: Got It. That's pretty cool and I look forward to it. Another topic that I would be curious to learn more, and would love to hear your thoughts about is money laundering. The whole crypto space basically has to rebuke the reputation of being a place where mostly criminals and people with nefarious activities are operating, and that these are the guys who are working with crypto. So, what is TrueUSD doing to make sure that it’s not used for money laundering?   (34:58) Tory Reiss: Good question. The money laundering is something we take very seriously. We have a fantastic legal and compliance team, our head of compliance formally led compliance at Coinbase and she has been building a bank-grade, or to be totally honest with you, better than a bank-grade anti money laundering in KYC infrastructure and program. The reason we know it's better is because we work with a lot of banks and when we compare our programs, ours is actually more thorough than many of the banks we work with. Towards that end, we take our position very seriously in terms of that, the only way that someone can redeem TrueUSD, pull dollars out of the system or put dollars in, is if they pass our anti money laundering check.   That's the first thing you interact with when you're in our app; you have to pass that identity verification. And as part of that process, we're looking for the telltale signs of money laundering. So, they're doing things like looking at the source of funds, what they want to use it for, the history of the company, who owns it and things like that. They're looking for any red flags and comparing against all of the national databases to ensure that we are maintaining a high standard. That is a big part of our program, but we're also working on some pretty revolutionary technology that's going to be doing a bit more of on-chain analytics to help identify money launderers that way.   We're looking at both and we think that, that's really what the future looks like; using both traditional methods and on-chain methods to prevent money laundering. Because no one wants funds being used by terrorists to carry out attacks, or funds being used by criminal organizations. So, we take that very seriously.   (37:09) George Manolov: I would actually be very excited and very curious to learn more about this technology that you are working on, because it really can be an overplayed issue, because there's been numerous reports of such vast amounts of money which has been laundered through the traditional banking system compared to the whole crypto market cap, that is just astounding. And I'm sure with what you said about the transparency, the publicity and the trackability of public blockchains, that over time such technologies will eventually be built, which will significantly decrease or make it even impossible for money laundering to happen at all.   (38:08) Tory Reiss: I actually agree with you completely. I laugh when people tend to ask about, "Oh well, crypto is synonymous with money laundering", and the reason I find it funny is because people don't realize how much money laundering is happening in the traditional banking system, and a lot of it is even perpetrated or involves many of the banks that are supposed to be preventing it.   When it comes to something like TrueUSD or a US dollar-backed stablecoin, the technology that's available is far superior for preventing criminals from using it. I actually think if I were a criminal, I would maybe look at using something like Monero or other similar coins. By the way, not to call out any of the privacy coins, because I think that's actually a very valuable service to society. But it's very different than something like TrueUSD. I think you'd be foolish to use TrueUSD or a similar fiat-backed stablecoin for money laundering, because your transactions are public and forever available to law enforcement, it would be a little bit silly. And we would cooperate with the appropriate authorities in case of an investigation, if it's within our jurisdiction, obviously. If a US law enforcement came to us, we would cooperate and we don't want our users to be thinking otherwise. We have their best interests in mind so we want to make sure that criminals, terrorists, etc. aren't able to use our technology towards their game.   (40:07) George Manolov: That makes total sense. I'm looking at your website right now as we're speaking and I see that you’re planning, or your vision is to eventually be able to tokenize all kinds of different assets. From the traditional ones, such as currencies like you currently have the euro here, you also have gold and silver commodities.   But you also have securities essentially; small businesses, stocks, bonds, and even crazy stuff such as movies, books, TV shows, music and patents. Can you share a bit on that?   (40:58) Tory Reiss: Sure. The way we think of it is; a part of our responsibility is to evangelize the possibilities and the potential futures that are available when it comes to tokenization, which is really just another word that represents securitization, it's just securitization that is done on a blockchain.   We obviously list all these different news cases and these assets, but we'd come to believe more and more that this market is going to start with small niche markets that are currently not being well served by the public equities and public markets and that ecosystem. I can name a few examples, but we think it all starts with these small niches and then build from there. I don't think that the consumers necessarily care that it's a security token or it's a stock, quote unquote, because all that really matters to them is that they're able to access the investments that they want. I think eventually if the technology is adopted, which I believe it will be by companies like Nasdaq and ICE, or the New York Stock Exchange, etc. The difference will be that anywhere in the world when people are attempting to make these investments, it's just going to be more affordable, faster, and there might even be portability, where they can carry their investments with them and they're not stuck with one exchange or another. I think that the future is exciting from a technologist standpoint and from a financial more democratization standpoint, in the sense that it'll be available to more people. But I don't think people need to know what technology is running on the backend. Our job is to make it so seamless that people don't even think about the technology behind it.   (43:15) George Manolov: I imagine you will be working on commodities and currencies, or just currencies?   (43:29) Tory Reiss: In the short term, we are very focused on currencies and potentially commodities. In the mid to long term, it's going to shift towards securities, that infrastructure is being built out as we speak, but I think it could be a number of years before it reaches mainstream adoption.   (44:00) George Manolov: I Just want to take a quick break here from Tori and let you know that since this episode was recorded a couple of weeks back, the Trust Tokenization Platform has already released their second stablecoin, which is a TrueGBP, essentially bringing the British Sterling Pounds onto the blockchain as a stablecoin. This is the first ever project to bring the British Pound on the blockchain. So, if interested, definitely go and check this out on Google or on trusttoken.com   (44:36) Back to the interview: With that in mind, I want to come to a few final questions that I have. In this talk, I love paying tribute to people who inspired our guests to enter the Crypto Space, to become excited about Bitcoin and Blockchain. So in that sense, is there any particular person, content creator or any particular thing that you read, which made you excited about crypto, blockchain space, and Bitcoin?   (45:12) Tory Reiss: It might sound cliché at this point, but for me it was also Satoshi Nakamoto and the Bitcoin White Paper, which I randomly stumbled upon in college after somebody tweeted about it. It’s a masterpiece in terms of being a viral idea and viral concept that managed to transmit itself across millions of people, and I was one of these people. That really kicked off my journey.   (45:51) George Manolov: The second question here is, who's the one person or a couple of people, that you follow today, that you read, listen, watch, or keep learning from, until this very day, people that you respect and that myself and our audience can learn from as well?   (46:14) Tory Reiss: I'd highly recommend following Arjun Balaji; he's one of the best writers in the space and I think he does a great job in the sense that he shows both sides of many issues and his predictions are always really fascinating to follow. I also follow people in other spaces, but if you are just getting exposed to this space now, one of my favorite books to recommend to people is "Cryptoassets; The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond", and that's by Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar. I love that book. For someone that is maybe an expert in the space, you might not learn a lot, but it does offer the perspective of an investor's lens for the space. And for those that are just getting started, I think it's one of the best introductions to the space.   (47:13) George Manolov: I Haven't had the time to check it out, so I'll definitely do. I'm sure some of our listeners will. One more question I have here is, does a company or a crypto project come to mind which you want to succeed, because if it becomes successful it will have a positive impact on what you're doing at the Trust platform?   (47:46) Tory Reiss: I mentioned them earlier, but I do think that Maker is one of those projects that has a huge impact and can have a huge influence on the security token space. Because if you think about it, any security token that we create can potentially be used as part of the multi-collateral for the new Dai.   So, almost anyone can get leverage on their assets, which is a big deal. If you have a token that represents equity in your home, you can pull capital out using multi-collateral Dai. Not every country has access to home equity lines of credit or things like that. So, I think that's a very powerful innovation and I think that'll unlock a lot of value across hard assets once they're represented in a token form.   (48:37) George Manolov: Finally, where can people learn more about you and about the Trust Tokenization Platform? Where can they follow you?   (48:52) Tory Reiss: I'd love for you to check out trusttoken.com, we'd love to hear your thoughts. If you want to buy TrueUSD, it's app.trusttoken.com. For me personally, you can find me on Twitter. I'm not super active but I am responsive and that's “@Theetory”, feel free to shoot me a DM or a chat anytime. That's the best way to get in touch.   (49:26) George Manolov: Awesome, Tory! Thanks again for your time. It was an exciting talk. There are definitely some valuable insights here. I look forward to seeing further developments in the Trust Tokenization Platform and maybe we can do this again after some time. (49:45) Tory Reiss: Yeah, I would love it.

Welcome back! This week, #OperationHanksify continues with the 1986 classic: THE MONEY PIT! This is pretty choice Hanks Pratfall territory. Besides, home renovation shows are a staple of family entertainment in our household. And it's a really fun metaphor for working through relationship problems. There're about, oh, say two weeks of conversation topics here.    Follow the Podcast @BaCEAPodcast on Twitter. Don’t forget to leave a review or comment. And as always, thank you for listening. Let us know, what did your kids think of this one? Bill & Claire's Excellent Adventures is an In The Mouth of Dorkness production. Follow them @ITMODcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Today we're talking about your online business representation. Your online representation is so important because this is what new customers will look at before deciding to use your products or services. First impressions really do count in business, so let's take a look at how you can monitor your online representation. Reviews So there're lots of different places that people can leave reviews. I would suggest you go out there and find any industry-specific review sites and then add them to your watch list so that you can see what people are saying about you on these different review sites. Be right on top of it and get ready to send them a review back. There're different sites that you can use or things called RSS feeds. They'll let you set up alerts for different keywords that go out about you. We use a product called Sendible that lets us monitor a whole bunch of different websites and keywords around the internet. Google Reviews What we're going to be talking about is Google Reviews to start off with. Check out your reviews, make sure that you're getting alerted when your reviews are going up. That's important. You want to make sure that you're getting any industry reviews that are going up about you coming to your inbox because if there is a problem, you need to jump on top of it. If you want to make sure that customers are happy, make them happy, talk to them and make sure that you're leaving great reviews for them and in responses to their reviews. Set up Google Alerts to make sure that you're getting this input so you know what you're doing. Social Media Sites The next thing is the social sites. If you're not updating your Facebook page and you're not creating a community around it, there's no point. It just looks stupid. Don't do it. Just stay away from it. People know what Facebook is. You don't need to be advertising that anymore. There're no more than 2 billion accounts created on Facebook. There's no need to be advertising it. If you have a Facebook page or a Twitter page or a Pinterest page or an Instagram page or any of these other technologies, make sure you're updating it. Update it regularly. Update it once a week, once a month depending on the industry you're in. Show customers comments and feedback. If you don't update it, delete it. Pull the sticker off, get new business cards, delete the page. It's not good for your online brand and online representation. You want to make sure that you are doing what you're meant to be doing on these sites and that is keeping your customers engaged and creating an environment for growth. Don't have the growth mould. You won't get happy people leaving comments on Facebook. You'll get sad people leaving comments on Facebook unless you create an environment to have happy people leave comments. Have a Think About This There's a book that I've read from a guy called Ryan McDonald-Smith called Flawsome and it's a great book about embracing your flaws. You can't always be the best person you can be for every single customer. It's just not how it works unless you're operating a business that's selling just one item that is absolutely amazing there still could be a customer who's not going to be happy with you. They might be having a bad day. You might be having a bad day. If the system was perfect, it'd be perfect but it's not, so embrace the flaws. If someone comes to you with a review on a site, you can then just try and keep your finger on the pulse, but spin it, help them out, have them change the review if you are able to genuinely help them out. The Final Word So in closing, we use Sendible and we find that is a fantastic tool for keeping track of things like page updates, as well as Google Alerts to different industry words that we might be involved in. They are the two tools that I would suggest you use heavily to find out what's happening in your business and ditch all the sites that you don't need to be on. There's no advantage. I hope this has been helpful, stay good!

HubSpot has experienced incredible growth since its founding in 2005, but in the last year, the company's marketing team has broken the company's website traffic growth records with a new strategy.  This week onThe Inbound Success Podcast, I spoke with HubSpot VP of Marketing Kieran Flanagan about the company's "hearts and minds strategy," and how it has driven 80% year over year traffic growth (and a commensurate increase in new leads).  The results that Kieran and his team have gotten are so strong that they have inspired a change in the way the company's editorial team is structured, and a new approach to how they carry out keyword research, develop editorial calendars, and measure their results. Some highlights from my conversation with Kieran include: HubSpot is targeting marketers and business leaders and its new strategy does this by appealing to their hearts and minds. All of the company's editorial content is segmented into those two categories - hearts and minds. Content for the mind is more tactical in nature and targeted at attracting existing search volume for a particular keyword. Content for the heart is more emotional and meant to tap into a pain point that their audience is experiencing and wants to solve for. Because there is not necessarily existing search volume for the "hearts" content (as there is with the "minds" content), HubSpot has an aggressive content promotion strategy for the hearts content. They started by rolling this strategy out on the company's english language web properties, and it has been so successful that they are now expanding it onto their non-english language sites. For the minds content, because it is targeted at existing search volume, HubSpot is using a pillar content and topic cluster strategy to establish authority for its target keywords with search engines. It is relatively straightforward to identify topics for the "minds" content using tools such as Google Adwords, Ahrefs, etc. For the "hearts" content, HubSpot relies upon customer research and interviews to understand the questions they are asking and the pain points they are experiencing. Kieran believes that when it comes to hearts content, brands must choose a side and be prepared to attract some audiences, and repel others.  Even in a B2B sale, you are selling to individual people, so it's important to appeal to things that matter to the individual, and be problem-focused before you are solution-focused, with your content. When it comes to content promotion, it is very important for any company (large or small) to have a strategy for getting back links. There are a variety of ways to do this and Kieran talks specifically about the "surround sound" strategy and the broken link strategy. If you are doing marketing for a smaller company with a lower domain authority, it is more important to produce less content that you heavily promote than to create more content that you don't promote at all. For the minds content, you should focus on keywords that have a high "search click volume" as opposed to simply high search volume. Kieran's hearts and minds strategy has resulted in 80% year over year website traffic growth for HubSpot. Resources from this episode: Save 10% off the price of tickets to IMPACT Live with promo code "SUCCESS" Visit Kieran's website Connect with Keiran on LinkedIn Follow Kieran on Twitter Listen to The Growth TL;DR podcast with Kieran Flanagan and Scott Tousley Listen to the podcast to learn how Kieran's "hearts and minds" strategy for content creation has broken all of HubSpot's traffic records. Transcript Kathleen Booth (Host):Welcome back to the Inbound Success Podcast. I'm your host Kathleen Booth, and this week my guest is Kieran Flanagan, who is the VP of Marketing at HubSpot, and the host of The Growth TL;DR podcast. Welcome, Kieran. Kieran Flanagan (Guest): Thanks for having me, Kathleen. I appreciate you having me on. Kieran and Kathleen recording this episode Kathleen: Yeah. I'm interested to pick your brain. I always love talking to people from HubSpot because, obviously, you guys are at the forefront of the inbound marketing movement, and so rarely do most people get the opportunity to get a peek inside the kimono and find out what's really happening with the company. I'm excited to do that here today, but before we jump in, if you could tell my audience a little bit more about yourself and just a little bit about what you do at HubSpot. That would be great. About Kieran Flanagan and HubSpot Kieran: Yeah. Absolutely. I've really had three roles during my time at HubSpot. Pre-HubSpot, I worked for other SaaS companies. Then, I was lucky enough to join HubSpot when we opened up our first office outside of Cambridge, way back when I think the company was maybe 300 people. There was a small group of us who were tasked with growing out the international business. I did that for two and a half years. That business grew quite quickly. Then, I joined another small group of people that were in HubSpot that had the mission of growing a Freemium business - so like a go to market, where you could try our software for free, then you could upgrade as you needed to get more functionality. That went really well, and I did that for, I think, another two and a half years. Then, HubSpot really just adopted Freemium across the entire go to market. Today what I do in HubSpot is manage all of the different teams that are responsible for our global demand, and that demand is a mix of leads. We generate leads, turn them into marketing qualified leads, and send them across to sales people, turn into opportunities and customers. Then, we generate users who use our products for free, then can upgrade through either reaching out and talking to a sales person or actually upgrading themselves and buying the products themselves. Kathleen: You are based in Ireland, correct? Kieran: Yes. That's another interesting thing about my work in that I'm based in Ireland. I have a team of about 50 people. Four of them are based in Dublin with me, and everyone else is based in the States. I have gotten very used to remote working and appearing as a box on Zoom to everyone else. Kathleen: I always tell people that I live my life on Zoom and that soon my headphones are going to grow and become a permanent part of my body, because it's the same for me. I work out of my house, and I'm on Zoom basically 24/7. Kieran: Right. I usually check every single moment of every single day, and I've still got my AirPods in. I'm never sure if I've taken them out or not. Kathleen: Yeah, I feel like Zoom needs to sponsor my podcasts because we talk about it so much on here, about how we live our lives on video. It's great. It's the greatest thing. I honestly couldn't do my job without it. I imagine it's similar for you with people scattered all over. Kieran: Yeah, I'm very passionate about remote work. I believe that it's good for, not only companies, but just good for the world. It's a really great way to redistribute wealth across the different cities, not just all within a small group of cities that just become overly expensive. Kathleen: Yeah, it also - to me, I used to own an agency. I transitioned halfway through my tenure as an agency owner from hiring everyone locally to hiring folks remotely. For me, the greatest impetus behind that was really just to find the best person for the role no matter where they happened to be. Boy, what a difference that made to my company. It all of a sudden opened up this world of possibilities that was pretty amazing. Kieran: Yeah, it's actually the exact same for me. Obviously remote worked, it was just a good thing for me because I took a role that would generally be based in Boston, to take over a bunch of U.S.-based teams. I was allowed to do it because HubSpot allowed me to do it remotely, which was really good of them. They've done a lot to make remote work within HubSpot. The other benefit was because I was remote, I really didn't mind where I hired people. It's definitely been one of the best levers to both hire and retain talent into my teams, and having that flexibility and allowing people to work where they want to work within reason. We do have some guardrails, but generally we've gotten pretty good at it over the last couple of years. Kathleen: That's great. You said you manage all the teams that are responsible for this growth. I think you mentioned there are 50 people, is that right, that you manage? Kieran: Yeah, it's about 50 people spread across different offices that are regularly charged with growing the global demand of HubSpot. Kathleen: Wow, that is a lot to wrap one's head around. How Kieran's Blogging Strategy Broke HubSpot's Traffic Records Kathleen: One of the reasons I was excited to talk to you is that I was reading that in the last eight months you guys have broken HubSpot's traffic records, which is really impressive because for anyone who's familiar with HubSpot, this is a company that has had astronomical growth, both as a company in terms of its user base, but also in terms of its traffic. I often think - you intuitively think - that gets harder as time goes on because you've already made those big early gains. You've identified all the low hanging fruit. I'm very interested to hear how at this stage in HubSpot's evolution you guys are still able to break those kinds of records. What is it that lies behind that success? Kieran: You are definitely right in that it's definitely harder because you're generally doing everything so there's not this un-hidden channel that you have not tapped into. You're tasked with "How do I get better at the things that I'm already doing? How do I get better within these existing channels?" Or, "How do I layer on new channels for growth?" We do that. We're in a fortunate position where we can have teams who are focused on long term bets. We have a couple of those in the works at the moment. Really the thing that's been very successful for us over the last year is not only that the teams do get better - and they do get better just by the fact that they're super smart - but they also hire other smart people into the teams who bring you fresh ideas. We've got to grips for our content in terms of segmenting it into what our CMO, Kipp, calls the hearts and minds of individuals. How do you win the hearts and minds of business leaders? That approach to content marketing means you think about "How do I create tactical content?" If you think about when you start a blog, or a company starts a blog, they generally think how do I make this blog really appealing to people? How can I get this blog known by a wider audience? One of the things you can challenge yourself on is, does that actually matter? Does that really matter if you are trying to win the minds of business leaders through this tactical content? Content that does that is really created with promotion in mind, and generally through search. What we do is we have our content team segmented into a team that are trying to win the minds of business leaders. We're thinking through "How do I create a huge editorial calendar based upon all the things we could create across the things that our audiences are actually searching for?" We're not just creating content in the hopes that we can drive traffic demand to HubSpot. We actually think promotion first. There's actually existing demand for this content, and we create that content with that demand in mind. Then, there's also obviously how do you win the hearts of your audience? That's still super important, but that content is more focused on how do you facilitate emotion within people or how do you cause emotion with people? How do you make people feel something about your brand? How do you get people to connect with your mission? It's harder to directly measure the success of that content through the traditional things, like has it drove the lead, has it drove the user, has it drove our sale? Generally that's worked really, really well for us over the last year. We've seen a lot of success in doing that. We're just in the middle of replicating that strategy in all of our non-English territories. Kathleen: Oh, that's so interesting. I have so many questions. In my head I want to separate this conversation into minds and hearts- Kieran: Yes. Kathleen: ... Because it sounds like those are two different approaches, or two different prongs within the one approach. Kieran: Yes. Kathleen: Let's start with minds because if I'm understanding you correctly, it sounds like what you have done is said "Instead of trying to focus on bigger think pieces, or esoteric topics, let's get really granular and figure out what the audience is already searching for and let's scratch that itch, and tap into that pain." Is that correct? Kieran: Yeah, exactly. We do both of those things again, because we are very fortunate that we have the resources to have teams for both those things. I think there are companies of certain sizes that probably need to consider which one of those is the most important one for them to invest in. Yet, the minds team is really focused on "How do we create a whole editorial calendar?" We have this huge editorial calendar broken into all kinds of scientific metrics and ways to figure out the things you create content on. But, it's really focused on content that attracts traffic through search engines. Not trying to figure out how does this cause someone to feel a certain way that they want to share on social. How do you read this post and then you remember the blog. We're less concerned about that. It's more of a "Hey, I come in, I want this thing, I found this thing," then there's further information if you want to download that, or there're other ways you can explore more of the HubSpot ecosystem. It's really tactical content created with promotion in mind, and we create it with search in mind. For other companies it may be a different platform that they create that content in mind for that's applicable to however they promote their company. Kathleen: I feel like this sounds to me like the "Field of Dreams" approach. "If you build it, they will come." Kieran: Yeah, it's definitely "If you build it, and you have a really great promotion planned." Again, there're different phases of how this would work for a company. HubSpot is a company that has a lot of domain authority, so generally when we created content about something we do a little bit of promotion on that content, it ranks quite quickly. If I'm in a more early stage company, what I probably want to do is have a plan where I create, within the minds of whoever my audience is, content and I spend a lot more time on promotion than we would probably need to because I'm trying to build up the domain authority of my website. That promotion could be acquiring the links for it, and all these different ways that you can attract attention to it. Kathleen: Let's break this down even further. You mentioned that you guys have this big editorial calendar. You're really trying to map out what are the topics that these business leaders you're targeting are already searching for, and what's going to be really useful for them. Can you speak to that process and any kind of either strategies or tools that you use to surface those topics? Kieran: One of the things we use is the cluster and topic strategy. We think about what is the topic that this business leader is interested in learning more information about, because they're actively searching for it. Let's take the example of content marketing. Content marketing is a topic, it's an all encompassing topic that has many sub-topics. We will look at content marketing and break that down into the many sub-topics that people are searching for. Maybe people are searching for how do I build a content market and process, how do I create a winning content marketing strategy, how do I measure content marketing, how do I turn content marketing into customers? There's all of these different sub-topics that are related to that topic. We take one topic and break it down into all the things we could create content around. At the centerpiece we would create a piece of content on that core topic. Maybe it's the definitive guide on content marketing. Then, we would create all of this other micro content that's applicable to all of the different things that people are searching for given the examples that I've just gone through. We would interlink all that content. Basically, think about it as a hub and spoke strategy where you have the central piece at the heart of that, and you have all the many pieces around, and they are all interlinked. Generally if you do that, what you're helping Google to do is understand that you are an authority on this topic. You've not just got one or two pieces of content - you have deeply covered that topic. You have many different pieces of content that are relevant and helpful to the user. We do that by looking for those topics, looking for all the different keywords that are related to that topic, aggregating those up, deciding on the content we can create, listing out page titles, meta descriptions - all of the information that you actually need - and then prioritizing based upon the available search traffic for each topic. We also look at things like how relevant is it to our business. We have guardrails in place that it needs to drive traffic, plus it needs to drive the user or lead because again, remember, this is a topic that's tactical within the minds you should expect a conversion. Kathleen: Got it, okay. It has to be relevant to the business. It has to have a sufficient volume of search traffic. Kieran: Yes. Kathleen: I assume that the volume of search traffic, there's not one magic number that every company needs to look for? Is it relative to your company and the slice of market you're going after? Is there a magic number? Kieran: No, it's definitely relevant to the company. A topic that has 5,000 total visits available search traffic when you aggregate all this up, may be a lot for a company in a niche market. If you're a company in a broad market, maybe that's not that much at all. It's definitely specific to whatever company you are, and the product you have, and the amount of all the search traffic you can acquire. The number for HubSpot is probably very different from other companies. Kathleen: Got it. You have these really tactical, practical topics. Then, you have the ones that are meant to appeal more to the heart. This is the one that I think is so interesting to me because I feel like a lot of marketers who listen to this podcast, for a lot of them, the concept of finding these topic clusters, going for things of high traffic, being really practical, that's going to feel very familiar. It's much of what we're taught. That's the whole Marcus Sheridan, "They ask, you answer" paradigm. But, I find, funny enough, many marketers, especially content marketers are really bad at the heart side of things. I'm interested to hear how your team is approaching that. Kieran: The heart is slightly more difficult to actually pinpoint the content that's going to strike or resonate with your audience because the research piece is harder. The minds can be more mechanical because you can physically see that there's people interested in this, whereas the hearts are "How do I create things that help people feel some way about my company?" We actually have a similar setup in terms of how the mind and heart are set up in that we have an editorial team that creates a calendar based upon content that they want to connect to our mission, our products. The thing that differs is actually their research process. The research process has a lot more talking to people, talking to customers, talking to prospects, talking to other teams within HubSpot, figuring out what actually resonates with those people. Then, the way that you figure out what's going to work is actually trial and error. You create content, you see that it resonates with people, and you tweak it over time. The way they differentiate it is the mind has more tools that you can pull in relevant information from. I'm sure your audience knows, search traffic, all these different things. Whereas, the heart, you're spending a lot more time actually talking to people, doing what you would do if you were building a product, a lot of customer research, a lot of insights from other teams within the company. Kathleen: Is is fair to say that the heart strategy is more about pain that the customer is feeling? Kieran: Yeah, exactly. It's more about the emotion you want that person to have about your company. A good example of this, back in the day for HubSpot, what actually drew me to HubSpot before I worked there was Brian did a piece that was really a call to arms for marketers about why outbound marketing was not the best way to spend your time, why there's this better way of doing marketing. That's the piece that's more your heart. There's not people searching for inbound marketing back there and there wasn't people searching why they shouldn't do outbound marketing. That creates a tribe of people who feel that way about outbound marketing and then feel they need to actually make a change and do something else. Kathleen: Is it about taking a position or taking a stance? Is that part of the heart strategy? Kieran: Yeah, I think one of the most important things to do as a brand is choose a side. I think you should always have a clear enemy in terms of - a clear enemy is really what problem your product sells. "One of the most important things to do as a brand is choose a side" ~ Kieran Flanagan (@searchbrat) Click to tweet this quote Be very clear about that and know that means that you're going to have both people who are attracted to your company and people who are detractors from the company. That is way better than actually being vanilla and just having people who don't care much about your company. Kathleen: Interesting. For somebody who's listening, if they're thinking about this in the context of their own company, particularly with the heart strategy, any tips on how to get started on this and how to begin to identify those topics that you might want to cover? Kieran: On the heart side? Kathleen: Yeah. Kieran: Yeah, I think the most important thing marketers can do that they probably don't do enough of is talk to their customers. I've worked a lot with product and engineering because previous to the role I've done at HubSpot, I was in what we call a growth role. A growth role is basically a collection of marketers, product and engineers who are tasked with creating onboarding and all these different things to help people better use a product, and to upgrade to paid versions of your product. The thing I took away from working with product is they are so focused on the problem, so focused on stating the problem clearly before they ever jump to a solution. They are really obsessed about "Do we truly understand the problem?" The way they get there is through a lot of really great research and talking to customers. That's the thing, I don't know if for yourself, but definitely the way I used to work is I would always think about the solution. I would think a little bit about the problem and then I would think about ten solutions because marketers are generally creative. They're always on, looking to try to sell things. I think on the heart content, I would be super focused on the problem and being able to articulate the problem, and then trying to figure out what would resonate. What are the points within that problem that really resonate with a customer? They're, “Oh, yeah, I feel that way about this. I feel that way about that.” Then, you can better understand how to create content that shows them that you have solutions to this thing and that you have a certain position on this thing that you believe in. Kathleen: It's really interesting that you put it that way. I've now done close to 80 different interviews through this podcast. I've been trying to think about some of the themes that have emerged. People that are having a lot of success with inbound, what do they have in common? One of the common themes I've noticed is that they are more persona ... I don't even want to use the word persona. They are more problem-focused than they are solution-focused. What I mean by that is that the marketers who build campaigns and messaging around their products and services don't tend to do as well as the marketers who deeply tap into the person that they are trying to sell to. Sometimes it means creating content that actually has nothing to do with their products and services. What I've noticed is that particularly at the top of the funnel, in non-marketing speak, the best way to open the conversation is not always to talk about what you have to sell. It's to talk about something that that person is feeling that they want to solve for, that may have nothing to do with what you do, but you've opened the conversation. I'm interested to know with the hearts content that you're creating for HubSpot, does it always have some link back to the product, or is it really just purely problem-focused? Does that make sense as a question? Kieran: No, it definitely makes sense because people are not looking for products and services. They're looking for solutions to problems that make their life better. They're looking for a certain job that they want done and when they visualize themselves doing that thing, it makes their life better in some way. I think there's a balance because we've always tried to figure out this balance. There was a time when you talked to a lot of people about what HubSpot was and not many people knew we actually sold software. They didn't know we sold software because we were doing exactly what you just said, which is we were creating content around problems and helping people solve those problems before we ever mention our tools. I think that's a great way to draw people in, but I don't think you need to be overtly secretive about what you do. I think if you have a clear viewpoint on something you can clearly state a problem. It's fine to say, “Hey, these are ways that you can sell them. By the way, we also have this thing that can help you do that thing.” We have it tied back to our products because if you're consuming this content, you're generally on one of our web properties, so it's impossible to miss the fact that we are a software company. We've worked on that. We're not, in any way, in your face. We're not, “Buy, buy, buy this thing.” I think there's a thing in content marketing that most people struggle to measure the totality of their content marketing efforts because a lot of the content marketing is the law of serendipity when, if you give value through content, you know good things are happening, but it's not always easy to put a direct metric on it. That speaks to heart content. Kathleen: How important is it when you're talking about tapping into the problems? The other confusion I see marketers experience is that there are the problems of the individual and there are the problems of the company, because we're talking about a B2B sale here, for you. Kieran: Right. Kathleen: How important is it with the hearts content to tap into the problems of the individual versus the problems of the company? Kieran: That's actually a good question. I think they're one in the same in some respects. Let me try to give the example of one of our personas and see if this is true or not. I don't know if I've thought through that. We have a persona called Marketing Mary, and when you think about HubSpot ... I'm not trying to just do a sell of HubSpot software to your audience. But I'm just trying to- Kathleen: It is your day job, so... Kieran: Yeah, yeah. We have a persona Marketing Mary. That's a person, in a certain company size, who we think is ideal for HubSpot. The way that we think about how it helps her is that it makes her more efficient at her job, which is good for the individual, good for the company. It actually helps Marketing Mary figure out how she can be more successful to get a promotion because that's something she cares about. Again, it's good for the individual, good for the company. I think most of the things within B2B, most of your personas what's good for the individual is generally good for the company. You do want to make it individual-based, because even in B2B, it's the people making decisions, it's not the all-encompassing company making the decision. You want to try to make sure that person understands how their life is going to be made better using your product, because they're ultimately your customer. Kathleen: Yeah, that's really what I've observed, too. Going back to looking at all these interviews I've done, again I think a mistake that a lot of marketers make is, in the B2B area, we tend to focus on what does the company need? Yes, that's important. Kieran: Right. Kathleen: But, at the end of the day, I don't think you can tap into somebody's heart unless you make it about what they, as an individual, need. Kieran: Exactly. Kathleen: It has to somehow tie back to me. As you said, often it is either "I want a promotion", or "I want to look good in front of my boss." It tends to be things like that or, "It saves me time, and it makes my life easier." Kieran: Yeah, great B2B companies still sell to people. It just happens that those people are in companies and the tool is making their life easier, or helping them to do something within that company. Generally if you nail that value proposition what you'll see is your product within that company also spreads because that person is a champion of your tool. They start championing that tool within the company itself. The Role of Content Promotion in HubSpot's Traffic Strategy Kathleen: Yeah, now going back for a second to the minds content. You talked about how you come up with the topics and one of the things that you mentioned was that promotion is a really important part of this. Acknowledging that promotion, as you said, is a bit easier for HubSpot because you have such a high domain authority, talk me through just a little bit, for the average person listening, what should that promotion look like, or what does it need to include? Kieran: The hard facts about this is a promotion plan to getting better search traffic. The reality is that acquiring links still matters. I think that it seems old fashioned because you hear all these new things that marketers talk about, but it's still super important for acquiring search traffic. What you would probably want to have is an overall plan on how to acquire links to your site. That can be a lot of different things. There're tons of different tactics. There's something called broken link tactics where you can go and find these sites that your competitors have links from. You can go find broken links that they have, that are relevant to content you have, suggest they link to you instead because the link they already have is broken. There're just tons and tons of tactics you can go from. You should really have an overall domain link building plan that acquires links to your overall domain because that's going to help all content on your domain rank better. You can have very individualistic link plans for certain blog posts. You're probably not going to do that for every single blog post. You're not going to try to acquire links to every single blog post because that's a lot of time commitment depending upon how much content you create. If you're only creating one piece of content a week ... Again, if you're doing mind content, you may only do that because you don't create content unless there's actually available search traffic. What happens is your quantity actually goes down because you actually don't try to just plaster the internet with things and hope traffic comes in. You're actually way more strategic, so you create less content, but you put a lot more time onto promotion. One of the teams that I have, they have this thing called "surround sound strategy." Surround sound strategy is trying to make sure that anywhere there's content related to the thing you've created content for, like listicles and "best of" posts, and all of these different things, that your content is also listed within those posts. That is basically just building relationships with different publishers and things like that. Also, creating content that is better than what's currently available on Google. So if you go and search something, whatever the top page is, can you create a page that has better quality than what's already ranking at number one in Google? If you can, then generally you are in a pretty good position to get people to link out to your content. Kathleen: I feel like isn't that Brian Dean's skyscraper technique? Kieran: Yes, Brian Dean is the person to keep up to date on if you want really solid link building strategies, so his skyscraper technique. Finding dead back links and reaching out to people to get them to include your content is a really old tactic. I was doing SEO ten years ago and we used that, but you generally find the things that work in SEO still work today if you can do them to a high enough level, if you can do them better than other people. Kathleen: I think this is the challenge that many marketers feel, especially marketers in small and medium sized businesses, when they hear about back linking. I've had this conversation so many times over the years. It's, “How am I going to do this in a way that's efficient? I have a small marketing team.” Or, "It's just me, how could I possibly create the content and try to get links for it?" Many marketers, in my experience, just fall back on "I'm just going to push it out to my Facebook, and my Twitter, and my LinkedIn, and spray and pray." How does a small marketing team or a one-person marketing team do this? Kieran: Again, I think if you are being more strategic about the content you create, and only creating content that you think can drive a certain amount of volume. There's an important part in that is one of the things to think about, in terms of volume, is historically we would think about key word volume. How much key word volume is available for this key phrase? More and more you should probably think about the available search clicks. The difference there is that with featured snippets becoming way more popular on Google, the amount of search volume available for key word is a lot less than you think. Featured snippets cannibalized the amount of actual clicks different key words get. So, you would look at search click volume, only create content for keywords that have a higher threshold, whatever your search click volume is. Then, create a promotion plan. Know that the time spent promoting that content is probably better spent than you creating additional content if you are not able to promote it at all. If you're not able to promote it at all, you could create 10, 20 pieces of content within a month, and generate less traffic than creating two or three pieces of content that you actually have a real promotion plan for. The balance of creating content to promoting content shifts from when you're a start-up to when you're a bigger company. It shifts really with domain authority. You'll see that shift happen by just how quickly you start to rank for things when you have a bigger domain authority. Kathleen: Yeah, you said something I want to clarify because this is really important. You talked about the difference between keyword volume and search click volume. I think many marketers are familiar with how to find keyword volume. You can go into Google Adwords, or other programs like that. Where should they look to find search click volume? Kieran: I'll give you one tool, but there's probably many tools. Ahrefs is a tool that has click stream data. That means that you can go into Ahrefs and actually look at the search click volume of a keyword because it has enough data to show you what the effect of images or featured snippets or videos they're going to have on the amount of volume that that keyword gets. I think it's an interesting way to start to categorize volume of keywords in the world we live in today, where Google is cannibalizing a lot the traffic we get by showing users these different things. Kathleen: Yeah, it's really interesting. We experienced this this past year. Last March our traffic really took a bit of a nose dive. We couldn't figure out what was causing it. I had a couple people looking at it. We were digging deep. It was funny, I actually wound up sitting with someone from HubSpot's SEO team when I was in Boston for partner day, and he helped me figure it out. I think it was a guy named Victor who works for Matthew Barby. He's amazing. Victor is a magician. Kieran: They're both on my team. Kathleen: Yeah, he narrowed it down and helped me figure out that essentially we were losing traffic to featured snippets. As soon as we started optimizing for snippets, and started getting some of the snippets, it just came right back up again. Very interesting what's happening with that, but thank you. I didn't even know he was on your team, so thank you for giving me an hour of Victor's time. Kieran: I guess one of the things we did really well is, aside from all the different tactics, because actually the most important thing ... There are three things a successful company does is hire and retain talent, which is priority number one. Set people up for success in team structures. Team structures become a lot more complex when you grow. There's something you have to continually optimize, which is the second thing to get right. The third thing is actually the tactics. The tactics are not successful if you can't do the first two. One of the things we invested in a lot in over the past 18 months is building out a really great SEO team. Two of the people you've talked to, so Matt, he's on my team, runs a whole group that acquires all Freemium users, including our search team. Victor sits on the search team. Kathleen: I've never actually spoken to Matt, but I've always wanted to. So Matt, if you're listening, you could be my next guest. I've listened to his entire Skill Up SEO podcast series. He's just so smart, and I love the content that he creates. I consider him one of the people I need to follow to understand best practices for SEO. Kieran: Yep. Kathleen: You have a good team. Kieran: They're super smart on that team. Kathleen: Okay, we talked about understanding promotion. I loved your point about, to me it's the 80/20 rule, you're going to get 80 percent of the results out of 20 percent of the things you do. The 20 percent, in this case, sounds like it's create less content and focus more on promotion, especially if your domain authority isn't really high. The Results of HubSpot's Hearts and Minds Strategy Kathleen: Talk now about results. I would love it if you could give me a sense of ... I know broad-brush that you guys have broken traffic records, but can you speak specifically to what kind of traffic growth have you experienced over what time period and how are you measuring the success of your hearts and minds strategy? Kieran: This is where I'm always not very good on in terms of exact numbers because we're a public company. I think the best thing to do is even if you go to Ahrefs, you can use it for free. You can look at our domain. You can look at organic search traffic. I think it's something in the region of 80 percent year over year growth. I don't know. Kathleen: Wow. Kieran: I would need to go back and re-look the numbers. I could be under or over that because I haven't looked at that number in a while. Kathleen: If it's anywhere near close to that, that's amazing. Kieran: Yeah, it's large, but I think that is probably broken out into ... We look at it broken into many different things because we have a core site, we have blog, we have academy, then we have all of the non-English sites. Any one of those could be that number, or any of them may not. I could be wrong. It's quite substantial. The cool thing actually we noticed was our demand grew by a similar amount. Not exactly, so it's never going to be if you grow by 60 percent, you get 60 percent more demand. It's always going to be, I think, less. But, it was still correlated pretty well. The other cool thing was we saw, if you go into this tool called Similar Web, where you can break out your traffic by brand and non-brand. I was doing a lot of investigation, using that tool on our site and other sites. The growth in brand traffic, people searching for HubSpot, grew in line with our non-brand of traffic, which does show there was a correlation between this law of serendipity, which are people coming into the content that doesn't overtly mention your brand and its informational key words. Then, discovering your company and coming back at some point on a branded key word. We've seen really good growth over the last 12 months. Kathleen: That's amazing. You mentioned earlier it's somewhere easy to measure traffic growth, and specifically that's an out growth of your mind strategy. You talked about how it's a little bit harder to measure the success of the heart strategy. Are there any other metrics you're looking at to measure the degree to which you're tapping in on the emotional side? Kieran: There's a whole series, a whole document, that that team has put together under Meghan Anderson, who is VP of HubSpot, extremely smart, and manages and looks after all things brand. A couple of things, I'll give you a couple because this is quite large, but you can look at things like direct traffic. It's a good signal that your brand is growing. You can look at branded traffic, again a pretty great indicator that people are searching and care about your brand. You can look at number of mentions of your brand, which I'm sure people are all aware of, either on social or you can look at placements, the number of people who are mentioning you across the web. You can look at placements, and those placements can be put into different categories of publications, like Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3. I think there are some ways you can do it. I'll give you another example not from HubSpot. I had a really great conversation on this hearts and minds with the content marketing director called Jimmy Daly. He works at an agency called Animalz. We were talking about this. His metric for hearts was does our content create one conversation within a potential client. They figure that out by asking them on the phone, "Have you heard about us?" That speaks to a smaller company who thinks about content, and through that hearts lens, and their metric is not so easy to measure. It's something actually that you have to ask people about. Kathleen: It's interesting because we're struggling with this. Struggling is not the right word. We're grappling with what is the best way to measure that because as a company we've moved more from an agency to really leading as a publisher. Instead of measuring, for example, subscribers, we're measuring engaging subscribers, like number of subscribers that have really clicked on an email in the last month. Looking beyond sessions on our website to not only unique users as an aggregate measure of the audience size, but pages per session, and dwell time on the site, things like that. This is something I'm so interested in because I feel like nobody has really cracked this one yet. There's an opportunity here. Kieran: I don't think there's ever going to be definitive metrics because it's just so difficult to put your finger on one thing. You can also look at, what you're doing, health of subscribers, in the same way you could look at users of a Freemium product. What is the net new users you add? What is the attention of those users over time? How many of those users actually churn  and stop coming back? I think that's a good gauge. I think most companies would be better served to choose the things that they think are the best indicators, and be happy with those things, and know that they're still not going to be 100 percent of what they need. Kathleen: That makes sense. It's not a perfect science at this point. Well, so interesting to hear about all these strategies that HubSpot is pursuing. Now I'm going to pay much closer attention to your blog to see if I can determine which articles are more about the mind or about the heart. Kieran: We should put a little icon of a heart icon. Kathleen's Two Questions Kathleen: Switching gears for a minute. There's two questions that I always ask everyone that comes on the podcast. In your case I'm very interested to hear what you have to say. I was looking at your LinkedIn profile, and before you were at HubSpot you've been at Marketo, you've been at Salesforce, you have a very interesting perspective on this industry. Company or individual, right now, who out there do you think is doing inbound marketing really well? Who should my listeners go to and look at to see a great example? Kieran: That's a good one. You can tell me if this is not a good answer and to come back with a better answer. I've been more focused on what we call the flywheel force and friction than  inbound recently. I'm sure you've probably heard of it because you're aware of HubSpot. Just for your listeners the flywheel is basically ... in cap stage you're inbound in a loop, which basically is a tracking gauge to light. Each one of those stages you have force and friction. Force helps spin that loop and friction stops that loop from spinning. The examples I have are actually specific to some of the customers on the force and friction because they are the ones at most top of mind because that's what we've been looking at. Kathleen: Oh, yeah. I'd love to hear more about that. Kieran: Let me give you a couple of examples because they're quite different from giving you companies who are doing really well at creating content. These are actually slightly different. There's a customer called WashCard who has payment stations for car wash operators. If you think about one of the things that drives friction in the engaged stage is not showing your pricing, which seems pretty simplistic. If I add my price in, I create better force, because customers generally like experience and transparency. They're an example of a company that did not even just show their pricing, the simple task of being more transparent around their pricing, actually turned that page into their third biggest source of leads within two weeks. It's a very small example of how focusing on this idea across your entire flywheel can benefit you. There's another company called ChargeBacks911 who allows you to integrate their software into e-commerce and handles charge backs right when their customers want to give back their products. They had some friction again within the light stage where they had an onboarding process that allowed you to set up, that they had some friction within. There was missed expectations, so sales people were setting expectations that they were not fulfilling on. They didn't have the right documentation. What they did was took the difficult decision to put a sales rep in every onboarding with a new customer. That sales rep could then fill in the gaps. That sales rep could provide that additional context, but also the sales reps understood the friction they were creating by setting the wrong expectations. I can't share their public numbers, but just by doing that they vastly decreased their amount of churn they were having. They are not the traditional, "here's a company that's crushing inbound," but I think that the force and friction across your flywheel is definitely something that can give you a lot of actionable things to work on. Kathleen: I love those examples. It's always interesting when I ask this question, because it's a bit of a Rorschach test. It depends on when people hear "inbound marketing" what they think I'm talking about. Kieran: Right. Kathleen: That obviously has changed so much over the years, and over time. Even right now if you took a snapshot and asked ten people what it was, you'd probably get ten different answers. I love that answer. It's very different, and I love how specific you got. I'll be curious to go look at both of those companies' websites to see more of what they're doing. Kieran: Cool. Kathleen: Second question is, the world of digital marketing is obviously changing at a lightning fast pace. How do you personally stay up-to-date with all of the new developments? Kieran: There are three ways. I'm lucky that we have a Slack channel within our company that is called "What's Next." I get everything sent to me on the Slack channel, as does everyone else who's part of that Slack channel. I generally get content pushed at me outside of HubSpot through my network, which I find really interesting. I no longer actually go looking for content or subscribe content that much. I just wait until it comes to me. I probably miss out on content, but it suits me because I'm kind of busy. Then, the other thing I've gravitated towards is I'm an introvert, I started a podcast to be more extrovert and talk to people. Talking to other smart people has been the number one way I've learned above all else. It's the best investment I've made in terms of my own time, and just learning and becoming better at what I do. Kathleen: Amen. I talk about that a lot on this podcast. I, too, am an introvert although I fake it really well. Kieran: Same as me. Kathleen: I started this podcast out of purely selfish reasons because it's a good reason to talk to people I otherwise would not have a reason to talk to. Kieran: The two of us are on the podcast faking being an extrovert, on the podcast. Kathleen: Exactly. It's great. It's the perfect tool for that. Kieran: Right. How To Connect With Kieran Kathleen: Kieran, thank you so much. I really enjoyed hearing all of this. It's fascinating to get an understanding for how you, and your team at HubSpot internally are thinking about growth and the approach that you are taking. If somebody is listening, and they want to learn more about HubSpot, or if they wanted to reach out and ask a question of you, what's the best way for them to connect online? Kieran: HubSpot, you can reach at HubSpot.com. There's so many different ways if you go there that you can connect with us. Me, you can connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter. I'm randomly called @searchbrat on Twitter, which is one of the worst handles. I've had it for too long. I need to change it. You can just find me on LinkedIn at Kieran Flanagan. Kathleen: I love it. I will put those links in the show notes. At the end I always tell people to tweet me if they know someone doing really great inbound marketing work. You will laugh because my Twitter handle is @workmommywork, because when I first started on Twitter that described my life. I guess we now have a club of introverts with really strange Twitter handles. Kieran: Yeah, really strange Twitter handles. Yeah, that's us. Kathleen: Yeah, so if you're listening, and you found this useful, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or the platform of your choice. As I mentioned, if you know someone doing kick ass inbound marketing work, tweet me at @workmommywork, because I would love to interview them. That's it for this week. Thank you so much Kieran. Kieran: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

In this episode we speak to the myths of the business decline at year end! There're always opportunities out there and this is a chance with less competition! Choose to succeed and win! Idea share, and tools. I believe when you win, we win! www.TeamTitleguy.com

In this episode of the Houston Home Talk, James explains what you need to know and what the differences between a home warranty and home insurance. Shownotes:[00:55] What Is Home Insurance?[04:09] What Does Home Warranty Cover?[08:16] If you have questions, reach out to us.Full Transcript:[00:02] INTRO: Welcome to Houston Home Talk featuring all things real state in the Houston area. We'll interview real estate professionals, local business owners and special guests from right here in the Houston community. This is where you get the inside scoop about what's new in real estate, new community openings and business openings and much more. The Houston home talk show starts right now.[00:37] JAMES: Welcome guys. Welcome. What's up? It's James Jay. Welcome to another episode of Houston home talk and today, we're going to talk a little bit about home warranties. Now, this oftentimes gets confused for some people for home insurance, so these are completely, completely different coverages. They do different things and quite honestly, you need both. You need home insurance and you need home warranties for your home or your investment property. I'm going to go a little bit into discussing hallmark warranties. What you need to know. Again, what the difference is between a home warranty and home insurance. Let's just get right into it. Home warranty, typically this is something that you're going to get when you're purchasing a specialty, a resale home, okay? You definitely want to have it when you're purchasing a resale home. It's something that is completely negotiable. It is not something that a seller has to give you or offer you.It is something that you and your agent asked for as part of the negotiations, but it's not something that's mandatory that a seller pay. When you're looking at purchasing a home where they'd be resale or even new construction, new construction's homes are typically you're going to come with a warranty typically a year. There might be a builder to that habit for two years. Most of the builders are going to offer you a one year warranty that's almost like a bumper to bumper warranty for your home. If anything happens in the home during the year or two years, whatever the case may be, the home builder will come out and fix the issues. Now once that warranty is done with as far as the builder warranty goes, then you're going to want to have your own home warranty moving forward because you'd never know what's going to happen that is why you have a home warranty. It's just like car insurance, right? You have car insurance, you may drive two years, three years, four years, never have a car accident. Well, when you do, if hits you or someone rear ends you, you're going to be very happy that you had car insurance. Well, the home warranty operates in the same way. Home warranties are pretty much designed to protect your homes, appliances and systems from breakdowns caused by normal wear and tear. Whereas homeowner's insurance pays for damages and loss caused by perils like fire, weather damage but it won't help you if your washing machine simply breaks down. Or if it's July and August and your ac unit breaks down. All right, home insurance is not going to do a thing for you, but a home warranty would definitely cover items like that. What does a home warranty actually cover? Other than your AC unit and some of the other major appliances, water heater is covered. That's one of those major items in your home you want to have covered. Then those options for you to add additional coverages so you could cover a dishwasher. You could cover refrigerators. You can cover garage door openers, septic systems. There're a lot of other optional coverages that you can have with the home warranty, but it's not something that comes typically with their basic coverage. These are basically like upgrades more or less for your home warranty. Depending on what you're looking at purchasing, it may be something that you definitely want to consider. What happens on a home warranty? You have an issue, you have an item breakdown. Let's use the AC unit because for me, that is probably the biggest appliance. Excuse me, not appliance, but more a system in your home and the most expensive to have to replace. Now I'm speaking from personal experience on this because I've had an AC unit go out on me in the middle of summer. I couldn't fix it. The home warranty carb company could not fix it and they replaced it. Now there are some additional fees that come along with replacing the AC unit and depending on your warranty company, they will run those by you. It is much, much less than you have it to go and replace an AC unit for your home. Basically, what happens is this. You have an issue. You AC unit goes out. You call the home warranty company to come out and take a look at the issue. You pay what they call a trade fee. Depending on which plan you pick, depending on which home warranty company you're using, it may be a trey call, which might be $75. It might be $60. It could be $100. It just depends on the company. You pay them a fee to come out and assess what the issue is. If they can't fix it, they will replace it. Now again, there may be some additional fees that come along with fixing certain items and AC unit in particular because there are some fees that come along with disposing of an AC unit that you actually have to pay. Again, much, much better than you having to go and replace an entire AC unit, which could cost you thousands of dollars. Home warranty, you requested, they typically come out within a few days and again, if they can't fix it, they will replace the item. One thing to keep in mind, if you have an issue with an AC unit right now and you'd hear this and you say, 'You know what? I'm going to call a home warranty company right now.' Typically, these home warranty companies are going to have a period of usually 30 days, that's from 30 days from the time you initiate having that home warranty. They're going to have what they call basically a waiting period. That means you can't claim anything within that 30 day window because they don't want you to call them knowing that you have an AC unit that's not working just to get them to come out and fix it. It's almost like a preexisting condition for life insurance. That's exactly how this works. Yu can't get life insurance with a preexisting condition in most cases. There's some, sure, there's some coverages out there that will allow you to have a policy with the preexisting condition, but they're going to charge you for it. With the home warranty, same thing. You cannot make claims typically during that first 30 days after you get the home warranty because they do not want people taking advantage of the whole warranty. In a nutshell, definitely something you want to have guys. It is one of those things. You kind of get it, you forget about it. These range…the coverages are going to range anywhere from 350 to 450 for the most part. There are going to be some coverages where you can get where their 500 and up. Again, do your research. If you have questions about home warranties, reach out to us. We'd be glad to help you and make sure that when you get a home, whether it'd be a rental property that you're getting, or personal resonance that you're getting, or new construction, you want to get a home warranty. You're going to have a little more leeway with new construction because typically, again, the builders going to have that warranty. As soon as that build a warranty ends, you want to get yourself a home warranty. If you don't, you'll regret it. I promise you will regret it. Again, guys, you got questions, let me know. Would love to help you guys with any questions you may have about home warranties. I will talk with you guys on the next episode.If you like this episode of the Houston Inside Out podcast, please don't forget to like, share, and comment! We appreciate your support and feedback! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Since 2004 KoAnn Skrzyniarz (more easily known as just “KoAnn”) has been a force of – and for -- nature. She is Founder/CEO of the internationally respected Sustainable Brands community, which has inspired a global community to turn environmental and social challenges into business opportunities for companies. The conferences have grown to be in 13 countries with active communities everywhere from Turkey to Thailand, Cape Town to Copenhagen. In this podcast, KoAnn, a former business to business marketing executive, explains how they’ve built a “bridge to better brands,” and how companies from Procter & Gamble to CNN are embracing sustainability for their – and everyone’s – greater good.   In this conversation with E.B. Moss, KoAnn explains why it's not called "Corporate Social 'Responsibility'" any more, and shares examples of how companies from P&G and AFLAC to CNN have raised both the bar on sustainability and profits. She also shares the five core principles that Sustainable Brand members must adhere to.  Hint:  Here's a snippet of that discussion: Skrzyniarz: There's been a lot of conversation about the challenges in the industry, that more than half the Fortune 500 companies are in decline, and to refocus marketing around driving growth. The beautiful thing is that now there are more and more examples that demonstrate how embedding environmental and social good into your brand does drive sales, does drive growth, does drive brand loyalty, makes brands relevant again -- this is a pathway to fixing all of that. Moss: Stats show it's very important to consumers and prefer the brand that displays sensitivity and sustainability, as Marc showed in their campaign, "Love Over Bias..." (As you know, MediaVillage is very focused on D&I as well, with our Advancing Diversity Honors -- where we'll be honoring Marc Pritchard as well as ANA’s Bob Liodice and others at CES.) Skrzyniarz: Beautiful. ....P&G is seeing the halo effect of its efforts on brand reputation and sales, which is part of what's driving his confidence. Obviously, racial and other sorts of conflicts between groups of people are on the rise, and that’s a massive risk for sustainability. There are social issues that put us all at risk, as well as environmental issues. Now is the perfect time for the Brands for Good coalition that we are launching. Moss: And we have to balance how we communicate with what we communicate... Skrzyniarz: Yes, to be not necessarily perfect but authentic in communication. Moss: And are you still hopeful in our current political environment? Skrzyniarz: More so, actually, in a strange way. Though of course companies would like to have a legislative regulatory landscape that makes it easier for them to make tough decisions and level the playing field, but while hope for that has disappeared that doesn't change the reality that all the companies we deal with understand. For example, I was just talking to a large coffee company who acknowledges that the world is running out of coffee. The world is running out of chocolate. We are having commodity shortages and conflict minerals. There're all kinds of things that are pressing business issues that these companies can't ignore. And they are now starting to come together in ways that I've never seen, to work on systems changes... [There’s a] willingness, even for competitors, to be working together.  

Visit us at divorceandyourmoney.com for the #1 divorce resources in the USA and get personalized help. Learn about coaching services here.   Thank you for listening! Find a transcript of this episode below.   When negotiating a divorce settlement, you need to understand what trade-offs you're making, and make sure that you're keeping the big picture in mind. When it comes to your assets, and the debts that you have in your financial life and your marriage, they are what they are. When you're thinking about your divorce settlement and your future, your goal, really, is to figure out what the best combination of assets is for you, so that you can move on with your life in the best way possible.   You need to be realistic and reasonable, and make sure you're negotiating for things that make sense for you. One of the biggest areas I see people having trouble is not being accepting of what the status quo, what today, what their actual financial picture is, and not confronting head-on what you actually have. I understand everyone wishes they had more money, more cash, less debt, higher income, or whatever it is. What I see, oftentimes, in the divorce process, when working with you, is that you might feel, or at least pretend to negotiate as if you have a higher income than you have, or as if you have more money than you actually have. I'll say this on calls all the time, it's okay to advocate for yourself and ask for a little bit more to that you get ... you have wiggle room. But at the same time, you need to be realistic about your financial picture is and what your future looks like, and be real about how that's going to work for you in the future.   One of the first steps when it comes to negotiating and thinking about your divorce settlement, and preparing and structuring things the way that you want to do, whether you're working with a lawyer, you're doing it yourself, going through the litigation process, doing collaborative divorce, or whatever, is you really need to understand what you have and what you're splitting with your soon to be ex-spouse. Not only do you need to know what exists, be it a house, a mortgage, rental property, investment accounts, cars, a business, all of the basic stuff that we talk about a lot on the show, but you need to understand the value of those things with clear numbers and specific. It's not enough just to say, "I have a house, and I think it's worth $400,000." That's not right. You need to do your homework and figure out either with a real estate agent, or an appraisal, or whatever the case may be, whether it's $400,000 or whether it's 375 because of something, or maybe it's 437,000 that you could sell it for. You need to understand the value of that. You need to understand, if you have a rental property, if you have a business, what is that worth? Because knowing that value could serve as a big impact on your divorce process.   When I comes to knowing the worth of things, you need to know what that means in total. One of the questions I'll ask you is, I'll say, "Hey, let's break down the major assets. Let's figure out what you have. We'll subtract out any debts." But what is your total marital pot worth? Is it $325,000? Is it 3.2 million dollars? Or more than that? Or somewhere in-between? Or somewhere less? Whatever the number is, you need to clearly understand and keep in mind the total value of all of your assets as you're thinking about your divorce settlement.   And then, from there, you also need to understand and have a clear sense of what support obligations you'll either be paying or receiving. This is an important point and is relevant to the total calculation of stuff that you're splitting up, and you need to understand that number. I'm going make you some simple numbers just for the sake of discussion on these two point; the total value of your assets, and then also the support discussion, to illustrate an example for you. Let's say the total value of all of your assets is $200,000. That means any houses, bank accounts, retirement accounts, everything totals up to $200,000 between you and your soon to be ex-spouse. Now, let's say, on top of that, you're expecting to receive some sort of financial support obligations. For the sake of discussion, I'm going to assume that you're going to receive $5,000 a month for five years, which means $12,000 a year, times five years, is $60,000 in support. Now, if you think about that, that actually adds to the total amount of money that you are splitting up, because not only are you splitting up $60,000, but on top of that ... I'm sorry, not only are you splitting your $200,000 in marital assets, but there's also an additional $60,000 on top of that that you need to keep in mind.   Now, why is that such a big deal? Well, that's a big deal because when it comes to negotiating a divorce settlement and thinking about your options, is that you need to understand that regardless of what you do, there's always benefits and disadvantages and potentially trade-offs that may work better for you, that you haven't considered or are still thinking about.   Let's take this example: Let's just say, since you're going to be getting $60,000 in support over five years, on top of your share of the marital assets, what would I be thinking if I am doing a coaching session with you, or if we're working more in-depth together? One of the first things I would think, and just on my mental checklist, is all right, you're going to be getting ... Let's just say you're the person receiving support. You're going to be getting about $100,000 in assets that you're splitting, because you have a $200,000 pot, so you're going to split that in half, roughly. It varies, but let's just say for simplicity sake, you're going to be getting about 100,000, plus you're going to be getting about $60,000 in spousal support over five years. In total, you're going to be getting $160,000 from the marital pot.   Well, when I think about that, I say, "Okay, well, what ... Do you want all of that now? Would you like to take all of that upfront, or do you not mind getting support over the five years?" One thing I might say, particularly if you don't want to be reliant upon your example-spouse, or if you need cash upfront to get yourself back on your feet, I might say, "Hey, you know, the $100,000 is pretty easy to split because it's mostly coming from a retirement account or something. That extra 60, well, what if we made it $50,000 instead of 60, because you're going to it all upfront, and we just took out extra, and maybe your spouse keeps the house and just cashes out some of equity to pay you off." That's an option that I just kind of made up off the top of my head.   But the point is, sometimes you need to think about, well, you know what, it's actually a better scenario if I get more money upfront and take that money now, rather than delay the divorce process some. Excuse me, not delay the divorce process, but take that money over time. And your spouse actually might give you less money for that effect, but it could be worth it to you. You're no longer waiting on those monthly payments to clear every month. Who knows what happens. And on top of that, maybe you get some spending money upfront, because you moved to a new place, or moved to a new town, or are in school for a little while, and that additional support upfront could be very useful to you.   Also, the converse is true in terms of thinking of your trade-offs. Let's stick to this example. For some of you, if you know you've never really created and stuck to a budget before, and you think you're going to blow through all of that money upfront, maybe it's wiser for you to take those payments monthly, that $1,000 a month each month for the next five years, because it will help you plan and budget better. Someone like me, I know myself well enough, oftentimes that would be a much better deal for me personally, because of the way that I think about money and spending, and cashflow, etc. Sometimes, it's more valuable to kind of have that stable payment coming, rather than if you're one who is potentially tempted by having a lot of money sitting around in a bank account. Then it's better off if you take those payments over time, and it might be worth it for you.   Now, conversely, if you're on the other side of things, and you're the spouse making these payments, it can be very important and very well worth considering, do you really want to write a check every month for the next however many months you're going to be paying support? Or maybe you can buy out all of that support upfront, or a large chunk of  that support upfront from your previous savings, be it retirement or from cashing out of a house, or otherwise, because that will give you the advantage of, maybe, having more flexibility later.   I'll give you an example. I have a friend of mine here in Texas who basically said, "Hey", to their spouse, "I'm going to give you 80% of the assets that we have, in exchange I'm not going to pay you any ongoing support." But this person, in particular, is an entrepreneur, and he knew he could made the money back, and so he did. He say, "Hey, you know what? It's worth it for me just to pay all my support obligations. Now, you'll be comfortable and you won't have any issues, and I'm not going to be writing that check every month. And then, I'll just have to find a way to re-earn and rebuild myself financially in that case."   If you're the one paying, it can also be a win for you to think about some of these trade-offs, because you can actually clean up your financial picture a lot by not having this ongoing monthly bill, or reducing that monthly support payment substantially over time, just by understanding some of your trade-offs. You have options and leeway in terms of thinking about, well, maybe a lump sum is better for all parties involved. Or maybe it's not. Or maybe a partial lump sum is better, where we front-load support a little bit; get more of it upfront and less later. Maybe there are other considerations where we structure a deal so that everyone ultimately is better off. You could have higher monthly payments for the first two years, and then a slightly lower the next two years, or something like that, so that everyone ends up in a better position possible.   When you're thinking about your finances, and your picture, and your divorce, and your settlement, I want you to look with a little bit more creativity, in terms of solutions. Understand, all right, well, here are all these numbers on a sheet of paper that you have. There're going to be assets and debts and everything else. What's the best way that we can come to an agreement using these assets? And what are some ways that I might not have thought about before, in terms of getting a benefit from these assets and things that we need to do? Something for you to think about. And regardless of where you are in your divorce settlement process, if you haven't started, or you're in the middle of the process, what I want you to do is a little bit of homework. You have a picture in mind in terms of who's going to get what, and how those things are going to be split. Well, what I want you to do is come up with some alternate scenarios where, financially, everyone ends up just about the same, but you're getting a different set of assets and debts, and splitting it a different way. Come up with one or two or three more scenarios, or I can help you come up with those scenarios, as well, but different ways to think about your picture. Some of the best settlements that I've had the pleasure of working with, are literally that exercise, where you think you got to do things one way, but let's say, "Hey, let's split things a totally different way, and let's just see how that looks, and see if everyone is agreeable for it." There might be something to it that would satisfy everyone involved.   Just by, at least, doing the exercise, whether or not you ultimately stick to the path that you're on, or consider some other ones, you can often come up with some really useful solutions that you may not know existed. But, that's the nature of the divorce process. It's a complicated process. There's a lot of different moving parts, and sometimes you just need to use those moving parts and the complexity to your advantage to come up with something that's more creative than maybe you considered before, and actually it might be something that works better for everyone involved.  

In this episode of the Houston Home Talk, Cindy West from NRL Mortgage and James talks about the process of getting a mortgage loan, interest rates, NRL Mortgage loan programs you can apply to and other things such as Cindy’s career trajectory and how her knowledge in forensic accounting helped her in her role as a mortgage loan officer. QUOTES“You have to make sure that the house is not listed for sale, because that’s a red flag in mortgage, before you cash out.”“The buying power of people changes significantly as those rates go up.”MENTIONSContact Cindy:Phone: 832-370-7373Website: https://cindywest.nrlmortgage.com/SHOW NOTES[0:02:10.9] How Cindy got into mortgage lending[0:03:32.4] How forensic accounting works[0:08:02.3] NRL Mortgage loan programs[0:14:25.1] James and Cindy talk about interest rates[0:21:04.4] The difference between pre-approval and pre-qualification[0:32:24.5] Get in touch with Cindy!Full Transcript: [00:03] INTRO: Welcome to Houston home tall, featuring all things real estate in the Houston area. We'll interview real estate professionals, local business owners, and special guests from right here in the Houston community. This is where you get the inside scoop about what's new in real estate, new community openings and business openings, and much more. The Houston home talk show starts right now.[00:33] JAMES: All right, welcome guys. This is James with Houston home talk and I am joined today by my good friend, Cindy West in our El mortgage. Um, how are you doing this morning, Cindy?[00:45] CINDY: Hey James. I'm great.[00:48] JAMES: Awesome. I'm doing great. It's a little chilly for us here in Houston at a blistering 70 degrees. Now, just joking. People in the Midwest laugh at us when it gets too 40s. [01:00] CINDY: Yeah. Yeah. [01:02] JAMES: It is cold for us but I am glad to have you on. It has been an interesting ride as far as interest rates and a lot of things going on specifically this year. You have been in the business for a few years now. You've done really well and I appreciate all your insight. Just to kind of set the table for everybody, so sending and I have known each other for about three years. We've been working together. You came to visit me when I worked for a home builder and you were one of very few, really probably the only one person that really would come visit me because everybody else was scared to come see me working for a home builder because they just assumed that they could get no business from a home builders onsite salesperson which was not the case. [01:52] CINDY: No. [01:52] JAMES: I'm glad that you've been very tenacious and the way you work and I admire your work of it. I see you on Saturdays, Sundays. I see everywhere. You have gotten a lot of knowledge and your work ethic is been very, very admirable. What I want you to do is just kind of introduced yourself. You've got a very interesting background. Introduce yourself to the audience and tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into the mortgage.[02:22] CINDY: Okay. Sure. Yeah. I've been in the business three years ago and I'm like, my background started with auditing and taxes. I did that for several years and then I relocated to Los Angeles and I became a forensic accountants, which is very interesting. [02:39] JAMES: Okay. [02:42] CINDY: Pretty much what I would do is I worked with people getting in divorce, determining child support, alimony, division of assets and valuing businesses. Pretty much I would find the money and determine what the individual's cash flow was for child support and alimony. Then after that, and I relocated here with my family. [03:04] JAMES: Okay. [03:05] CINDY: That's where I met Chad Freeman and he is a manager for Nations Reliable Lending. Tell me about the job. My personality and my background was the perfect fit and my daughter is going into school so I thought, it's a great time to get back into the workforce full time. I took the test and passed it and then I'm on my way ever since.[03:32] JAMES: The forensic, you got to give me a…tell us back a little bit more. The last time I hear forensic, I usually think, CSI and one of these criminal shows when I hear forensics. Break that down a little bit more as far as what you did with that that as forensic accounting?[03:55] CINDY: Yeah, so pretty much, I mean it has to do with documentation. [03:57] JAMES: Okay. [03:58] CINDY: Thing at paperwork, a little bit differently and people represent themselves based on the tax return. I only make $25,000 a year when you're living in a half million dollar house and you drive a Mercedes and I could see all the charges on your credit card for limousines and things of that nature. I would pretty much hunt down the money. [04:21] JAMES: Got it. [04:21] CINDY: Figure out what the true cash flow is because people have businesses, they write off all their personal expenses, cellphones, cable bill, I'm 100 percent of their auto. All those things are not true. Business expenses, personnel. They drained the company, and they want the write offs. They pay as much taxes. From a divorced stamp, that's now your cash flow. We add back all this personal offenses as perquisite come up with somebody's true cash flow. Then that's how we figured out how child support and alimony.[05:00] JAMES: Okay. I see. Then the connection with that and the connection to the mortgage side of the business because a lot of what you were doing and that career really translates into you being a mortgage lender because a lot of the details that come along with, especially, specifically you brought up self-employed because those are the biggest challenges when it comes to the mortgage. [05:24] CINDY: Yes. Yeah. [05:26] JAMES: How does that background, how did that help you on the mortgage side because like I said, I know you've only been three years but you've been…you've been very, very successful and the time that had been a mortgage lender. How has that helped you in being successful in what you're doing now?[05:42] CINDY: Definitely the tax knowledge and the attention to detail and I'm looking at paperwork a little bit differently. Very detail oriented, which in mortgage you have be, when you looked at the paperwork upfront for a year under contract and kind of figure everything out ahead of time instead of having issues under contract that who I wish I would've seen this or looked at it closer than. Definitely the tax return and the tax knowledge has helped me with understanding the actual tax return for the self-employed borrowers. [06:18] JAMES: Right. [06:18] CINDY: You can have a schedule C which is on your 1040 where you can have 1065, which is a partnership returns, that's corporations or your 11 languages are C corps. Understanding how somebody gets paid out of each one of those is quite really friendly. You can get paid out of distribution. You can get paid through salaries and wages or dividends depending on what X return you're filing. That's definitely given me an edge on a fast track and dealing with more sophisticated buyers would complex tax returns. The attention to detail, I'm looking at paperwork and just knowing. I've seen all these documents who I've been working with them for years. It's definitely helped.[07:08] JAMES: No. That definitely explains a lot because I've had a brief stint as a mortgage lender as well, so I understand the level of these. I don’t think a lot of people understand it and unless you've done it. There was no way. As a realtor, most realtors, all we care about is the loan approved. [07:29] CINDY: Right. [07:30] JAMES: Always funded. Those are the words that kind of care is, are we funded. Okay. When you're behind the scenes, the level of detail. There're so many moving parts. There's so many moving parts. I appreciate you guys more because I've had a boost said joining and kind of understand now that there's so much that goes on behind the scenes. Someone like yourself with that background and being very detailed. It's so important. It really is. Now, I know you guys have a program because one of the things that I work a lot with, I work a lot with home buyers will still be sellers who have a home to sell before they purchased their next home.I do a lot of new construction and so typically, we have a contingency to where the only way they can purchase the new house is if they sell the current house and multiple cases. I know you guys have a product that's kind of design and you don't have to go into a whole lot of detail, but I know that's something that I wanted you to share a little bit about because I think it's important for people to know that, that you guys have that product. I've dealt with a lot of lenders. I don't know anyone that has a program like this. I might be wrong. I know anybody that has that program. Tell us a little bit about that. A little bit about that program.[08:53] CINDY: It's a fantastic program because people that are looking to buy and I say new construction, it doesn't have to be new construction. It can be anything, but who this product would best serve. Somebody that finds a house that they fall in love with. That they really want. It could be through a builder. They might find a lot, the perfect lot and I called a stack or on a green belt with backyard. Let's say water way or anything specific that they might lose if we wait to sell their house. [09:32] JAMES: Right. [09:32] CINDY: That's the emotional side of this product is somebody that's motivated to move forward, doesn't want to wait. I think this product also is more beneficial to people in the higher price points a significant equity. Pretty much in order for this product work, you have to have at least 30 percent equity, the partying residence, and you need 20 percent down payment to move forward on the purchase.Now, you can obtain gift funds for the 20 percent. However, you do have to have at least 5 percent of your own friends. That would mean 25 percent now. You can get the Gift Front Lens of 20. You bring 5 percent. The 30 percent equity, if you have your house paid off or have significant equity, meaning like 30 percent or more and you don't have the cash in bank, you can do a cash out refi, pull out 20 percent as long as you leave 30 percent equity in the parting residence. You can pull out money to use that on the down payment for the purchase side, [10:43] JAMES: Got it. [10:45] CINDY: Yeah, you have to make sure the house is not listed for sale because that's a red flag and mortgage, so before you get a cash out. It's a purchase just like any other purchase, but we are eliminating that just from the ratio. You actually will have two mortgage payments until the house is sold. The only stipulation is that their house has to be listed for sale prior to the purchase of the new residents. That's it. [11:10] JAMES: Okay. [11:11] CINDY: That's something where if you're building builder relationships, that's a good thing to have because the builder that's going to identify that and it's going to call you, you're marketing this product and lease the house for sale. That's the key is you're, as a realtor, you're getting the leasing and hopefully, the buy side as well, because you're going to get a walk in client that falls in love, has a house to sell and that builders not going to wait, want to wait three to six months for the house to sell or probably does not want the contingency offer because if it's in a higher price point, we might take a little bit longer. Or if it's a flooded house that you have for sale, who knows how long going to take it so. It's a great product that allows people to move forward without waiting for the house to sell and then they don't lose equity. They don't have to half the price. They just have to afford the two payments[12:07] JAMES: Right. There're a lot of people that are in that position to be able to do it especially like you said, in a higher price point. This helps them not lose out because I've seen it on several occasions where they probably could qualify for both financially, but this product, like I said, this product wasn't around. I knew I have no knowledge of that product a few years ago. It's a great option for people that are…that are looking to buy another hall or build either one. I'll make sure I post your information because there're people out there that want to reach out to you and get a little bit. I know there's probably a little bit more detail, which you probably just speak with somebody in person. Speaks somebody over the phone to get a little bit more detail about their situation and how the product help, but I know it's a great product and it can help a lot of people.[13:05] CINDY: Yeah. Builders love it. I'm not competing with Mortgage Company. They're in house lender to add on to their business, to help it grow. I'm not looking to compete with them. I usually can't let their incentives. [13:17] JAMES: Right, yeah. [13:18] CINDY: This can eliminate the contingency offer and it's very attractive to builders and playing lots of calls and emails from builders I've ever even met before clients. Again, it's a great…it's a great marketing tool to get connected, to build a relationship and help builder build business and great for realtors to use that as well.[13:45] JAMES: I know a lot of builders are work with a ton of them in a new construction kind of what I specialize in more than anything. Having worked for a few builders myself personally. I will make sure they all know about this. Like I said, anybody is working for builders that might be watching this. I'll make sure they get you a contact because the onsite…where the onsite, salespeople or about getting…they don’t get paid to do loans. They get paid to close homes. [14:14] CINDY: That's right. [14:14] JAMES: Having you as a resource and in those situations is a great, great thing to have a speaker. I'm speaking from experience. I know one of the big things and challenges that I've seen so far this year are the interest rate. Rates have slowly just crept up and I back in January and February, I was telling people that rates are going to increase and unfortunately they have. Now we're now almost to the end of the year and so one, I guess, what are we looking now. FHA, I know everything obviously based on credit scores, but what kind of averages are we saying on FHA, conventional, and then what are we looking at? Maybe first part of 2019 that you kind of thing, well what may happen, which rates come from that first quarter?[15:09] CINDY: Well, definitely rates have slowly increased. They're in the fines, so again, to then plan your LTB FICA score, debt information, that I've seen. ORS, donate them five again. Sometimes they come with the discount, to the rate of that. Rates are still great. There's still near historic. Still a great time to buy. Do not wait to buy a house. The rates are going to go down. Of course I don't have a crystal ball. That's my said, good judgment indicates that I think are going to probably stay or climb a little bit. The interest rates a tight to this, excuse me, the 10 year treasury. [15:53] JAMES: Right? [15:53] CINDY: Usually when the Fed announces the direction of interest rates, they going to use some hikes, the market has a tendency to accelerate that. If they're going to say an increase in December, market goes higher before that. It's stable. It's still…they're still near historic low and they're in the five and would not wait 1 percent increase in the interest rate. Will make it 13 percent increase in your payment. [16:22] JAMES: Absolutely. [16:23] CINDY: A thousand dollar monthly payment. Your payment will go off to a 103 or extra $130 a month. That's pretty significant. People always talk about the score and want to increase it. I tell them, I said, you time you increase your score, you're going to be offset by the higher rate.[16:43] JAMES: Right. [16:44] CINDY: It's a lot. [16:46] JAMES: Yeah. That could take somebody from qualifying to not qualify. The bump in the rate and for people and for some people that might be borderline or maybe close anyway and you wait. You're not really winning and a lot of cases. You're not winning by waiting a. I try to encourage people, if you find…if you find a home that you're interested in now, don't wait because literally, half of point or all the point can make a significant difference. It can't really be the difference when you qualified or not in some cases. [17:19] CINDY: Yeah. Yeah. Or you have to drop the purchase price or have to come up with no money down to offset that. For every $10,000 you put down in a house, your monthly payment will change by $20,000. [17:32] JAMES: Right. [17:32] CINDY: $20,000 will only make $100 a month difference in your payment. That's not a lot of movement with significant $20,000 down payment. You're better off to do it now because rates in the fives are fantastic. I know people go back to the past and threes and fours and the confused I've seen. Ladies and gentlemen, that was history. You make three for a lifetime. [18:06] JAMES: Yeah, that's just… that's with sales. [18:04] CINDY: Gosh, yes. [18:04] JAMES: You've set the sale that made you want it. [18:08] CINDY: Right. [18:08] JAMES: It's funny when people started talking about the rates now, how they're going up and I tell people, before the crash, it just rates are in the 60s. [18:18] CINDY: Yes. [18:19] JAMES: My parents, when they bought their houses, they were in double digit. It's just perspective but if you didn't own a home before '07, '08 and maybe you just, you started looking into it after 2008. Basically the last 10 years, it won't be spoiled. [18:39] CINDY: Yes, absolutely. It means accidentally. [18:43] JAMES: It wasn't on purpose. They were spoiling. There's either the Katas or they're hard. [18:47] CINDY: I know, right?[18:48] JAMES: They were doing it to encourage people to go by because everything had kind of tanked. '08, '09 that's why those race was so insanely low, it was encouraged people to go out and own. Obviously, as the economy starts to get better, it's just a matter of time before those rates start creeping back up and that's where we are right now. [19:09] CINDY: Yes. Yeah. [19:12] JAMES: I laugh when people started talking about, oh my goodness, my rate's 4.8 and it's like…[19:19] CINDY: I know. [19:20] JAMES: Five [19:21] CINDY: Right. [19:22] JAMES: Rates are still very, very low. Yeah. Historically speaking, if your history is only six years ago. [19:31] CINDY: I know, right. Yeah. [19:34] JAMES: It’s a difficult… [19:34] CINDY: First house too that we bought was back in 2006 and it was 6 percent. I remember high fiving in the kitchen and using hands like, everybody was paying 10 and 11 percent, and I get 6 percent. That was a great rate. Six percent so great rate. [19:54] JAMES: Yeah, wise. [19:54] CINDY: It is good. [19:56] JAMES: Yeah. Absolutely was, yeah. I find it funny when people started talking about it, but we can't control it. Home ownership is still a better way to go. [20:09] CINDY: Yes. [20:10] JAMES: Paying a 5 percent interest or half or whatever it is and whatever it ends up being in 2019. It's still a better option than renting and in most cases. We'll continue to encourage people to go on. The sooner the better because rates, from what I see, and you can speak on that. For what I see, it seems like it's going to…the experts are saying that 2019, of course again, there's no crystal ball. Yeah, we're going to maybe be in that consistently in the 5 percent range. Who knows for, but that's what I see and that's what I've read. [20:51] CINDY: Yeah. Definitely would agree with that. Yeah.[20:53] JAMES: Yeah. The buying power for people, it changes significantly as those raised a lot. Yeah. If you guys are looking at a owning a home call, call Cindy. [21:04] CINDY: Yes. [21:04] JAMES: One more thing that I want to ask you. I want you to distinguish between pre-approval versus pre-qualification because I get this question a lot. I know what the difference is. [21:16] CINDY: Right. [21:16] JAMES: They are a big difference. I want you to speak on that a little bit so people really understand the difference and when, as a realtor, if you're making an offer on one of my listing with the prequalification letter, I'm not feeling that comfortable about it quite honestly. [21:32] CINDY: Yeah. [21:33] JAMES: Yeah, speak on that a little bit and tell the people the differences are. [21:39] CINDY: Sure. Okay. Definitely pre-qualification and pre-approval. The underwriter, there's a couple differences. The underwriter does the pre-approval, so that's when it actually goes into underwriting. [21:53] JAMES: Yeah. [21:53] CINDY: There're levels of prequalification letters that have stronger credibility than others. That's pretty much the documentation. [22:05] JAMES: Yes. [22:05] CINDY: When that consumer fills out a credit application and we call them. We go over the 10 on 3 with them. We pull their [inaudible] with score, input their liabilities and the application, make sure their debt to income ratio is right and sure. The LTV is right. Run interest rate pricing and make sure we get automated underwriting system approval, which is the automated scientific version of what an underwriter does. When we get an approved eligible, that triggers us to give a prequalification letter. [22:41] JAMES: Right. [22:42] CINDY: On that letter thought, if we want to take it to, I always say, I want to upgrades your prequalification letter, just to upgrade its which means I'm going to now look at your source document. [22:53] JAMES: Right. [22:54] CINDY: Source documents are your tax returns to your tax returns, early day pay stubs. That's the critical part because we really want to look at the tax returns to see what are you writing off. If you're a W2 employee, to write off, [inaudible] 106 expenses, with your salary reimbursed expenses. Because if so, we may and I say may, have to charge that as debt because those are business expenses that you're claiming. There are different programs where you may be able to skirt around that like a W2 only program if you don't own any real estate, you might be able to eliminate that. The point is, is that we need to look at the documentation that will uncover potential issues and can give us a better direction of which way we want to take the financing. [23:50] JAMES: Right. [23:50] CINDY: Yeah, it's pretty much, it’s a prequalification letter. It's just reviewing the documentation or not. That, if you're realtor, that's one of the things that you should look at is the documentation. [24:04] JAMES: Yes. Yeah. Because I mean, the prequalification, and yeah, you spoke on. That you can go online and fill out some information and get a prequalification spit out. [24:13] CINDY: Yes. [24:13] JAMES: With no verification of anything, which is why I love the fact that you take it a step further. For all of us that are involved in the transaction. From realtor to lender, we wanted to be strong. Nobody wants to waste time going through contracts and inspections and everything kind of like that. [24:37] CINDY: No. You can raise so much money. Like you wait to you inspection fee, your option fee. [24:42] JAMES: For sure. [24:42] CINDY: Even lose your earnest money, appraisal. You talk in $3,000. [24:47] JAMES: Yeah. [24:48] CINDY: I always…the realtors that I work with, I always train them, teach their clients in the beginning because you're the front contact. Let's see, pair them with need and it's very easy to your tax returns to your W2's, a 30 day pay stubs, two month bank statements, and even the bank statements are pretty significant. Even ID, I mean we've uncovered…we don't look at the beginning and then things happen that's expired and they don't have time to go get it renewed or there's always something. Really, I always tell borrower. I said, it is a lot of extra work. There is no benefit to them, the consumer if they don't provide that upfront. [25:29] JAMES: Yup. [25:32] CINDY: Good realtors prepare their clients for that right in the beginning. When I come in and talk to them, they've already heard it from you, another hearing it a second time. Again I pushed for that. I can't make them do anything. I tell them what's that risk? If they don’t get those documents and they usually, I've never had a problem with anybody complying with that. [25:59] JAMES: Right. Yeah. I think you said it. Yeah, setting that expectation from my end before they ever really talked in and most of the time, not all the time, but most of the time, it's going to start with the agent. That is so important to set that expectation. [26:12] CINDY: Yeah. You're really the point of contact. This is your lead. [26:17] JAMES: Right. [26:17] CINDY: The relationship in some way. Either from a referral or somebody that's coming to you to buy a home and I'm just the support behind the scenes. You lay the groundwork. You're going to have more credibility because you know what you're doing because this isn't your first rodeo. Then when I get them, they've already heard it before. It's really the call about preparing them and making it easier for them.[26:43] JAMES: Absolutely. [26:43] CINDY: The financing process can be, we asked for lots of documents throughout the process from start to finish and consumers will always say, is this all you need? I tell them, I'm like, well this is all I need today. [26:57] JAMES: Right. That's right.[26:58] CINDY: I'm going to back up really people behind me that are going to look at your file in a completely different way than I do. The underwriter is going to ask for conditions that need to be cleared. The processor's going to ask for documentation, my production partner, and then we might ask you for the same document again because you might not be exactly what we need. We can ask for documents up until a week or less than a week before closing. You can prepare your borrowers for that and if that doesn't happen, then it's even better.[27:33] JAMES: Yeah, supplies. [27:35] CINDY: Yeah. [27:35] JAMES: Absolutely, yeah. Now I try and said that explanations for all my clients, so yeah. It could go up to the day or the week before. [27:46] CINDY: Yeah. [27:47] JAMES: Just prepare for it. If it happens, then you know. You knew it was a possibility and I think that just makes people feel so much better because…and it's not a difficult thing just to let people know. This is not. There's a lot. It's not a straight. It might go like this. [28:06] CINDY: Yeah. [28:07] JAMES: With the close. It's not just a straight…a straight. There're a lot of things that happened. A lot of adjustments that get made, kind of like flying a plane. We never really feel it for the most part, but there're a million adjustments that these pilots are making over in a plane. Out of my analogy when it comes to a mortgage loan, because it's the same thing. It starts off one way and eventually you'll get to your destination which is closing. It's not always just a smooth process and a pupil, so frustrated with it. [28:39] CINDY: When I'm there along the way, every step of the way, I tell my followers, you can follow me after 5:00 and you can call me on the weekends. There's going to a lot of stuff that it's going to be thrown at you and especially that first time home buyers, I'm here to help you to translate what somebody else is asking. I might not be specifically asking you, but somebody else has requested that non-certain. That's part of my job. There is service court, which is mortgage lenders like myself, local small lenders. That one of the benefits is the service and being available and for the realtor as well to call and know that every time they call me, I answered the phone and I can get my voicemail. You're going to get me. [29:30] JAMES: Yes. [29:30] CINDY: You can ask the questions and I'm going to give you a straight up answer or I'm going to find out the answer if I don't know. Figure it out because you're left on a, on a ship that with the captain.[29:44] JAMES: I had that happen. I know there're a lot of realtors, its happened. Lender just do this but I know I'm working with you for the past three years. You are truly aware. You do answer the phone. Whether it's good or not, you're not the lender who just takes off and which is amazing that it happens, but it does.[30:06] CINDY: Bringing bad news to people is not easy. There's nobody on the planet would like to do that. Especially, the largest purchase of your life and that would not be a good thing and I try to stay clear of that, meaning I don't have bad situations at my peak that I qualify either solid and if they're not which means there are some weaknesses in their credit profile, which there could be that prepare them for that. I can say, this is what we're…this is the plan, and I give them the option. Your ratios are super high. You've got these collections that could be an issue. Here's what you risk. Your option money, your inspection fee, your appraisal fee. I will tell them that its a weaker profile and let them make a decision if I want to move forward or not. It also tell my realtor that too, so that they can be prepared if I have to make that call and say we, there was a hurdle that we just couldn't overcome. Blindsided like, well, why didn't you tell me this? Because yeah, I haven't run into that yet, but I will and I would. That's how I would approach that there wasn’t a paper lending. [31:29] JAMES: Yeah. There's a lot of stuff that happens that we just, again we don’t have control over what this, what the transaction is. So many people involved with so many things that happened. It's just the nature of what we signed up for this. [31:46] CINDY: That's right. [31:46] JAMES: We have this business but we love what we do. We all do because it's…it can be a crazy, crazy business. It really can. You are really good at what you do. I will excel the builder, all my builder partners that I know of. They are looking for a dependable vender. You are definitely a… [32:11] CINDY: Thank you. [32:13] JAMES: I'm speaking from personal experience, so not mean I've worked with you and I've seen what you do. How can people get a hold of you? Website, phone number? What's the best way? I'm going to post your information as throughout but…[32:30] CINDY: Okay. [32:30] JAMES: Go ahead and give…what's the website and in your phone number where to reached for you. [32:34] CINDY: My phone number is the best way. [32:36] JAMES: Okay. [32:37] CINDY: 832-370-7373, that's the best way. [32:42] JAMES: Okay. [32:43] CINDY: Yeah. [32:44] JAMES: Got it. [32:45] CINDY: My phone and now we will…you can go from there. Apply online. I get a direct portal website for online applications. [32:53] JAMES: Right. [32:54] CINDY: Get notification when it started. Application started and I get a notification when it's completed through email. What I usually do is I call the borrower right away. Introduce myself. Go over the 103 with. [33:08] JAMES: Okay. [33:08] CINDY: My link to apply online is cindywest.nrlmortgage.com.[33:17] JAMES: Okay, say that on more time. Cindy West just one word.[33:18] CINDY: Cindy West one word dot NRL mortgage.com. [33:24] JAMES: Got It. Okay, I'll make sure I'll post that on so people can have that and say if there's…if someone just got some questions about that, that special program that you guys have because there's probably a lot more detail that you can speak with and that…or just any loan. You have it take conventional or Cindy does it all. [33:41] CINDY: That's right. Okay. [33:42] JAMES: She could help you guys and she will get you to the finish line. I promise you. She's really good at it and I appreciate your time Cindy. [33:52] CINDY: Thanks James. [33:53] JAMES: We will do this again. [33:55] CINDY: Yes. [33:55] JAMES: Now we're about to head and get into the holiday season here the next week or so. We'll make sure we do this again. We can sit here and talk for hours about this. There's so much talk about. [34:09] CINDY: There is. [34:10] JAMES: We'll do this again. I appreciate your time. [34:13] CINDY: Okay, thanks. [34:14] JAMES: We will do this again. Thank you so much Cindy. [34:17] CINDY: Okay James. [34:17] JAMES: You take care.[34:18] CINDY: Thank you. [34:19] JAMES: All right. [34:19] CINDY: All right. Bye. [34:20] JAMES: Bye-bye. If you like this episode of the Houston Home Talk podcast, please don't forget to like, share, and comment! We appreciate your support and feedback! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Chicago Bears proved to the nation they are for real in the NFL as they defeated the Minnesota Vikings on SNF.  Now they have the fastest turn around in NFL history and take on the Detroit Lions for the second time in Detroit!

Welcome to the very first episode of the Houston Home Talk podcast! For our first episode, we have Willie Adolph from The Adolph Group, a company dedicated to educating others about their credit, and he’s going to talk about how we can manage our credit scores to how credit can affect the overall quality of your life.Want to learn more? Give this episode a listen! QUOTES“A lot of people feel that cash is king but credit can actually take you further.”“Credit is like reputation; It doesn’t matter all the good that you’ve done, but that one thing that you did wrong, people will spread that so fast.”“If you work with the system, the system will work for you”“When somebody takes a look at your report (credit score) it’s basically a reflection of what you’ve done, it’s not a reflection of who you are but it’s a reflection of what you’ve done”MENTIONSWillie Adolph (FB)The Adolph GroupContact Willie!Website: www.myfes.net/wadolphPhone: 281 451 7087SHOW NOTES[0:01:34.1] How to use leverage with credit[0:05:15.4] Credit Inquiries[0:06:16.7] Soft Pull VS Hard Pull[0:07:15.9] Case Study: Credit Karma[0:10:14.8] How co-signing can affect you[0:11:06.5] Credit restoration[0:14:03.5] Building/Maintaining your credit score[0:16:19.0] Which credit affect your score the most[0:18:25.7] How your credit is calculated[0:18:53.4] Models for credit scoring[0:20:40.0] What The Adolph Group does[0:22:47.4] How your credit will affect your overall quality of life[0:26:08.1] The advantages and disadvantages of having/not having a specialist assist you[0:32:49.0] A program that can help you have a better credit score[0:36:39.0] Contact Willie!Full Transcript: [00:03] Intro: Welcome Houston home talk, featuring all things real estate in the Houston area. We'll interview real estate professionals, local business owners, and special guests from right here in the Houston community. This is where you get the inside scoop about what's new in real estate, new community openings and business openings and much more. The Houston home talk show starts right now. [00:34] James: Yeah. You go ahead and introduce yourself, introduce your company and what we'll start there.[00:40] Willie: Okay. My name is Willie Adolph. I'm with MBS. I have a team called Adolf group. Basically what we do, we're here to help others educate them with about their credit. A lot of people feel that cash is king, but credit actually can take your whole lot farther because you can…you can use leverage with credit. A lot of people have a miss conception about credit. Everybody saying seven years in the final law. That's a myth. [01:08] James: Yeah, talk a little bit and more about that. Because I've heard that for years, seven years, seven years, seven years and a lot of people, it'll keep them from buying a house because they just, without contacting a professional like yourself to really know that hey, there's ways and that's seven year thing is a myth. Yeah, talk a little bit more about how that really works and how people can understand that meant, because I've heard it for year or two.[01:37] Willie: Right? Before I got into this, other place like, because I've been doing introducing credit since 2003. I've been messing around with the credit stuff for a long time because I started with the mortgage side. [01:49] James: Okay. [01:49] Willie: When I started with the mortgages, I had to kind of understand credit to help the clients that I had and then as I continue my career, I started learning more inter credit. When I dove deep into just learning about credit, it was around 2006, 2007 when that crash was coming. [02:09] James: Right. [02:10] Willie: Once they crash, it gave me more insight because it affected my family personally with. [02:16] James: Absolutely. [02:16] Willie: With the repossessions, foreclosures, things like that that was on my credit. Seven years, a lot of people say, well, with these seven years, they follow us off. Basically it's obsolete. You have a statute of limitation that it's on. [02:33] James: Right. [02:35] Willie: The problem is with a lot of people think that, so it's just like, I'm going to tell a company, 'Hey, I'm reporting this person later.' [02:44] James: Right. [02:45] Willie: I'm reporting it to the credit bureau. The person that the credit gear is not going to sit there and say it's seven years. 'Hey, guess what? We need to go ahead and take that off.' Technically, it has to be requested off because it can stay on your credit report for our life. It just doesn't fall off. It's just like home purchasing when they have the PMI is supposed to fall off, you get 20%. [03:10] James: You read my mind. Because that's where I was going. That's exactly what I was going to say. Go ahead. I'll let you continue.[03:16] Willie: Yeah. Technically, the mortgages company going try to ride and as long as they can but it wants you to realize, hey, I got 100% equity in my home. You have to contact the mortgage company, they request it off. [03:31] James: Absolutely. [03:30] Willie: There're a lot of things and with credit, a lot of people here, it's a law that was passed that anything negative on your credit report, you're allowed to…you'd be allowed to investigate. [03:44] James: Right. Right. [03:45] Willie: When a lot of people fail to understand that we're credit repair, it's not saying it's not your debt, but what it is saying that what's on there has to be accurate. It has to be verifiable and it can't be too old. Out of those three things, if it's one of those three, it has to be deleted. A lot of people don't know that if they're off by $100, $5, it has to be deleted because it's called inaccurate information.Even for like repossessions, a lot of people fall on hard times. With the repossession, you could have put a lot of money down and the car may still have a little value. Let's say for instance you owe $5,000 and they take the car back or you give it back. Voluntary repossession is still repossession. Majority of the time, if they repossessed the car, what they're going to try to do to it, if it's still in good condition, they're going to try to sell it. When you turned it in, it was $5,000 but what if they sold it for 40,000, will you own the 5,000? No.[04:50] James: No, definitely. [04:51] Willie: Now you only owe 1,000. They're supposed to contact you and let you know that hey, your car was sold and you're supposed to…there is the difference of what it is. It's the bill of sale. A lot of people don't understand the leverage that that credit has. Nowadays, rental history, before they pull your background, they looking at your credit.[05:13] James: Yeah. It's crazy. Because I mean, honestly, you can speak on this because it affects almost everything right now. I am a huge fan of the Dave Ramsey. [05:24] Willie: Yes. [05:25] James: I do. I like Dave Ramsey. As far as I haven't any credit, I mean honestly it affects job situations. It's his job. The employers check credit now. I'm not digging that all of them but I know I will check credit. Insurance, I mean it's virtually everything but its close. It's real close. Yeah, you can go ahead and you can kind of expand on that a little bit more. It's basically affect there. [05:51] Willie: Credit has so much to do with your down payment. Credit has so much to do with your interest rate and all you have some insurance company they say well it doesn't matter what your credit ain't doing what they call a soft core. [06:02] James: Right. [06:03] Willie: When they do a soft pull, they're looking at your credit history and basically your credit history is like your car telling you what you've been doing within the past few years of your financial life.[06:16] James: Yeah. Explain a sophomore versus a heart and so people understand the difference. Because I mean know the…yeah, people may not understand the difference between them, so again, explain that a little bit about the sophomore versus a parting firing.[06:27] Willie: Okay. Well that sounds cool is when a company, say for instance, sometimes like a light company. They can do, it's like a snapshot of your credit. [06:39] James: Right. [06:40] Willie: What they do is they look at it and they kind of judge and see if you have anything that's basically, do you owe them? Yeah. When you do a hardcore, they're contacting the bureaus…[06:54] James: Right? [06:54] Willie: They're getting all the information from all three bureaus or depending on if you're pulling a car, they only pulled from certain bureaus. When you're doing a home, they pulled it from all three bureaus. That's what you consider a harp pool and harp pools does affect your credit.[07:11] James: Yes. Then that's another differentiating factor too because a lot of people think, and I definitely want you to talk about this. There're so many resources out there for people to go get their credit. Get their…[07:21] Willie: Right. [07:23] James: What I get a lot is, people will tell me, they'll call me and want to, you know, they want to, are they looking, they're buying the house and they'll say, 'Hey, we're now pulled by credit, three weeks ago, three months ago. I have an 80.' I'm like, okay, well listen, and you guys…yeah, I want you to talk about this because the difference between like Credit Karma or all these other resources that people have versus them getting a mortgage. I know a mortgage, when you get any mortgage credit qualified a mortgage, it's the most thorough reports you're going to get even more so than a car already anything in my opinion. Yeah. Talk a little bit about that like the hard, like kind of the differences there.[08:07] Willie: What we've noticed over the past years, Credit Karma, they give you more of a snapshot of what your credit. [08:17] James: Right? [08:16] Willie: They give you free credit analysis. [08:21] James: Yes. [08:21] Willie: What I've seen in the past is that the numbers are off because they don't actually pull directly from the credit bureaus updated file. Perfect example, I have a client right now that she called me and she was like, 'Hey, I just need to get my scores up to a 680. I just checked on Credit Karma. I'm at a 622.' We was like, okay. Let's do it. We're glad to go through the process of eliminating this and that and see what we can do. When we actually, I said, well matter of fact, go talk to my friend that works at the mortgage company. Let's see where we stand so we can actually do a real hard pool and come to find out she was at may have fives.[09:13] James: Yeah. I've seen about that. [09:16] Willie: That's a big difference. If you're at a 622, and you're now at the mid of 5, that's like 60 some points and one point can actually kill any kind of deal and depending on what company you're going through. When you go with Credit Karma, it gives you a snapshot. They can't, they offer a lot of stuff to you to try to be more aware of your credit. To be accurate about your credit, you have to be more mindful of what's going on when you coast time for somebody. If they mess up, it falls on YouTube. A lot of people think that, well that's not mine. No. It is. It's, I'm sorry to say and you can't just call them and say, look, take my name off. No, because you're the reason why they got it.[10:04] James: Right, right. Yes. This means is that you too, I'm like you're supposed to have. I go sign and you might as well be the top signer because it really doesn't matter to get one of the names. It counts the same. [10:20] Willie: Yes. [10:20] James: That co-signer to get, I mean I've seen people get just completely get there, kind of ruined by it. My co-signer for somebody. [10:28] Willie: Right. [10:29] James: People not to, uh, whenever, you know, whenever looking to own a home because yeah, especially when…yeah, I see that all the time too, if somebody's is full stop and maybe that one debt is really keeping there for what. They got to go look at maybe trying to refine and other way, it's really [inaudible] [00:10:48] and so we finance it. There's no other way, like you said, kangaroo take, you know, take my name off of it. Yeah. That's definitely, I see that all the time. I'm like when I talked to people about credit, I don't like to use credit rest of that. For some credit repair has a negative connotation. I don't know why but for real estate, the bottom line is we need to, we need to move from here to here. [11:18] Willie: Right. [11:20] James: I call it. For you guys, I know there's not a one size fits all because everybody's situation is different. If you're working with somebody, do you guys give them a, I guess is it just based on situation to say base on what I see here, I think let's say two months, three months or how do you guys break that down when people come to you for to look at that. [11:43] Willie: Technically what it is everybody, like you said, it's a case by case scenario. [11:48] James: Right? Yeah. [11:49] Willie: Nobody can guarantee you anything. Basically everything is computer generated and it, but it's calculated as well. We're looking at the credit, the good thing about what we have to offer to the clients is that we have a similar what if scenario. What happens is, what a what if scenario? What if I pay this down, this down, this down, or pay this off, this off this off. It gives you a calculation. If you do this, you have an opportunity to get this score from where you're at now. Now is it 100% on point? No. [12:25] James: Right. [12:25] Willie: It gives you a snapshot of, hey, if you do this, you would be in that ballpark figure. It's just, it's hard for me to eyeball it and say, but what I do know if you're late, you hurt yourself.A lot of people also don't know. So let's say for instance, March has 31 days in that, right? You have a payment due on the 1st of March. Some people say, 'Oh man, I made the payment on the 15. I'm late.' Okay, you're late with the company, but you're not late with the credit. [13:02] James: Right, right. [13:02] Willie: Because you have to be a certain amount of days, which is 30. Now, some people will say, okay, well I'm going to make my payment at the end of March, which is the 31st. Guess what? You are late now. Even though you paid in March. [13:17] James: Right. [13:17] Willie: Because that is a perceptive, well I still pay on March. Yeah, but you paid on the 31st, that's past 30 days. You have to realize 30 days is 30 days. We have 28 days. You really technically anything after the 2nd of March, now you're late unless you get that leap year. There're a whole lot of things, a whole lot of variables that a lot of people don't think. They look at, well, I paid in March, it's March. No, it's the days. Then you also have to look at your calculations. You have to realize, you have to probably even call your company and ask when do they report to the credit bureaus? [13:57] James: Right. [13:57] Willie: Because your credit cards are not all reporting at the same time. Now the way to build your credit is to keep your maximum balance up on the 30%. You can charge you whatever, but you have to realize once you charge over 30% regardless if you're making that payment on time, you're going to get hit because you're overextending yourself. You're spending your…what they say you're living on other people's money and and you get deemed for that at the beginning.[14:31] James: Yeah. No. Yeah, and I use it. That's the rule I give everybody. I always say 30% I'm not real sure where the game for a while, so probably sometime long, long ago somebody mentioned that to me. I was going to ask you about that because that's what I, that's kind of the advice I'd give people when they're looking at because that's probably, yeah, I want you to talk about like the way that these girls put on a mortgage credit card versus maybe not necessarily specific percentages, but I'd rather different weight for different things. I stop my loans and mortgages so forth.[15:07] Willie: Your biggest weight is your payments. That's 30% of how everything is graded on your credit. A lot of people look at it the wrong way for the simple fact is that they feel that, okay, if I make my payments on time, my scores are going to boost up tremendously. [15:30] James: Right? [15:30] Willie: What they fail to understand, yeah, your scores are going to go up as long as you keep that balance low. [15:37] James: Right. [15:37: Willie: They're going to go up. The problem is, I look at it like it's almost like somebody's reputation and you look at it like this, it doesn't matter all the good that you've done that one thing, that one thing that you did wrong, people will sprint that so fast and your credit is the same way. You make that one late payment. Guess what? Your scores can drop anywhere from 20 to 70 points off of one late payment.[16:10] James: That doesn't matter whether it's a credit card, a car, honestly, I know a mortgage payment, you probably take the biggest skin if you're, if you have ever had like a late or…[16:21] Willie: Mortgage? Yeah, mortgage and cars take the biggest hit, but also the credit cards take a big hit is what the mortgage take I think the biggest hit for the simple fact, if you try to purchase another home…[16:38] James: Right. [16:38] Willie: The first thing they, the mortgage, another mortgage company is looking at is your mortgage history. Rental history, whatever history is where you live and what they look at is that, I have a, I have a client right now is that we're disputing their late pay. [16:54] James: Right. [16:54] Willie: You can actually get that negative off of there because at the same time they have to verify how were you late the days and the thing is, is that it's going through the credit bureaus that fight these for you. A lot of people think that you go straight to the creditor, sometimes you can work a deal out with them, but a lot of times you're going to lose that battle because they're in it for the money. You're not in it for the people there any for that bottom line.[17:23] James: No, that makes sense, man. When people are looking at getting a mortgage, it's, there's a lot of stuff that people do and what they don’t know, for me, I found that it's usually when they're looking at buying a house is when a lot of stuff comes up. That they just didn't work for. [17:41] Willie: Right. [17:43] James: If you're buying a car, you're trying to get a credit card. It never really comes. There's a lot of you can get away with just buying a car. The car that you go recently is a, what it can. It's just different but while you get it, while you back in the mortgage for example is just I felt like all of the stuff you didn’t know about your credit pass also come up. Never faills. [18:04] Willie: Exactly. [18:13] James: When it felt back and I'm getting more of it, so. [18:08] Willie: Yeah, I forgot about that. [18:10] James: I have this all the time. Yeah, all the time. All right, well…[18:14] Willie: Well James, they give you…they give you a little better percentage. You got the way that your credit is calculated, 35% of your payment history, 30% of your year amount use 15% of the length of your credit, 10% is your new credit and 10% is the type of credit that is used. Yeah. Basically all of that is calculated into what your scores are as of today, every vendor is supposed to pull from the credit bureaus. All of them don't.[18:52] James: Yeah. It's frustrating too because all the bureaus, and we could speak on this a little bit too, because you got Equifax, Transunion, and Experian. [19:02] Willie: Experian. [19:03] James: They don't all necessarily treat everything It's frustrating for me because they all do stuff different that's through scores. Yeah, maybe you talked a little bit about why that is. I don't know if you'd have to know what the why is or why they do that. I don't know if it's…cause you're getting a mortgage. Of course they look at all three scores and then they take the middle. [19:27] Willie: Right. [19:28] James: That's the fair way to do it because they all have different models.[19:33] Willie: Correct. The way that the model work, I didn't mean to cut you off. The calculations are the same. [19:40] James: Right. [19:41] Willie: It's the reporting. Everybody doesn't report to the bureaus they're saying.[19:46] James: Okay.[19:49] Willie: I may report to Transunion but not report to Equifax.[19:51] James: I made the report there also.[19:53] Wilile: No, see a lot of people think that the government, that the, the bureaus are governmental rule. They're not. That's a myth. They're not governed by the government. This is an independent source. They're making billions of dollars. They're not governed…they're not regulated by the government. It's crazy that they have…those three numbers have so much power over what you can do with your life, what you could do with purchasing and things like that. And a lot of people just really don't understand the power of credit. When you work with me are, our company. We not just only give you the opportunity to restore your credit, we educate you on your credit. You get your own private portal to where you have a snapshot of what's going on with your credit at all times.You can wake up at two o'clock in the morning and say, Hey, what's going on? We have what they call a progress report but a lot of people…we live in a microwave society. What I mean by that, we put in the microwave. We hit the popcorn button and guess what happens. It's done. We don't…we're not old school where you have to warm up the oil, put the popcorn in, shake it around and take its time. We want everything. I paid this and this should go to…no it takes time. Negative stuff does spread faster than pot the thing.[21:31] James: I'm glad you said that cause I'd rather browse…to say, it's funny because when you screw up trying to fix it now. If the creditor makes the mistake though, it's like pulling teeth trying to get them to fix it. Now visually to stay on it, you'll get it fixed. A lot of people just don't have the patience to deal with it. That's where you can come in and help people that are in that situation. Yeah, when you screw up it's like Bam, they hit you a hard real quick but trying to fix a mistake from a quick, it's just the opposite. It's not a microwave fix when it comes to them screwing up but when you do it is the microwave[22:12] Willie: It's like bam. We got you. We got you. A lot of people…[22:17] James: You have some people like it is what it is. These are the rules. This is the sandbox we're in. It's their rules. If you want to play in their sandbox, this is what you got to do. That's not cool. If you just don't…If you want to try and go through life without credit at all? I guess you can. That's what Dave Ramsey advocates. It makes it challenging in a lot of situations when you're trying to, look I'd say even just from applying for job or getting…[22:48] Willie: Like a mortgage Insurer…[22:50] James: Brad was insured for that matter. Literally everything gets checked. Even if it's a cell phone, it's still having an effect because they can say no.[22:58] Willie: Even for cell phones. Okay. So here's another thing. When you look at credit, okay, you have to have credit to get into this apartment, to get into this house, whatever which ones. Guess what? You have to have lights. What do they do? They pull credit. Not saying they're going to deny you buy you may have to pay a deposit. [23:21] James: Exactly, yeah.[23:23] Willie: You may have to…when you do your gas, when you do cable, internet, anything that you do nowadays, they pull credit. I've always thought different. It's like, okay, well if I got bad credit, why are you making my payments so harder. If I'm struggling now with these payments, how are you going to give me a higher? It's one of them lessons you have learn. If you want good things, you have to treat things good.With us, we involve our clients with every step of the way. We make sure that they are involved in it. A lot of people say, well, why didn't you do that? Well, if you put skin into the game, you're going to be more involved with it. You're going to make sure that I'm not messing it up? I'm not going to let nobody mess it up and things like that. We're here to educate. It's not we're going to fix it. No, we're going to educate you during the whole process. It's not fixing anything. It's restoring it and making sure. Can you do this yourself? You can. You definitely can. That just like when you go to court, you don't have to have a lawyer. You can represent yourself. There's so many ins and outs that you may not know. [24:37] James: That’s right.[24:36] Willie: I always say, can you change your own oil? Sure you can. Do you really want to go through that hassle? If you want it…[24:45] James: thank them for us. I'm a realtor. Yeah, you could sell your home on your own.[24:49] Willie: Right.[24:50] James: A lot of times they're the same thing. There's so much stuff that goes into it that you may not know when it comes to contracts and stuff that comes along with title. Maybe you roll on the dice. eah, could you do it? Yeah, you could. Why not pay an extra for having the expert that knows exactly what they're doing. They're going to save you a whole lot of time and in the case of real estate, most of the time having in Asia people will actually get more money when they…versus them selling. I don't know. A lot of people would think it's flipped. There might be a case by case situation where that's not true. For the most part I say to them to get an expert.Yeah, you can figure out anything you want. Just go to YouTube. everything is YouTube. People got a lot of stuff going on. The credit thing for me, I'm like, man, you need, I can get an expert because it is. It's not something like you say, it's not a microwave. You know what you're doing. Yes, people could figure it out. Consistency and staying on top of these boroughs before you see change. Most people in my experience, they don't have the -- they don't have the patience to do that and so you guys are what you do for people. It's great.[26:04] Willie: I appreciate that. For what you guys do, a lot of people say, well all you're doing is opening the house and showing the house. It's a lot more. It's a whole lot more behind that. You guys have to take on the liability of making sure that perfect example, if a house is flooded and somebody comes in there and paint the house and cover everything up it's your fiduciary to make sure that that client is taken care of, that they're not stepping into a mold trap or stepping into things that's going to hurt them later down the line. You guys do a great job of helping out the clients as well. It's a hand in hand thing that what we do. A lot of people said we don't work fast enough.here's the thing.Here's the thing. It's not that we don't work fast enough. You just destroyed your credit faster than we can repair it. Paying your bills, taking care of it, being responsible. Don't get me wrong. Life happens. Things happen in life. There's uncontrollable things that I've been there. I've had repossessions. I've had foreclosures. At the same time with credit restoration, there had been mistakes reported incorrectly that was able to be deleted and removed off of my credit report. That's our thing is that we are here to help. Are we going to sit here and say it's going to be fixed right away? No, we can't promise that that first round that we do is going to be taken care of. I'm never going to tell…I set expectations. You're going to take three months. You're going to see some improvement. [27:47] James: Right.[27:48] Willie: Six months is when you're going to see great improvement. At the same time, your improvement and my improvement is totally different. You have people out there that says, in 30 days your score's going to go up. Guess what? They're not lying if and go, if you had a 500 and you go to 501.[28:07] James: Yup. Exactly, that’s right. It went up.[28:11] Willie: It went up.[28:10] James: It's funny. I just referred to the day. It's a guarantee we're going to get you to, I think it was like 720 and I'm just laughing like how are you making this guarantee because everybody, there was no one person and I don't do credit restoration. I've been around a lot of it to know everybody. There is no one situation that repeats itself exactly the same way. I'd probably be doing this. There's probably nobody that's like, exactly the same.[28:40] Willie: No. You might have some similarities. When people say, we can raise your scores guaranteed. The problem with that is I'm going to tell you my guarantee is satisfaction guarantee. If you work the system, the system will work for you. I'm not going to guarantee because he was another thing that I've run across my years. Even easing at that as of last month, I still run through this thing. People say, it doesn't work. You know why it doesn't work? Because you don't allow it to work. What I mean by that, if we do remove some negativity your scores will go up a little bit. Perfect example, I have client. We removed six items. Scores went up 52 points, great job. They missed paying a bill and then scores dropped 65 points. Then they're down what? so that’s 13 what? 13 points under from where we started.They got…they was like, hey, you said my scores will go…it did go up. When you didn't make this payment. You got to stay with it. You understand? No, I don't understand. You know that this is this. This is that. I do understand times do come where we have to pick and choose or what, what's going to happen. Here's another thing. A lot of people don't know that if you have a collection…I will use a cable company and they're coming after their debt. Of course, they sold it to a collection company and now they're trying to fight. You can't have two people coming after the same day. [30:24] James: Right. Right.[30:25] Willie: that's against the law. Some people don't know that. We have to remove that. We also clean up your history of where you live of addresses because sometimes there's a typo O because you may have 6502 but then on your credit report it says 6520. A bank is going to say why is this like that?This is where we can remove things like that. Phone numbers, employment history, misspell of your name, nicknames. A lot of times that we do come across, like for instance, my dad is a senior. I'm a junior so when you say Willy Adolf, they can have all my dad's information on there. It may not be good that I need that because it's not accurate information and vice versa. They might have been some bills that I didn't take care of and my dad be like son, you need to get this taken care of. We are very diligent on making sure that when somebody looks at your report, it's a really a reflection of, of what you've done. It's not a reflection of who you are. It's a reflection of what you've done.We try to make sure that when creditors and vendors look at your credit report, we try to make sure that it is clean as it possible. We want to make sure that all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. Do we get everything off? No. Why? Because some stuff is reported correctly, is reported accurately, and it's still within that timeframe of statute of limitation where it has to be on there. We're not here to say we can get everything off because nobody can just get everything off. You got to be careful of who you let put stuff on your credit because it's technically illegal to do that. It's credit fraud. There are things that you can add to it. We have what we say credit rent. Basically what credit rent is, this is good for people who have lack of trade lines.They need some more to help boost their scores. How many times had you pulled somebody or seen somebody's credit and their rental history is on there? You don't see that? Guess what? Miss that payment and it'd be on there. We offer programs that's legal that you can actually go back two years and put that positive trade line on there and that helps with their spores. That helps with their rental history. We also offer secure credit cards because here's the funny thing, you go to a bank and tell them I want a secure credit card. That means I want to give you my money to open up a line of credit. Guess what's the first thing they do? Pull your credit. [33:17] James: Yeah. I'm giving you my money [33:22] Willie: Guess what happens? I don't like what your credit look like. You're denied. You're denying me for me to give you my money to put on this card to spin and yes they will. We offer services to that. Now, the thing is, is that now once you put your money on there, how are you going to treat that car? This is what the credit bureaus now look at. Even though it's your money and you give your credit card, $300 that doesn't mean you have $300 of spent. That means you're showing the three bureaus, hey, let me show you what, how I can manage this money because after x amount of time, you can graduate and then it goes to unsecure and then that means now you're trusted with somebody else's money. [34:05] James: It's almost like having a debit card, but you get to use it to build up your score. Actually, obviously a debit transaction report. Essentially it's a debit card that gets reported to the credit bureaus in essence is what it is.It's important for a lot of people, especially people that don't have any credit or just people that may have just had some stuff come up in the past where it's just, you know, they had a bad situation. That's kind of like I said, like everybody's problem at this at some point. I've dealt with it before. Yeah, that's secure credit card. I did not know that. That's actually a nugget because I didn't know that you could get denied for secure credit card. I didn't even know that. [34:46] Willie: Yes, I ran across that many and many a times and it still baffles me that how can you get denied. There's several banks out there, I'm not mentioning them, but there are several banks out there that will deny. You just got to make sure. Another thing that we offer with our service is on top of the education, on top of showing you how you can do debt, get to your…clear your debt, how you can pay your debt, how you can pay your house off, or how you could pay your car loan or how can pay your credit card off.We have so many tools. We have credit protection. We offer life lock part of our program. Because every two seconds somebody that identity is getting stolen. Somebody's identity just got stolen. Now you're getting alerts of what's going on. We offer credit monitoring. All of this is part of it. We say for instance, now we're going into the tough times up. We have stuff that we can prove that is inaccurate or unverifiable but the creditor is being real stubborn about it. Part of the service is we have created attorneys on staff to help fight that. Another thing, you get those phone calls on your job at home, our credited attorneys take care of that as well to stop the harassing calls for the simple fact is that we get that taken care of for you because you're not allowed to be harassed.[36:15] James: Right. That's awesome man. Lots to go man. Listen, tell people first of all, how did you get to get in touch with you guys? Would it be website, social media, whatever it is. Let people know how they can reach out to you guys, their knee if they've just got questions about anything. We just talked about anything else often they want to maybe address to you personally? How to get a hold you.[36:38] Willie: To get a hold of me, you can always call me or text me at (281) 451-7087, If you want to go to my website and just check out everything that we offer and what we have, you can go to www.myfes.net//wadolph. That’s W-A-D-O-L-P-H. On their it has so many opportunities[37:09] James: I'll add that on here so people can easily just click there and access it. Let me ask you one last question. You're based in Houston. It doesn't really matter where people are, right?[37:16] Willie: No, I'm, I'm actually bonded under the company. I'm bonded and licensed in all 50 states. [37:22] James: Awesome. That’s great to know. [37:26] Willie: Everybody can call me. Call for Will because you know, if you have, will you have a way. I am Will,[37:33] James: I appreciate your time. Listen, we will do this again because this is one of those things that you can't just touch. This is something I would see it for what I do and I know your wife she's a realtor as well. All of us. This is something we will definitely, I will have you on again and we'll talk some more about this but I appreciate your time man[37:52] Willie: I appreciate you, and think about this for all the realtors out there. If this is something that you're interested in, how can you learn about it? Reach out to me because you can do the same thing. You can help your pipeline out, help grow, add value to your service anywhere instead of sending it somewhere off to someone, you can give them the same information. Just reach me. (281) 451-7087.[38:25] James: Sounds good man. I will get that out. Like I said, I'll post that website as. well. Again, I appreciate your time and, yeah, you guys you got to have questions. Give Willy a call or reach out to him on his website and we will have you on again brother, I appreciate your time.[38:40] Willie: Hey, I appreciate you having me on. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much.[38:42] James: All right Willy. All right, man. You take care. Have a good evening. [38:46] Willie: All right. You too. Thanks.If you like this episode of the Houston Home Talk podcast, please don't forget to like, share, and comment! We appreciate your support and feedback! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Host Ali Nazar interviews Shawn Lani, Director for the Exploratorium's Studio for Public Spaces, on the Bay Area institution's founding story, outreach programs, and preparations for their 50th anniversary.Transcript:Ali Nazar:You're listening to KALX Berkeley in 90.7 FM and this is Method to the Madness coming at you from the Public Affairs Department here at Calex celebrating the innovative spirit of the Bay Area. I'm your host, Ali Nassar, and today I got with me Shawn Lani, he's the Director for the Studio for Public Spaces at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Hey, Shawn, what's going on?Shawn Lani:Hey. Nothing. Just here, jabbing this morning.Ali Nazar:Yeah, thanks for jabbing.Shawn Lani:Yeah, my pleasure.Ali Nazar:Appreciate you coming in. So we're going to talk about a few things. Exploratorium, obviously, is a beloved institution in the Bay Area, but I always ask people when we first start out about organizations like the Exploratorium, they're very unique and they start out with a kind of a problem statement in mind. What is the problem statement that Exploratorium is trying to solve?Shawn Lani:That's a good question. A lot of people think of the Exploratorium as a science museum that was formed in the way that a lot of things were formed, but the culture institutions tend to be a product of their times. They're responding to a need, and at the time, there was an educational reform movement going on in America and the 60s were happening. This is 1969, it was founded and Frank had spent many years-Ali Nazar:Frank Oppenheimer?Shawn Lani:Oh, yes. Frank Oppenheimer had spent many years as a teacher on a ranch kind of perfecting a hands-on method of learning and was convinced that people really needed a place where they can get their hands on things and figure things out for themselves. One of the things he used to do is take his kids out to a junkyard and a very non-traditional approach, take things apart, find out how they work. It was definitely a sense of the authentic was always a driving force and also a trust that people were naturally curious and could be inspired to kind of explore their own inquiry. And that turned out to be a very powerful model for teaching and learning.Ali Nazar:Yeah, and I think any of us have been to the Exploratorium totally get that feeling because that's what the place is all about. But taking just one more kind of step down memory lane, can you tell us a little bit more about Frank Oppenheimer, who he was and how he came to found the museum?Shawn Lani:Yeah. Frank Oppenheimer was Robert Oppenheimer's younger brother, he's sometimes called the Uncle of the Atomic Bomb. He worked on the Manhattan Project, and for many years after that he was ostracized from universities and ended up in a ranch in Colorado. He was a natural teacher. He was very much a humanist, and so as he spent many years out there kind of basically, surviving, he ended up coming to San Francisco. He still had a lot of contacts, a lot of people knew who Frank was and started the San Francisco Project and found the Palace of Fine Arts. He wrote up a rationale for a science museum and ended up stomping around the City Hall drumming up support for it and got a 30-year lease for a dollar a year at the Palace of Fine Arts. Ali Nazar:Wow.Shawn Lani:Yeah. That's not a bad deal.Ali Nazar:Wow, yeah, pretty good. San Francisco real estate.Shawn Lani:Yeah, exactly. Well, the funny thing is even at the time when Frank walked in that behemoth of a building, he already thought, "This isn't going to be big enough," and, in fact, we added onto that building some years later, a second floor. And then eventually, we outgrew the building altogether and moved to Pier 17 just five years ago, Pier 15, sorry, in San Francisco.Ali Nazar:Well, Great. So thank you for that story and understanding kind of where it came from. So we're almost 50 years into the Exploratorium's founding. What's the journey been like? Where are we today?Shawn Lani:Well, the Exploratorium is, I think, necessarily evolving and I think this is true of any cultural institution. They need to evolve with culture in order to respond to it and be relevant. And as we started as a science museum with exhibits that quickly grew into a explainer program that integrated teens on the floor explaining and working with visitors. We started professional development of teachers very early. We were one of the first 600 websites when that started to evolve. And so the museum's always been kind of a slowly growing institution with new feature-sets and more and more of those have become interrelated over time.And so when I think about the Exploratorium, I went there as a child, three and four years old, you kind of fall in love with the place. And even all these years later, I walk through and there's something familiar about the way that we respect humans as learners. And in everything that we do, the way that we approach the work is very much in support of somebody's own sense of wonder and inquiry and to enable people to ask questions of the world and find those questions useful and even to question the answers they get back when they ping the world. We want them to know that they are active learners, they're in control of what they understand. And so that's always kind of been a thread throughout all of our work.Ali Nazar:Yeah, and it's so fascinating to me, as I'm listening to you talk, and think about many times in this show, we have people who have started an organization six months ago or eighteen months ago. They had this dream and this vision and I've been part of founding teams too and I think one of the things that a founding team dreams of is to have something be sustainable and go on for a long time and now, we're sitting with something like that in the Exploratorium. We're almost 50 years in. How does the governance work? How do you guys keep the mission vibrant and alive and even though Dr. Oppenheimer has long since gone?Shawn Lani:Yeah, he passed in 1985. He used to say that the Exploratorium was anarchy and Frank was the anarch and there was a certain kind of a glue that he could bring just through kind of force of personality and his intellect was somebody once said, "Walking through the Exploratorium was like walking through Frank's mind," but in fact the places evolved a lot since frank has passed. And I think that was also by design because just like we've always treated visitors as part of the equation, staff has always felt like it was part of their job to generate new ideas and to figure out new ways of engaging with audiences increasingly diverse and in new ways and on subject matters that are important to them. When I first got there in '93, we were doing some work with the National Science Foundation, which is a long-term supporter.But I was kind of surprised at the number of people doing things that I didn't think at all were related to the Exploratorium. And eventually, we had a Body Show, we had shows about memory, we looked at our Light and Color and Sound exhibitions, we renamed them Seeing and Hearing, thinking more about how people are not only sensing the world but perceiving it and the acts of perception is active. You're construing, you're making sense of the world as you find it. And so reframing the world is actually a really powerful tool for allowing people to see things in a new way, and then from that moment forward, carry that with them. It's not something that happens in the museum for that moment, which is static, it's dead when you leave. You might pick up some information, but that's just information. A way of seeing the world is far more influential I think.And actually, it's far more respectful because what we don't do is say, "This is the right way to look at the world." What we do say is, "Have you thought of it this way? Have you thought about how when you look out at the Bay, say it just all looks like a bunch of water," right? But the long story behind that is where it comes from, the push and pull of the saltwater and the ecologies that live there. And once you tell that narrative, for a lot of people, I think it builds an appreciation for a way of looking at the world that's more animated. It's more animated and it's actually, it's much more fun. It's much more interesting. And so I think that's the way that we've drifted over the years as we added more and more program is how do we do that more? How do we connect with people in such a way that they feel like they're a little different from after they've brushed up against us? And likewise, I think the museum needs to feel like, "Hey, we're being changed by our visitors as well because we're in conversation."Ali Nazar:Yeah. And it's so appropriate. I think for the spirit of the Bay Area because I always think of us being kind of like the furthest on the west of the Western civilization and kind of able to question everything. That's kind of where we're at and just geographically we're the most newest of all the cities to come. And so we can kind of look back and say, "Well, should we think about it this way? Should we be thinking about it that way?" And Exploratorium really embodies that kind of spirit.Shawn Lani:Yes. It's easy to take for granted, especially if you grew up here and I know you're raising some children and once you have kids you start to realize like, "Wow, we are in the middle of so many things." We watch movies, there we are. You hear stories or you see movements come out of the Bay Area that are global. And I've been lucky enough to travel a lot because of the Exploratorium. We have a lot of global influence from the Bay Area and the Exploratorium itself. We do global consulting, we do a lot of professional development. We train over a 1,000 teachers a year. We've trained over 30,000 teachers since the inception of the Teachers Institute. And that's the kind of influence that that continues on. So those 1,000 teachers teach 15,000 students, right? There're 30,000 teachers. Think about all the kids they've reached. And all we've done is given that teacher a new tool, a way of using inquiry and informal approaches to learning about the world, and then they take it and move that forward.So that's the kind of impact I think the Exploratorium, for me, in my mind, when I think of it, I don't think of it as a place as much as a kind of movement and I think it's continuing to be a kind of movement. We occupy space in people's minds sometimes because they went there as a kid or because they bring their kids or they ... But there's something about the place that just glows, and the more we can export that glow, the better. Right?Ali Nazar:Yeah. Bottle it up.Shawn Lani:Bottle it up. Yeah. But don't commercialize it. There's that beautiful blend of sharing. It's a kind of sharing.Ali Nazar:Yeah. And the amplification effect is so much what's so special about founders in my mind is someone has this idea in their brain and if they're successful, like Dr. Oppenheimer was, look at the amplification effect and how many lives he's touched just because he pursued that thought in his brain of, "Well, people should have experiential learning."Shawn Lani:That's right.Ali Nazar:And look what's happened since 50 years later.Shawn Lani:That's right.Ali Nazar:And it's really amazing. So we're talking to Shawn Lani, he's a Director for the Studio for Public Spaces at the Exploratorium in San Francisco right here on Method to the Madness on KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM. Shawn, so let's talk a little bit about the Studio for Public Spaces. So there're lots of programs there, but before we get into that, I want to just get a little bit of your background. Tell us about yourself.Shawn Lani:Well, I grew up in the Bay Area primarily. I was born in San Leandro, lived in Oakland and so definitely a Bay Area person. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time out on a ranch in eastern Nevada and was inspired by just the raw nature of that landscape. And, in fact, it brought a lot of that work into the Exploratorium and that way of seeing those landscapes. And I studied at Davis and really enjoyed English and art history. I studied a lot of things. And the funny thing was I wasn't a science guy. I was handy and I could fix things on the ranch, but mostly when I was supposed to be digging holes, I was staring at springs or watching birds and so it wasn't a great rancher either.So somehow I landed up, ended up at the Exploratorium. I got a Masters in Museum Education and Design at John F. Kennedy University. And I just never thought I could work in a place that wonderful. I didn't even think to apply and it popped up, but it seemed faded. I lived only three blocks away from it. I was just extremely lucky to find it and that place changes over time. We've gotten a lot bigger and its mission has shifted not unnecessarily. And I was able to slot into a place and then move through the museum and experience what the global impact is like, what it's like to work locally. And then in 2008, we opened a show at Fort Mason. It was an outdoor Exploratorium and rather than introducing phenomenon like we do in the museum, we capture it out there.We framed it and we looked at the landscape as kind of a subject matter and tried to do these conceptual framings that allowed people to see the world in a new way and was really hooked, really fascinated with the idea that you didn't have to go inside the museum to have a really poignant experience. And, in fact, I was struck by how different it was. I wouldn't say better, but having it be a part of your daily life seemed to make it much more accessible and far more interesting as a developer, as a designer because then it's like you're in the ultimate a flea market, right? Like, "What's that? How did that happen? What the?" All these questions come to mind and sometimes when you dig a little bit, you find the most amazing answers. We're curious, Pete Richards, a senior artist at the museum, he'd heard the Golden Gate Bridge moved up and down because of the heat.So we put a GPS tracker on it. We talked to Leica. We really did our research and it turns out, sure enough, it moves up and down a foot or two depending on the temperature of the day. And there's kind of a mean temperature in the middle. So we put a scope on the bridge from a mile and a half and actually, it's three miles away with a little line in the middle. And we called it a bridge thermometer if it was a hot day, the bridge would be low and it was a cold day, the bridge would be up. And it was just such a lovely kind of observation that Pete had brought along. And then we were doing evaluation later and a runner came by and she stopped and she looked at it and she took off and our evaluator chased her down and said, "Well, that's usually not a good sign if somebody just does a glancing blow."And she said, "No, I just like to see where the bridge is every day when I went by, I want to see what the bridge is doing." So it was such a wonderful thing to think of reframing that big static thing in the distance, not as kind of a thing that doesn't move, but a thing that's being responsive to temperature. When the sunrises, it takes a couple hours for the bridge to heat up and sag. So there's all these beautiful thermodynamics going on and it's that kind of animation that really caught our attention.Ali Nazar:That's super cool. I mean it reminds me of just in such a hyper-creative environment of almost in I would think like Saturday Night Live where you have all the writers around pitching ideas. There're like lots of ideas. How does it work? Because I would think that the staff there is super-creative and comes up with all sorts of interesting thoughts like that.Shawn Lani:Yeah.Ali Nazar:How does the process of getting something approved and funded go?Shawn Lani:Well, we prototype a lot and you might have an idea, but if you don't test your idea, nobody's going to believe you. And the ultimate test is how the public responds to it in the final form. And so one of the things we do, we utilize evaluation in a more formal way but also in an informal way. We tinker about, we try things. And that's true of most subject matters. Even as we move into the social sciences and thinking about stereotypes and thinking about how do you exhibitize some of those experiences? You don't really know until you go out and you try it with people. And the beautiful thing about that isn't that there again to prove or disprove what you thought was right they're most likely going to inspire you to do something that you wouldn't have otherwise thought of. That collaborative effort extends far beyond your immediate development team. I mean we might beat each other up about whether we think it's a good idea or not, but that kind of healthy criticism can only really be verified by the end-users.Ali Nazar:Sure, which is very much part of the spirit of San Francisco tech life. Lean startup and 20th-century design, hi-tech.Shawn Lani:Starting in '93 there was no tech, there was no ... I didn't have a computer on my desk. If you wanted something, you called the old guy that worked at the part shop and you told him what you needed, right. But the language started to come from tech eventually started to seep and some of it was familiar and some of it sounded kind of, I wouldn't say naive but there was the beginnings of that ... Because that kind of iterative culture, the prototyping culture takes a long time to get good at. Not 20 years, but a few years, and the lessons that tech learned sometimes it's in this much shorter cycle so they'll learn part of the lesson. But the full lesson really is, I think, it goes to the maturity of an organization and as a creative person and who's able to work with others and also listen, it's not an easy thing, but when you get it right, you understand why it works.Ali Nazar:Yeah. Well, so back to your story, so you joined in 1983. It sounds like you just lucked into the perfect job for you, which is congratulations.Shawn Lani:Yeah. Yeah.Ali Nazar:You've been there for a long time now, so that's awesome. So you're right now on this Studio for Public Spaces project. So tell us about that and how it came to be.Shawn Lani:Yeah. So as an exhibit developer, back then, you would develop exhibits for the floor for people have experiences they learn from those. It was something that you learned. It took about five or seven years I got my chops. And that project at Fort Mason was interesting because we had this kind of instrumented landscape, right? You can walk through and experience it, but what I think we missed, I found out later with subsequent projects, is that places have people in them and those people are part of that landscape. That social landscape is also the raw material of future experiences, future exhibits, you can instrument the landscape, but you can also help instrument people's behaviors and how they're moving through the world. And so after we opened Pier's 15, 17 we did the first living innovation zone on market street.And that was through the Mayor's Office of Innovation with Mayor Lee. And we worked with Neil Hrushowy over in city planning and Paul Chasan and others. And it was a remarkable experience because we put a pair of listening vessels, which are eight-foot-tall dishes done by Doug Hollis on Market Street. At the Yerba Buena Lane and nobody really knew what to expect, including us. But we had this notion that that inquiry's a natural kind of social lubricant and that there were lots of rules on Market Street. We know this, right? You don't look people in the eye, you don't talk to anybody, you don't put your bag down. It's like a human freeway. Right? So we put these listening vessel's kind of diagonal to that freeway and people really responded. I think they responded in a better way than I had even hoped.They were willing to talk to strangers. They were kind of joyous and celebratory. They would watch each other play and figure this thing out. They tried to find out where it was plugged in. So these dishes, you can whisper in these dishes and hear each other from 50 feet away very clearly. And it's also very intimate because it sounds like somebody's just in your ear because the way the sound is focused with the parabolic dishes. And so after that, the Studio for Public Spaces was founded with the goal of bringing more of these inquiry-like experiences to public spaces because the audience is vast. The impacts are amazing really in terms of how it shifts people's behavior in real-time, in real space in cities. And so since then, we've done many projects throughout the Bay Area, San Leandro. We're working on a project currently on Fulton Street between the Asian Art Museum and the library across from City Hall.And to bring this methodology work the way they explore terms work traditionally the prototyping, the integration, the respect for the learner to a public space. And I think especially with social sciences, understanding how we construe the world, what science can teach us about how we understand things and how and why we process the world. Exploring that in a public space, especially when it challenges you in Plaza and The Civic Center, it's improving. There're a lot of things going on there now, but there's also a lot of friction. It's right in the middle of it. I mean you had to put a pin in San Francisco and say, "Where's the middle of it?" It's right there. And it's a powerful medium to be in. And I'm exploring topics like how do we categorize it? Why do we so immediately categorize people? Why do we stereotype folks? What biases are driving ourselves? This is all a way of thinking about the human mind.What you know of the world is directly proportional to what you know of yourself. And to understand how we're thinking on a meta-level is incredibly empowering because it allows you not to be a victim of your own fast-twitch thinking. You can slow down and you can reconsider. You can look for the options when you look at a scene. Not only, "This is what I think about what's happening," but, "Why am I thinking that and what other alternatives might there be?" So it's been fascinating and I think also humbling to have such a dynamic mix of emotions, cultural issues, and then trying to do this place-making maneuver in the middle of a place that is kind of inherently inhospitable.Ali Nazar:We're speaking with Shawn Lani, he's the director for the Studio for Public Spaces at Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco here on Methods of the Madness on KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM. I'm your host, Ali Nassar, and Shawn, so you're talking about different projects that you might be doing in different municipalities across the Bay Area. So take me through how does that work? I mean, this sport team can't just parachute in, "Hey, we're going to do this," right. "Get out of the way."Shawn Lani:That's the worst case, man. You never go where you're not invited. That's the rule.Ali Nazar:How do you guys build these projects?Shawn Lani:Yeah. They're very complex networks of partnerships. So that city is one level, but we also have formal relationships with the Gladstone Institute, NASA, the Smithsonian, UC Davis, UCSF. We've worked on the Resilience by Design design challenge with Tom Leader through the Bay Observatory. And so those networks have been forming over the last 50 years, literally. And I think the last 30 and even 20 years, we've really accelerated that partnership. There're strategic partnerships, meaning that we have partners where we benefit from each other's expertise. And we've always brought in a lot of Ocher Fellows, which is a program where we have visiting scientists who've had Nobel laureates, we've had Poet Laureates, right? We've had MacArthur Geniuses, four or five of those coming through the program in order to do enrich the work.And I think that's the natural mode for the museum now is to have many, many receptors. Because what we can do, I think, is make some of that really important work, especially when it comes to the environment, environmental issues. We can provide a platform for people to understand that the complex issues that are going on around them, and a way of sorting through the information and figuring out what they think is important and not telling them what's important. It's not that kind of advocacy. It's advocacy for the visitor to feel like they understand what's happening. So they could make a more informed decision, which is very much about one of the tenants of Frank's founding, the Exploratorium was we need an informed citizenry to have a healthy democracy. You can't have it without that.Ali Nazar:Now, more than ever.Shawn Lani:Now, more than ever. And I think the need continues to increase. It's never gone away. And the notion of learning is what the body of work that we learn about is a bunch of facts. That's not true. It's the cultural pursuit of what we collectively value and that shifts over time. So only through partnerships and only through this way of thinking can the Exploratorium remain relevant. So with our work in the Studio for Public Spaces, we're working with urban planning. We work with the mayor's office, we worked with REC and Park, we work for the Trust for Public Land. We work with other people that are invested in public spaces. So oftentimes there're community groups, groups like Green Streets over in Buchanan Mall, Citizen Film.They're smaller nonprofits, but they play an incredibly important role as guides in how to make this work. And guess what? Mayor Lee used to say for the first [inaudible], "We're going to make this a bureaucracy-free zone, so you guys going to come in and do ... So it turns out it was actually bureaucracy-light. There was still a lot of bureaucracy.Ali Nazar:Yeah, that was aspirational.Shawn Lani:Yeah, it was aspirational, but you got to reach and it got us in, right? It got us the gig. But to be able to go through those permitting processes with DPW or with MTA and have a good working relationship and even watching those departments bend a little when they're not totally sure it's going to be okay. I think it's really a hopeful sign. I mean there are so many good smart people working in city government. I know that sounds crazy, but I am shocked at how dedicated they are and how willing they are to bend a little and to help things that might not be known as this is going to be a total success. But the way we work is two-year pilot projects very often. It's worth the risk to find out does this help? Are we prototyping a way for the city to work in the future and what can we learn from this lesson? It's heartening to see how many people will support that kind of activity.Ali Nazar:Yeah, I think so much as to do with the vision. So we had Ben Davis on the program who was the thought leader behind the Bay Light Shore Bay Bridge. He had to get a few different municipality organizations together to make that happen. But the vision was so strong and everybody loved that bridge. So they were like, "Yes." Like, "I get it, we want to do it," and I think you guys have that power too because you have a vision that people, like you said, you feel it's not just about when you're at the museum, it's about the next day or that night.Shawn Lani:Right.Ali Nazar:I feel that with my kids when we take them there because we're members of the Exploratorium and they talk about it for a few days afterwards, "Remember that thing? Remember that thing?" And it's a vision that's so powerful that I think is galvanizing for people to get behind.Shawn Lani:Yeah. I always joke, "It's almost a cheat when you come into a situation that's in a public space." The Exploratorium comes and like, "Oh, you guys are here." Oh, he's always so happy to see you. Like, who's going to fight with Exploratorium? Like, "We don't fight. We just want to come here and have some fun and talk about things," and so it really is a leg up to build on that many years of goodwill and tradition and I think that's super important. When it comes to brand value, people don't want a brand the Exploratorium has always striven or strived, striven? Stroven?Ali Nazar:Strove? [inaudible].Shawn Lani:Thank you. To be authentic, it doesn't lie to people. I mean, I remember, this is how crazy we can get. If you have a box of wires, it's always a question whether or not you could make it out of plexi or you should make it out of wood because if you can't see it, you might not trust that it's not just going through or connecting up. So oftentimes we'll reveal the back of an exhibit just so people can kind of test it. And I wish government was like that actually, that radical transparency, right? "Is it doing this?" And like, "I don't know, try it out." I mean if you can't tell, that's not a good exhibit. Right?That's not a good experience if you're wondering, you're scratching your head and wondering if somebody just put one over on you. And so we have always tried to have that kind of relationship and that really pays off when we go for partnerships. They sense that we're not going to get between what it is that they think is important and what they're trying to show and what the visitors are going to take in. We're all about facilitating that understanding.Ali Nazar:Well, it's, it's super cool work that you're doing and thanks for coming in this morning. I do want to ask you just next year's the 50th anniversary?Shawn Lani:Yeah.Ali Nazar:So it's such an amazing institution that we're all proud of in the Bay Area. What can we expect for next year to happen at Pier 15 or across the Bay Area?Shawn Lani:Well, we'll be opening the Social-Psychology show in July of 2019 and so that is going to be 12 to 14 exhibits outside Public Space Installation and that's going to be paired with a show about identity at the Exploratorium. This is a really interesting move I think for the museum to move into the social sciences because they're not traditionally easy to approach. But I think they are incredibly relevant, given the time. And so those are going to be two peak ... Now, we also have a lot of ongoing programming about the environment and ecologies. So we have conversations about landscapes, we have Lab and Lunch.We just hosted the climate summit, several talks about the climate summit, so we're going to be continuing that work moving forward. And also our After Darks, are every Thursday nights and those are heavily programmed. So we're kind of like a piece of broccoli in that way. You have the broccoli sprout but then you have a lot of other little things going on and then you have a lot of other things going on. But those are some of the big lobes but there's lots of other stuff going on as well.Ali Nazar:Okay, I'm sure everybody knows how to get ahold of the Exploratorium, so how about for the Director, for the Studio for Public Spaces? If people want to learn more about that, how would they learn more about it?Shawn Lani:Well, just type in Studio for Public Spaces at the Exploratorium, and you'll see the website that has a list of our projects and also a lot of the thinking and the framing of the work. We have some publications there as well, and an ongoing blog.Ali Nazar:Okay, well, great. Well, we've been talking to Shawn Lani this morning, the Director for the City for Public Spaces at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Shawn, thanks for coming in.Shawn Lani:Oh, my pleasure. Thanks so much.Ali Nazar:And you've been listening to Method to the Madness on KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM, University of California, a listener-supported radio. I'm your host, Ali Nazar. Thanks for listening everybody and have a great Friday. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bob chats with Microsoft Azure DevOps Product Owner and author of Agile Software Engineering with Visual Studio, Sam Guckenheimer, at the DevOps Enterprise Summit 2018. Connect with Sam and Bob on Twitter.   Transcript Sam Guckenheimer ‑ DevOps Enterprise Summit 2018 Bob Payne:  "The Agile Toolkit." [music] Bob:  Hi, I'm your host Bob Payne. I'm here at the DevOps Enterprise Summit 2018 with Sam Guckenheimer. Welcome, Sam. Sam Guckenheimer:  Thank you, Bob. It's great to be here. Bob:  It's the first time we're really chatting. We chatted a tiny bit last night. My colleague Sanjiv Augustine said you were instrumental in hosting The Agile leadership network when it formed and came up with the declaration of Interdependence. How did that end up coming about? Sam:  Well, that was no what 14 years ago or something like that. [laughter] Sam:  What we saw was at that time that this was of course way pre‑DevOps. The Agile community had fractured into many groups saying "More agile than thou." That seemed stupid. Bob:  That fracturing has continued and remains as stupid today or... [laughs] Sam:  Yes. Unfortunately, the fracturing has continued and it hasn't gotten less stupid. That was the reason for trying to get the interdependence declaration together to get these leading lights from what was then the Agile community working together. In the meantime, the pure Agile has largely been eclipsed by DevOps. As you see something like this DevOps Enterprise Summit going on its fifth year roughly doubling every year in scale. I'm here now. Still there. [laughter] Bob:  There are a number of things that I found at this conference that I haven't been able to make a ton of sessions because we have a booth. I've found that I haven't really learned, maybe this is my own fault, anything at the Agile conferences for probably about 10 years. It wasn't any substantially interesting information. Sam:  That's correct. I last keynoted at the Agile conference in 2014. That's probably the last time I've been there. It got kind of stale. The energy in innovation, in practice I think has really shifted to DevOps. That's come about, because the DevOps' definition of Dunn is not potentially shippable and promotes... [crosstalk] Bob:  It's captured a value, enlargement value. Sam:  It's live in production with Telemetry that is demonstrating the value delivered. Going from a world where you were effectively stopping at an intermediate activity that didn't reach the customer or end‑user to go to one where you have to reach the end‑customer and you have to measure the value delivered, is much, much more powerful for all the stakeholders, for the business, for the people involved. It's much more satisfying. You disintermediate the development to customer relationship. You think of things as one engineering discipline, not as silos post the Scrums, so to speak. Bob:  Certainly there were a number of great Agile teams and organizations that fully believed that Dunn meant in the hands of customers and delivering whatever goal, that... [crosstalk] Sam:  I do not mean to bash anyone. I certainly think there great Agile teams. A lot of what we do today has its roots in extreme programming, but things like XP at the time, had this notion of, for example, pair programming. We have largely, as a community, moved to the notion of a pull request as a virtual pair programming. We have moved from the idea of onsite customer to measuring customer impact, which isn't to say onsite customer is a bad idea, it's a great idea, it's a rarely achievable one. All of these seeds that were planted back then in the late '80s by the early Agilists were important seeds. The garden where I think they're really bearing fruit now is in this DevOps community. Bob:  The other thing that I think is probably the next wave that we will see in organizations that are not already there, certainly, many organizations have already integrated business into this flow. Without that DevOps is necessary but not sufficient to actually change the outcomes that businesses are seeing. That's the next frontier for those companies that we're not sort of born in the world of IT as the fundamental driver of business outcomes. Sam:  That's correct. DevOps is the flip side of the coin from digital transformation. Digital transformation is the business term for taking your business model and turning it into one that can improve continuously in an Internet‑powered age. DevOps is the shorthand for the technical practices that enable that. Bob:  I see way too many organizations mistaking a DevOps transformation for digital transformation. They're fundamentally doing the DevOps practices, but they're not backing up into the initial value proposition to begin with. That will sort itself out. Sam:  This is a common thing of confusing means and ends. The ends are things around growing the business customer, acquisition customer, engagement customer, employee delight, all of these measures of happiness and success. The practices are ways of getting there. The goal is to focus however on those end results. The clear sign of dysfunction is when you see people measuring the inputs, not the outputs. Bob:  If Deming or [inaudible 7:33] came back and saw that Toyota was doing the same practices it was doing 75 years ago they would drop dead after having just come back to life. [laughs] In real systems the practices and the processes are never the ends. They are all in service of maximizing flow... [crosstalk] Sam:  Exactly. If you think about the evolution, the practices today are different because the constraints are different. One of the overriding constraints was for example infrastructure availability. You get all of the stuff around how to manage and schedule the infra. Today with the public cloud that constraint is gone. It's a classic example of, in Eliyahu Goldratt terms, elevating the constraint or removing the bottleneck. Then you see the constraint shifting. As you're adopting these practices what happens is you have a continual shift of the constraint, and you have the next one to attack the next bowling pin to knock down. [crosstalk] Sam:  Right. What DevOps says has basically taught us as well. You can remove infrastructure a constraint by using the cloud. You can focus on the value delivered to the customer and measure it so you can have both qualitative and quantitative view of that. You can take the quality game and shift it left and right so that quality does not become this big testing bottleneck in the middle. It can become part of the pull request flow. It can happen before code merges. Then you can in production gradually expose value to more and more of users so that the blast radius is something that's flexible, so you don't have the constraint of saying, "I need to master my MTBF in order to release." You can say, "I need to maximize my ability to recover and may have the shortest time to recover, so that by controlling the blast radius and being able to recover quickly I can experimentally by increasing the rate of experimentation I can deliver and measure value delivered on a cycle that was never possible in the old days." It wasn't possible before we had the Internet, it wasn't possible before it hit the public cloud, it wasn't possible before we had these practices of high‑quality, highly‑rugged automation that we do today. Bob:  Yeah it has been a sea change since I did Fortran on punch cards [laughs] . Sam:  There have been many sea changes yes. Mike Pearson gave a great talk yesterday, borrowing from Carlota Perez on the structure of industrial revolutions, and postulates that we're at the point of disruption from the period of adoption to the period of dispersion. That would account for a lot of the changes that we're seeing, and it would account for a lot of the anxiety that you see among people who are saying, "How do I learn fast enough? How do I catch up fast enough? How do I get ahead?" At the same time, what you see very clearly reflected in company success, company's market gap, and company's ability to innovate and pivot, is that the ones who have mastered the go‑fast‑without‑breaking‑things‑and‑adjust‑course‑as‑you‑go, are the ones that are winning in pretty much every sector. Bob:  I love Mark Schwartz's analogy of the battle of the Russians with Napoleon, and the speed of decision‑making being fundamentally out of sync with the reality of the battle. Sam:  Exactly, that was also true on Omaha beach in Normandy, that was true in Vietnam, that's been true in pretty much every military conflict, that the degree of autonomy and speed of innovation has determined the outcome in the end, and people who are great at enabling the next war instead of fighting the last ones, are the victors. The latest example decide or...I don't know if that's politically correct to go there, but you see it now in... Bob:  [laughs] That have been substantially politically correct on this podcast [laughs] . Sam:  You see this in cyber. The Russian budget for cyber is less than the cost of an F‑35. Bob:  No one could argue that the F‑35 is more costly than it needs to be but it's... [laughs] . [crosstalk] Sam:  Who cares? The point is, they're not trying to win the manned aerial dogfight. They are extending the notion of total war to a new battlefield and they've been very successful, but finding the place where there are no defenses and where it's possible to innovate quickly and it's proven to work. You could also argue that as David Sanger does in "The Perfect Weapon", that the US started this cyber‑war arms race. In any event, we've not follow through on the consequences of what we started. The military analogies, they turn some people off, but they have their value. We are, and the rest of society also, in a place where we need to be winning the future, not the past. Bob:  It's actually one of the analogies I quite often use when I'm talking to people that are OK with the military analogies. The OODA loop, the Boyd loop of observe‑orient‑decide‑act. The team that can turn that loop the fastest, whether it's Amazon, Netflix, or a manned‑aerial dogfight, or a cyber‑attack, is going to win. Sam:  Exactly. In our world, the OODA loop results in some kind of software or service delivered. One of the things we know from measuring it is that about a third of the time, we get the results we'd want, a third of the time, we get opposite result from what we hypothesized, and about a third of the time, it makes no difference. The implication of that is that you want to be able as quickly as possible, to double down on the successful third and fail fast or pivot away from the other two thirds, which means that you need to make the OODA loop as short as possible, which is what Boyd talked about in his idea of aircraft design and aerial battle. That's exactly true in how we develop and that means not just using small batches which Agile taught us. That means not just breaking down the silos, but it means really focusing on time to remediate and focusing on quality to the left so that you have clean delivery and you have the mechanism in production to control exposure and to go faster and wider as you need to. Bob:  You mentioned the one‑third, one‑third, one‑third, I know that was a study that came out in Microsoft. Actually... [crosstalk] Sam:  Ronick O' Harvey was behind that. Ronny is now a technical fellow, he wasn't back then. He basically took a very large sample of "improvements" that were delivered. Let's measure, are these really improving, what we wanted? The result was a third of the time, in other words, I've confirmed the others' change is bad, unless is great. That was quantitative demonstration of that. I don't know if he published that before he did a stand for PhD or after, but it was a famous study and it holds up. Bob:  I also very much like this idea of very small batches, because without the small batches, it's hard to get attribution of what improved the customer experience and what was neutral or negative, because you're conflating way too many changes if the batch is large. Sam:  That's why the pull request flows becomes successful, because you can make the pull request a batch that is a few lines of change, it's possible to have a human‑code review on it, and it's possible to have extensive automation on it. Again, an example of a practice that wouldn't have been possible pre‑cloud is when we do pull requests, we run the build‑in automation on them with typically 80‑some thousand tests before asking for the human‑code review. Human eyes are only focused on those things that automation has said looked good already. As opposed to the way things were done, pre‑cloud in the XP pair programming model, where human eyes were first defense. That was very appropriate given the constraints at the time. The constraints of today are different. Bob:  That was certainly one aspect of pairing. The other is just as the design discipline getting the collaborative design quite often yields better results, but... [crosstalk] Sam:  I totally think that people should collaborate on design. I'm totally for that. I'm not trying to.. Bob:  I totally get the point about the quality. Is automation...we want lazy engineers [laughs] . We want engineers focusing on creative thought, rather than repetitive action. Sam:  Exactly. Another example of that that's possible these days, is you want a very high reuse, an open source. If you can solve a problem with 30 lines of code and reuse thousands, that's much better than creating 3000 lines of codes that need to be maintained. In effect, we want to reward people for writing less code, which again turns on it's head, one of those classic input matrix and myths of, "Well, how much code did you write? How busy were you? How many hours did you put in?" As opposed to, "What result did you achieve?" Bob:  What are some DevOps practices that have really changed Microsoft fundamentally? I know you've got a couple of talks related to that here at the conference. Sam:  I bucket our lessons learned, usually in five groups. One is how we focus on value delivered to the customer, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and let that drive the way we think about what we're delivering and how we measure that. Two is how we apply production‑first mindset. Our CEO tends to call this a live‑site culture, in other words, you build it, you test it, you run it, you secure it, you troubleshoot it, you improve it with responsibility residing in you, the creating team, not getting fragmented across these Silos. Three is the idea of team autonomy and enterprise alignment that you want to let teams at the level of the feature crew Scrum, cream squad, whatever your favorite term is, you want to let these small feature crews work autonomously on their stuff, and control what they are taking into the next sprint or what items they're doing next. You want them to support their stuff in production and you want the mechanisms to align their work up to the common business results, so that they know which needles they need to move by the work that they do and they know how to view those gauges. The fourth is shifting quality left and right so that you can get a signal in the pipeline of green meaning green and red meaning red, and in production, you can see continually what is happening with every changes, you expand its exposure. Fifth finally is using cloud to make infrastructure‑flexible resource. That's how I bucket it. I did one talk yesterday with my friend Ellen Smith about how we moved our DevOps' ass. It's really a story about eight years of taking what's started as a non‑premise product and turning it into a cloud service and on‑premise product. That was an attempt to myth‑bust the idea that if you're going to the cloud, you need to start in the cloud and throw everything away. It was an attempt to say, "Here's a proof instance where we had a business, pre‑cloud, with on‑prem product. We preserve that and made it better, and use the same codebase to go the cloud where the cloud is making the on‑prem better." Of course the cloud's the majority of usage and the fastest growing now, but it wasn't a throwaway, which of that story. The other one which is similar, which I'm doing tomorrow, is a talk about Windows' journey to DevOps. Windows division is the extreme case of scale and legacy, and they have successfully moved to DevOps. There were a bunch of bumps along the way. For example, to get Windows to be able to use Git at their scale, we needed to fix the Git, and that took three attempts. Bob:  Really? Sam:  Yes. When we started doing something like a Git clone of the main Windows repo, took 12 hours. That was if the network didn't burp, or your laptop didn't go to sleep, or nothing else wrong happened. If any of those things did happen, then the whole operation needed to start over. Bob:  Need to start again, yeah. Sam:  That now takes a couple minutes. We did a series of 300x or better improvements in Git performance with what is now open‑sourced as the virtual file system for Git. Windows motivated all of that to be able to support their scale of codebase, which was hundreds of times larger than anything else anyone was using. Bob:  That's interesting. I did not know that you guys were major contributors to the Git. Sam:  We're one of the top two. We're the largest open‑source contributor of any company, have been for about two years now. Git is a project where we have been very heavily in, and virtual file system is one of the latest aspects of that. Come to the talk tomorrow. Bob:  OK, I may. What time is it? Sam:  11:25, I think? 11 something. The times here are weird. All these weird five‑minute increments. Bob:  [laughs] . It is five‑minute increments and three hours off, because I'm an East Coast person. Are you out of... [crosstalk] Sam:  Along Seattle. Bob:  Thank you so much, Sam. This has been great. Is there any one thing you'd like to close off with that you're interested in? Sam:  Yeah. There's something that I'd like to make our listener aware of, and that is I curate a website. The short link to it is aka.ms/DevOps. It's, DevOps and Microsoft. What I try to do is to put up our experience reports there, not the high‑level marketing level stuff, but like, "How did you actually do the change in testing? How did you go to no downtime deployments? How did you start using service reliability engineering? Etc." There're about 50 articles up there, but half of them with good video. They're just stories about how we work. I love people to use that as a... Bob:  As a resource? Sam:  ...open resource. Bob:  Thank you very much. It was very nice meeting you and chatting. Sam:  Thanks a lot, Bob. Bob:  Thanks. The Agile Toolkit Podcast is brought to you by LightSpeed. Thanks for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed today's show. If you'd like to give feedback or be on the show, you can ping me on Twitter. I am @AgileToolkit. You can also reach me at Bob.Payne@lithespeed.com. For more free resources, transcripts to the show, and information about our services, head over to LightSpeed.com. Thanks for listening. [music]  

Ella starts a 3-part series, Balance the #chakras and heal the bodies. She starts with the first chakra, the #root or #Muladhara. Chakras are wheels of #Devine energy or #prana (life force) which keeps us vibrant, healthy, and alive. There're 7 main chakras; the root, the #sacral, the #solarplexus, the #heart, the #throat, the #thirdeye or brow, and the #crown. When a chakra is #blocked, energy can't move through them and it causes an #imbalance in the #emotional, #spiritual, and #mental bodies. This imbalance causes the three unseen bodies to be in a state of dis-ease and this state will manifest itself in the physical body as #disease. I wanted to mention two resources that helped in my research. https://chopra.com/articles/what-is-a-chakra https://www.learning-mind.com/root-chakra-blocked/ Follow me Pinterest @EllaShawnWrites Twitter @ellashawn0215 Facebook @authorellashawn Instagram @therealellashawn Amazon amazon.com/author/ellashawn #Tunein on Monday, Wednesday Friday --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ella-shawn-author/message

Business Agility Institute founder Evan Leybourn shares results from the 2018 Business Agility report at Agile2018. Connect with Evan on Twitter: @Eleybourn Download the Business Agility Report (2018). Add your voice to this report: Take the Business Agility Survey for 2019's report here. Follow @AgileToolkit. Visit LitheSpeed.com to help your organization embrace Business Agility.   Transcript: Evan Leybourn ‑ Agile2018   Announcer:  The Agile Toolkit. [music] Bob Payne:  I'm your host, Bob Payne. I'm here with Evan Leybourn from Australia. Evan, you're ahead of the Business Agility Institute, and you guys just released the Business Agility report today, you're at Agile 2018. I was leafing through it. There's a lot of great infographics and information behind those infographics. Do you want to just talk about how you went about getting the report? Then, maybe we can talk about some of the interesting results. Evan Leybourn:  Thanks, Bob. It's great to talk to you again. I absolutely love being on this podcast. I think it's my third time now. [laughs] Bob:  Is it third already? Evan:  Third already. Bob:  [laughs] Evan:  Third already. We put together the reports over the last couple of months based on the feedback we had from our members. A lot of people were asking for evidence. There's a lot of hearsay. There's a lot of anecdotes about business agility, and they wanted more proof. How does it work? Why does it work? Who does it work for? We went out, and we started sourcing information. We put out a survey. We'll share the link with your listeners in the text below the podcast. We got some fantastic insights which, I'll be honest, not many surprises. Most of the anecdotes that we hear, the data has borne it out, so that's actually pretty fantastic. Bob:  If not surprising, what are some of the important insights that folks were questioning and that now has been borne out in the data? Evan:  [laughs] We can probably narrow it down. I'll give you the really simple ones. The larger the company is, the less agile it is. I don't think that's a surprise to anybody at all. Bob:  [laughs] Evan:  Now, we have the data to show just how much more agile a small company is. In fact, we're doing some additional research now in terms of company thresholds, the size of organizations, and the operating model that's required for agility at those sizes. 15 to 50, 50 to 150, how do those sizes interface with agility, the practices, and the principles behind that? We know that agile organizations work differently. We know there are benefits, but how does size... If I'm 5‑person organization, then how I do agility is has to be different if I'm a 5,000‑person organization. We want to be able to outline that this generic information about X, Y, and Z, this is how it's specifically tailored to every size. Industries' wise, financial services, information technology and consulting, the top three industries who are adopting business agility right now. Both in terms of the quantity of organizations doing it as well as the maturity or the fluency that those organizations have. That's not really a surprise. We know from personal experience that banking and finance, every bank is trying to... Bob:  Huge competitive pressures with dust cycles. Evan:  FinTech eating their breakfast as they say. IT companies, Agile emerging technology and software. It's natural for these organizations to expand beyond the IT early, certainly earlier than other organizations. Consulting was a bit of a surprise. I wasn't expecting them in the top three. In fact they're number one to be precise. Now, cynical Evan thinks that, "Well, maybe the consulting organizations are just sort of..." Bob:  Self‑reporting a little higher. [laughs] Evan:  Self‑reporting a little higher because they're trying to say, "Hey, look how great we are." Less cynical Evan actually there's some logic behind it because consultants do need to be at the bleeding edge of business. If they're going to be transforming the client organizations, they've already got to be there. It does make sense that a lot of these consultancies are pushing the boundaries as much as they can. I think that's a natural behavior. Bob:  Did you get any breakout that was aggregated against those different industries? Were different moods of business agility? Evan:  No. Bob:  Was it really customer pitted or service or...? Evan:  We did slice and dice. We had some data scientists look at this information for us. They're the ones who provide a lot of the insights. We wanted to make sure that we were doing it meaningfully, specifically meaningfully. When we looked at the data, whether we sliced it at the company size, whether we sliced it by industry, not by industry, by company size or by high fluency, if we remove just the high fluency run the ones who are 9s and 10s, the outliers. Even if we normalize for who's reporting, whether it's the CEO reporting or an individual contributor because there was a difference. Even after all the slicing, those three industry still came out as 1, 2 and 3 so no matter how we sliced the data. It was pretty consistent actually. In fact, I mentioned that contributors, that was one of the few surprises that we got. Anecdotally, I assumed that the C‑Suite would over‑report and the individual contributors would under‑report maturity or fluency in business agility. We actually found that, because we had multiple respondents from the same company, in a single organization we thought they'd be different, but they were actually within 0.5 of a point from each other. Bob:  That's probably... Evan:  It's statistically... Bob:  ...insignificant. Evan:  ...insignificant. Now, there is a trend. Yes, the CEO is 0.5 higher than the individual contributors and line managers and senior leaders. Senior executives fall on that trend line, but it's quite negligible. The big surprise was we invited external consultants to assess the maturity, the business agility, fluency of their client organizations. They were about 15 percent lower on average. Bob:  The client organizations. Evan:  Yes. When the external parties assessed them, they assessed them 15 points lower. 1.5 points lower, 15 percent lower than themselves. Bob:  That may make sense with your transformational model... Evan:  It could. Bob:  ...as well, because I can't really help unless I'm in some aspects better at it than the organization. Evan:  Yeah, it's interesting. We need to do some further investigation as to why that's the case. My gut feeling is that there's probably two main reasons. The first being the rose‑colored glasses that happen within an organization. You see the transformation, you see you're making change, and it looks a little bit better, but the people from the outside are comparing you against... Bob:  Other people. Evan:  ...other people who are better. As an outsider, what you rate as a five, I rate as a three, just because I'm seeing that's a five over there. The inverse is also true. Bob:  We probably have different north stars that we're measuring against. Evan:  That's it. Maybe someone who's outside doesn't see a lot of the good. They're dealing with the procurement processes, they're dealing with the contracting processes, which are painful in almost every organization. They would underreport their client organization because the business agility hasn't hit procurement yet. It's just hit how employees are being engaged. Maybe they're underreporting for that reason as well. Bob:  Was the survey both public and private sector? Evan:  It was actually mostly private sector. We had a small number of respondents from the public sector, two or three percent. Though that data has mostly been excluded from the report just because there wasn't enough data points to meaningfully assess that information. We're hoping that version two of this report will be able to draw the public sector view. Because we are doing the government's Agility Conference in November, I think it would be a good idea to actually maybe create a government version where we survey the government organizations before the conference and maybe put something together for them. Bob:  Even if we have some objectives out of the conference, what do we want people to take away, even if it's a simple survey of, before they attend the conference, after, how much more do they know about business agility, if they're not already executing in that way. I really see, and I know we've talked about this, on the committee calls... [laughter] Bob:  ...the Government Business Agility Conference. It is just the early days in many, many government agencies on the delivery side, and without delivery, you can't turn the crank on the major business outcomes. Evan:  Spot on. I talk a lot about theory of constraints and the theory of...I've probably mentioned this in a previous podcast, but an organization can only be as agile as its least agile part. In business, 30 years ago, that was software, so we invent Agile. 10 years ago, that was operations, so we invent DevOps. Today, in business, it's HR, it's finance... Bob:  [inaudible 10:00] . Evan:  ...but government is probably still where the business was 20 years ago. In many government organizations, they're only now getting the benefits of Agile, let alone DevOps and full‑on business agility which is even in the future. That being said, we have some great stories, some great case studies in the government space around policy developments being done in using Agile, service delivery for social services being delivered using Agile mindsets and techniques around the creation of citizen‑centric approaches. Everything from budget games being done in San Jose, I think it was San Jose. If you Google, you'll find out exactly where it's being run, where they crowdsource the budget from citizens using Agile game theory. It's absolutely fantastic. Bob:  I was just chatting with somebody from a government agency. We were actually talking about using the Colleague Letter of Understanding with the Morningstar as a way of creating a rather hierarchical structure, a mesh commitment structure, within that organization. There're little pockets of these ideas taking hold. Evan:  We have a video from the very first business agility conference in New York in 2017. The deputy CIO of the State of Washington had adopted holacracy in the state government. I used to be a public servant, this is 10 years ago. The thought of holacracy in government was mind‑blowing. I couldn't believe they could even do that. They did and a huge success. Bob:  It can get a little tricky. I don't know if the state governments are the same but federal sometimes gets tricky when you hit the unions. [laughter] Evan:  Yes. In that scenario, in the institute, we're developing some position papers, some white papers on various complex topics. Incentives, motivation reward is a white paper that's being released tomorrow, in fact. By the time you listen to this, it'll already be released, and we'll share the link. One of the next white papers that we're going to put out there is business agility in a unionized environments, because a lot of our members are in united environments that's complex. Bob:  We may often give entities like the bureaucratic...paint them with a bureaucratic brush, but actually another agency that we did some work in, they were partners in creating an open workspace environment for everybody. Bob:  Going back to the report, some of the key findings that we did come up with, market success is one of the highest benefits of business agility, which I would actually be surprised by. Not because I don't believe that business agility brings with it financial and market success measures, but I didn't think as a community that we were there yet. I thought we had a while to go, that the benefits move on softer. Now, we have some great quotes, some great feedback from the survey respondents saying that now they have gained more customers, greater customer satisfaction, more repeat business through the adoption of business agility. The usual ones they are around, better way of working, and so forth. Bob:  Retention of clients. Evan:  Retention of clients, yeah. Bob:  Competitive advantage. I see better ways of working, came in at 16 percent, collaboration, communication, not shocking 14, and engagement up as well. That's what we see in the VersionOne survey on the IT delivery side, that engagement goes up a lot. Evan:  When we look at challenges, the top challenge, which should be of no surprise to anybody, is leadership. Leaders love them, but they can either make or break a transformation based on the culture that they help to instill in an organization. Buy‑in is number two or three in the challenges. What's the next one? That's embarrassing. I don't... Bob:  Just trying to find the page right now. [laughter] Bob:  Leadership, lack of buy‑in, inappropriate organizational design. Evan:  Of course, old design. Sorry, I should remember that one. It's off my head. Basically, the value stream is broken. Bob:  The silos. Evan:  The silos. When work goes from team to team to team, every hand off adds complexity and delays. An agile organization is one where the value stream is as much as possible contained in a single cohesive team. I don't mean a small team, those teams can be big, but the ownership, the accountability is held singly from ideation to customer delivery. Companies still struggle with that, but that's changing. We're seeing that change in companies although even in government organizations. Bob:  Even if you can get a decent alignment of the silos to create those, not solid line report, but dotted line to the value stream, that can go a long ways. In thinking about the market's success statistic, I actually think that makes sense because if we look at the...Again, I don't want to compare you guys, the VersionOne survey, but I'm... [crosstalk] Evan:  ...is due. We've admired the VersionOne survey for years. Bob:  It has been a valuable tool. Evan:  It's one of the reasons we created this is to go [inaudible 15:53] . Bob:  Number one is better ability to manage change. What do markets want? They want responsive goods and services. Evan:  The market will evolve faster than the company. It's why startups can out‑compete a legacy large organization who's got hundred times the budget, a thousand times the market share. They're dominated and overtaken by a tiny startup because the startup is able to adapt and provide a service that the customers want as opposed to what has been delivered for the last 20 or 30 years, which maybe what the customers wanted 30 years ago, but time moves on. I know Uber and Airbnb and everything else. Those examples are trotted out every single time if someone talks about market agility or market entity. Bob:  [inaudible 16:48] . [laughter] Bob:  [inaudible 16:50] is running in my head. Evan:  They're the obvious ones, but it doesn't matter what industry you're in. I spent the last four years living in Singapore, and every bank there had a decent revenue coming out of international remittance, sending money home. Australians, Filipinos, Indians would send money back to their home countries through the banks. Within the space of two years, the FinTechs emerged. They had better, faster, cheaper services, and the banks lost a couple of percent of their top line overnight. Bob:  We get [inaudible 17:23] all the time. That's just one possible transactional character. Evan:  If you put yourself in the shoes of a bank, no one's going to take away the deposit account because that's not a...Maybe I could be lying but I don't think that's a disruptable service, partly because there's no money in a deposit account. Banks make their money out of credit cards and all these transactions, and all these other things, so the FinTechs are coming in. Bob:  They can be in the right market if you've got some liquid cash that you're... [crosstalk] Evan:  That's certainly not where the banks are making their profit. Bob:  No. Evan:  The banks are looking at this going, all of the stuff they're doing that are high profit, the FinTechs can come in and do it better, faster, cheaper. All they're going to be left with is the slow, low‑profit services, like core banking. Now, they're desperately trying to become FinTechs themselves. If I'd walk into a bank 10 years ago and let's say, "Let's create an agile bank," I would've been laughed out. Now, they're coming to us saying, "How do we become an agile bank?" Bob:  "How do we disrupt ourselves before someone else does?" Evan:  That's it. I use banking as an example. The same is true in utilities, the same is true in healthcare, engineering. Any industry which you think is undisruptable, I guarantee you, will be disrupted within five years. Bob:  We're seeing people fall off the Fortune 500 lists. Evan:  57 percent of the 1983 Fortune 500 no longer exists. Bob:  Not even just off the list. Just out of existence. Evan:  Some have been acquired, some have gone through merges, some have gone through divestments. They're a fraction of what they were. Others have gone bankrupt. Some have come out of bankruptcy. They're still nothing. Bob:  We'll have the link to the report. Where can folks learn about the Business Agility Institute? Evan:  Thanks. We'll put the links below, businessagility.institute. I love the fact that .institute is a top‑level domain. Bob:  [laughs] Evan:  We bought that. Bob:  .institutionalized. [laughter] Evan:  That's what I should be. Absolutely. Businessagility.institute, you'll find all the information. We're a membership organization. I do encourage all your listeners to join up as a member. Help support us, help support the community, and develop new and great research. The inverse is true as well. It's not just a one‑way, we'll provide you things. We want you to share your stories with us. If you have a case study, if you would like us to create a white paper on a topic, ask us. We will do our best to actually build that for the community. Bob:  Thank you very much. Evan:  No, thank you very much, Bob. Until next time. Bob:  Until next time. Evan:  [laughs] Thank you. Bob:  The Agile Toolkit Podcast is brought to you by LitheSpeed. Thanks for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed today's show. If you'd like to give feedback or be on the show, you can ping me on Twitter. I am @agiletoolkit. You can also reach me at bob.payne@lithespeed.com. For more free resources, transcripts of the show and information about our services, head over to lithespeed.com. Thanks for listening. [music]  

Download MP3 ８月の４週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この10年間に配信した310本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。今回は、動物や人の記憶など、科学を中心としたエピソードを集めました。 *** Script *** [ (168) Cockroaches ] Situation: A married couple in the kitchen. M: Die, die, die! Oh, God, please, just die already! W: I see you have your own special way of preparing breakfast? M: A cockroach! Huge! Under that cup. It appeared out of nowhere when I was mixing eggs and milk, and it ran straight for me! W: Why are you offering it an empty cup? Tea would do better. Or coffee! I've heard they just LOVE fresh cappuccino in the early mornings! M: Well, all I have to offer it is a good stomping, with available tableware. It took, like, 3 hits for it to stop moving. Monsters! W: I bet you missed the first two times. Cockroaches can do 25 cm per second, you know. M: It's 30, not 25. And I know when I hit something with a cup… Yaiks! It's still alive! W: This is one die-hard fella. Looks like it's two-thirds were chewed off by something. And you call IT a monster? M: I can't take it anymore. We have to move. W: Huh, why? You mean, because of the bugs? M: Those are cockroaches. Bugs are cute lovable creatures, flying from flower to flower around on a sunny summer day. Cockroaches are despicable monsters with hairy legs, sniffing around the kitchen, jumping at you from the sink in the morning, and leaving their disgusting egg cases all over the place! W: Um… I think you're overreacting. The other day I saw lovely Madagascar cockroaches at the pet store. They can drink beer twice their weight, increasing in volume right in front of your eyes! And guess what - they can hiss! M: What? Hey, was that their hissing I heard in the middle of last night? W: Well, how should I put it... Yes. They were just 100 yen each! I got 5. M: Ah!!!! [ (236) The Excitement of a Zoo ] M: Finally, we made it to the zoo! I wanna go see the T-Rex exhibit first! W: Robbie, how many times do I have to tell you: dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There're no T-Rexes in the zoos. M: And how many times do I have to tell YOU that that's just a government conspiracy fabricated to keep people from using dinosaurs as weapons. W: (Puts her palm over her face and sighs) OK, Robbie, OK. I believe you. Just stop talking about it already. I actually wanted to enjoy this trip to the zoo, and you're making that pretty difficult. M: Hey look! Lions! (Robbie grabs Regina's hand and makes a dash for the lion enclosure.) M: Wow! Lions are awesome! W: (giggling) I'm glad to see you've taken interest in an animal that actual exists. M: I always wished I could've been raised by lions. Living in the mountains, living off nothing but the flesh and blood of rhinos! W: Um, I don't think that's where or how lions live, Robbie. (Regina looks down at her phone to distract herself from how badly this date is going. Regina then looks up.) W: Hey Robbie what do you think of--. (Robbie is no where to be found.) W: Robbie? Robbie?! Where are you? (A few seconds later) M: I'm over here, Regina! (Regina looks over to see Robbie cuddling with one of the lions within the enclosure.) W: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LION ENCLOSURE ROBBIE!? THATS SUPER DANGEROUS! M: Just following my heart Regina, just following my heart. [ (274) Memories Make Us Who We Are ] M: Don't you find it funny how everything we are-- our entire lives, personalities and being-- amounts to our memories? W: What do you mean? M: If you really think about it, the things that have shaped our personalities are all in the past. So it's the experiences and the memory of those experiences. W: You're making my head hurt… M: Did you know that scent is one of the most powerful memory triggers? Sometimes when you smell something it brings back really vivid memories. Try this, for example. W: (sniffs) It's a honey-scented candle? M: Yeah. Does it remind you of anything? W: Ah! Your parents' wedding! Your mum had those burning when she was getting ready. She told us that she had to smell as beautiful as she looked! M: Yeah, but that didn't last long into the reception, though. I'm pretty sure the smell of spilt beer overpowered her pretty little candles. W: Ha ha. Gross. Then what about amnesia? If all that we are is dependant on our memories, then if I get amnesia tomorrow then I won't be the same person I am today? M: Hmm, I guess theoretically that's true. But I'm not entirely sure. I do know, however, that as opposed to Hollywood's depiction, the most common form of amnesia is retrograde amnesia, which means people can't create any new memories. W: Oh, wow… Hey, I knew a joke about amnesia once, but I've forgotten it. Both: Hahaha. [ (294) What Happens When a Person Sneezes? ] M: Achoo! Excuse me. W: Bless you, Yuki. M: Ble…? What do you mean, Emma? W: Oh, you don't know? Usually, we say "God bless you," or "Bless you," when someone sneezes. I heard that people used to believe that when you sneeze your soul might shoot out of you, and then the devil could get in your body. So, we say "God bless you," in order to protect you from evils. M: I see. Thank you. Hey, there's a similar thought in Japan. People here used to think we lose our souls when someone takes our pictures. Also, they thought that the person who appeared in the center of a photo was going to die earlier. W: Really? That's interesting. Now Japanese love taking pictures anytime and anywhere! M: Ha ha… Look at this. This is my friend's Twitter. He posts TONS of pictures. And this is the latest one. W: Let me see…Oh, my gosh, he's sneezing in the center of the picture! M: Ha ha… Let's say it together… ready? Both: Bless you!

Download MP3 ８月の４週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この10年間に配信した310本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。今回は、動物や人の記憶など、科学を中心としたエピソードを集めました。 *** Script *** [ (168) Cockroaches ] Situation: A married couple in the kitchen. M: Die, die, die! Oh, God, please, just die already! W: I see you have your own special way of preparing breakfast? M: A cockroach! Huge! Under that cup. It appeared out of nowhere when I was mixing eggs and milk, and it ran straight for me! W: Why are you offering it an empty cup? Tea would do better. Or coffee! I've heard they just LOVE fresh cappuccino in the early mornings! M: Well, all I have to offer it is a good stomping, with available tableware. It took, like, 3 hits for it to stop moving. Monsters! W: I bet you missed the first two times. Cockroaches can do 25 cm per second, you know. M: It's 30, not 25. And I know when I hit something with a cup… Yaiks! It's still alive! W: This is one die-hard fella. Looks like it's two-thirds were chewed off by something. And you call IT a monster? M: I can't take it anymore. We have to move. W: Huh, why? You mean, because of the bugs? M: Those are cockroaches. Bugs are cute lovable creatures, flying from flower to flower around on a sunny summer day. Cockroaches are despicable monsters with hairy legs, sniffing around the kitchen, jumping at you from the sink in the morning, and leaving their disgusting egg cases all over the place! W: Um… I think you're overreacting. The other day I saw lovely Madagascar cockroaches at the pet store. They can drink beer twice their weight, increasing in volume right in front of your eyes! And guess what - they can hiss! M: What? Hey, was that their hissing I heard in the middle of last night? W: Well, how should I put it... Yes. They were just 100 yen each! I got 5. M: Ah!!!! [ (236) The Excitement of a Zoo ] M: Finally, we made it to the zoo! I wanna go see the T-Rex exhibit first! W: Robbie, how many times do I have to tell you: dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There're no T-Rexes in the zoos. M: And how many times do I have to tell YOU that that's just a government conspiracy fabricated to keep people from using dinosaurs as weapons. W: (Puts her palm over her face and sighs) OK, Robbie, OK. I believe you. Just stop talking about it already. I actually wanted to enjoy this trip to the zoo, and you're making that pretty difficult. M: Hey look! Lions! (Robbie grabs Regina's hand and makes a dash for the lion enclosure.) M: Wow! Lions are awesome! W: (giggling) I'm glad to see you've taken interest in an animal that actual exists. M: I always wished I could've been raised by lions. Living in the mountains, living off nothing but the flesh and blood of rhinos! W: Um, I don't think that's where or how lions live, Robbie. (Regina looks down at her phone to distract herself from how badly this date is going. Regina then looks up.) W: Hey Robbie what do you think of--. (Robbie is no where to be found.) W: Robbie? Robbie?! Where are you? (A few seconds later) M: I'm over here, Regina! (Regina looks over to see Robbie cuddling with one of the lions within the enclosure.) W: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LION ENCLOSURE ROBBIE!? THATS SUPER DANGEROUS! M: Just following my heart Regina, just following my heart. [ (274) Memories Make Us Who We Are ] M: Don't you find it funny how everything we are-- our entire lives, personalities and being-- amounts to our memories? W: What do you mean? M: If you really think about it, the things that have shaped our personalities are all in the past. So it's the experiences and the memory of those experiences. W: You're making my head hurt… M: Did you know that scent is one of the most powerful memory triggers? Sometimes when you smell something it brings back really vivid memories. Try this, for example. W: (sniffs) It's a honey-scented candle? M: Yeah. Does it remind you of anything? W: Ah! Your parents' wedding! Your mum had those burning when she was getting ready. She told us that she had to smell as beautiful as she looked! M: Yeah, but that didn't last long into the reception, though. I'm pretty sure the smell of spilt beer overpowered her pretty little candles. W: Ha ha. Gross. Then what about amnesia? If all that we are is dependant on our memories, then if I get amnesia tomorrow then I won't be the same person I am today? M: Hmm, I guess theoretically that's true. But I'm not entirely sure. I do know, however, that as opposed to Hollywood's depiction, the most common form of amnesia is retrograde amnesia, which means people can't create any new memories. W: Oh, wow… Hey, I knew a joke about amnesia once, but I've forgotten it. Both: Hahaha. [ (294) What Happens When a Person Sneezes? ] M: Achoo! Excuse me. W: Bless you, Yuki. M: Ble…? What do you mean, Emma? W: Oh, you don't know? Usually, we say "God bless you," or "Bless you," when someone sneezes. I heard that people used to believe that when you sneeze your soul might shoot out of you, and then the devil could get in your body. So, we say "God bless you," in order to protect you from evils. M: I see. Thank you. Hey, there's a similar thought in Japan. People here used to think we lose our souls when someone takes our pictures. Also, they thought that the person who appeared in the center of a photo was going to die earlier. W: Really? That's interesting. Now Japanese love taking pictures anytime and anywhere! M: Ha ha… Look at this. This is my friend's Twitter. He posts TONS of pictures. And this is the latest one. W: Let me see…Oh, my gosh, he's sneezing in the center of the picture! M: Ha ha… Let's say it together… ready? Both: Bless you!

The future of motoring looks set to be increasingly electric with the Government committed to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. That commitment was strengthened this month with the unveiling of a new Road to Zero strategy aimed at boosting the country's electric vehicle infrastructure with proposals including fitting chargers in new developments, offices and even lampposts. But how does buying and running an electric car compare to petrol and diesel and what might you have to consider when making the switch? Electricity can certainly be cheaper than traditional fuels but how do you navigate the range of charging options available? There're also a number of Government grants to consider- what's on offer and how can you apply? Joining Paul Lewis are Consumer Editor at What Car?, Claire Evans, Head of Go Ultra Low, Poppy Welch and Director of Zap Map, Melanie Shufflebotham. Email your questions to moneybox@bbc.co.uk or you can call 03700 100 444 between 1pm and 3.30pm on Wednesday 25th July 2018. Standard geographic charges from landlines and mobiles will apply. Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Tom Hill Editor: Charlotte McDonald.

In part two of my interview with Varonis CFO & COO Guy Melamed, we get into the specifics with data breaches, breach notification and the stock price. What’s clear from our conversation is that you can no longer ignore the risks of a potential breach. There are many ways you can reduce risk. However, if you choose not to take action, minimally, at least have a conversation about it. Also, around 5:11, I asked a question about IT pros who might need some help getting budget. There’s a story that might help. Do Data Breaches Impact the Stock Price? Guy Melamed My name's Guy Melamed, CFO and COO for Varonis. I've been with the company since 2011, in charge of all the financial statements and execution of strategic operational plans, in charge of the legal department, and IR as well. And kind of enjoying the ride. Cindy Ng There's a discrepancy online where there've been studies that say that breaches don't impact the stock price. Sure, a breach will typically lead to a one-time large expense or maybe smaller reoccurring expenses. There might be a potential decrease in revenue, but in the long term, investors tend to look past the breach, and they really just focus on the strength of the business and the value of the company. What do you think about data breaches and their impact on the stock price? Guy Melamed I'm not so qualified to talk about statistics on stock price and how a breach would affect a stock price in the short term or in the long term. What I can say is that what we've seen in so many events, in so many breaches that have taken place in the last couple of years, is that if you go back to those companies, and ask them would they have rather dealt with a breach or just buy a software, take measures that can help them in protecting or preventing or minimizing the amount and the magnitude of the breach, I think the answer is pretty obvious. So we've seen companies that have gone out of business because of breaches. We've seen companies that will have to deal with litigation for years ahead. So where's that factored in? There's just so many components. It's more of a philosophy that if you can do something active to try and minimize risk, then why not do it? I think companies, more from a philosophical perspective, should try and actively take action in order to minimize risk. And companies that are under the belief that it won't affect them and that they're going to be okay, I think are acting slightly irresponsible. Data Breaches and Breach Notification Cindy Ng Let's talk about breach notification. It's said that the time to discovery increases the cost of a data breach, and research has said that most companies take over six months to detect data breaches. If you're in the EU, article 31 of the GDPR says that data controllers, they'll need to notify authorities of a breach within 72 hours at the latest upon learning about the exposure, if it results in a risk to a consumer. If you're already protecting or in the process of protecting your data, how do you reconcile the time in figuring this element out? What do companies need to do? How much are we talking about? Guy Melamed So the surveys that we've been tracking show that 70% of the beaches are discovered within months or years. And I think a great example of a breach that affected a company years later was a Yahoo deal. This was a breach and I don't know if it was four years ago or three or five years ago, but it was discovered as part of an M&A process and had an effect, an actual quantifiable number that impacted the transaction price. So a company would obviously rather try and identify breaches as soon as possible, so they can take action, minimize some of the cost and be transparent with both the customers, the investors, and the shareholders. GDPR definitely changes the reporting requirement, and if you're breached, you have to provide that information within 72 hours. That's a short period of time, and in order to be able to comply with that regulation, and in order to have better tracking, you really have to have systems, programs, personnel in place to try to identify this. And the fines that come from GDPR, I'm talking about, you know, some of the requirements and some of the fines related to those requirements, are 4% of global revenue or $25 million, whichever is greater. That's a huge number that could affect companies in so many ways, definitely something that from our perspective what we see is causing a lot of interest, causing a lot of discussion, and companies are not ignoring the regulation because of its significance. Should You Just Pay the Fine? Cindy Ng So when you've done the risk analysis of viewing the GDPR fines, companies resigned to paying a fine because the fine isn't that costly. And so let's just pay the fine and get it over with. Guy Melamed My response is that it probably fits with an analysis or an analogy that says if I go through a red light, I know that the fine is probably minimal and I can live with a fine. There's so many other consequences. First of all, there's, the fine is pretty large when it comes to GDPR. There're so many other components that thinking that you can be okay, and just by paying the fine and being breached is definitely not the action that I would like to take as the company's CFO and definitely would try and act in a way that would minimize the risk long term and short term. A Story that Might Help IT Pros Get Budget Cindy Ng And what are your tips for IT managers who are trying to get budget to get a data security solution they need to help prevent a breach? Guy Melamed So I'm not sure I'm qualified to give tips, but I will share a story that I heard from one of our customers. And during a discussion, he was asked, "What is the best way to get budget, in order to get the Varonis product or any other product for that matter that can protect the company in the long term?" And his response was, "Make sure the risk assessment, the evaluation and whatever you're doing in that demo is done on the finance documents. If the finance personnel, if the CFO can see how many people have access to the financial statements or any other sensitive information within his folders or her folders and have access to information they shouldn't have access to, you'll find the budget, they'll find the budget." So that's definitely something that I I could relate because if I would see risk on files that I know team members shouldn't have access to, we could move things around within the budget to have something purchased that wasn't necessarily budget initially when I can quantify the risk in my mind. Minimally, You Should Have a Discussion Cindy Ng And any final thought as CFO as it relates to the cost if you don't invest in security? Guy Melamed I think no one anymore can ignore the risk. I think three, four, five years ago, we would talk to companies, show them the risk assessment, show how vulnerable they are, how many sensitive files are open to everyone in the company, show them how much data is open to everyone. And people could live with the risk. I don't think people, after all the breaches that have taken place and the amount of risks that companies are dealing with, can ignore it anymore. I think they have to take measures, think about it, or at least have a discussion. If they decide that they want to live with the risk, it should definitely be done after discussion with the legal department, the HR department, CEO, CFO, CISO, if all parties agree that the risk is not worth doing any, taking any action, then at least you had a conversation. But if it's decided by one person within the organization and it's not shared between the different departments, between the different roles that would eventually be responsible, then I think that's just not good practice.

This is a great episode with Tamsin Minton. We talk about how you can still enjoy Christmas while still staying on track with your fitness goals. There're some real great tips, hacks and advise that you can implement straight away. Tamsin also shares here health mince pie recipes and you can see that by clicking this link here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/550383948472708/ Join our Free V.Fit community here. There are challenges, recipes, motivational posts and all the latest goings on posted in here.https://www.facebook.com/groups/vfitcommunity/ As always your feedback is always welcome so why not leave a review on iTunes or drop me an email at vanessa@vanessafrenchfitness.co.uk

We prepare for a 45 minute this show week as we talk about the size of Caveman's file, the world's most metal lemmings, Taika Waititi, and more. The song you heard was KASTEL - "Frankeinstein." You can find the song on: SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/freesongstouse/kastel-frankeinstein YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNlJYPlqtN0 You can find more from KASTEL on: Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Im_Kastel Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KastelMusic/ SoundCloud: @im_kastel Song was released by Free Songs to Use: @freesongstouse Help supporter Death's Door Prods on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/deathsdoorprods Website: http://www.deathsdoorprods.com/ iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/deathsdoorprods/id688055687 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/deaths-door-prods-anythingcast Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Iiwamy2w2f5f63vkcvgv2ubj7ge Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DeathsDoorProds Dead Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DeadMan_DDProds Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeathsDoorProds MediaWhorz Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MediaWhorz YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/DeathsDoorProdsVids MediaWhorz YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/MediaWhorz

E.B. Moss: I'm here onsite at Spark Foundry with Gail Gallupo, Senior Vice President and CMO of Aflac. , and I hear a little rasp in your throat – you had a big day yesterday? Gail Gallupo: Yes, we had an amazing day - a partnership between Disney ABC and Aflac as well as Spark Foundry – It was an exciting time. Moss: Gail, let’s start with your very interesting background, having worked in so many different marketing related roles. You were at Hewlett-Packard, you were at Western Union, Standard Chartered... What was your favorite? Gallupo: I am one of these people that I love every job that I've done. In the end, I want to focus on the consumer understanding the consumer. I am a global citizen; when I was at Western Union I covered 202 countries and territories. So I've visited about 70 countries. And as a serial learner I just love to get into the environment, into the culture and really study the consumers and what drives them. What trends are happening and what motivates them to engage with a brand... so that to me is really something that just turns me on. And I've been able to bring all of that experience to  Aflac and really help them elevate the brand - not that I have to do much to do that with this iconic duck - but really elevate the brand and help consumers understand the importance of what Aflac products are. Moss: Well let's start with that - what AFLAC is. I looked this up - American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus. So tell me what Aflac does. Gallupo: Aflac is an amazing company, founded by three brothers over 60 years ago with a great entrepreneurial spirit -- visionaries that built an insurance company to help people in a  time of need, but to preserve their lifestyle. And I am very honored to be able to work for this company and bring this idea to a whole new level in 2017. Moss: And you've already done some impressive things in 18 months. But let’s start with you the person. Tell about ‘a day in the life’. Gallupo: I get up pretty early and my husband, actually a stay at home dad who helped me raise our three children, makes me a fruit smoothie and I'm off to work. There're meetings creative sessions. I tend to be kind of innovative inspirational as well as I love to work with people who can help drive creativity and ideas. So I don't sit in my office; most the time I'm out on the floor working with my team members, sitting in their cubicles talking about great ideas and how we can elevate the brand and drive sales of Aflac. Moss: Well it sounds like you've already done quite a few of those things. And you came to this from the retail sector, the finance sector, education, technology... Gallupo:  A lot of people have really questioned my track. A lot of people will stay within a certain industry and then they'll move up their career in an industry. I've decided to stay within a functional track. So product management, marketing, advertising... but I've switched to several different industries. I love being able to experience new things learn about new technologies, learn about different cultures, and continue to add that to my tool kit to help me better understand and better market for whomever I'm working for. Moss:   There are a lot of challenges facing CMOs now and you really have to stay current. So, how do you stay current right now? Gallupo:                 I work with people like Spark Foundry and their innovation lab. I also have a muse. I also am very... Moss: Did you say you have a muse? Gallupo: ...I have a muse. Yes... Moss:  I love it. Is it like a digital native Muse? I heard that's the way to go. Gallupo: No. She's been with me for over 20 years and is just one of the most creative people I've ever met. And so together we stay on top of trends. I'm constantly reading and very engaged in the startup community, so I feel like that helps me understand what's going on. Technology's moving quickly, you have to stay on top of that. But one thing that's very important to me is not to not to miss what happens from a human aspect and understanding segments and subsegments. You know everybody's talking about the Millennials for the last 10 years...and now many people are talking about Gen Z - but at Aflac, we're not generational - we don't define our audiences by generations or age but we do by a mindset. Moss: Interesting and that will start to inform why you did this campaign with Disney ABC. But to that point about having a wide ranging background, Gail, you also have, like, 11 patents!? Are any of them anything that if you described it I would understand it? Gallupo: Oh absolutely. When I was at G.E....I was working with client J.C. Penney and I was looking to develop a value proposition on repackaging and branding of the private label credit card. A lot of people still carry private level – or affinity - credit cards ...usually for a big-ticket purchase. And I wanted to have people bring that card out more frequently. So we designed a feature (the muse was part of it!) for a credit card that was never done before at the time: It was a tax rebate. ...A certain spending level on the J.C. Penney credit card would be tax free. The retailer at that time - and many retailers today - are very heavy into discounts.  So you see a 10% discount ...even as high as a 20 % discount rate. But if you look at the United States blended sales tax rate, it was only at that time about 7 percent. So actually, they would be giving out less margin on their business if they gave a tax rebate versus a discount. A lot of work was done with consumers to study this: and the consumers went wild. It hit an emotional chord like, you know “I'm going to screw the IRS I'm going to get my you know I'm not going to pay taxes on my purchases”. And it was just phenomenal that we ended up patenting that idea. Moss:Amazing. And you also did a lot of innovative work with a company that you started, BankersLab. I know you're still on the board of that - and this also sort of ties in to everything you're doing currently. If I understand it correctly you used simulation and gaming to educate financial services employees. Gallupo: That's exactly right. We started the company after the financial crisis [when] we saw that people were pointing fingers, blaming others on why it happened, but nobody was making any real changes in the banking industry. We built this company to teach people that it's not about just pulling credit back or just mitigating risk because you won't grow. or growing at the expense of profits and therefore shareholders. We've innovated around data and gamification and put this training into actually doing. And we've had phenomenal results in terms of our post training efficacy and that people learn better when they DO. And that's what our simulations do: You work out what-if scenarios. And your goal is to make a profit. ...We use a gaming methodology called scaffolding and each round gets tougher and tougher. So anyway sorry about [going on] – this is a great passion. It's a great brand, a great product and it’s about bringing data and innovation together.  And that's my sweet spot. I love that. Moss: Well, there's a big trend now for CMOs to actually have to be CTMOs. Do you think that everyone needs to be as right brain/left brain as you are, or is there still room for us right brainers in the room? Gallupo: Wow that's a great question. To be CMO if, let's say, you are very creative right brain, you want to make sure that you really are able to serve your customers, then surround yourself with the people that are have the skill set you don't have to know everything. From my experiences, just make sure you have team members that complement the areas that you might not be the most knowledgeable in. Moss:  It seems like Aflac has a reputation for surrounding itself with good people as well. Some of the accomplishments at the company just even talking about the year that you've been there: Fortune named it a Top 100 place to work for Millennials -- and has  ranked it for 19 years running -- as one of the best companies to work for in America. Ethisphere named it one of the world's most ethical companies...And, a big sweet spot for MediaVillage: we appreciate that it's been touted as a diverse company by Black Enterprise and Latina magazines. ...These are really important considerations for your human capital; we know that Millennials and Gen Zs are really focused on socially responsible companies. So as we move into how you're marketing Aflac, how do you tout those important aspects to the consumer? Gallupo: It’s not about touting. It's about providing brand ex [experience], or walking the talk. And that's what Aflac does. Our consumers don't want another big company touting that they're the best at this, or they've been around for this many years, and getting all that bravado out about the company: They want somebody who can connect with them, knows them and speaks to them. And it's really our actions that have helped us get those awards, because we have an amazing CEO Dan Amos for 28 years. He also was listed as one of the top 100 CEOs worldwide. He is a marketer at heart and everything he does is with the heart. We follow his lead and we are, what we call at Aflac, "caring innovators".  That's really what we believe the brand stands for - is that we care for our policyholders and even consumers, and we will go out of our way and put something in place even if it might not be the most financially sound move for us. I don't mean to say that we're wasting money but for example: We introduced one-day pay and one of our sales leaders asked why we’d pay in one day when we pay an average of four days. Our CEO said we're not doing it to save money. We're doing it because when someone's in need they need the money immediately. It matters when you're in your time of need. And that's why we win these awards. Moss: There's a history of confusion around what Aflac does. And one-day pay sounds pretty important because as I understand it you're the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States Tell me - because we all know the sound of the Aflac duck - how you have moved the company to have people understand what Aflac is versus the knowing the sound of its name. Gallupo: Very great observations, and even today... there are people that don’t even know what “supplemental” or voluntary insurance is. The second problem we have is that they think that ‘I don't need it because it's voluntary’ but it’s quite the opposite. They really do need it. So, I've set as a mission with my team to drive that understanding. So, with Publicis Seattle we launched a new campaign to really get at what is the lasting effects of injury or illness and how this can impact your life and what we want to do is we want to advocate for a healthy lifestyle.  We want to embrace our customers’ experiences and lifestyles that they want to live. We don't judge people we don't say well you shouldn't do that and you should save for this. But we just want to make sure that they understand that they have an opportunity to protect that lifestyle by buying Aflac insurance. So our campaign that we launched on Thanksgiving of last year was called The Ripple Effect and it showed that by having an accident it might change the course of your life. Our first commercial - a young man had a ski accident, broke his leg and the ski patrol came up to him and said "wow that looks like moving back in with your parents injury." And he is like, "why? Wait - I thought I broke my leg?" and he goes oh no that's a full-on move in the basement.  So the idea is that this gentleman didn't have Aflac and he would be out of work and he wouldn't be able to pay his rent. And that is the consequences that he would have to move in with his parents until he got back on his feet. So that's what we're trying to do is put it into just language that people understand scenarios that people understand - that there is an option there to help them overcome these things and keep their lives on track.  Moss: Got it. And Publicis has been your agency of record for quite a few years and in fact helped originate the doc. I think it was Kaplan Thaler about 20 some years ago... Gallupo: 17 years this December that the duck was introduced. Moss:  Oh so he's a Gen Z! So now we're here at Spark Foundry because of another way to communicate the brand message using the Aflac duck. And -- I don't know if I can say this: there's a little frog in your voice because of the duck. Gallupo: Right. I was quacking all day yesterday .... Moss: So yesterday was the premiere of your newest sponsorship with Disney ABC Television. And it was with Disney XD. Tell us about that. Gallupo: Well we're just so pleased to be able to partner with Disney ABC on their new series DuckTales or new reboot.  It's the 30 year anniversary of just beloved characters and we just felt like this was just the most amazing synergy in terms of what we stand for at Aflac, the idea and activities or adventures of the characters in DuckTales. So anybody who you know grew up in the 80s are so attached to the series and we just felt it was a great great synergy between Aflac and Disney ABC --and this sponsorship to help as you said re-injure introduce this. This is a fantastic show and to integrate the Aflac duck as the Aflac duck really does symbolize this idea of adventure experiences and protecting your lifestyle so you can live the life you love. Moss:  ...Because they are always having these crazy adventures and they could be like the skier who broke his leg and nobody wants to move in with Uncle Scrooge.  Gallupo: Exactly right. Moss:  OK. So, describe the creative the campaign. Gallupo: Well I couldn't be more pleased. Again, our partners and us working together with Spark and with Disney ABC they did an integration with good morning America. So, the Aflac duck was on the show with Ginger Zee who was a huge sales fan. And then we were able to take the duck and have him shopping at the Disney flagship store here in New York.  Moss:                       Like the real duck? You didn't like CG this -- he was there?  Gallupo:                 He was on Good Morning America, he was in the Disney store buying merchandise. Moss:                       Did he have a little affinity card? Gallupo:                 He did not have cash...I think they were just so excited to see him in the store that our friends at Disney picked up his tab. And the staff there were fantastic - top notch in terms of helping the AFLAC duck pick out his merchandise. He is a celebrity. Moss: That's true. And I watched the sneak peek of the way it's integrated so as I understand it you're not running an Aflac spot within DuckTales; you're the sponsor of it and then he is incorporated into the animation through the actual duck sitting watching TV and then in his little mind's eye he's transported into an animated character right then and hangs out with Huey, Dewey and Louie... Gallupo:  That's right. And Disney actually did the animation. And we were just so pleased how it came out. He was a natural fit. And this commercial introducing DuckTales and showing Aflac as a sponsor aired for the first time yesterday during GMA and the audience went wild. Everybody was singing the DuckTales song and incorporating Aflac in the song. Moss:                       How did this idea come about? I mean I'm sitting in the tech innovators office here at Spark Foundry but I know that Disney has some props for being creative too. So how did this idea come about. Did all three entities sit together at the table and brainstorm did spark founders bring it to you. Did Disney say Hey have we got an idea for you because those guys have an amazing integrated marketing team too. Gallupo:Absolutely. They're extremely creative. They're bringing creative ideas data in research investment strategy to us. But we have a great relationship with Disney ABC through Spark and Disney actually approach Spark and talked about this revival of DuckTales. And asked them to actually come to Aflac and see if we would be interested in a partnership because they felt like the brand stood for so many things that Disney stands for - as well as specifically the DuckTales story and characters and then Spark came to us and then it was a collaboration session to see how do we bring this to life. Moss:  Must've been funniest day at work ever. Now, it's not the most intuitive target viewers - sponsoring a kid's show. Gallupo: It's because of their parents and we've seen the reaction to the announcement that DuckTales was coming back, the voices behind the characters -- very very well known and very current in terms of celebrity. And we really wanted to talk to the parents and we knew that the parents would be sitting there with their children. And I wanted them to think about while they're watching this show and enjoying that experience with their kids, because they're experiencing their childhood with their children as it was just watching the show nostalgia. But to understand that you know they can protect those lifestyles and if something were to happen to them or someone in the family that they don't have to go through financial toxicity and change the course of their lifestyle, and so that's kind of how we tie to this. Moss: Aflac also does a lot to help children's causes - Gallupo: Aflac is very passionate about our social purpose, which is pediatric cancer. And as a matter of fact, this is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and we have just launched the Aflac Childhood Cancer campaign.  And we are for the first time going to be fundraising for this very important cause, and people can buy merchandise on our Web site and all net proceeds will go towards funding medicine or treatments for pediatric cancer. Moss: And I think there's even an Aflac duck on the site that you can buy -- a little Plushy. Gallupo:                 Yes. And he's a superhero duck and he has the yellow ribbon - the symbol of childhood cancer awareness. It's really really important. Moss:                       Now, do you ever get jealous of the success of the duck. Because I have to say, @AflacDuck is kind of beating the time of @Aflac by about two to one in Twitter followers. Gallupo:                 And that's the strategy. We are so so lucky to have a timeless icon.  And since he can't talk he can't get into trouble! He's just this celebrity that people love that just is so much to the heart of our brand, but our Aflac Facebook page is a little bit more corporate. We're you know we're very proud of the content but we manage them both very carefully: We're trying to connect more people and if they feel more comfortable connecting to Aflac duck and that means we can educate them on what Aflac actually is I'll take it all day long. Moss:                       Got it. So you've got the recall, you've got the awareness. You also I believe had said that you have to be kind of picky about where Aflac duck appears. You know there are certain lizards in the world of commercials that appear everywhere. Yes. So what are the thresholds what will you let them do because I mean he's been in the movie "Up," he's been on the red carpet, at the Grammys and now on GMA...  What are the limitations? Gallupo:                 We really are a family oriented brand. And for that we aren't going to put the duck in any provocative or risky situations; it's a family icon. It will appear in more family oriented shows like on Disney ABC. And we're now doing cinema advertising and we're very particular about which shows and previews that the duck will appear in the theaters. And so you'll never see him in R rated movie; we just keep it very family oriented. Moss:  That's interesting because there's a lot of brand extensions now that are happening with cinema advertising as well - trying to take it online and follow the consumer as well. So what are the other media extensions that you're looking to embrace? For example, we're in the golden age of audio and you have such a memorable sonic brand. (I have to do it.  "AFLAC!" OK.  It had to be done.) People see you have such a memorable sound with that. How much are you embracing audio or the whole Alexa thing. Gallupo:  You know we're definitely piloting with all the new technologies.  We feel that there's opportunity with [smart speakers] and the personal assistants. We're actually doing a lot of testing with beacons and being able to send messages to a mobile device. And I'm really excited about that opportunity because our agents go to big employers and it's not always easy to see or communicate open enrollment to all those employees. And what began to allow us to do is to put up your typical or just put a little beacon in a corner and be able to communicate to where folks are: they're on their phone constantly they're checking text messages they're on messenger. And this gives them an opportunity to actually be in the space that they're at at that time. And so we're really excited about that. And then also chat: with Facebook Messenger having over 1.2 billion active users, and WhatsApp -  we feel very strongly that this is going to be something that's an opportunity to get into a natural conversation with a consumer. Moss:                       Last question, Gail: looking into your personal crystal ball what is your projection for not only how you might move the brand forward but how other brands really need to embrace all of this fractionalization. Gallupo:                 Well I can speak for Aflac, and I'm just excited, my team is so excited, we are introducing a new brand strategy. We are really going to leverage on what has already been developed this past year in terms of encouraging consumers to live a healthy lifestyle. What you'll see is that we will want to change the category and move away from supplemental or voluntary and show people that you know it's very important to have medical coverage which just is important to have lifestyle coverage. So wanting to bring this up from kind of a secondary to an equal-to medical coverage. So that's big for us. And then as I mentioned to your earlier E.B., brand [experience] and so it's not just all about advertising those things we just talked about from innovation. That's not you know just an ad to a consumer. That's about engaging and driving a brand act and the way that I describe it at Aflac is it's not innovation for the sake of innovation, because every new tech company is running out there and doing stuff... what we do at Aflac is purposeful innovation and that we are at the center of what we do as being a caring innovator. So we're very purposeful about what we innovate and how we innovate and where we bring this to life through Brand X. So that's what you'll be seeing from Aflac are more things like that...and more and more fantastic integrations like we had here with Disney ABC and DuckTales and with Spark Foundry and where it makes sense for our consumers and makes sense for us and how we can really get our brand out there. Moss: This was really really insightful and I think you’ve just converted a new customer.  

In this episode, Megan & Kris give Five helpful tips for families visiting Disneyland.   Five Family Disneyland Tips Tag your stroller for easy ID at a distance. There're a couple ways we do this. Our favorite way to do this is to drape a blanket over the top and the stroller handle. This does two things: it makes our stroller stand out visually from the others and it also covers up what we may have in the stroller. We never keep any valuables in it, but why provide temptation to anyone to go snooping, right?   Save on souvenirs by purchasing them before your visit. This is a great way to save money at the parks. Instead of buying souvenirs there, buy them before you go, at places like Target, the Disney Store (clearance), or anywhere else, locally, that might have Disney merchandise. Then, bring them into the park with you and give them out while you're there! Your kids don't need to know that you didn't purchase them on Disney property. Here's the magical phrase: "Hey, look what I got you!"   Write your phone number on your children. The bottom line here is to make sure you can be contacted if your kids get lost. This can be done in many ways. You can buy bracelets that you can write contact and identifying information, use a sharpie to write your number on the hem of their shirt, or a pen to write on their arm.   Free Samples! Both Ghirardelli and the Boudin Bakery give free samples when you walk in. Feel free to visit the bakery, grab a sample of freshly baked sourdough bread, and learn how it's made by watching the instructional video and observing the cast members work. Then, walk across the way into the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate shop where you'll receive a free chocolate square for dessert! (Also feel free to buy one of their delicious creations!)   Free Ice Water! Free ice water can be found in the Disney parks from restaurants that offer fountain drinks. Just go in and ask! Filtered water spigots are available in the Baby Care Centers at both parks as well as at Rancho del Zocalo, the French Market, and Tomorrowland Terrace restaurants. Still tasted gross, so bring water flavoring. Also, filtered water spigots are available in the Baby Care Centers at both parks as well as at Rancho del Zocalo, the French Market, and Tomorrowland Terrace restaurants. Note: It still tastes "tappy," so bring water flavoring!   Come Join Our Facebook Group! Come join our Facebook group where you can ask questions and share your advice on visiting Disneyland with your kids…or even just to geek out over Disney! Visiting Disneyland & Disney World with Kids — Go Mouse Scouts   Get in Touch with Go Mouse Scouts! Email us at fun@gomousescouts.com, find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, and iHeart Radio.   FREE EBOOK: 10 Ways Families Can Save on a Disneyland Trip! One of the very first things we hear when we talk to other people about visiting Disneyland is, “That sounds like so much fun, I wish we could go! It’s just so expensive.” After hearing this so many times, we started to look for ways that families could save on a Disneyland trip. We found that while a Disneyland trip will be expensive (but totally worth it), you might be surprised to find that with a little forethought and planning, it can be within your reach! In this short ebook, we’ve grouped our tips into three main categories: tips on saving and collecting extra money for your trip, saving on the trip itself, and ways to save at the parks on food and souvenirs. We even added five bonus tips on some free and inexpensive things you can do at Disneyland! Sign up for our email list (below) and we'll email it right out to you! We'll also let you know when our Guide to Visiting Disneyland with Young Kids is released and keep you up to date on news, contests, and our latest podcast episodes. By the way, you also get our two previous freebies: Disneyland Resort Scavenger Hunts and our Unofficial Day at Disney Resource Pack!   Subscribe to our mailing list Subscribe to our mailing list.

LeRoy's Library is Bangkok Lyrical Lunacy's weekly Podcast where we cover our community, culture, news, events, and any other information regarding life on Earth and in Bangkok. In this episode, we take a deep dive inside The Self, with a healthy helping of poetry that examines The Ego. There're choppy seas ahead with lack luster skies as we force our eye to lie upon the Truth our mind has long surmised, yet long denied. Enjoy! Featured Performers and Artists: Dominick Cartwright Michael Holt DJ Rory Breaker-Morant and the SuperFly Allstars

Whether you're selling life insurance or a car or plumbing service, you're in an area where there's a lot of competition and you're trying to standout. But how can you best stand out within the industry you're in? Creativity is key. In one of the early episodes of How I Built This Podcast by NPR, […] The post TSE 617: There're Too MANY of Us Here! appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.

There're many resources out there that help entrepreneurs and small business owners. In this interview, Doreen Rainey shares how a business coach can help you and your business and shares 5 tips for finding the right one.

Discuss on Reddit ➤ Support the Show ➤ Grab your library books and keep an eye on that newt! This week we're chatting up the nuvo-West End show “Matilda: The Musical.” We discuss stellar child actors, British and US dialectical differences, the fabulous Bertie Carvel and the marvels of childhood. Matilda: The Musical (Original London Cast Recording) Spotify SHOW NOTES Have a look at this interview with the marvelous Tim Minchin where he talks about how he got involved with the RSC and Matilda. The set design for this show is JUST fab. Here's an interview with set and costume designer Rob Howell and lighting designer Hugh Vanstone about their letters-and-blocks inspired design. There're two recordings of Matilda! Did you know that? Tommy didn't. If you want to do some comparisons, the London Cast is on Spotify and the Broadway Cast is on Amazon. 2013 was the year of the children choruses at the Tony Awards. Don't believe us? Check out NPH's exhausting opening number. Have a look at the stunning Bertie Carvel in the recording studio. Fabulous both in and out of costume. Join Lesli Margherita in her backstage vlog “Looks Not Books” from Broadway.com. Tim Minchin sings songs. They're funny. Really funny. He's also working on a new musical – an adaptation of the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. It'll be a while before you can listen to the whole thing, but you can check out one of the songs right now!

In this episode, we go through a number of over/under predictions for both the offense and the defense for the 2016 football season. Tony joins the show to lend a hand with his predictions as well. There're a few things each of the hosts agrees on and that is that there will be a rusher that cracks 1,000 yards and that Finke will record more than 6.5 catches.

Download MP3 ８月の５週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この８年間に配信した259本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。 今回は"Stay Foolish ... ?"をテーマに、この1年間にお届けした中から、ちょっと常識ではあり得ない行動に出る人々の登場する会話を４本選びました。かれらのあまりに「ぶっ飛んだ」言動に、夏の暑さも吹き飛ぶかも…!? （初級〜中級）The Excitement of a Zoo M: Finally, we made it to the zoo! I wanna go see the T-Rex exhibit first! W: Robbie, how many times do I have to tell you: dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There're no T-Rexes in the zoos. M: And how many times do I have to tell YOU that that's just a government conspiracy fabricated to keep people from using dinosaurs as weapons. W: (Puts her palm over her face and sighs) OK, Robbie, OK. I believe you. Just stop talking about it already. I actually wanted to enjoy this trip to the zoo, and you're making that pretty difficult. M: Hey look! Lions! (Robbie grabs Regina's hand and makes a dash for the lion enclosure.) M: Wow! Lions are awesome! W: (giggling) I'm glad to see you've taken interest in an animal that actual exists. M: I always wished I could've been raised by lions. Living in the mountains, living off nothing but the flesh and blood of rhinos! W: Um, I don't think that's where or how lions live, Robbie. (Regina looks down at her phone to distract herself from how badly this date is going. Regina then looks up.) W: Hey Robbie what do you think of--. (Robbie is no where to be found.) W: Robbie? Robbie?! Where are you? (A few seconds later) M: I'm over here, Regina! (Regina looks over to see Robbie cuddling with one of the lions within the enclosure.) W: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LION ENCLOSURE ROBBIE!? THATS SUPER DANGEROUS! M: Just following my heart Regina, just following my heart. (Written by David Shaner) A Halloween Prank Situation: It's Halloween and Robert and Carla are setting up for their annual Halloween party. W: And... done! The hallway decorations are done. This is gonna be the best Halloween party yet! M: Yeah, I totally agree. And this year's prank is gonna be twice as spooky as last year's! W: Hey, wait, wait, wait.... you're gonna do a prank AGAIN this year? (Robert is drilling holes in the ceiling, and is setting up some strange thing.) M: Well, yeah. You can't have Halloween without spooky surprises! W: Just so I'm clear: this whole prank thing isn't gonna end up like last year's, when Lenny was hospitalized for 3 months, is it? M: Of course not. W: Good. M: Yeah, I've stepped up my game from last year. Look: when the guests walk in the door, they'll trip this switch, which deploys a can of pepper spray! The can of pepper spray will spray them in their eyes, rendering them unable to see. Then, I turn off the lights and beat them up with this baseball bat! W: OK. There are TWO huge problems with this "prank". First, why turn off the lights if they already can't see because of the pepper spray? Second, how is blinding someone and then beating them with a bat a Halloween prank?? Sounds like something you'd do to your worst enemy! M: Oh, whatever. Someone like you could never understand. You never did have a good sense of humor with these things! W: That's because someone always ends up seriously hurt and/or permanently disfigured! In fact, how are you not in jail yet? M: Well, it might have something to do with the fact that I'm 12? W: Oh, yeah! (Written by David Shaner) Special Medicine M: Alright Kimmy. I drove you to this pharmacy store. Can I go home now? W: Ha Ha Ha! Don't make me laugh! You thought that was the end of your duty? That was merely the first phase! M: I don't like where this is going. Is this another one of your crazy schemes? W: Hey, if you didn't want to help me with this, you shouldn't have volunteered! You're gonna have to see my plan to its end! M: Volunteered? I volunteered because you told me we were going to go help your hot sister move into her new apartment. I didn't volunteer to get myself arrested, which is definitely going to be the result if this is anything like your other schemes. W: You have too little faith in me. We only get arrested if we get caught! M: So, this IS illegal then?! W: Just let me do all the talking. (Mark and Kimmy walk up to the pharmacy counter.) W: Hello! My name is Kimmy and this is my severely mentally impaired brother, Keith. We would like some very expensive medications so he can get better. M: (whispering) Mentally impaired? What're you talking about? W: (whispering) Just go with it... If we get these drugs for your "condition", we can sell them for twice the price or more on the black market! Pharmacist: Do you have a prescription or doctor's note with you? W: Ahem... Um, no we don't. But can't you just see how mentally impaired he is? Isn't that enough to warrant the medication? Pharmacist: Without a prescription, I can't do anything for you. W: (whispering) Mark, you're not selling this well at all, you've gotta at least try to act the part! M: This is ridiculous, Kimmy. I'm going home. If your hot sister ever DOES actually need help moving in, you know where to find me! W: Ah! Mark, you ruined everything! (Written by David Shaner) Fire Alarm Situation: Troy and Amanda are hanging out in a dark corner of their local library. W: So, I was, like, "It's totally YOUR fault, Christie, because Johnny Ferrerie would've never kissed Suzie unless Kathie Davis had been... (Troy cuts off Amanda) M: Yo-- hold that thought! Check out this fire alarm over here! W: What? You're not actually considering pulling a fire alarm in a public library, are you? The sprinklers will go off and it'll ruin my hair! M: Think of it this way: if I pull this fire alarm, everyone in here is gonna get soaking wet. Ha ha ha... (Troy has a mischievous smile) W: Yeah, exactly! Meaning: my hair and my new Louis Vuitton bag will both be ruined! M: Amanda, think about it. EVERYONE in here will be soaking wet! That includes the girls! The combination of water and a white shirt really suits a girl in a situation like this, if you know what I mean. (Starts laughing) W: Oh my gosh, Troy, you're such a pervert! M: Genius? Yes. Inventive? Yes. Pervert? No way. Um... watch this! (Troy puts his hand on the alarm, poised to pull it.) W: Hey! You better not! M: Come to me, my drenched vixens! (Troy pulls the alarm and everyone in the library starts screaming as tons of water fall upon them.) (Written by David Shaner)

Earlier today, I stumbled upon an article titled, "Stocks Your Parents Should Have Bought the Year You Were Born". Now, this article was for the baby boomers, because I wasn't born yet. One example they provided is if my grandparents had bought $1,000 worth of stock in General Electric in 1943 and held it to now, it would be worth $197k + dividends. However, $1,000 in the 1940's isn't the same buying power today. A $1,000 investment back then would be $16,894.64 in 2016 due to an annual inflation of around 4%. My great grandma, June wasn't an investor, she was a hoarder. While cleaning her house after she passed, we found a small amount of money hidden in odd spots. In one place, we found $10,000 stashed in a pocket of an old sweater, which was buried under years of other clothes that she accumulated. She would rather stash her money even though it depreciated and also risk losing it all in a house fire. That is how most approach investing. They stash it away or give it to someone else to deal with it. Baby boomers who are trying to retire now are now seeing that was a huge mistake. They lost money and are behind because inflation. Having that much money to invest into one stock was very unlikely during the war. If you did, it's very tough to hold onto the stock that long. You don't have control of the company, board or direction. You're just along for the ride. There have been many companies that have come and gone during that span as well. You can't bank on picking the right stock and holding onto it as a reliable investment approach. The world has changed and to succeed we need to change the way we think and invest. The days of just working hard until you retire and then you would have a pension, savings and the government don't work anymore. There isn't income or job security anymore in this globalized world. That is why I share different ways of doing things with different opportunities. That is why I encourage you to learn about the different solutions out there; that are non-traditional because we don't live in that type of world anymore. While things have changed, there are ways to pivot and take advantage of these changes. We have to take charge of our future now and take the bull by its horns. When a door shuts, a window opens. There're some exceptional business and investment opportunities that still allow you to create a better life. One of those opportunities I've benefited from and stand by involves Amazon. It allows you to have more upside return without the stock market risk and more control. It's simple to implement and get started because I lay everything step-by-step for you. If you're ready to expand your thinking and open minded to different opportunities to create more freedom and options for yourself. I invite you to join me for this free presentation where I will share everything in more detail about this opportunity. http://www.OptionSIZZLe.com/plr To your wealth, freedom and options! Joshua Belanger

Download MP3 ８月の５週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この８年間に配信した259本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。 今回は"Stay Foolish ... ?"をテーマに、この1年間にお届けした中から、ちょっと常識ではあり得ない行動に出る人々の登場する会話を４本選びました。かれらのあまりに「ぶっ飛んだ」言動に、夏の暑さも吹き飛ぶかも…!? （初級〜中級）The Excitement of a Zoo M: Finally, we made it to the zoo! I wanna go see the T-Rex exhibit first! W: Robbie, how many times do I have to tell you: dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There're no T-Rexes in the zoos. M: And how many times do I have to tell YOU that that's just a government conspiracy fabricated to keep people from using dinosaurs as weapons. W: (Puts her palm over her face and sighs) OK, Robbie, OK. I believe you. Just stop talking about it already. I actually wanted to enjoy this trip to the zoo, and you're making that pretty difficult. M: Hey look! Lions! (Robbie grabs Regina's hand and makes a dash for the lion enclosure.) M: Wow! Lions are awesome! W: (giggling) I'm glad to see you've taken interest in an animal that actual exists. M: I always wished I could've been raised by lions. Living in the mountains, living off nothing but the flesh and blood of rhinos! W: Um, I don't think that's where or how lions live, Robbie. (Regina looks down at her phone to distract herself from how badly this date is going. Regina then looks up.) W: Hey Robbie what do you think of--. (Robbie is no where to be found.) W: Robbie? Robbie?! Where are you? (A few seconds later) M: I'm over here, Regina! (Regina looks over to see Robbie cuddling with one of the lions within the enclosure.) W: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LION ENCLOSURE ROBBIE!? THATS SUPER DANGEROUS! M: Just following my heart Regina, just following my heart. (Written by David Shaner) A Halloween Prank Situation: It's Halloween and Robert and Carla are setting up for their annual Halloween party. W: And... done! The hallway decorations are done. This is gonna be the best Halloween party yet! M: Yeah, I totally agree. And this year's prank is gonna be twice as spooky as last year's! W: Hey, wait, wait, wait.... you're gonna do a prank AGAIN this year? (Robert is drilling holes in the ceiling, and is setting up some strange thing.) M: Well, yeah. You can't have Halloween without spooky surprises! W: Just so I'm clear: this whole prank thing isn't gonna end up like last year's, when Lenny was hospitalized for 3 months, is it? M: Of course not. W: Good. M: Yeah, I've stepped up my game from last year. Look: when the guests walk in the door, they'll trip this switch, which deploys a can of pepper spray! The can of pepper spray will spray them in their eyes, rendering them unable to see. Then, I turn off the lights and beat them up with this baseball bat! W: OK. There are TWO huge problems with this "prank". First, why turn off the lights if they already can't see because of the pepper spray? Second, how is blinding someone and then beating them with a bat a Halloween prank?? Sounds like something you'd do to your worst enemy! M: Oh, whatever. Someone like you could never understand. You never did have a good sense of humor with these things! W: That's because someone always ends up seriously hurt and/or permanently disfigured! In fact, how are you not in jail yet? M: Well, it might have something to do with the fact that I'm 12? W: Oh, yeah! (Written by David Shaner) Special Medicine M: Alright Kimmy. I drove you to this pharmacy store. Can I go home now? W: Ha Ha Ha! Don't make me laugh! You thought that was the end of your duty? That was merely the first phase! M: I don't like where this is going. Is this another one of your crazy schemes? W: Hey, if you didn't want to help me with this, you shouldn't have volunteered! You're gonna have to see my plan to its end! M: Volunteered? I volunteered because you told me we were going to go help your hot sister move into her new apartment. I didn't volunteer to get myself arrested, which is definitely going to be the result if this is anything like your other schemes. W: You have too little faith in me. We only get arrested if we get caught! M: So, this IS illegal then?! W: Just let me do all the talking. (Mark and Kimmy walk up to the pharmacy counter.) W: Hello! My name is Kimmy and this is my severely mentally impaired brother, Keith. We would like some very expensive medications so he can get better. M: (whispering) Mentally impaired? What're you talking about? W: (whispering) Just go with it... If we get these drugs for your "condition", we can sell them for twice the price or more on the black market! Pharmacist: Do you have a prescription or doctor's note with you? W: Ahem... Um, no we don't. But can't you just see how mentally impaired he is? Isn't that enough to warrant the medication? Pharmacist: Without a prescription, I can't do anything for you. W: (whispering) Mark, you're not selling this well at all, you've gotta at least try to act the part! M: This is ridiculous, Kimmy. I'm going home. If your hot sister ever DOES actually need help moving in, you know where to find me! W: Ah! Mark, you ruined everything! (Written by David Shaner) Fire Alarm Situation: Troy and Amanda are hanging out in a dark corner of their local library. W: So, I was, like, "It's totally YOUR fault, Christie, because Johnny Ferrerie would've never kissed Suzie unless Kathie Davis had been... (Troy cuts off Amanda) M: Yo-- hold that thought! Check out this fire alarm over here! W: What? You're not actually considering pulling a fire alarm in a public library, are you? The sprinklers will go off and it'll ruin my hair! M: Think of it this way: if I pull this fire alarm, everyone in here is gonna get soaking wet. Ha ha ha... (Troy has a mischievous smile) W: Yeah, exactly! Meaning: my hair and my new Louis Vuitton bag will both be ruined! M: Amanda, think about it. EVERYONE in here will be soaking wet! That includes the girls! The combination of water and a white shirt really suits a girl in a situation like this, if you know what I mean. (Starts laughing) W: Oh my gosh, Troy, you're such a pervert! M: Genius? Yes. Inventive? Yes. Pervert? No way. Um... watch this! (Troy puts his hand on the alarm, poised to pull it.) W: Hey! You better not! M: Come to me, my drenched vixens! (Troy pulls the alarm and everyone in the library starts screaming as tons of water fall upon them.) (Written by David Shaner)

Heyang: Apparently, girls love shopping. But boys don't necessarily. Dragging a reluctant man with you can diminish the pleasure of shopping. It can be suffering for the man as well. A so-called "Husband storage" might be a solution to this dilemma as some shopping malls are offering the service right now here in China. Tell me a little bit more about storage of the man.Ryan: Absolutely, because we men are offended, ok? We are offended that you will store us and I am proposing girlfriends storage for when guys want to play video games with their buddies and the girlfriend doesn't want to play video games with the buddies, so you store your girlfriend somewhere.Bob: This is warfare. This is war of the sexes. You are breaking up before our eyes. Ryan: But let me talk about what is actually happening in the mall in Fuzhou that is getting famous online because a literally husband cloakroom. It's a place for men can sit down take a little rest, read books, look magazines, in charge mobile phone, free WiFi is available and so basically this is getting a lot of hype, some of the ladies really like this kind of romanticism of them being able to shop and not have their boyfriend trail behind me like "Are we done yet?" "Are we done?" And they can be as free as they want while the guy does his WiFi and whatever he wants to do in a room with other guys. Heyang: Yeah, Ryan, I cannot believe that you think this is girls just ditching their beloved significant other, and so she can enjoy her shopping. It's not about that at all. It's about thinking for your significant other. Do you honestly wanna be dragged around looking at shoes and dresses? We are sparing you time and honoring your wishes, so you can look at your phone which you really wanna do and not the pretty dress I'm right now.Ryan: You know what? I disagree. I would love to go around with my girlfriend in do shopping and tell her what I think looks good and have a say on maybe some of the wardrobes she picks. And at the same time, I'm realizing that guy at least in the relationship when you working the nine to five Monday through Friday. When you go out on the weekend, that's your time to spend time together, quality time and even when she's shopping and even when you are shopping, you can be talking and catching up on all these the gossip or whatever happening at work, just sharing those moments together that you don't get throughout the week. That's my personal view on it. I think it is kind of things promote and I was just talking to a friend about it the other day, promotes this kind of weird phenomenon that's happening now. You go to a restaurant, you see two, a couple sitting down and instead of enjoying each other's accompany, they are enjoying their mobile phone and they are doing things, they just eating in complete silence. When I see that, what I told my friends was why go out to dinner, why even being in a relationship. I feel like relationships are enjoying each other's accompany. I believe something like this promotes kind like "ok, I am done with you, I am gonna use like money and go buy stuff and when I need that, you can come to me and buy my stuff." Bob: I feel as I am intruding on a private argument, but going back to, I sort of want to know, do women really care what their husbands or boyfriends think of the dress that they are going to buy and do the men in those relationships, do they really have an opinion? I think this is the big problem. Is it worth having your husband or boyfriend with you while trying to buy something which is really crucial. Heyang: I'm so glad you ask that question, Bob.Ryan: Dang-it, Bob.Bob: I want more money, pay me!Heyang: I thought I was the one that's gonna get the extra cash after the show from Bob and now maybe the table has turned. Yes, that is a very valid question and look at the designers, there usually homosexual manner or women and these are the people understand what looks good on women. Bob: So you need to take your best gay friend with you.Heyang: If you have a gay bestie, then yeah, he is a god send gift to you and what about your straight boyfriend or husband? Do they understand fashion? Do they understand what looks good on woman? I have some serious doubts. So basically it depends on who you are dressing up for?Ryan: No, but we understand. I got chip in for my fellow guys out there. No, but we understand that we love you and we wanna spend time with you. Being a girlfriend and sometimes that means not with doing which you wanna do, in which case that could be the guy playing video games and the girl doing something like shopping. Relationship are give and takes and I think this kind promotes some weird compromises, spend time with your loved one, even when they are not doing something you necessarily are excited about. Suck it up!Bob: I think, can I put my psychology hat on here? Can I? Very serious. Do you think you like it? It's very me. I think that's, one of the problems here is why are people staying closely, so closely together? And it might be, because the lady in this relationship wants to keep on an eye on the man to make sure, you know, he may have gone to the husband cloakroom and he maybe playing video games, who knows? Ryan: They need had a camera system so you can watch your husband as you shop.Bob: You need to be able to monitor exactly where he is, because as soon as the lady goes to choose the dress, the husband's left the husband's cloakroom and he is going to do something more interesting.Ryan: That's enough out of you, Bob.Bob: I just know your secrets.Ryan: But might you know, one of the netizens say why would the boyfriends even, why would they just stay home and I take that step further. Why you are in a relationship? If you are not spending time together doing something she likes to do, then I think this is a serious problem in your relationship. She should be doing some of the things you're interested in, you should be doing somethings she is interested in. I think it's healthy compromise in a relationship. That's what I'm saying.Heyang: Yes, but you're sharing a life together, you're sharing a lifetime together, there's plenty of time to do stuff together.Bob: And choosing a dress can feel like a lifetime.Heyang: Says the man in the room and that's exactly why we wanna leave you in the storage or at home.Ryan: Jesus, low blow, low blow.Bob: That's it. You cross the line.Heyang: Oh, dear! Our wechat listeners have so much to say about this. There're a few guys that are saying I would love to be in that storage with wifi. And being dragged around when you need to tell the lady whether she looks good or not and they always look the same. Thank you guys for telling the truth.

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[intro music] Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Seventy-nine of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m Dan Keller. Wouldn't it be great to be able to predict who will develop MS? Then those people could be followed prospectively, possibly medication could eventually avert the disease, and at least some medical planning could be done early. Immunologist Dr. Nancy Monson, an associate professor in the department of neurology and neurotherapeutics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, has developed a promising diagnostic test for relapsing-remitting MS that looks at unique antibody gene mutation signatures in B cells in cerebrospinal fluid. Interviewee – Nancy Monson We can identify with 86-92% accuracy patients who either have MS or will develop MS in the future. Interviewer – Dan Keller How long is the future? Dr. Monson So the longest patient we've tracked so far is 17 months out. MSDF And how quickly might this turn into MS? Dr. Monson As soon as immediate. It kind of depends on, you know, what the patient's history has been really in that respect. MSDF This is tested so far on a pretty small cohort, is that right? Dr. Monson No, we tested it on three different smaller cohorts here at UT Southwestern. And then when DioGenix licensed the IP on MS PreCISe, they actually took it to clinical trials, and we're writing that workup now. And that was 300 patients in that trial. MSDF It looks like there's very good sensitivity, but what's the specificity in terms of other kinds of neurological diseases, inflammatory diseases, anything else? Dr. Monson Right. So we're just starting to figure that out. So the accuracy is based on comparing true patients who convert or evolve to MS versus patients who do not. That's where the accuracy mathematics comes from. But in that respect, the control patients that we've looked at so far, the majority of them have very low scores to no score detectable at all in those patients. But some of them do have higher scores. And we don't understand that yet, because we don't really understand any CNS disease for that matter and how the immune system is operating in there. But we're working on trying to expand the control cohorts that we can really kind of nail down, you know, which ones they'll be different from and which ones they won't be different from. MSDF Is it worth doing healthy controls also? Dr. Monson Not really. Healthy controls are always really low, and so I don't think that's a very fair comparer because it's just not very stringent, right? It's not very hard to be able to figure out who are the healthy donors with MS PreCISe. But when you start looking at people that mimic MS, like people with sarcoidosis and people with neuromyelitis optica, you know, then, you start to really have a rigorous ability to test MS PreCISe. And it's quite possible, when we start expanding those kind of control cohorts, the mimics of MS, that the MS PreCISe scoring mechanism will have to be adjusted to kind of push those different control groups away from the MS group and distinguish the two better. MSDF When we talk about these gene mutation signatures, what are you really looking at? Or for? Dr. Monson So if you think about B cells in the blood, they produce antibodies, which are designed to survey the entire body for infection. Okay? So the way that they do that is to have a really great ability to bind to infectious agents or foreign agents in your body. So the mechanism that a B cell uses to do that is called somatic hypermutation or affinity maturation. And what that means is just fancy immunology speak for saying that they incorporate mutations into their antibody genes in order to bind to their targets better, okay? So it makes them more effective in being able to find them and to stick to them. So we've done an initial look at the different antibody genes that were being used by MS patients versus our control cohorts, and didn't really see that the genes themselves were that different that they were using. So then we thought, well, maybe it's the somatic hypermutations that they're putting into those genes that are really different from what we see in the controls, and that's what turned out to be true. So it turns out that there is a family of antibody genes that incorporate these somatic hypermutations allowing them to bind to their target better that we don't see in healthy people or people with other neurological diseases. In fact, in some cases some of these codons will accumulate mutations up to seven times more than what we see in control cohorts. And that's what MS PreCISe is based on, is the accumulation of those mutations into those six codons. So the more mutations there are in those six codons, the higher the MS PreCISe score you get, and the more likely it is that you actually have MS. MSDF Are you essentially losing tolerance here, because of the hypermutation there's more chance that you're going to start to recognize self-antigens? Dr. Monson So we have actually taken the antibodies that have these somatic hypermutations in those six codons and looked to see if they bind to human brain tissue. And it turns out that they absolutely do, hands down. We've tested 38 of those so far, and 90% of them bind to neurons in the brain. So we know they bind to self-antigens, right? But that doesn't necessarily mean that they've lost tolerance or that they're proinflammatory, for example. It's possible that the B cells that are making these antibodies are actually somehow able to quiet the immune system. We don't know yet because we haven't been able to do those experiments to see. But obviously, when you see a lot of B cells that are reactive to the brain, right, that they're antibodies are reacted to the brain, that is an alarm to us that they have probably overstepped their boundaries, have not gone to school correctly and done what they're supposed to do. But we still have some experiments to do to make sure that that's what's going on with it. MSDF I suppose that leads to a question of, are they pathogenic in themselves? Or are they bystanders or regulatory somehow else? Dr. Monson Right. That's a really good question, and we don't know the answer to that. There're some experiments we can do to start testing that, but it's very tricky to do those experiments, particularly in the mouse models we have right now. We're not going to give these antibodies to people and see if they get MS, right? So you have to do all that testing in animals or in vitro. And because no one prior to this time has ever actually been able to demonstrate that antibodies from B cells of any type in MS patients actually bind to brain tissue, I mean, this is completely undiscovered country. We're kind of out there on our own trying to figure out how to best ask those questions, and it's a little bit tricky. But I'm fortunate to have a lot of really brilliant people that work with me, and so we'll work on trying to figure out how we can test that in the best way. MSDF It seems that people have been looking for years for the antigen or antigens that are being reacted against in MS. Can you isolate anything and try to stimulate these B cells to nail down what the antigen might be? Or because they're so hypermutable, they might react to anything and then expand on their own anyway? Dr. Monson Well, we know that they don't recognize all targets, right? So we just published a paper in November of this past year, actually it was October when it came out online. But what that shows is that these MS PreCISe-based antibodies bind to neurons and astrocytes in the gray matter of the human brain. And they don't bind to other tissues. They don't bind to other cell type. They are really fairly specific to neurons and glia in the brain. So we know that part of it already. But the question is, you know, what are they doing there? And is it just an epiphenomenon (is what they call it, right)? Is it just a bystander effect that we're even able to find them? So we just don't know the answers to those questions yet. But all those are good possibilities. MSDF Does this depend on the natural propensity of the immune system to create a lot of diversity, generate diversity, because it seems like what you're talking about are all replacement or substitution mutations within these codon hot spots? If you had a deletion or frame shift or something else, you wouldn't see it, because they're not even functional, I assume? Dr. Monson Right. That's exactly right. You got that right. MSDF Is there any value in combining MRI with the antibody gene signatures for a higher predictive power? Dr. Monson So let me be very clear. This test is not meant to replace MRI. MRI is a gold standard in the field. It is essential for physicians to be able to understand the disease and to come up with a plan for how to treat those patients. This is just meant to be a very powerful, supportive, preclinical diagnostic tool to help them base their decisions appropriately. So that's what we're mostly excited about. So, yeah, absolutely. Combined with MRI, I think it'll do an even better job. We actually in the clinical trial we just finished, it's not published yet, what we showed was that when you combine MS PreCISe with oligoclonal banding, the OCB test, that actually you can boost the accuracy of MS PreCISe up to 96% when you combine it with OCB. So that tells us, also, at a scientific level that not only are the genetics of the antibodies important to drive disease, but also that the antibodies probably plays a role in their conversion to MS as well. MSDF Based on the efficacy of rituximab that's been shown, and what you've been finding, is there any thought to doing something more permanent, like using CAR T cells to eliminate B cells almost permanently? Dr. Monson So as a B cell biologist, it's really somewhat offensive to think that we are going to get rid of B cells in all these people, and they're going to be able to be okay with that. We rely a lot on B cells differentiating into plasma cells and living in the bone marrow and making antibodies against things that we see all the time. But when we start depleting B cells from people long-term, it's possible that their humoral immunity, which is composed partly of the B cells and their antibody products, will not be able to fight newer infections because, you know, there's no new B cells to learn about those new infections. So no, I don't think it's a wise decision that we continue to use rituximab and ocrelizumab. I think that they are the next step. They're a transitional stage that we need before we can get to the true gold standard, which would be a way to deplete just the B cells that are involved in pathogenesis of the disease. My stump on that would be that we should be making B cell depleting antibodies that only recognize those B cells that carry the MS PreCISe antibodies, and those are the B cells we should be getting rid of. But we have a lot of work to do to be able to show that they really are the ones that drive evolution to MS. MSDF What is MS PreCISe? Is this a commercial test now? Dr. Monson So MS PreCISe is its commercial name, but it has not been rolled out yet. It's just beginning into a CLIA lab right now. So hopefully within the next year, it will be an orderable test. MSDF One thing I noticed in one of your papers was you said it wasn't feasible at the time the paper was written to be doing this en masse because it was a very tedious procedure. So does this test essentially make it more feasible? Dr. Monson Yeah. The way we discovered MS PreCISe was actually looking at the antibody genetics of single B cells, which we sequenced using Sanger sequencing. Sanger sequencing is a very elegant immunogenetics-type method. So we spent about a year and a half re-tooling that technology to use next-generation sequencing. So now all we need to do is get a spinal fluid from a patient, and then we extract the DNA directly from that, and we sequence from the entire pool instead. And actually, what's nice about it is we also get a much deeper database from each single patient because we see all of the DNA from that sample now instead of just the few B cells we were able to sort before. It's really nice in that respect because we get a much broader idea of the repertoire. So that is what MS PreCISe is based on is being able to use next-generation sequencing now to really pull those antibody genetics out of individual patients. MSDF What are the unanswered questions at this point? Dr. Monson Well, there are a lot. But I think the one that strikes me the most is whether or not we can pull the antibody gene signature out of the blood. If we can do that, it would get rid of all these spinal fluid taps that our patients have to undergo right now. And so we're working really hard to see if we can find a way to pull them out of the blood so we don't have to do these spinal fluid samplings any more. That's probably our biggest one. The other thing that we're really interested in, once we can find the signature in the blood, it shouldn't be too hard for us, then, to start asking questions about whether or not family members have a higher risk of getting MS. Which is probably one of the primary questions I get from patients all the time: Can you test my daughter? You know, I'm worried about her maybe getting MS someday. And so that motivates us to think, yeah, we got to get this test ready in the blood so we can start asking those kind of questions. I also think MS PreCISe will be a good monitoring tool. I mean, maybe we do keep treating patients with rituximab, but we don't re-treat them unless they're MS PreCISe score starts to creep back up again. So we're hoping that it's a way to also monitor efficacy of different drugs for that matter. So those are the things we're really working on pretty hard right now. MSDF Great. I appreciate it. Thanks. Dr. Monson Sure. Thank you. [transition music] MSDF Thank you for listening to Episode Seventy-nine of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery. This podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Carol Cruzan Morton. Msdiscovery.org is part of the nonprofit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Hollie Schmidt is Vice President of Scientific Operations. Msdiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances. [outro music] We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org. For Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, I'm Dan Keller.

Full Transcript: [intro music] Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Seventy-eight of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m Dan Keller. A lot can be learned about pregnancy and MS by tracking pregnant women and their offspring over time. Dr. Dessa Sadovnick, a professor of medical genetics and neurology at the University of British Columbia in Canada, has started such a registry with international colleagues. I spoke with her at the World Congress of Neurology in Santiago, Chile, in November, where she described these efforts and what a very focused registry can tell us. Interviewee – Dessa Sadovnick I'm not talking about a general registry. What I'm talking about is a pregnancy and outcome registry. So this is not just taking people who have MS and trying to keep track of them. This is looking at actual pregnancy outcomes and what happens to the children after. So it's a very specific type of registry. Interviewer – Dan Keller It seems like there's a multitude of variables you can look at. What sorts of things are you going to be tracking if you get this going? Dr. Sadovnick Well, I think the important factor is that just because you have a disease such as multiple sclerosis doesn't mean you're immune from other factors that can affect pregnancy outcome and child development. So in addition to knowing about drug therapies, disease course, other exposures related to your MS, it's also important to know about your previous pregnancy history, your family history, your basic demographics, including your ethnic background, comorbid diseases which you may also have with the MS. All these factors can affect pregnancy outcome and child health. MSDF Will you be looking at the mother's longitudinally? Or only the children? Dr. Sadovnick Ideally, we'd like to be able to look at the mothers up to a year post-partum, and then follow the children longitudinally. Because there are situations where children do not have a certain disease that the mother may have, but over time, they might be found to have some late onset problems, for example, related to learning disabilities or something like that. MSDF Can you separate those out by biological cause or environmental cause? They're in a household with people who have a disease and have to deal with it. Dr. Sadovnick Well, we know for a fact in terms of MS that there is certainly no transmissibility within a household. We have done a lot of work over the years that show very clearly that the excess of MS you find within biological relatives of people who have MS is very clearly due to genetic sharing, not shared family environment. So from that point of view of the child inheriting MS, we're not looking at the family environment. Obviously, there're many psychological issues and many socioeconomic issues related to having a parent who has a chronic disabling disorder. And the impact this could have on child development must, of course, be taken into consideration. But what I'm trying to look at here is more the general factors in terms of, if the mother is exposed to a disease-modifying therapy at the time of conception or in early gestation, and if there is an adverse outcome in the pregnancy, is that necessarily correlated? Or could that have happened for many other reasons? Similarly, if the child develops problems down the road, could that be related, maybe, to the uterine environment because the mother has an autoimmune disease? Which does not mean the child gets an autoimmune disease, but maybe, in some way, it impacts the autoimmunity long-term? MSDF How long would you have to track children? And how many would you have to track to get meaningful numbers? Dr. Sadovnick Well, this is obviously always a concern, and you would have to track a sizable number. But when you consider how many people there are with MS in North America, and if you could do a centralized registry, I think it's realistic that you follow them at least for a few years after delivering. Once they start reaching their developmental milestones, you can get some ideas. But I think the main factor is that we're always saying, therapy is not indicated if you're contemplating a pregnancy. And this causes many issues for many people. But the evidence for this is so scarce. And my big concern is that, are we really being overly cautious? And we won't know this if every adverse outcome is automatically trying to be related to exposures either at conception or in the early parts of gestation. MSDF Pregnancy itself is immunosuppressive, but it seems women have a rebound after delivery. So what goes on with treatment during pregnancy? Is it okay to stop treatment if they're naturally going to be somewhat immunosuppressed? Dr. Sadovnick This is one of the big areas that we really don't have information, and we need good information. Obviously, if you look at a series of women, what seems to happen is especially in the third trimester, they seem to do better. And then, of course, once you deliver and their hormonal changes take place, there's an increase of relapses after delivery within the first three months. That's not to say women can't have relapses while they're pregnant. That is not to say that women are going to have relapses necessarily after delivery. But if you look at large numbers, this is the pattern. The question then comes up, if you have a relapse while you're pregnant, how severe is the relapse? And how should it be treated? There're no set guidelines. The same way as after delivery, a big factor is whether the mother's breastfeeding or not breastfeeding. In today's society, you're really encouraged to breastfeed, but that could have impacts on how you treat a relapse. The other big issue in terms of pregnancy-related relapses is something that we also experience when we look at people who have MS and they're going into menopause. And that is, are the symptoms really an MS relapse? Or could they be pregnancy-related? If you have a symptom, say you have urinary problems, say you have balance problems, say you have fatigue, how do you measure if this is specifically an MS relapse versus just part of either the later stages of pregnancy, the early stages of pregnancy, or living with a newborn child? There is really nothing concrete on how to measure what's a true relapse, what's a pseudo-relapse. And there are no really specific guidelines on how to treat these symptoms during gestation and immediately after delivery. This is an area that we really need to develop. One of the things that we have been able to do is a lot of people are interested in this topic, but it's never been looked at in a formalized manner using experts from many different areas. So about a year and a half ago, I put together a meeting of a group of people who are interested in reproduction and child health. And we received some funding to have a two-day meeting from the Canadian Institute of Health Research, as well as some money from Teva Neurosciences and Biogen Idec. And what we did is we had a two-day workshop basically saying, is there a need to learn more about this area? And if there is, how can all these specialists work together to try to develop knowledge-based information? So we gave our little virtual network, which has no ongoing funding; it's basically people just working voluntarily. We've given it the name of MS CERCH, which is Center of Excellence for Reproduction and Child Health. And we've put together a voluntary working group. And where we're at right now is we've actually just had a paper published in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American main journal. They also call it a Green Journal, but it's not neurology. Just talking about limitations, guidelines, what we know and what we don't know about reproduction and child health. So this was published the end of 2014. We're currently working with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to try to have our paper turned into some guidelines for people with multiple sclerosis. We've also just recently as a group published a paper talking about why there is a need for a disease-specific registry rather than a treatment-specific registry. We are also just submitted a manuscript looking at all the issues dealing with males with MS in terms of reproduction and child health, because the focus, of course, is on females. But there're still a lot of males out there, and they face many issues that have not been addressed. And we're in the process of trying to get some funding for the first-ever grant to look prospectively at the occurrence of peripartum depression in both mothers and fathers who have multiple sclerosis, a topic that's never been looked at before. So from our two-day meeting, which was quite casual and informal, we have been able to move forward, and as a group, had some concrete outcomes. And we're hoping that we're be able to move forward with this group, hopefully obtain appropriate funding, and we're be able to, maybe, really come up with some knowledge-based information for people with MS who are contemplating reproduction. Another major area of concern is we're more frequently now identifying the pediatric population with multiple sclerosis. The focus on this population has largely been the recognition that MS does occur in the pediatric population. But what's happening is as years are progressing, this pediatric population is evolving into a population who are capable of reproduction. How diagnosis of pediatric MS can impact not only reproductive ideas, but also just behavior in teenagers, and how all this is interrelated is not known as well. So it's a whole other area that we really need to understand. MSDF Are you looking for buy in from clinicians in all of North America? Or restricted to Canada? Or worldwide? Dr. Sadovnick Ideally, we'd like worldwide. Realistically, right now in our group, we're basically clinicians who are in Canada and the US. We have some buy in from some clinicians in Europe, and it's the obvious problem when you don't have resources, the buy in has to be voluntary. So we do have strong connections between Canada and the US, and we're working forward to try to make this a topic that is more at the forefront. MSDF You have a pretty good system of linked databases in Canada. Can that help you with this? I mean, you know diagnoses and pharmacy and death records and hospital visits and everything else. Dr. Sadovnick Linked databases are a very important resource, but they are exactly what they are: linked databases. You're not dealing with the actual people. You're dealing with how the information has been recorded. So while for some purposes linked databases are extremely important, and there's been a lot of work published out of Canada, including with our group in British Columbia using the BC record linkages. They are informative. But it's not the same as actually dealing with the actual people, because record linkage cannot tell you everything you need to know about the person. Just to use an example in terms of pregnancy outcome. You can identify a woman who has MS. You can look at when she had prescriptions filled for her disease-modifying therapy, for example. You can look at if any birth defects were registered for the child. But what you don't know is, did this mother have previous pregnancy losses? Registries only have live births. Does the mother have a family history of some relative with a certain disease? Could the mother have comorbid diseases that for some reason are not linked into her medical history? Maybe she's moved from another country. Maybe she doesn't have the health coverage. So there's a lot of issues with record linkage. And I think it's very important to know that it has strengths and limitations. But it's not the actual end of everything. The other issue with record linkage is it's someone's interpretation. For example, if it's recorded through record linkage that you have a given disease, it's assumed that all the appropriate diagnostic tests have been done. But is that necessarily the case? Could the person who's actually doing the coding reading from the records make that assumption? So you have to be careful. Years ago when I started in clinical genetics, we had a BC health surveillance registry. And the idea was to basically identify any children who had been within the hospital system in the first seven years of their life. And it was a provincial recording system. But the truth of the matter was is when we went back, and I spent a lot of time working with colleagues going back and reviewing the actual forms from which the data was collected, and the amount of errors you would find. Even in something as simple as MS, looking at cause of death. If you look at record linkage, sometimes it doesn't always note the cause of death the person had MS. Sometimes if there's asphyxia, the question is, was it just asphyxia? Is it related to the MS? Is it from something else? Another issue is very often people who have a specific disease like multiple sclerosis and they die, the real cause of death is ignored. Very often we know that cancer, for example, is underdiagnosed in a person with a specific disease like MS. Just because you're having bladder problems, it's often attributed to MS, where in fact, you could actually have bladder cancer, as an example, or bowel cancer. So if you look at all these data, I think it's important to realize that record linkage is a very useful tool, but it is not the only tool that should be used. MSDF Finally, where does this all stand? You mentioned that you have people doing it on a voluntary basis. Do you foresee something more formal? Dr. Sadovnick We're trying to get something more formal in North America. Obviously, funding is the issue. And right now we're trying to get the drug companies to realize that, if they would work together to have a proper pregnancy registry, it might be in everybody's interest, rather than just assuming that the drugs are not advised during pregnancy or when trying to conceive. The problem with all these registries is that where does the money come from? In Canada, we have a very interesting scenario right now where they're trying to put together a registry of people who have multiple sclerosis in Canada. This has nothing to do with pregnancy. This is just, who has multiple sclerosis in Canada? A registry with minimal data sets. And this started with the Canadian Institute of Health Informatics. This has been going on for quite a few years, and I'm on both the technical and the medical advisory committee for this. But the problem is, who's going to fund it? The concept was to enlist the ministries of health to get involved and fund it, but each ministry of health has its own issues in each province, and their interests are different. So even though the concept there was to try to get a cross-Canada registry for people who have MS, funding after many years of trying is still a major obstacle. It's a big issue, but this is why I'm hoping at least if we can focus on the idea of pregnancy, maybe through some research funding or company funding, we'll be able to at least get a pilot started that will start to answer some of these questions. A lot of money is being spent by each drug company looking at their treatment-specific pregnancy registries. And if we could get them to realize that if they all work together, we might get somewhere. It would be nice. [transition music] MSDF Thank you for listening to Episode Seventy-eight of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery. This podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Carol Cruzan Morton. Msdiscovery.org is part of the nonprofit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Hollie Schmidt is Vice President of Scientific Operations. Msdiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances. [outro music] We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org. For Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, I'm Dan Keller.

It’s the last podcast of 2015, and we’ve got a lot to talk about! There're the results of our Kdrama Christmas watching, the disturbing, slight distance between an alpha hero and a crazy stalker, and the upcoming KCon 2016. Then we move into listener questions and comments on comments, revisiting topics like remaking dramas, recasting Lovesick, and how best to use that hard earned Kdrama cash. During the conversation we discuss an idea as to possibly changing the format of the podcast, so please weigh in on your thoughts!  To read the complete show notes, please visit the official website.

This week, we look at some recent horror comedies and an obscure TV movie. First, Duane and Desmond look at the great Canadian horror comedy Bloody Knuckles. Then Rich the Monster Movie Kid covers 1972's The People. Then Duane and Desmond take a look at The Slashening. There're tunes, as well: "Touch Me, I'm Sick" by Mudhoney, "Mongoloid" by Devo, "Starman" by David Bowie, "Dead Girls Don't Scream" by Thirteen Shots, and "Chlorine & Wine" by Baroness. RIP Gunnar Hansen. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.278.5257. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com and www.dreadmedia.bandcamp.com.

This week, we look at some recent horror comedies and an obscure TV movie. First, Duane and Desmond look at the great Canadian horror comedy Bloody Knuckles. Then Rich the Monster Movie Kid covers 1972's The People. Then Duane and Desmond take a look at The Slashening. There're tunes, as well: "Touch Me, I'm Sick" by Mudhoney, "Mongoloid" by Devo, "Starman" by David Bowie, "Dead Girls Don't Scream" by Thirteen Shots, and "Chlorine & Wine" by Baroness. RIP Gunnar Hansen. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.278.5257. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com and www.dreadmedia.bandcamp.com.

This week, we look at some recent horror comedies and an obscure TV movie. First, Duane and Desmond look at the great Canadian horror comedy Bloody Knuckles. Then Rich the Monster Movie Kid covers 1972's The People. Then Duane and Desmond take a look at The Slashening. There're tunes, as well: "Touch Me, I'm Sick" by Mudhoney, "Mongoloid" by Devo, "Starman" by David Bowie, "Dead Girls Don't Scream" by Thirteen Shots, and "Chlorine & Wine" by Baroness. RIP Gunnar Hansen. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.278.5257. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com and www.dreadmedia.bandcamp.com.

This week, we look at some recent horror comedies and an obscure TV movie. First, Duane and Desmond look at the great Canadian horror comedy Bloody Knuckles. Then Rich the Monster Movie Kid covers 1972's The People. Then Duane and Desmond take a look at The Slashening. There're tunes, as well: "Touch Me, I'm Sick" by Mudhoney, "Mongoloid" by Devo, "Starman" by David Bowie, "Dead Girls Don't Scream" by Thirteen Shots, and "Chlorine & Wine" by Baroness. RIP Gunnar Hansen. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.278.5257. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com and www.dreadmedia.bandcamp.com.

This week it's another grab-bag. Bear the awful audio as Chris and Desmond gush over Jake Gyllenhaal's masterful performance in Nightcrawler; thrill at Rich the Monster Movie Kid's discussion of the work of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in his review of The Invisible Ray; swallow your soul for Devil Dinosaur Jr.'s Stay Scary of the Evil Dead remake; and try to guess which two of these three films, which Desmond solo-reviews, are awful: A Plague So Pleasant, Old 37, and Queen Crab. There're tunes, as well: "Negative Creep" by Machine Head, "Nightcrawler" by Judas Priest, "Radioactive" by The Firm, "Evil Never Dies" by Overkill, "March of the Crabs" by Propagandhi, and "Fun House" by The Stooges. RIP Steve Mackay. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.278.5257. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com and www.dreadmedia.bandcamp.com.

This week it's another grab-bag. Bear the awful audio as Chris and Desmond gush over Jake Gyllenhaal's masterful performance in Nightcrawler; thrill at Rich the Monster Movie Kid's discussion of the work of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in his review of The Invisible Ray; swallow your soul for Devil Dinosaur Jr.'s Stay Scary of the Evil Dead remake; and try to guess which two of these three films, which Desmond solo-reviews, are awful: A Plague So Pleasant, Old 37, and Queen Crab. There're tunes, as well: "Negative Creep" by Machine Head, "Nightcrawler" by Judas Priest, "Radioactive" by The Firm, "Evil Never Dies" by Overkill, "March of the Crabs" by Propagandhi, and "Fun House" by The Stooges. RIP Steve Mackay. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.278.5257. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com and www.dreadmedia.bandcamp.com.

This week it's another grab-bag. Bear the awful audio as Chris and Desmond gush over Jake Gyllenhaal's masterful performance in Nightcrawler; thrill at Rich the Monster Movie Kid's discussion of the work of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in his review of The Invisible Ray; swallow your soul for Devil Dinosaur Jr.'s Stay Scary of the Evil Dead remake; and try to guess which two of these three films, which Desmond solo-reviews, are awful: A Plague So Pleasant, Old 37, and Queen Crab. There're tunes, as well: "Negative Creep" by Machine Head, "Nightcrawler" by Judas Priest, "Radioactive" by The Firm, "Evil Never Dies" by Overkill, "March of the Crabs" by Propagandhi, and "Fun House" by The Stooges. RIP Steve Mackay. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.278.5257. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com and www.dreadmedia.bandcamp.com.

This week it's another grab-bag. Bear the awful audio as Chris and Desmond gush over Jake Gyllenhaal's masterful performance in Nightcrawler; thrill at Rich the Monster Movie Kid's discussion of the work of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in his review of The Invisible Ray; swallow your soul for Devil Dinosaur Jr.'s Stay Scary of the Evil Dead remake; and try to guess which two of these three films, which Desmond solo-reviews, are awful: A Plague So Pleasant, Old 37, and Queen Crab. There're tunes, as well: "Negative Creep" by Machine Head, "Nightcrawler" by Judas Priest, "Radioactive" by The Firm, "Evil Never Dies" by Overkill, "March of the Crabs" by Propagandhi, and "Fun House" by The Stooges. RIP Steve Mackay. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.278.5257. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com and www.dreadmedia.bandcamp.com.

行楽の秋、お友達や家族と動物園に出かける方も多いと思います。今回の会話は動物園でデートをしている男女の会話ですが、男性はヘンなことばかり言ってデートを台無しにしたあげく、とんでもない行動に出ます。現代の動物園ではあり得ないことですが、リスナーの皆さんはくれぐれもまねをしないようご注意を...?! Image credit: Kapa65 via Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain. 　↓　↓　↓ Download MP3 （初級〜中級）*** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） an enclosure 動物園の檻 to make it to... に着く the T-Rex exhibit ティラノサウルスの展示 T-RexはTyrannosaurus rexの略。 to go extinct 絶滅する a government conspiracy 政府の陰謀 to fabricate をでっち上げる to take interest in... に興味を示す to be raised by... に育てられる to live off nothing but... 以外に頼らずに生きる ※to live off the land「自給自足の生活をする」 flesh and blood 血肉、肉体 ※文語的な表現。ここでは男性の大げさで見当違いな言動を強調している。 super すごく（副詞） *** Script *** The Excitement of a Zoo M: Finally, we made it to the zoo! I wanna go see the T-Rex exhibit first! W: Robbie, how many times do I have to tell you: dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There're no T-Rexes in the zoos. M: And how many times do I have to tell YOU that that's just a government conspiracy fabricated to keep people from using dinosaurs as weapons. W: (Puts her palm over her face and sighs) OK, Robbie, OK. I believe you. Just stop talking about it already. I actually wanted to enjoy this trip to the zoo, and you're making that pretty difficult. M: Hey look! Lions! (Robbie grabs Regina's hand and makes a dash for the lion enclosure.) M: Wow! Lions are awesome! W: (giggling) I'm glad to see you've taken interest in an animal that actual exists. M: I always wished I could've been raised by lions. Living in the mountains, living off nothing but the flesh and blood of rhinos! W: Um, I don't think that's where or how lions live, Robbie. (Regina looks down at her phone to distract herself from how badly this date is going. Regina then looks up.) W: Hey Robbie what do you think of--.  (Robbie is no where to be found.) W: Robbie? Robbie?! Where are you? (A few seconds later) M: I'm over here, Regina! (Regina looks over to see Robbie cuddling with one of the lions within the enclosure.) W: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LION ENCLOSURE ROBBIE!? THATS SUPER DANGEROUS! M: Just following my heart Regina, just following my heart. (Written by David Shaner)

Being on a team and succeeding is more than just practice and the playbook. There're also individual responsibilities which can be discovered right here!

行楽の秋、お友達や家族と動物園に出かける方も多いと思います。今回の会話は動物園でデートをしている男女の会話ですが、男性はヘンなことばかり言ってデートを台無しにしたあげく、とんでもない行動に出ます。現代の動物園ではあり得ないことですが、リスナーの皆さんはくれぐれもまねをしないようご注意を...?! Image credit: Kapa65 via Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain. 　↓　↓　↓ Download MP3 （初級〜中級）*** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） an enclosure 動物園の檻 to make it to... に着く the T-Rex exhibit ティラノサウルスの展示 T-RexはTyrannosaurus rexの略。 to go extinct 絶滅する a government conspiracy 政府の陰謀 to fabricate をでっち上げる to take interest in... に興味を示す to be raised by... に育てられる to live off nothing but... 以外に頼らずに生きる ※to live off the land「自給自足の生活をする」 flesh and blood 血肉、肉体 ※文語的な表現。ここでは男性の大げさで見当違いな言動を強調している。 super すごく（副詞） *** Script *** The Excitement of a Zoo M: Finally, we made it to the zoo! I wanna go see the T-Rex exhibit first! W: Robbie, how many times do I have to tell you: dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. There're no T-Rexes in the zoos. M: And how many times do I have to tell YOU that that's just a government conspiracy fabricated to keep people from using dinosaurs as weapons. W: (Puts her palm over her face and sighs) OK, Robbie, OK. I believe you. Just stop talking about it already. I actually wanted to enjoy this trip to the zoo, and you're making that pretty difficult. M: Hey look! Lions! (Robbie grabs Regina's hand and makes a dash for the lion enclosure.) M: Wow! Lions are awesome! W: (giggling) I'm glad to see you've taken interest in an animal that actual exists. M: I always wished I could've been raised by lions. Living in the mountains, living off nothing but the flesh and blood of rhinos! W: Um, I don't think that's where or how lions live, Robbie. (Regina looks down at her phone to distract herself from how badly this date is going. Regina then looks up.) W: Hey Robbie what do you think of--.  (Robbie is no where to be found.) W: Robbie? Robbie?! Where are you? (A few seconds later) M: I'm over here, Regina! (Regina looks over to see Robbie cuddling with one of the lions within the enclosure.) W: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE LION ENCLOSURE ROBBIE!? THATS SUPER DANGEROUS! M: Just following my heart Regina, just following my heart. (Written by David Shaner)

Mid-autumn festival is around the corner, mooncake producers are getting creative with "weird flavors." There're garlic flavored, Chinese Chives and egg flavored mooncakes. Weird foods or dark cuisines are ubiquitous. Have you ever fallen victim to any of them?

Episode 9 of the 2015 Summer Season.                     Music * Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score. * There're too pieces from Per Storby Jutbring's album, Dance of the Diaper Fairy. Snowbound, up top, and the title track at the end.    Notes * Hoo boy, have I read a ton of books about the space program, thanks to my stint on the writing staff of ABC's Astronauts' Wives Club last year.  So, most of this piece is just "stuff I now know."  However: read numerous contemporary newspaper accounts, readily available on  * Also key was the lovely prologue to First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong, James R. Hanson's solid (if a little hagiographic) bio.  

This week, Dread Media rocks once again as we present two interviews by author David Agranoff from BizarroCon 2014. The first interview is with MP Johnson (www.freaktension.wordpress.com). The second interview is with Ross E Lockheart (www.haresrocklots.com). Both of these guys rock. And so does David Agranoff (www.davidagranoff.blogspot.com). If that wasn't enough rock for you, Duane joins Desmond for a review of the horrifically misguided moral metal horror film The Black Roses. Oh boy. There're songs too: "Raise Hell" by Anthrax, "Teenagers From Mars" by The Misfits, "Black Sunshine" by White Zombie, "Soldiers of the Night" by Black Roses, and "Black Roses" by The Browns. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com.

This week, Dread Media rocks once again as we present two interviews by author David Agranoff from BizarroCon 2014. The first interview is with MP Johnson (www.freaktension.wordpress.com). The second interview is with Ross E Lockheart (www.haresrocklots.com). Both of these guys rock. And so does David Agranoff (www.davidagranoff.blogspot.com). If that wasn't enough rock for you, Duane joins Desmond for a review of the horrifically misguided moral metal horror film The Black Roses. Oh boy. There're songs too: "Raise Hell" by Anthrax, "Teenagers From Mars" by The Misfits, "Black Sunshine" by White Zombie, "Soldiers of the Night" by Black Roses, and "Black Roses" by The Browns. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com.

This week, Dread Media rocks once again as we present two interviews by author David Agranoff from BizarroCon 2014. The first interview is with MP Johnson (www.freaktension.wordpress.com). The second interview is with Ross E Lockheart (www.haresrocklots.com). Both of these guys rock. And so does David Agranoff (www.davidagranoff.blogspot.com). If that wasn't enough rock for you, Duane joins Desmond for a review of the horrifically misguided moral metal horror film The Black Roses. Oh boy. There're songs too: "Raise Hell" by Anthrax, "Teenagers From Mars" by The Misfits, "Black Sunshine" by White Zombie, "Soldiers of the Night" by Black Roses, and "Black Roses" by The Browns. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com.

This week, Dread Media rocks once again as we present two interviews by author David Agranoff from BizarroCon 2014. The first interview is with MP Johnson (www.freaktension.wordpress.com). The second interview is with Ross E Lockheart (www.haresrocklots.com). Both of these guys rock. And so does David Agranoff (www.davidagranoff.blogspot.com). If that wasn't enough rock for you, Duane joins Desmond for a review of the horrifically misguided moral metal horror film The Black Roses. Oh boy. There're songs too: "Raise Hell" by Anthrax, "Teenagers From Mars" by The Misfits, "Black Sunshine" by White Zombie, "Soldiers of the Night" by Black Roses, and "Black Roses" by The Browns. Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @DevilDinosaurJr and @dreadmedia on Twitter! Join the Facebook group! Visit www.stayscary.wordpress.com.

新シリーズ「アメリカ探究の旅〜イングリッシュポッドキャスト・英語を学ぶはじめの一歩〜」（Adventure in America）の第10回目です。少し英語が苦手！という皆さんを対象にした、長さもレベルも聞きやすい番組です。しっかり聞いて、しっかり声に出して練習してみましょう。 ジュンはまだアメリカの滞在期間が短いのに、日本の食ベ物を恋しがっているようです。そんな彼にリディアはいろいろとアドバイスをしますが…。 Download MP3 （9:29　6MB　初級） ※毎月第２週目に「アメリカ探究の旅」を２編ずつ配信します。 Adventure in America (10) 場面: ジュンはまだアメリカの滞在期間が短いけれど、日本食を恋しがっています。 W: So, Jun, what do you think about Seattle? M: It's really cool. There're so many things to do! But I'm still having a hard time with the food. I really miss Japanese food. W: Hey, we've got a lot of good Japanese restaurants here. M: Tokyo Steak House? Yeah, but it's still quite far from the real Japanese food I miss. And it's pretty expensive. Ahhh, I wanna go home! W: Ha ha. How about the Asian supermarket near the stadium? They've got tons of Japanese food there. M: Yeah, I often go and buy stuff there. But something's different, and I can't explain what it is. Ahh, I should have learned from my Mom how to cook Japanese food. (Sigh.) (Written by Joe Lauer)

新シリーズ「アメリカ探究の旅〜イングリッシュポッドキャスト・英語を学ぶはじめの一歩〜」（Adventure in America）の第10回目です。少し英語が苦手！という皆さんを対象にした、長さもレベルも聞きやすい番組です。しっかり聞いて、しっかり声に出して練習してみましょう。 ジュンはまだアメリカの滞在期間が短いのに、日本の食ベ物を恋しがっているようです。そんな彼にリディアはいろいろとアドバイスをしますが…。 Download MP3 （9:29　6MB　初級） ※毎月第２週目に「アメリカ探究の旅」を２編ずつ配信します。 Adventure in America (10) 場面: ジュンはまだアメリカの滞在期間が短いけれど、日本食を恋しがっています。 W: So, Jun, what do you think about Seattle? M: It's really cool. There're so many things to do! But I'm still having a hard time with the food. I really miss Japanese food. W: Hey, we've got a lot of good Japanese restaurants here. M: Tokyo Steak House? Yeah, but it's still quite far from the real Japanese food I miss. And it's pretty expensive. Ahhh, I wanna go home! W: Ha ha. How about the Asian supermarket near the stadium? They've got tons of Japanese food there. M: Yeah, I often go and buy stuff there. But something's different, and I can't explain what it is. Ahh, I should have learned from my Mom how to cook Japanese food. (Sigh.) (Written by Joe Lauer)

https://tix.smarttix.com/.../Sales/SalesMainTabsPage.aspx...Look at all those letters! There're even some numbers in there. Oh...just. Oh. Lucky you! This is the link to buy tickets to seeBASIC HELP by Ben Clawson, StrangeDog's Theatre's fantastic production in the Frigid New York Festival.We can, without a doubt, descibe this show as Hilarious, Touching, Engaging, and HILARIOUS.Starring the inestimable Megan Greener and the unestimmatabible Gavin Earl Johnson Dates & Times:Show #2 - 5:30 THURSDAY Feb 27thShow #3 - 6:50 SATURDAY Mar 1stShow #4 - 10:15 WEDNESDAY Mar 5thShow #5 - 12:30 SUNDAY Mar 9th Enjoy this podcast interviewing playwright Ben Clawson and director Artem Yatsunov about Basic Help, StrangeDog Theatre, and the complexities of pseudo-nouveau particle physics. Well, maybe not that last one, but it's at least worth a laugh.   ENJOY!

It's that time again. Jacob and Ryan start off the show trying to top their weirdness from the previous show. There're strange voices, lots of interrupting, bad jokes and so much "unprofessionality". We can't even describe how strange the show gets this week. Just tune in to find out.The Upper Strata - Sleeping In The GraveyardRoky Eriksen & The Aliens - I With The ZombieThe Chimpz - MadeWarm Ghost - Myths On Rotting ShipsSt. Madness - She Used To Be My GirlDiamond Rugs - Tell Me WhyThe 77's - Nuts For YouNekroGoblikon - Goblin BoxBlitzen Trapper - FurrIf you would like to be featured on a future episode you can contact us a podcastunderground@gmail.com.Drop us a line if you have any suggestions, comments, criticisms or anything else. Make sure you "like" our Facebook page - http://facebook.com/UndergroundPodcast.Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PodFromUnder.Read Jacob's occasional ramblings on his blog - http://robotvampireproductions.wordpress.com.Need help booking a show? Contact Ryan - somethingwickedent@gmail.com.Click here to listen or right click and choose "Save As..." to download.Please support our show by clicking the links to our Sponsors.

今回の話題は"political correctness"（日本語では「政治的な正しさ」）です。 ご存知のように、これまで広く使われてきた言葉遣いの中には、かつて社会の中心的な立場にいた人たちの主観によって生まれたものもあります。そうした表現の多くは、人種や性別やからだの特徴などによる差別や偏見を知らず知らずのうちに含んでいます。「政治的に正しい」表現とは、それらに代わるより中立な表現として誕生したものです。例えば日本語でもかつての「看護婦」が「看護師」に、「肌色」が「薄橙」に言い換えられるようになっています。 会話の中では、特に性別（gender）に関する中立な表現が数多く紹介されています。これらの"politically correct"な表現、皆さんはどのくらいご存知でしょうか。 今回お借りした素材 画像：Open ClipArt Library Download MP3 （15:27　9.0MB　初級～中級）** Script *** (Slow speed) 03:05-05:20 (Natural speed) 10:15-12:05 Political Correctness: Gender M: Hey, Yuki, I heard some cool things about political correctness, especially gender. W: Hmm... Political correctness. Um... that's when we try NOT to hurt people when talking? M: That's right. There're lots of expressions which we should avoid using. Instead of them, we can use softer expressions. W: For example? M: For instance, the word "businessman." Instead of saying "businessman," we can say "executive", "entrepreneur" or "business leader". W: I see. Those other expressions don't have the word "man" in them. M: Right. Another example is "housewife." Instead of saying that, we can say "housemakers." These days men have gotta take care of things at home, you know. W: Hey, I know a politically correct expression: "parental-child care leave" instead of "maternity leave". Not only women but also men should leave the workplace to take care of their children. M: Yeah. These words without gender role help us avoid sex discrimination. W: Some say that we are too sensitive. But, as you said, it's important to know how we can change expressions to prevent hurting others. M: Yeah. Oh, and we can change the expression "a yes-man," too. You know, someone who always agrees with everything? For example, we can say "a yes-person" instead. W: Yeah, I guess there are a lot of expressions like that. M: Yeah. W: But of course, it all starts from the heart. What's really important is that we have to think about the person we are talking to, and feel for them. A person's consideration for others is more important than expressions, I think. M: Good point! (Written by Inori Okawa)

今回の話題は"political correctness"（日本語では「政治的な正しさ」）です。 ご存知のように、これまで広く使われてきた言葉遣いの中には、かつて社会の中心的な立場にいた人たちの主観によって生まれたものもあります。そうした表現の多くは、人種や性別やからだの特徴などによる差別や偏見を知らず知らずのうちに含んでいます。「政治的に正しい」表現とは、それらに代わるより中立な表現として誕生したものです。例えば日本語でもかつての「看護婦」が「看護師」に、「肌色」が「薄橙」に言い換えられるようになっています。 会話の中では、特に性別（gender）に関する中立な表現が数多く紹介されています。これらの"politically correct"な表現、皆さんはどのくらいご存知でしょうか。 今回お借りした素材 画像：Open ClipArt Library Download MP3 （15:27　9.0MB　初級～中級）** Script *** (Slow speed) 03:05-05:20 (Natural speed) 10:15-12:05 Political Correctness: Gender M: Hey, Yuki, I heard some cool things about political correctness, especially gender. W: Hmm... Political correctness. Um... that's when we try NOT to hurt people when talking? M: That's right. There're lots of expressions which we should avoid using. Instead of them, we can use softer expressions. W: For example? M: For instance, the word "businessman." Instead of saying "businessman," we can say "executive", "entrepreneur" or "business leader". W: I see. Those other expressions don't have the word "man" in them. M: Right. Another example is "housewife." Instead of saying that, we can say "housemakers." These days men have gotta take care of things at home, you know. W: Hey, I know a politically correct expression: "parental-child care leave" instead of "maternity leave". Not only women but also men should leave the workplace to take care of their children. M: Yeah. These words without gender role help us avoid sex discrimination. W: Some say that we are too sensitive. But, as you said, it's important to know how we can change expressions to prevent hurting others. M: Yeah. Oh, and we can change the expression "a yes-man," too. You know, someone who always agrees with everything? For example, we can say "a yes-person" instead. W: Yeah, I guess there are a lot of expressions like that. M: Yeah. W: But of course, it all starts from the heart. What's really important is that we have to think about the person we are talking to, and feel for them. A person's consideration for others is more important than expressions, I think. M: Good point! (Written by Inori Okawa)

What would your life look like if you made prayer a focus?

アメリカ旅行が今回のテーマです。アメリカへの旅行を計画中のMasaは、Rachelにアドバイスを求めます。広いアメリカには見どころがたくさんあります。会話の中ではどのような場所が紹介されているでしょうか。 Download MP3 *** Script *** B: Hey Rachel! G: Hey Masa! B: I was wondering if you could give me some advice? G: Sure, what do you need advice on? B: I'm thinking about planning a trip to the U.S. during summer vacation, but I'm not sure where I should go. Do you have any suggestions? G: Wow, a trip to the U.S.? Let's see, I think most foreigners who go to the U.S. to visit usually want to go to New York. There're a lot of historical monuments like the Statue of Liberty, also several state parks, Broadway musicals are very popular there, and for people who like sports there's the New York Yankees, or the NFL Giants. B: New York really sounds interesting! How about Hawaii? G: I've never been to Hawaii myself, but I've heard that the weather there is very nice. The temperature never gets too cold, and never too hot. Most people who go to Hawaii seem to spend most of their time on the beaches or shopping. B: How about the water sports? Since it's summer, it'd be great to be able to go surfing. G: Of course! Not only surfing, but also snorkeling, scuba diving, and jet skiing are very popular. B: Are there sharks? G: Actually, yes….but I think most of them are small and harmless, like dog sharks. B: Oh…. How about Disney? It would be interesting to go to Disney in the U.S. and see how it differs from Disneyland in Tokyo. G: It depends which Disney park you want to go to. B: Are there several? G: Yes! A ton! In California there's Disney Land or Adventure Park, and in Florida there's Disney World, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon! B: Wow! Florida has a lot! Thanks for your advice! (Written by Kimberly Cantrell)

アメリカ旅行が今回のテーマです。アメリカへの旅行を計画中のMasaは、Rachelにアドバイスを求めます。広いアメリカには見どころがたくさんあります。会話の中ではどのような場所が紹介されているでしょうか。 Download MP3 *** Script *** B: Hey Rachel! G: Hey Masa! B: I was wondering if you could give me some advice? G: Sure, what do you need advice on? B: I'm thinking about planning a trip to the U.S. during summer vacation, but I'm not sure where I should go. Do you have any suggestions? G: Wow, a trip to the U.S.? Let's see, I think most foreigners who go to the U.S. to visit usually want to go to New York. There're a lot of historical monuments like the Statue of Liberty, also several state parks, Broadway musicals are very popular there, and for people who like sports there's the New York Yankees, or the NFL Giants. B: New York really sounds interesting! How about Hawaii? G: I've never been to Hawaii myself, but I've heard that the weather there is very nice. The temperature never gets too cold, and never too hot. Most people who go to Hawaii seem to spend most of their time on the beaches or shopping. B: How about the water sports? Since it's summer, it'd be great to be able to go surfing. G: Of course! Not only surfing, but also snorkeling, scuba diving, and jet skiing are very popular. B: Are there sharks? G: Actually, yes….but I think most of them are small and harmless, like dog sharks. B: Oh…. How about Disney? It would be interesting to go to Disney in the U.S. and see how it differs from Disneyland in Tokyo. G: It depends which Disney park you want to go to. B: Are there several? G: Yes! A ton! In California there's Disney Land or Adventure Park, and in Florida there's Disney World, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon! B: Wow! Florida has a lot! Thanks for your advice! (Written by Kimberly Cantrell)

There're a lot of trends going on with a lot of online advertising money going towards...or about a traditional media advertising money moving over to the online side. Ron has some interesting statistics regarding that.