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George Fourie explores the highlights and game-changing strategies shared from the Partners Intensive - a live martial arts business event held on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. IN THIS EPISODE:What Was Covered At The Partners Intensive: A Premium Martial Arts Business EventThe 1 Thing That All Martial Arts Business Owners DesireWhat's Special About Hosting Martial Arts Business Events On The Sunshine Coast?The Magic Delivered By Bushi-Ban International's Grandmaster Zulfi AhmedThe 90-Day Growth Plan That Eliminates Overwhelm, Clarify Goals, And Delivers Martial Arts Business Success*Need help growing your martial arts school? Apply Here.TRANSCRIPTION Hey, it's George Fourie. Welcome to the Martial Arts Media™ Business Podcast. Today, I'm going to be doing a bit of a review of an epic martial arts business event that we ran here on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. We are going to be talking about the highlights, epic, real cool things that we did. And most importantly, also talk about the next event that's coming up and how you can potentially be part of it.All show notes can be found at martialartsmedia.com/146. Head over there and download everything, and you'll get all the resources on how you can potentially join us for the next event. All right, let's jump in.A couple of months back, we hosted our Partners Intensive. Now, some context: you've heard me talk about Partners if you've been on the podcast. If you haven't, Partners is our martial arts business group that we work with, school owners from around the world. We get together online a lot, well, two to four times per week.But it's also important to get together in person. And so, we put together the Partners Intensive, which was a three-day event that we hosted on the Sunshine Coast here in Australia. I've got to be honest; it way exceeded my expectations of how amazing it was. We had speakers from multiple parts of Australia and also Grand Master Zulfi Ahmed from Bushi Ban International, who flew over from the United States to come and join us for the event.I'll tell you what. You've probably been to a business event, but if you haven't, it's the one thing that brings it all together, right? It's great that we've got all these online tools, and we can switch on Zoom and teleport virtually altogether from all different locations and connect fast.And there's nothing that beats that quick way of accessing information. But when it comes to human-to-human connection, we martial artists like to be around people, and the same goes with the events. Plus, you can get all the content that you want online, but it's that one conversation you have with a person who sits next to you, that insight that you get, that conversation that you're a part of where the magic happens. And I want to say, whether it's my event or someone else's, but if you're going to go, look at the business, look at it as a nice little tax write-off to get away and do it because whatever you spend, you get back tenfold plus form awesome relationships with...

Hey everyone, this podcast has been dormant for two years and it's time to reboot, rebrand and relaunch it. I welcome you to this new version and you can subscribe to the all new newsletter at theanewcomb.co.uk/newsletters. Transcription: Hey everyone, I am Thea, a Glasgow-based Californian. I am a trainer, blogger merch maker and publisher. This podcast will be the audio version of my new bite-sized newsletter ‘Thea's One Thing' where I share one tip, tool or tutorial each week - related to creativity, productivity or business. The aim will be to keep the pods short, under five minutes, but useful. From time to time, I may invite guests in to share their one thing too. So please subscribe on whatever channel you listen to your podcasts on. Until next time I'm Thea saying see ya!

[EP84] Unexpected English is the podcast where you can practice listening to real American English in just five minutes! This episode is called Search and Rescue. I hope you like it! [Transcription] Hey everybody, you're listening to Unexpected English. I've got a new episode for you. And it's a good episode because it's about people doing good things. And I think we need to hear about people doing good things because there's so much..... bad stuff happening out there, as you know, so we won't talk about that. Instead I'll tell you this episode is about search and rescue. There is a transcription in the notes to help you if you need it. And if you want to help the podcast then please leave a good review on iTunes or subscribe on Spotify, or just tell your friends Okay, here we go! (Interview) Okay, so I was talking to a neighbor and I found out that he volunteers for some kind of interesting organization. So I thought maybe he would tell us about that. Actually, my wife and I both volunteer with Sheriff's Search and Rescue, and we are a group of 150 volunteers that go out and look for lost or missing people anywhere in the county. Okay, so that's the sheriff's... Search and rescue And you volunteer to go find lost people. Now, how does that work? Well, you know, Grandpa goes out for a walk doesn't come home. You call, you know, if you're in the county, you call the sheriff's dispatch, explain it. The deputy will come out and investigate and if it's within reason for us to do, they will dispatch it. So they send out a text message that there's a call out and where it is, and we go out and search for him. Okay, so what was the last search you went out on? Or some that you remember? Well, Chelsea King, we looked for her for well over a week, Amber DuBois. And these are, like, girls who went missing? Yeah. Chelsea King went missing, actually, 12 years ago and was murdered by a perpetrator. Oh my gosh! So we're talking about a missing girl who they didn't know what happened.... They called out Search and Rescue, and we worked on that for well over a week. And in the end, did they find her? Yes, she was located, unfortunately, deceased. Oh my goodness. So it isn't always a happy ending, I guess. No, it isn't. But it's it's a necessary thing, even if it's a homicide case, and we're sent out to see if we can locate the victim. It's necessary, you know, people need to be found and returned to their families. And how about one with a happy ending? Let's give us a happy ending. Oh, there's lots of happy endings. I don't remember the person's name. But down in National City one time we were looking for grandpa who'd only lived with the woman for a week. He'd come here from Texas, and when we found him – we located him about two o'clock in the morning – and she asked if she could thank everybody. We gathered all the searchers around and, through the tears, she said, "I never thought I'd see my Dad alive again. Thank you." Okay, so there you have it. That's a... that's a great story. And I appreciate the time you took talking to us. Oh, my pleasure. **** Thats it! Please support the podcast by following, sharing on your social media, or leaving a five star review on iTunes! How to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Open the Podcasts app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Navigate to the page of the podcast you want to leave a review for. ...Scroll down to find the subhead titled "Ratings & Reviews." Under one of the highlighted reviews, select "Write a Review." Five stars for your favorite English podcast! Just do it!

Betsy talks about her beginning journey to Iceland and the lessons learned. Transcription: Hey everybody, welcome to the show. Welcome fellow adventurers. I'm excited for this show, I'm going to talk to you a little bit about my trip so far to Iceland. But here's something I want to say before I forget. I think … 284: Life is in session Read More »

If you were a kid in the 80s or 90s chances are you've got some memories of the DARE program… and those memories might not be the best. Today I'm chatting about my experience with the DARE program, the changes they've made in recent years, and more. DISCLAIMER Colorful words may be used. don't be alarmed. NEWSLETTER https://view.flodesk.com/pages/61525a85337f1c2aacf52f6d Etsy Shop is open! https://www.etsy.com/shop/CGBPrints FIND ME ON ALL THE THINGS Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo YouTube - https://youtube.com/c/CindyGuentertBaldo Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/llamaletters/ Discord - https://discord.gg/Rwpp7Ww Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/llamaletters/ Website - www.cindyguentertbaldo.com STUFF I MENTIONED DARE - https://dare.org/ Inquiries - cindy@cindyguentertbaldo.com   TRANSCRIPTION Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the uncurated life podcast. Today is going to be kind of a shorter episode. Originally. I was going to do a deep dive, but I realized I don't really want to do a deep dive on this subject. What I would rather do is kind of tell you my experience. And then hear back from you, some of your experiences, and then perhaps I will do a follow-up episode sharing some of those experiences.   And the subject I'm talking about is the dare program. Now, if you grew up in the eighties, the nineties, you went to elementary school in those times in the United States, chances are, you have had experience with the dare program. So, what is it? Well from the Wikipedia, you know, the most solid source of information.   Dare program materials from 1991. Describe it as a drug abuse prevention education program, designed to equip elementary school children with skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. It was created as a part of the war on drugs in the United States with the intention of reducing the demand for drugs through education that would make drug use unappealing.   The program was conducted by uniformed police officers who visited classes. And so my memory of dare is exactly that, uh, uniform police officers coming into my elementary school classroom to scare the shit out of us when it came to drugs, tobacco, alcohol, et cetera. Now, aside from the fact that the war on drugs is based in some extreme bullshit, which can be an entire other podcast series on its own.   And I'm sure there is some. Th the concept of police officers coming into classrooms to scare the shit out of kids to, uh, not use drugs, not only was it scary, it also didn't work. Like one of the things that was seen with dare that I noticed in my research was that often it would go up with kids later.   Anyway. I had been thinking about doing an episode on the dare program for a while now. And then the other day I was walking to Ulta or something to pick up an order. And there were some people out there at a table, soliciting donations for dare, and they came up to me and they're like, hi, would you like to donate to dare?   And I'm like, dare. And she's like, the look on her face was like, oh God, not again. Like the, these were younger people. These people could have. More than like early twenties, but they were like, oh God, not another person who had a bad experience with dare, but she was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's better now.   It's different. And I'm like, ah, I'm going to pass anyone I kept going. Right. But it made me curious as to this new revamped version of dare. So looking online. I found this quote that said it's not an anti-drug program, says Michelle Miller day co-developer of the new curriculum and a communications researcher at Chapman university.   It's about things like being honest and safe and responsible. Even so keeping it real, which is the new name of dare has reduced substance abuse and maintained anti-drug attitudes over time among students in early trials and achievement that largely alluded the former iteration of the program. So maybe it's getting better.   I don't know, suffice it to say that when I mentioned a dare on live stream, relatively recently, a bunch of you popped in with your own experiences with dare. So, what I would love is for I'm going to, I'm going to give you my quick experience as to what happened with me with dare, and then I'm gonna end this.   It's going to be, like I said, a very short episode, but what I'm calling to you, your call to action. If you will, is to let me know, you can email me Cindy at Cindy Gunter, baldo.com, or you can message me or post to Instagram stories at Lama letters. You can. Let me know in the comments of any video that you want to just use hashtag dare podcast.   So I can find it, but let me know your experiences with dare and whether or not you're comfortable with me sharing them in an upcoming episode to talk about like how dare has impacted a lot of us, anecdotally speaking, just let me know. You'll find links and shit in the description box or the fucking show notes.   The thing the podcasts have. Without further ado. My tale of dare. I was a very neurotic kid that shouldn't surprise anybody, but I was very neurotic when I was kid my parents. And I can talk about them all I want to, because they're both dead. Now. My parents were super into smoking pot. They also tried other drugs as well, but pot was their main kind of situation.   And when I was a kid, I didn't really recognize what they were doing for the longest time. I knew they were smoking. I didn't know what they were smoking. I maybe I assumed it was tobacco. My grandpa smoked pipe out of a tobacco and my dad smoked cigarettes. So maybe it made sense that like the joints in the pipes, they were smoking out of what was tobacco, you know?   Cause I was also clueless, but the point is. It's when I was in fifth graders. So the dare officers came to my elementary school and they told us about how, if you smoke pot, you're going to go to jail. Like kids get separated from their parents. It was, I don't remember exactly what they said and I could be over-exaggerating this in my mind, but the impression that it left on a very neurotic fifth grader who had recently discovered that while her parents were smoking was actually.   I was terrified. I went home, I cried myself to sleep. I was horrified that my parents were going to get taken away from me because they smoked pot. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to talk them out of it because they liked doing it. So the only thing I could do is take matters into my own hands.   So I poured bleach on their pot pled. I never told them it was me. My mom found out it was me years later when certain ex husbands of mine told her. But. Uh, I poured bleach and killed their pot plant. And for the rest of my school career, up until up like way up until I was too terrified of alcohol, of, of pot, of everything to even think about going near any of them.   Now you might say, well, Cindy, isn't that the point of dare to help people resist peer pressure. It wasn't about resisting peer pressure. It was about being terrified that I was going to get sent a fucking prison over it. And knowing what I know now, not only about marijuana, but knowing what I know now about alcohol, about cigarettes, about addictive substances substances in general, like that's some fucking bullshit, like somebody shouldn't get sent to jail for using pot, like of all goddamn things.   So to have a utterly terrified kid, Who had no real reason to be that terrified. Like I wasn't going to go and like smoke pot to begin with. I wasn't interested in it. Like I never was. Even when I found out my parents smoked it, it wasn't like, oh my God, my parents smoked pot. It must be so cool. No, no, no, no.   My parents smoked pot. That's the least cool thing I've ever heard of. That's how you keep your kid from smoking pot in high school is to have your parents do it that way. They're like you that's what old people do. It's like Facebook, right? I'm not condoning any parenting decisions here. I'm just joking.   But like the idea here is that what dare did was leave a strong enough impression on me about how scary. The police would be if ever I or someone I love was caught smoking pot, I don't think is the impression they were going for, but I'm fairly certain that that's the impression. A lot of people, I knew hat and looking back on it.   And now thinking about the new dare, the keeping it real people asking for donations. All I can think about is fucking no, even if you've improved the program, even if you have improved the program, the roots in the program are in the racist war on drugs to begin with. And secondly, like I have real like, issues that came from that.   Like they took something with no thought, no talking, they developed it with police officers. They didn't develop it with psychologists. They didn't develop it with anybody like that. They left some, a real, like amount of scarring on me when it came to how I approach the world for a long time. And while the net result of that was me not smoking pot, like the result of me being fucking terrified and paranoid and like afraid of police officers afraid of what was gonna happen to my parents.   Like that sucks, dude. It sucks. And I do not endorse. So now that you've heard my, my history with the dare program and how I feel about it. I would love to know from you in the comments or not in the comments, but like, like I said, you can email me, you can message me if you're patron, you can let me know on Patrion on the, um, the sneak preview of this post, your experiences with the dare program, how you feel about it, how it made you feel about drugs, about police officers, whatever the case may be.   And then let me know if you're okay with me sharing this later and I will compile them and we will revisit dare with some more research and so on. And so. In an upcoming month in the upcoming months because I'm right now, I'm too fired up to really do a lot of research. But I really want to tell you how dare made me feel, because to this day, if you can't tell, I'm still resentful of it and I'm fucking almost 42.   So. That should tell you a lot. Anyway, thanks again to my patrons for sponsoring this episode. I don't think, I think that first of all, in this episode, but they, they deserve my thanks. They do, because they're awesome. They make these episodes possible and you should thank them too. And if you're interested in becoming one, check out www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo to find out more my friends, whether you were traumatized by dare or not as a kid, I hope you have a fantastic day.   I'd love to hear from you. So be sure to let me know your thoughts and until next time, peace.

It's time for another personality test, this time one of the big players… the Myers Briggs! DISCLAIMER Colorful words may be used. don't be alarmed. NEWSLETTER https://view.flodesk.com/pages/61525a85337f1c2aacf52f6d Etsy Shop is open! https://www.etsy.com/shop/CGBPrints FIND ME ON ALL THE THINGS Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo YouTube - https://youtube.com/c/CindyGuentertBaldo Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/llamaletters/ Discord - https://discord.gg/Rwpp7Ww Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/llamaletters/ Website - www.cindyguentertbaldo.com STUFF I MENTIONED Test Link - https://www.mbtionline.com/en-US/Products/For-you Myers Briggs Foundation - https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ Inquiries - cindy@cindyguentertbaldo.com   TRANSCRIPTION Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the uncurated life podcast, where we are always talking about our lives and how we live them on the internet. And one thing that happens on the internet is people talking about their personality types from various personality tests. I believe this is the third episode that I have done in this series.   The previous ones I've done where any. And the, uh, DIC tests I believe. And so this will be number three and it is the, um, one of the behemoths of the personality test world. And that is the Myers-Briggs test. Now a quick disclaimer, I tend to be cynical about personality tests, but I am doing my best to be open-minded when I take.   So just know that right from the start. I also have not taken it yet. That will happen during the recording of this podcast. Now, before I get further into it, I just want to let you know that if you have not already checked it out, we are heading into the new year extravaganza over on my YouTube channel with all of the bullet journal setups and planners, lineups, and stacks and goals and all the things.   So just be sure to check it out. It's linked in the description below. Now let's, let's talk a little bit about this test is also known as the M B T I test the Myers-Briggs type indicator. It's a personality test that is based on the, um, Jungian psychological type theories, Carl Young, uh, it was developed by Isabel Myers-Briggs and her mom, Catherine Myers.   They wanted to, I guess, bring the youngian theories. Into, like a place where people could use them, like make them useful. So this is an excerpt from the Myers-Brigg dot org, like the official website, it's the, uh, their explanation about Carlos. Personality type theories. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment and quote.   They took this idea and his theories and everything, and turn them into an instrument that can be used. You can do your self-assessment online, which is what I'm going to do today. Or you can find people that are trained in it that they can assess you and help you figure out what your personality type is.   And there are 16 different personality types, um, based on four different. Aspects of, of personality and how you, you, you judge ship. So this is also from the Myers-Briggs website about the basics of the instrument, and they excerpt this from the MTBI manual, a guide to the development and use of the Myers-Briggs type indicator.   Favorite world. Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called extroversion E or introversion. I sets the first letter. This is me talking the first letter of the four letters in the personality type. Next is information. Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in, or do you prefer to interpret an ad?   Meaning this is called sensing S or intuition and decisions when making decisions do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people in special circumstances. This is called thinking T or feeling F. And then structure in dealing with the outside world. Do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options?   This is called judging J or perceiving P your personality type. When you decide on your preferences in each category, you have your own personality type, which can be expressed as a code with four letters. And quote, and that actually lines up. A lot of people I think are inf PS or I N F J's I think in the planner world, at least I think that's what I've seen.   A whole bunch of studies have proven this is, this is important because when I said at the beginning, how cynical I am about personality tests, a lot of it feels like, like if I'm in a certain mood, I'm going to score a certain way. Right? Like, how is it actually. Well, according to the Myers-Briggs website, studies have proven this test to be both valid, meaning that it measures what it says it does, and reliable meaning that you get the same results if you're given the test more than once.   So I'm assuming that this is supposed to be one of the more like accurate personality tests, but I have no idea so far in looking at the other two tests I've done. I have had thoughts, both in terms of how it felt right. And how it didn't feel. Right. So we'll see how this one goes. If you are interested in taking the test, I'm going to link the one I am taking below.   It's the MTBI online.com test, which is the one linked from the official website. It's a $50 test. It's not cheap. I'm sure that there are. Less expensive versions, but I'm, I'm, I'm going with this one. I'm paying for it for the podcast. Thanks to my patrons who are sponsoring this episode. Uh, because I just, I feel like I want to take the one that is the most quote official.   I'm assuming. So. But you can, I'm sure Google and find other versions. So what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna stop recording and I'm going to take the test when I'm done. I'll let you know how long it took me. And then we will talk about the results. All right. So it only took me about 15, 20 minutes to complete the assessment and I'm a speed reader and I got a phone call in the middle of it.   So. I finished. And it's taking me through a 30 minute module to learn about the personality types before it tells me what my personality type is. So I thought I would pop on and kind of bring you with me mainly because maybe this will help interpret it. So they're talking about personality type being made up of four elements, the way you direct and receive energy, the way you take in information, the way you decide and come to conclusions and the way you approach the outside world.   And they say that the, the two elements in the middle taking an information and the deciding and coming to conclusions are what make up the core of your personality, because that's what makes up all your mental activity. Right? So you, you collect information and then you have to decide what you're going to do with it.   Right. So as we move on, It's talking about basically like taking information, being the, what you are aware of, what you perceive, how you perceive it, what information you look for, what information you rely on, what information is important to you and what you tend to notice or not? No. And then coming to conclusion is how do you come to your decisions?   What process do you make? What do you rely on when you make a decision? How do you arrive at your opinions? What kind of decisions do you like to make? What consequences do you consider, how you do evaluate the opinions or decisions of others, and then the two other parts of this, the way you direct and receive energy has to do with how you get energized, how you focus your energy, what drains you and how you like to be in contact and talk to it with other people.   And how much of that. And then the other one is approaching the outside world, meaning like, how do you structure? How, how much structure do you want or need? What do you do with new information? How do you approach tasks and what information do you want before making decisions? Now they said that there's four pairs of opposites.   And we talked about this at the beginning, the outside, the energy being directed towards the outside world. Or the inner world taking an information that is real and tangible that you can perceive or seeing the big picture and patterns and interrelationships making decisions. It's either logic or personal and social values.   And then approaching the outside world is decisiveness with planning versus flexibility and spontaneity. So the terms that they're talking about, we talked about already the introversion extroversion, all of that. Now the preferences. They talk about the difference between using your preferred hand and your opposite hand.   When you use your preferred hand, it's easier. It takes less energy. It can be done faster. It feels natural, right? And your opposite hand, unless you're ambidextrous is harder, has more energy is more awkward, et cetera. So it says that you can do both, but one is easier and you prefer to do it more. Right?   So. Each of the opposites have their letters. We talked about that at the beginning, there are 16 different personality types based on the four. Like basically if you think about like a four by four square and each way is the four letters, the, um, that describe the energy, the information, the conclusions, and the outside world.   And then it said here, when you look at your type description, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Extroverted thinking is different from introverted thinking, a person who is sensing the judging preferences is someone who prefers sensing and perceiving. So the way that the elements of your personality type interact with.   Makes each of the 16 personalities different. So it's not just each letter. It's also how they interplay with each other. All right. This next section is about choosing preferences and I actually have to make some choices here, so I will stop the recording for a second, but I will reiterate what it says here on this page, which is a, this is not a test B, there are no right or wrong answers.   See, there is no way to pass her. And D everyone has a personality. So I will be back in a few once I'm done with this. All right. So I just went through and based on both what they said about each section of the personality type and they provided a shit ton of examples. I reported myself as an E N F J and the.   Answers from my questionnaire were E S F J. But the difference between the end and the S was, it said it was all the way from very likely to very, not likely, somewhat likely blah, blah, blah. And it was very soft, like very, might be likely an S. And so then, You can read this. And which do you think is more correct?   So the two types that they give the T the basic rundown is an E S F J, which is what the test gave me was warm-hearted talkative, active cooperative, and conscientious want harmony in their environment and work hard to establish it, notice what others need and try to provide it. Always trying to do something nice for someone, an E N F J was warm sociable.   and empathetic are highly attuned to the emotions needs and motivations of others seek and find the best in everyone. I want to help everyone fulfill his or her potential can act as catalysts and provide inspiring leadership and looking at those, I think E N F G. Is much more along the lines for me. I wish I was someone who would provide harmony, but I don't think I am someone who provides harmony.   So I'm going to hit continue, which means this is the one they're taking for me. And I'm amazed that cause basically the only letter that was different, everything else was like extremely likely. It was that other one that was soft. So now it says, go to your dashboard to find out select areas of interest so we can customize your experience.   Well-being personal development relationships. I'll go with personal development. One. Now that you have your result. There are a bunch of courses. There's a whole bunch of shit here. So I guess the 50 bucks does get you a lot. Um, so it's giving me a whole bunch of like mini courses that I can take because of my type.   So it says here that I am a competitor. Facilitator you are highly attuned. I mean, look at results here. Compassionate facilitator, warm, empathetic, and responsible. You tend to take notice of other people's feelings, needs and motivations. You see the potential in everyone and try to help others to grow and develop, to reach their goals.   You're loyal and sociable, and you tend to be responsive to praise or criticism from others. You're often a natural and inspirational leader. Cindy's characteristics, collaborative, expressive, friendly, and responsible work in home. Harmony is very important to you. Holy shit. Like I just finished recording a couple of other episodes.   This is going to come back to it. I did this one last because of the test, but yeah, harmony is very important to us. And then I'm seeking my guys. You'll often work hard to maintain cooperative collaborative relationships between your colleagues, friends, and family. You'll usually have a genuine interest in other people want to work towards a humanitarian vision.   Focused on helping others to achieve their goals or fulfill their potential and use your insights and curiosity to explore possibilities that support the ideas and people around you. You, my potential blind spots are that I might find it difficult to emotionally detach yourself from situations are focused on specific details.   Yes. Avoid problems or disagreements to prevent conflict. That's a big hell. Yes. And help others without giving them an opportunity to learn for their. Uh, huh. How others are likely to see you supportive nature, curiosity, empathy at your best. They see you as energetic and enthusiastic. You tend to move steadily into action.   Persuasively bringing other people along like this feels like me. This feels right. And I would suggest that I think this feels more right than the other two tests that I took. This feels very much like me, especially when it comes to the blind spots and, um, and some of the other aspects of who I am. So it says that that, uh, Some ENF Jays may have many definite sheds and should nots, which they express freely, sometimes annoying others.   Like that for me is an absolute yes. Right? And if they have not developed their feeling preference, their decisions may be inconsistent and poor, poorly formulated. And that used to be me. So that again makes, makes a lot of sense to me. It also says that. They are energized by people and are socially adept.   And all I will say with that, that's probably the one spot, but it's, I always knew this extrovert versus introvert part would be a little different because I do get energized by people until I'm not like I hit a wall and being socially adept really depends on the situation. I can be very withdrawn depending on kind of where I'm at, but I think that, that goes back to the J part, which is the.   The part of me that needs to be organized and be on a schedule and be in habits. Like I kind of flopped back and forth between like blah, blah feelings and all these things and things must be in their right place. And so I think this really expresses that well, so yeah, overall I think this is very interesting.   Um, I really want to dig into some of these. Classes and things that are on here since I've paid for them. I might do that. And if you want me to, I might report back on some of those. Let me know, just message me on Instagram or post to Instagram stories. Tag me at Lama letters. Let me know your personality type from the Myers-Briggs.   And also if you would like me to dig deeper into this and give a review on whether or not it's worth the 50 bucks. Um, but. This has been fun. I am curious to see what the next one will be. I have a list of other personality tests again, post on Instagram. Let me know if you have tests. You'd like me to check out during this cynic's guide, the personality test series.   I feel a little less cynical about this one, because this feels fairly active. Anyway, once again, thanks to my patrons for sponsoring this episode. They are rad. And if you want to be rod like them, go to www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo to find out more. And until next time, my friends, I hope you have a lovely week.   Take care of yourselves until next time. Peace out.

People have been asking me (for years) about my personality type. What enneagram am I? What other random test situation? I have actually never really paid attention to all that, so now I'm starting a series where I take a personality test and discuss it! Today it is the DISC test, an OLD one from the 1920s mainly used in business. DISCLAIMER Colorful words may be used. don't be alarmed. NEWSLETTER https://view.flodesk.com/pages/61525a85337f1c2aacf52f6d Etsy Shop is open! https://www.etsy.com/shop/CGBPrints FIND ME ON ALL THE THINGS Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo YouTube - https://youtube.com/c/CindyGuentertBaldo Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/llamaletters/ Discord - https://discord.gg/Rwpp7Ww Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/llamaletters/ Website - www.cindyguentertbaldo.com STUFF I MENTIONED DISC Test - https://www.123test.com/disc-personality-test/ Info on the test - https://www.ionos.com/startupguide/productivity/disc-assessment/ Inquiries - cindy@cindyguentertbaldo.com   TRANSCRIPTION Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the uncurated life podcast. Today is the first of what I think is going to be several personality test episodes. I'm Cindy Guentert-Baldo. And if this is your first time here, welcome, I would love it. If you subscribed and hung out. Hopefully after you're appearing all of this today, you'll be fine with that.   And if this is not your first time, welcome back. If you want to take this test and you haven't before it'll be linked in the show notes, let's get right into it. As a preface. I have had so many people since I've started doing YouTube and everything else. This whole online creator situation, I have had so many people ask me what type of personality I am, what Enneagram I am, what fucking I N G P w.   Five that I am. I don't know. I don't actually do a lot of personality tests because I don't usually have the patience to sit down and do that. I have taken some of, there was one quiz I took a long time ago that maybe I'll try and find again where you're supposed to answer a bunch of questions about your values.   And then they take every all like a hundred and something religions, and then they decide which ones you're the closest to. And I remember doing that in my top three. We're secular Quaker, Unitarian Universalist, which is what I became and secular humanist, which is also what I said that there's that maybe I'll do that one again.   See if it's. Maybe add that in the political test, whatever, but personality test wise, the one or two that I've taken was like decades ago. And so I thought that this would be a fun little segment to have on the podcast every once in a while, because personality tests are in my mind, both garbage and interesting.   So I'm fine with both of those things, right. You should have heard last week's episode. When I talked about the Lula rich documentary. Which is garbage and interesting. Right? Anyway, so I am going to take the test today and then I will report back afterwards. So I'm not going to fill my, I'm not gonna record myself actually taking the test because that could take a long time and it might skew the results.   But I'll talk about the test. I will pause the recording, take the test, and then immediately afterwards report back on what I found and what I think about. Okay. I think that's going to be interesting if you think this is a cool format or a good idea, please let me know at Lama letters on Instagram, let me know in the stories.   If you take the test as well, let me know what you get. I'm so curious. And if you know of personality tests, you'd like me to try. I would love it. If you let me know in the DMS on. Also, just as reminder, if you haven't signed up for my newsletter, it is where I am giving you guys monthly peaks into everything you can reply to it.   And I can take your in your info interest. Can I talk now on which personality test to try or what podcast episodes you would like the info for that is in the show notes and October's freebie is currently available unless it's not October anymore than it might be a different freebie. You'll find out anyway.   Let's move forward. Today's test is an old one and it is the D I S C test. I pick this one because it's a shorter test. It's just, so it's an easy one to start with. Right? The D I S C stands for dominance influence, steadiness and compliance. The test is linked in the show notes. I'm sure there's different versions.   The one that I will be taking is linked. It's like 1, 2, 3 test.com or something it's linked. If you want to take it with me. One of the things I found when I Googled this is some criticism of the test specifically in like corporate work situations. A lot of these personality tests are utilized by companies to, I don't know, psychoanalyze their fucking employees instead of just giving them like better wages.   I don't know. That's not good into like an anti-capitalist rant right now, but I wanted to read you some of this because I think it's kind of enlightening on the test. I got this from a website called  dot com. It's like some. Fucking shit that has a bunch of corporate-y bullshit, but whatever, I thought that the criticism was interesting.   Right? So this is a quote from the website. The DIC assessment is among the most widely used personality tests in the corporate world, but it has been under scrutiny. Critics say that the assessment tool is outdated scientific findings in personality, psychology post 1920. So that's when the test, the test.   Early 20th century, post 1920 are not considered an empirical science-based foundation does not exist. Quality criteria such as validity are values that should be measured, actually being measured and reliability. Our results. The same every time are not fulfilled. The fact that D I S C personality tests seem to make applicable statements can be traced back to the Barnum effect.   According to this, we like to ascribe to desirable widespread or vague statements, although they're applicable to many different. In the last few decades, new assessments and personality psychology have been designed that speak of five key personality types, openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.   Four personality types alone are no longer regarded as true to our time and quote. That was a lot of jargon. But what I gleaned from that was that a, this test is outdated based on what we know about psychology and. Aside from the fact that like the personalities it's testing for are outdated, the way the test is kind of built is kind of vague.   So it's entirely possible to take it more than once and get different answers. I'm going to take this test now and I will report back on both my personality types that it gives me what I think of the test. And do I agree with this criticism based on my extremely unscientific mind. So let's do quick pause and we'll be right back.   All right. I am done taking the test and I decided to pay for the extended report. For the sake of science. I imagine I'll be doing a lot of that during these episodes, but that's okay because my podcasts are sponsored by my patrons and you should check out www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo to find out more anyway, before I let you know my thoughts on the test in both digging into the test a little bit more and realized that I didn't give you a good kind of explanation of what these things are.   Um, and I have little bit more information cause I have this, uh, bigger report that gives you some more info on what the test actually is. I thought it would fill you in on that and then let you know my thoughts on the test and how I scored. So we talked about the four types, right? Dominant, influence, steadiness and compliance.   Well, they have definitions for those dominance describes the way you deal with problems, assert yourself and control situations. Influence describes the way you deal with people, the way you communicate and relate to others. Steadiness describes your temperament, patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness, and compliance describes how you approach and organize your activity, procedures, and responsibilities.   The D I'm going to read from the report. The DIC theory is often visualized as a quadrant where the top bottom and left right sides represent specific behavioral tendencies. People who score high on dominance and compliance tend to be more task oriented, where people who score higher on influence and steadiness are more people oriented.   Those scoring high on dominance and influence are generally more assertive and active. And higher scores on compliance and steadiness give rise to calm and more cautious, cautious behavioral styles. So what they also say is that the dimensions of the DIC are not dependent on each other. So you could score in one of the areas and it doesn't determine your score.   Like if you score high in one area, it doesn't necessarily negate your score in another area. One of the things that they do. And part of the reason I paid for the results is that your test results. And I saw my results. Give you. Like which one you're the highest in, and it shows how you breathe. They all break the four breakdown, but there are 15 profiles that have been identified as a good coverage of the possible outcomes based on your score overall on each of the things and those 15 outcomes in alphabetical order are the achiever, the coach, the counselor, the creator, the enthusiast, the evaluator, the individualist, the inspiration.   The investigator, the objective thinker, the perfectionist, the persuader, the practitioner, the results oriented and the specialist. Um, I don't know which one I am yet because I haven't scrolled down that far before I do. I'm going to give you my thoughts on the actual test that I took on this website. I found it to be.   Really general. I felt like, and I think this is the same in a lot of personality tests, there were the same questions being, or the same prompts being given. Phrased slightly differently. So the way this test ran was that they gave you a series of, I think 28 different little blocks of prompts, and each one has four prompts and you were supposed to pick the one that was the most like you and the one that was the least like you, and they weren't necessarily related to each other.   They were just four things. And you pick the one that was most like you and the one that was least like you. And there were 28 sections of that. The problem I was running in. Was that there were some where I could hardly choose which one was the most like me. And there were some where I didn't feel like any of them were like me.   And so those were the hardest ones for me to answer. Matter of fact, I didn't answer one. I just put the one that was least like me kept going and it wouldn't let me finish the test. The other real issue I ran into with the test. And again, I'm not a psychologist. I don't know any of that shit, but I'm like, The other thing that kind of irked me was that when you finish the test, it takes you to a page to get some more information on you, to help figure it out.   And the first thing it asks your gender and only offers the binary choices of male and female, which as we all know, gender is a spectrum, not binary, but moving forward. So my DIC score I'm scrolling down. So   in order. I scored the highest on dominance and then the next highest on influence the next highest on steadiness and the lowest on compliance. It doesn't surprise me. Now, when I saw the original results before I bought the report, it actually showed it on a pie chart. And the way the pie chart looked was that a little over half of my answers indicated dominance.   And then of the other half that was left, it was like a sliver of compliance and then pretty much equally distributed between influencing steadiness with a little bit more of influence over steadiness. So the next section on the report says your responses indicate that you want to assert yourself and like to take control, enjoy competition and challenge are self-sufficient and individualistic and all go.   Our goal orient. I tend to be direct and positive with people like to sweep people along with your forcefulness are persuasive, especially when seeking help or commitment, get restless and bored when involved in routine and repetitive work and activities need change and variety in your work. And non-work life may be impatient with people who are less dynamic than.   And that I'm independent and uninhibited feel restrained by rules and restrictions prefer to be measured by short-term rather than long-term results and are willing to take an unconventional approach. I tend to agree with probably about three quarters of that. The things I think, where I feel like this is not at least in my understanding of myself.   The biggest things are that I get restless and bored in routine and repetitive work and activities. That is so not true. I am a creature of habit and when my routines and repetitive things are disturbed, I get really, really grouchy. That was the one I think I, uh, I disagreed with the most on this list. I also, I agree with the direction.   And like sweeping people along, but I don't know how persuasive I am. So that one is a question mark for me, but a lot of this is very much me, so I agree with that. So my profile from that list of what was it, 12 mine is the results oriented. And I'm going to read this to you. You are individualistic, demanding and persistent.   You seek out challenging situations and are responsive to competition. You should be able to handle the daily stresses and pressures of work in life. However, when really pushed, you may become rather irritable and fault-finding people see you as a take charge sort of person who is self-confident and strives for results.   I mean, the part that's cracking me up here is the one really pushed. You may become irritable and fault-finding. Yeah. Yeah, that's accurate. Here are some key words that people often use to describe the results oriented profile, demanding direct egocentric self-assured change oriented, frustrated by lack of progress, persistent, determined, stubborn, independent, and quote own person.   Now I kind of take a little umbrage at egocentric, but at the same time, Isn't that something an egocentric person would say, I don't know. Oh, my prime value for an organization, because this is through a corporate website. Is your driving forcefulness and determination to achieve goals? Uh, tactic and strategy for increased effectiveness says, you appreciate need to.   I need to appreciate that some people may not be as dynamic and forceful as you avoid confrontation by developing your empathy and increasing your tolerance. Impose a little extra self-discipline when faced with details and routine work. And see here is again the point where I feel. This isn't exactly me is that, um, I already do avoid confrontation for the most part, because I really dislike it.   I consider myself to be fairly empathetic and, um, like I said, I really like details and routine work, but now this is interesting most, unlike your profile. The perfectionist, the profile most opposite to your profile is the perfectionist. You will most likely not recognize yourself in these descriptions of the perfectionist conservative, very modest, logical, always systematic, factual, non demonstrative, deliberate, careful, precise.   Accurate predictable and controlled. They're not wrong. I pretty much see myself in zero of those.   Whew, non demonstrative, logical conservative. No. Now here's the interesting part. So I'm looking at the appendix here, which gives you a little bit of a description of all of the different ones. And the one that I'm looking at that I feel like might be a little bit more accurate for me, but again, who fucking knows, right.   Is the persuader, which has some. Some overlap. Right. But the persuader is optimistic, enthusiastic, self-confident persuasive, sociable, change, oriented, independent, persistent, decisive, direct, and demanding. I feel like that is a little bit more, a little bit more, uh, accurate to me. I just took the test and that's, that's what it told me.   So do I, do I think that this test is completely on the nose? No, it's a personality test. Like it's full, it's totally like impacted by my decisions. And there may be a point where maybe I'll come back to this in a year and take it again and see if the same thing happens. But overall, I would suggest that it's not completely off the mark.   I feel like there are a few spots where it feels wildly inaccurate for me, but overall it does feel at least somewhat. Reasonable. I don't know. So I would love to hear from you. About not only what your personality not being pleased, do not pay, do not pay for the 1499 additional PDF. Maybe what you can do is if you really want to just take your score and then give yourself a little.   And the grid would need to be divided into four equal parts D and I on the two top left and right. And then see an S on the bottom left and right. And then kind of just fill in sort of which section has as much as it does. Like whichever one is the most, give it like the biggest and you can kind of see how it fits and maybe just Google it.   I just don't. I spent the money cause I can write it off, but don't spend the money. That's ridiculous. Unless you really want to then spend the money. But I'd love to hear if you take this. Tag me in Instagram stories at @llamaletters. And let me know what you got and tell me that you did it. And if you have any specific personality tests, you'd like me to take in the future.   Let me know in the DMS, this was very odd, but whatever, at least it was a short one. I know that there are some longer ones, I guess. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, don't forget to sign up for the newsletter and check out the Etsy shop, check out the Patreon, do all the things, man, do all the things. But at the very least, if you don't want to do all the things, tag me on Instagram stories that you're listening to this because I'm glad to be back.   And the only real way people know about the podcast is through word of mouth. And that is AOK by me. Thank you so much for watching. I promise to knock it to confrontation and until next time friends, peace out.

If you've been around the planner world (or shit, the online world) you probably know about LuLaRoe. Amazon Prime released a documentary called LuLaRich chronicling the rise and fall of the MLM - I've got so many thoughts! DISCLAIMER Colorful words may be used. don't be alarmed. NEWSLETTER https://view.flodesk.com/pages/61525a85337f1c2aacf52f6d Etsy Shop Reopens 10/21/21 https://www.etsy.com/shop/CGBPrints FIND ME ON ALL THE THINGS Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo YouTube - https://youtube.com/c/CindyGuentertBaldo Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/llamaletters/ Discord - https://discord.gg/Rwpp7Ww Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/llamaletters/ Website - www.cindyguentertbaldo.com STUFF I MENTIONED LuLaRich - https://amzn.to/3EWgMbT TFD Video - https://youtu.be/HHK5FuOCGyU The Dream Podcast - https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-dream Inquiries - cindy@cindyguentertbaldo.com   TRANSCRIPTION Hey everybody. Welcome back to the uncurated life podcast. My name is Cindy Guentert-Baldo. If this is your first time here. Welcome if this is not your first time here. Hell yeah. I'm glad that you're back. Blah-blah-blah let's get into today's episode really quick, but before I do, I want to give you a quick announcement.   How many times can I say quick? And this episode who knows, right? The announcement is that this coming up Thursday, October 21st, 2021, my Etsy shop will be reopening. I will have all of the series, one fuckery flowers, my art prints of realistic flowers with naughty words, hidden in them. All of the series one, the flowers that were in the shop before we'll be back with all prints and postcards available as well as a couple of small, new, like stocking stuffer type items, a few bookmarks and vinyl sticker packs.   You can find the link to it in the show notes. And soon in the next few weeks, I will be updating it with limited edition calendars with series two and series one fuckery flowers on them. And then in later November, there will be the launch of series two, which is. Set up 12 new fuckery flowers with prints and postcards, as well as some bundles of things that will include both series.   So if that is something you have been waiting for, or you haven't checked it out yet, my Etsy shop will be linked in the show notes and you can go ahead and favorite it, do all the things and look for it on October 21st. Now let's get into the episode. We're going to talk about Lula rich today. Why is this relevant to the planner world?   Yes, it's fucking relevant to the planner world. If you don't know why it's relevant to the planner world trust, I will tell you about that. So what is Lula rich? Let's start right. Lulu rich is a documentary on Amazon prime. It just came out well, it came out in September and I binge watched all four episodes of it.   It's about the rise and fall of the multi-level marketing company. They interview current and ex. Retailers or consultants. They're the people that are actually part of the multi-level marketing company. They interview former employees of the home office, the corporate side of it, and most interesting.   They interview mark and DeAnn Stedham who are the founders of the company, as well as some of their family members who were put into high level positions within the company. One of the things that I thought was interesting is that the documentary was made by the same people who made the documentary about the fire festival.   So they have had some experience making documentaries about dumpster fires. So what is LuLaRoe in case you don't know? And if you don't know, I. Remarkably jealous of you. LuLaRoe's a multi-level marketing company. If you don't know what multi-level marketing is, and I'm really jealous of you, it is direct sales is another name for it.   Some people call them pyramid schemes. Although in the U S in the laws, there are very specific rules that govern pyramid scheme. Versus multi-level marketing companies, pyramid schemes are illegal. Multi-level marketing companies are not honestly, I don't really see that much of a difference between the two.   And if you really want an interesting, entire deep dive on multi-level marketing companies, I will recommend the first season of the dream, a podcast. They did a limited series on multi-level marketing. That's outstanding. But in general, multi-level marketing is a business model where there is a company that produces something, whether it's it's essential oils like young living or what's the other one.   I don't remember. There's some other fun. Essential oils. I don't give a fuck or like makeup. Some of the most famous makeup ones are like Mary Kay and Avon. Then there's Amway, which is one of the most famous Tupperwares, also multi-level marketing company, but there's all sorts of them. And during the age of social media, they've exploded because of how social media works.   And Lula Roe really leaned into that. We'll talk about that in a second, but in the idea of a multi-level marketing, is that. There's a company that makes some sort of a product rather than sell that product to stores or sell it themselves like wholesale it, they sell it to consultants, quote, independent consultants who are not employed by the company.   They send a contract with the company, but they're not employed by the company. The consultants buy the products at wholesale and then sell them to customers at re. No in and of itself, that doesn't sound like such a problem, right? Except that a lot, or the majority of multi-level marketing companies, the money is not made in the sales of the product.   The money is made in recruiting more consultants underneath you to then by-product from the company and sell to customers. The problem here is a, if the real money is made through recruiting, rather than selling the product. Then the people at the top make the most money and then, but they have to depend on more and more levels of people beneath them.   Hence the term pyramid scheme. The other problem that you run into is that while they say there's like so many people that you can recruit and blah, blah, blah, if you're recruiting your customer base sooner or later, you don't have anybody to sell to now social media, once again has blown this all up because you can reach out to more than just your, your sphere of influence in like your community or whatever.   But like it, it can, a company can really hit like a level of saturation and that's when shit can start to go a little wonky. Now, if you really want to really delve into like the side of people who have been burned by this, besides watching Lula rich, Google, anti MLM, trust me, you'll find all sorts of.   But we're talking about LuLaRoe. So LuLaRoe is a MLM that sells clothing. It started with maxi skirts expanded in to quote, buttery, soft leggings, and then a whole bunch of other things. The. Clothing was mainly geared towards women. And one of the things, one of the like selling points of it was that they had all of these like wild prints for the fabrics that these clothes were made out of.   And that any given print was only going to be. Into like 3000 pieces and then it would be gone. And so retailers will be getting in there. The consultants will get in their orders of prints. And if you got one of the prints that was like a very popular one, then people would want to shop with you. It also supposedly was going to encourage collaboration with other retailers because people would be looking for certain things.   And if you didn't have it, but you had other friends who were consultants, they might have it. So you could serve your customers that way, which is an interesting way to go about it. Okay. Now, one of the things that was, is pretty painful about Lula Rowe is that retailers, which is what they call their consultants.   Um, don't get to choose the prints. They can pick the styles and they can pick the sizes, the prints, however, we're not their choice. They would not know what they were getting until they open their box, which could be very cool except, and Lula rich really. Demonstrates, this really shows a lot of the evidence of this.   Not all of these prints are nice. I've heard people refer to some of them as Doritos leggings. There is a lot of them where the way the leggings were made, it would look super like a badge or a penis because of just the unfortunate way the pieces were stick together. And as time went on, the prince got more and more janky and more and more not desirable.   And so these consultants would wind up with a lot of inventory that they couldn't sell because it was ugly. And then on top of that, the only way to get better inventory would be to order more and more and more. And you can see where this could become a problem. Now there's two things that really are important to understand about LuLaRoe's specifically one because it's clothing and because it's like meant to be an inventory, heavy business, the initial package.   Is like at least $5,000, you have to spend a huge chunk of money upfront and then continually order more and more you with some multilevel marketing companies, you could get a catalog and sell from the catalog and then order as the money comes in, that would be the least risky way to go about things.   But in LuLaRoe, because you don't know what you're getting until you get it, you literally have to buy a bunch of shit in order to sell a bunch of shit. So there's that the second thing to know about LuLaRoe is that it, it really started in the mid 2010s, I believe, right? As Facebook lives and Periscope and things like that were becoming really big.   So. A lot of consultants started to do Facebook lives. They get their box of stuff. They go live on Facebook in their group or on their page where they had a bunch of potential customers. And then they would just show items and people would comment sold and that's how they would sell them. And this just really blew up and a bunch of other multi-level marketing companies hell or use social media now, too.   But it got very big on Facebook very quickly. And this is where the connection to the planter community begins. So. Around 2016 and I could be wrong. It could have been 2015, but I, my best memory is around like late 2015, early 2016, Lula Rowe sorta started to take over the planter community. It started with a few retailers in the planner world, and then they began to recruit from the planner community.   Now I understand why this is. I'm going to generalize a little bit here, but a lot of people in the planter, community or women, especially back then, a lot of people in the planner community are introverted. I'm generalizing. And there's a lot of them that are moms. A lot of them that they, I w I would, I would say that in, especially in like the circles of planner committee that I've run in, like the PGW kind of area.   There were a lot of people that were kind of ripe for the picking when it came to Louisville road, because one of the things that they did well at the beginning was sell clothing that was comfortable and Dorito his side was not like entirely unflattering. But it was comfortable. I got some, I got the maxi skirts because they were the longest maxi skirts with a nice wide band around the belly.   I'm six foot two. It's hard to find maxi skirts that are actually maxi on me, but the Lula ones I got were, they also had a. Irma. That was like a tunic length top that was long enough to cover my plumber's butt crack, which again is very difficult for me to find because of how tall I am. It's just, it's hard for me to find.   And so there were certain items from LuLaRoe that were just there. We're well-suited for me and I was comfortable in them and I appreciated that. And I wasn't the only one now I also had to get into a little bit of that hunting kind of mindset, because I didn't want any wacky prints. I wanted solids.   And so solids were like a big unicorn, especially black leggings. Oh my God. So hard to find. But so the people who came, who were planned or people who got into Lula Rowe had a really great audience for them kind of already there. So those people, they sold their products to planner. People, built groups from planner people and built their teams from planner.   People. The teams are pretty big and there was a lot of them. And LuLaRoe was everywhere. There were all sorts of people like asking about different groups and blah, blah, blah, but it came kind of to a really frothy head at go wild 2017. And now. So the go wild team, the people that put the, the org, the welfare planners, people that put on the actual conference decided that year, that for the plan Gemma party, they were going to rent the little bar, like, like corridor that's at the, uh, the Gaylord hotel in Nashville that the conference was being held at.   There were these three bars, there was a karaoke bar. There was a kind of a club style bar. And then there was a smaller situation. And what they decided to do was rent all three of those out and like close it off to just the people that were coming to play in JAMA. So Erin Condron sponsored the clubs, style bar, Krissyanne designs sponsored the karaoke bar, but that was the third bar.   And remember, this was the second year of go wild and it was only 700 people coming. So the number of like companies that had. Been willing to put large amounts of money into the conference. We're still very, it was a, still a very short list because it was so new. And so they decided to allow a Lula Roe pop-up to sponsor the third.   Now, um, a lot of this is anecdotal evidence. I don't know all of the details behind any of this. This is just like I said, from my observations, from being in the community and being at the event. But. Uh, one of the groups of consultants in the planner community decided that they would as a team. So they were all on a team together.   They were all in one downline. They decided to pool together and sponsor the bar so that they could bring their shit and put all their clothes out and let consultants shop. And it seemed like, you know, a smart financial move for them because so many people in the planner community were buying shit anyway.   So they were going to have them kind of as a, as a captive audience. Right. There were two controversies that came from this one was that at this point, and even to this day go wild does not have a shopping component to it. Every once in a while, there will be like a place you can buy things or like one.   Opportunity to buy things. But one of the reasons they don't have like a vendor hall or haven't had a vendor hall in the past is because they wanted the shop owners who are part of the community to actually get to come and meet their customers and enjoy the conference, not spend their whole time vending.   I think that's a great idea personally, although I do know some people who get sad that there's not a lot of shit to buy, but personally you get so much shit from the conference. So much swag anyway. That's like, where would I put it? Like I barely have enough room anymore. Regardless. So there was that there was a lot of sore feelings that these people were going to be allowed to sell when selling was not allowed.   Otherwise, the other source of hard feelings was that there were other Lula consultants who wanted to bring their sh who were not in that team who wanted to bring their shit and sell it like out of their hotel rooms. But there was like a band put on that because this team. Had sponsored the bar, they got to, um, have like exclusive rights, again, make sense because they're putting the money into the sponsorship so they can demand that, that happens a lot with sponsorships, you can, and other kinds of contracts, like I've had contracts with people before where I have signed exclusivity with them for a certain thing as part of the contract.   Like it makes sense. But one of the things I saw people bitching about. And it's understandable was that there wasn't an opportunity for them to step up. It was suggested, and then it just happened and other people felt left out of it. I get that when I say bitchy and I don't mean that in a negative way, I actually mean that in a, like it's like they were, they were upset about it.   And I get that. I do understand that I could see both sides of this particular situation. Looking back on it. I'm like kind of grossed out by the whole thing, Maine. Mainly because of my feelings about MLMs. And I have a lot of feelings about MLMs and I'll expand on that in a bit, but like, I think that.   Part of the reason I wasn't. So skeeved out by Emma, the Lula Roe specific MLM at the time was because I had found a couple of items of clothing that worked for me, but I was already getting really kind of grossed out about how it felt like the planner world was becoming like fertile recruiting territory because at the heart of it, multilevel marketing is predatory and that's something that Lulu right shows.   Anyway. So that was the. The situation, I will update you on some of those planner connections as I finished talking about the documentary, but I wanted to give a bunch of context, 17 minutes of context, of both what LuLaRoe is and how it connects to the planter world. So now let's talk about the documentary.   I'm not going to spoil it. You should watch it. I promise you. If you have Amazon prime, you should watch it. It's four hour for, I don't think it's four hours. I don't think they're all an hour long, but it's four parts. Give yourself the time to watch them all in a row, because you may not want to step away from it.   The first takeaway I have what a fucking hot mess, and I'm not even talking about. There's there's two kinds of big, hot messes. There's the hot mess of the clothing. One of the reasons that Lulu burrow began to sink as a, as a company was that the clothing went downhill. The patterns you learn in the documentary, that the people who had to design the pattern.   Unhealthy as somebody who does graphic design and can make repeating patterns like very unhealthy unreasonable quotas, like impossible quotas to make. So that's where like a bunch of plagiarizing came in and a bunch of other garbage and Dorito prints, right. There was also stuff being kept outside. So it was moldy and like wet.   And so consultants were getting nasty shit and the company wasn't helping them with it. So there's that the quality was going down. But then on top of that, and maybe kind of in tandem with that. The way the company was run was a hot fucking mess up Mickey mouse horseshit, right. They hired their chip mark.   And Dan had between them like, hell fucking children, like 14 children or something. There, there, there are latter day saints or Mormons. They between them and a whole bunch of children, including a pair of children who are married to each other fucking glossed right over that. But like, They put their children into like all of the executive offices, despite none of them having any experience at that.   So it doesn't surprise me that a company that grew that quickly, like they show how fast the revenue and the consultants grew. It's like ridiculously fast growth with incompetent people running the company. It was bound to explode at some point, and it just happened to explode. And she sent out shrapnel of stinky leggings and penis crunch.   So there's that right? The second big takeaway was how they portrayed mark and Deanne Stidham, which I actually thought was very. Very clever of them. They interviewed the two of them, the founders of the company in their fancy office. She's wearing like designer heels, looking all like made up and very Tammy Faye Bakker.   And they're sitting there and they're like swab and like answering their questions, all calm and cool and collected. And then they juxtapose the filmmakers juxtapose. With segments from their deposition, from one of the multitude of lawsuits that are against them, which I'll get into in a minute and how the answers they give the interviewers and the answers in the depositions.   Don't always track with each other. It's very, very telling it very much, kind of informs your opinion of them as you're watching the show. The other thing that I found was really, really just both gross and also amusing was them fronting like they're feminists talking about how they're trying to like empower women.   This is a women empowerment company to run your own business and blah, blah, blah. Except it comes out during the documentary that they want to hammer home like traditional gender roles. Like once you get going, you need to make sure your husband is respected. Bring him into the business. Cool with your business, you should find a new husband, but like he still needs to call the shots.   And then they started to talk about like how they wanted it, like have feminine a feminist company, female empowering company. And before DeAnn could answer her husband talked right over her. Like it was a beautiful, I think it's in the trailer. It's a beautiful example of how ridiculous this shit is. Now I felt really like another thing that I took away from the whole documentary was how conflicted I felt about all of the ex consultants that they interviewed, especially the ones who built massive teams.   They had some coaches, which is like the second highest level on the pyramid. And, um, at least two mentors. So that's the highest level that you could reach. And they were talking about their regrets and the way they felt about certain things. And I felt very sympathetic towards them, especially as somebody who like filed for bankruptcy because of an MLM, like I felt sympathetic to them.   But at the same time, I really felt also that except for one there's one exception to it. And you'll know when you watch the documentary, who the exception is based on. The way that she talks about things, but none of them seem to really, they felt awful about their situation, but none of them really seemed to cope or like talk about the fact that they were predators.   Like, if this is what happened to you, what happened to all of the people below you? All of the people, like one of them had thousands of people on her team. Is there remorse. Do you feel bad about it? If you really want a nuanced take like a really good take about this? I would suggest you watch the video on the financial diet channel, where she talks about that.   A link in the show notes. She also has a. Good. She's great conversation about how the only way to change the culture in which multilevel marketing continues to proliferate is that we can't just get mad at the people who run the companies. We also need to get mad at the people who use the companies to make money, like the people who recruit a whole bunch of people.   And where's the line drawn. Like if you recruit one, I think I recruited three people over the course of my time at a multi-level marketing. And does that make me predatory? Compared to somebody who, who recruited like 2,500 people. I don't know. You know, I have no idea. So, so there's that right? Check that video out.   And there was one particular couple who I was really grossed out by, and that was the, I think they're called the . They weren't, they never quit. They were fired from Lula Rowe and they didn't seem to show any. Like I don't, I think they'd still be in it today if they hadn't been fired. And they were like there for sympathy and it's like, I don't feel sympathy for you.   It's hard to feel sympathy for you got fired from something that really sucked. And now you're speaking out against it, but you would still be like playing into the suckiness if you hadn't been fired question mark. I don't know why just look and say, you got to watch the documentary. I'm curious to know.   And then there was an entirely other situation that really is not a multilevel marketing thing, but just a toxic fucking wellness. Diet, I'm really into the podcast maintenance phase. If you haven't listened to that 10 out of 10 recommend. And like, I have been working really hard to try and like deprogram myself from diet culture.   And I'll talk a lot more about that in some upcoming episodes. But the thing that like kind of came out of the blue and I sorta knew about it from other anti MLM stuff I saw, but like the way it was described just really, really got me was the weight loss surgery. Shit.   If you haven't seen it yet, I'm not going to spoil you too much, except to let you know if the talk of like weight loss surgery, and having to maintain a certain physique to be accepted is triggering to you. That is something to watch out for when you're watching this documentary, because it absolutely comes up.   Let's just say that the owners, the owners of LuLaRoe had a fucking life. Group chat to get people to go to Tijuana and get weight loss surgery, and you were pressured to do it so that you can look a certain way, reinforcing certain roles about how somebody should look. It's fucking gnarly dudes, and I'm not going to go too deep into it right now just to say, Hey, watch out for that.   If it's in, it's hard for you and be damn right. But I will say that one of the biggest aha moments that came to me at the end of the documentary. And this brings it back to the planner world. The biggest aha moment to me came at the end from Robert Fitzpatrick. He is an expert on MLMs and he is somebody that they interviewed for the documentary.   And he he's the one who shows up throughout it to explain things about how MLMs in general work. He's actually does a very good job about that as well. So that'll help you if you're still confused when you watch the documentary. I'm also going to read his book soon, and I will be sure to discuss that here.   He said that once an MLM gets big enough, it's damn near impossible to make money when you get recruited into it, because you need to get in early enough. To be one of the people that are higher up in the pyramid, the later you get into it, the more likely it is that you're going to have a hard time finding other people who haven't either heard of it and been burned by it or heard of it and been recruited themselves.   So when an MLM starts to struggle or loses popularity or start sending their consultants, slimy leggings, the people who are higher up in the pyramid, the ones who already have big teams, big. We'll bounce and go to a newer, more up and coming MLM to start the cycle all over again, to get it on the ground floor so that they can build their team from people that they brought with them.   And then shoot up to the top of the pyramid. Now, when he said that my jaw was on the floor, not because this was new knowledge to me, this is not something that I didn't already like, no, but it was the first time that I had really. Wrapped my mind around the fact that a lot of the people who recruited heavily from the planner community when Lula rose started to cruise down hill bounced to another MLM.   And now a lot of them are higher up on the pyramid. There it's a nail Polish company by the way, but I'm not going to, and like I'm not condemning every single person who's in an MLS. I could, but I'm not going to mainly because a blanket condemnation is something that I struggle with, especially with my, like, you, you values that I so have trouble living up to sometimes, but I will say that, like that particular comment it's like you held a mirror up to the planner community and it was an, you could see that exact story play.   And it's still playing out today. It just makes you go. Hmm. Now there's a bunch of other things that this documentary gets into gets into race and how MLMs, especially ones like Lula Roe are. Really geared towards a certain demographic of white women. Who's a good target. Like who's easily recruitable, who are the people that are easily preyed on.   There's a reason that there are a lot of military spouses that get recruited into MLMs because they are looking for like community and you can find one in an MLM until. I don't want to do it anymore, then that community has gone and I can do more, but I'm not an anti MLM podcast, but I could totally do some more episodes on them in general.   And my experience is on them. But I will tell you generally speaking, I have not talked a lot about them in my, on my YouTube channel or here on the podcast, because. I had a, I had a shitty experience that really messed my family up really fucked my life up. And I take responsibility for the choices I made.   I'm the one who decided to do it. I'm the one who spent the money. I'm the one who caused my family to file for bankruptcy because of it. I'm the one who recruited a handful, a couple of people into it. I did those things and the consequences for those things were brought because of my actions. As I look back on it, I was a perfect person to be preyed on.   I was a brand new mom. I was out on disability because of tendonitis. My everything was really hard. We were like scraping by. I was a perfect candidate for it and I can see how I was pulled into it, but I don't like to talk too much about my really strong feelings about MLMs. Because I know from personal experience how touchy and like fraught that conversation is, especially for people who are still in.   And it just makes me extremely uncomfortable to talk about it. It's one of those, like it's like throwing them all to top cocktail and I just, there's all sorts of times, I'm fine to throw the cocktail. And this is one in particular that just is very difficult for me. So I haven't decided exactly how deep I want to get into anti-Muslim.   And it would mainly be on this podcast now on the YouTube channel, just because it's not really related, but like, it may be changing soon. I may be willing to do more depending on how this comes out, but this, this documentary kind of like was a reminder to me of a lot of my feelings and it brought up a lot of other feelings as well.   So I wanted to mention that because it can be a really difficult thing for me to even wrap my mind. Yeah. But, like I said, the documentary brings up all sorts of things about race, about. Income inequality about the role of religion, especially Mormonism in the forming of a lot of MLMs. There's a reason a lot of them have come out of Utah.   Like there's a reason for it. The toxic positivity that like infused. MLM culture, the toxic wellness culture, which is going to be definitely something that's coming up on this podcast in the next couple of months, because it's high on my list of things to talk about. Like there's a lot of things that this documentary touches on, but doesn't really dive deep.   It could have been a lot longer. I would love to see a documentary of this quality made about the MLM industry as a whole. But the problem you run into with that is that the MLM industry has the government in its pocket. There's a reason that it hasn't been regulated and it's not a Democrat thing, and it's not a Republican thing.   It's a government thing. And they're like, you should go listen to the dream for a lot more information about that. But yeah, I just wanted to give you some of my thoughts on it and provide some context because I have seen a lot of people in the planter community talking about wanting to watch this. And a lot of people who were around for that who were like, hell yeah, planner, community LuLaRoe, blah, blah, blah.   And a lot of people wondering what the fuck? Why, why is the planner community? Why are so many people in the planner community? So excited to watch this documentary? I wanted to provide some of that context because I think it really does inform how MLMs can be very, they can be very predatory on groups of people, especially with.   And how the planner community was impacted by that. Anyway, now that I talked all about that, if you have watched it, I would love to hear your thoughts. You can let me know, tag me at Lama letters on Instagram, in your stories. I'd love to find out your thoughts. And, uh, also keep an eye out for my Etsy shop reopening this Thursday, the 21st, which is not a multi-level marketing company.   I make these prints and then I sell them to you. And I will not recruit you to sell them to someone else because they're fuckery flowers, not fuckery business practices. Also, if you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet the October freebie has started to go out. I'm so sorry if you were not able to get it earlier, but you should get it by now.   If you start to sign up for it, there will be a new one in November. All of this stuff is linked in the show notes as always. This is sponsored by my patrons. They are fucking rad. They. Support me in everything I do. And hopefully I have not pissed too many of them off with any of my recent episodes. I guess we'll find out won't we on the Patrion page, you can check it out at www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo to find out more as always take care of yourselves.   I'll see you next Monday. And until next time, my friends peace out.  

In this episode, Betsy talks about when there is a lot happening in life all at once and 4 things you can do to help shift your experience of it. . Transcription: Hey, hello, welcome to today's show. Today's show is titled, there's a lot of life happening. Oh, there is a lot of life … 266: When there's a lot of life happening Read More »

[EP 75] Thanks for listening to this special birthday episode of Unexpected English, where you can practice your English listening skills in a fun way in less than five minutes. OK, it's too late to send a birthday present, but... it would be a kindness if you shared the podcast with a friend! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! Thanks for listening and for your support! [TRANSCRIPTION] Hey everybody! You're listening to a special episode of Unexpected English! Yes, it is! Why? Well, it's because I realized it's summertime! And everybody's on holiday, you know? You're all on vacation and nobody is listening to podcasts. So why bother? And then I thought, I know! I know why bother! Here's a good reason: it's my birthday! Yes, that's right, so I thought, well, I'll play myself a birthday song. And maybe you'll like it, and if not, well, this is the end of season six, so we're going to start all over again pretty soon with season seven. But in the meantime, we've got this birthday song just for me. All right, here we go! ~~~ Music music music ~~~ do do do do doooo ~~~ You're older than you've ever been And now you're even older And now you're even older And now you're even older You're older than you've ever been And now you're even older And now you're older still Time! Is marching on And time.... Is still marching on This day will soon be at an end And now it's even sooner And now it's even sooner And now it's even sooner This day will soon be at an end And now it's even sooner And now it's sooner still!!! whaaaaa whaaa what whaaa You're older than you've ever been And now you're even older And now you're even older And now you're even older You're older than you've ever been And now you're even older And now you're older still *** Follow on Spotify and Instagram, motivate me to do more podcasts!

[EP 74] This is a special, SURPISE edition for the 4th of July, because of a new world record! Have fun practicing your English listening in just five minutes with your favorite English podcast, Unexpected English! [Transcription] Hey everybody, it's Louis, and this is a special Fourth of July edition of Unexpected English. I say it's a special edition because I had a new episode ready to go. And then I read this, and it was too good not to share. What is this? This is America! From TV: “What greater fortune have we, in an endless universe of infinite matter and energy, we have been given consciousnesses to gaze upon at it all, and understand. What greater fortune, have we? To live in America! To stand, side by side, on the Fourth of July, to behold this man! What greater fortune!” Specifically, specifically today on the Fourth of July, a new world record was set. Yes. A New World Record! For what? Eating hot dogs! I'm not kidding you. It's true, it's true. The top competitive eater in the world, Joey Chestnut, managed to eat 76 --yes 76 hot dogs in just 10 minutes. TV: “Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair. For he has surpassed the Kings of Egypt, with 76 Nathan's hot dogs and buns! A NEW! WORLD! RECORD!” I had to tell you that, because otherwise you wouldn't believe it. The person who came in number two, ate fifty. Fifty hot dogs in 10 minutes. But Joey Chestnut... Joey Chestnut ate 76 hot dogs. That's right. That's right. And it's not just hot dogs. Joey Chestnut has more than 50 eating records, I guess you know, you don't know it, but there is such a thing as competitive eating. And just to mention a few... of his records. He ate: 55 glazed doughnuts in eight minutes. And let me tell you that one again: in eight minutes, 55 glazed doughnuts. He ate, in just eight minutes, hard boiled eggs. How many hard boiled eggs in eight minutes? 141 hard boiled eggs in just eight minutes! Unbelievable. It sounds unbelievable, but there you go. But that's not the point. The point is... the point is, this is America! This is the United States, and the greatest competitive eater of all time is Joey Chestnut, who set a world record today, of 76 hot dogs. All right. Happy Fourth of July, everybody! Bam, I'm a hot dog! P.S. Like this episode? Please spread the word ~ word of mouth really helps! I have no sponsors and no advertising - people only find the podcast when YOU tell them about it! Share it, spread it, follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP71] What is Uptalk? Have you heard it? Is it a joke, a bad habit, or a real thing? Learn about this American English speaking style in this episode of Unexpected English! Transition here below to help! Transcription: Hey everybody, I was listening to a podcast, and I heard this. Let's listen: “They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to be able to adapt more quickly.” Okay now, why did that make me stop? Well you may have noticed that the person was not asking a question, but their voice went up at the end, making it sound like a question. “They also have a lack of complex body parts...” What's up with that?! Well, it is UP. In fact, it's called Uptalk. That's when people's voices go up at the end, even though they're not asking a question. So when I heard this, I thought, hmm, I wonder if my listeners have ever heard it, or noticed it, or thought about it, so I just thought I would share that example. Let's listen again: “They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to be able to adapt more quickly.” Okay now, I'll say the same thing. Here we go. Okay. "They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to adapt more quickly." (applause) Right, right. Okay, thank you, thank you. The difference is, it was not a question. All right, so there it is. You've heard your examples of Upspeak or Uptalk, and I wanted to share them with you because it is fairly common. And now that you've heard it, you might notice it more and more. [Satire:] “Uptalk is, like, super annoying if you're under the age of 40, though it's probably not that big of a deal to you. Until an older family member or colleague, tells you about this super irritating habit of young people, where every sentence ends like it's a question?” On the other hand, ...on the other hand, it can also be explained as having a purpose, of course, because everything supposedly has a purpose, right? And the purpose of Uptalk could be, for one thing, just to sound more invitational and less aggressive, less assertive. So, if I say something, and my voice goes up a little bit. So, to be a little friendlier, a little friendlier tone, for one thing. O as a kind of unconscious gambit, that says, “I’m not done talking yet. Right, so there's more to come.” And is there a third reason for uptalk? Uhhh.. boh [great Italian word] I dunno. Wait. Oh wait, now I remember the third reason that people could be using Uptalk. And that is to check for comprehension, check for understanding from the person I'm speaking to. In a face to face conversation, if my voice goes up a little bit. I'm looking for clues from you, that you're following what I'm saying. So that could be another legitimate reason that people use Uptalk. ---> "Body parts? Adapt more quickly” Body parts? Adapt more quickly?"

We are at a place where we need to do some soul searching in our country. We are having to talk about things that we don’t like to talk about as we are in the middle of a grab for power and control of a narrative like I’ve never seen before. When we stand up against the narrative being pushed by the media and the radical left, we see division in our churches, families, and our closest communities. This agenda is unearthing issues that we need to deal with for sure, but they are not the issues the radical left thinks we need to correct. We can not sacrifice truth on the altar of misguided mercy or be shamed into thinking we are in sin when we are not. God is at work,  and unless and until we open our eyes to see what is happening with this media driven narrative we will continue to fall into their trap.  This is about control, and we need to be discerning and see the big picture so we don’t inadvertently perpetuate a misguided message. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * 2 Timothy 4:17-18 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Heidi on AllSocial (if the link doesn’t work, just search for my name within the app and click follow!) All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * LearnAtHome.today * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Write to Heidi: Heidi St. John c/o Firmly Planted Family 11100 NE 34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Support this ministry by donating through E-giving. You can also send donations to: 1100 NE34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday.  Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey you guys. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John Podcast. Today is Friday, June 5th. This is episode number 933. And we’re going to talk a little bit today about what’s going on in ... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

We are surrounded by situations in our culture that are causing many of us to fear, and this podcast was recorded before the rioting even started. But our God offers peace in the midst of panic. He has given us Hope and a command to pray for our nation. We can be people of faith instead of people of fear, because we know sin is part of this fallen world, and we know who has overcome it! Join me as I plan a date for us to fast and pray together. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Esther 2:19 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Heidi on AllSocial (if the link doesn’t work, just search for my name within the app and click follow!) All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * LearnAtHome.today * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Write to Heidi: Heidi St. John c/o Firmly Planted Family 11100 NE 34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Support this ministry by donating through E-giving. You can also send donations to: 1100 NE34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday.  Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, everybody. How are you guys doing? How are you guys doing? I hope you’re doing all right. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to Off the Bench with Heidi St. John. Today is Wednesday, June 3rd. This is episode number 932. Today we’re going to talk a lot about what’s going on in the culture today, especially tackling the topic of fear and how we can triumph as people of faith. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. Thanks for tuning in today, you guys. I’m so thankful that you’re listening to the podcast. I know a lot of you guys are new to me and to the podcast, and I’m very glad that you’re here. I want to let you know of a couple of things that are coming up. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

I’m actually speechless at the way that Christians are responding to a situation that is literally robbing us of freedom, potentially generational in nature.  We could see a systemic loss of freedom in our nation, and we are being criticized for fighting for it. It is not wrong to value liberty, and to call it being “addicted to personal freedom” is mind-numbing to me. Yes, we need to be salt and light. We need to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. We need not sacrifice our liberty to do it! Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Colossians 4:13-14 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Heidi on AllSocial (if the link doesn’t work, just search for my name within the app and click follow!) * Church, Don’t Let Coronavirus Divide You All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * LearnAtHome.today * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Write to Heidi: Heidi St. John c/o Firmly Planted Family 11100 NE 34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Support this ministry by donating through E-giving. You can also send donations to: 1100 NE34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday.  Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everyone, how are you guys doing? This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast. Today is Wednesday, May 27th. This is Episode 929, and we’re going to talk today about a lot of things, but I’m going to focus on Christians in the age of corona. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. Lots going on you guys. I hope that you’re doing well. I continue to pray for you. I thank you so much for praying for our family and for the ministry here at Firmly Planted Family. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Mailbox Monday is my favorite podcast day, because I get to answer questions straight from you guys. Today it’s a mom having a nervous breakdown because her kids won’t stop fighting (no shame, I’ve been there!) and another mom who really wants to homeschool but isn’t sure she can do it (you can, I’ve been there too!). Join me today, I think you’ll be encouraged! Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Colossians 4:10-12 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Heidi on AllSocial (if the link doesn’t work, just search for my name within the app and click follow!) * homeschoolhelp.com/heidi * Bringing Up Boys by James C. Dobson * The Strong-Willed Child James C. Dobson * learntathome.today * homeschoolingwithdyslexia.com * Homeschooling Special Needs on The Busy Mom * Hip Homeschool Moms All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * LearnAtHome.today * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Write to Heidi: Heidi St. John c/o Firmly Planted Family 11100 NE 34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Support this ministry by donating through E-giving. You can also send donations to: 1100 NE34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday.  Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John Podcast. Today is Monday, May 25th. This is episode number 928. We are creeping very slowly up to a thousand episodes here at the Heid... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Jesus knew how hard this world was going to be. In His wisdom, He laid the groundwork for us—and we need to lay the groundwork for our kids. Jesus showed us how to suffer and not lose heart, how to view suffering, and how to view God in the middle of the struggle. We can honor Him without denying how difficult this situation really is, and I’m sharing some practical tips for doing that right now. He is listening, He loves you, and He can be trusted. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Hebrews 4:14-16 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Heidi on AllSocial (if the link doesn’t work, just search for my name within the app and click follow!) * Prayers For The Battlefield * CDC and Church All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * LearnAtHome.today * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Write to Heidi: Heidi St. John c/o Firmly Planted Family 11100 NE 34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Support this ministry by donating through E-giving. You can also send donations to: 1100 NE34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday.  Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to Off the Bench with Heidi St. John. I’m so glad you guys have joined me today. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

On Wednesday we heard from my daughter and her husband as they shared their birth story and the challenges that came with it. Today we’re finishing the “living room” conversation about the birth of their baby girl, and Ryan has practical tips for the dads from his own experience—even the third time around. This is a raw, real look inside our tight-knit family… and I think it will bless and encourage you. Family and a caring community is so important during pregnancy and the postpartum. I’ll be honest: you guys, the first week of Junie’s birth was hard. We all know the weeks around having a baby are expected to be challenging, but adding the stress of this COVID situation is certainly not helping things. Savannah struggled with severe postpartum anxiety—and the Lord helped us through in some pretty amazing ways. Many of us know someone who’s pregnant right now (you might even be pregnant yourself!) and I think you’ll be encouraged to hear Savannah and  Ryan share their story—unfiltered—about what they learned and what they did that helped. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * James 1:21 Mentioned In Podcast * Essential Oils All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast. Today is Friday, May 15th. This is episode number 924. Today, I’m going to air part two of my interview with Savannah and Ryan Bates. We’re going to be talking a little bit about how you can care for a family that’s expecting a baby, both pre-delivery and postpartum. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged I appreciate you guys listening today. I know a lot of you have been really encouraged by Savannah and Ryan&... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Today I have a special treat for you … I’ve invited my daughter Savannah and her husband, Ryan, on the show to have a “living room” conversation about the birth of their baby girl, Juniper. This is a raw, real look inside our tight-knit family… and I think it will bless and encourage you. Family and a caring community is so important during pregnancy and the postpartum. I’ll be honest: you guys, the first week of Junie’s birth was hard. We all know the weeks around having a baby are expected to be challenging, but adding the stress of this COVID situation is certainly not helping things. Savannah struggled with severe postpartum anxiety—and the Lord helped us through in some pretty amazing ways. Many of us know someone who’s pregnant right now (you might even be pregnant yourself!) and I think you’ll be encouraged to hear Savannah and  Ryan share their story—unfiltered—about what they learned and what they did that helped. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Colossians 2:20-23 Mentioned In Podcast * Essential Oils All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody. How you doing? This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to Off the Bench With Heidi St. John. Today is Wednesday, May 13th. This is episode number 923. Moment of silence, that’s a lot you guys. Thanks for tuning in today. How you guys doing in pandemic-ville? I hope everything’s going alright. I got a treat for you guys today. I have been talking to you guys for a couple of weeks now about just anticipating the birth of our granddaughter, Juniper. And I told you a little bit about it, and I’ve got a special treat today, because my daughter and my son-in-law are here in the studio ... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

You guys have sent some challenging questions today for Mailbox Monday! Is there an age of accountability? | Is this situation really constitutional? |  I’m a high school senior. Why does it feel like I’m being bullied? (That’s because you are.) But listen in, I think you’ll be encouraged. The Lord is on the throne and He is the foundation. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Colossians 2:13-15 Mentioned In Podcast * Pocket Constitution * Facebook group for Homeschool Seniors waiting to be adopted * How Far Can the Government Restrain Citizens’ Lives During COVID-19? What You Need to Know * The “Age of Accountability” * WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE “AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY” * Does the Bible Teach an Age of Accountability? * Is there an “age of accountability” in the Bible? * Where do I find the age of accountability in the Bible? All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, everybody. How you guys doing? Welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast. Today is Monday, May 11th. This is episode number 922. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

I’m talking with my friend Connie Albers today about parenting in the midst of  ‘Rona craziness and the late teen years—possibly two equally stressful situations.  It is possible to maintain a relationship with an older teen when they’re making choices they don’t see to be harmful. Let’s talk about what that looks like. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Colossians 1:15-17 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Parenting Beyond the Rules: Raising Teens with Confidence All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * LearnAtHome.today * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Connie Albers has been a mom for 32 years. She is a popular speaker and writer dedicated to strengthening families, parenting, homeschooling teens, faith-filled living, and leadership. Her practical content inspires and equips parents in the trenches. Connie has been a spokesperson for a Fortune 500 company as well as serving as a director and board member for a nonprofit state homeschool organization.  Connie’s recent book, Parenting Beyond the Rules: Parenting Teens with Confidence, is blessing parents around the world.  Connect with Connie: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Parenting Beyond the Rules: Raising Teens with Confidence Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast. Today is Monday, May 4th. This is so exciting, episode number 919, May the Fourth be with you. You guys know I love to have people on the show with me who are #offthebench and onto the battlefield. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

How do we respond to the fear that’s all around us? Join me for some encouragement today as I talk through what we can do that will help us point people to our Hope.  And for my Washington state friends, we have two urgent opportunities to get off the bench. We need your help! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Proverbs 30:7-9 Mentioned In Podcast * Referendum 90 info * MomStrong International * See all events here Scripture Mentioned  * Romans 12:12 ESV * Romans 8:35-39 All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, friends. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John Podcast. Today is Wednesday, April 29th. This is episode number 917, and I’m going to encourage you a little bit today from the Word of God as we are studying it over at MomStrong International. If you need a little hug from the Holy Spirit today, if you need a little bit of spring in your step— stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. Well, hope you guys are doing good on this Wednesday. Certainly, we’ve got a lot going on in the nation, lot going on around the world. We continue to be under siege, really, from a virus that we can’t see and a government that we can. And I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. Our family has been in kind of a funny season, and I know a lot of you are struggling with some things as well. And so I thought today I would… I’m not sure if I’m going to have time to answer questions or not. I have some set-aside, --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Are emotions running high in your house right now, or are you unicorns? I had my friend Tricia Goyer join me today, and we’re talking about how to help our kids (and maybe ourselves, ahem) process all the emotions they might not even know they have. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Philippians 4:8-13 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Harvard Law Professor Attacks Homeschoolers, as She Envisions Them by Mike Farris * TriciaGoyer.com * Free printable 40 page journal * See all events here * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Stay Home Journal on Amazon All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * LearnAtHome.today * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Tricia Goyer is a prolific author of more than seventy books. She is a homeschooling mom of ten, grandmother of four, and wife to John. She is the founder of Hope Pregnancy Center in Kalispell, Montana and now leads a teen mom support group in Little Rock, Arkansas. Connect with the AUTHOR: Website | Instagram | Facebook  Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast. Today is Monday, --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Do secular universities have an agenda to undermine your child’s faith? I’m discussing this today with former college professor Renton Rathbun. Listen in, I know you’re going to be encouraged. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * BJU Press Homeschool * BJU Press Website * Learnathome.today All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Renton has been a classroom teacher for over 22 years. His teaching experience includes both secular and Christian institutions ranging from high school to college. He and his wife homeschooled their son, Daniel, who is now in college. Renton has spoken for homeschool venues such as the Foundations Summit as well as HomeschoolSummits.com. He also has preached in a variety of churches across the United States. Renton holds a BS in English Education and an MA in interpretative speech from Bob Jones University. He has also received an MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University, an MA in philosophy from the University of Toledo, a ThM from Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and is currently a PhD candidate in apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary. Renton is currently a Biblical Worldview Specialist for BJU Press. Connect with Renton Rathbun: BJU Press Website | BJU University Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast. Today is Friday, April 17th. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Today on the podcast we’ll be reading from Psalm 91 and learning how not to be a people hijacked by fear—because we know that God is with us. I’ll also be answering questions from a reader about investing in your marriage. Listen in, and be encouraged. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Romans 8:5-11 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance: Nurturing Your Marriage Through the Homeschool Years All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, sweet friends. This is Heidi St. John. How are you guys doing? How are you doing out there in Corona Land? I hope you guys are doing good. I’m so happy to be with you today. Today is Wednesday. Are you ready for it? Today is an actual Wednesday. It’s the 15th of April. So if you guys thought that this was Friday or Saturday or Sunday and you don’t know what day it is— you’re not alone. Today’s the 15th of April. I’m so glad you guys are here. We’re going to be encouraged today in the word of God. Today is episode number 911 it’s 911. So I’m going to study with you out of Psalms 91. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. So thanks for listening today, you guys. I hope you’re doing good. It’s exciting to see all of the new members over at MomStrong International. We’re just beginning week three and the topic for this month’s study is HOPE. If there was ever a time that we needed hope, now is the time. So some of you have stopped by my page or you’ve messaged me directly to ask questions about how things work over at MomStrong International, --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Today we’re going to talk about treasuring seasons in your heart, looking at a bit of the life of Mary, and I’ll also be answering some of your questions. Listen in, I think you’ll be encouraged. Transcribed version of podcast will be below shortly Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * 1 John 3:4-5, 9 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Christian Women and Pornography: What the Statistics Might Not Tell You * To the Woman Addicted to Porn – You’re Not Alone * Do Christian Women Really Watch Porn? * LearAtHome.Today  * Shop my Amazon Store * Heidi St. John Store * Support this ministry by donating through E-giving. You can also send donations to: 1100 NE34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682 All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey friends, happy April Fool’s Day. Happy April Fool’s Day. Today is Wednesday the 1st of April. This is episode number … Are you ready? Wait for it, 905. Today, I’m going to talk to you a little bit about treasuring times in your heart, treasuring seasons in your heart. We’re going to look a little bit at the life of Mary, and I’m going to answer some of your questions. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

It’s Mailbox Monday and my friend Tricia Goyer is joining me on the show today! We are going to tackle questions listeners have sent in on adoption, large families, and homeschooling methods. Listen in, I think you’ll be encouraged.  Transcribed version of podcast will be added below, shortly. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 24:4-7, 30-32 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Learnathome.today * TriciaGoyer.com * The Grumble Free Year on Amazon All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, everybody. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast. Today is Monday, March 30th. This is episode number 904. How are you guys doing out there in Corona land? Hope everybody’s doing okay. Today is Mailbox Monday and I have a special guest on the show with me today. My friend Tricia Goyer is here, and we’re going to tackle some amazing questions from you guys, my amazing listeners. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. Well, I’m glad you guys are here today. I hope that you guys are doing well in the midst of all the craziness that’s happening, that’s continuing to happen in our nation. And for those of you who keep asking me questions about homeschooling and how to keep doing it now that we’ve got our kids home because it’s, hello, mandated, you can check it out at LearnAtHome.today. So I’m not going to focus on very much homeschooling today, but I’ve got several questions that came into me at the queue, which is just overflowing right now. I so appreciate your questions. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

On lockdown? Let’s chat about some simple ways that we can learn at home! You won’t want to miss this one—listen in, I know you’ll be encouraged! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 20:39-44 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Teach Them Diligently 364 (online conference) * Homeschool Help BJU online Conference * Learnathome.today * The Busy Mom on Facebook * Heidi on Instagram * Homeschool Resources * Lapbooking Made Simple All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, everybody. This is Heidi St. John, welcome to the podcast. How are you guys doing? How are you doing? I hope you’re doing good. I am excited to be here. Today’s episode number 902. And now that the entire nation’s on lockdown, we’re going to talk about some simple ways that we can learn at home. This is going to be a great episode, you guys. Tune in, share it with your friends! Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. So many things happening in the culture right now. You guys heard me tell you last week that the events that were scheduled for maybe this ... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Salt & Light? Why Christian parents need to pull their children out of public schools today. Listen in, and be encouraged! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 11:33-36 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks * Safe School Summit All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, everybody. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast. Today is Monday, March 16th. This is episode 898. It is also Mailbox Monday, and today we’re going to dive headlong into the topic of education. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. So thanks for tuning in today, everybody. I want to say a special thank you to everyone who came out for Faith that Speaks in California. We are so thrilled, you guys. I mean, honestly, it’s hard to describe. Just so thankful to see the Lord working so clearly, and so plainly, and obviously in the lives of many, many people in the culture today to get you off the bench and onto the battlefield and to imagine what it would be like if you found your voice in the culture. And God says that you have a voice. You are to be salt and light. So we’re going to talk a lot about salt and light today. I want to bring you guys up to speed on a couple of things. You know that we lost our battle over comprehensive sex education here in Washington State. Last week, literally in the middle of the night, two in the morning, legislators in Washington State in the ridiculously l... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

How do we talk to our kids about our past mistakes? We can learn a lot from Jesus’ example. Listen in and be encouraged! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 8:1-3, 16, 26-38 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey friends, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast today. How are you guys doing? Hope you guys are doing good. Today is Wednesday, March 11. March is just humming right along. This is episode number 896 and today I’m going to give a little bit of encouragement to you from the word of God and I’m going to answer a question from a listener about how to talk to our kids about our past mistakes. We can learn a lot from Jesus’ example. Stick around. I think you’re going to be encouraged. All right, you guys. So it’s the 11th of March. This is so exciting. You know what that means? That means that my women’s conference Faith That Speaks is in a couple of days. That means that in just a couple of days I’m going to be in Los Angeles at Thousand Oaks at Godspeak Calvary Chapel with my team and we’re going to be bringing faith that speaks to you. And if you’re anywhere near where I’m going to be at Godspeak Calvary chapel this weekend, can I just encourage you guys to come on out? Our family flies down tomorrow. This is a huge family affair for us and we are thrilled because my good friend Kathy Barnett is going to be flying in all the way from Pennsylvania to give you guys a word of encouragement. But the whole point in doing this is to equip you (a) to get ... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Cold and flu season seems to be dominating the culture and the news. It’s all over the internet. I think it’s time for some encouragement, so today, my friend Melissa Crabtree is on the podcast—and we’re talking about some practical things that you can do to stay above that wellness line. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 5:12-14 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks Essential Oils Vitamin D and the Immune System Elderberry Syrup Recipe Metagenics – D3 10,000 with K2 All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast. Today is Monday, March the 9th, this is episode number 895. Today, we’re going to spend some time talking about a culture that is very afraid. I am calling this, who’s afraid of the big bad virus. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. All right, so it’s in the news everywhere, right? I live in Washington State, and apparently everyone around me is dropping like flies from the coronavirus, and I’m seeing in the news, we watch it in the headlines. It seems to be dominating the culture and certainly dominating the news. It’s all over the internet. And so, I thought I would give you guys some encouragement today. I’m going to bring my friend Melissa Crabtree on in just a few ... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

I have a new friend joining me today, Carla D’Addesi, and she is on fire for the culture, especially when it comes to defending the unborn. Carla is definitely #OffTheBench and she will inspire you. Listen in! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 4:14-21 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks Hearts 2 Mom’s Conference BJU HomeWorks Culture of Life Carla’s Website All Things Heidi * Subscribed to my newsletter and podcast emails! * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Carla D’Addesi is a Wife & Mom first. Children’s author, radio host, national speaker, prolife activist as seen on CBN, OANN & FOX. Co-founder/designer if first and only prolife fashion brand Culture of Life 1972. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Today is episode number 894. This is Friday, March 6th. This is #OffTheBench Friday—Meet my friend Friday. Today, I’ve got my brand new friend Carla D’Addesi on the show with me today, and she’s probably going to correct how I said her name, but she is #offthebench and onto the battlefield. Today, we’re going to talk about what it means to advance a culture of life. Stick around. I think you’re going to be encouraged. So everybody, thanks for tuning in today. I want to say thank you to everybody who came out last weekend to hear me speak in Nashville, Tennessee. Tomorrow. You can hear me speak, and actually this evening as well, --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Today I’m tackling a few questions from readers on the podcast and encouraging you away from giving God lip service. Let’s be who we tell our children, our relatives, our friends we are—even when no one’s looking. Listen in, I think you’re going to be encouraged. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 1:31-38 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks * Hearts 2 Mom’s Conference * Teach Them Diligently use coded Heidi * Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center * MomStrong International All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey you guys, this is Heidi St. John. Thank you for tuning into the podcast today. I’m so glad you guys are here. Today is Wednesday, March 4th. This is episode 893. I’m going to take some questions from listeners today and also encourage you away from just giving God lip service. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. Wow. So thanks for everybody who wished me a happy birthday. My 50th birthday was yesterday and I told my gals over at MomStrong International last week, that I was feeling kind of a little on the melancholy side. I turned 40 and I was like, “Yes, 40. This is so great. I’ve heard so many great things about turning 40.” And I turned 50 and I’m like, “Oh my goodness, look at the gray hair.” I don’t even know, you guys pray for me. I don’t know what my problem is. I was like, “This is not okay. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Today is mailbox Monday and we’re going to have a go at a whole bunch of things today. We’re going to talk about politics and  I am also going to touch on the Enneagram. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 1:11-17,24 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks * Hearts 2 Mom’s Conference * Teach Them Diligently use coded Heidi Links * Enneagram: The Road Back to You, Or to Somewhere Else? * Tell Me who I Am, O Enneagram * The Enneagram and Christianity, Like Oil and Water * THE ENNEAGRAM GPS: GNOSTIC PATH TO SELF All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John Podcast. Today is Monday, March 2nd. Today is mailbox Monday, and we’re going to have a go at a whole bunch of things today. We’re going to talk about politics and the Enneagram. Oh my goodness, stick around. I think you’re going to be encouraged. So thanks for tuning in today you guys. I want to say thank you to everybody who turned out in Nashville, Tennessee this last weekend. It’s just such a thrill, it really is, for me to meet you guys out on the road and see ... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

It’s Mailbox Monday and I’m tackling questions in the podcast such as children with anxiety and children being the salt and light in public school. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Romans 2:4 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks * Hearts 2 Mom’s Conference * Teach Them Diligently use coded Heidi * Essential Oils All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, how you guys doing? This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John Podcast. Today is Monday, February 24th, this is episode number 889, and I’m just excited you guys are here. We’re going to answer your questions. Today is Mailbox Monday—stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. All right everybody, thank you so much to everybody who came to Lakeland, Florida for my women’s conference Faith That Speaks. The speaking season is in full swing for me, and I want to know where am I going to see you guys in 2020? I’m excited to say I’m going to be speaking for the Teach Them Diligently Convention again this year. I’ll be in Nashville, Rogers, Waco, Mobile, and the Columbus Convention Center, and I’m going to be hosting the Moms Night at each of these events, sharing the stage in Nashville with Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth. That’s Nashville, Tennessee, you guys, this Friday. And if I mentioned that I was going to be speaking with Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth, that’s because I want you guys to hear it. So it’s not too late to get your tickets. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

My friend Steve Lambert is joining me on the podcast sharing how he’s getting #offthebench and onto the battlefield! Listen in, I know you’ll be encouraged Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Psalm 81:10-14 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks * Steve Lambert for Lee’s Summit City Council All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Steve Lambert has worn many hats in his 68 years: Pastor, author, speaker, stockbroker and more. Together, he and his wife Jane Claire Lambert created and publish “Five in a Row” homeschool curriculum which has been a homeschool mainstay for nearly 25 years. They began homeschooling their children in 1981 and today their seven grandchildren are being homeschooled as well and range in age from 18 months to 18 years. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody. This is Heidi St. John. Thank you guys for tuning into the podcast today. Today is Friday, February the 21st. This is episode number 888. And today I am in beautiful Lakeland, Florida, and we’re going to be starting our Faith That Speaks Florida conference really soon. It starts at seven o’clock this evening. And Thousand Oaks, California, we are coming your way next. We are going to be there March 13th and 14th. If you guys are interested in joining us, you can get your tickets at heidistjohn.com/events. Also want to let you guys know if you’re not in the Los Angeles area, I’m going to be joining my dear friend Kathy Koch for the Hearts to Moms conference in Peoria, Illinois on March 6th and 7th. So come on out for that. Today is Meet my friend Friday and I’ve got... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

It’s Mailbox Monday friends! We have lots to talk about today—from politics, to the culture, to the church, to homeschooling. Listen in, I know you’ll be encouraged. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Psalm 69:16 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * A friendly word to the Never Trumpers * Second Step “Child Protection Unit” * Programming Our Children: The Social Engineering Agenda of ‘Social Emotional Learning’ * The Manipulation of Social Emotional Learning * Hearts to Moms Conference * HomegrownGeneration ONLINE Family Expo * Faith That Speaks All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey friends. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast. Today is Monday, February 17. This is episode 886 of The Heidi St. John Podcast, and today is Mailbox Monday. Woo. We got a lot of ground to cover. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. So everybody, thanks for tuning in today. As always, I’m so glad you guys are here. I hope you’ve been enjoying the podcast so far this year. There certainly is no shortage of things to talk about, and that’s definitely going to be the case today here at ... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

My friends Matt and Lisa Jacobson are joining me on the podcast today. We are going to talk about what it looks like to walk this marriage thing out as the one-flesh relationship that God intended it to be. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Psalm 40:9-11 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks * Faithful Life Podcast * Club 31 Women * Faithful Man All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Matt is the founder of FaithfulMan.com and Lisa started Club31Women.com. Together they cohost FAITHFUL LIFE podcast. They’re the authors of 100 Ways to Love Your Husband/Wife and 100 Words of Affirmation Every Husband/Wife Needs to Hear. Connect with Matt: Facebook | Instagram | Website Connect with Lisa: Facebook | Instagram | Website Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John Podcast. Today is Friday, February 7th, you guys, Valentine’s Day is coming up. This is episode number 882 and I’ve got a special treat for you today. My friends Matt and Lisa Jacobson are on the show with me today, and we’re going to talk about what it looks like, to walk this marriage thing out as, the one flesh relationship that God intended it to be. Stick around, --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

It’s Mailbox Monday friends! I’m answering lots of homeschooling questions today—including homeschoolng with a newborn and homeschooling through high school. Listen in, you’ll be encouraged! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Numbers 14:18 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * The Busy Mom’s Guide to Daylight * SIGN UP: Essential Oils and Intimacy Class February 8th at 1:00-2:00 PST All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey friends, this is Heidi St. John. How are you guys doing? It’s Monday. Come on. How you doing? This is episode number 880. Monday, February the third welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast. We are going to stick today to the topic of homeschooling. Some of you guys have questions about homeschooling. Some of you are wondering why we homeschool and then some of you have questions about how to homeschool. Today’s podcast is going to be all things homeschooling. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged.  All right, you guys happy that you are here today. Today is February the 3rd, which means it’s the very first day of the MomStrong International Bible Study and so this is a great, great, great time for you to jump into the study with me. I just want to remind you that we have a heart… the whole reason… I’m not doing the podcast for fun, I’m doing it so that you will be motivated to get #offthebench and onto the battlefield. Particularly when it comes to your family, particularly when it comes to your marriage, to your children, and the way that we know what God says is to be in His Word. Last Friday I had my friend Suzanne Phillips on the show and she was talk... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

When we know how loved we are, when we know that God has a plan and a purpose for us—then that purpose will be accomplished and we can rest. When we understand the power of the promise, we find comfort. Listen in and be encouraged! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * 2 Corinthians 5:17 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks Lakeland, Florida * Early Bird tickets end January 30th * With the early bird ticket, you get a beautiful canvas tote bag and you get to skip the line! * THSC Winter Summit * Jan 31-Feb 1, Sugar Land TX * Firmly Planted Family Bible Study For Families * Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey friends, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast. Today is Wednesday, January 28th. This is episode number 878. And I’m going to encourage a couple of listeners today by answering some questions and also we’re going to talk a little bit about the importance of motherhood. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged.  So I am leaving in just a couple of days for Houston, and I will be at the Texas Homeschool Coalitions, Homeschool Mom’s Winter Summit. And it’s not too late to register you guys. I’m telling you what, it’s going to be a fantastic time. You’re going to be so encouraged. If you’re a homeschool mom anywhere in the Houston area, come on out. Bring a friend, bring your mom for goodness’ sake and come on out and be encouraged. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Today on Mailbox Monday I’m tackling a question that I’ve never gotten before, along with a few others! Listen in, and be encouraged! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Isaiah 55:6 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * Faith That Speaks Lakeland, Florida * Early Bird tickets end January 30th * With the early bird ticket, you get a beautiful canvas tote bag and you get to skip the line! * THSC Winter Summit * Jan 31-Feb 1, Sugar Land TX * Firmly Planted Family Bible Study For Families * Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center * Kay Arthur * Precept International * Precept for Kids All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, good morning. This is Heidi St. John, welcome to the podcast. Today is Monday, January 27th. This is episode number 877. It’s Mailbox Monday and we’ve got a lot of questions to get you. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged So I was just in Frisco, Texas with the good women of the Winter Summit. We had such a good time and we’re going to do it again. There’s still time to join me in Houston, Texas this weekend. If you’re in Houston, come on out, bring a friend and let’s take time to encourage one another. This is a great group of women. You are not going to want to miss it this weekend, --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

If God is sovereign, why pray?  I’ll answer this question and comment on current events today. Listen in! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Ruth 4:12 Resources Mentioned in Podcast * THSC Winter Summit * Jan 24-25, Frisco TX * Jan 31-Feb 1, Sugar Land TX All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, friends. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast. Today is Wednesday, January 22. This is episode number 875, and I think I’m getting my voice back, and I’m a little fired up. Stick around. I think you’re going to be encouraged. So lots going on right now in the culture. You guys know that I’m a huge fan of the March for Life. That activity starts today in Washington, DC, and the rally, the actual march is happening on Friday, January 24, so just two days until that happens. I hope you guys are engaged in that process, praying for them. There have been lots of similar marches happening around the country. People standing in solidarity, saying that, “We will defend until their very last breath the lives of the unborn in this nation.” I saw a really wonderful interview the other day with a young man who has Down syndrome and he was saying he does not want abortion to be illegal. He wants it to be unthinkable, and so I stand with him and I hope you guys are going to pray for the March of Life starting today in Washington, DC with the rally happening this Friday, January 24. Speaking of January the 24th I am headed to Frisco, Texas in just a couple of days. I’ll be speaking for the Texas Homeschool Coalition Homeschool Moms Winter Summit, and we are going to have a hootin’ hollerin’ good time. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

I often get letters here from moms who are struggling to answer questions about suffering for their children. Today, I’ll look back on the life of my friend, Clint Bidleman, whose short life had an eternal impact, and we’ll look at what God is doing today through His people. His plans are good. You are loved! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Acts 3:17-20 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Firmly Planted Family Resource Center All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, everybody. This is Heidi St. John. How are you guys doing? Today is Wednesday, January 15th. It’s the Freedom Rally day here in Washington State, and we’re going to cover a lot of ground today. Stick around. I think you’re going to be encouraged. Thanks for tuning in today. I have pre-recorded this podcast in an effort to be able to be out of the studio on the 15th of January. If you’re getting this podcast downloaded in the morning and you live anywhere near Olympia, Washington, I’m going to be there today for the Freedom Rally that starts at noon on the steps of the Capitol in Olympia, Washington. And if you’re interested at all in protecting your freedoms, if you’re interested in protecting your right to choose whether or not your children will be mandated to be vaccinated … You guys, you’ve heard me talk about this before. My kids are vaccinated, but I believe that where there is a risk, there should be a choice, and parental rights are being stripped away from parents at an unprecedented rate. So there’s a lot of things going on right now, not the least of which is comprehensive sex education, which is making a return to Washington State with a vengeance. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

It’s very easy to slip into a pattern of disordered priorities—and yet, God has grace as well as instruction for where our hearts and families will flourish. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Hebrews 3:4-6 All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, how you guys do and happy Monday to you. Today is Monday, January 13th we are almost halfway through the month of January. I hope the new year has been a good one so far for you. I’m excited today because it’s Mailbox Monday and we’re going to cover a little bit of news, a little bit of culture, a little bit of politics, a little bit of awesome gospel centered family stuff that’s happening. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. So we have made it to the middle of January, almost. I keep thinking it’s January 15th because my head is in the game for a rally that’s happening. So if you guys live in Washington state, if you’re anywhere in Washington state, coming out to Olympia for the freedom rally, the 2020 freedom rally is happening, starting at noon through, I want to say noon through probably about three o’clock on the Capitol Steps in Olympia and you guys, if you’re tired of the government overreaching, if you want to be able to choose for your own family, everything from vaccinations to education, your legislators need to know that you want them to protect your freedom. And so we’re going to be meeting at noon on the Capitol Steps in Olympia. We are actually closing the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center in Vancouver and taking as many of our families as we can up to Olympia for the freedom rally. So join me in Olympia on the Capitol Steps at noon, Wednesday, January 15th we’re going to rally for freedom over the overreaching cha... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Mothers are many things. We are nurturers, chauffeurs, cooks, short-order cooks and first-aid providers. We are shoulders to cry on, advice-givers, drivers ed teachers, and broken heart menders. But the most important role we play in the lives of our kids is the role of teacher. As a homeschool mom, I learned a lesson very early in my mothering journey. Where students and teachers are concerned, it’s the teacher learns the most. After all, we can’t teach what we don’t understand. David acknowledges His need to be taught by the Lord in Psalm 143:10. That means we need to learn to follow. Are we being led by the Lord?  Today’s question is from a wife whose husband is emotionally absent. Your marriage is worth fighting for! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Lamentations 3:21-23 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * FIGHT FOR YOUR MARRIAGE WHEN YOUR SPOUSE IS EMOTIONALLY DISTANT All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey, you guys. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast. I’m so glad you guys have joined me. Today is Wednesday, I can’t even believe it, January 8th, 2020. This is episode number 869. And today I’m going to encourage you in the direction of learning to be led. Stick around. I think you’re going to be encouraged. So thanks for tuning in today. I’m excited today. I’m four days into my cruise at FPEA. I get to know a bunch of people here on the ship and encouraging people in their marriages. You guys, listen. You don’t have to go on a cruise to nurture your marriage. You don’t have to go. Don’t put your marriage on cruise control, all right? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Ephesians 5:10 “Figure out what will please Christ, and then, do it!” (MSG) One of the first and best ways we can please the Lord is to praise Him. It’s the best response to all that God has done. I’ll be talking about this and answering a question from a listener about being unequally yoked. God’s blessings are found inside His boundaries. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Job 1:20-22 All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to a brand new year here at the podcast. We are so excited for what God is going to do this year. This is 2020. It’s going to be a big year. I can feel it in my bones and we’re going to get started today by a little conversation about a big thing called holiness. Stick around. I think you’re going to be encouraged. Hope you guys are having a great New Year’s Day today. Today is Wednesday, January 1st. This is episode number 865 and I’m doing something a little bit different on Wednesdays. You guys know that I used to teach from MomStrong International on Wednesdays, but I went ahead and switched the format and now I teach at a private Facebook page for MomStrong International Bible study members, so this is a great day you guys. First day of a brand new year. It’s a great day for you to join me at momstronginternational.com, sign up to become a member of the Bible study there, and join the scripture writing community. So there are about 15,000 of you at the scripture writing community now and that’s just a free community where you guys can get in and download the scripture writing challenge, and the scripture writing challenge correlates. It’s the verses that we’re studying at MomStrong International at the Bible study page.... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

A listener writes: I am really struggling with PTSD from a car accident. Now, it is affecting my parenting. How can I trust God as my children get older and start driving?  God understands our struggles and our fears—and He says, “Trust ME,” but how do we do that? I’ll also be answering a question from a listener who is struggling to talk with a family member who claims Christ but does not agree with the Bible on important issues that God addresses in His Word. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Luke 2:12-15 All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody. This is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast, you guys. Happy New Year, we’re almost there. Today is Monday, December 30th. This is episode number 864. Oh my goodness. It’s mailbox Monday and we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged.  So I hope you guys had a fantastic Christmas. I had a good Christmas with my family. Oh my goodness. Jay and I have done so much entertaining over the holidays this year, and the other day, I think, I don’t even think I got out of bed. I’m not even kidding. I was so tired, I woke up and I just was like, what day is it? It’s like Christmas falls on a Wednesday and then Friday makes no sense and Thursday feels like it should be Sunday, and I’m in this sort of weird vortex. And so basically I just took a break and then I got up, did some dishes, sat on the couch for a little while, tried to find my equilibrium, and I have a feeling that I’m not alone. So moment of silence for all you mamas who are just trying to figure it out. All right you guys, quick couple things. I want to say thanks to everybody who has sent us Christmas cards this season and participated in our Christmas card Palooza. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Are you dreading going back to homeschooling after the holidays? We’ve got some good news! Join me today for some encouragement and advice from veteran homeschooler and founder of the Institute for Excellence in Writing—my friend, Andrew Pudewa. Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Romans 9:33 Resources Mentioned In Podcast * Structure and Style for Students * IEW 12 Days of Christmas * Skipping Christmas by John Grisham * All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Andrew Pudewa is the founder and principal speaker of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and a father of seven. Traveling and speaking around the world, he addresses issues related to teaching, writing, thinking, spelling, and music with clarity, insight, practical experience, and humor. His seminars for parents, students, and teachers have helped transform many a reluctant writer and have equipped educators with powerful tools to dramatically improve students’ skills. Connect with the Andrew Pudewa: IEW  Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. How are you guys doing? Today is Friday, December 27th. I’m assuming y’all had a really wonderful Christmas. This is episode number 863 and it is meet my friend Friday and I have a treasured friend on the show with me today. My friend Andrew Pudewa is here and we’re going to encourage you to make the most out of the new year. We’re going to be talking about Advent, we’re going to be talking about how you can encourage your children to kind of break out of boredom and start enjoying homeschooling again. Stick around, --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Merry Christmas! Transcribed version of podcast is below. Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse * Isaiah 9:6-7 All Things Heidi * See all events here * MomStrong International * Sample Bible Study Week and Cursive Copywork.  * To see the Manuscript of the Copywork and the Scripture Writing schedule, sign up at MomStrong International  for a FREE account to gain access! * Bible Study kicks off the first Monday of each month. * Scripture Writing kicks off the first day of every month. * Speaking Requests * Submit your questions to MailBox Monday * Essential Oils * Shop my Amazon Store * My Books: Becoming MomStrong | MomStrong Bible Study | Prayers for the Battlefield | Bible Promises for Moms | Becoming MomStrong Journal Join us at MomStrong International for our newest Bible Study and Scripture Writing! Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. Don’t Miss These! TRANSCRIPTION: Hey everybody, Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas everybody. I hope you’re having a great morning with your family. I hope you guys are being blessed and encouraged. Today, I’m going to do something a little bit different, because after all it is Christmas. We’re going to focus on why we really need the miracle of Christmas. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged. All right you guys, so today’s a really special day. I think this might be the first time in seven years of doing this podcast, that I have had a podcast ready for you on Christmas day. And I’m going to just spend a little bit of time just encouraging you about why we really need Christmas. And Max Lucado wrote something that I thought was really encouraging, and he said, “Do we really need another Christmas? We sing the same songs, put up the same tree, and we shop for the same socks and sweaters every year. Is the message of peace on earth, goodwill toward men, still relevant? Still possible? Consider the story behind Christmas. Hollywood would recast Christmas. Joseph’s collar is way too blue. Mary is green from inexperience. The couple’s star power just doesn’t match the bill. Too obscure. Too simple. The story warrants some headliners. A square-jawed Joseph. Someone of the Clooney vintage. And Mary needs a beauty mark and glistening teeth. Angelina Jolie-ish. And what about the shepherds? Do they sing? If so, perhaps Bono and U2? Do we really need another Christmas? Yes, we sing the same songs, put up the same trees, shop for the same socks and sweaters every year. Is the message of peace on earth, goodwill toward men still relevant? Still possible? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Transcription: Hey, what's up, guys? Welcome back to the Twin Cities collective podcast. I'm your host genera right field and today's episode I actually got some suggestions on my Instagram story. You can follow us @TwinCitiesCollective on Instagram but one person reached out and said I really loved to do an episode on making your website optimized. And I thought hmm I don't think I've done an episode about websites by myself before at least like how to set them up how to make them work better. So I thought I'd do that for you. Another idea how it was like just content creation. So I'll try to kind of incorporate that in to this episode. Okay, So you have a business or you have ah, Blogging. You need to actually start a website obviously. So one of the things we're going to do is you're going to choose a platform to host and what I've learned over the past couple of years is there's a lot of differences between the platforms. The four main platforms I would choose between is WordPress, squarespace, shopify and show. Now, the reasons I picked these is they're all kind of set for different types of businesses. I was thinking about this this morning. Squarespace is definitely more for the small businesses that don't update their websites too often it's the ones that want something really easy to change, and it's just needs kind of the basic website. Where'd press is definitely more for bloggers that want to make a lot of money on you know, those faces. But are the Google ads They want to have a lot more customization with the Blogging? Ah, and where press is nothing more for really, really custom websites. Um, Shopify is definitely more if you want e commerce. So if you're really just focused on selling products, I would say Shopify would definitely be a really good option and then finally show it is another one that I've heard about I have never used. But a lot of big names use it like Jenna culture and just some really bigger, mostly like wedding photographers. I feel like you show it. I just tend to see a lot more of them on that platform. I've been using Squarespace since 2015. I was originally on WordPress free one, and then I transferred to the paid version of WordPress. Then I switched finally over two square space, and I've helped other people move from word presses, square spaces. Well, just cause I find, especially if you're a beginner on websites. It's a much easier platform to understand. However, WordPress is a great option, and they do have some newer things that are coming out that help with making it easier to change things. But basically it's up to you to pick a platform. But once you pick one, you should really stick with it because it's kind of a hassle. Then change it over so that the next thing you're gonna do is you're gonna have a website framework. So you're gonna figure out what is your website gonna look like? Ah, you're going to figure out what kind of pages you want. Ah, what are the things that your website's going to focus on? The things I recommend doing are about page, a services or products page, maybe a portfolio page and a contact page. Those are, the at least the minimum pages that you need on your website, and I think everyone should have it in that order as well. About services portfolio contact. It should be from left to right that it should how you should set up your Web site. People like to know where they're looking because they're used to seeing that on most websites. So one of the things a lot of people do as they are setting up their website. 2. About Page So the first thing they're going to do is set up in about page and one of the things I recommend with an about pages, is it's not about you, It's not a bio. It's about your business and what you can offer to your audience. It's about your values. It's about what they can expect from you. So don't make it just about you and no one really cares. That's what I learned at least through a lot of podcasts episodes and blog posts I've read about about pages, and so that's the second thing you're going to create. 3. Services Page Then the next thing you're going to do is you are going to create a services page, so that's going to be probably the meat of your website. You're gonna have to make it really convert. You're going to want to make sure that people understand what you offer. You might have several services pages if you have different services that you offer or again, if you're on online retailer, you definitely gonna have a lot of different products that you're selling, so you've got to figure out a way to organize them by categories. Another option you can have instead of a services pages create a landing page. There's sites like leadpages and such that you could actually get people to sign up for webinar or a free download or something. That's another option for your website, but creating a services pages so, so, so important because we need to know what you offer as a business. 4. Start a Blog I mean, I forgot to mention this one, but a lot of people also have blogs. So not every website needs a Blog, but a lot of people have either a blog or a podcast or youtube channel to create content. So the next thing you're going to do is you're going to create a blog and make sure that when you start it, you kind of know what the purpose behind the blog is. Now, most people these days are either bloggers or they're not. A blogger to me is someone who only writes blogs like that's the reason that they created their website is to write blog post. Most people nowadays, I would say, are a business that have a blog That's what I would consider myself. I wouldn't consider myself a blogger, but I do have a Blog. It's kind of a weird thing. But what I recommend doing is that when you write a blog post, make sure that people will click on it. Make sure that people are searching for it. So this is something I took me a long time to learn. Um, and I actually we'll talk about this a little bit about the search console, but you're gonna want to create something that is going to have a long evergreen, which basically means that last a long time. Content what on my most red Blogging post of all time is about the Mall of America. Funny enough, and I actually realized it. I get a lot of pins on Pinterest through it. I get people searching for it on Google, and my blog post about the Mall of America just does really well, and it's been around since twenty fifteen that blog post and I've moved it from multiple websites that I've changed domains and everything. But when the reasons is because it's so searchable, people are looking for that kind of content, even though I don't I don't really do anything with the Mall America. I just kept it cause it's bringing me a lot of great, you know, traffic to my website. So making sure that you have a great blog post title. There's a lot of websites like Co-Schedule has a headline planner. You can figure out what you should call your blog post, but you wanted to be something that people are searching for because that's how they're going to find it. Another thing you're definitely gonna want to have is images. Never, ever write a black post without a single image. You have to have at least one that's is pitiable, I would say, create at least a square version and even create one that's a little bit longer. That's perfect for Pinterest. Um, the reason you do this is because you want people to pin it from your sight. You could pin it yourself, but you also want people to actually save it and pin it themselves from when they actually find your Maybe they stumble upon it on Google and they want to save that information. They can pin the image to Pinterest cause Pinterest by far is one of the best ways to get traffic to your Blogging. Another thing you're going to want to do is you're going to want to add at least three calls to action in each blog post. The reason you're doing this is you're going to try to keep them on your website. A lot of people stumble upon blog's through different ways, whether it's social media through Google Pinterest, and they may have never heard of you before most of times. And so by actually doing things in that blog post to get them to stay on your website, they'LL become more invested in you as a person and as a brand. So you're going to want to either tell them to check out other Blogging posts, tell them to sign up for your email list all of those things. You're definitely going to want to try to get them to do one of those. So when you're writing a Blogging, think about it strategically, you're gonna want to try to get people to read it, but also engaged with you as as a business or a blog. So that's another thing you also want to do that throughout your website. 5. Creating links Making and creating links that also go to other pages on your site makes it easier for people to stay longer. That helps your bounce rate that helps people just stay on your website longer and potentially find something that they didn't know they were looking for. So you've got your blogged, your about pager services page.   6. Contact Page Then you're going to also create a contact page. This is really important if you want people to actually reach out to you. There are a lot of ways to create a contact page, and I'LL talk about this down the road, but you can actually have a scheduler as well to actually have people book a call with you and we'll talk about some of the platforms you can use with that, but you definitely wanna have their name their email, so that you can actually contact them back, as well as the title of the message and the message itself. Most website platforms offer a contact page form that you can embed into your into your website. That's probably the easiest way. One thing I don't recommend doing is actually just leaving your Email on your Web site. The reason is is because you can get a lot more spam that way. People actually just search Web sites all day long, looking for e mails so you might get a lot more spam. If you just leave a link to your email, that's just something I've heard before. So you definitely want to make sure you have, like, a form instead of an email. 7. Add Alt Tags to Photos Another thing that you're going to want to do to optimize your website, and this is something I'm really bad at. And it's something that I'm really working on, and that is adding descriptions to each of your photos. Now photos two. Google are just pieces of content. They don't know what they are because Google is not smart enough to look at the picture and say, Oh, that's picture of a dog. So you've got to tell Google what that picture is, and it's something that searchable so you could say golden retriever dog. That would be the description you'LL add that to that photos all to tag. That's something you should do for every single photo on your website, no matter what. I think it's really, really important especially for Blogging images, because when they click that Pinterest pennant button, whatever you've written for the all tag is going to be that description that they're going to pin right away. So if it's just like image two, three, four, that's what here is going to show up on Pinterest and you don't want that. So you definitely want to make sure that each of your photos has a tag at all today. And you can Google how to change those. Every platform does it, either in their media library or on each photo. You can, say, add alternative text. This is also great for people who are, you know, maybe our blind or using some sort of disability platform where they can actually have it read to them. So that's really helpful for those types of people as well. 8. Add social media links & instagram blocks Another thing a lot of people don't add, and I find this odd is they don't add their social media links to their website. Sometimes I have to search really far to even find, like a link to their Instagram to their Twitter facebook have that on every single page. So maybe put it in the footer, Um, and also If you have a good Instagram, maybe get a plug in or add your Instagram. With squarespace, you can an Instagram block and on WordPress, you could download different plug ins that allow you to show and display your Instagram on your home page or across your footer. I do this for our footer because and it shows up on every single page. And then when they click on one of those pictures, it sends them straight to our Instagram. This is a really easy way to add some pictures to your website very easily oh, that's another thing is making sure that they can find your social media from the home page as well as every page that they're on, because if they want to remember you and they're on your website, make it easy for them to follow you on social. 9. Add an email opt-in or call to action Okay, this is the one that most people forget to do, but it's like the most important one that's adding an email. Opt in. So even if you don't do email marketing right now, you still want to start collecting emails? Um, you could do this in multiple ways. I would recommend offering a free download or a lead magnet, but you can even just say sign up for a newsletter. I mean, even if you don't send one out on occasion, just adding that to your Web site allows people to you get their emails. That's really one of the most important things you can get. You can use emails in many ways, but just adding something to get people's emails is something. If you don't have it, put it up there right now and there's so many easier ways to do that. There's platforms that allow you to embed an email capture, but most websites have an option to do it internally with their own platform system. Ad Break 10. Add additional ways to book you (acuity, dubsado, pure chat) Okay, I mentioned this earlier, but there's some other additional tools that you can actually use to have people reach out to you. I use three of them. Um, actually, two of them. I used to use one of them, but I don't use it anymore. That's acuity, scheduling, dubsado and pure chat. So acuity is something that I recommend if you aren't using a serum. But you still want to book clients, you can embed an acuity scheduler into your website. And what this does is allows people to schedule a time to either talk with you. Um, work with you. It just basically allows people to instantly No, when you're available and can set it up so that you're both on the same page. You have a time a location, a date to talk. It could be a phone call could be in person. It's, however, you set up acuity, scheduling the nice thing about acuity and square spaces that you can get acuity pro for free if you're on squarespace. So a lot of people have used acuity. The other reason why used acuity was Instagram now has a booking button with acuity scheduling so you could actually send people straight to your acuity from your Instagram. So if you're not on something like dubsado, I highly recommend acuity because they're super, super easy to use. Okay, I used upside when I mentioned this before, but they've recently added some features that I love even today. As I'm recording this, they just added a new feature where you can see where your leads are coming from by asking a question, and it categorizes that. And for me, that's super helpful, because I never know when people come to me. I'm like, Where did they hear about me? I have no idea. Asking those questions is so important to know where your leads are coming from. So Dubsado, what I used upside of four is I I use it. Instead of having a regular contact thing. I actually embedded dubsado lead form, then it adds it to my CRM or my customer relationship manager. This allows me to track them. I can send them farms. I can send them invoices, schedulers, all of those things that I need to keep in touch with my clients. You can embed dubsado, and now you can actually embed proposals, which was like like business changing for me, because people can pay their invoice straight through the Web sight, which is so awesome, So just setting up all of these different things allows it so much easier for you to not have to chase people down through e mails. The other one that I use is called pure chat, and there's a lot of chat apse where you can install them. And then if people are on your website and they want to chat with you, basically, it sends you a message in their app that somebody is on your website and they're wanting to chat. I like your chat because it's free and there's not a lot of ones that are free, and I only get maybe one chat a month. It's really not something a lot people use, but when they do, I can be on it and I can respond to them like a text message. It's super super helpful. So those are the additional things I've used in the past that allow me to connect and communicate with my audience. 11. Set up Google Analytics, Search Console & heat map  Okay, moving on to the next one, setting up Google Analytics Search Console and heat maps. So these airways that you contract your website. So while this episode's about optimizing, this is really the best way to optimize your website. If you have a website you need to track who's going on your website, how long are they staying, where they come from? How all that stuff could be set up in Google analytics Now Google Analytics is free. You just have to embed some code into the header of your website. You can Google how to do that. It's really not as difficult as it used to be. And they've made it really, really easy for every platform to do it. You have to have a Google accounts. I would set it up with the one that you're using. If you have a Google email, um, and what you can do, you should take about twenty four hours to get going. But what it does is it tracks everything. It tracks the rial time of who's on your website right now. How long they stay on your website? Which pages they look at This is so helpful to you to see. Okay, well, what's working and what's not on my website. More recently, I've rediscovered search Console. I never really used it before, but oh my gosh, Is this help for helpful for creating content that I can see which terms people are searching for and which which pages on my website they find by searching those terms. So for me, one of the things I did was I actually looked up. Okay, what are people searching for when it comes to Instagram in Minneapolis and I'll be honest and say a lot of people are looking for Instagram worthy things. So last week I decided to start a Siri's where I talk about Instagram worthy places, restaurants, coffee shops, because I know people are searching for that. And when people search for Instagram worthy things, I want Twin Cities collective to pop up in the top ten on those search results. I'm just honest like I want that traffic, because Instagram is by far my my topic. I wanted to be the Instagram hub of Minneapolis. That's just like one of my goals. And so, by using search Console, I could actually kind of hack what people are looking for and really have those specific he terms that people are searching for in Google and be one of the top ones that people are doing. So that's just why I decided to do those specific post, because I think that it will help me. It will help my audience. I think people are looking for that, And so, by being able to provide it, it's something that I probably would normally wouldn't write about. I feel like it's a great way to get new audience to our site and also help our current audience find out about new places in the Twin Cities. Another thing that you might want to set up also, to see how people are using your website is a heat map. Now heat maps usually costs money, and I I've tried to find them in the past for free, but usually they only have a limited amount of time that you can use them. But basically what this is is it shows where people are looking and putting their mouths on your website. Now, why this is important is it really helps, you know. Okay, Well, what parts of my website are people really attracted to? There's their steps. They're clicking on there, Really? You know, looking at sometimes I realize that people are clicking on something that's not actually a link, but they think it's a link, so add a link to it. So that's stuff like that. You have no idea what people are actually looking at on your website. So that's a really, really great way. So those three things are all usually free. I'm not sure about the heat maps. Depends on which one you use. Sometimes they're included in different software, but really setting up Google Analytics, Search console and heat maps allow you to really analyze what are people doing on your website? 12. Create a mobile instagram only version Okay, this one is another thing that I've actually created a video on. So if you had over to our Facebook page, I actually teach people how to create an Instagram version of their website. There's things on Instagram called LinkinBio and Link tree that people can actually click on, and it's kind of like a different version of their website. But you can actually read do that in square space or WordPress by having a bunch of buttons to a Instagram version on ly of your website. Now I have the whole video on there, so I'm not going to explain it. But basically you're doing this by actually sending people to your website, not to some other persons website, and it just allows people on mobile version to quickly get to where they need to go. And that's why the other Web sites exist. So that's something that I recommend doing is having a separate page on your website that's specifically for Instagram. My eyes www.twincitiescollective.com/instagram-click-me and that's a separate page that has just buttons with. I think there's like ten buttons of different things that can get to quickly on mobile, so that's just an option. Also, make sure, and most platforms these days are automatically mobile friendly. Make sure your website his mobile friendly you'LL really get docked by Google. If you don't have a mobile friendly website, seo as long as you've made your website in 2019, or at least in the last two to three years, it most likely will be Instagram and ah, sorry, mobile friendly, but you definitely want to make sure that it is okay. 13. add products to your site to sell So if you are a product based company or you want to sell digital products, that's another option. You can add a product's page so most platforms have options for you to sell products. But you definitely want to make sure you're setting up stripe papal all of those online platforms, maybe even square to actually be able to get paid. That's another topic we could probably talk about with somebody who sells products. But if you are selling products, make sure it's set up correctly. Be descriptive about the product and make sure that it's easy for them to click and add to cart and buy it. Squarespace has a product option, so that's something I've used for, um, our mugs and for my stock photos that I sell. So that's something that's really easy for you to set up. 14. Test your website speed and shrink images Um, okay, there There's some final tips I have about optimizing like really optimizing, and that's testing your website speed and shrinking your images. So if you want to make sure that your website is working, make sure to test how fast it loads. If it's being slow, it means that people might not stay on your website long because there they people's attention spans are very short these days. So if your websites taking 10-15 seconds load, trust me, they're not going to stick around, so you might want to figure out what's causing it to slow down. Usually, most of the platforms are pretty fast. It's usually something that you've added that has slowed it down, and it's almost ninety five percent of time an image. So there are Web sites that you can actually go to to shrink all of your images. Some of your images might be multiple, multiple megabytes, and you you want to know that. Oh my gosh, that is what's going to slow it down. So just googling shrinking images, you'll find some websites where you can just upload a bunch of images and shrink the file size down so that it does it make your website slow. There are also plug ins that you've probably installed that are slowing it down. But a lot of those speed test websites allow you to know exactly what it is. I'm slowing it down. 15. Add videos-embed gifs & videos into your website Okay, The final thing you can add to your website are, ah, fun things like videos, um, gifts and other such content pieces. I love adding videos to my website because it doesn't take up any rial like sizing, especially if you embed it from Wistia, youtube, vimeo. I wouldn't actually host the video on your website because that will take up a lot of space, so definitely try to embed it when you can. But what you can do is you can actually create promotional videos, tutorial videos, things that are interesting, whether it's an event that you had video from, that I also love that squarespace allows you to embed gifts so I can create my own gifts. I use easy dash gift dot com, or you can just go to Giphy and download some fun ones as well. I think adding some fundings to your website is just a great way to get people interested. So that was a lot of information. I want to tell you guys a little bit about more, but what we can do to help you with your website? I actually do a lot of coaching, so if you need help with your website, I can do an audit of your website for you. I also do ah Instagram coaching, and if you head to our Web site, Twincitiescollective.com/instagram-coaching, you can learn more about. We do this now three month program where I can actually help you upset by step to do your Instagram. And while we're doing that, I can also help you a little bit with your website because basically the reason you're trying to grow your Instagram is to send people to your website. So if you don't have a website that's fully optimized, and it has all the content that you need your audience to know, a lot of your Instagram stuff is going to be not as much worth it because you really do want to make sure that you're capturing the person on Instagram and sending them off of Instagram onto your website. So if you want to go to TwinCities collective.com/instagram-coaching. You could learn more about that or send me a GM on Instagram and we can chat. I can send you some information. I just want to let you know about that because, ah, lot of people get it here, overwhelmed by Instagram and by their websites. But honestly, it's really once you get it, it makes a lot of sense. You just kind of got to get a second set of eyes to look at it and point out what a potential viewer of your website is thinking when they're looking at it. So I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. We have some events coming up. Make sure to go to our website to see about those again. This air this episode might not be listen to until after the events are over. So just the smile that, you know, we're always coming out with new events always coming up with new Podcasting episodes. And we've just launched our brand new online travel show called Logging Out. So if you haven't checked out that on our Web site, make sure to check out logging out as well. Thanks, guys. So much for listening this episode, and we'll be back with another interview next week! Jenna Redfield is a digital content expert, focused on organizing, planning and creating content for marketing purposes. She runs her YouTube channel Jenna Redfield and works with people to help organize their digital lives!  Home: https://jennaredfield.com YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/jennaredfield Join the Facebook Groups https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdandnotion https://www.facebook.com/groups/marketingandnotion/ Follow me on Social https://www.youtube.com/c/jennaredfield https://www.instagram.com/jennaredfield https://www.tiktok.com/@jennaredfield