Podcasts about UH

At a recent congressional hearing on America's so-called “labor shortage,” megabanker Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, offered this insight: “People actually have a lot of money, and they don't particularly feel like going back to work.” Uh… Jamie… most people are living paycheck to paycheck, and since COVID-19 hit, millions have lost their jobs, savings, and even homes. So, they're not exactly lollygagging around the house, counting their cash. Instead of listening to the uber-rich class ignorance of Dimon (who pocketed $35 million in pay last year) Congress ought to be listening to actual workers explain why they're not rushing back to the jobs being offered by restaurant chains and such. They would point out that there is no labor shortage – there’s a wage shortage. More fundamentally, there's a fairness shortage. It was not lost on restaurant workers, for example, that while millions of them were jobless last year, their corporate CEOs were grabbing millions, buying yachts, and living large. Yet, more than half of laid-off restaurant workers couldn't even get unemployment benefits, because their wages had been too low to qualify. Then there's the high risk of COVID exposure for restaurant employees, an appalling level of sexual harassment in their workplace, and demeaning treatment from abusive bosses and customers. No surprise, then, that more than half of employees said in a recent survey that they're not going back to those jobs. After all, even a dog knows the difference between being stumbled over and being kicked! So rather than demanding that government officials force workers to return to the old exploitative system, corporate giants should try the free-enterprise solution right at their fingertips: Raise pay, improve conditions, and show respect – create a place where people want to work! For a straightforward view from workers themselves, go to the advocacy group, OneFairWage.site.

With around three decades of experience running professional services firms, Don Scales understands first-hand how to make them successful. He is currently the Global CEO of Investis Digital, a global digital communications company that helps world-class businesses manage their corporate brands. Today this industry veteran joins us to talk about his experience in the business, the reasons behind failed mergers and acquisitions, and share some funny stories. 3 Golden Nuggets If you continue to have to do it all, you'll never scale. So many agency owners are at the million-dollar mark and wanting to get to the eight-figure mark. Don's advice is to learn to delegate. Find people who are great at what they do and then get out of their way. You may make some mistakes if you do, but you'll move on from that. Building a team with staying power. Consistency is the key when it comes to leadership. Your employees won't want to come to work every day if they don't know which version of you they might encounter. Be consistent with your leadership style and make your decision-making process transparent, so they will learn to make decisions in that way as well. Why do some mergers fail? If you look at what people really examine when they look at potentially buying a company, you'll find that they don't spend a whole lot of time looking at the value set of these companies that they're looking to buy. So many times when a merger or acquisition ends up failing you find out afterward that the cultures were off. You need to spend some time analyzing whether there is compatibility and if the values align. Sponsors and Resources Agency Dad: Today's episode is sponsored by Agency Dad. Agency Dad is an accounting solution focused on helping marketing agencies make better decisions based on their financials. Check out agencydad.money/freeaudit/ to get a phone call with Nate to assess your agency's financial needs and how he can help you. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Avoid a Failed Merger by Staying True to Your Agency's Values Jason: [00:00:00] What's up, agency owners, Jason Swenk here, and I'm excited to have an amazing guest. Now, this guest has been in the agency world for a very long time. He started when he was one and he's grown several agencies and the current agency that he's, a global CEO has over 500 employees. They're approaching $90 million in revenue and they've done over 40 acquisitions over the, his lifetime. And I'm really excited to get into it. So let's jump into the episode. Hey, Don. Welcome to the show. Don: [00:00:39] Hey, good to see you. Glad to be here. Jason: [00:00:42] Awesome. Well, I'm excited to chat with you and learn from you because you've been in it for a long time and you have a lot of experience. So for the ones that have not heard of you yet, tell us who you are and what do you do? Don: [00:00:54] My name's Don Scales. I am the global CEO of a company called Investis Digital, which is a UK-based company. It's private equity-owned by Investcorp. Uh, we just recently exited from, uh, a six-year relationship with the company called ECI out of London. Uh, so we're very excited about our Invest Corp relation. Then prior to that, I was CEO of a company, I'm sure you heard of, called iCrossing, iCrossing, we managed to take that to, um, some $140 million, exited several years back. So I was there for a good eight years, nine years. And then prior to that, I was CEO of a company called Agency.com, which is a pioneer in the web development space. And it's one of the, if you will, one of the founding companies of web development. So that takes me back all the way to 1999 in the digital age, that's kind of like dog years. So I've been around a long time. Jason: [00:02:00] I started our agency in 99 and yeah, I used to love those days. It was kind of like no one knew what websites were, and I could literally go through the yellow pages and go, oh, you don't have a website here, so. Don: [00:02:10] And in fact you'll, you'll get a kick out of this. Back in the day, people would send us RFPs and we, we'd send them an invoice for 50 grand just to read their RFP. Jason: [00:02:25] I love it. Don: [00:24:10] And that was good business. Jason: [00:02:25] I love it  Well, I think we're going to get along well, because I always looked at RFP as, um, you know, stands for a couple of things, Request for Punishment as one of them. Other ones, I probably won't name on this show right now. I don't know if I can talk to you that way. But, uh, let's jump into that because that's interesting. Why would you send an invoice for 50 grand to respond to their RFP? Don: [00:02:47] Because, like you said, you could go to the yellow pages. It was just such a demand, and we had very limited resources of people who could do those kinds of work. And so we had to make sure that, uh, every, every minute of every day was, uh, paid for in some way, shape or form. And so if the market would take it, and they did, and they'd pay, it would, we'll invoice. Jason: [00:03:12] That's the biggest foot in the door I've ever seen. So I always believe in like, charging something as a slice off of your core offer, you know, in order to kind of see if they're serious and also kind of prove like the relationship back and forth, but you guys have the win right now of the highest foot in the door yet. And, and you guys said you converted too. That's awesome. Don: [00:03:34] Yeah, we did. And then, you know, then, then everything changed in 2000 and now it was like, it was. Just, the whole market would be evaporated on me. Jason: [00:03:47] Well, that's what helped us little guys back then when the market crashed, I was like, all these big guys going down, here's our opportunity. You know, let's get on what I call the strategy line, where everybody else is kind of cringing and kind of like they're on that roller coaster. And that's what allowed us to really grow. Don: [00:04:05] You know, it was one of those times when there was so many bigger companies. Yeah. The biggest thing that hit people back down was when it got bigger, they all invested in real estate. And then after that, you had all these fixed commitments and real estate, then the market just evaporates and they're stuck there with all that office space. Jason: [00:04:23] So, what's the key…? You've seen so many agencies go from a certain size and just blow it up. And a lot of people listening, you know, they're in the million mark, they're trying to get to the eight-figure mark. Some of the eight-figure guys are trying to get to the nine-figure and tens and so on. And you've gone through many, many levels. So what are some things that if you're right in the middle of like, let's say a $5 million agency, what do you need to do in order to really kind of, to accelerate your growth that you've seen. Don: [00:05:00] Yeah. So I think there's an evolution. So when there, when you get to the $5 million mark, and then when you're a very small agency and you're a founder, the biggest thing you have to learn in order to get to the next level is you have to learn to delegate. And so if you can find the right people and if you have, if you continue to have to do it all yourself, then you'll never scale. But if you can find the right people and you, and you're willing to delegate and you may make some mistakes and, uh, if you do, but you, you can still move on from those mistakes and you'll have a chance to delegate. And then beyond that, as you continue on, you have to bring in more discipline in your organization's structure. They, you know, there's a lot of research that shows that most agencies sort of tap out either, one, right there where the owner has to start delegating, that's, that's one key point. And then there seems to be another flex point, right around 75 to a hundred employees. For some reason, that's when the organization becomes, uh, not as flat and it gets a little bit more widespread. And so you have different players involved. And that seems to be a place where organizations have hard times as well. Once you get past a hundred employees, I think you can scale up for, you know, you can do a pretty good job of getting scaled. Cause you have the, if you manage to get the structure, you have the discipline and you have the management team in there and you've got a lot of the right parts. Jason: [00:06:31] I always look at, in our agency mastermind, especially with the guys that are close to that, we're always talking about recruiting and really, how can we make our leaders better leaders. Like, that's our major focus rather than how do we make ourselves better. Right. Because we're literally kind of replacing ourselves. So what have you seen working well, or what's worked for you in the past to make your leaders better? Like you brought them in at a certain level. How did you keep getting them up to the next? Don: [00:07:04] First of all, you have to be willing to let them grow with you. So, like you have to give them something that maybe, that you know is not necessarily in their sweet spot, but it's, it's a growth opportunity and you have to be willing to let people might make a mistake if they're going to make a mistake. If you're not the type who can deal with the issues of making a mistake or a client failure of some sort, then it's going to be difficult because then you have to take these people, dust them off, tell them what they did wrong, pat them on the rear end and send them off and go do it again. Eventually, they start building up a real good experience, basically, they can do this stuff on their own. And that's how, that's how you build a team. And then once you build that team, you stay with it. Now, I've found that the best way to build a team and hang onto the team is, I'm a firm believer that as an executive you have to be very consistent in your leadership style. And so if you go to work every day and one day, you're just, just a normal guy. And the next day you're ranting and raving and you want to shoot anybody that walks in the door, nobody's going to work for you. But if you're, if people can say I know, I know Don, he's always this way, you know, consistent and you're, and you're consistent in your thinking and you make decisions so that it's almost transparent to these people, how you're making your decisions. Then they're going to learn how to make decisions very much akin to how you make decisions. And that's how you get a team that sort of has staying power. Jason: [00:08:42] Yeah. I looked at it too of going, uh, someone shared with me many years ago, it's called the one, three, one method, or I think it's called that. But whenever your team would come to you and think about as you're building an agency, your team's always coming to you because, especially in the beginning, you're like the toll booth everything's flowing through you. Whenever they would say, you know, hey, here's the challenge? What do you think we need to do? Like they would ask me and I'm like, no, no, no. What are three options that you think we need to do? And then what's your recommendation. If they do that enough, then they're just going to stop coming to you for these things and they'll start solving it. And then they'll do that with their team. Because I looked at our whole goal was. My job is to coach and mentor my leadership team. And then they should, it should trickle down. I love that you said consistency too, because I was talking to an agency the other day. I'm like, man, you're all over the place. Like one day you're up here, another day you're a tyrant here and it's just. Don: [00:09:46] As an employee, you come to work and you don't know who you don't know which boss is going to show up today. That's not the kind of place you'd probably want to work at for the long run. Jason: [00:09:55] Yeah, exactly. Well, let's kind of switch focus a little bit and talk about why do you think, you've obviously you've gone through, you know, over 40 acquisitions. Why do you think a high percentage of mergers or acquisitions actually fail? Don: [00:10:13] Uh, it's a great question. And it's probably on page one or two of my new book coming out. I believe if you look at the diligence process that people go through and you start looking at what people really examine when they look at potentially buying a company. What you find is that they don't spend a whole lot of time looking at the value set of these companies that they're looking to buy. So you don't really have a good keen understanding of whether or not the value set of the people you're buying is in alignment with the value set that your company has. So I talk about in my, in the book, this whole thing called value compatibility profile. And what kind of alignments you see in these values, and then when these companies fail and if you go read in the press, you're reading the literature, the first thing people say, well, you know the values weren't in alignment, the cultures were off. Well, It shouldn't be a big surprise to anybody that, uh, these things failed. If you didn't spend enough time on the front end that if, when they do fail, these are the cause on the backend. So my belief is that we spend too much time on the hard stuff, like the financial stuff, and we don't spend enough time on the values, compatibility and the alignment of values, because that is going to dictate much of how these two companies come together. Jason: [00:11:36] Yeah, I always tell everybody, and I did this when we were acquired. I wanted to sit in their office for a couple of days, like a fly on the wall. And I wanted to see, you know, are these people happy? Do they joke around? Like, I'm obviously not a corporate type. So if we were going to be acquired by someone, very corporate. It would've just been a complete, utter disaster. Don: [00:11:59] Well, I had this good story I tell that back in the day, uh, when I was at iCrossing, there's this amazing agency, AKQA that, uh, and Tom Bedecarré who used, you know, it was a CEO there for years. And at one point GA, who own them, and then, we had gone with some other people that they had this idea that we were going to possibly merge the two and it would create this really powerhouse in the marketplace, a creative powerhouse, like AKQA, and then a performance media powerhouse like iCrossing, you could bring that together. And I think it would have reshaped some of the agency business. Well, so they were talking about merging it. And the first thing you have to do is you have to look at it and say, well, you know, can people get along and the CEOs even get along. So, uh, you know, uh, Tom and I get together and the board calls us up and says, look, we want to know if you guys can make this work. We want you guys to, uh, take a weekend and go to go to Sonoma County or Napa Valley for a weekend, have some wine, just sit around and talk. So that's what we did. We went up there and spent the entire weekend up there just to see if we even liked each other. I found out about his kids. He finds about my life. At the end of the day, you know, I found out what was important to him. He got to know what was important to me and we, and we figured out a way to stay to the word. Now, but the deal fell apart for other reasons. But that part of I would I think would have worked its way through. And that's just because we put in the time upfront. Jason: [00:13:32] Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree. Now, outside of values and matching the culture, what are the numbers like when you were acquiring agencies? What are the numbers that really matter to you to make sure or what's a good acquisition for you? Don: [00:13:50] Well, experience has shown me that if… you're going to get what you paid for, right? And, and so like, if you, if you're looking to get something on the cheap, then chances are, you're going to get something cheap, right. You're going to be spending a lot of time fixing it. And so if you're into reclamation projects, that's a whole different world. If you really want to grow. You don't want to spend all your life fixing what you just bought. So I'm, you know, I'm a firm believer that you pay a fair price and you gotta be willing to walk away. So for me, it's understanding what, what the true… and, I'm not into, since we're talking about services businesses, it really has to be more EBITDA-based then it's going to be revenue-based as opposed to a lot of these technology businesses that we see, but, uh, so on that base, you know, I know what multiples are to be in play. So, you know, if, if people are willing, then what you, what you really find, and you know this because you've seen it, as many times as I have is that most of these owners think they're the unicorn out there and they have, they want the one-off multiple that nobody's ever seen before, and that's just not going to happen. So you have to get people to get, take a dose of reality, and come down to earth. And if they get real. Then you have the basis to starting at the discussion about getting something done. Jason: [00:15:29] As an agency owner, it's hard to know when you have to make those big decisions. And I remember needing advice for thinking like hiring or firing or reinvesting. And when can I take distributions without hurting the agency? You know, we're excellent marketers, but when it comes to agency finances like bookkeeping, forecasting, or really organizing our financial data, most of us are really kind of a little lost. And that's why my friend Nate created Agency Dad specifically to solve these exact problems. You know, at Agency Dad, they help agency owners handle the financial part of their agency so they can focus on what they're really good at. Nate has spent years learning the ins and outs of agency business. He understands everything from how to structure your books, to improving the billing process and really managing your financial efficiencies. Agency Dad will show you how to use your financial data to make the key decisions, from making your agency more successful and most importantly, more profitable. If you want to know how your agency finances stack up to the rest of the industry Agency Dad can tell you how to do that. A lot of my listeners have already gotten their free audit from Agency Dad. And if you haven't yet, go to agencydad.money/freeaudit before August 30th and get your free financial metrics audit. Also, just for smart agency listeners, find out how to get your first month of bookkeeping or dashboarding and consulting for free. It's time to clean up your agency finances and listen to dad, go to agencydad.money/free audit. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned EBITDA because that's how we've always based it on. And I always used to love when people would say. Oh, we're a $10 million agency. We're a $20 million agency. And I'm like, well, what's the profit? And they're like, oh, we're like a 5% margin. I'm like, oh, that's horrible. And I also agree with you too. A lot of times when we actually we at Republics, we started buying agencies. Like we don't buy anybody under a million and EBITDA. There's the same amount of work. A lot of people are like, especially when the pandemic happened, they're like, oh, we're going to grab up all these people that are struggling. I'm like, I rather grab the people that are growing. Don: [00:17:52] Yeah, you know, I'll tell you a really, a really funny story was, uh, when I was at Agency.com and I was sitting in there talking to John Wren, who's the head of Omnicom, and he's bought more companies than anybody I know. And he's, uh, so he was telling me one day he said, uh. He said: Scales, let me give you a piece of advice on how to deal with acquisitions. He says until a company gets over a million dollars in EBITDA, he says, you just fly over, fly over the top and you wave to the airplane. Don't ever go visit until get over a million dollars, then you'll stop. Jason: [00:18:36] That's awesome. Oh, definitely so. Right, because I feel that businesses can hit a couple of million by accident, but to get to a million in EBITDA, it's a little bit more challenging. Don: [00:18:47] and they can lose a couple million by accident too. They can go both ways by accident, too. Jason: [00:18:55] Exactly. What are the multiples that you're seeing for, let's say, one to about 3 million in EBITDA. Don: [00:19:01] Uh, you know, I wouldn't pay it from one to 3 million. I meant, like you said, some of that could be by accident. But I'd say probably it's, it's still single digits from me. Uh, you know, I'm not going to be paying at, I'd probably pay six to eight, maybe somewhere in there, but not much more. I can't see much more than that. Jason: [00:19:23] Yeah. When does it really start jumping up to the double digits? Don: [00:19:27] I think one, when you get a little bit of scale to it. So, you know, once you get to a point where there's not 50 other people that look just like you. So, I mean, if you get a, I can recall when we hit, uh, at iCrossing. And we actually merged with Proxycom and that got that, that took us over a hundred million dollars in revenue. We were at, I forget, like 20 some odd percent on EBITDA. That put us into some rarefied air in the agency business. First of all, you don't see that many agencies go over a hundred million and then you don't see that many agencies making that kind of EBITDA. That got us, you know, we ended up making in the high teens. And so it's really the scarcity factor that drives it. So if you are a three or $5 million agency, Then you better have a real unique proposition is going to be able to get something in the marketplace is going to be differentiable because there's, there's a lot of those out there. Jason: [00:20:34] Yeah. Do you look at specialization as something that separates agencies rather than saying know the typical we're a full service “me-too” agency. Don: [00:20:43] Well, there are two things that... One is, we're a full service and two is, yeah, we deserve it because we have such great people. We have unique people. Everybody says that. So when I hear that, I'm thinking they don't even. Jason: [00:20:58] Or what is it? The three Ps: Process, Portfolio, and People. Don: [00:21:02] Okay. But so when you start hearing that, then you wonder what their strategy and what their story is. But if they cannot in a minute, if they have that 32nd elevator speech cold, and they can tell you exactly who their market is and what they're trying to accomplish, then you pay attention. Jason: [00:21:20] Yeah. So when you guys merged and you took. Your guys' revenue, you guys became a hundred million and 20 million in EBITDA, right? How long did you guys have to stay merged together before you exited? Because I found, and what we're finding too is like, just putting all these companies together, you have to make it work for some time for a buyer to treat you seriously. Don: [00:21:43] Yeah, I think what you, what you have is typically have, you know, right after something like that you're going to take at least a year to get all the kinks out. So you're going to have turnover. You're going to have this, you're going to have that. You're going to lose some clients. You've got all these kinds of issues you have to work your way through. And then you've probably got after that, you've probably got another year of sort of demonstrating that you can manage it and run it right. So you're looking at, probably at least two years, uh, before you can really do something with something like that. Jason: [00:22:16] Yeah. And let's talk about kind of margins. Because a lot of people, especially on, on the lower end, the people that you're flying over and waving to. I love that the flyover. Don: [00:22:30] I love it. That is a great story, and he said it was such a straight face too. Jason: [00:22:34] And he was a part of, uh, the CEO of Omnicom. Was that right? Don: [00:22:38] Omnicom, Omnicom is, he's probably done… He's probably done past some acquisitions. I don't even know. Jason: [00:22:47] That's hilarious. I love it. So the people that were flying over a lot of times, you know, their margins are at 10, 15% and they're like, oh, that's good. Or even 20%. And I look at that going that's I feel that's below average. So what do you think average is for profit margins? Don: [00:23:06] Yeah. Since I, I spent enough time and Omnicom I'll quote John Wren one more time I met John Wren used to say, if you really want to be an exceptional agency, then your overhead's 20%, your direct cost is at 60% of your margins are 20. He said, then that's what, it's a very simple business, Don. He said, you make 20% every year, he says, I'll never, you'll never hear from me. I'm happy and I will never bother you. So I mean, that's kind of the way I looked at it, it was it's. Uh, and you have to, you have to take that, but there's so many CEOs that just don't have that kind of. That makeup to focus on that number and be focused on that 20% or better. And now, you know, over the years, because we've gone more from services and now it's sort of this mix of technology and services. And now when 20 years ago, we didn't hear about recurring revenue and now there's all this talk about how much your business is recurring versus repeat versus, all of this. It's all the same, you know, now you have to be a little bit more focused and you do have the opportunity to get higher margins as a result of all this, but yeah, pure services business, you ought to be shooting for at least 20%. Jason: [00:24:27] Yeah, I love it. And you kind of alluded a little bit to, you know, the reoccurring model, because when I did the first agency, about 85% was just project-based. Like we would go into Lotus Cars and we'd go into Tochi and right. And just exactly, but we had a machine for our pipeline. Like it was predictable for us. Now going around it's kind of a little different. I actually kind of love reoccurring cause it's predictable, especially when we're buying someone. So what's your thoughts on that? Don: [00:24:59] Right, and that's where you're gonna get margin. That's where you're going to get margin. So nobody's going to pay you for project-based businesses. Now, even if you have, like you said, even if you have a machine that can crank out new opportunities. Nobody's going to pay you because they, they can't look forward. They can't see it beyond a certain amount of time. So what you're going to have, what your business is, no matter how… you could have five years of great project-based business results. But because they can't see more than three or four months in the future, they're not going to pay you the higher multiple, but as you get more recurring, and a word we call repeat, which is meaning that, you know, you're not necessarily going from contract to contract your own more or less 12 months kind of contracts. They may be on auto-renewals, those kinds of things, where you're not having to go out and renegotiate something every three months. Uh, then you can start, people are, you know, then people respect your business a little bit more than they value visible more highly. Jason: [00:26:00] Yeah. And you know what I've always seen, especially when we're going in and doing valuation of going well, you might get your valuation, but most of it's going to be tied into an earn-out because there's no predictability. Don: [00:26:13] Yeah, exactly. No, that's exactly right. And then depends on what the, if you're a fan of or not, but. Jason: [00:26:23] I was screwed by that one, I wish I read your book. Don: [00:26:27] I've been screwed on both sides of that one. Jason: [00:26:29] I know. I've been on both sides and, you know, especially what we're doing it now is like, we've always structured the earn-out now to make it fair. And we're like, we're not going to base it on time. We'll base it on when you hit this. So like, if an agency comes to us and says, well, I'll hold off, Jason. And you can buy us next year because I feel we're going to be double. And we'll be like, okay, well, if you feel that, why don't we put an earn-out on that? So when you hit the double, we'll give it to you. There's no set time so we can screw you. Like it has to… like, it can be a win-win I'm tired of people taking advantage. Don: [00:27:07] And generally takes them twice as long to get to double, right? Jason: [00:27:13] Exactly. They're just, I think they're trying to buff up. And then they also where they tell us, they go, well, we want to stay on for long haul. I'm like, no, you probably be the worst employee. I know I was the worst employee ever. Don: [00:27:26] I man, especially it's really hard to you get a successful entrepreneur who started an agency, or started two or three agencies, uh, yeah, they make the, they're not the best employees and the guy, the guy I had the most respect for. Started with that iCrossing and he could work for anybody else. Jason: [00:27:46] Yeah, that's, that's me. Last question I have for you, Don is as a global CEO of one of the big agencies. What are your roles? Like, what do you look at as your role in the agency? Like if you had to pick like three or four roles. Don: [00:28:15] Uh, I think really my role is to provide two things. One is depending on what the, you know, you have to articulate what the strategy is, and in some cases that's a little easier than other cases. But I have to articulate what the strategy is and then I have to provide a culture and environment by which people can go accomplish, you know, accomplish those goals. But you have to get people, you have to show them the direction. You have to give them the tools by which they can go do it. And you got to get out of their way and let them do it. And, those, those are the keys. Jason: [00:28:41] Yeah. That's, that's kind of what I looked at when, when I started getting up in a little, the gray hair, as I started figuring out that part of like getting out of people's way. And it's more of… Don: [00:28:52] Uh, and the good ones, you know, I have some people who've been with me here Investis Digital I've had people who've been with me for 20 years. This is their third company we worked at together and they're, and they're some of the best people in the world. And that's the reason is because I'm smart enough to know when to get out of their way. Jason: [00:29:13] Yeah. I always said I wanted to be the dumbest person in the room, at the company, and that was not hard for me. Don: [00:29:22] I think Reagan said that too. One time. He said you want to be the dumbest guy in the room one time when it was, he said something like that. Jason: [00:29:30] Oh, that's funny. Well, Don, this has all been amazing. Is there anything I didn't ask you before we tell people where they can get the book? Don: [00:29:38] I think, uh, you know, I probably. You know, I thought maybe you might ask me, like, give me one funny story that came out of doing one of these acquisitions I had one before I was going to tell you. Yeah. So the first acquisition that I ever did at iCrossing was a company called NewGate Internet, it was in Sausalito, California. And we had spent all this time and effort getting this right. We had dotted all the I's and cross T's and we wanted to make sure that the board was really standing behind this and. So we got all excited. We got this deal done. So, uh, we went out there, uh, myself and the CEO of iCrossing at the time we went out there and went to Sausalito. And so we meet, we meet the CEO of NewGate Internet at the front door. We're talking to him and I said, okay, is everybody ready? Yeah. I got the whole team together and we're going to introduce you guys is going to be great. So we walk in and the. And the CEO stands up in front of his group, which is probably about 50 to 75 people. And he says, well, uh, he says, uh, I have some news for you guys. He said, you don't know this, but for the last six months I've been, uh, trying to sell the company and he says I've actually been successful at doing so. And so, uh, your new owners here, Jeff and Don they're from a company called iCrossing. They're going to be your new bosses. And today's my last day. Uh, I'll be leaving as soon as I finished speaking here, it's been great working with you for the last six years, and I hope to see you guys soon. And they literally picked up and walked out the fire escape and never came back. And Jeff and I are looking at each other like, holy cow, what are we going to do now? So we had to figure this out on the fly in front of 75 people who didn't even know they were being sold and we made it work this way through, but there was a, oh my God moment there where it was like, my gosh, what are we going to do next? Oh, wow. That was our first deals at iCrossing. Jason: [00:31:51] It's awesome. I mean, literally he got the mic, he dropped it and then just bounced and walked right out the fire escape too. Was he afraid that you guys would go to stop the elevator? Don: [00:32:05] I think he was, I think he was so embarrassed about just pulling a fast one there. He just didn't even want to wait to go out to the front door. He didn't want to say goodbye to anybody, he just left. Jason: [00:32:16] Wow. So was it a good acquisition or did you find a lot of skeletons? Don: [00:32:21] Yeah, it turned out really good. I mean, they, they were really, uh, experts in paid media. Uh, and they really set the tone for iCrossing for years in paid media. And we got some really fantastic people out of that, but it was, it has bumps in the early days, that's for sure. Jason: [00:32:37] That's crazy. I mean, literally like. Don: [00:32:43] It was pretty funny. Jason: [00:32:43] I can only imagine, like, I'm picturing, I know what you're talking about a fire escape, but I, I see like the New York fire escapes, like him sliding down. With the ladder. Don: [00:32:53] With the ladder and everything. They don't have those in Sausalito. Jason: [00:32:58] I know, but that would be. You should embellish that a little bit. Like be like, yeah, he just slid down like was James Bond. Don: [00:33:08] I need to build this up a little bit more. Jason: [00:33:10] Yeah, definitely. Well, you got to sell it, like your, sell it a little bit more. Don: [00:33:14] Exactly. It is in the book though. You can read about it in the book. Jason: [00:33:19] Cool, what's the name of the book? And obviously, we probably can get it anywhere, right? Don: [00:33:23] It's from Forbes books. It's out Amazon for pre-sale right now. It comes out June 6th and it's called the M&A Solution. Jason: [00:33:30] Awesome, well, everyone go check it out. And then, uh, what's the agency URL so people can go and check out the agency as well. Don: [00:33:38] The agency that I'm at right now. It's called Investis Digital, and like I said it's London-based and we just got bought by Investcorp, so yeah, check us out. Jason: [00:33:50] Awesome. Well, Don, thanks so much for coming on the show. It was a lot of fun hearing some of the old stories. Make sure all of you go check out the book. Check out the agency as well. And if you guys enjoyed this episode and you guys want to be surrounded by amazing agency owners that are sharing what's working now, so you guys can scale faster and really know that you're doing it in the right way. I'd love to invite all of you to go to digitalagencyelite.com. Check it out, apply if you're right for us, we'll have a conversation. And until next time, have a Swenk day.

Passive traders, welcome to a very special episode of the Option Genius Podcast. This is episode number 100 hundred. No, it's not a hundred hundred. It's just 100, but yeah, it's one zero, zero. We made it to triple digits, which is a pretty good feat. They say most podcasts don't even make it for the first 15 episodes. So to get to a hundred episodes, I think it's been like two years and to have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of downloads and people listening to every episode? Wow. I am so humbled. I continue to be so humbled. I've said it before, but it's like, I can't believe it. You know, I never thought that anybody would want to listen to me that much, um, much less, several hundred thousand people. It's insane. I did want to do something special for this episode. We did go ahead and let's go be kind of like, uh, the best of, you know, so I looked at all the different episodes, see which one got the most downloads, which ones are the ones that most people email us about and ask questions about. And I went through and I said, you know, which ones do I want to highlight? Meaning that they're so good that I want to, you know, make you listen to them again, take the best things and be like, okay, we don't need the whole episode. Just need little snippets, right? Little pieces of it. So that it reinforces something that maybe you've forgotten, or maybe you didn't know, or you missed it the first time. So things that I thought were really important to get through, things that will definitely help you. And so that's what we did in this episode. So I went through identified eight episodes that I thought were really, really good to re go back and rehashing and go back into them. And then we cut and pasted the most important parts. So each episode might've been my 28 minutes or 30 minutes or 20 minutes or whatever, but there was, but three minutes worth of four minutes worth that really just summed it all up and, you know, hit the spot kind of thing, no stories. Cause I know sometimes I can go on and on with the stories, but I think these stories are important that people say they enjoy that. So there you go. But I also want to take this time to appreciate everybody for sticking with me and for all the wonderful comments and for all of the wonderful reviews that you guys have posted over the years, the last two years or however long we've been doing this, I read every single one. I really appreciated all those reviews. They do help other people find the podcast. They do help tell the different podcast services that, hey look, people like this and it should be shown to more people. And if you have not left a review, please, please go do that right away. It really, really helps. And I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart and it really helps other people because deep down it's about helping to me, you know, I could go out and trade for my own and I don't need to do the podcast. You know, we don't make money from a podcast. We don't have sponsors. We don't, it's just something that we do to spread the word, spread the message and say, hey, if you're stuck in life, if you need to make more money, if you want to have more free time, if you want to have less stress, if you're looking for something and you know that you can do better, then this might be something that would work for you. So come check it out. And if you like it, then we can tell you more. If you don't like it, that's fine too. But even if you just listen to the podcasts, like many people have, they just listen to the podcast, it gives them a little boost and then they go out and they keep doing it. So that's the whole point, you know, it's a motivational home and some people complain. Oh, why don't you tell us all the different strategies and how do you adjust, uh, Forty-five day Iron condor trade that's in the money and all this stuff. And it's like, that's really, really specific. And I think maybe in the future we'll get into those. But I think that that information is already out there in many different sources, right? Many different places. And if you want, and you have to get visual and you have to do a video where you can actually see the trade and all the different details and whatnot. So I try not to get into the more complicated issues on the podcast. The podcast is really about mindset. It's really about getting you to see what's possible, giving you that extra boost of momentum, letting you hear from other people who are doing it, who have done it, we're doing it. And me sharing the things that I wish that people had shared with me when I got started. And that's the really, the big thing about it. You know, we were doing the high probability trading live event this weekend, and there was something that we went through. We went through all of this different content with, through two days of content. And when I was going through my slides and my notes beforehand, I realized that my god, there is really, really good stuff in here, you know, but the person that he's new or the person that is not ready to hear will not notice all the depths that is in the session. And we had several sessions, some of them were pretty basic. Some of them had a lot of content in them. So it was me talking with slides and I just get going on and on and on the surface of it, if you weren't really paying attention, it's like, oh, this is basic. But every single line in there was put there for a purpose. So if you were coming at it from somebody who was on the low end of the option continuum where you're just brand new to options,I put it in a way where it wouldn't confuse you and you could get understand what I'm talking about. If you were in the middle of the continuum, I put it in a way where he could tell you, okay, this is the next step that you need to take. You know, you need to do this and you need to do this. And these are the things that you need to focus on. And then if you're on the upper end of the continuum, you could have really gone really, really deep because I shared stuff in there that I've learned, and he took me 20 years to learn. And I've never seen it anywhere shared anywhere before. I've never seen videos on it. I've never seen any other gurus talk about this stuff because most Gurus don't last for 20 years, to be honest, unfortunately, they're good marketers; they're not really good at trading. So most people don't last 20 years, I've been able to luckily and Option Genius has been around for, I think, 11 years now. So we've been doing this a while. We know the same thing over and over and over again, and it just works. And so I appreciate you guys. It's been a long journey. But we are making a difference now. And I see it every day. I see it from the people that came to the live event. They were the comments that they made, the emails that we got afterwards, the way that they're excited about learning to trade options. And they're excited about what their lives can be like, because they have hope, it really makes life worth living when you can go out and help other people. And I think that is the whole basic of it. So really, if you are listening to this podcast, I want you to understand, listen to it, learn and go take action and go do the things and go do the trades and go make the money and then go help the other people. Cause that's when you'll feel really, really good about yourself, you'll feel good when you eliminate the stress and the, and the bills and all that. And you're doing well and you're feeling successful about that, but you take it to the next level when you're starting to help other people in different ways. So thank you for listening to my little lecture there, but now let's get into the episode. So for the very first episode, I have a clip from Episode 74, which is the Passive Trading Manifesto. And I came up with this, I said, what is a passive trader, you know, define passive trader. Describe what I passive trader is thinking is doing, is feeling, and that is what I came up with for the manifesto. And it's just very, it's very short, but it's something that I think you will see yourself in at least part of it. And you'll be like, yeah, that's me. I fit here. This is the group that I belong to. This is what I want to be doing. That describes me. And I can't wait to get more. So let's listen. A passive trader is a new breed of investor. Smarter, confident, relaxed, and free. Passive traders are winners. They keep the odds on their side, take calculated risks, and make consistent profits over and over. Passive traders are flexible. They know how to adjust when the market does and still be profitable. They play their own game and use wall street's secrets to their benefit. Passive traders are independent and can think for themselves. They know that no one cares about their money more than they do, so they manage it themselves, and better than the experts. They do not rely on financial planners, mutual funds, or robots to charge insane amounts of fess while providing below-average yields. Passive traders are patient. They sit back and let the gains come to them by keeping things simple. Passive traders are determined. They know their “why” and it pushes them to stay focused and never give up. If you asked a money manager they'd tell you that passive trading is impossible – the little guy is not supposed to beat wall street. Yet it is happening every day. Passive traders know that life is a gift and should be lived to the fullest. Money is not the end goal. So passive traders make their money work for them, generating an income 24 hours a day, 365 days a year so that they can spend their time doing whatever makes them happy. Passive traders are in control of their destiny, their finances, their emotions, and in turn, their lives. Passive traders… Define their own destiny March to their own beat Make the world better Live their ideal life Passive traders are motivated knowing that the odds are in their favor.  I AM A PASSIVE TRADER!  Okay. So for our second clip, we have one of the most popular episodes that I've ever done. It is episode number 26, which is called the Ultimate Options Trading Strategy. Now, there are lots and lots of strategies to trade options. Many of them work. I can't say all of them because I have tried all of them, but I know the ones that we teach, they do work. And if you only do each one individually, if you only do covered put, covered calls or they get books or credit spreads or condos or butterflies or calendars, or if you gonna do any of those or any variations you can do very well. If you're good at, and you practice, you only need to do one, but if you do more than one, that's fine too, depending on what you need. So in this episode, I break down. What is the ultimate, the ultimate options trading strategy? With our account balance what do we want? Do we want up and down roller coasters? No, we want slow and steady increase. In order to have that you have to be trading in a way that is actually boring because you know what you're doing, that's why it's boring. You've mastered it, because you've excelled at it. The alternative is to do what you're doing right now jumping around from strategy to strategy. I know what you thinking. Say, “Hey Allen, what about diversification, don't I need to diversify? If I have maybe some earnings trades over here or maybe I have some naked calls over here or maybe I have some box spreads over here.” Yeah, you should diversify if you have an account that is well over six figures and you are already consistent and profitable. That's it right there. If you are over six figures, and I'm talking about mid-six figures; $400,000, $500,000, more than that, and you are already consistent and profitable then you can diversify as much as you want. If you're on the top end of the continuum, level's nine, level 10, then you are making money so you are going to stick with what you know automatically. You're going to go to the bread and butter and you're going to do those every month or every week or whatever your timeframe is. Then with a little bit of extra cash you're going to try other stuff. That's the smart way to do it. If you don't have over six figures, if you're not consistent, if you're not profitable already, then forget about diversification. Until you can make money with one strategy month after month, trade after trade. You have to be consistently profitable before you add another strategy to your arsenal, are you getting this? Is this sinking in? Yes? Hope so. Anybody that tells you otherwise is full of it and probably just wants to sell you something, that's the truth. Stop all the noise, stop listening, stop jumping around, because the noise is there, the offers will always be there. If it's not options, it'll be Bitcoin. If it's not Bitcoin it's going to be marijuana stocks. If it's not marijuana stocks it's going to be sports betting, that's the newest thing that's going to come on, right? The Supreme Court just announced on Monday that states can now make it legal to bet on sports. Well, guess what? There's going to be stocks on sports betting and they might even have options on sports and betting and all this stuff. Who knows what they're going to come out with in future? That's going to be the new hottest thing. If you keep jumping from one to another, to the nother, to the nother, you're never going to get good at anything, you're never going to be profitable, you're never going to be consistent. Go back to the basics, back to the fundamentals. Choose one strategy and work on it until you know it inside out and you are profitable because that is the name of the game, that is the goal. That is the only thing that matters. I don't care what strategy you use, I don't care how you do it, I don't care when you do it. If you are profitable you are winning. That's the only way to know if you are winning, I don't care how much you know. I don't care if you know more than me, I don't know if you know more history than me, I don't care if you know more math than me, more about statistics, more about options, more about everything. If you are not profitable it doesn't matter so go back to the fundamentals, go back to the basics, one strategy. You focus on it, you work on it, you back test it, you paper trade it, you real money trade it until you are profitable. That's it, that's the answer. Now, if you can't figure it out, if you already tried, you tried your best and you can't do it, then reach out to me, maybe I can point you in the right direction. Maybe I can work with you like I did with Simon and we can identify what it was that works best for you or that makes the most sense for you, and then how to actually implement it. In the beginning you don't need complicated stuff, you don't need complicated indicators. You don't need complicated chart patterns, you need a strategy that you understand, that makes sense to you and you need toThen if you can do that then you tweak it. Then you work on it. Then you look at, like Simon did, you look at the entrance of the trade, you look at the management of the trade, you look at the exit of the trade, and then you improve your percentages. That's how it works. Right now, Simon, like I said, he's only doing one strategy and, yes, he is well over six figures in his trading account. That's okay, it doesn't matter. He doesn't need to be doing anything else. I know people who only do one iron condor every single month. They do it on the same underlying, they do it on an index, and they trade literally over $100,000 worth of one iron condor every month. That's the entire trade, that's the whole strategy, one iron condor, six figures in that condor, every month. I hope this makes sense, I hope this is sinking in. I hope you got to this. Then finally, no matter which strategy you choose, whether it's the condor, the credit spread, the ratio, the butterfly, I don't care what it is, whatever it is, no matter which one you choose, make sure that the odds are in your favor. Peace.   Okay now let's get into some serious topics. Okay. This is episode number 96. It's called how fast can you start trading for a living? And really the basic here is that I got an email from one of our students. He got laid off and he needed to know what to do to get up to speed as fast as possible. And this was the advice that I gave him. Just an update for him - he did take the advice he is doing it. He did happen to go back and get a job. But his trading is on par to be doing very, very well. So there's always hope, right? Like it says this too shall pass. So whenever you're in a bad situation, whenever you think everything is falling apart, just remember that everything works in seasons. You know, winter comes and it's hard and it's tough, but then there eventually is a spring. There is a summer and things get great again. So just all you gotta do is get to it, get through it, use the people that want to help you, take advantage of their help and do the best you can to get through it. I got an email from one of our members and I wanted to read it to you because he just got laid off and he wants to know how he can replace his income with trading. It's crazy that we get so many people in this same situation. It's great that when you have a job, right, you have an income source. You want to get into trading. You don't really like the job or you don't really like your business or whatever. You're like, oh man, I wish this trading thing could work out. I could get it. And you know, you, you invest in one of our programs and then you don't really follow through because life gets in the way. And I know how that goes. You know, it's, it's really the why. Right? Your why about trading? Wasn't strung out until something happens. Any jars you can. It's like, you know, it's like you, you might be driving along the street and you're not really paying attention to the road. And then all of a sudden the car comes out of nowhere, almost hits you. So here's, Todd's email. It says CLO Allen, I'm going through a life change. I want to get your opinion. I'm currently a member of your programs. I joined almost a year ago, have not been able to devote enough time due to work and family obligations. Totally understandable. I'm an engineer and work in the construction industry for a healthcare organization or read your book, listen, all your podcast sessions, at least once while going to work. Thank you for that last week. I was laid off from my job. And now I'm trying to decide my next moves. My wife works full-time and we have funds to carry us along for a couple months, but I will need to replace my income fairly soon and relieve the stress on my wife as an aside. Yes, that's very, very, very important because you are not, you know, when you get laid off, you're not the only one that suffered the whole family suffered, especially the other spouse, because that person has to carry the load, right? They're not used to carrying the full load. Now they have to carry the full load, and then they also have to worry about you and your mental status and the pressure on them. You also have to work off, so you don't want to add divorce to your problems. So be very, very careful about how your spouse is handling the situation. Make sure you give them enough time and enough attention to leave their pressure, take some of their work, you know, their homework or whatever other work is off their plate while you can. And if you're looking to go into trading. Discuss it with your spouse, explain what you're doing with them. So they don't think that you're just sitting at home, doing nothing all day playing with computers, watching TV. Okay. So that's a really important point. So let me continue. He says, I'm trying to decide if I should jump back into the construction rat race again, so I can draw a salary and benefits. Assuming I can find a job fairly quickly. Otherwise I would really like to immerse my time into your programs and start trading. I realized I have to get up to speed and take some time to learn your methods and develop my own trading plan. My main concerns are being able to learn your program soon enough and be able to replace my income. I was making 120,000 a year, but need to replace approximately 5,000 a month. Take home. I plan to start paper trading this week and scale up as I learn more, eventually I will have $250,000 in capital that I could scale up into an account. How realistic is it for me to replace my income with this size of an account? I would appreciate your opinion and any comments. Thank you. So that's the email I want to read to you what I wrote to him. And then I want to give you my thoughts on this and a little bit going a little bit more detail. So I told him, you know, Hey, I'm sorry that this happened to you. Very, very, sorry. My first thought was, Hey, you know, you need to get out of where you are. I know where he is. He's in a different state where things might be slowing down. So I'm like, Hey, you know, get out of there and get your butt here to Texas, because we can't find enough people to do construction, but that might not be possible. Um, so I don't think the issue here is if you can generate 5,000 from 250,000, the issue is how long it will take you to get there. And from what you wrote, this is me talking to you from what you wrote, you would be in your best interest, I believe for you to get out of the job for now as a fail safe. Okay. Maybe not a full-time thing, just something to bring in some guaranteed capital and keep the health insurance, if possible. Cause that's a big. Concern for a lot of people trading when you are super stressed out and you have to win is super hard. Trading already is very hard, but doing it with one hand timing on your back, it's much harder while you are looking for the second job, or even after you get the part-time job, spend three to five hours a day on your trading. Do that with the courses and programs you already have. You should be able to have the skills to do it full time in a few months, but having the skills is different from being emotionally ready. So you're going to have to overcome that aspect as well. So if you can start with a smaller goal, say 1000 a month on a a hundred thousand dollar account, that would be a great place to start. And then you can scale it up from there. And then I told him, because he's in the programs, I want to see you on the coaching call on Thursday. I want to see you and your paper trades, you know, groups. I want you to posting that. I want you to get a critique. So I want you to get my opinion, my advice. And I want you to send me a man told him, Hey, I want you to send me your training plan and a concrete plan of how you expect to get to 5,000 a month, including your asset allocation. And this is covered in one of the programs that he's already fired. You can do it, but having a job would relieve a lot of the pressure, but even with a job three to five hours a day, learning and trading, because enough is enough. Screw these jobs. It's time to learn how to make it from trading.    Okay. Here's clip number four. This comes from episode 87 - How to Scale Up Your Trading. So now let's say you've already been doing trading for a little bit. You've been pretty safe. You're being conservative and now it's time to get big, right? You're you're feeling good. You're feeling confident. How do you go from where you are now to the next level? And it's, and it's not what you think.  It's not about more strategy. It's not about more complicated stuff, more trading or more analysis or more software. It's all mental, it's all mental scaling, all mental 90%. There might be some things you need to do a little bit different because you're playing with bigger numbers and then there's less there's limitations to what you can do at bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger numbers. You know, we're talking about in the millions, but when your individual and you're scaling up 99%, I would say is mental. So take a listen.   This is the question I get often and got this question recently from a listener. The question says, the one thing I struggle with is constantly being scared out of the market. I have a trading plan with iron condors and credit spreads and failed to follow it by not trading frequently enough or with enough size. How is the best way to scale up your trading to make a bigger income out of it? Basically, the fellow is saying that he does trades, mostly spreads, but he's hesitant and scared to not do it enough and not do it with enough money when he does do it. He's thinking about how can he scale up his trading to be better at it or make more money from it? The first thing you need to realize is that fear is not always a bad thing. I mean, it's there to alert you to danger, right? That's why we get scared, something dangerous happening, but it's also there to alert you to opportunity as well. We look at fear as a negative thing, but fear is just a common response, right? It doesn't have to be something that is bad for us that we are afraid of. Anything outside of our comfort zone can be scary, but that doesn't mean that it's bad for us. A lot of people are scared of placing their first trade. They're scared of investing money in the stock market because they're afraid to lose it, which is one possible outcome. Yes, but you can mitigate that and you can protect against that. When you look at it and you say, look, there are trillions of kazillions of dollars, whatever invested in stocks around the world, what do those people know that I don't, that I'm afraid to put my money in the stock market? What are the people that are trading profitably and consistently? What do they know that I don't know that I'm not consistent? That's why I'm afraid of making trades or making bigger trades. How much do you actually want to make? If you're trading too small to hit your goal, right? If your goal is a thousand dollars a month, but you're only doing one trade that can only make a hundred dollars a month, you're never going to hit your goal. Then the goal will help you scale because that's just mad. You're like, oh man, I can't get my goal. Okay. I need to do more because I need to get to my goal. The other side is to have confidence. That comes with doing the trades over and over and over and over. If you use real money, it can take years as you go through the different markets, right? You go through a bear market. You go through a bull market. You go through a sideways market. You go through a correction. You go through a dip. You go through all these different things. It takes years to understand how to trade through all those different environments. Now, as passive traders, we have the odds on our side and the trades are built in to withstand these shocks, but it can still impact us. The biggest impact is on us mentally.  Number one, like I said is you have confidence in your trading plan. If you've put on a whole bunch of trades and you've seen them work, you're going to have more confidence. If you are trading with a group or other people are doing it, or if you have a mentor that's been doing it and he's telling you, hey, look, this is the way we trade. This is how it's going to work. If you've seen it work, then you have confidence. Number two, if you have experience doing the same strategy hundreds or thousands of times, that's basically how you get the confidence in the trading plan. Then step two of scaling is to increase your position sizing, obviously, right? Yeah. I want to scale. Okay. Step two. Step one that we talked about was, what did we talked about? Step one, being able to control yourself. Step one to scaling is being able to control yourself. Step two is to go ahead and then do it to increase your position sizing. Now remember, remember how you thought about going to school or training for whatever you do now for a living, for your job, right? Do you remember getting trained for that? If you had to go to college or get a certificate or go to a seminar or whatever, you did all that, you put up with all that because you were training. You were learning and it took time. It's the same thing here. Trading takes time to learn, but this puts you in a real life seminar and you are paying your dues every day. The time that you put in, you're paying your dues. You put your trades on, you monitor them, you debrief them at the end, right? What happened? What went wrong? What went right? What did I do right? How can I change it? How can I make my results better? You rinse and you repeat. You got a good plan, keep doing it over and over and over again. As your account size gets larger, you can go from one contract to maybe two, then maybe to three, then to five, then to seven. You go at your own pace. There is no race. There is no time limit. As long as you're doing constantly better, you're being consistent like I said earlier, the account will grow in size and you'll get more confident and you can trade more. It's up to you. You want to go from one to five? If you got the money and you've had the experience, okay, fine. I wouldn't advise it. I'd go from one to two, two to four, four to six, six to 10. Take it small jumps. It doesn't need to be overnight because there's no rush. It's not like, oh, my next door neighbor just bought a Mercedes. I got to buy one too so I need to do a hundred trades this month. No, forget him and his Mercedes. Who cares? Right? Be confident with who you are and what you have. Don't rock the boat. We don't want to take unnecessary risks we don't have to. For most people, it's better to move from say three contracts to four contracts, to six to 10 small increments because there's no such thing as missing out on the trade of the century. There is no trade of the century. It's like, oh my God, if I don't invest now, I'm going to lose. I'm never going to get this opportunity again. No, it doesn't happen. There's no such thing. They said that before years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, six months ago, they've been saying that forever. As long as you get in and you can consistently make money, you're fine. It's just going to grow. Everything is the same. You don't need to put all your money in one trade when you're not ready to do so. Okay. Now, step three to scaling. Once you have increased contract size, you need to increase the account size, or maybe you need to do this in the account size before you do the contract size. Either way, but one usually comes after the other. You do this obviously by adding more money to the pot, put more money in your account. Right? Now, you can do it the other way and you'd be like, you know what? I'm just going to grow the account, and whatever I make, I'm going to keep it and just scale that way. Or you can say, hey, look, I've got the confidence. I've got my emotions under control. I got a good strategy. I got a good mentor. I feel confident to be able to go to the next level so I need to add a few thousand dollars more into my account so I can go from say, two contracts to four or four to eight, right? I'm going to go incrementally higher. I'm not going to go from two to 10. Don't do that. Two to four, two to five, slowly, slowly, build it up. Go to the next level, trade there for a little while, get comfortable. Then you can go again to the next level. It's like going up steps, right? Once you're adding more money to the pot, you can do something or you can add something to your account that's called portfolio margin. What portfolio margin means is that you get additional leverage and you get the ability to make money quicker where less money tied up actually. For most brokers that I've seen, portfolio margin starts at $125,000. If you have that in your account, you get portfolio margin. Normally, when you open an account and you apply for margin, they give you two-to-one margin. If you put in $10,000, they'll let you buy $20,000 worth of stock, but they charge you interest on the money that they lent you. We don't really advise that. Right now, when you're passive trading, you need to have a margin account. If it's a non-retirement account, if it's not an IRA, then you got to have margin enabled so that you can do spreads. You can do naked puts. But we don't borrow the money. Portfolio margin is a little mix of both. Portfolio margin, I believe it's like four to one or five to one in terms of margin. If you have a hundred thousand dollars, you can actually trade with $400,000. Big difference. You could buy a lot more, but I'm not telling you to buy a lot more. I'm telling you to do it because on your trades, they can charge you less in margin. What I mean by that is if you do a naked put that is very, very, very, very far away from the money. If you have a regular margin account, they might charge you, I don't know, they say $3,000 in margin to do that trade for example. I'm just making it up. Okay. If you have a portfolio margin account, they look at it, they calculate that margin differently. They look at the actual risk of the trade. Because they can tell that you're so far away from the money and that the odds are so far in your favor, there's not a big risk of you losing money and so the amount of margin that they're going to charge you or hold for doing that trade is going to be a lot less. It might be, say $500 compared to 2,000 or $3,000. With a regular account, they'll charge you $500 a margin for a portfolio margin account. What happens there? Well, I can make a much greater return percentage-wise on my money. Right? Dollar-wise, they'll be the same thing, but then I can decide, hey, what? Do I want to do two of these or three of these instead of one? Because I can, right? Because I have more leverage. I can do that. If the trade goes against me, of course, I'm still going to end up losing money and I'll lose more because now I have three contracts versus one. I need to be able to know and be good with that. That's why they only give it to you if you have over a hundred or $125,000. But that's what I did. Right? For myself, when I started scaling, I went horizontally. I'm going to lay it out, two different types of scaling. What I did, I went horizontally, meaning I put small amounts into many different accounts. I had a Roth account. I had a regular IRA account. I had one each for my wife. I had a SEP account. I had a corporate account for the company. I had a couple of personal accounts. Then I would do different trades in all the different accounts, so I got a little bit, a little bit, a little bit in all of them, right? Yes. I have a lot of money in the market but they're spread out in all of these different accounts. That's what I call horizontally. In hindsight, the process worked and now all of the accounts are fairly large, but it took a lot longer than necessary because each account did not have enough money in the beginning to do everything I wanted. I was limited in the trades I could do. I was limited in the strategies I could do in the beginning because each account did not have that much money. If you have, let's say a hundred thousand dollars, right? You put it in one account, you can do certain things with it that you can't do if you open 10 different accounts with $10,000 each. That makes sense? What I've done now is I still have those accounts, but I went vertically right now. That's how I'm scaling right now. I'm going vertically. I'm working on growing just one account to a certain level.   Okay. Episode number 64 is next. This is our 5th episode. Title is called Selling Puts Versus Owning Stock. Now I brought this one up because when I first started in options, selling puts wasn't very enticing to me. I really didn't understand it. It wasn't something that I practiced. It wasn't something that I did. It wasn't only until years later when I actually understood the power and the reasoning behind it. I mean, I always understood the theory behind it and why you should do it and why people do it, but it wasn't until I actually started doing it where it came and fell in place. When I came up with the whole passive trading situation and the whole brand and the whole formula and you know, the fact that, yeah, I don't want to be trading all the time. I want to be just relaxed, less stress free and not having to be stuck in front of the screen all day. And for that, the naked put works really good. So in this episode, I compared selling naked puts to versus owning stock and see how we did.   So I am finishing up the book called Passive Trading. Has been taken me I think over two years, but I'm finally getting close to completion. My editor told me that it's probably better to add a few examples of trades that I've done in the past and some examples of the different strategies that we're talking about. So I was like, “Yeah, that makes sense.” So what I did was I decided to go into the past and pick a stock and say, “Okay, this is a stock. What if I did what I'm telling everybody to do? How would it work out without knowing anything about the future or anything like that?” The example was for naked puts, selling naked puts. That's one of the strategies I cover in the book. I talk about it, say how to do it, this and that. And I said, “Well, what would happen if I take my strategy, how to do it, and go and apply it in real life?” So I picked Walmart because Walmart is not a stock that I own. I don't follow it on a regular basis. It is on my watch list because it's a good company and it pays dividend. It might be one that I want to get into, but up till now I don't own it and haven't traded it very much. So I said, “You know what? Let me go into Walmart. Let me try it and see.” So 2018, January 2018, Walmart was trading at $98.59. That was really good because in 2017 the stock was up 42%, so had a great year in 2017. What's it going to do in 2018? I don't know. I don't remember. And I haven't traded, so I don't know. So what I decided was I am not going to own the stock. I am only going to sell naked puts on it. If I get assigned on those puts, then I will see what I have to do there. Maybe I will sell the stock and keep selling more puts or maybe I will keep the stock and start selling covered calls. Either way, I'm going to have to do something, but I'm not going to roll. That was the decision. I wasn't going to roll my putts. I was just going to take the stock. So I started on the 2nd of January, okay? First trade I did sold some puts, made 3.6% because the puts expired. Nice. Did another trade in February after that one expired. After the first expired, I did it in February. That one also expired. 3.2% gain. Then I did do one in March. 3.54% gain. Did one in April. 5.54% gain. Geez. This is easy, right? All I'm doing is selling naked puts on Walmart away from the money and I'm getting really nice monthly gains, and I'm not having to watch it. I'm not following. I'm not adjusting. I'm not doing anything. I'm selling the put, waiting till it expires, and then selling another one. That's all I'm doing. Then, May came. Those puts expired. 2.83% gain. June, 1.85% gain. July, 3.9% gain. August, 2.53% gain. September, 2.75% gain. October, 4.89% gain. And November. Oh, November I finally get assigned. So on December 21st, Walmart closed at $87.13, which was 37 cents lower than my sold strike, so I had to buy the stock at $87.50. Now, you might be thinking, “Oh wow, Allen, yeah, anybody can make money selling naked puts in a bear market.” Walmart went up 42% the year before. It probably went up close to that in 2018 when you were doing it, right? Well, yes and no. 2018 was a year when Walmart traded from $98.59 at the beginning of the year. That's when I started trading. It went up to $109.55, so it did go up. But then once it got there, it turned around and went down all the way to $82.40, and then it ended the year at $93.15, which means that the stock was actually negative 5.6% for the year. So if you had owned this stock, if you had bought it on January 2nd, first day of trading in 2018, and you held it to the end of the year, you would've lost 5.6%. Now, you would've gotten the dividends, so maybe it's an even, but still that's dead money. You're not making any money on this stock if you are only buying it and holding it for the whole year. But if you had done what I did and you had sold naked puts the whole way, you would've made 34.65%. Let that sink in here. I was selling naked puts on a stock that went up and down and up again and closed down. So this was not a stock that just went up in a straight line. This stock lost money on the year. But because of the naked put strategy, I made 34%, okay? This is without owning any stock. I didn't own the stock until very end of the year, until December 21 when I actually had to buy the shares. Until then, I didn't own any stock, and I didn't really spend much time on it. I just put the trade on, let it expire, and then put on another one every month. Takes literally five minutes or less. Didn't watch the news on Walmart. Didn't care about earnings, or announcements, or what they were doing, or how the stock was doing. Doesn't matter. Didn't care. All I did was sell a naked put every month. Let the one expire, sell more, let it expire, sell more, let it expire, sell more, let it expire, some more on a stock that went up or down. Now, I understand if this was a stock that had just gone straight up, then yeah, you could say, “Oh, yeah. It just went straight up. Of course you've made money.” True, but this was not that. This was a stock that went up and down, right?  The next one's gonna be a little bit weird. This was episode number 54. Learning to trade is learning is like learning how to snorkel. It's like, what snorkel did he say snorkel? Yeah. I said snorkel like snorkling, you know, you put the little two with your mouth, you put the goggles on and you go put your hand in the water and bring it through the tube and you look at all the grass or fish or whatever you could see down there right? So this was a video actually that I shot in Cancun when I had gone with my family and my boys and I, we were, it was an all-inclusive place. So they give you circling equipment if you need it and whatnot. So we took it and were snorkeling, and really, they were learning. I had done it once before, but I had forgotten about it. So I was trying to get used to it again. And then I was showing them how to do it. And they both loved it and it was awesome. It was a great experience. But while I was watching them learn, I kept thinking to myself, oh my God, the stuff that they're saying, there's stuff that the behaving new traders do the same things. And so I saw the parallels and I said, okay, how do I get them to up on how to get them to be successful at it? And at the same steps that you need to take also work when you're learning how to trade. So take a listen and maybe you'll learn how to snorkel, enter it at the same time.   I just wanted to shoot this quick video podcast to let you know that I learned something yesterday that I wanted to share with you guys and it's really … Right behind me in the water, we took our kids snorkeling for the first time, the seven year old and eight year old boys. Sorry about the squinting it's really sunny today, but we took them snorkeling for the first time and I don't know if you've ever been snorkeling, but you get a little mask you put on and you get a little snorkel and you breathe through the snorkel and you look down in the water and you see whatever's in there.   Now, there wasn't much to see out here. There was some fish. You go a little bit further over there, there's some seaweed and stuff. There were some pretty cool fish, a couple of big fish actually. They were really excited about that, but when they first started, I had prepped them ahead of time before we came on the trip. I told them, “Hey, we're going to do snorkeling. It's really cool. It's really cool. You put this thing and you can see all the water and all this different world, all that stuff.” They were all excited. They were wanting to go. When we got here, it's kind of like trading, right? You hear about it, you picture it in your mind. It's like, “Oh my God, this is so cool. I want to do this. I want to do this. Yeah, I'm going to be awesome at it.” Then you get your equipment, you get your mask, your snorkel, you get some instruction. “Yeah, this is what I'm going to do.” Then you go do it for the first time and you totally freak out because it's not easy and it's not normal. You're not used to it because you're not breathing with your mouth anymore. I mean, you've got breathing with your nose, you have to breathe with your mouth. Then if you get a little water in the top of your snorkel, then drinking water and then the water is coming in your mask and your eyes are burning from the saltwater. Believe me, we had that same experience. Basically, we walked them through it. It's the same thing with trading.  The first thing you have to do is you have to put your mask on, cover your nose, get used to breathing with your mouth. Open mouth breathing, breathe with your mouth. Once you got that done, you put the snorkel on. You got to make sure it's all tight and snug and then you have to breathe with the snorkel. You're just breathing with the snorkel. Once that's done, then you stand in the shallow water, you put your head down and you just look around, focus on your breathing, don't even worry about what you're looking at, just focus on your breathing, making sure all your technical aspects are right, making sure you're following all the rules, making sure step-by-step you're not making any mistakes. Then once you have all that done, then that's when you get into the water and you go deep and you start floating and then you can go a little bit farther. First time is going to freak out. You're going to … It's going to be like, “Oh, it's not happening. It's not happening the way exactly that I planned in my mind.” There's a fish and you'll freak out or there's a piece of thing, something touching my foot. All that stuff happens, especially in trading. It doesn't go exactly as you want, but if you go back and you stick to it, eventually you end up like my boys. I mean, they loved it. They loved it so much, they want to go again today and they want to go … There's some shipwreck off the coast of the Island. They want to go over there. It blew me away how I couldn't get them out of the water. I couldn't get the snorkel off their faces because they were like, “No, no. More, more, more.” There's nothing to see here, but they were so excited and that is how I want trading to be for you. Whatever your issues are right now, if it's not going well, if you don't know what steps to take, if you don't know exactly what instruction you need, it's there where it's available. You just got to take the simple, simple, slow, slow steps, right? Get your stuff, get all your equipment, practice the easy things. Practice putting on paper trades. Getting on the trade, putting it on, getting out, putting it on, getting out. Practice finding trades. How do I find a trade? What do I go through? How do I make it streamlined as possible? Right? Because I don't want you to just put on your stuff and just jump in the deep water right away. That's what most people do. That's why they get burned. I have a lot of people, a lot of students that told me, “Oh no, I don't want to do paper trading. I'm going to put … I got $20,000 I'm just going to let it ride on one trade.” You're freaking crazy because you're going to lose a lot of money that way and they do. Then they come back and they're like, “Yeah, I should've listened to you.” Well, that's too late now. You just learned a very, very expensive lesson. Let's not do that. Let's do it snorkel time, right? One at a time, because in snorkeling, you mess it up, what happens? You just stand up. You drink some salt water, no big deal, but what could have happened and what almost happened with my second son is that he almost gave up. He tried it the first time. “Oh man, daddy, I don't like it. This is horrible. I don't want to do this anymore.” He threw the mask down and he threw the snorkel down and he just stormed away. That's what we cannot have happened to you because if it does, then you lose out on a passive income stream that has the power to change your life. I mean, take a look around. I'm here on a weekday in Cancun, enjoying with my family and my trades are still working, right? I mean, you can see … There are not there many people here, right, because this is a private beach for a private resort. There's not going to be a lot of people here. This is not like the cheapest resort on the place as you can imagine. That's what comes with from trading properly and passive trading and the ability for you to be able to take vacations, not have to worry about your trades as much. I mean, I checked on my trades this morning. It's actually the same time frame here in Mexico as it is back home for me. I checked on my trades this morning and they're fine. They're doing great. I'm making money, my options are … They got [inaudible 00:06:13] going on everyday so I'm not worried. I checked it. It's all done, but I got to take the chance and the day, or at least a few hours, to teach my kids a skill or have an adventure with them that they are probably going to remember for the rest of your lives because I remember the first time I went snorkeling and it was with a school trip. It wasn't with my parents, but they were here with their parents and I think they're going to remember that for the rest of their life, which is pretty cool. All right, for our next clip, I am going to say something maybe a little controversial, maybe, maybe not. It depends on your perspective. Now there's a lot of people out there talking about FIRE, which is financially independent and retiring early. This one is coming from episode 47, where I talk about the same thing, but I talk about it with options. And I talk about why the fire thing sucks the way normally it's taught to do and why using options makes it so much better. You get the same result, but you have a lot more fun and you live a lot better until you get to the results. So if you're interested in retiring early, this one is a really good one for you to listen to.   The title of this episode is “FIRE”, which is Financially Independent Retire Early. That is a new movement. It's not really new, but it's a movement that has become popular lately, and you can read articles about it, and people are writing books about it, and blogs and there are even podcasts about it and everything. It's basically retire early, become financially independent. They call it FIRE. Cool. Okay. This is especially big amongst millennials, because I guess they don't want to work for the man, and they don't want to work till they're 65 years old. But it's really cute, though, how millennials think that they create things that have been around for generations. It's like the desire to retire early. It's like, “Yeah, this FIRE thing. It's cute that you gave a name to it, but you guys didn't create this. People have been wanting to do this since the start of time, really.” Anyway, according to the tenants of FIRE, you have to do three things. You have to earn as much money as you can at work. You do have to work. You have to earn as much money as you can. And, you have to get a side hustle. A side hustle, just another name that they gave to a second job. Whether you're working online, for yourself, as a freelancer or you actually have a second job, or you do something else like trading options, you have to have a side hustle to make as much money as you can. The second thing you have to do is you have to save as much money as you can. And they do this by basically living as paupers. That's what they tell you to do. Live like a poor person, like a homeless person. You don't need a car. You can ride the bus to work and take a bike, because that's healthy for you. Eat less food. Don't eat so much. Don't go out to the movies. Watch Netflix at home, all these kinds of things, where you're trying to save as much money as you can. And then, with that money that you save, you invest it in something like index funds. You put it away, let other people manage it, and that's the cycle. Earn as much as you can, save as much as you can, invest it. Now, if you follow that formula, it works. There are people in their 30s that have enough money saved that they can live off the interest off of their investments. Their investments or whatever they invested in is making money, and they can live off of that interest, which is awesome. They don't have to work. Most of them don't have kids. Even if they did, they still have to live frugally, of course. Because even in your 30s, even if you're making $100000 a year as a job, you're still not going to be able to save that much that you're going to be earning a lot of income, or a lot of interest from your savings, from your investments, to live middle to upper class. These folks, they have retired. They're not working, but they are living low to middle class, somewhere around there. That's cool if you like that sort of thing. I don't. I think you can have your cake and eat it, too. I want you to retire early and still be rich. That is doable, if you take control of your money. Now, I agree with the “make as much money as you can” part. I agree with that part. I agree with the “save as much as you can” part. Now, I don't think you should live like a pauper. I think you should enjoy your life, even now, while you're working, and you're saving. I love driving. I love my car. I'm never going to give that up to save a couple hundred bucks in gas and insurance a month. But if that's something that you want to do and that will get you to your goal faster, then do it. But your side hustle should be to learn to grow the savings you have as much as possible, instead of losing control of your money inside of a mutual fund. Does that make sense? Your side hustle, you have to make as much money as you can. You go to your job, you get your income, you save your money. What do you do with that money? Well, you can give it to somebody, index fund, mutual fund, and let them do it for you, and hopefully the market goes up or maybe it will go down and then pay fees for all that information and whatever. Or, you spend your time, and you learn how to do it for yourself, because there are people out there that will charge you to manage your money that are not going to do anything that you cannot do for yourself. You can actually do it much, much better. That's what we're all about. That's what we're trying to teach you. That's the point of this podcast, to help you to learn how to do that. Take advantage of your own future, instead of giving it to somebody else, and then you can fire yourself much faster, years and years sooner. I did some calculations to prove my point, here. Over time, the stock market has averaged about eight percent a year, eight percent yearly return. That's pretty good. But when you sell options like we do, we have the ability to make 10% a month. A month, not a year. Stock market, 8% a year, options 10% a month. Hmm. Which one is bigger? I don't know. You could sell options one month out of the year, make 10%, and then take the rest of the year off if you wanted to. But these trades and these option selling I'm talking about is very high probability trades that can make you at least 10% a month. Ten percent, that's my goal. That's what I try to make every month. But I know traders that do a lot better than that every month. It's definitely possible. Now, look. I know right now that might seem like a bit of a stretch to you, maybe if you're not making 10%, or you don't understand the strategies. Ten percent is a lot. That's 120% a year. That is fabulous. If you asked me, “Oh, nobody every does that, Alan.” Uh, yeah. I do. I've done it before. It's not impossible. But let's be a lot more conservative. Even though 10% is possible, let's just aim for 5% a month. That's 60% a year. Still, very, very impressive. There are guys on Wall Street that will chop off their right arm if they could make 60% in a year. That's really good. If you start with a $10000 account … Let's say you start off with $10000 in your trading account and you're making 5% a month, in 5 years, you would have over $186000. Five years from now, $10000 to 186000. That's really, really good. What could that kind of money do for you? What would your life look like? Would you have a new car? Or maybe a new bike for you FIRE people? A new house? a new plane? I know, okay, okay. Maybe 5% seems a little high right now for you, maybe because you're new to options and maybe you've tried to make it work before, and it didn't work for some reason. All right. Let's say you screw it up, and you don't make 5%. You only make 3% a month. Let's cut down our expectations. Do you think you could do that? If 5% is possible, and the odds are in your favor, do you think you could make 36% a year? That's in addition to whatever you're making on your stocks right now. You take that, and you add it to the 36%. That would be really good, right? Would you be happy with just 36% a year? That's really good. I'd be happy with that, because in 5 years, if you have a $10000 account, your account goes from $10000 to $59000 in 5 years. That's almost six times what you started with. We're still talking about life changing money. It would be awesome, right? But I get it. Okay. Maybe 3% is a little high. How about if you totally, totally screw it up and you don't even get 3% a month. What if you only get 2% a month? That is 60% less than our goal amount. But that's still 24% a year. How would your account do, then? Making 2% a month? That would triple your account in five years. Your $10000 account in 5 years goes to $30000. And then, in another 5 years, from $30000, it goes to $98000, because it compounds. Every year, it's just going to compound and compound and compound. Remember, we're only starting with a $10000 account, here. $98000 in 10 years, that's fire your boss money, right there. That is actually 2% a month is more than what Warren Buffet has made. He's averaged 22% over his life. If you can do 24%, it's possible you can do better than Warren Buffet. Now, he started with millions of dollars that other people gave him. I'm not going to compare that and say you can be the second richest man in the world, or whatever. I'm not going to say that. But you can do better, have better returns, than he does. These are all hypotheticals. Now, let's look at a real example. Let's figure this out. For most people, a really good average income would be about $100000 a year. Is that fair to say, you think? Would you be okay with that, if we used $100000 as an example? Let's say we want to make that. We want to make $100000 a year income. That is $8334 a month, $100000 divided by 12 months. I'm going to leave taxes out of this, otherwise it's just going to get too complicated. But first, what we need to do is we need to figure out how much money our account would have to be worth, because we're trying to make $8334 a month. How much money would we need if we were making 2% a month, to be able to make that? That number is $416700. If you have an account that size, $416700, and you make 2% a month, you would be making $8334 a month. You would be making $100000 a year. We need an account of that size, $416000. But we don't have that right now. Most of us don't. You don't have it. Okay. I get it. No problem. Right now, let's say we only have $50000 in our account. I think that's more normal. I think most of us have at least that, or maybe more, maybe a little bit less. It's okay. But let's just say we have $50000, and you can make 2% a month. If you have $50000, and you make 2% a month, question. How long do you think it will take you to get your account to be able to give us an income of $100000 a year? You start with $50000, you make 2% a month. How long will it take to get to $416000? You think it will take 20 years? You think it will take 30 years, 40 years, maybe? Well, I did the math on investor.gov. It's a website. They got all these nice financial calculators that you can play with. It would take just nine years. Imagine that. If you're 50 years old right now, you could be making $100000 a year in income before you hit 60. When you actually do retire, you'll still be getting your Social Security, your pension and whatever else that you have in your investments. Sounds like a really sweet retirement to me. Am I right? If you have $50000 right now, and you only make 2% a month without any stock appreciation, in 9 years you would have a 6 figure income from just the income from your option trades. Oh, and on top of that, you'd be working about a couple hours a week. I think that's the kicker. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. We're going to be working hard? Uh, no. Now, for some of you, you might not have the $50000 right now, and that's okay. This is an example. You could start with a lot less. We have traders in our community that are starting with less than $5000. When you have a smaller account, it just takes longer, but you can still do it. Trades are the same, strategies are the same. Everything is the same. But the important thing is that you need to start now. Can you imagine it? No more credit card debt. No more worries about college costs. No more worries about not having enough money for emergencies. That's pretty cool, right? I think so. It is. It's an amazing way to live. You could lose $80000 a year and not even be mad about it. My wife got mad, to be honest. She did. I told her it was going to be a slam dunk. I was like, “Yeah, yeah. It's going to work. It's going to work,” and then we lost the money and she got mad. I didn't get mad, but she did. All right. But what if you are super, super new to investing, and you're just awful at trading. You're the worst. And you don't even get 2% a month. What if you only get 1% a month? That's 12% a year. How many of you guys would be happy with 12% a year. I would. I think so. That would mean that your $10000 account, in 5 years, increases to $18000, and that's without any stock appreciation. That's just the income from your option trades. Even if you're only making 12% a year, 1% a month, it's still significant money. It's still better than what you can do in the stock market, because you put your money in the stock market … Stock market is getting 8% average, sometimes 7. Some people say seven, some people say eight. I just went eight. But if you calculate all the fees, all the commissions you pay, you're going to be looking somewhere around 4%, 4 and a half percent is what most people get out of the stock market. If you can make 12% on your own, and you compound that money month, after month, after month, after month, because when you look at the stock market and when you put your money in an index fund or a mutual fund or whatever, that money doesn't compound every month. It compounds every year. When we're doing our option trades, these are monthly trades, sometimes less than a month. If you have $1000 in your account, or let's say $10000, to keep it simple. Let's say $10000, and you make 10% in a month, well now you have $11000. The next month, you're not playing with $10000 anymore. You're now playing with $11000. It compounds every single month, and that's why it can grow so fast, much faster than in the stock market if you put it in an index fund. Does that make sense? Good. Because that's what I want for you. If you want to retire early, if you want to be financially independent, you don't want to live like a pauper, like a poor person, like a homeless person, then the best thing for you to do is follow the plan that I just laid out. Number one, try to make as much money from your job as you can. Number two, you've got to have options as your side hustle. You've got to be selling options. You've got to be trading options, selling them, not buying them. Number three, save as much money as you can. If you don't need to go to that five star restaurant, don't. If you don't need to go to the movies, get Netflix. It's fine. You'll watch the same movies later on. Once in a while, you want to splurge, do it. Enjoy your life. Don't live like a pauper, but don't live above your means, either. Save as much money as you can. Spend your time that you have, your free time, your side hustle time, learning how to trade, selling options, practicing, practicing, practicing, getting better, asking questions, getting education. Find other traders that you can talk to and ask questions from, learn from, model what works, because I've done it. Others have done it. We have hundreds of people in our community that have done it and are doing it right now. We've interviewed people on the podcast that are doing it right now.    Okay. And lastly, we have episode 30. What should my first trade be? So this is for you folks who haven't tried options yet. Usually thinking, Hey, what do I

I want to thank you for listening and for subscribing to Faster Than Normal! I also want to tell you that if you're listening to this one, you probably listened to other episodes as well. Because of you all, we are the number one ADHD podcast on the internet!! And if you like us, you can sponsor an episode! Head over to https://rally.io/creator/SHANK/?campaignId=1f99a340-203f-498e-9665-24723a5f8b7a  It is a lot cheaper than you think. You'll reach... about 25k to 30,000 people in an episode and get your name out there, get your brand out there, your company out there, or just say thanks for all the interviews! We've brought you over 230 interviews of CEOs, celebrities, musicians, all kinds of rock stars all around the world from Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Keith Krach from DocuSign, Danny Meyer, we've had Rachel Cotton, we've had  the band Shinedown, right? Tons and tons of interviews, and we keep bringing in new ones every week so head over to https://rally.io/creator/SHANK/?campaignId=1f99a340-203f-498e-9665-24723a5f8b7a  make it yours, we'd love to have you, thanks so much for listening!  Now to this week's episode, we hope you enjoy it! ——   A little about our joyful couple/team today! Shauna M. Ahern is a writer, teacher, and lifelong believer in people. She loves to help others find their joy. Shauna built a huge online community through her food blog, Gluten-Free Girl. She and her husband, Daniel, taught culinary getaways in a villa in Tuscany, appeared on The Food Network, and won a James Beard award for one of their three much-beloved cookbooks.  After writing Gluten-Free Girl for 14 years, Shauna followed her gut to shift her writing work to something more vulnerable. She wrote a brave book about her childhood trauma and how she unraveled herself from it, to help others.  That book, ENOUGH: Notes from a Woman Who Has Finally Found It  was recommended by Brené Brown, The Washington Post, and thousands of readers who say the book has changed their lives. Shauna is humbled by the many awards she has won for her writing and teaching. But her biggest joy is helping other people to see the best in themselves. She has guided hundreds of people to see their place in the world more clearly, through her writing workshops and coaching. The best of all these experiences was the joy of creating and being in community — Daniel Ahern has spent his life working to give people joy in the belly.  Dan, along with his wife Shauna, created three much-beloved cookbooks. Their first cookbook, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, was named one of the best cookbooks of 2010 by The New York Times. Their second cookbook, Gluten-Free Girl Every Day, was awarded the James Beard award in 2014. And their third cookbook, American Classics Reinvented, was nominated for an excellence award in 2016 by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Before crafting cookbooks, Dan cooked in restaurants around the United States, including Gramercy Tavern in New York and Papillon in Denver, as well as Cassis Bistro and Impromptu Wine Bar in Seattle. When he was 14, he found his passion in the kitchen, which was his place to serve others for decades. Now, Dan is cooking and serving in a new way, with a recipe newsletter called Joy in the Belly. Diagnosed with ADHD at 50, Dan is starting to understand his own mind and his quirks in the kitchen. No longer in the restaurant business, Dan is now sharing what he has learned about his ADHD and how he is working with it joyfully now, instead of worrying he isn't good enough. He shares tips about working in the kitchen with ADHD, being kind to yourself when you forget to do the dishes, and some kickass recipes. Dan lives on Vashon Island, in Washington State, where he is happy and learning, with his wife, his two kids, two cats, and two bunnies. He thinks he might never cook rabbit now. Maybe.       ----------  In this episode Peter, Shauna and Dan discuss:      1:42  -  Intro and welcome Dan and Shauna!!   3:14  -  On being diagnosed with ADHD at 50. Did it all just suddenly make sense? 4:23  -  The writing process when you're ADHD and have a super spouse. 5:11  -  The importance of movement as relates to the creative process 6:00  -  To hell with “The Rules” post-pandemic. On finding the best solutions for what works!   7:00  -  On the importance of FUN / Shauna's newsletter Finding Joy in Enough   9:21  -  On being married, and making the relationship work with living/working together. Do you ever want or need a chance to get away from each other; how does that work?   10:45  -  Their home is not on the same island where Michael Douglas lived in the movie Disclosure   11:05  -  When things get crazy, how do you prioritize and still make it work?  Ref:  Shauna's book “Enough” 12:30  -  Peter is referencing a super interview we had with Chef Jason McKinney Thank you again Jason!! :-) 13:19  -  On dealing with the lure of drugs/alcohol/addiction within the food industry.   15:18  -  On the benefits of living in a neurodivergent household. 16:41 -  What advice would you give your 15yr old self, just starting out in the restaurant business; that might help yourself find the right path? 19:22  -  Thanks Dan and Shauna - how do people find you? Yeah, Danny has a newsletter now, which is all about having ADHD and becoming  a home cook after years of being a chef, and it's called https://joyinthebelly.substack.com/subscribe and mine is https://findingyourjoy.substack.com/s  Soon there'll be a website called Practicing Joy, that's really what I'm working on is reminding each other to find moments in the day to focus on joy, because that's really the whole point of life. You can also find the Ahern's on the Socials Dan is at: @DanAhern68 on Twitter  Shauna is at:  @practicingjoy on Twitter  and at shaunamahern on INSTA 20:00  -  Thank you so much Shauna and Dan! And thank YOU for subscribing, reviewing and listening. Your reviews are working! Even if you've reviewed us before, would you please write even a short one for this episode? Each review that you post helps to ensure that word will continue to spread, and that we will all be able to reach & help more people! You can always reach me via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterThanNormal on all of the socials. As always, leave us a comment below and please drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! Do you know of anyone you think should be on the FTN podcast? Shoot us a note, we'd love to hear!   Ref:  Peter references this episode with Siri Dahl  Also- we're pretty sure his last name is still Shankman, not “Shenkins”, but if anything has changed, we'll be sure to tweet about it right away ;-)    20:56  -  Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits TRANSCRIPT:  — Hi guys. My name is Peter Shankman. I'm the host of Faster Than Normal.  I want to thank you for listening, and I also want to tell you that if you've listened to this one, you probably listened to other episodes as well of Faster Than Normal.  We are the number one ADHD podcast on the internet, and if you like us, you can sponsor an episode.  Head over to shank.mn/sponsor  - that's shank.mn/sponsor. It is alot cheaper than you think. You'll reach... God about 25….30,000 people in an episode and get your name out there, get your brand out there, your company out there, or just say, thanks for all the interviews we brought you over 230 interviews of CEOs, celebrities, musicians, all kinds of rock stars all around the world from we've had... God, who have we had...we've had Tony Robbins, Seth Goden, Keith Krach from DocuSign, we've had Rachel Cotton, we've had  the band Shinedown, right? Tons and tons of interviews, and we keep bringing in new ones every week, so head over to shank.mn/sponsor  grab an episode, make it yours, we'd love to have you, thanks for listening.  Here's this week's episode, hope you enjoy it. — You're listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast where we know that having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Each week we interview people from all around the globe from every walk of life, in every profession. From rock stars to CEOs, from teachers to politicians who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage.  To build businesses, to become millionaires, or to simply better their lives. And now, here's the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, the only man who squirrel??? (indistinguishable)  Peter Shankman 1:42 -Yo, yo yo what's up guys? Peter Shankman here, thank you for being here. It is a gorgeous day in May. I don't know how the heck we're in May already, but it's a gorgeous day in May of 2021, where we are producing another podcast for Faster Than Normal, live on the 56th floor in Manhattan with a dog running around, under my legs, everywhere named Waffle.  We have some fun people on the show as always. We're going to talk to Dan and Shauna Ahern.  They've created three hugely great cookbooks. You might know the biggest one, https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Free-Girl-Chef-Tempting-Recipes/dp/1118383575/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_1/136-2006629-0721943?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1118383575&pd_rd_r=8e3aaf43-e37c-41e0-ba3c-6b5edaba1cf4&pd_rd_w=J2PrH&pd_rd_wg=jwtLB&pf_rd_p=a0d6e967-6561-454c-84f8-2ce2c92b79a6&pf_rd_r=P2KNSK8NDVM3NCC85XNQ&psc=1&refRID=P2KNSK8NDVM3NCC85XNQ ...which was named one of the best cookbooks, 2010 by the New York Times, excuse me, I live a block from the NY Times, they have never named shit of mine, uh, one of the best of anything, but whatever.  Their second book, https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Free-Every-Shauna-James-Ahern/dp/111811521X/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/136-2006629-0721943?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=111811521X&pd_rd_r=8e3aaf43-e37c-41e0-ba3c-6b5edaba1cf4&pd_rd_w=J2PrH&pd_rd_wg=jwtLB&pf_rd_p=a0d6e967-6561-454c-84f8-2ce2c92b79a6&pf_rd_r=P2KNSK8NDVM3NCC85XNQ&psc=1&refRID=P2KNSK8NDVM3NCC85XNQ ... was awarded the James Beard Award in 2014 and their third cookbook, https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Free-Girl-American-Classics-Reinvented/dp/0544219880 was nominated for an Excellence Award in 2016, by the https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-association-of-culinary-professionals/ I got up and worked out this morning. so, you know…. hey, we're, we're both great. Anyway, I am thrilled to welcome Dan and Shauna because Dan got diagnosed with ADHD at 50 years old, so we're going to talk about that, and we're going to talk to Shauna about what that was like, to sort of wake up one day and say great, everything I know has changed. Welcome guys.  Thank you, Peter. That's pretty darn accurate actually.    So, you know, obviously having ADHD and being diagnosed at age 50, obviously didn't, uh, didn't really mess you up if you were able to get, uh, three incredible cookbooks, um, you know, and all these accolades for them. So talk about, Dan I mean,  you started off, you were cooking in restaurants all around the US, you were at https://www.gramercytavern.com/...you were athttps://www.papillonbistro.com/  as well as (indistinguishable) to  www.impromptuwinebar.com in Seattle, which I've been to, um, you've been doing this for decades now, right?  So, I mean, when you got diagnosed, was it sort of like, okay, yeah, that makes sense, and that totally clears out why I do what I do, or was it, was it a shock? No, it made total sense. It made me kind of think back, you know, restaurants are full of odd people and there's probably a lot of people in there with ADHD and they don't know it and it just it's an adrenaline fix and then I can really like hyper-focus on what I'm doing with cooking and getting into the whole groove of the bit, the job.  It made total sense. I mean, when I, frankly, the diagnosis, this was the last part we both started researching, I started researching... I'm the researcher, sorry, um, I started thinking right away when he was in restaurants, he made total sense, but as soon as leaving restaurants, like when we started writing our cookbooks, there were parts of his brain that fascinated me, but also puzzled me. Um, in fact, when we wrote our first cookbook, the very first day that we sat down to write a recipe, we had a brand new baby, maybe three months old. Um, I said, okay, sit next to me on the couch with a laptop, and you talk, I'll type... and let's talk about that chicken dish. And he was tongue-tied, and I kept thinking, wait, what, you know what, maybe he's overtired. Um, so let's leave it for tomorrow. And the next day I was working on, we used to write a website called Gluten-Free Girl... for many, many years. So I love those for that and said, Hey, what was that recipe that we yeah, and he was playing the Tiger Woods Golf game on the Wii, so he was moving and I, and he just went okay, ¼ C chuck, da, da, da, da,  immediately all came back and I thought, okay, wait, hope, let me get that recipe from last night, open up that file and said, tell me about... keep playing golf, and he had all of it as muscle memory in his head, and I realized at that point, everything he'd ever done in restaurants, he was moving. So you remember those things, if he was moving. So we wrote entire cookbooks with him, video games or cooking while he was talking.  I love that story. You know, I, I will not take in-person regular, boring meetings anymore.  All my meetings, if I can, if I can help it have to be, um, walking meetings.    Yep.  I joke that I have a very Aaron Sorkin life right. In, in that I have to have a walk and talk at least once a day and they have to be a lot of corners and we have to make a lot of turns. And, you know, it's, it's phenomenal. It's literally the opening scene of the first episode of the West Wing.  And, um, uh, but it works, it works so well, and it's so much more productive than sitting down at a desk and trying to do whatever it is you have to do.  Well, that's been the biggest lesson for both of us and especially for me, and I think special, especially this year of COVID, yeah, we realize now that all the rules that we were so host to follow, were all made up anyway, it all came tumbling down during this, and so the hell with success as is normally defined in America... for both of us, the idea of success is doing work. we love, feeling content while we're doing it.  And that's a completely different model than, you know, you must rise the corporate ladder, or you must do this thing and win these awards.  We love the accolades we got, but it was more that the people who wrote to us and told us we had helped their families and they had joy in their lives because they thought their four year old kid got diagnosed with celiac and he'll never have a normal life, and they started making our recipes and thought, oh, this is no big deal, and we helped them feel better. So for me and for Danny both, it's just what works. My motto is find a solution. I don't care what it looks like, just find a solution, so it works well, and you feel good.  I think that, that you really hit the nail on the head. A lot of, you know, I've been an entrepreneur now for God….24 years and, um, that's really scary and, um, happens literally half of my life, and, um, I find that, that I am a huge fan. Not only professionally, but personally as well. If it's fun, do it. If it's not fun, either figure out how to make it fun or do something else. And I'm never gonna understand people who look at work as something they have to do so they can have fun when they're not doing…. I'm like you should be having fun while you're working as well, and if you're not, there's a problem there.  Absolutely. I mean, a lot of my work now, I don't write Gluten-Free Girl anymore, and I do write, um, this newsletter called Finding Joy in Enough because my work now is all about joy. Especially after this last year, we survived this year. We have a 12yr old and a 7yr old, and we decided early on, like, let's just make sure there's just as much joy in the day as possible.  So we watched all of the Avengers movies, which were absolutely (laughter) we're also, um, you know, we just started eating in the  living room instead of the dining room, because everyone felt more comfortable, whatever tiny thing we could choose, they gave people some joy in this moment. That's what we've chosen now, it's the work I do.  And that's what I see is there's no joy in standard America. It's not a culture built for joy, and especially for those with ADHD or  neuro-divergent minds, you know... you're supposed to try everything you can to be neuro-typical, and this is boring as hell.  Yep, and I think that also in that same vein, that makes it difficult for a lot of people to have personal relationships, you know, I know that that when I was married, it was very tough.. and we're great friends now, probably because we don't see each other every day, but it was, it was very tough, you know, I'd come home and I'd be wackadoodle excited about something I did, right? It was the greatest feeling in the world. Oh my God, that's awesome, and of course the first thing I have to do, um, you know… OMG, I gotta tell her everything about that, oh my God. da-da-da-da-da-da,,,,and, and the ADHD in me, wouldn't let me think about, well, maybe she's had a shit day or maybe she's tired and maybe she's maybe she's feeding the kid or me, you're gonna, maybe she doesn't want to hear me come in and, and, and, you know, explode…..over everything, and that took a long time to learn and it took a long time to learn. And I think that, that…. when you're ADHD, it just seems normal. Why wouldn't everyone want to share everything amazing all at once in the first...brain debit in the first second that you get, you know? And, and no, that's really not how people work, um, not all of them, and so, so there's a lot of learning, I think, in, in the, uh, in the world of, of, of when one person has ADHD and the other person isn't, um, yeah, I think that's really important. And so, and so the fact that, um, that you guys are able to play off of each other's strengths…  yeah.  It's phenomenal. But so here's the thing.  You, you are married,  uh-huh…. you work together… uh-huh….  you live together… uh-huh… Tell me that you're able to get away from each other every once in a while. And how do you do that?   Hotel nights in the city!  (laughter)   We live on an island off of Seattle, about a 20 minute ferry ride and every once in a while, we'll just look at each other and say, I think I need a night.   Yeah…. ….go book on Priceline, a cheap hotel or whatever the app of the day is, and then one of us will go and the other will take the kids.  I love that.  Last time we went, I took three books and I read three books in 24 hours. Really? We've got a 12 year old, a seven year old and there was no time to like, luxuriously read a thing I want to read, so yeah, and we don't care what the hotel is, as long as it's clean, we just do, but yeah, he goes, and then I go…. We order take-out, go back to the room.   Oh, I love that so much. And, and I need to do….I need to do an ADHD segue here, completely unrelated. Do you guys live on the same island? That was, um, that Michael Douglas lived on... in the movie Disclosure. No, no, we live in rural lovely place. It's the same life as Manhattan and two miles wider. And they're 10,000 people here.  Oh my God Yeah, it's pretty awesome.  That must be beautiful, that must be incredible. I'm sure. So tell me about… it can't  all be…. uh, sugar canes and plum ferries,,, there has to be some craziness.  How do you guys deal with it?  Uh, Danny?   (laughter)  Danny, why don't you step into the minefield, go ahead.  I just go into the kitchen and start cooking. (laughter)   I think, I think we, you know, we've been together for 15 years now and I am astonished every day that we get a chance to do this. And for me, really, there are two points of life taking care of each other, and joy, that's it. And so for me, having a chance to really take care of Danny and my kids, while also at the same time taking care of me, I didn't get that as a child. Um, I wrote about it in my book enough, I had a very, very difficult childhood, and so I came out of it as a full grown adult thinking I'm going to do better, I'm going to have boundaries and I'm going to have kindness, and when we fight, which is very rare, it's always about the dishes. (laughter)  Yeah. So I'm so I'm just telling you, like, you know, to putting them in the sink, and calling it good and letting someone else do it.  They're used to handing them off to the dishwasher at the restaurant…. I do….is doing kind of a half-ass job, at cleaning up,,, but   I want to ask you something. Cause I, I interviewed someone yesterday just randomly, because I guess there's like food week on Faster Than Normal, I interviewed someone yesterday with ADHD who worked at French Laundry and, um, and he started his career like tons of small restaurants (da-da-da) . And, um, one of the things that….that we were talking about is the, the, the, the less, uh, top level restaurants, like, but not that, not the Michelin rated ones, the diners or whatever, there is a massive, uh, from what everyone tells me, there's a massive drug problem in the kitchens. And did, I'm curious to know. If that ever affected you, Dan, in the respect of that, when you're ADHD, you tend to be drawn to things like that on occasion, right. Or until you learn about yourself, right.  Oh yeah…. ….anything that gives you Dopamine, and you're like, holy shit, I need this forever, right?  And so... I'm curious if you're comfortable talking about that. If that, if you ever saw that or that or affected you or anything like that?  Um, well, the, one of my first, uh, restaurant kitchen meetings. I, I was 15 years old and I got to the meeting and thought, okay, this is going to be interesting. And the, the manager of the restaurant said, okay, guys, we've really got to cut down on the cocaine use this year.  OMG,,,,,  holy Jesus, here we go… this is going to be interesting. Um, I, I saw a lot of drinking in restaurants and a lot of drug use, but I'd never. And the restaurants…. that was my life, that was what I wanted to do, so I didn't want to affect it like that. right…. You know, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm guilty as the next guy, of… you know, drinking on the job or going into the workroom really fast, but I had not, not to the extent that I've seen a lot of people just destroy themselves with.  Yeah. There's no…. with Danny, I should say how proud I am of him, he's a recovering alcoholic. He has been so screwed up,, God Bless…. Um, so, the willpower, you had to quit that.. and cigarettes, while still being in a restaurant was amazing.  Um, but we've talked about it a lot there. There's definitely a lot of, um, ADHD and Dopamine hits... the being on the line itself is an adrenaline rush. Yeah. Um, when Danny was at Impromptu, it was a very small restaurant in Seattle. And one time his, um, assistant step, you know, she didn't show up for work and he called me and I was pregnant, he was like, I'm sorry, can you step in? Cause I'm totally out of like, of course, and being on the line with him, just like, okay, we needed this and sort of preparing salads, little things, cause I know food, I wanted to have a panic attack. I'm like, but there are like 28 things, orders in, I have never seen him so calm for him.  He was just like, we're going to move here and we're going to do this and he didn't talk, and he just commanded it.  Yeah, well, that's what they say about people with ADHD is that, is that... this is the person with ADHD is the person you want when everything goes to shit, because they will, now that being said on the flip side, you know, they're not necessarily the best at handling taking out the trash on Wednesday on one, on a random Wednesday afternoon. (laughter)  I don't know what you're talking about…. Oh sure, I get the trash out… We, I mean, with, with kids, and knowing Danny's brain as well as I do, and then our daughter is also diagnosed with ADHD. She's 12, um, we think our son is too, but he didn't have enough school this last year….for a teacher to be able to write those evaluations. You know, I just, we just run a neuro-divergent house, and so I'm really good at making the schedules and the structures, and I know how important they are.  Our kids love routine, and so I'll say, okay, at 7:15 we're doing this, and it's 7:30, we're doing this and it's time to get going, and… uh, that helps a lot. Um, and I have friends who say, God, I would never be able to do all that, you do so much for them, but for me, I also know how much I love them, and I want them to feel at ease in the world and whatever his brains to make it muscle memory, so they don't have to think about it.  I would, I would suggest also that, that you guys seem a little more self-aware than, uh, your average parents, so I think that's awesome. I think your kids are very, very lucky in that regard. Um, I will, I will close it with, with one question, cause I want to be respectful of your time, and every episode's only about 20 minutes cause you know, ADHD, but, um, what….exactly…..squirrel, um, If you could tell... 15yr old you... who's just starting work his first time in a restaurant, what it's going to be like, or, or one piece of advice that would benefit him, or you as well.  So if you could give yourself one piece of advice, what would you say, to um,, sort of put them on the right path in the beginning.  Um, stick with  it, if that's something that you really want to do, stick with it, there's going to be ups and down days, and you're just, there's one da  you're going to be feeling like everything is just ticket and everything's on fire, and everything's perfect, and then the next day, you, you, you, your heads so far up your ass, you don't know where you're going.  (laughter)  and….. you …. you have those days... where you look at the clock, like  oh crap, it's only 5:30, good times... but no, you just gotta work at it and stick to it and come up with a plan of how you're going to do things. When you start, when things start falling apart and come up with and just…. cooking is so you get, you get, you get in a tunnel and that's one, one of my problems sometimes, cause I get very hyper-focused profession, but you just got to stick to it and...  follow your dreams  and follow what makes you happy.  And that's what, that's what I would say to my 15…. go ahead, sorry.  No, everybody... I want to have you guys back, um, at some point in the future, because I think that we could do an entire show just on sort of the tips and tricks that you've learned from working the lines and things like that. And, you know, the concept of focus.  There's a, um, I've wanted to do this for a while and I'm actually excited. I finally found someone who's going to allow me to do it. I'm going to shadow, um, a short order cook this summer for a, for a week, um, for no other reason than I just really, I, when I asked the guy, the, the owner of the diner, he goes, uh, son, you have a good career, why the hell would you want to throw it away and become a short-order… I'm like , no, no. I'm like, no, don't I don't want to become a short-order cook, I just want to learn how to do it. And so I'm going to shadow someone for a week and I'm really excited about it. He said, you know, I said, any tips before I get started? And he goes, the one thing, you know, he goes, prep is everything, and so I would love to do an episode with you guys at some point in the future where we talk about, you know, the tips and tricks you've learned that from cooking that you can apply to your life. So we'll get definitely gonna have you guys back, and I really, really appreciate you both taking the time. Absolutely, it's such a joy to talk with you.    Guys let's, uh, give a shout, if it were….. to Dan and Shauna.  Cookbook authors,  chefs, parents, ADHD, neurodiverse, and this is….. it doesn't get any better than this. This was a phenomenal interview, we're definitely gonna have you guys back. Thank you so much.  Real fast, do you guys have a website? How can people find you?  Yeah, Danny has a newsletter now, which is all about having ADHD and becoming  a home cook after years of being a chef, and it's called https://joyinthebelly.substack.com/subscribe and….  awesome…. Mine is https://findingyourjoy.substack.com/s  ...soon there'll be a website called Practicing Joy, that's really what I'm working on is reminding each other to find moments in the day to focus on joy, because that's really the whole point of life.  Very very cool. joy I love it, guys, thank you so much for being here, we're definitely gonna have you back.  Guys, you've been listening to Faster Than Normal, as you know , every week we have a new episode full of really, really, really super cool people like Shauna and Dan and others, um, tune in next week.  If you haven't listened lately and you're just sort of coming back because you were, I don't know, you know, in quarantine for the past year or whatever, um, we had…. last week, we had Siri Dahl who is an adult film star with ADHD, and she's also a powerlifter and she talks about what's going on in her world. I strongly recommend checking that interview out, that was a lot of fun. And ironically, it took an adult film star… my producer let me know that, the adult film star interview was the first interview where I didn't curse once. So I don't know. I don't, I don't know exactly how it happened, but all of a sudden we didn't have to. He's like, yeah, we don't have to put the, uh, the mature themes, uh, logo on this episode. I'm like.. with the porn star, tThat's really strange.  So make sure you check that one out and we will see you guys next week. My name is Peter Shankman, thank you for listening to Faster Than Normal, take care.  ADHD  is a gift, not a curse, we'll see you soon.   —— Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week. 

Refractive digs into 5 game-changing teachings from the 12 Steps of Recovery: (1)Design Your God, (2)Shame Lives in Darkness, (3)Life on Life’s Terms, (4)Keep Your Side of the Street Clean, and (5)Compare Means Despair. Guest Phil Reese of the Whole Phil Podcast and host Johnny G discuss how these essential, life-changing truths unlock the power of healing and growth for everyone- not just those in recovery. Find Phil Reese online at PhillipJReese.com, on Twitter @ReallyPhilReese or on Facebook at PhilReeseTheDJ, and find him here on Twitch where he DJs a 45 min set each Tues and Thurs at 7:10pm Eastern For similar content, check out these episodes: Making Peace with Your Dark Side, The Ancient Truths of Acceptance & PLINKO, and From Addiction to Self-Acceptance. If you’d like to book Johnny G for speaking, facilitation, or for personal coaching, visit www.refractivecoaching.com or email him at johnny@refractivecoaching.com. Good afternoon, everybody. And welcome to another episode of refractive podcast. Today. I have a good friend of mine joining us to talk about a topic that’s near and dear to both of our hearts. I am pleased to introduce you to Phil Reese. He’s the host of the whole field podcast. He is also a DJ and a web developer based out of Washington, DC. How are you doing today?Speaker 2 00:01:10 I’m wonderful. How are you? Good.Speaker 1 00:01:13 So happy that you’re on refractive. It just, it, uh, it’s going to be some really nice quality content today.Speaker 2 00:01:21 Awesome. I’m excited too.Speaker 1 00:01:24 Yes. And when you and I were planning the episode, we decided to talk about something that’s near and dear to both of our hearts. Uh, it is the process of being in recovery and the wisdom that people in recovery are given by, uh, the literature and the traditions. Um, and by working the 12 steps and so many times, because my listeners know I’m in recovery and now they know you’re in recovery. So many, uh, so many times I’ve said to other people in recovery, boy, I just wish everyone had access to some of the tools and wisdom that we have access to because it’s truly life changing.Speaker 2 00:02:14 Absolutely. I completely agree. Um, you know, uh, for, for most of my life, I kind of felt like everybody else in the world had like this owner’s manual for life and I, I didn’t get one. And, uh, and I kind of got that owner’s manual for life once I, uh, started doing 12 step recovery. Yeah,Speaker 1 00:02:37 Absolutely. So what, what do you say? We’ll just jump right in. Let’s do it. So you and I kind of brainstorm a list of some of the nuggets of wisdom that have been most useful to us. And, um, on the top of the list, it’s about surrendering and people who are listeners of a refractive podcast and also people who’ve enjoyed the aspects of your podcast. I’m sure that they’re not, uh, they’re not going to be surpris

RealTalk Podcast:  Episode 16 Guest: Gail Davis It's so fascinating how one experience can be a turning point that shapes one's career, life, decisions!  Hear how the movie Alive became a catalyst for Gail Davis, corporate professional in the meetings and events space, to start her own company GDA Speakers.   Listen and Subscribe on:                 Gail Davis is the founder of Gail Davis and Associates, a leading Speaker Bureau Agency.  She is the past President of the International Association of Speakers Bureaus and has served as IASB's governor, where she developed new education programs for members worldwide and through increased investment in the industry.  Gail has won numerous awards, including Dallas's top 25 Women in Business. She is an accomplished corporate marketing and events professional turned entrepreneur who has dedicated decades to her craft before becoming an entrepreneur and creating Gail Davis and Associates.  Key Takeaways: Considerations for becoming a Public Speaker: Understanding the realities of being a speaker Are you willing to invest the time to pay your dues to build a name for yourself? Invest in doing it well to be an amazing speaker - Hire a speaking coach Hiring and Managing People: Frustration is nothing more than unmet expectations Don't be afraid to pay for talent Be very clear about expectations Building a team is an opportunity to grow as a leader... to understand the nuances of how people learn and how you can communicate Personal Growth: Moments of self-doubt can be overcome by time and personal growth - which leads to confidence.   Recognize opportunities for growth and give yourself grace to learn and evolve. Key to Gail's success:  Gail is super passionate about being a connector and helping people learn. Resiliency is the second biggest key to her success. REALTALK:  It can be EXHAUSTING surrounding yourself with people just like YOU!!!  Surround yourself with people with different strengths and acknowledge them...often!   Resources: The Wealthy Speaker 2.0: The Proven Formula for Building Your Successful Speaking Business  by Jane E. Atkinson (Author) The Three Ring Circus Bootcamp:  https://3ringcircus.com/bootcamp/ Guest: Gail Davis Company: GDA Speakers https://www.gdaspeakers.com/   Social:  @GDAspeakers - Facebook @gdaspeakers - Instagram @GDASpeakers - Twitter GDA Speakers - Youtube GDA Speakers - LinkedIn Listen and Subscribe on: iTunes  |  Stitcher  |  Google Play  |  Spotify    We'd love to hear from you!  If there are topics or burning issues that you'd love to hear about, or if you would like to be considered as a guest on the RealTalk Podcast with Maureen Borzacchiello, just shoot us a note:  podcast@maureenborza.com or complete this short questionnaire:    https://programs.maureenborza.com/  Want to learn more and connect with like-minded women? Click here to join our RealTalk Community   SEE TRANSCRIPTION BELOW Maureen Borzacchiello: (00:00) Gail Davis is an accomplished corporate marketing and events professional turned entrepreneur. She dedicated decades to her craft before becoming an entrepreneur and creating Gail Davis and Associates, a leading speakers Bureau and agency. Gail set out to do things a little bit differently than the norm. And her company is not only a service provider, but a true trusted partner with their clients. Almost two decades later, GDA has built a database of world-renowned thought leaders and expert in her field. Gail is a past president of the international association of speakers bureaus. Prior to that, she served as IASB's governor, where she developed new education programs for members worldwide and through increased investment in the industry. Overall, Gail has won numerous awards, including Dallas's top 25 women in business. Gail. We are so excited to have you here today. Welcome. Gail Davis: (01:00) Thank you, Maureen. I've been looking forward to this all morning. Maureen Borzacchiello: (01:04) All right. Well, we're going to dive in because there are women out there that are going to want to hear what you have to say. Gail Davis: (01:12) I hope that's true. Maureen Borzacchiello: (01:14) Absolutely true. So Gail, why don't you give us a little bit of background? It was crazy when I've known you for a while, but as I was reading your background and how you ended up becoming an entrepreneur, I feel like my lead in should be how a dramatic movie led to a real life change in your life. So why don't you tell everybody how we got to this point? Gail Davis: (01:40) Okay. Well, Maureen, when I graduated from college, I went to work for EDS electronic data systems, which was the company that Ross Perot founded and based in Dallas. But I actually started working for EDS, Missouri, and then I moved to Oregon and eventually I ended up in Dallas and I had an amazing career working at EDS for 20 years. I did a variety of things and, sound like the most stable person, because I say I had the same job for 20 years, but in reality, I had so many different positions within the same company. And the last 10 years, I managed the corporate incentive events department. Really, that was just one big event held each year. It was called inner circle and it was the sales recognition event for the top performers. And I was responsible for all components of that event. And so that was the site selection, the speakers, the entertainers, the gifts, the theme, just so much fun. Gail Davis: (02:48) I loved it one year. I believe it was 1994. We were on the last night of an event and the chairman came up to me at the staff and asked me, who are we going to have as our keynote speaker next year? Part of me was like, really? can we not just celebrate that this one's over, but as you know, that's what he wants to talk about, but that's okay. We talked about it, and I said, well, you know, I haven't really started working on that yet, but why do you bring it up? What are you thinking? And he said, I'm thinking that I'm tired of the same old speakers that I hear everywhere I go. And he said, I would like someone that's new and different, someone everyone would like to hear, but no one's heard. And someone that is global in their appeal. Gail Davis: (03:38) I was like, Okay. So, that challenge was planted and completely unrelated. It was a Friday night, you know, you go get the pizza, you go to the video store, remember that, look at all the movies on the wall. Paul and I saw the movie "Alive" and I had wanted to see it, but it was only in the theater for like a week, I think. And so I grabbed it and I went home, plugged it into the old VCR and the person that I was with said, what about that guy for inner circles? And I was like, Ethan Hawke? And he was like, no, not even Hawk, but the real guy. And at first I thought, you know, maybe you should stick to mergers and acquisitions and I'll be the one that plans events. But as I watched the movie, I thought what an outstanding idea. Gail Davis: (04:29) It was just the most unbelievable story. And the funny part of the story is it was 1994. So there was no Google. So you had to go to a speakers Bureau because the speaker's Bureau held the Rolodex of all the names and all of that contacts. And so I went through several speakers bureaus and said, you know, I'd like to find this guy to speak. And I was given a lot of advice that it might not necessarily be a good idea because sometimes just because they write a book, doesn't make them a good speaker or just because someone's been portrayed in a movie when you meet the real person, they're not as polished as the actor. And it was a lot of things that I needed to take into consideration, obviously, but I saw Nando interviewed in a documentary and I knew that he had the charisma and the charm and then his English was great. Gail Davis: (05:19) So fast forward, I tracked him down on my own, going through the Uruguayan embassy in Washington, DC. He said, no, I stuck with it. He finally said, yes, he came to Hawaii. He gave the speech, it was off the charts and the chairman of the company, jokingly. He put his arm around me and said, you know what, kid, you should retire. And I'm like retire? And he said, yeah, you'll never outdo that one. So I don't know if he planted an idea when he made that comment at the same time, my parents, my dad had always had, you know, a long-term career with the postal service and he and mom started a business on the side. So I had watched my parents build something. So I had that frame of reference. And then a lot of things happen at EDS. My long-term manager and mentor died of leukemia. Gail Davis: (06:14) And for me that it forever changed place because she's no longer there. So that had an impact on me. And then the chairman of the company who I was very close to left EDS, and that had an impact on me. And so one day just everything lined up and I thought, you know if I'm ever going to do this now is the time. So I worked at EDS for 20 years and I made that decision and I don't think I could have had better training because it's today I work with very large corporations and I understand corporate structure, I understand levels, and departments. And, I understand that there's a procurement department and you'd have to get your terms approved. I just woke up one day and decided to have a speakers Bureau. I don't know that I would have had the skillset to navigate corporate America. So I guess I like to do things in 20-year segments because I worked at EDS for exactly 20 years and I've had this company for 22, I think. Maureen Borzacchiello: (07:12) Wow, that's amazing. Congratulations. And for the gen Zs and millennials who may not be familiar with the movie "Alive" and Nando's story, they were part of the rugby team or tell it horrific, plane crash. Gail Davis: (07:31) Yes, it was in 1972 and they were a Uruguayan rugby team going to Chile to play a rugby match. And probably 90% of the people on the plane had never even seen snow. And the pilot made a navigational error. He thought he had crossed the Andes mountains. And so he was descending, but actually it was in the middle of Andes mountains. And Nando tells the story about looking out and thinking, are we supposed to be this close to the mountains? And the next thing he knows, the belly of the plane literally hit a mountain. And the back half of the plane just disintegrated. Nando that was his first miracle in the Andes as he was in the first part of the plane, then the plane with like a bobsled and it missed all these crevasses. And then it just landed at about 15,000 feet. And remember it was 1972 and they were in the mountains for 72 days. Two days is a long time. And so it's the most beautiful story that I think exists about the power of the human spirit, the power of the human spirit. It's so beautiful. And you know, Maureen Borzacchiello: (08:50) I get choked up now, such a cry baby. Gail Davis: (08:56) And that's not a typical reaction for people that hear the story, because it just puts your whole life in perspective. You had a fender-bender this morning at the gas station, big deal. You're coming home tonight. You got food on the table and you've got your family. I think they don't know what to expect. They think it's an adventure story, but really it's like I said, the power of the human spirit, but it's a love story. It's about family. It's about friends. It's about what really matters in life stuff. I'm still crazy about the story. It's still my all-time favorite. Maureen Borzacchiello: (09:28) It's amazing. And I would assume have become pretty close to him. Like, I'm sure this is a dear friend, because not only was it kind of the precipitous for you creating your own company and realizing, wow, that was amazing. I could do that all day long. And then you serendipitously end up representing him, helping him navigate. I think his book, which became a New York Times bestseller. So that's gotta be really just an amazing side benefit of this entire situation. Gail Davis: (09:59) Yeah. We're very close friends. I have looked him over 300 times in the last 22 years. I attended his daughter's wedding in Uruguay. His wife is someone that I consider a very close friend now, Nando and I are exchanging grandchildren's photos. So he's a little bit ahead of me. He has four and I only have one granddaughter, but, he was at my son's wedding. Yes, we're very, very close friends. And ironically, this is a great story. He was my number one book speaker when COVID-19 hit. And we shifted to a virtual environment and I had sent him an email and said, Hey, I want to connect with you and talk about doing conferences. He calls them conferences, conferences on zoom. And I got a two-word reply, "what's zoom" and a question mark. And I laughed. I thought, Oh no. So the next day I get an email titled zoom plan. And he comes back and says, I've got this. I been in TV for years. I know how to do this. So, you know, we're not going to show two videos. We're going to show one. We're not going to show 25 slides. We're going to show three. We're not going to talk for an hour. We're going to talk for 25 minutes and then we're going to do more Q and A. And it was amazing. And he was our number one booked speaker. So I've learned a lot from him on resiliency, for sure. Maureen Borzacchiello: (11:25) That's for sure. Yeah. It's a remarkable story. Feel good? What a great way to start off our discussion. And it's a perfect segue actually, into talking about your expertise and different ways that corporations and companies can leverage speakers. And you know, there's a lot of obvious trade shows, events, conferences, and VIPs. So I guess talk us through some of the less obvious and why companies should consider hiring and paying for speakers. I'd love to level set by starting with that. Gail Davis: (11:59) Okay. Well, it's interesting because my answer today is probably very different than it would have been a year ago because of everything that's happened with people being isolated and working from home. So this past year, what I've seen is people bringing in mental health experts, sometimes bringing in motivational speakers to inspire their employees and give them perspective. I would say pre COVID as speaker was hired to be on a stage. Typically what I would always ask my clients is what is your objective? Do you want to inspire? Do you want to bring in a thought leader, really talk to me about those people in the seats and how do you want them to feel what is the objective? And I will help you find the perfect solution. Well, now in a virtual world, there's all sorts of different. It's the same question, I guess, but there's different opportunities. Gail Davis: (12:59) And what I'm seeing is sometimes it now involves the whole family. Like I just had a large client that had several day event for their sales team and their closing speaker was Michael J. Fox. And they had a really active chat. And some of the things that I saw on the chat were, you know, I just brought my wife and she's sitting here with me. We're both so moved. My father has Parkinson's. This means so much to me. I just pulled all my children in and told them to stop online school, but to sit here and listen to this story, it's so amazing. So now the audience has grown a little bit because of people working from home. Sometimes we're even finding clients that are like, do you have any humor? Can we do, something can invite the whole family. So there's been a shift, I would say. Maureen Borzacchiello: (13:54) It's really fascinating. And what a great opportunity for sure to do something that's so meaningful, not only to the individual who would have had their butt in the zoom seat anyway, but also to integrate their family and have that level of inspiration. Very, very cool. So when a client hires you a corporation hires, you tell us a little bit about how you support them. What's unique and different that you built into what you do. Talk us through a little bit of that. Gail Davis: (14:25) I've been thinking about this lately. And I think it's three areas where we provide value. So number one is sourcing the speaker. Number two is contracting the speaker and all the payments that are involved. And number three is the logistics. And really it's a three-legged stool. And you need all of that. Under sourcing, unlike me back in 1994, when I was looking for the guy that was the hero in the Andes mountains, anybody can find that today. I mean, you can Google those exact words in, that'll probably take you to Nando's website and It'll probably bring you to my website. So anybody can find a speaker, where do we provide value? We provide value in the relationship and in the experience. So if I could, I would only recommend speakers that I've personally seen. But now that I've been doing this for over two decades, that's not always the case. So now I tap into my industry peers and I'm like, okay, I need the good, the bad, the ugly. What does this person like to work with? The ability and the relationships that we have to source speakers is one of the primary things. I think that we bring to the table. Gail Davis: (15:43) The second area where we add value is the contracting. And so some contracts are super simple and that's when we use an industry standard contract and the client signs our version and the speaker signs our version. That's super easy. We could close a speaker in a day, but the complexity comes when you have a client who has a legal department and they have certain terms that have to be approved. And fortunately we have the technology to save those terms. And then the complexity can get even more complex when you have a speaker who has a rider or some unique terms. So I think we really add a lot of value and expertise when it comes to actually contracting the speaker and making sure that everybody's paid. And then finally in the area of logistics, of course, logistics had been redefined in the virtual world for an in-person meeting that involves flights, airport transfers, confirming hotel accommodations, confirming the time of the soundcheck and making sure all the AB requirements that are specified in the contractor on site, in the virtual world, it's tech checks and platforms, and making sure that as we experienced a few difficulties today, making sure that all the technology is in play. Gail Davis: (17:00) So those are really where we come in and offer the expertise. Maureen Borzacchiello: (17:05) Awesome. Sounds amazing. It makes perfect sense. You know, having spent a good portion over 20 years of my life in the live event space, it is all of that prep and logistics handling behind the scenes, the ducks on the water that bring it all to fruition and to life and understanding the clients and their expectations and their needs and the level of handholding that's required, not just for the speaker, but also for the client is always an important piece that differentiates yourself when your client knows they can trust you like they do with you. It just takes so much pressure off of them to know that they're going to look good by choosing to hire you and your firm. I'm sure there are a lot of women entrepreneurs listening to this and saying, this is amazing information I'm thinking of increasing and elevating my profile. I'd love to start to speak. So within that context, what are your top three or four tips that you could give or resources that they could explore just to start educating themselves on the process Maureen Borzacchiello: (18:14) Sure, I get asked this question a lot and I always start recommending a book, which you can get on Amazon. And it's called the Wealthy Speaker. It's written by a woman named Jane Atkinson, just the fundamental basics of how the speaking industry works. And I think that's the really good place to start. I think she's pulled together a lot of really practical information. She has been an agent working at a speakers Bureau and she has worked for a specific speaker helping develop their visibility and relationship with bureaus. And now she has coaching service, the speaker launcher, or speaker launcher.com. So I think reading that book is just a great way to understand the fundamentals. Then, you know, you'd have to really ask yourself, is this what I want to do? And I think you need to talk to someone who has made it and hear how long it takes to make it and hear what the lifestyle's really like, because it might appear to be glamorous like, Oh, wow, look, they're on the stage and everyone's clapping. Gail Davis: (19:26) Isn't that fun. But what goes along with that are years of doing things that you might not get paid would be that you think you're worth. And what goes with that is missing your kid's soccer game and being on the road. And after everybody claps, you're in the hotel room all by yourself. So is it something that you're really committed to, if you're really committed to it, then you need to invest in doing it well. And at that point, I would recommend that you hire a speaking coach, you and I met because we both worked with a coach. And I think it's important to have somebody that coaches you, because you only get one chance to make a first impression. And that could be Jane or there is another group that has a bootcamp it's called the three ring circus. And I don't remember it with the two day bootcamp. I think it may be, but I highly recommend that as well, but you've got to really invest doing it well to get out there and really be a top-tier speaker Maureen Borzacchiello: (20:28) Makes perfect sense. There are lots of things that entrepreneurs have to hone in on in the presentation department. And I would think that just like anything else, whether it's pursuing a large corporate client or pursuing a speaking career, all of those require some due diligence. So I, those are absolutely great tips. So of course I'm dying to know like, what are the biggest flops or mistakes that you've seen people make over the years that were speakers that really missed the mark? Give us the dirty side or just some fun examples of Gail Davis: (21:08) Just this morning. I had a feedback call with a client about a speaker that was a virtual speaker and they were a little familiar with the CEO. So let's say the CEO, his name was Richard. It wasn't, but let's just say it was. And you know how sometimes if you know a Richard really well, you might call them casually Dick, or, you know, there might be a Catherine that you might call Cathy. And this particular speaker used a familiar version of the name, which nobody called the president of that company or the CEO of that name. And he didn't do it once he did it two or three times. And it just was super, super off-putting. So that's a very silly example, but I just had that call this morning. Once I was supposed to be onsite at an event, well, we had a speaker books and that speaker canceled and we did a replacement and it was their choice. Gail Davis: (22:06) Not someone I recommended, that someone they wanted, it makes the story a little bit better and I was supposed to be on site. And then something came up with my kids and I wasn't able to be on site. And so the client, it was a large HR company and they said to the speaker, the only thing we want to make sure you know, is we do not want any four letter words from the podium. This particular speaker goes to the podium and the first word out of his mouth was the F word and I mean fine or fun. I mean the F word. And he said that, and I guess, okay, got that out of the way stop. So, you know, when we talked about what services do we bring to the client, there are people, and he's one of them that we have in our back office. And it says in big letters do not book. I would never recommend that person. Even if the person said, Oh, I think that story is terrible. Let's go, come anyway. I would say, I don't want to be involved, right. Maureen Borzacchiello: (23:15) Because guess who has the master service agreement with the client who need for that jerk? And even though, as you said, the only good news is they demanded that he was the replacement. So at least, Gail Davis: (23:27) But even if that I couldn't get him to do anything. So I personally ate the expenses cause I just could not, after they paid with me, I could not send them a bill for his plane. I just couldn't do it. I was like, yeah, Maureen Borzacchiello: (23:48) That's great. And I'm sure they appreciated that, but wow, what a jerk? Oh my God. Gail Davis: (23:54) Yeah, there is rain. I rarely have instances or the client is not happy, but getting the name of the company wrong, that happens sometimes where they mispronounce it or maybe someone who's on the road all the time, like has a sweat. It's so good today to be here with IBM. And they're not at IBM. I mean, that has happened, but it's so rare. This is a wonderful industry. I think about this a lot. And I try to write it down as something that I'm really grateful for. We work with great clients and that our clients are with great organization because an organization that's struggling, doesn't typically spend money on an outside speaker. So usually it's an organization that's committed to improving the growth and development of their members or their employees. So, clients are great. They're just great and speakers that we recommend are great because they've made and they're out there speaking because they know their craft. And so it's really a pretty cool situation to be in, honestly, Maureen Borzacchiello: (25:07) Without a doubt. And you do your due diligence. I mean, I know that you don't take just anybody, you really vet based on specificity expertise, what they bring to the table because you're delivering them up to primarily high profile customers to speak at their events. So I guess that also is part of the equation. You're setting yourself up for success by not bringing in potential liabilities or people who wouldn't quite hit the mark. Gail Davis: (25:38) Yeah. And I think I've had just a handful of situations where people have said, Oh, I read this book and I really want this off. And I try to say, now, wait a minute, never worked with this person before, you know, it's back to the Nando advice that I got. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. So yeah. Maureen Borzacchiello: (25:58) And I'd love to ask you as an entrepreneur, what's one of the toughest challenges that you've had to overcome that like hit the ground moment where you have to crawl back up and like get through a challenge. And like, what was the situation? How did you pull yourself out of it? And what were your key takeaways? Gail Davis: (26:20) Without a doubt.   I mean, I could go back and tell you the transition from big corporate to small business was a big transition, but with out a doubt a year ago on March 6th, when COVID just hit, I cannot believe how overwhelming it was. I could not open my email without it just being one email after another, we need to cancel, we want our money back. Or I could not answer the phone without it being somebody that says we have to cancel. We want our money back. I had been through nine 11 where everything kind of stopped and canceled. It had a lingering effect in that people were afraid to fly, but the problem was not tied to a meeting, right? So we were sitting here going, when will we have meetings again? And we're still asking question, I had had 185 events impacted, and boy, what did I learn? Gail Davis: (27:21) I learned when you have a relationship, you can find a great solution. And that means a good relationship with the speaker and a good relationship with the client. The most challenging situation that we had to navigate more with newer clients, where we didn't really have a history or with speakers where we didn't have a longstanding history, it was just so incredibly overwhelming. We had no process in place. It would be exactly as if someone walked in the front door of my office and said, can you show me all your existing contracts please? And I said, Oh yeah, they're all in that door. Which of course they're in the cloud, but let's pretend here for a moment. And that person put them in a big bucket and took a match and lit them on fire and said, have a great day and walked out that, that is what it was like. Gail Davis: (28:17) I'm so blessed by the support that I have because very early on, we developed a number of spreadsheets and processes. And I feel like we handled the situation as well as we possibly could. But it's the most challenging thing I've ever dealt with really is. And now it's like, Oh, it's all good. Now we're doing virtual events right left. And now we write contracts that say this event that is going to be held in October is going to be an in-person event in the event that government restrictions are in place. And we're enabled to hold an in-person event, we will convert to virtual. And here's what the fee will be. So everybody's accepted that. And that's what it is. But you know, some people were like, Oh, I can, I can talk about it for hours. But that's the most challenging thing I've ever been through. It really tested my resiliency a lot. Maureen Borzacchiello: (29:10) I can imagine the live event industry has just been decimated. And so it's amazing that you were able to kind of create a pivot. I would be curious, is this now like a major part of your norm? Because even when live events go back to live events, there's always going to be virtual now there's always going to be that opportunity. So will you continue to build out the virtual of your business? I had to by default, but now it's an opportunity for additional growth. I would think Gail Davis: (29:49) I love my industry so much and we are so collegial. I would never think of someone who does what I do for another company as a competitor. I just wouldn't. These are my friends, these are my pals. We stuck through this together. We help each other out. And one of my colleagues who works for another company, we run an industry call on the term, hybrid kept being used. Well, the future will be hybrid, meaning an in-person component and a virtual competitor. And he actually said, I don't think we're going to be using the word hybrid. It's going to be just assumed like that is what a meeting will be. We're not going to be calling it. Oh, this is a hybrid meeting. No, it's like, of course. And I thought that was really an interesting comment that he made. So yes, I think that because now, I mean, look at the money people spend to travel. Gail Davis: (30:43) So, I think people we're just going to really relook at all of this. And I think we know we can accommodate people. So if someone chooses not to go to large meetings, maybe they're immune compromised. I just think very much so. And for some of our nonprofits, it's been really interesting to me when we built for a nonprofit here in Dallas, I always try to support them by buying a table. So traditionally, if it's a nonprofit event in Dallas and I need to fill the table up, who do I look to? I look to our Dallas based clients right now. We had so many virtual events and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is a really cool event. And I can invite anybody I want. So, you know, we did one event and I remember I had someone in California too. And I had someone in Boston at 10, you know, and, and that's neat. So from a fundraising perspective, when you go virtual, you expand your reach and exposure for your organization. So that's really cool as well. Maureen Borzacchiello: (31:51) That's a great point. You know, they skip the swag bag or they have it shipped to them, but you absolutely amplify the ripple effect of being able to get that additional exposure. It's a great point. Gail Davis: (32:05) There's no valet. Maureen Borzacchiello: (32:11) Or walking a mile through Mandalay Bay or something, Gail Davis: (32:14) One of our clients that converted to virtual on the day of her virtual event in Dallas, it was pouring rain. And, but it was worked right. And I sent her in that and I said, man, Rachel has some perks, you know, for the thing to start rolling. And I'm only dressed in the waist up and I don't have to fight the rain. So it's great. Maureen Borzacchiello: (32:37) There you go. Slippers and no umbrella. It is really true. I think there are a lot of perks to our zooming. So I want to talk also, as you grow and you're scaling, there's different challenges that entrepreneurs face are as I guess like growing that team, there's so many nuances associated with it. So talk us through, like, what was the biggest people related challenge that you had and how did you overcome that? Those are always fun. Those are better over wine, but it's early in the day, Gail Davis: (33:14) Turnover was an issue. And I think it was because of my mindset of, you know, I'm scrappy. I need to hire young people and I can train. So I became known as the best first job you'll ever have. And I hired all these young people, talking to the industry, taught them business, mentor them. And then this younger generation doesn't necessarily work someplace for 20 years like I did. And then they would go find their next job. And then I would have to start over. So you and I both worked with Alicia and one of the things, the great pieces of wisdom she gave me is frustration is nothing but unmet expectations. I've gotten a lot better at hiring talent and recognizing talent and not being afraid to pay for talent. And then I, I have improved so much as a leader because I spent a number of years sitting in my office, frustrated with people that weren't meeting my expectations. And that's what I did is I suppose, frustrated with people, not meeting my expectations instead of being very clear about my expectations. And I love Brené Brown's great quote, where she says clear is kind, clear is kind. I started out 2020 with that play on vision, 20/20 clarity. You know, I'm going to be very clear and ironically, the pandemic really did provide a lot of clarity. It was very, very helpful for me. And that allowed me to be very clear on my expectations. Maureen Borzacchiello: (35:07) That's great. I love it. I think it's so true. And yes, I would say I have equally evolved over years of coaching to be curious about what they think the expectation is. And for certain people I recognized I had to learn that, although I thought I was super clear on my expectations or what an assignment was that they were the type of person that benefited from feeding back to me to make sure they actually heard what it was and that they absorbed it. So I remember that was a big thing I implemented was saying, okay. So can you just recap with me? So we're on the same page, what you're doing or for the people who were very visual, I would recap and writing. So it was interesting just because I am a strategic thinker and I am very impulsive and I can think things through, on the fly. Other people need a minute. So it's interesting dealing with people. It's a great blessing for all of us, because as much as it can be frustrating, it's an opportunity just to grow as a leader. Like as the leader, sometimes you have to say, well, I kind of think it's you, but I'm gonna, you know, assume that it's me. And what can I learn from this situation? And how can we go Gail Davis: (36:30) Thousand percent, 1000%. And Alicia has just changed my life, but I went to her, it's such the right time. Like it was that exact moment. It was that moment when I was like, I thought it was all these people for so long, in every one of these stories and that's me. So how can I be a better version of myself? And boy, if you're willing to say that it's your help to get there, it's not always for you. Maureen Borzacchiello: (37:09) So in the spirit of real talk, the data shows, Gail, that women in general, particularly overachieving women on occasion suffer from imposter syndrome. And so I've become really passionate about talking about this and not continuing to hide it in the closet. So I'd be curious, have you ever suffered from it and if so, what bubbled up for you and how did you navigate your way out of it? So if someone's listening, they can be like, Oh, I can relate to them. Gail Davis: (37:41) I think in the beginning because I had 20 years of working for somebody else, I probably on occasion wonder, do I really have what it takes? You know, am I going to be taken seriously? Maybe when I went to my first IASB meeting all these people, who've had these companies for 10 years and 15 years. And are they going to think I'm just a fly by night thing? You know? So I think probably in the beginning, I haven't thought about it a lot, but probably in the beginning a little bit. Then I think as a leader, I really was hard on myself and I took it so personal when someone would leave me to go to work for another opportunity, like how could they do that? Like, I think I'm good. I can kinda what I'm doing, but maybe I really don't. And I almost cringe when a speaker would come on in and say, Oh, here are the five qualities of a great leader. Gail Davis: (38:35) And I would sit there and think, do I exhibit those? Or what other people think about me as a leader? I think I really struggled there. What is the benefit of getting older is developing a confidence and a wisdom in being able to say, I'm not perfect. I don't get it right all the time. I mean, my leadership skills have improved exponentially since I really got serious about coaching, but do I get it right every single day? No, but I wouldn't say that creates an imposter syndrome that just creates, like you said, a realness, like, okay, I'm still a work in progress. This is an opportunity for me. And that's kind of how I approach problems now is it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like we're on the same page. What's the opportunity for me. Maureen Borzacchiello: (39:27) Love it. And I do think just the ability to give yourself grace and acknowledge that you're not perfect. It's unrealistic to think that you can be perfect at all times is a huge step and a huge part in navigating for sure. And I appreciate where you're coming from. I think that it is sometimes the, "am I a fraud?" "Can I pull this off?" That bubbles up in particular with imposter syndrome. So it's great that you recognize for me, it's I'll stop myself and say, girl, you've got this. Like, are you kidding? Look at all the things you've accomplished. So yeah, maybe in this one area, we keep needing to work on it and that's okay. And you give yourself some grace to move the needle forward. So what do you think, Gail is one of the keys to your success? Gail Davis: (40:23) I am super passionate about this work and I am passionate about connecting people. I've introduced people that have gotten married. I just liked going to you like this and you like this, this will be a good fit. So I really am passionate about it. I mean, I'm on clubhouse and I overhear stuff that the, Oh, that's fine like that. You know, I just, I like being that connector. So passion to connect people and help people learn and be exposed to new things. I think that's what drives the whole thing. And then my resiliency didn't hurt because you need that in business and not every client loves me. And when one doesn't, how do I come back from that and go, okay. I learned something there and now be better in the future Maureen Borzacchiello: (41:10) Without a doubt. I knew you were my soul sister. I just love it. Love it, love it. So as we wind down, what's something Gail that people wouldn't know about you? Gail Davis: (41:22) I'm funny. I have a very good sense of humor and I think you're funny. I think sometimes I can shift and be very focused and be kind of all business, you know? So I think people sometimes are really surprised to find out how funny are you? Let my friends know it. Oh, they totally know it. Uh, you know, even my former husband to this day, I mean, he thinks I'm one of the funniest people I've ever met. So it's just, I think if people that meet me in a professional setting might think I'm a little buttoned up and not know that I'm so fun. Maureen Borzacchiello: (42:00) Gotcha. You can let your hair down, girl, let it down. I'm going to throw an extra question out there for you. Who is a woman that inspires you and why? Gail Davis: (42:16) Ooh, that is a good one. I am going to go with Brené Brown. I'm going to go with Renee because she has this vulnerability, which you know that it's for trademark. But when I read her stuff, you know, I'm always think. Yes, yes that's me. But then I see how she takes that vulnerability and then comes up with a solution to be a better leader. And I think in reading a lot of her books, I really got encouraged that I can be a good leader. I can do this and I don't have to be perfect all the time. So she really does inspire me also. I'm very inspired by her boundaries now as a person that likes to book speakers and they like the speakers to say, yes, I have to say that sometimes her boundaries bug me because she's know so easily, but she's so clear. She, she knows what her priorities are, you know, with her family. And she knows what her priorities are for researching and writing. And she knows when she's available to speak. And I looked back and I'm like, okay, I didn't get the answer that I wanted, which was the yes. But there's something that I did get, which is a really great example of somebody that's very, very clear on their boundaries and not afraid to say no. Maureen Borzacchiello: (43:45) That's perfect. I mean, how big of a struggle is that particularly for women, because we're doing so many things and juggling so many things and how empowering it is to graciously know your boundaries. Love it. Maureen Borzacchiello: (44:04) Last question then, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received? Gail Davis: (44:10) Oh my goodness. The best piece of advice that I've ever received is that it can be exhausting to surround yourself with people that are just like you. And someone told me that. And I was like, what? Talk to me a little bit more. And this person helped me realize that we are not all the same. And so for example, there's still a was in your earlier helping me troubleshoot, you know, and that's not my thing. I don't like troubleshooting and figuring out how to make the microphones work, but she's really good at that. So having people surround you that have different strengths and acknowledging them, it's not just having different people with different strengths, but it's acknowledging those different strengths really makes for a much pleasant, much more pleasant environment. That, that was really key. I think in the beginning I hired a lot of people that were just like me. And so we all sit around, we all liked each other a lot. There were certain things that weren't getting done and it was exhausting for me because they eventually had to get done. And because everybody was just like me, I had forced myself to do things that really aren't my expertise. And when I started to understand that I need people that are good in this area and I'm full, that are good in that area, this area, then I had more support and more strength. Maureen Borzacchiello: (45:44) I'm going to throw an amen up there. I mean, that is a perfect ending to an awesome, awesome interview. I mean, that was the cherry on top of the sundae. Gail Davis, you are awesome. We will put all your links up on our show notes page so that people can check you out. They can follow you. And I will also put the links to the book and the resources that you mentioned. Thank you so, so much for joining us on the real talk podcast today. Gail, you are awesome. Gail Davis: (46:18) Oh, thank you, Maureen. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. Maureen Borzacchiello: (46:22) We'll talk soon.

Meridy Volz is an internationally acclaimed artist who's known for her paintings of figures and use of shockingly innovative electric color to create a mood. In 2020, Meridy's daughter Alia published the book “Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco,” which chronicled Meridy's life running Sticky Fingers Brownies, an underground bakery that distributed thousands of marijuana brownies per month and helped provide medical marijuana to AIDS patients in San Francisco. Learn more about Meridy. Get a copy Alia Volz's book Home Baked. Learn more about The Passionistas Project. Full Transcript: Passionistas: Hi, and welcome to The Passionistas Project Podcast, where we talk with women who are following their passions to inspire you to do the same. We're Amy and Nancy Harrington. And today we're talking with Meridy Volz, an internationally acclaimed artist who is known for her paintings of figures and use of shockingly innovative electric color to create a mood. In 2020 Mary's daughter, Alia published the book. "Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana and the Stoning of San Francisco", which chronicled marriages, life running Sticky Fingers Brownies,an underground bakery that distributed thousands of marijuana brownies per month and helped provide medical marijuana to aids patients in San Francisco. So please welcome to the show Meridy Volz. Meridy: Hi and thank you. It's great to be here. Passionistas: Oh, we're so excited to talk to you today. What is the thing that you're most passionate about? Meridy: I'm most passionate about my art, about expressing emotion through my art and about our activism in this day and age. Passionistas: What is art activism? Meridy: For me, art activism is using my creation of art to contribute to positive movement in the community to express feelings, things that are going on in the world right now in our, in our country right now, and do it through different mediums using color line, text your. And subject matter to express that and to bring change, to kind of shine the light on what is happening and give a very true response to it. I'm very happy to be part of a movement for change in our time, which really is calling out for it. Passionistas: Let's take a step back. What was your childhood like? And were there things in your childhood that inspired you to become an activist? Meridy: It was a mixed bag. I was raised in a middle-class Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My mother was a school teacher. My dad owned a Tavern. I always had art. I was born with a cran in my hand. And by the time I was three, I was drawing colorful people, which now 70 years later at the age of 73, I'm still doing it. And it was a somewhat difficult household. My mother was very strict and critical and somewhat abusive. And so for me, that place. Where I was laying on the floor and leaning on my elbows, drawing that place where my cran touched the paper was my sanctum sank, Torian. It was my space and nobody could get into that world was mine alone. And it still is that for me, it's been that for me, man, entire life. And I was. Recognize very young. I was six when I got a scholarship to go to art school at the Milwaukee art center, which had just opened by a teacher from the, who come around from the Milwaukee school board. And she'd pick up little samples of artwork from young students. To show. And I guess she, she showed them in different places. Her name was Ms. Yuri, and I'll never forget. I forget her. She had pure white year and as a child Ms. Berry rhymed with flurry, and there was a lot of snow in Milwaukee. So I always associated her with whites. No, I'll never forget that white hair. And she got me my first scholarship. And then from then on, I had great teachers all along all through university. There were some fabulous teachers who took me under their belt and mentored me. And I was born an artist and I'll die in artists. So I've always known my calling. That's been clear. I've been really lucky that way is I didn't have to search for my calling. It was there. Passionistas: Was that part of the reason you went out to California? Meridy: I was illustrating writing and illustrating children's books for the Rockefeller foundation in the seventies. And it was a great gig because I could do it from anywhere I love to draw. And it was the first medium that was bilingual. That was Tran translated into Spanish. It was reproduced on. Really early re reproducing machines. And so it was cheaply produced, but it was bilingual material. It was the first and I illustrated it and I had gone to Europe because I could, and I could send my work into my boss from any country. And then my dad would pick up my paycheck and wire my money. I'd go to the next country. Well, I ended up going to Morocco and falling in love with a bare bare man that I met at a new year's Eve party. And he turned out to be gay in the end, but he did end up coming to Milwaukee. And my dad said him back to get his act together before we got married. And he never came because he was clearly gay. He was living at that time with a hairdresser in Switzerland. So I was heartbroken and needed a change. And I had a friend who was in San Francisco and she was like, come on out. And so I did, I packed everything up and I arrived in San Francisco to find that at that time, San Francisco was quite a wonderful place, a Haven for artists and. Gay and lesbian people where they could be more free and very open-minded. And so I coming from rather conservative Milwaukee there, I was, I was in San Francisco and that's how I got there and fell in love with the city, which was quite beautiful. Passionistas: Then how did that lead to you making pot brownies? Meridy: Well, I've always been spiritual. My spirituality is, is a smorgasbord of things. Even now, everything from Zen to Zen Buddhism, to Judaism, to Christianity, to Santa Maria. And part of that was I was into the Ching and into consulting the Ching. And I had a friend who had a little business on fishermen's work, she would go and she'd make all these wonderful baked goodies. And she had a basket put the goodies in a basket to sell to the street artists who were on the Wharf. And she also had a bag where she carried one dozen pot brownies. And also, so those, and she called me, she had made enough money to move herself to Findhorn in Scotland, which was a commune at the time. And she asked me if I wanted her business and I was like, Hmm. And I had been still illustrating children's books. I did a book for Filipinos, a book for the Chinese of book for the Jewish academy and was still working for the Rockefeller foundation. And I thought, well, that's interesting. And I tossed a hexagram and it surprisingly to me, it was very, very positive and I went, oh, wow. But I'm not a baker. I can't cook, but I love seeing people and working and interacting and perhaps selling. And I had a girlfriend who loved to bake and still does. And so I took her on in the business and long story short. That's how it started. And we were stoners. I won't lie. We were, and we got the secret of how to do a good pop brownie back to grade five by only, and pretty soon the brownies caught on in the bakery at a go. And that's how Sticky Fingers was born. And it started off recreationally and ended up with the, with the aids epidemic being the only thing which gave the people who were dying. And there were so many, it was stunning. I lost many, many, many, many friends during that time during the epidemic, it was the only thing which gave them relief. And so it became something else. It was the birth of medical marijuana, and there was always art involved because we designed our own bags every time we went out. And so people collected those. So that was sticky fingers. When I look back on it now and having read Alia's book, my daughter's book five times now, it looks like somebody else's life to me. Like I look at it. I was like, wow, that was really me doing that. Wow. So that's, that was then, and I never told people about it. Even my closest friends, it stayed secret until we were outed in Alia's book, which it was certainly time to do. Passionistas: Certainly San Francisco evolved significantly during the time that you were there and you were doing that. How did your art evolve during that time? Meridy: I've always been figurative. All my art, all of it has the figure in it, except one painting that was a commission in which I did on Anza-Borrego  in the spring, which is a place in the desert. And I did flowers and flowers and cacti, and I kept wanting to sneak a figure in there, like where's Waldo, but I've always been figurative. Even my designs and the brownie bags were very often, most often figures, always a figure in there. And it's because the figure is a great vehicle for emotions. You can express your personal feelings or an idea, but for me, it's always very emotional. From the time I was little, it was that you can express that through a figure what the figure is doing or what's in their eyes. That was the same. I was always colorful, always love color. I love pushing color to the maximum. I love using combinations of color that are revolutionary, that people wouldn't think of that where I take a lot of risks. With my color. And, you know, I always tell my students, especially my life drawing students, that if you, if you don't take risks, you can't be great. You have to like be willing to fail in order for, to really, really be extraordinary. So those risks. I was, I've never been a safe artist. Never not in subject matter. Not I've always been right up on the edge. And that's where an artist needs to be an artist who just settles in to something is not on their edge and artists need to be on the edge. And if you're not on your edge, you need to push yourself to the edge. And sometimes up and over the edge, may I add. So that's it. So my work back at that time, I've always gotten a lot of awards and things like that from the artwork, uh, you know, all through high school and then college. And then as an adult entering shows, you know, I've won many, many awards. And I think it's because of taking the risk now, as far as marketing my work, that's another story is that. I have an enormous body of work here. Enormous. I've worked from the front row almost right from the beginning around me and I'm prolific, which means there's a lot of work here. And during the pandemic on some of the arts sites, I've made friends with digital artists and have viewed their work. And I got a handed to him, man. They can put everything on a thumb drive. Like that, like as big as yours, um, right. I'm like looking around and I, I have a three bedroom home and every single interval has stacked artwork. Every inch, every closet, every shell, my garage so much work. And I always, like, I never wanted to be an art dealer. And, you know, I'm a you'll inherit this way. Never wanted to be an art dealer. So she could do a big bonfire. I told her because everything is in the process anyway, you know, it was all in the making of the art for me. So I know that won't happen, but so I've never been great at the marketing of my own work. And part of that is that it's very. I find it off putting when people are like, my work is great way to you see it. And I find myself in any medium musician or, you know, right. Anybody, I find myself stepping back from that a couple of feet and, and so it's very hard to do that. And so I sell, but I sure have a lot of work here so that I would say the art marketing. I've been weakened, the art making I've been strong in. I dunno if that's evolved much my marketing skills. Passionistas: You're listening to The Passionistas Project Podcast and our interview with Meridy Volz. To learn more about Meridy's artwork, visit MeridyVolz.art. And to get a copy of her daughter Alia Volz's book, "Home Baked," go to AlizVolz.com. If you're enjoying this interview and would like to help us continue creating inspiring content, please consider becoming a patron by visiting ThePassionistasProject.com/podcast and clicking on the patron button. Even $1 a month can help us continue our mission of inspiring women to follow their passions. Now here's more of our interview with Meridy. How would you describe your art for someone who hasn't seen it? Meridy: I would say my art as expressionists slash impressionist with an extreme palette and texture. I would say my work is extremely emotional, which goes under the category of expressionism. I would say Neo expressionists slash impressionists. Passionistas: And where do you draw inspiration from? Meridy: From what I'm feeling at the moment, my deepest, some of them dark feelings, not, you know, it's not, and in this day and age, somebody said, people came to see my work the other day and they were like, it's so deep. And you can just feel, especially the pandemic artist has a real feeling of sadness to it. And I'm like, if you're not sad in this. These times then you're not paying attention. The loss of life been integrity and so much loss now. And I don't mean to wallow in our negative emotions. However, as an artist, I feel like I'm almost duty bound to record that like years from now, it'll be. An age in the movement of art that contains very, very deep feelings and you see less and less of figurative art and more and more of abstract art probably for that field for that reason is that I think abstract art comes from a different place in general. I think it can dip into deep emotions, but you can look at a piece of abstract art and it can be a lot of things. The series that I've done during the pandemic, my black lives matter series was another story. I found that to be very relieving because it comes from a different place. It's not about me, and it's not about my emotions. It's about a life well lived and recording something about the beauty of that person's soul something, you know, because the face. Is a map to that really in most cases. And so for me, it was coming from a much more objective point of view. So from the time George Floyd was murdered to new years, I did a hundred black lives matter portraits. And that was starting out with black artists, artists who have passed. Who have contributed greatly to our culture. And that was my point. This is why black lives matter is that look at this image, enormous contribution to, to our culture, into the world's culture, but our culture specifically. And by first one I did was James Baldwin. And I'm still working on this because it's evolved. But at which I will talk about, um, and I began to sell them all proceeds, going to different black lives matter causes. The first section of them went to the bail fund in Portland, when that was happening, the next section of money, which was raised, went directly. Two black families in my community who are struggling, really struggling. And it went in, honestly it went through community members. I also work with at-risk teens. And so I worked in a church right here in desert hot Springs, where I taught gang kids off the streets. Art. So I met community activists in that community and they distributed the money for me directly. Like there was a grandma who is feeding three kids who is being evicted because no stimulus check for so long and money went to them and, and so went directly to the community. And then the last section to Georgia for, uh, the election of Ossoff and Warnock. So I feel great about that. I mean, I personally gleaned a lot out of it. One being able to come out of the deep emotions and just, it was soothing. It was like taking a nice girl shower after being in the heat and also to be active because I couldn't get out and protest. I'm too old to bang the streets anymore. And, and I could be a contributor. And that made me feel very much alive while in lockdown alone for 13 years. So after that hundred I've been approached by, and this is current happening right now, I was approached by the democratic party of Riverside county. Did I want to do anything with them? So, yes, indeed. I do. And so I had the chair of the party. I had five women all. Meet here last Friday. In fact, everybody vaccinated. Yay. And we met and they looked at my work. And so we're going to do merchandise using some of the portraits that I've done. For example, we're going to be doing posters, probably a calendar for 2022. And we're going to be starting with t-shirts or we're going to be starting with a John Lewis, onesie for newborn babies that says good trouble. And I think that's just, as my boys in juvie hall would say, that's dope. So that's what we're working on now. And we're going to do a Stacey Abrams and Amanda Gorman and, uh, uh, Kamala, etcetera. And so that's happening and then a big fundraiser in the fall where I'll take some of these paintings and I'll split the proceeds with the party. And I feel great about that because yay for the good guys. Anything I can contribute? I glean, I mean, it's not like, oh, Meridy you're so selfless. It's not, honestly, it's not, I gleaned so much out of it. It makes me feel productive. As does teaching my boys are in juvenile hall. Passionistas:  Tell us how that started and tell us a little bit more about it. Meridy:  It actually started in 2006 when we started to have the economic collapse, right. And in the recession and all of that. And I thought, how am I going to make money to survive during this. And people were not able to afford classes at that time. It was so bad. And I thought, Hmm. And I walked into juvenile hall and I said, do you have anybody teaching art here? I had in the past done workshops at San Quentin, may I add that? I painting workshops that, and that was like in the, it might've been the nineties. And I really liked that. It touched on touch something of the rebel inside of me, maybe the outline side of me a little. So I've walked into juvenile hall and they said we don't have money for that. And I said, how about a five, five the money? So I wrote a grant first grant I ever wrote, and I was awarded the grant and that's where my program started in juvenile hall, where it was for a few years. And then it moved to the church. All on grants. I'm a 16 time recipient of grants from the Anderson children's foundation. Then it was working with kids on the streets, out of the church here in desert hot Springs, which by the way, has no air conditioning in the summer. And it's 120 degrees here in the summer. That was a real sweat box. I have to say. And then there was gunfire at the church. There was some hassled between the rival gangs. And there was a shooter who is shooting at my kids coming into class. And that was an eye opener for me. At that time, what I did was I took the boys into the sanctuary and we kind of hovered there. And I was like, if any of you are carrying anything, get rid of it because the police are on their way. And I said to myself, I don't want to get shot to do this, you know, bullet through my head. So I then started going into alternative schools and bringing the art there. And in addition to teaching the art, we did the fair and they won awards. We did different shows where the boys were able and girls in the schools as boys and girls. Now it's just only boys are housed in India. The girls are in another facility. I think it Riverside. And so I started going into schools and I have been in schools since and virtual now with the pandemic. Now I'm sent into juvie by Riverside county office of education, and it's a pilot program it's not done anywhere else. And it's very effective. You cannot reform kids. You can't change them without giving them some positive juice and our bins around corners. That's what I have found is that as an artist, I mingle with what you might consider incarcerated people. You might judge them and say that's lower, lower end. And then very high-end with the adults that I teach artists can run the whole spectrum. And you just are the same. I'm married the artists no matter where I am, nothing changes about that. And so that's where it's at now. That's where our heart is now. I find that schlepping art supplies with my back right now becomes more difficult. The physicality of it all is just a little harder than it was before, but I'm still in there. I'm still in the game and doing it. Passionistas: What is the impact on the kids that you're working with, but also on that community that they live in? Meridy: That's huge in juvie. That's why I find out their first names and address them by their first names and not just the last names I try and get personal with them. I never asked them what they're in for, what was their crime or anything like that. That's not my concern. What my concern is, is my interaction with them, right at that point. And art is very individual. Because it's you and the paper and the medium you're working on and your individual expression. So there's no right and wrong. Sometimes the kids are like, ah, this doesn't look like anything. And I'm like, it's great abstraction. And then I'll hunt up a picture of like a Pollock or a Kandinsky. And I look at this, this guy is paintings are worth billions. Look at that, there's our room for everybody in art, everybody. And so I try and make it like that for them where it's very individual, I always deliver good news. So they're very anxious at the end of class to show me their work. I get to play music for them, which they don't get music. So I'm their disc jockey. And I like to say that I know more about rap than any 74 year old should, but I find clean rap for them and a play it. They can request songs. Sometimes we do all these because they get nostalgic for home, like Otis Redding or the temptations, or like that. And even the rolling stones are considered oldies. You know, it's like, oh God. So it becomes pleasurable for them. They put their head down and they do their work in the hour and then they come up and they show me and I'm like, that's great because you did that. That's fantastic. And I'll dress them. If I can do it by their first name, they're all dressed in the same uniform. Same sweat pants and ma wearing masks. And so it's very hard to tell one from the next, but it means a lot if I can remember their names and I start to get it by seeing their artwork like us to see a style emerging and they're like, oh, that's Jonathan or that's Luis, or, you know, I'm getting it in my head. And so the impacted them, number one, I look at them and I don't see a criminal. I look at them and I see the goodness and them, and that's huge when you're in a punitive, terrible lockdown situation. I've been in person there. I've taught in person many times and it smells like fear. There's a terrible rafting smell in there. A recycled fear. It's not like any other smell and kind of teen boy BO mixed in with it. Smelly socks and gym shoes and sweat. And then it's got a really, because there's no open air, no open windows. So the energy recycled, if you look at it on an energy level, there's so many pictures, psychic pictures of destroyed vibes, fractured lives, broken, broken people, sadness. Abandonment. I mean, it's all of that. So in that little hour, when I'm the weird grandma artists, because they get to see the art, it's special for them. If I sell something, I'll tell them, oh, I saw that. How much did you get miss? Would you do one for me? That's meaningful. I believe that I will be that experience will be something that they will remember in their lives. It's a takeaway, whereas probably almost everything else in juvie. You want to forget because it's hard and horrible and they're just horrible. I certainly bring color in there too. Another wise, very doll situation. And I think I bring a little joy and I bring acceptance. You know, I don't judge them. I only have to say it once. If you're requesting a song, say, please, so they always can I please listen to this? Thank you, miss. You know, they're all was pleased and tech and that's a good skill to learn. That's a life skill. And I always ended by saying, be kind to each other and be safe and I love you. And they're always like, we love you more, you know, and that's a counter herself that I think it's a small contribution, but I think it contributes to the positive for those boys. I think if it was in every juvenile hall, we'd see less people in juvie. Factor. They had the art class before they committed the crime, which is why I took it to the streets and out of juvie. I thought if I could head this off before it gets in there before the kid does the deed. And so that one is hard to judge how effective versus I know I'm being effective here. Passionistas:  Is there one lesson that you've learned on your journey so far that really sticks with you? Meridy: You gotta take risks. You gotta just, if you fail, you fail. If you crash and burn you crash and burn, but if you succeed, you can be extraordinary. That would be one thing. And the other thing is just open your heart. If you get it, be loving and accepting of people. Uh, frankly, it's a struggle for me right now with certain demographic of people. And I struggle with that because you gotta be loving, you gotta be open. And I feel so pissed off at 7 million people right now in this country. I just feel like, but you just gotta try, you know, be kind, be loving if you can, and contribute, take risks who contribute. Get out on a whim. If you get bad feedback from somebody, that's their problem. People always say, follow your heart, but it's true. Find something you're passionate about. Passionistas and follow it. Do it, do it for the good, the greater good. Passionistas: Thanks for listening to our interview with Meridy Volz. To learn more about Meridy's artwork, visit MeridyVolz.art. And to get a copy of her daughter, Alia Volz's book, "Home Baked," go to AliaVolz.com. Please visit ThePassionistasProject.Com to learn more about our podcast and subscription box filled with products made by women owned businesses and female artisans to inspire you to follow your passions. Get a free mystery box with a one-year subscription using the code SUMMERMYSTERY. And be sure to subscribe through The Passionistas Project Podcast so you don't miss any of our upcoming inspiring guests. Until next time stay well and stay passionate.

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Tune in now and don't forget to sign up for www.solciety.co!Speaker 1 (00:00:03):Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail. online teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery and you are about to become one. What's up Solarpreneurs. Taylor ArmstrongSpeaker 2 (00:00:42):And we're back here with another episode, and we're doing a little bit different format. If you heard the previous one, we've got a special guests back on the show. So let us know what you think of these kind of debate style topics. Um, so we've got James back on what's up, James? Thanks for coming back on the show with us. Oh yeah. It was a blast a couple of days ago. I do want to say this though. We are going to get better at this format. So we're learning a lot already from the last episode I watched it again last night, I was like, all right, I got to shut up more. I've got to ask Taylor some more interesting questions and not try to jump on everything. Like I like to. So I'm going to try to chill back a little bit. And then one of the things I think we wanted to implement was a kind of more formalized questions, like a real deal debate, where we each get a chance to respond on specific topics.Speaker 2 (00:01:39):I think we both liked it. And one of my favorite debates was the, was the Trump debates. Did you watch back bowls back in 2016? I've studied the crap out of those man. Yeah. That's a masterclass in persuasion, man. That was good stuff. And for me it was just more the entertainment factor. Cause I love Trump just ripping Hillary apart and a corner and nasty women and all that, even though I kind of felt bad. Well, that's why he's a master at it, dude. It's like it's comedy plus insulting. The other party it's like dangerous, but I know, but what I thought was interesting too is Trump. Um, they went back and analyzed this debate in Trump. If you watch him, he uses like very simple language. He's not using sophisticated words. So I was reading study over and over basically the point in very simple language. What was it like? Uh, he always had like demeaning ones, like crooked Hillary. Was that it? Yeah. And then he had lion, Ted remember lion Ted for Ted Cruz. So you would get like they're like, Lion Ted came up like nicknames for him. Like that's all they say it's yeah. Anyway, we're not doing that. We're not gonna take shots at each other, but who knows crooked James right crooked James lion lion.Speaker 2 (00:03:01):So, no, we're probably won't get that hardcore. Um, I'm probably gonna not attack James personally or anything like that, but we we'll try to give our interests shoot for it, dude. This one's going to be spicy though. I think today is a spicy topic because last time both you and I, it wasn't a real debate. I mean, come on. We agreed way too much on the last one. It was like, Hey, get good at offline then do online. If you want to this one though, this is a different, this is a different animal. Yeah. One. I'm curious to hear what you have to say on this one. Because on the last show we did, I pretty much knew what your side of the story was, what your take, but this one I'm a little bit more in the dark. So I'm curious to know what you have to say.Speaker 2 (00:03:43):Um, but yeah, the debate today we were talking about work, life balance, um, can exist. Can it be attained? Should you even have balance? So we got some juicy questions we're going to go over and yeah, I think we're just going to go to the questions I'm going to say kind of my side, what I think in James I'm sure. You'll challenge me. Sure. I'll have some stuff to say about what you're throwing down. So yeah, that's, we're going through. So should we jump into the questions or anything like that? So let's review what the topics are. So question number one. Um, what is it the belief about work-life balance that you have within solar and then what principles do you adopt for it? So that's question one, question two. What do you think is required to have success in the industry? Right. For most people, general statement and then three, what would you advise to someone who is struggling with worth work-life balance?Speaker 2 (00:04:39):Solar reps, managers, CEOs, all of the above. So that's going to be more tactic based. Like how would you actually improve your work ethic? Things like that. Yeah. Okay. Good stuff. So, yeah, I'm excited to hear what your take is on all these things. So what do you mean first? Your podcast? Taylor, question one, man. What is your belief about work-life balance and principles that you adopt with solar? All right. Okay. Let's jump into it. So here's my take on this. Um, basically what I've seen in solar is you got to have seasons. And what I mean by seasons is there's going to be ups and downs, and there's gonna be times where you're pushing super hard. And there's going to be times where you're taking breaks, where you're not pushing as hard. And I think it's a little bit different than, um, the summer sales guys everyone's heard the summer sells.Speaker 2 (00:05:30):You go out, you do pest control, you do alarms. But solar, as a lot of us are with year round. We're doing this 12 months out of the year. Um, it's a full-time thing. So when I see the top guys in the industry, they're not, I mean, we're not all knocking 12 hour days like these alarm guys, um, we're, you know, we're coming at it more strategic I'm knocking usually anywhere from four to six hours. Just depends. So, um, I say seasons because you look at these big companies, like the Vivid Solars, the Sun Runs the, all these big ones. These guys they're being super consistent, but they're having ups and downs. I see these top guys, they're taking time off. Like for example, Vivid, Solar, they have their, I think it's every six months, every three months, something like that. They have their huge competitions and they have their guys go insanely hard for, um, I don't know, a month, six weeks, whatever it may be.Speaker 2 (00:06:31):And they're all pushing each other as a team, they're all going out there, their work, maybe they're working 12 hour days for that, um, six weeks or for that month, they're pushing super hard. But then even the top guys, after that, they got to have a cool-down period. So it's like, you're pushing so hard. They're um, you know, working way harder than they normally would. They're getting a ton of results and then they're going on a trip after, or they're cooling down. And I even talked to some of them, um, a lot of them, once these big competitions start, they go to their wives and they're like, Hey honey, I'm, um, I'm gearing up for this competition. Do I have your permission to throw it down super hard because they know that for the next month or whatever, they're not, they're not going to see much of their wife.Speaker 2 (00:07:13):So they literally have to go get permission from their wives or girlfriends or whatever to not see them. So that's the way I look at it. It's just like solar, you got to have the seasons with it. And also it depends on, you know, kind of your goals. Are you trying to be just, you know, make tons of money. Maybe you don't even have wife, kids or anything like that yet. So also I think it depends on all our, on your goals. What are you trying to achieve? And I'm sure you'll get into this, but for me, it's all about having those seasons. I know that, yeah. There's going to be times maybe a month. I'm going to go insane. The hard when it closed a lot of deals, but then I got to have my balance back for a little bit. And then maybe it's going to shift towards more of my family because I got to catch back up.Speaker 2 (00:07:56):And yeah, I really respect a lot of entrepreneurs like Russell Brunson. Um, a lot of these big entrepreneurs, I think they preach a lot of the same things when they're launching books, when they're launching big projects coming out, same thing, they're working, you know, 15 hour days and just going extremely hard. But then they're going on trips and taking a vacation, stuff like that after how would you, I have a question on your thing. So how would you summarize your work work-life balance belief in like one sentence? Is it sprinting and then rest refuel, sprint refuel. Yeah, I think it's sprint. And then, um, I don't want to say rests because unless you have like a trip or something plans, I don't think you're like, I mean, you're not going to like rest always by being in sprints and then trots, maybe. So it's like sprint and then cool down sprint and then cool down.Speaker 2 (00:08:52):Cause you so not like completely off is what you're for a rest period. It's you're still kind of, yeah. I mean, I think yeah. Plan trips and stuff like that. So if you're going extremely hard, I think it is a good idea to plan like a trip or something after go get away for a weekend. So in that case, yeah, rest, but maybe you're doing like a mini sprint for a week and then maybe it's, um, you know, you're only knocking through three or four hours a day of the next week. You're going to a trot. So yeah, I think be consistent, whatever you're doing and plan the trips plan, the vacations. Um, I mean, yeah. Plan your schedule. If you know, you want to have the date night with the wife, this is something we just had a guest on the podcast, Ashton Buswell.Speaker 2 (00:09:35):And he said his biggest leg con one of his biggest accomplishments he's helped other people achieve in solar is he's taught them to schedule out like a date night every Friday with their wife. So he, he just literally listened to his interview before our thing today. That's freaking hilarious. I've listened to him because he's a work, he's a workhorse. So I was curious what his opinion was. Yeah, yeah. So yeah. I respect guys like that. I mean he's pushing insanely hard sometimes, but he says like, no matter what's he's always having what's important to him also scheduled out in advance. The, I think it's like that. Um, sprints. No, when your sprints are no, when your wrists are, but yeah. Should always be planned and then have those times where you're pushing hard. It shouldn't be always just, you know, doing the minimum work to get minimum results.Speaker 2 (00:10:23):If you're just closing one deal week after week, you shouldn't be happy with that. But I think plan for some sprints and plan to get extreme results too. And that's gonna bring you fulfillment. So that's my take care. So salt. We're not, we're not a hundred percent off on those to be honest. No, that was a surprising answer. I was expecting more Tim Ferriss, four hour workweek answer. Now. That's good. I agree with the sprints thing, for sure. It's funny. I think of you as the Tim Ferriss four hour workweek, just cause you talk about the, you've talked about the book a lot, but what you actually practice is not necessarily the stigma. Yeah, well, no, I do like that too. And you we've talked off camera. That's why I hire like an assistant and everything because yeah, trust me at the end of the day, I want to work, you know, usually as little as possible and get the max results, but I enjoy what I do do.Speaker 2 (00:11:19):I like being on the podcast. So cool. So you want to answer the question? Do you want me to go? No, you got to say my take on this work-life balance is I'm not going to attack. Should you be working all the time? Should you be, uh, balancing all the time? If that's a thing, whatever that you call it, I'm going to attack the concept and the idea of work-life balance and why? I think it's flawed. I actually think the idea of, oh, I'm trying to live a more balanced, wholesome life, right? I'm trying to be balanced in all these areas. I think that's flawed. And it's been number one killer of people's success, especially in solar. So I'm not against what Taylor's saying necessarily. I'm against the idea of work-life balance that we have in our society today. Right? Um, I think our society, we can all agree with this, right.Speaker 2 (00:12:12):Society has gotten a lot more soft PC people getting banned on social media for talking about stuff. Trump gets banned for six months on Twitter for talking about things, right? Like world's change of getting pretty weird with stuff, right. And in general, like people have become a lot more, whatever I'm going to use the term weak-willed. Okay. Um, I was listening to, uh, another podcast the other day. Uh Valuetainment podcasts, one of my mentors, Patrick Bet-David, as the host of that. And he was talking about how the military is adopting a new concept. And I can't remember what it's called, but basically they're taking away the tools and strategies they would use to basically tough enough soldiers, get them used to rejection and pressure where they're drill sergeants will literally go in. And, um, anybody who's been in the military and has stories about that knows anybody who's been in there, right.Speaker 2 (00:13:09):You literally day one boots on the ground, the drill sergeants are just demeaning. Right? Just swearing at you, just going off on. Right. Just hard. Just trying to like break you down. Right? So the military is literally getting rid of this as we speak right now with soldiers, which I completely think is a terrible idea. Um, I did have quite a few family members who served as well. And they're just like, dude, that that goes against everything. Cause it's what are we incentivizing? We're incentivizing soft, weak type of culture. And I think in general right now, um, the reason we have so many problems with anxiety, uh, substance abuse, alcoholism, uh, porn addiction, uh, you freaking name it, right? Anxiety is at an all time high. And if I look at the stat here, I looked this up. So 40 million adults in the us age is 18 and you're 18 or older.Speaker 2 (00:14:03):And over 18% of the population is diagnosed with some sort of common mental illness like anxiety and these stats. This was not existence 40, 56 years ago, right back in the forties and fifties when our grandparents lived. And Taylor, how old are your, uh, are your grandparents alive? Still? Yeah. They're still kicking there. Uh, yeah, I think they're late seventies. Yeah. What is your grandparents do like for living like your grandpa? Um, one grandpa was a music professor, Utah state, um, go Aggies and then the other one was a dentist. So dentist. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know if the conversations you've had with them, what they go like, but I can tell you with both of my grandparents. So one grandparent, he was an entrepreneur, a very successful on a couple of eight figure companies. One was an electrician, um, and talking to both of them, these guys worked like a hundred hours a week, like their entire life until they retired in their seventies.Speaker 2 (00:15:09):Right. Um, that's the kind of culture I grew up with and my dad adopted the same thing. I grew up watching my dad be out the door, working at 6:00 AM and get back at 8:00 PM, six days a week. Right. So it's like, that's kind of how I grew up. That's what I'm used to. So when I come from that background, like obviously that experience is familiar to me, right? So I think the, uh, the concept of like the 40 hour work week, the work-life balance is more of a cop out and an excuse to not put in the effort to realize their fullest potential. And I believe that my theory is that most mental illnesses, um, unhappiness, anxiety, depression, divorce, things like that are all caused because people are not realizing their fullest potential. And this 40 hour work week type of setup is to blame.Speaker 2 (00:16:05):So that's my big idea on this. Um, so what do you think about, yeah. Yeah. I think, I think I agree with that, but like for someone in the solar industry, let's say someone's starting out. Um, like, would you tell them if they're thinking of doing this like full-time career or whatever, would you tell them, Hey, go out and work like 40 hour weeks? Or would you have them? I dunno, maybe go easy in and like, just do like a 20 hour week. What, what would you tell a new guy starting out? Like, do you think someone's going to get burned out by doing 40 hour weeks in solar, say they're hitting doors are doing, you know, going out and doing this prospecting quite the opposite, quite the opposite. Here's the problem I see. And why people are not successful in solar. I've coached several hundred directly.Speaker 2 (00:16:54):One-on-one solar reps to whether it's under my own company, whether it's people are Solarpreneurs. So I've done this quite a bit. I can tell you that the reason solar reps are unsuccessful is not because they burn out. It's almost never going to be because they work too hard. Okay. Can we both agree on that? That sales reps are not going to fail because they work too hard. Have you ever seen this? I've never seen this man. There's some lazy reps, right? But it's like, dude, nobody, it's such a small percentage of people that end up burning out. I hate the term burnout. I'll never use it except for on this podcast for this example. But anytime you see someone searching like, oh, what if I get burned out? Or aren't you afraid of burn out? I would say like one out of 10 people actually experienced burnout and the other ones, they just need a quick two, three hour refresh break, get back in the game, get re-energized on their goals.Speaker 2 (00:17:54):What are they doing things for my case, for the sales rep thing to get back to this, I think every person who is new to sales, working on a commission basis, um, they need to get a little bit of a taste and glimpse of what they're really capable of as a, as a human being. Okay. We're living in such a fraction of our potential as humans. I don't know. You know how we only use like 40% of our brain, right? We've heard this study. Yeah. Something like that. I think that applies to everything. Uh, Tim Grover, right? Relentless guy. He talks about how in that? No, it's David Goggins. Sorry. He talks about how, when you think you're done and your brain's telling you, you're tired to throw in the towel. You're only 40% of your capacity. 40%. Okay. That story we tell ourselves of, ah, I should just take it easy.Speaker 2 (00:18:46):Maybe I should just go call it a day. It's five o'clock on a Friday. Today's Friday. We're recording this it's five o'clock on a Friday. Maybe I shouldn't knock doors or maybe I should take Saturday off because it's, you know, we're good to go. That's cool. If that's what makes you happy. But if you're just accepting that belief, because that's what mom and dad told you, that's what society has told you at the 40 hour work week. You're never going to get to see what you're capable of. So my advice to the rep, the diagnosis from Dr. James here is doctor to go and give everything you possibly can for a time period, set a week set a month. I don't care what it is and go balls to the walls. I'm talking as hard as you freaking can literally push yourself to the brink of failure.Speaker 2 (00:19:38):Okay. And that is when you're going to recalibrate what you're actually capable of. What is your work ethic actually capable of? First time I did, this was I believe in high school. Right? So again, grew up with a super hard work ethic to begin with. But I played trumpet in high school, did a lot of competitions. And I remember my dad literally sat me down and he said, Hey, like he had this talk with me about work ethic. They talked about capabilities. Like, what is your actual capability as a person? And he challenged me to do this, like for a month to get into a, it was like a statewide competition thing. Right. Um, and I didn't believe I could, I was uncomfortable with it. He said, just go with it until the competition and see if you could do it. Just go all out.Speaker 2 (00:20:21):So I did. And I remember, and again, it's not people will disagree with this. Right. But I literally took two weeks off of school, ditched all of my classes. I had practice trumpet all day for two weeks. Yeah. I failed like a bunch of tests and stuff like that. And I was like 14 at the time. Right. My mom wanted to kill me, like all this stuff. Right. She wanted to kill my dad in particular. Right. But I wasn't your dad, a principal. He is now he was in a music education though for like 25 years. Okay. Yeah. He didn't say skip school. That was me. Who decided to do that? He said just work really hard. So I did, and I got a taste very early of holy crap. Like I got into the competition shortcut, right. Instantly became top of the class. I was failing earlier.Speaker 2 (00:21:16):I was like, that was just two weeks I was able to accomplish this. Right. So ever since then, that mentality has been baked in. And that's what I did immediately off the bat with solar. When I got me to just do it. And I was 19, I just came in. And my first week I blew in 65 hours at a mall kiosk talking to people. People are like, dude, what the hell is wrong with this kid? Like going on? I knew that if I put in the work, the work will take care of me to on that trumpet. It was a trumpet lesson I got from a famous jazz musician, his name's Roy Hargrove. And he gave this advice to everybody. He always says, if you take care of the music, the music will take care of you. Right. I apply the same thing with work.Speaker 2 (00:21:56):Take care of the work. The work takes care of you every time I've never seen it fail. That's good. Well, man, I think we kind of agree because on the same stuff, so maybe this isn't as much of a debate as we thought, because I think, I think I pretty much agree with most of that, but it's nothing to disagree with. I mean, we'll get into it more if you know what you want in life, which we have not touched on is a big part of this. If you'd know what you want with exact clarity and you know, what makes you happy? You'll do whatever it takes to get that. It's the people who don't know what they want that make up the excuses, the work-life balance. I'm going to take this day off this day off, stuff like that. Yeah. No, I agree. Fun. Interesting side note on David Goggins speaking to him. Um, I think I might've told this story a few episodes back at Sam Taggart, but he was supposed to speak at, at the door to door con events last time. But I guess you didn't show up because of COVID when all the other speakers did really David Goggins was a spooked. Didn't want to show up because of COVID I'm like, well, isn't he supposed to be the baddest mother effer on the planet talking to the show, honestly, we'll off. COVID capable of catching it.Speaker 2 (00:23:11):That's what I was saying. And then John's scare off COVID yeah. John Maxwell. Who's 80 years old shows up, but kind of like yeah, yeah. Goggins of all people. Yeah. He's he's gonna, you know, whatever. Yeah. Spending too much time in California. Maybe. Yeah. I get out. But yeah, no good stuff, man. So yeah, the only thing I'd add to that, and maybe we'll get into this too, but you kind of touched on it. They're just bigger than I think it depends on what are your goals in the industry? What are you trying to achieve? Um, speaking to that, I was just listening to podcasts the other day. Um, John Lee Dumas, he does the Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast and this guy has been making, um, doing 2 million revenue for like the past eight years. Um, so a super successful podcast, but he hasn't grown in like eight years.Speaker 2 (00:24:01):Just been 2 million too many years. So in this interview I listened to, he says, people ask him like, why don't you like, why haven't you scaled it? Why you just keep doing 2 million, don't want to don't you want to increase, increase by 5% a year or something. And his answer is no, that's not really my goal. I'm fine. I only work five days a month right now. Um, I have 25 days off those five days. I go extremely hard. I'm working like, you know, 16 hour days for five days, but then I have 25 days off. I have a team of like six people. Um, so yeah, I'm happy where it's at. And that's that's my goal is that I can just do whatever I want, have the freedom to be who I, uh, who I want to be with, where I want to be.Speaker 2 (00:24:45):And then have a business that I love doing. That's gets me excited to work those five days in a month. So I think it comes down to, or like, what are your goals? Are you trying to achieve that freedom? And I think I lean more towards that, which is maybe where we agree less. That's why I like the whole four hour workweek stuff. Cause, cause I'm the same as Johnny do, as I want to do whatever I want. And I like when I have my kids, I want to put them in sports and all that. Just be able to go to their games whenever I can and not have to be tied down to the work. So that's my goal. But maybe for the guy getting into it again, are you a new rep? Maybe you don't have a family. Maybe your goal is to just make as much money as possible.Speaker 2 (00:25:24):And um, your iron wheel wills, maybe you're going to knock eight hours a day for the next, um, two months. Even those guys, I think they still need to have their seasons and you know, go harder during other times. But yeah, I think that's another important factor in this. What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? Is it make as much money as possible or is it, you know, have time to have that freedom and to go where you want to go take days off when you want to take days off. So that's my other side of the, they respond on this. Yeah. I have an interesting perspective on this one. So I believe that if you're truly, I don't believe people are seeking freedom. That's where I'm going to disagree. I don't think the biggest thing people are seeking freedom. I think they're seeking happiness and someone's happiness.Speaker 2 (00:26:12):Can we agree on that? That people want to be happy. It's not because you can be free and unhappy. Can you agree with that? Yeah, that's true. Okay. So happiness is what we're really after as people, right? If you're truly happy and content with where you're at, um, you've succeeded at the highest level of my opinion, right? You have made it. That is success. Success doesn't have to be the fancy cars, the contests at your company, the vacations. It doesn't have to be that if you're happy without them. Okay. But my problem is the, and you see it all the time, the very exact moment that you end up desiring something else that you don't have. Maybe you get jealous that someone else is more successful in one area. Maybe you're jealous that some guys outperforming you at your company for a minute and you compare yourself a little bit and you say, man, I wish I could do that.Speaker 2 (00:27:10):And then you make an excuse on why you can't do that. That's my problem. And I would say that person is not truly 100% happy because they see that person, they see a part of themselves in that person, often case they'll say, Hey, maybe I could do that. I think I could, if I actually did what this guy did, I think I could accomplish that. Right. But what do they do? They say, they're not willing to put in the work to do that. It's not worth the sacrifices to make that happen. So if that's you and you say, Hey, it would be nice to make, I don't know, 500 grand a year selling solar, but I'm not willing to work the hours that is required. Then you need to do one of two things. One examine your work ethic and adjust to be in line with what you want or to step down and say, I would be okay without having that thing.Speaker 2 (00:28:03):And if that makes you happy then cool. But if it doesn't and you say, uh, I don't want to have to tolerate that. Right. That's when you know you've got to change something. Yeah, no, I think there's a ton of excuses in the industry too. I've had tons of reps on my teams, um, where basically they sell themselves out of a competition before it's even started. Oh dude, that's the worst of competitions then try to like give up. Yeah. Yup. Like, no, I'm not willing to, you know, push hard. So yeah. I don't really care. I just want to, you know, be happy. You just want to like quit. And so that's the other, that's nice. Don't think that person's happy. Yeah. I don't, I don't think they are. It's an excuse. Yeah. So they're complacent. So I say all this stuff, but honestly I think it is pretty dangerous for solar reps because a lot of people are telling themselves right now.Speaker 2 (00:28:54):Yeah. I'm happy. I'm fine. Just making a hundred grand a year. And um, cause I wanna, I want to go on my trips. I want to do my vacations and I want to do me and maybe, yeah, maybe those people are only working like three hours a week, three hours a day. We'll get into that about tactics. People don't work as hard as they think they work. That's the other side of this. Yeah. Cause I think it comes back to what you're saying at the end of the day, we can do way more than what we tell ourselves we can. Yeah. You're only using 40% of the brain or whatever. You can push way harder. That's why David Goggins. That's pretty much his whole basis of his book. Can't hurt me. That you can do way more than you think again, you just gotta be pushed to those levels. That's why he ran. He went through bootcamp or whatever with, I think it was a leg. Um, he ran, what was it like a hundred miles while he's was puking. He's done all of it. Yeah. He's bleeding. He's peeing blood, throwing up dehydrated, broken everything. Yeah. Yeah.Speaker 2 (00:29:57):Can I give you a formula on this that I use? So I have a formula I use when I'm coaching people for this stuff. And just so you know, like behind the scenes, I'm coaching a sales rep on that I've coached sales reps from zero to 500 K in their first year. I have one student who made a million bucks in a year. Um, all of it is mindset Taylor and I could agree like it's, it's all freaking mindset. There's, there's not that many tactics you need to know to make it. I remember the interview. I said I was reviewing with, uh, Ashton Buswell. Right. Um, he already said, he's like, I'm not the best sales guy in the world, but I just worked my guts out. That's the secret, right? Yeah. I've experienced the same thing. I'm not really good at anything. I'm just good at working pretty much.Speaker 2 (00:30:39):And that's the advantage. Um, but there is, there is this formula, use this three step formula on how I can basically help someone be aligned to figure out where they want to be. So this is what it is. This is the happiness, happiness formula. And this isn't my proprietary thing. I've gotten this from a lot of mentors, but one is, you got to know what you want out of life and exact clarity, right? Not just, oh, I want to have financial independence. That's not specific. How are you going to make your money is more important than if you actually make it okay. So how are you going to make your money? What's your house going to be like, right? What kind of cars are you going to drive? And the reason you get specific about all of these things is because the next time you see someone driving a fancy car and you're like a little jealous of it, you should have already determined in your mind.Speaker 2 (00:31:28):Pre-advance what kind of car you want to drive. And you're happy and content with, right? If you don't go all out and really paint a picture of what your entire life looks like, you're going to face problems with this. The person, person who is exactly clear on what they want is the most dangerous. Uh, second is you've got to get real about your capacities, abilities and talents as a person as well. So for example, let's say I wanted to go play basketball. I'm not LeBron James. Okay. I'm a skinny white kid who is not tall. He's not strong. I can't freaking dunk. I can't shoot free throws. Right? My coordination is so freaking bad. Anytime someone plays like a, so Joseph Taylor knows Joseph, right? My old business partner. I remember one time he came out to San Diego and we played like us who's ball or air hockey.Speaker 2 (00:32:21):This guy beats me 15 to zero. I literally lose every game, 15 games that are like, I have the worst coordination ever. Dude. It's terrible. So I can't be a top level sports player. It's not in the cards for zero chance. Right? So this is another thing I really hate too, is our cultures all everybody's equal. Right? Everybody could do whatever they want. They have no, they freaking can't. There's no way, Hey dude, it's like follow your passion, go work. And what you love follow you make a business out of it or all the business things, the worst. Right. Everybody's trying to pop up a business. Right? Like, and I used to think that I was one of these guys too, that maybe shouldn't be in business and that, you know, I'm here five years later and I'm still doing well with it. And I'm like, okay, that is in the cards for me.Speaker 2 (00:33:13):But since I was a kid, I was also hustling, like doing shoveling people's driveways and stuff like that since I was like eight years old. Right. Mowing lawns for people. Right. So it's like, that's been in the cards since I was a young age and I enjoy doing that. So I know my abilities and my gifts and talents that goes into my capacity. Right. So you have to understand that if you're not a great communicator and you're not great at, uh, selling people necessarily, right. Look at another facet of the solar industry. There's a lot of ways to make money. My partner, Joseph old partner, right. He's not great at sales, but he's really good at marketing and systems. He's really good at people and coaching, right? There's a spot everywhere. Maybe you're better at mentoring team members. Right. Maybe you'd be a better manager in solar.Speaker 2 (00:34:03):Right. So that's aspect two. And then three is what is the amount of effort you're willing to give? Okay. So sometimes people say, I want all the crazy stuff. I am super gifted and talented. I have all these persuasive skills. I'm great with people, but I'm not willing to work 60 to 80 hours a week to get it. Well, we've got to readjust something because guess what happens when someone's not aligned, Taylor all of the problems. We talked about addictions, anxiety, depression. Um, Taylor was watching my old, uh, video yesterday about like my personal story coming up in solar. Right. I used to have anxiety attacks a lot. And in the store, main story I talked about, I talked about the first time I had it, I was coming back from deployment. I'm driving home. And also my arm starts going numb. My next go numb.Speaker 2 (00:34:56):I'm like fricking busy season up the right half of my body is I had to pull over. I'm freaking out. I'm like, what the do, my vision's getting blurry. I'm like, dude, this is like a heart attack. Like what is this? Right. So I ended up getting in the back of an ambulance, heading off to the ER, right. And the guy's just like, dude, what the heck kind of stress do you have going on? And he's like, dude, it's not hard tech. It's like, you just have an anxiety attack. I'm like what? Uh, and the cause of that was very simple. My aspirations were here. I wanted to be one of the best solar reps in the entire plan. Right? Just number one guy. Right? My work ethic down here, I was working pretty hard, but I was not living up to my highest potential.Speaker 2 (00:35:42):I was not asking for the help getting the mentors I needed when I knew I should be. I wasn't living up to that potential. It wasn't putting the fuel in the tank. There was that misalignment and that's what caused all the problems. So in summary, you got to figure out what you want. What are your capabilities and talents, be honest about it. Ask others around you. Everybody has them. Okay? Like, it's not like there's, I don't believe anybody is born without a special, unique ability or talent. You've just got to find it. And they get the right amount of effort with your aspirations. If you want to make a million bucks a year in solar, newsflash, you're not going to do it working 30 to 40 hours a week. You're not, maybe you can 10 years from now. I know guys who do it, we've been in it for a decade.Speaker 2 (00:36:24):But the next decade, you better be willing to work 80 hours a week. Right? Yeah. Talk with your wife, talk with your family and say, Hey, the next five, 10 years, it's going to be, it's going to be intense, but this is why I'm doing it. This is important. Get on the same page. So yeah. I'm good. I love it. There we go. Yeah. I think another big myth, man. And you'd probably agree. So many people are just like, follow your passion, follow your dreams. If you don't love it, don't do it. But yeah, I've come to rise. I'm like against that man. Cause so many people they come in and they don't love solar. They don't love a few things and they quit. So I think the millennials, I don't know if it's millennials or what, but like it is millennials and yeah, it's the, it's the, it's the same.Speaker 2 (00:37:10):It's the same reason. Same cause of why we have the PC ultra dude. It's the same thing. Yeah. It's like, yeah. You're not going to love everything you do about what your job is, but like go out and work, go out and grind and go out. And yeah. So that's, you know, you got the Gary V side of things, Gary V is just like, you know, work, work, work, grind, grind, grind. Same thing we're talking about right here. Like if you really listen to what Gary's saying, he's not work, work, work. It's self-awareness it's what do you want? And you say, you want that, this is what you need to sacrifice. Like, are you willing to sacrifice? Yes or no? Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, but yeah, that's, that's a big problem. Especially here in San Diego, all these new people we try to hire drives me nuts.Speaker 2 (00:37:58):So many people just like quit. There I go. I don't want to make a ton of money about west coast. That's my biggest gripe about west coast since I moved back. So I moved back to Utah. Right? I was out in San Diego for a couple of years, LA right. West coast. My gosh, dude. Like if you want to be surrounded by people who go after it, it's not the place to be man. It's, it's uh, it's difficult to find a running mates. People who are willing to really go after it and don't want to just chill and smoke weed all day. Exactly. Yeah. It's tough. But anyways, so yeah, we spent a lot of time on question one. Yes. We jumped to question two. Yeah, go ahead. Your term. So question two is, what do you think is required to have success in the industry?Speaker 2 (00:38:50):Um, the good questions or just overall let's what are we thinking here? Is this like for the new guy? We kind of talked about that for me. I think it's pretty well. Whether you're new or old. For me, it's pretty much the same answer I think. But do you want to start that one out? Find some levels of success? Cause I, we just barely got off a rant on why you need to be defining what success is. So let's start with like, what's like the first level of success in solar. Would you say? Um, I would well, I would say depending on the market, and this is a tough one, because if we're talking about putting on the market, I mean, I've got a buddy that's out in North Carolina, he's he has a pest control company. He's making six, you know, I think 60, 70 grand a year or something like that. Super happy. Um, that's enough money for him to pretty much do whatever you want. So we're there. The bills is level one. You've replaced your job with the solar income. Okay. What is required to do that? Taylor?Speaker 2 (00:39:56):Um, well I think anyone starting out new in the industry, I think it's going to require no matter how you do it, if you're new in the industry, you're going to have to work extremely hard even to hit that level. In my opinion, it's the amount of people that fell in this. It's pretty astounding. We bring on dozens and dozens of new guys every few months. And if they're new to the industry, haven't done any sells. It's it's not, it's a steep learning curve for them because they've never knocked doors. They've never like, had to be their own boss and had to dig up the motivation to go out there and hit doors. How long, how long did it take you to start making a stable income in solar? Yeah, for me, I would say probably like two years, honestly, cause I was out here, but I came out single, just living with the dudes in like a company house.Speaker 2 (00:40:47):So for me, yeah, I paid, I had barely any expenses, so it's pretty, pretty quick to get to that point. But if it's someone that's coming with a family that's never done solar and never has a lot of expenses to pay. I think they're going to have to push extremely hard. And we've had guys that came in, realized this pretty quick that they're going to have to treat it like a full-time job and actually work 40 hour weeks to pay all their bills and get to that level. They weren't willing to do it. Like I thought I could just go out and knock like an hour and then show up to some appointments, make tons of money. But yeah. Yeah. Well it's 40 hours if you're actually working though. Yeah. I mean, that's why I think the target shouldn't even be 40. It should be like 60, at least, because most people they're not calibrated on what work actually is.Speaker 2 (00:41:35):We'll get into that tactics, but that's a good point. Yeah. So yeah. But yeah, no, I think to get to that level as a new rep, you got to put in some extremely hard effort and again, seasons, once you're, you know, know how to do all these things, no. To knock the doors, no. To close the appointments, which took me like two years, I would say to get to that point now. Yeah, I can. I'm pretty confident saying I could, I could go out and work probably three, four hour days and have enough money to pay my bills. Um, enough money to save on top of that. It's not going to get me way ahead, but yeah, I'm confident now that four years into this, I could spend four hours a day and be just fine. Save up some money. But yeah, anyone I think is going to need to put in a ton of effort to even get to that level.Speaker 2 (00:42:21):Unless you're like a natural born salesman. You hear though, Jordan Belfort, he talks about that. How he's a natural born salesman and he can do things way easier. So capacity and ability is higher, right? Yeah. That doesn't mean you could look at a guy like Jordan and say all he's he's cause take Jordan for example. Right. He could go and sell and putting in very little effort and still do better than the guy who sucks at sales and grinds his butt off. Right. Jordan could still beat that guy. Just like, like LeBron, James could beat me at basketball without trying. Right. And I could be sweating my butt off just going hard. Right. I could go and train for the next six months and it'll still be the same thing. Right. Because his capacity is higher. But does that make Jordan happier? Because he's playing at a low level. Absolutely not. Jordan is still has to realize his fullest potential put in the work to reach his highest potential as well. So when you see guys like that natural born sales guys, and they're just winging it, they're just as unhappy. Yeah, I agree. I mean, that's why you get like Connor McGregor, for example, about winning fights lately. And I think it's for him, he's achieved the money that success. I think he's lost money personally.Speaker 2 (00:43:39):That's tough. That is rare to find a guy who start, but the cutoff point I've seen where like 99% of sales reps start throwing in the towel is about 250 grand a year about a quarter million a year. That's when they say I'm good. I'm good. Yeah. I know people get complacent. So yeah, no, that's a big problem. Um, but yeah. What do you think? I don't even know if we got to the question really, but we just talked about that the entry level 60, 70 grand a year. Right? So above that, I think the next level on that, I'll just add into this too, to, to contribute to we won't trade off on it because we've kind of been going with it, but I'd say the next level is like that quarter million a year, right? That is uh, you're in the top. You're in the top 1% of the world income earners, top 10% in the U S if you make a quarter million year, right.Speaker 2 (00:44:38):It's enough where you pay your taxes, you can drive the car as you want. You could go to the events you want, you can take care of a family, right? It's fairly comfortable. You can invest some money into Bitcoin, whatever the heck you want. Um, quarter million, right? That kind of level. Um, I agree with Taylor when you're starting out, basically you should just work as much as you possibly can when you're starting out. Um, full-blown like, well, above 40 hours a week, you want to make that learning curve as quick as possible. You want to build that momentum. I think after you hit that point, um, it's a standard, I would say 40 to 50 men, 40 to 50. If you've been at it for a few years, you could do the two 50. Uh, I would even say five years, honestly. I would say it probably takes five years of that to get to where you can work a normal full-time hours, 40 hours a week at two 50.Speaker 2 (00:45:31):Um, on depends on if you want to reach it sooner. Yup. Oh yeah. Yeah. If you want to reach it sooner, I'd say double it. ADA, if you want to hit two 50, I've seen guys. So I've coached guys, uh, a guy, his name's Devin Koretsky he's in Texas. He hit 500 grand his first year. Right. Guy works 80 hours a week, like straight up. That's how you do it and like our real 80 hours a week. Wow. So yeah. And no, I mean, it's again, it's relative to like 250 grand in California. That's still good money. But like, I mean you got taxes. Yeah. Yeah. That's like a hundred grand in Utah texts to us. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, if you're in one of these level, then next level above that that's going to fall more into your CEO category. That's seven figures plus.Speaker 2 (00:46:27):So if you want to pull down a million bucks, I get this a lot. Right. So I was the big preacher back in the day. If you listen to my podcast, I talk about all the time, the million dollar income, like top, top, top tier, right? The truth is it's so freaking rare to find a guy who is willing to one has the abilities to get they're willing to put in the work ethic to get there, right. And sacrifices to get there. Um, that I don't even talk about it anymore because nobody freaking makes it and nobody's should I agree that most people should want to make that much money because reality is you don't need all of the crap that you could buy with a million bucks a year. Most people don't, they really just want to impress other people. They want to look cool with this, this, this, right.Speaker 2 (00:47:14):And that doesn't really make them happy. There are a few small percent where it does make them happy. Being able to contribute, take care of other people, donate to their church or their foundations and stuff like that, that kind of person. And that does make them happy. They have to work and live an entirely different lifestyle. There's no such thing as weekends. There's no, I'm going to be at home, having dinner with my wife every night at six o'clock. Right. It doesn't happen. You talk to your wife and you say, Hey, I'm not going to be able to make it to dinner every night. Right. Are you okay with that? Just that communication going on. Um, so yeah, that, that is just a complete level. Like your mindset is not your mindset switches from what's the least amount I could do to put into this to what's the most amount to, uh, able to tolerate.Speaker 2 (00:48:04):It's not like, Hey, how many hours can I just put in and get my it's like, how much am I willing to go? So the breaking point. Yeah. And yeah, again, I think that's why it's important to have like a rush where you have a month where you go extremely hard, see what that level is, see what you had to give up to actually hit that. Yep. Maybe for some people say that, right? Yeah. I did that. And so for some people maybe it's like, oh, I actually had to give up a lot less than I thought to achieve this level. Cause a lot, a lot of guys again are just telling themselves, oh, I'm not going to have them. That level of success. That's going to require me to like cut out everything. I'm going to be unhappy. I'm going to have to spend way less time with my, uh, you know, my kids, my wife, husband, where if you do this big push, maybe it's maybe it's way better than you thought.Speaker 2 (00:48:55):And another principle that I think we've talked about before is the, I think it's a Parkinson's effect or whatever. It's like Parkinson's law, Parkinson's law, whatever amount of time you have, you'll get what you need to done. And that level of time, a lot of guys they're, they're spending time on tasks. They're spending like three hours on stuff that they could possibly do in like an hour. Um, so it's not cited according to like, are you doing that big rush and maybe things that are taking you four hours right now, maybe just the fact that you're working harder, have more appointments stacked on top of each other, stuff like that. Maybe you'll get those same things done in an hour. So that's why, how about like bills? That's a good perspective on that as guys will say, oh, I've got till this time in the month to get money for my rent, basically that's a common one.Speaker 2 (00:49:44):I see where Parkinson's laws in real effect. Here's a cool exercise for you guys that are in that boat. Like just month to month bills at paying the thing, really set a deadline with yourself. That's the we're on a stat tomorrow's May 1st right. Go and say, I need to make all of my bills for the month, by the end of the first week of May and pretend like it's the last week of May. Right? And guess what freaking happens, dude. Everybody really does this. It's just like, boom. They make it happen. And it's like, what, what happened? Right. Same thing. I know. It takes me back to my college days. I would spend like weeks on a report on like a paper I had to write and I was not get anything done. And then somehow magically the night before the due date, I knew I had to get done.Speaker 2 (00:50:33):So I'd stay up and get it all done. And like a night when I was working on it before that, but I just didn't have the push to get it done. So it's like, and I think you told me, didn't you have times where you, you had to pay your employees, make payroll and stuff and all the money to pay him. And then you just pulled cells out of your butt at the day before payroll is due. I've done that my entire life, basically. Um, anybody who has started a company and just went through the grind of learning, how to manage a company, hire people, pay for payroll, stuff like that. Um, and maybe they're not as great as at finances. They're good at making it, but they're not good at managing it like me. Um, I've had to do that so many times where it's like, I've got to make payroll next week for all of my people, what am I going to do?Speaker 2 (00:51:18):Something went down a bunch of deals. Didn't go through something like that. Where, where am I going to come up with this cash? And it's just the commitment level on that. Right. And just doing whatever it takes to get there. And it happens, man, if you stay open to things and you take control of your mind and you stay positive stuff comes your way. Like every time if you're aligned, putting in the effort, doing all that stuff we talked about. Yeah. That's good stuff. Well, we'll get to tactics. Yes. We jumped to number three and then wrap this baby up. Okay. You're up? All right. So number three is what would your, your advice to someone who is, or what would you advise to someone who is struggling with work life balance the tactics? Okay. So here's what I would advise is something I actually just barely got through doing.Speaker 2 (00:52:05):Um, and it's a 75 hard, which probably I did actually a podcast episode. So you can go back and listen to the episode, just kind of what I learned from it. But the reason I'm saying this is because 75 Harvard, it forces you to be consistent on things in your life. And we're probably gonna create one, actually geared towards solar thinking. That'd be a good idea. Um, but it forces you to just do these little tasks every day. You, uh, you know, two 45 minute workouts drink a gallon of water, read your 10 pages. Um, take a progress picture. You have to do them for 75 days straight. And I think that's the single biggest thing that's holding this industry back is guys just aren't consistent. Okay. And even if you, even, if you just worked, I don't know, five hours a day, whatever, like just kind of the minimum, it's going to make you probably six figures or whatever.Speaker 2 (00:52:57):If you do that, you're going to at least achieve success. But the reason why so many people are filling in this industry is they're not doing those things. They get one cell on the week and then guess what they're dropping down to like maybe two hours the next day, or they're not pushing as hard where if you just were consistent, um, you're going to achieve way better results. It kind of reminds me of like the stock market. I've read this tactic on like the stock market, um, where guys try to like the curve. They'll try to invest when it's low and then have it go high. So dump a bunch of money in guys will lose money and everything. But a big tactic that people do in the stock market is just put in a consistent amount of money every month, whether it's high, whether it's low.Speaker 2 (00:53:40):And you're almost guaranteed to see returns on that because you're just putting in consistent money. It's consistently going to grow it's compound effect. So that's my thing is for something tactical, go out and do like a challenge like 75 hard, and then just figure out what you're going to commit to. Um, Michael Donald though, who everyone, probably the number one solar cells guy. This is his big thing too, is just doing them all the mini habits. So figure out what small things you're going to commit to for him. It's like between appointments, he's going to knock until he gets at least one no between every appointments. So that's what he's committing to and that's what he's being consistent with. And yeah, he saw huge, huge results. So that's what I think is something tactical, go out and do a challenge and then figure out what you can commit to.Speaker 2 (00:54:26):That's what I think. What about you, James? I agree with the challenge. So number one, I have five short tactics. So recalibrate your definition of work-life balance. We've talked about it a bit. See what you're actually capable of. Do an event, do a challenge. I bet you 75 hard showed you what you're capable of mentally, right? Like, oh, I, it felt impossible at day 15 here I am day 75. I'm still rocking. Right? Get one of those moments where you just go all out. Like I'm talking about you sacrifice every single thing in your life for that one thing, while it may not be what you want to be. Long-term you need to see what you're capable of as a person. That's my belief there. Uh, number two is determine who you want to really be, who you actually want to be, not what other people want you to be, right?Speaker 2 (00:55:15):There's a big misconception on that. Do you actually want the things you're talking about? And if that's true, you'd be willing to sacrifice things to get there, which we'll get to point number three is prioritize actions, not time. So this is the employee mindset versus the entrepreneur mindset, the Solarpreneur mindset. If you're in sales, you work on a commission. You need to have an entrepreneur mindset, not the employee mindset. The employee mindset is it takes X amount of time to do X. Okay. Completely wrong. You can just switch out of that and focus on action. So don't focus on working 40, 60 hours a week. Like we're talking about focus on hitting four appointments, a day, six appointments a day, whatever that level is to break down your goal, hit that if it's one appointment a day, do it knocking a hundred doors a day, do it.Speaker 2 (00:56:04):You need to have those measurable KPIs. And if you break it down and really say, oh, okay, it takes me two hours to knock 30 doors, 35 doors, something like that. Right. I don't know the stats are there. Okay. You can break that down and say that's actually two hours of, but what if you were able to cut it down to 90 minutes? I've seen guys who ride around like a, uh, like an electric scooter in between doors and stuff like that. Segway I've even seen. I've had a student who rides a segway. Yeah. He timed himself. He cut off 30 minutes today for writing that segue and was able to get an extra 30 minutes and knocking it. Okay. And if you can knock five doors in that and set one extra appointment, that one extra appointment a day compounded over six days a week appointments a week, six, 12, 1824 appointments, extra a month close one in five.Speaker 2 (00:56:58):That's fine deals, dude. Yeah. From writing a fricking segue. See what I'm saying? So the top pro guy who focuses on actions and shaving off that fluff stuff, uh, the next one is never sacrificing the urgent for the important. So a lot of guys mismanaged their time because something comes up, uh, a delivery shows up. I'm terrible at this. Like, I love Amazon packages. Right. I get Amazon packages like almost daily. And I want to just go to the mailbox and check them out in the middle of the day. Right? Yeah. Or set something up that I got. And then there goes the rest of my fricking afternoon, getting distracted by some dumb Amazon thing. When I could've just batched it on one day a week and made it my Amazon day. Right. Um, that's sacrificing the urgent quote unquote for the important, another one I've had with guys who are married as well is they take, uh, family calls throughout the day.Speaker 2 (00:57:55):So they're working right. And they should be at work like grinding hard to 11 to 3:00 PM. Their wife just calls them here and there and nothing wrong with communicating with your spouse. And you should. Right. But when your spouse is, cause I, you know, I'm not married, but I know it. I know it happens at these conversations. It's like, oh little Johnny did this little Johnny there's this problem. Can you believe whoever said this, that's planting distractions in your mind. You can't get that focus back. So have that conversation with your spouse and say, Hey look like we're both on the same page with this goal, this lifestyle we want to create. This is what's got to happen. Get honest about it. Clear that stuff. Uh, next one is you said this great place, the important things first. So date night with your wife, that's important.Speaker 2 (00:58:45):Do it first. All of my mentors who are happily married men, they've got four or five kids, right? They've been married 25 years. They say this time and time again. That's what I'm going to apply to. When I get married as well is date night. I'll put it in. Boom. Lock it in the calendar. It's an appointment with your wife. Some of the guys I know literally set it up on Calendly with a scheduling tool with their wife and have the wife book at it. Like if she wants to talk to them, book it on a calendar. It's, it's a serious appointment, right? If that's important to you do it. If the gym Taylor just got back from the gym, right? That's important. Block that baby in. If I don't block in the gym, I'm never going to the gym. Right? I'll forget about it.Speaker 2 (00:59:27):Has to be scheduled. Um, last thing, and it's my biggest, one of all is once you know all of the above, you know what you want, you know what you're capable of. You gotta be ruthless and cutting out everything that is not moving you towards that. This is the stuff you are screaming inside because you don't want to cut. This is the video games. This is the junk food is the distractions. This is the tough conversations with your spouse. This is the social media scrolling. This is checking the Amazon packages. This is the sleeping in, this is the not working out. When you know you should be taking care of your health. This is the eating, the fast food. Realize that though, the, those though, these things seem small and manual, they make up the entire difference because when you compound these little bad choices over time, like Taylor says, if you're consistently doing these little things good or bad, they will completely make or break your entire life and your happiness.Speaker 2 (01:00:29):I made this firm decision this last year that I was going to get like really serious about cutting out distractions. Like YouTube. I love scrolling around watching freaking YouTube videos. Right? Uh, another one I cut to was video games. This last year I went off the walls and played video games, like super hard for like a month, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. It was toxic for me like dude. So I love FIFA, right? I'm a huge FIFA guy. Right? I played FIFA 21. When it came out for like an entire week straight 12 hours a day. This is what happens when I have video games around. It's like, okay, I can't even work if the stuff's here. So what did I do? I fricking, literally sold my gaming laptop, sold all the freaking controllers, got rid of all of the stuff out of the house. It's not available.Speaker 2 (01:01:19):And I committed. I'm like, this is not me. This is not my potential. This stuff does not belong in my life. It's not what I want. It's not what makes me happy. It's gone. I've done the same thing with alcohol pornography, junk food, all of that crap. So if you want to keep on, keep hold of those things, just realize it's going to cost you everything if it's not in align with your goals. Yeah. My drop love it. Nuggets freaking nuggets right there. So I love it. We've covered a lot. And um, long, longer episodes, let us know what you thought, guys. We covered a ton of material in there. Um, so hopefully you took some notes, cause that is a ton of stuff to cover. Um, but James, actually, speaking of appointments actually got ahead to one here. I'm going to close up someone here, here in about 45 minutes.Speaker 2 (01:02:12):So better wrap this up. But um, let us know if you like these kinds of debate style. And I guess this one wasn't as much of a debate because I think we actually saw eye to eye on pretty much everything, but by the end of the day, I don't think there's going to be a debate, but I don't think there's anything really to debate there bro. Cause like, I mean it's just principles. This is what is going to get you to success. So I think in this one it's pretty, uh, white and black for me, like pretty clear that these things are going to cause success. These things aren't so, uh, James, thanks for coming on the show. Um, any last words before we wrap up, that's it guys. We'll see on the next show and uh, thanks again. Peace.Speaker 1 (01:02:53):Hey Solarpreneurs. Quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs, and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day. For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level. That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community, exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry. And it's called Solciety. This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give solar pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and to help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds. For, are you ready for it? Less than $3 and 45 cents a day currently society's closed the public and membership is by invitation only, but Solarpreneurs can go to society.co to learn more and have the option to join a wait list. When a membership becomes available in your area. Again, this is exclusively for Solarpreneur listeners. So be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now. Thanks again for listening. We'll catch you again in the next episode. 

In this episode, you'll learn how childhood trauma impacts our ability to engage with people and how it holds us back from truly having the life and love that we dream of. Riana shares 10 childhood traumas that sabotage us in life, love, relationships, and business GUEST BIO: Riana Milne MA is a Certified, Global Life & Trauma Recovery Coach, a Certified Clinical Trauma Addictions Professional & a Certified Mindfulness Coach. She is also the host of her podcast, Lessons in Life & Love, and a Licensed Mental Health Counsellor. Riana is the author of 'Love Beyond Your Dreams - Break Free from Toxic Relationships to Have the Love You Deserve is available from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Riana-Milne/e/B00J7CCT3I%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share Website: https://RianaMilne.com Podcast: https://LessoninLifeandLove.com Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/RianaMilne [00:11:48] Right? Okay. So here's the first one. Your caretakers are mom and dad. Did they have any addiction? Now? I'm an addiction specialist. So I name addictions that maybe people haven't thought of, but there's drugs and alcohol sex, meaning you knew your parent was cheating, but you couldn't tell anyone porn, gambling, hoarding spending. [00:12:11] Eating gaming TV, watching workaholism. And now I've added social media addiction. You're on the computers all the time. Ignoring your child. Okay. So that's addiction. Number two is verbal abuse. Now you could have watched them. Mommy they're fighting and yelling. They could have been yelling at you quite a bit in the household. [00:12:34] It also includes verbal slights or put downs, like change that outfit. You look fat in that, you know, something like that, or never hearing compliments like way to go kiddo on proud of you or even hearing the words I love you. So verbal is quite important as we go through the other, uh, outcomes. Number three is emotional abuse or neglect. [00:12:59] Number four is physical abuse, rape or molestation, and these could have happened inside or outside of the home. So you can add a perfect home life, but you go for school and you got beat up every day, going to school. That's an issue. Okay. The next one is a pretty important one too. That's based around the abandonment and I identify faults and no faults abandonment. [00:13:22] So I know false abandonment would be if a parent happened to die early. If they go, went off to war or, and believe me, we working in the schools as a trauma counselor, my little elementary kids who are we're just so blanked out, they couldn't study, they couldn't learn. Cause they're just so worried is my mom and dad going to come home alive. [00:13:42] So military kids have a lot of trauma ongoing in their mindset. Um, it also could be a parent that travels a lot. Um, and that's how they supported the family. And I could identify with that when I'm like, oh my gosh. I remember now asking my mom as a little [00:14:00] kid. Where's dad and when's he coming home? And my mom would never know much later in life. [00:14:05] We found out my dad was CIA FBI. You can't tell your family where you are and what you're doing. But as for a child that was very unnerving because I was very close to my dad. I was always wondering if he's okay, but that's how he supported the family. Okay. So that's a no fault, a fault abandonment. It would be never being in the child's life, being in the child's life until the couple stays together. [00:14:28] When. Because it breaks up. They're pretty much gone and they're gone emotionally and physically. And the third one is that parent may be still in their house, but emotionally they're absent. So they're not spending time with a child. They don't go there. Athletic games or art shows. They're just not stepping up. [00:14:46] They're just not that involved or concerned with the kids. So that's an emotionally checking out. Okay. The next one is being part of adoption, being adopted part of the foster care system. Or needed to [00:15:00] live in another person's home because your parents couldn't keep you at that house. They lost their house. [00:15:05] They couldn't afford to have you with them. Okay. Trauma number seven is one of the ones that people recognize the most. We call this personal trauma that when I could identify, it's like, yes, I was skinny and gawky and I was teased in middle school horribly. Okay. So anywhere you felt different, you could have been an overweight and chubby child called the nerd. [00:15:29] Um, You could have had a medical issue like asthma. So you had to walk around with a inhaler and you couldn't go to the sports and sit down with Jim. You could have been identifying as LGBTQ and you were afraid to say anything or people teased you because you were different. It could have been racial. [00:15:46] You might've been an African-American and a primarily all white school and they just didn't accept. You didn't feel the same. So there could be so many different things wrapped around trauma. Number seven, you just didn't feel good enough fit in or feel [00:16:00] worthy for some reason. Trauma number eight is sibling trauma. [00:16:04] Most often this one is when you identify your sibling as being the golden child, they were favored. For some reason, they could have been more handsome or beautiful, the athletic star, uh, the better student, um, or they could have bullied. You. And another reason is I could have been born with the medical issue that commanded more of moms and dads time. [00:16:27] And they were with them more than you. And you felt slighted now, trauma number nine. This is one that everyone can relate to today. So this is one of your 10 going on right now. It's called community trauma and under community trauma is our reactions to COVID. Okay. This is a packing everyone around the world. [00:16:46] Think about our little people that can't go to school, have to wear mask can play with friends. Don't know if their mom and dad are going to get sick. Are they going to die? You know, all these frightening. Things traumatic [00:17:00] statements on the news, um, that are impacting us every day. So whether an adult or a child, we're all going through this community trauma. [00:17:09] Now, other community traumas are floods, fires, mudslides. Uh, our mass shootings are school shootings. A tack on our Capitol. I mean, us watching that in America was like, oh my God, are we serious right now? This is happening in our world and our country. So anything affecting the community and this is getting worse and worse and worse as time goes on. [00:17:34] I'm a baby boomer. So when I was growing up, we barely had community trauma. It was in the later list because there are more than 10 traumas. But I had to bring it down to trauma. Number nine, now trauma. The other part of trauma number nine is family trauma. So now let's think of all the families impacted by people being laid off stores and businesses. [00:17:53] Closing no income kids afraid if they're going to have. Or the, the [00:18:00] bill, you know, the lights are going out off or they don't have heat or air conditioning. All these are happening today. Right? Other family traumas, living in a dangerous neighborhood. You're afraid of that. The military families move every two to four years that puts the child in a new school every time. [00:18:18] Uh, if you have an incarcerated parent, So there's a lot around the family trauma piece, lack, monetary lack, and that went impacts a lot of people in business decisions. If they've come from that statements of lack. And then in trauma, number 10 is any mental health issues in mom or debt. Now, baby boomers, we often did not see our parents going to counseling. [00:18:43] It rarely existed. So we kind of have to guess. The two most difficult mental health is, um, bipolar and borderline personality disorder is, are the toughest for children to negotiate. So borderline [00:19:00] I describe it as fast trigger anger. You never know what you're going to get when they're bad, they're really horrid, but then they have really good moods too. [00:19:09] So the moodiness is all over the place and it keeps a child in a very anxious state. Bipolar is the other one, which is manic depressive. Depression shows up as extreme exhaustion, um, checking out emotionally or even anger when you're depressed and a manager. Face could be a gambling spree, eating binge spending spree when you don't have money. [00:19:33] Um, and then that adds to all the anxiety around watching these manic behaviors. And even as a child, you know, like why is she buying that we don't even have money to eat? You know? So is [00:19:48] WENDY: [00:19:48] alcohol a part of that too, with the manic side of depression? [00:19:51] RIANA: [00:19:51] Well, any type of addiction, compulsion acting out, but that usually would go under trauma. [00:19:57] Number one, if there's addiction in the house. Yeah. 00:20:00] WENDY: fascinating. I like as you're going through and I'm sure everybody listening too. I'm like, is that one me? Is that one me? Oh, that one's me. Okay. That one's me. That's right. So, so talk to me a little bit about like, people obviously were just going through the exercise that I just went through. So once we've identified, which of the top 10 traumas we've experienced? Then what [00:20:25] RIANA: then what? Well, if they are, my clients are coming to me for a discovery session, I do that in one hour. I give them four assessments, five assessments, actually, we go through all of them and then I look at the severity levels. [00:20:38] Well, do you remember getting punished with about. Weiss. And that was pretty bad. What number would you give that one to 10? Well, they might say maybe a four, you know, and then there's other people that say, why come home every day to a beading and that's a 10. So we have to do the severity levels of where they felt they feel on that scale. [00:20:58] And then once we got that, now we go into, if they signed up to coach with me, we start with healing, the trauma first. Creating that life dream that they have, like, what do you want in your life? And let's get rid of the trauma. That's holding you back, keeping you stuck in fear, negativity, self doubts, raise your self esteem, raise your confidence, give you the mindset for success tools. [00:21:24] And when we've got all that for my singles, when they're feeling really great about who they are. They are the life they want. They cleaned up any financial, legal problems. They've got a good relationship with their kids. Their kids aren't angry anymore. We work with all of that. Then they get the dating and love piece. [00:21:41] What does the emotionally healthy, evolved and conscious relationship look like? And part of it is really understanding the 10 traumas in themselves and in another. So just even on your first or second date, my clients have like 25 questions that does he just casually ask. Okay. And they know, yes, this person is healed or this person by good luck and God bless. [00:22:04] I'm moving on to the next one. So you learn to identify early, what's emotionally healthy and what's not. And why the why's the most important part. Um, but you should know how this plays out. Like what are the characteristics that come up, right. If you had this or you see this in your X, so those are that you that are divorced and moving on from that look. [00:22:28] That the singer X and see how many of these they had. Okay. So one is lying and manipulation. Where'd that come from? Let's take a little boy that had a very strict, angry punishing father, and this kid was supposed to get all A's and B's and he came home with a. F on his report card. He tried to change it to an a, because they had avid sign. [00:22:49] It's like, oh my God, that works. So he learns to become an expert liar and manipulator because otherwise, if he didn't, he would've gotten beat for childhood things that kids do. Right. And these parents want their kids to be perfect. And if they don't, they get beat. So they learn lying as a survival tool. [00:23:10] Right. It's a coping mechanism. Okay. Let's talk about jealousy and control that when comes, if you had trauma number seven and trauma number two, which were those verbal messages that were punishing or put downs, leaving you, not feeling worthy enough, pretty enough, handsome enough, whatever. And you're jealous because you think that partner who's so great is going to go after someone else, even though he's doing all the right things consciously he's okay. [00:23:39] Calling you and he's texting you and he says, he loves you. All those things are great, but you still have this underlying fear that there's going to be somebody else. Okay. Let's talk about men who cheat. Why are they cheap? They usually looking for adoration. They go to had a bad relationship with their mom, also trauma number seven, trauma, number two, they didn't feel good enough. [00:24:03] They might've been a chubby kid. Some know like them now that they grew into the man and they're kind of handsome. They want women to adore them. Now I see a lot of dynamic. I get a lot of women successful in business, but struggle in love. And this one happens a lot. They might go for that charm, enhance some guy, but is not on her success level. [00:24:25] And initially these relationships they're very attentive. They're loving, they'll do anything for you. And then four months to nine months in the research shows, as soon as things start getting serious. Is going to start controlling you or asking you to make love. And he's like, well, I got an eight o'clock meeting. [00:24:43] I can't be late. Oh, come on, come on. And they try to convince you. And you know, so they're starting little by little to whittle away at your power and control that you have for yourself and in the workplace. Just to step up. I mean, if you ladies have seen dirty John or, and if you haven't, you should see it on Netflix. [00:25:02] It is the classic example of someone with childhood trauma who became a sociopath and what sociopath's do. And he actually became psychopathic in the end. And the differences are psychopath is a sociopath, um, and narcissists who kills. A sociopath is someone who uses someone for pleasure or profit and lifestyle. [00:25:25] So if you are earning more than that, man, and initially they seem like the great partner. You could be better. Be careful if they're an underlaying, if they're not as successful as you, they could be sociopathic and wanting your life and trying to do everything to win your love and attention. But these are probably going to be toxic over time. [00:25:46] So you have to be super careful on that. Um, so that's where jealousy and control comes from. And sociopathy people pleasing is something a lot of women do. They let's take a [00:26:00] woman that had a difficult mom, let's say she was an alcoholic. So she, as the older sister used to get the siblings ready for school and out to the bus stop and do all the morning chores instead of the mom, because the mom was hung over and was grouchy and angry in the morning. [00:26:15] So she overdid and she learned if she did that, she received love back. And compliments, thanks Han for taking care of the kids or whatever. Um, so she learned this as a coping mechanism. It became normalized. And then I see these couples later, whether a woman says I don't get it. I do everything for him and my kids. [00:26:36] And nobody shows me the kind of love and respect that I give to them. And their boundaries are so stretched doing, doing, doing to get love back. Right. And again, this is all unconscious. It all comes from, you know, uh, these behaviors that became so normalized abandonment issues. If you have abandonment issues in your life, this is where we see love addiction, [00:27:00] codependency. [00:27:01] And the repetitive breakups cycle of toxic people and the research shows if you're in a toxic relationship and toxic attracts toxic, okay. That's how they get together. Then, um, they go back and forth, breaking up, making up over and over again, seven times until the healthier partner says I can't stand this anymore. [00:27:25] This is ridiculous. You know, the person sway heirs are got changed. They changed it's usually 10 days is the average. The things are good. And then it gets stocks like again, and we call that the cycle of abuse or cycle of toxic relationships. Um, perfectionism by the way, I mean, yeah, isn't it perfectionism wanting your partner to be perfect. [00:27:50] Um, these are the guys that want that perfect woman by their side. Even if they're not, they want that size for a woman with a per perfect skin and [00:28:00] hair and dress. And why? Because they got no attention as kids. So they're using again, that woman to be the it couple. And, you know, God forbid you go up a dress size. [00:28:11] They're all over you. But the controlling and jealous man will change the way you dress. Right? So none of them are good, a blaming behavior. They never take responsibility. It's always your fault or not willing to talk to you. Passive aggressive behavior. Where's that come from? In other words, they shut down. [00:28:30] They won't talk through an issue. There'll be mad at you and put you into the silent treatment for two days. Um, that comes. From they learned as a kid. If I speak up and say, what's on my mind or my feelings about it, I'm going to get whacked across the face. So they totally shut down. That is their coping skill. [00:28:49] Right? So these men have a hard time, uh, talking about their feelings. So there's so many, those are just a few [00:28:58] WENDY: I literally could sit here and listen to you all day. I, this is so fascinating because it's like, what happens, right. If people don't, what I love about what you're sharing is that, I mean, I don't know about everybody listening, but you to past relationships and even my ex-husband I'm like. [00:29:15] Oh, my God, this makes so much sense now. Or, or this person I broke up with that I was dating. Thank God. I broke up with him because you know, oh, M G right. So yes. So how can somebody start stepping into the healing process of this? Right, because I imagine that if they don't do the work, right, I say this in divorce. [00:29:36] If you don't do the work, you're going to just keep duplicating. That's right. [00:29:40] RIANA:   You're going to keep duplicating these types of relationships. You're going to keep attracting the same type. And that's what everyone that comes to me. It's like, oh my God, I've had the same type of person over and over again. [00:29:51] What's the matter with me. And like I said, I get their point of frustration. I was there in their shoes. Right. So it's a huge learning. Curve. Right.   And you're not just going to go out and pick up a self-help book and get this. No, this is all based on psychological research. So I describe it like a rainbow, your start at the place where you don't know what you don't know, and that's perfectly fine. [00:30:13] We do the deep dive into the childhood. Trauma piece and recognize how your traumas are impacting you now, what you're attracting into your life and why then we have to rewrite the story. We have to do some reparenting. We do capping, and then we do a lot of holistic things. I do vitamin therapy for my people meditation. [00:30:34] None of my people are on anti, um, psychotropic drugs, like, uh anti-anxiety or anti-depression meds. No, my people are all for those. Once we get started, there's only 33% success rate there. Rest is placebo and the side effects are bad. So I do everything holistically. I haven't looked at your diet right. [00:30:53] Everything right. Your space that you're living in, I check everything. So it's a learning [00:31:00] curve. And as you do better and you're feeling better about your life, you're going up the rainbow, but then you're going to slip and then you'll go up. But then you slip and people are like, well, what is the slippage? [00:31:08] Why do I have to slip? And it's because the unconscious is so strong. Most people just act without thinking. That's the unconscious in control. So what I'm teaching you with the mindset for success is to have total conscious awareness, 24 seven before you speak, right? Anything texts, anything these thoughts go through your mind and you've learned to slow down the anxious thoughts. [00:31:36] Now all my people with childhood trauma usually have ongoing anxiety. That's one of the ways you can identify yourself. Like if you're always feeling anxious all the time, that's a sign. There's a lot of internal healing to do because trauma stays stored in the brain and the body cells and all my trauma education to become certified as. [00:31:58] The professional   was saying that trauma recovery is about six months long. Right? So we have to do the practices of all these different techniques and what person a gets is going to be different than person B and person C. And it's very individualized because nobody came from the same environment. Or the same story, right? [00:32:20] So I have to work with you to put your individual puzzle together. And the cool thing is with this workbook I put together that's 150 pages. How you answer is how I then teach you to do the things that you need to do to change, heal, and grow and transform. So it's all back and forth interactive like a team. [00:32:42] Yep. Yeah. And that's why I love coaching versus counseling, you know? Yeah. I've been a licensed mental health counselor for 21 years, but my people have texts access to me. If they need me, boom. They can reach me because I understand the state of trauma. That they need help.   So it's a, like a coach in your pocket for six months. [00:33:03] It's a very different approach to healing growth and creating the life you desire. And that's what my people do. And then when they go out dating, they're ready, they're feeling amazing. They know that they're the whole package. They know all the dating do's and don'ts. Trust me. I armed them with all of that. [00:33:21] The questions to ask who is emotionally healthy and who's not. And why. Yeah.     [00:33:27] WENDY:  everybody listening, you hear me say this all the time. You hear every guest that comes on my show, say this, you've got to do the work. And you've got to do the work with somebody who knows what they're doing. [00:33:37] Right. You've got to do the work before you start moving forward with it. What your next life looks like and, oh my goodness. Brianna, thank you so much for being here. I'd love for you to just leave our audience with one final tip, um, that we maybe haven't gotten to yet to, to help them in this process.  [00:34:00] RIANA:   Sure for singles. I always say, be who you want to attract. So before you go out there dating, if you know, you have some things you have to work on, invest in yourself and do that first, do not be dating because you might meet a fantastic guy that says, whoa, She, I don't like her energy. She's too negative. [00:34:19] Right? So the first who you want to attract for singles, so important, get the skills that you really need, which is psychology spirituality. There's a whole lot of edge that you need to compete in single world. So get that first couples, if you're in a relationship and you're not sure if you're going to stay or go, um, You sign up first. [00:34:42] And I have a married man right now that says she doesn't want to do it. And I don't know if I want to stay in this marriage. We've been in counseling for a year together and it's getting worse. And I'm about to tell her to leave my house. And I said, Then you do it, not a problem. So I'll call him bell. [00:34:59] And  on the third session she says, oh, you know, she's here. And she just wants you to know, thank you. You have been changing so much already. And by the fifth session, he goes, I feel better than I ever had in my life. She actually came on to me for the first time in two years with some intimacy and sexual advances. [00:35:18] Why before he was pushing at her, he was lazy. He was watching too much TV. He wasn't working like he was, he wasn't shaving. He smelled. And he even admitted by the second session, he goes, oh my God, I'm the narcissist. I thought all the problems were her. But, and I said, good for you. Great. For that insight, he goes, oh, I'm this I'm that? [00:35:39] And I said, no, no, no, no. Don't put yourself down. These are just outcomes from what you experienced from a very critical toxic mother. Right. So now let's just heal those things. Right. So, you know, you start, if you're in a couple of relationship and if they don't want to, it doesn't matter. Now he's happier than ever. [00:35:59] She's attracted. Their marriage is taking off and she goes, I can't believe this is working. We've been in a year for therapy and. This is your fifth session. [00:36:08] WENDY: Wait a minute. And this is the power of, of what you do, right? This is a power. I believe the power in just coaching overall, right. Is, you know, I, I'm a huge proponent of therapy. [00:36:18] I think therapy is important for many reasons. And at the same time, there's other ways that you also get to heal that address other issues that therapy doesn't necessarily. Well, [00:36:30] RIANA: [00:36:30] as I learned, we don't learn this in our college prepar that ration for our licenses. We don't get it now. So most therapists will not know how to go deep with this top. [00:36:41] Yeah. Just because we didn't get it. Exactly.

Graduation season is here! Whether your young adult is just out of high school or completing a college degree, there's a lot to consider when it comes to diabetes. We've got a roundtable discussion with a lot of frank talk about T1D in college. Recent graduate Shay Webb and college senior Haley Owens talk about everything from what to do when a professor doesn't care about accommodations, to deciding how visible you want diabetes to be, to what they want parents to know. We're also joined by Anna Floreen Sabino of the College Diabetes Network. Webb and Owens are both CDN NextGen Fellows.  This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.   Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Episode Transcription Below   Stacey Simms  0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health. Manage your blood glucose levels, increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom.   Announcer  0:21 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  0:27 This week, lots of graduations this time of year and whether your young adult is just out of high school or completing their college degree. There's a lot to consider when it comes to diabetes.. Frank talk about T1Din college.   Shay Webb  0:41 Sometimes it's the people you don't expect to pick up on things who actually picked up on it rather than the authoritative figures who you're expected to report to don't always want to pick up on it or want to actually have responsibility for it because they feel like if they have responsibility for it, that's their liability when in reality, it's your diseases your body. We just need your ally ship.   Stacey Simms  1:06 That's Shay Webb she graduated last year Shay and Haley Owens, a college senior. Join me in a conversation about everything from what to do when a professor doesn't care about accommodations to deciding how visible you want diabetes to be to what parents need to know. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. We are glad to have you along. You know we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. Most of you are very familiar with my family's story. My son was diagnosed with type one, right before he turned two he is now 16. My husband lives with type two diabetes. I do not have diabetes, and my daughter doesn't have diabetes. My daughter is 19. And she just finished her sophomore year of college. So she is home. She's been home for a couple of weeks now. And so we've moved through what I call the re entry phase. I used to call that to when they came from Camp, the re entry part of coming home. It's always an adjustment for everybody. But she's doing great. And you know, we're just starting now to think about college for Benny. He's done with his sophomore year of high school, and even a little early yet, but you know how it goes the pressure High School is is just bananas. So we've really tried to avoid that. But he has started taking a couple of those, you know pre ACT PSAT kind of things and thinking about the process. Some of you are scolding me saying it's never too early. But I think our attitude has always been he'll figure it out as we go. And of course, though, in the back of my mind all of these years has been diabetes at college. And I'm still trying not to think about it too much, frankly, I know he's gonna do well, I know we're gonna give him all the independence that he has needs he wants, but it still makes me a little bit nervous. So that's why I really excited to know about the college diabetes network and I plan to use all of the resources I possibly can. And to that end, we have a great roundtable for you this week, covering a lot of issues pertaining to school. This is a longer than usual interview, so I'm going to try to get right to it here. So you will hear from Haley Owens. She was diagnosed with type one at the age of nine. She's in her senior year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She founded the college diabetes network chapter there in 2018. And she's been on the executive board ever since she's spending the summer at Camp Possibilities diabetes, sleepaway camp. It's her 10th year attending. She's actually the program director there now. You'll also hear from Shay Webb. She's lived with type one for almost 15 years. She's a recent graduate from University of North Carolina Wilmington. And she's got a Bachelor of Science in clinical research. She was the founding vice president of the CDN chapter at UNC Wilmington. And you'll also hear from Anna Floreen Sabino part of the leadership of CDN she lives with diabetes herself and like me as a graduate of Syracuse University, we like to work that in whenever we can. All right, all of that is coming up. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen  and when you have diabetes and use insulin, low blood sugar can happen when you don't expect it. That's why most people carry fast acting sugar. And in the case of very low blood sugar why we carry emergency glucagon? There's a new option called Gvoke Hypopen  the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar. Gvoke Hypopen V is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle in usability studies. 99% of people were able to give Gvoke correctly find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit Gvoke glucagon comm slash risk. Haley and Shay and Anna, welcome to the show. I'm thrilled that you could all be here. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having us, Stacey. Awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah, we're glad to be here. And uh, let me start with you as we look ahead Your word this very unusual for most school year is over, how is CDN doing? What are you talking about for the summer that looking ahead to the fall?   Anna Floreen Sabino  5:10 Well, I think I mean, for those of you who don't know, college diabetes network is we are 10 years old now. And we are a nonprofit organization that is really focused on providing, you know, peer support and programs and resources for young adults with C one D. And I think the key there, especially this year is around peer support and maintaining as much connectivity despite the craziness of the last 18 months and more to come, I'm sure for college students especially. So CDN is an org is really focused on you know, how do we constantly stay in the loop on what's happening and making sure that we're really listening to our students, and our parents and all of their, you know, ecosystems that surrounds them to make sure that they're safe and equipped and prepped for what's to come, whether it's transitioning home, figuring out finals, interviewing for a first job over zoom, we're right there with them. And it's so excited to be overseeing this brand new fellowship program that both Shay and Haley who are joining us here today are a part of, and one tiny little silver lining to this whole thing is that this program wouldn't exist in the capacity that it does now, if we didn't have COVID. So it's been a joy to get to know the 20 fellows who are part of this program. And and hopefully it will continue. I'm curious,   Stacey Simms  6:33 no, what do you mean, it wouldn't have happened like this would change.   Anna Floreen Sabino  6:37 So traditionally, CDN has been very, very fortunate to bring several students couple dozen to the big diabetes, you know, national conferences each summer, the ADA Scientific Sessions, you know, at CES geared towards, you know, diabetes educators, as well as the friends for life conference in Orlando. However, this year, we decided, instead of having multiple different cohorts to combine the cohort into one and offer a weekly series of leadership development workshops, and have one cohort over the course of say seven months where they get to know each other, learn a bit about some professional development and skill building be matched with a mentor. So it's just a little bit more of a robust, kind of a more flow type of a program and less stagnant. But it's been wonderful to be able to build I think, further relationships with each of them, rather than just kind of a weekend long burst of information gathering and sharing. Before we jump into all our topics. Let's just do quick introduction, a little bit. Shay, tell   Stacey Simms  7:37 me a little bit about CDN and your college experience you have graduated us here in North Carolina. Tell me about starting CDN,   Shay Webb  7:45 I saw the disparity on my campus, and I really wanted to change things. So it was around my first year of college. And I say first year because I was actually an early college student. So my first official year of college that I noticed there's nothing on campus that really talks about the advocacy for diabetes. So I reached out to the liaison for CDN, or at least for our region of CDN at the time for lessons change. And I told him that I wanted to create a chapter. And honestly, it kind of stemmed from this idea because I had another friend, and she had just created this beating club. And I'm like, wouldn't it be cool if we combined all of our clubs and our ideas, and we had like this healthy, diabetic friendly potluck or something around the holidays, and I'm like, this would be a perfect event for CDN. And at the time, I didn't really know about it, but doing my research, I'm like, this is perfect. And then my mom, in addition was like when you get to college, you know, look into this stuff. Because it's out there, people just might not know about it. I reached out and I created my chapter of CDN, which is called dubs for diabetes. Because we are at UNC W, University of North Carolina Wilmington. And at first, it was really hard to find participation because when my chapter started, Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina. And that was very detrimental for a lot of people. So we started school year off and then we didn't come back until about three months later. So some time later, another student wanted to create a chapter but he didn't know that one had already been established. So he had a registered student organization. And I had a chapter. So we all came together and put our heads together. And that's for diabetes was born.   Stacey Simms  9:33 And then Haley, tell me a little bit about your experience are you are graduating this year.   Haley Owens  9:37 So I'm a senior and I think I'll be a senior for another another year. Yeah, so college for me was just really interesting. I mean, so I've had diabetes since I was little. So I entered my college experience, also as an individual living with type 1 diabetes, and I've been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to connect with larger populations and community to us that also have this commonality of diabetes. And I've worked within the diabetes sector through a nonprofit. I've been really fortunate enough to have community on my side. But similar to Shay, I think I saw the disparities on my campus. And I saw, interestingly enough, I think it was the first year of my college experience I was walking around, and I just was noticing all of the people who had CGM Zhan and pumps on and I was like, This is so radical, because I would usually be the only one with these technologies visible. And people would say, Hey, here's a pager, what's that? You know, what kind of cool devices that so I was like, this is really awesome. And the inspiration for me was that I loved and I still love working with the diabetes community. I love working with summer camps for children with diabetes, and a part of one today as a, as a counselor,   Shay Webb  10:51 I really wanted to bring that community aspect to the college campus as well for all of the students who were living with type one or any other form of diabetes, because that was a little bit of a nuance that I made to my chapter was that I said, I really would like to recognize all forms of diabetes, not just type one. That's interesting, what Haley was saying how, you know, she would see different people in CD ends and insulin pumps and everything on campus, because I still remember there was this girl who I was friends with for a while. And we had a mutual friend who threw a birthday party, like a birthday dinner one night, and I came and I was wearing a shirt and it didn't have sleeves or anything. So you could see my CGM really well. And she just sits down beside me. And she just starts rattling off. So it's not the freestyle, and I'm like, um, yay, it is. How do you know this? And then she just started talking to me about everything and how long she had it in her insulin pens. And I'm like, Are you serious? Like, this is not good. But this is like really dope right now. I'm super excited to see no idea. And I'm like, sitting there supersized. And they're like, What are you so happy about? And I'm like, Listen, I can't even explain it, because you won't get it. But it's super awesome.   Stacey Simms  12:05 You know, it's funny. And Anna, let me bring you in on this. One of the topics that we had put aside to talk about kind of how diabetes can be invisible, right? how a lot of people don't see it. And yet, we've already started talking about how you spotted each other. Obviously, not everybody's walking around with a sleeveless shirt, and a CGM. When we talk about not being seen, I imagine that for most young people, it's not always a question of hiding those things. It's just or maybe it is, but I'd like to hear that for both of you all, but to me, it would be more of not announcing them. Does that make sense?   Anna Floreen Sabino  12:38 Absolutely. And I think one of the things that and I've had type 1 diabetes for over 30 years now. So I think both of us eat. But I think one of the things that I've realized even as I have, I don't want to say the word aged but but gotten older, gone through college grad school started a family is that the burden of self advocacy and the invisible load that people living with a chronic illness, like type 1 diabetes is never ending. And, you know, for parents who are listening who have those in high school, Hi, I'm Stacy. But it's constantly there. I mean, just a few seconds ago, my insulin pump was was beeping, I was on mute, but you couldn't hear it. And I've got a low battery and low reservoir. And although I'm going to continue on this podcast, and you know, continue out my day, it's a reminder that I am different, and I have to pay attention to this or else and it's that it's the weight that is there, the invisible. There it is, again, the invisible worry that if I don't do this, then that and it's a reminder that you are being reminded to, you know, take care of behaviors that are both dependent on your acute and long term success. And I think for you know, young adults, especially entering college, a lot of that burden is now for the first time on the student themselves. And especially when you're constantly navigating, meeting new people, and many of the students that either start chapters are coming to college, where everyone around them just knows, you know, they've been in a very similar K through 12 school system, or they, you know, they've been the kid with with the pump at school, where it's just their best friends know, and I think I realized when I was a freshman, that it takes years to build friendship and a long time and it's not like you're gonna offload your life about diabetes and all the teeny weeny details that go with it. It is really isolating, especially now with with COVID to constantly kind of pack and unpack the invisibility of diabetes like all day, every day. So my advice for parents listening is to really start having those conversations in high school, you know, not two to three months before you're going off to school. ask them some questions talk about how you're feeling. Talk about how you're going to have those conversations. It's really, really hard. But I think it's so important to just be honest. How can I help you? What do you need for me? I'm here if you need anything, because I think it's the person living with diabetes is just there's so much weight physically and emotionally on their shoulders.   Stacey Simms  15:18 She let me go to you on that. When you're hearing her say have those conversations in high school? Is that what you would tell teenagers parents now?   Right back to Shay and Haley answering that question. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health. Bottom line, you need a plan of action with diabetes. We've been lucky that Benny's endo has helped us with that and that he understands the plan has to change. As Benny gets older, you want that kind of support. So take your diabetes management to the next level with Daario health. Their published Studies demonstrate high impact results for active users like improved in range percentage within three months reduction of a one c within three months and a 58% decrease in occurrences of severe hypoglycemic events, try Dario's diabetes success plan and make a difference in your diabetes management. Go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections for more proven results and for information about the plan. Now back to Shay answering my questions about whether she'd recommend having conversations about advocacy with high schoolers.   Shay Webb  16:27 I would and I wouldn't at the same time. And I say that the say as Anna and Haley No, I was taught at a really young age, I had to start having those conversations when I was in elementary school, I would be that fourth grader. You know, my mom would stand behind me and I go up and tell them okay, this is my insulin pump. Okay, this is what a blood sugar kit is. And it's like I tried it felt scripted at first, like, Okay, this is what you say, this is what you show. But as you keep on growing and maturing and getting older and getting exposed more, it'll flow like clockwork, in a way. So the by the time you get to college, you get around your professors, you get around your arrays, you're not as intimidated, because you've done it for so long. And I also think the you know, the younger you started, the more comfortable you are when you start the better. And that's to say even though you're doing that, and you're advocating you're telling people what you need, you're also influencing someone else who's watching you from the sidelines. And you don't even know it half the time until later. Sometimes you don't ever know it. But like analysts saying diabetes can be really hard to unpack sometimes having someone there as that model as that guide to say, Okay, I guess this is acceptable to do especially growing up as a teenager as a preteen where you have all these peer pressures, or this doesn't look cool, like this looks cool. Be that model. You don't have to exactly be the extrovert or the person who's in front of everybody. But just find ways that you feel comfortable to express your advocacy in different ways that you can get your needs across. And if you get yours across most likely it's going to help someone down the line who hasn't even thought of those things yet.   Stacey Simms  18:09 Haley, I'm going to ask a slightly different question. As Anna alluded, my son is a sophomore in high school, he is 16. He was diagnosed he was two. So he is very independent. He is very used to talking about these things. But I do think college is different. I do plan on having these conversations with him. I do anticipate him saying, Mom, I do not need this. You know, Mom, I don't need this. I don't need you to talk to me about this. I roll I roll. So Haley, let me ask you, there's a difference between an eight year old all due respect Shay, or you know, a 10 year old saying, here's my pump, I'm cool, right? And then a 17 year old or an 18 year old going I'm so sick of this diabetes, crap, I'm going to college and nobody needs to know. Right? So you know, what do you tell students like that?   Haley Owens  18:48 Well, it's really difficult, right? Because I know people in their late 20s, who still have that attitude that they do not want to share or disclose any information about their diabetes. And there's no one right way to do self advocacy with diabetes, because I think what self advocacy largely depends on is Ally ship and what you're ultimately asking people on the receiving end of that conversation is will you be my ally? And that's a consensual question. That's a conversation that people can say yes to or they can say no to. And I know of a lot of younger children who are excited about diabetes, and I have the same attitude. I love diabetes, and I hate diabetes. Right. I love it because of the community. I love it because of the advocacy. I love it because of the resiliency. And I hate it because of all of the I think the hurt that goes along with it. Right? That's there is no you're not going to deny that to I think go back to your question though. You know, I think a lot of parents will say it was the same way from you Shay, to you know, like when I first went to school, I went back to school after getting diagnosed. My mom is a nurse right? So she said like, when you go up to your teachers, I want you to say I'm a diabetic And here's my supplies. And here's what you should look out for when I'm low or when I'm high. And that conversation was largely geared towards teachers. And I think for the most part, they saw me a nine year old child and said, you know, of course I would do that, right. And as you get older, I think sometimes the disease itself wanes on you, and it wears on you, and you don't want to be as visible about it, and you don't want to disclose that you have it. I also think that ally ship looks different when you get older, because people assume, yep, there's my pump, too.   Unknown Speaker  20:31 I was gonna yelling,   Stacey Simms  20:34 excuse me, I was going to mom, and I wasn't gonna yell it was muted.   Haley Owens  20:42 I had some coffee. And let me just say like, coffee is like a whole other conversation to have. It's like the worst. But anyway, so I like shit looks different when you get older. Because I think that people start seeing you more as an adult, and assume that you know what you're doing, and assume that you should be taking care of yourself. And they assume that this is not my responsibility. That's your responsibility, right. And I have been in situations where people do not want to know about my diabetes, I've disclosed that I've had it to them. And they say, I don't want to part of it. I've had other people in my life who have said, this is great information. Thank you for telling me and they start carrying candy in their book bag, and they start checking it with me each day. They're like, Hey, how you feeling? I'm like, I'm feeling Okay, thanks for asking, right? Because I know where that question is coming from. So I know where parents are coming from when they encourage their child to start advocating for themselves. Because I think that largely, it's coming from a source of peace of mind for them. And safety, you know, that as long as my child is disclosing this information that they're going to have people watch out for them, and people will know about it. And it's largely a safety thing, right. But I think to your children also have this gut feeling about who will come to the frontline when they are in trouble, and who will be there to be their support system, or who is around them that will judge them. And so I want to caution parents not to I think try to force self advocacy on their children, because I think that that will largely come very naturally, as your child starts to develop and get older, and starts to develop their identity with this disease. And I think ultimately, your child has a deep down gut feeling about who they want to tell that they have diabetes, because they know their support group best. They know the people around them best and they know who will support them, and who will not support them.   Shay Webb  22:34 I can completely agree with Haley because I've personally seen it where I've gone up to you know, teachers or professors trying to explain to them and the responses I've gotten were okay, you need to take that up with DRC and the Disability Resource Center. And before I can show them anything, they're like, Okay, I have to go to office hours, whereas I have friend, right, I've met in college, and they could call me and I'm like, Hi. And they're like, what's wrong with your blood sugar? And I'm like, I'm there like, no, you're not, I can hear it in your voice. And   Unknown Speaker  23:04 I'm like,   Unknown Speaker  23:05 Am I home? Why?   Shay Webb  23:08 And it's like, sometimes it's the people, you don't expect to pick up on things who actually pick up on it, rather than the authoritative figures who you're expected to report to, don't always want to pick up on it, or want to actually have responsibility for it. Because they feel like if they have responsibility for it, that's their liability, when in reality, it's your diseases, your body, we just need your ally ship, we need you to be sponsors for us in places that we can't be actually be support. Going back to your point of being invisible. I think that's where some of it comes in, as it's not exactly always invisible to us. But other people try and make it invisible as well. So they make it seem like okay, it's the invisible disability. So you're going to be like the normal student who can do everything who's going to get the assignment done on time, you don't need extra time. You're just in that category, because I don't see what's wrong with you. It's like the wilted flower category, you see a perfectly standing flower, but it hasn't had water. It hasn't been taken care of. And it's just like wilting on the inside and people don't see that Shay,   Haley Owens  24:17 Can I just add one thing too, because I think Shay, like so many nails were hit on the head and that lovely statement, because I agree with everything you just said. And I really think that when people label diabetes. Uh huh. Sorry, when people label diabetes as an invisible illness, I don't think they truly understand because I don't even label this disease as visible because it's not because anybody who has been around this disease for long enough knows that this disease lives on a spectrum of visibility. There are some days where I probably look and I probably act like everybody else, and there's days where I am absolutely exhausted, mentally, physically and mentally. blood sugars are all over the place. And I'm low. And I'm not myself. I've had many conversations about this where people almost want to categorize me and say like, it's not that bad, or diabetes is not that bad, because it is so invisible. And I have to kind of check people on that rhetoric and say, that actually is very ablest, you know, like, I have to check people and say, it's not invisible to me. But diabetes does live on this spectrum. And it's not stagnant. I don't act and I don't perform, and I don't, I don't do things the same way with diabetes each day, it's not a disease that I just take a pill or I just do one thing. And then it's good, right? It's it lives on the spectrum, that's always changing day by day, and it affects my mood, and it affects my emotions and affects my ability to perform. It's not always invisible, like what people, you know, assume it to be,   Stacey Simms  25:49 and I love you, for you back in. Because from a parenting perspective, Shay and Haley have said a couple of things. Frankly, that makes me a little bit nervous. And I'd love to know how you would help students not necessarily parents advocate for themselves, if they have professors, or they run into staff who beyond not wanting to be an ally, doesn't want to hear it. I assume that CDN, even if there isn't a chapter on whatever campus students are, there are resources or best practices. But no, what do you do if you come across somebody who just says don't want to hear it? Sit down? You're not even in my class?   Anna Floreen Sabino  26:23 Yeah. I mean, and honestly, you know, we CDN has a pretty active parent Facebook group, and a lot of people, you know, roll their eyes at Facebook, or there's just it's this constant back and forth of of conversation. But I will say that the parents of the college diabetes network, which is the name of our parent, Facebook group is awesome. It is a lot of conversation. It's a lot of support, does anyone have an endo? And I know we're supposed to be talking about students. But I will say that accommodations, and is probably one of the most asked about topics. So you're you're right there, Stacy, in terms of, you know, talking about self advocacy and ally ship around people getting backlash and potentially discriminated against on college campuses, CDN recognizes this, and we realize that, you know, not everybody to Shea's point is going to be that look at me, I have diabetes, I'm going to change the world because of my diabetes, attitude. And because of that, we want to make sure that we can, as an organization, reach, you know, all young adults and keep all young adults safe or as safe as possible while they're on campus and preparing for that campus life transition. So we have turned some of our resources into what we call a reach initiative, which is a slew of resources geared specifically towards, you know, Office of Disability and accommodations, health center and Counseling Center, we know that the majority of our students, you know, don't necessarily utilize the health or Counseling Center for their primary, you know, diabetes care, and that's fine. But we do recommend that the health center on the receiving side, you know, is up to date, and well equipped and prepared to serve the students when they're coming on campus. Because that we know that they're not necessarily required to take, you know, a diabetes class, you know, every year where I remember going to the health center being like, why is that? What is that beep Oh, is that your cell phone or your pump? I'm like, well, it's both. So it's that constant level of burden of education. And that is kind of what I'm talking about in terms of the invisibility and that that Wait, we always recommend students register for accommodations. And even if you don't end up meeting it, you know, it's like, kind of having car insurance, or health insurance. You know, it's kind of that in the back pocket or that letter when you first take your first airplane ride or your prescription on the box of that humalog vial for those just in case moments. And you want to make sure those are in place. And what I've realized, too, is that there's always going to be people in your life, whether it's a professor, whether it's a friend, whether it's a future boyfriend, or girlfriend or partner, that may say things to you that are just crappy, and maybe they're not going to be your ally. But if we reframe it and turn it around into, okay, what knowledge and resources do I have in my pocket where I could better advocate or better educate, and that's why the registering for accommodations right out of the gate is really what we encouraged for both parents and students to feel better equipped and more comfortable and building that sense of community and ally ship as soon as they get to campus. So for parents and you know, high school seniors, and even college seniors who are looking to find a job or a summer program or internship to get involved in start thinking about what those points are, you want to kind of discuss in in talking about getting accommodations or talking about your diabetes and what your needs are well in advance. On that note, Shay, you've   Stacey Simms  29:55 graduated Haley, you're going to graduate soon. I was wondering if You could take a look back over your time in college and kind of think of a time where it didn't go well, you know, where somebody didn't help you where you had to find a workaround with diabetes. And even if it didn't work out perfectly, in fact, it's better if it didn't, in my opinion, I'd love to hear about what you did.   Right back to the conversation, but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. And Dexcom has a diabetes management software called Clarity. Do you use this for a long time, longer than I would like to admit, I thought it was something just our endo could use. But it's really helpful. And now I have it on my phone, you can use it on both a desktop or as an app, it's an easy way to keep track of the big picture. I find I use it when we're adjusting things which felt like it was non stop there for a while. But at age 16, Benny seems to be leveling out on growth and basil rates at least for now, clarity really helps us see the longer term trends and helps us not overreact. The overlay reports help with context of various glucose levels and patterns. And when you share the reports with your care team, it's easy for them to get a great idea of what's going on, and how they can better help. managing diabetes is not easy, but I feel like we have one of the very best CGM systems working for us Find out more at Diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo. Now back to Shay and Haley answer my question about when something went wrong, Shay starts us back off.   Shay Webb  31:28 So I have a couple in two different categories. And one of them had to what's pertaining to my actual class, and I had been sick the whole week. And when I get sick, my blood sugar gets sick and everything else goes downhill. And we had this really big exam coming up and throughout my sickness, because I've always been someone who's really dedicated to her academics. But throughout while I was sick, I was still continuing the studies still looking at my notes and everything. But it came to the day where I'm like, I'm just wiped out, I really can't do anything. And even you know, some of my classmates and other professors were coming up to me like, okay, I can barely hear you like, This is crazy. But I had that one professor where I had to take this exam. And he's like, Well, no, I'm not changing the exam. There are other students who cheat who do this. And I'm like, Well, I have an accommodation. I was sick. This is the situation. It's not like I was just trying to get out of the test. It's not like I went to the beach all day and didn't study. And they're like, you know, that's just the way it is. So being a CDI advocate, I went to the DRC. And I told them everything that happened, and they reached out to that Professor. And luckily, I was able to take my exam and keep my grades up. But if I hadn't have had that accommodation, which originally, I didn't think I needed it that much. And it definitely took a toll. At least I felt I mean, my grades were still good, but it definitely was that feeling of assurance afterwards. But if I hadn't had that commendation, then I knew it could have been a lot worse. And then fast forwarding to when I lived on campus. And there would be some nights, it seems like everything would just go wrong, where you know, like, okay, there was one day, my Jews, there was like something wrong with this, I had to throw it away. So I'm like, Okay, I'm low. I need juice. But luckily, we have machines in the building. So I go find a machine, and it is completely empty. So I'm like, Okay, cool. So that means madmen, I have to walk to the campus convenience store, which wasn't too far. But I have rheumatoid arthritis, and I have low blood sugar. So that's two things working on me then making it extra hard to do. And I said, You know, I have to tell someone, some type of authority, that authority figure about this problem. And when I did, the response I got was, it was a slew of responses. But the biggest one that I remember is that, you know, universities just aren't disability friendly. And that's just the way it is. And you know, that's not on us. If you want to talk to the people over you know, the school system or over all the policies go talk to them. So as a younger student, and as someone who's you know, already trying to handle her diabetes in college, those kind of like a slap in the face to think that someone who is supposed to advocate for their students who supposed to care for their students would have that type of approach and that type of response. And I made that authority figure aware that especially like for other students like myself, who may come see them, it's already implementation enough to come and see someone have such a position of such power. But to get that response, when you know, you come for convocation, you come for orientation. Everyone says, Come see me if you need me. And then you need them. And it's like, well, I can't help you. And this is why And it's not even the Jets, you know, you can't help me. But for anyone who can't help us with this type of situation, it means more to say, I can't help you. But I'll find someone who can, or I'll find the resources that can rather than saying you're on your   Stacey Simms  35:14 own, Haley, anything come to mind?   Haley Owens  35:16 Yeah, I first I just wanted to Sure. I think all of us because I've had to do this too, when being let down by these big systems because it can feel like betrayal, right? What what this gets to is it feels like betrayal, when you enter a university setting, or you enter the workplace, right? Because this is not isolated to just college or university. And they say, we can't help you. We don't care, right? It feels like betrayal. I want to just address the big elephant in the room. And it's that the question is like, well, who will care about me? Right? Like, what answers Do I have now, if I go now, right. And I think that also, these conversations may also strike up a little bit of fear. And some of the parents listening like, yikes, right. And I want to say that it's true. The transition from elementary school to middle school to high school, the response and the call to action and come to the frontline, that parents and families request of teachers and the educators and the principal's the response is different, right, because those teachers, I think, have some sort of obligation to respond, professors and university not so much. And really, they professors largely are told that if a student has any issues with disabilities, or accommodations, that you just refer them to the Office of Student disabilities. So professors and educators in a higher education setting don't really get involved. And some of them want to help, but they don't know what to do, because we're not given that support. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done in higher education to support students with all disabilities period, there is a lack and there's a need. But yeah, a few things come to mind for me when I was told no, or the door was like shut in my face, and I had to go somewhere else. And one of it was when I first went to college, and I chose to live with like in a normal dorming situation, right? It was like myself and a roommate. And then we shared a bathroom with another two other girls. And I love my roommate, she was so nice and so friendly. And she still is. But the problem was, was that this young woman was nocturnal. She would sleep literally all day, and she would stay up all night and work. And it wasn't because she had night shift or anything like that. That was her schedule. And she would leave the overhead light on, she would refuse to turn it off. And that absolutely just disrupted my whole sleep schedule, I was starting to sleep during the day, I was starting to sleep in between classes, I would sleep through meals, so the dining hall would close. So then I would have to resort to eating something that was like pre packaged. Anyway, what ended up happening was that my numbers were either in the four hundreds, or they were in like the 50s all the time. And I ultimately ended up getting really sick, I just was really, really sick. I gained a lot of weight the first semester, the first half of the semester, and then I lost a bunch of weight. And it just was all over the place. So I was really sick by the time the semester came to an end. And that was the first semester of my college experience. And when I went to the the Office of Student disabilities, and I said I can't do this anymore. I need to single room accommodation. Can you give me something I was told no, because the single rooms were ADA compliant. And they had a limited number of ADA compliant rooms available. And those rooms were kept in reserve for students who were wheelchair bound, or had some sort of external devices to help them navigate across campus. And so that wasn't really for students like me, what they failed to tell me was that there were other ways of getting a single room that was not through the Office of Student disabilities, and that I would have to go through residential life to get that they didn't tell me that. So I was over here for like a month thinking, I can't get out of this situation. I'm stuck here. And there was no communication to these other resources. What ultimately became of that was we had to seek a lawyer to help us because it got to that point to where my liver enzyme level was so high that my doctor was fearful. My liver was just like being overworked. Right. And actually, later on, we found out that that was because I actually had gone into decay. At one point during that semester. We just didn't know about it. But I knew I was sick. I knew I was very sick. So we ended up getting some guidance from a lawyer and they ended up writing a letter to the student disabilities office. And that was the domino effect right there. That was the tipping point where then I was told all of the information that I needed to know to get a single room, but up until that point, the door was in my face, they would not help me. And each time I would reach out to the office. They said we can't help you like there is nowhere else we could go there was but it just wasn't through your office. So that was like the tipping point for me. fidan sounds really hard and really cruel. But I think one of the things that was really helpful for me was that like people believed me. And I believed in myself, like I knew my worth, I knew that I was worthy of this, I needed a single room because I was sick. And I would not take no for an answer, I needed it. And I had to keep going, I had to keep pushing. And what became of that was, I did ultimately get a single room through residential life and getting a single room through the residential life, I was just by chance paired with other students with disabilities on the campus. And I ultimately became friends with three amazing, wonderful young ladies who also have a disability, or multiple co occurring disabilities. And we are each other's allies in this way. And if I have an issue on campus, or I need somebody, I can call them, I really had a wonderful network come out of that situation. And the other thing that I think that is still a work in progress is something that I see all the time is the whole issue with getting a doctor's note, when you're sick. And Shay, you could probably chime in on this too, each time you're absent, or you're sick, they want a doctor's note, each time you miss a lecture, they want a doctor's note, you know how expensive it is to get a doctor's note, it's not easy, right? Because what that implies is that you actually went to the doctor. And everybody knows that, because I don't feel good because of diabetes doesn't mean that I need to go to the doctor, I need to take a day off. And that's what the health care system sets you up to do is, you know, you are individual now living with diabetes, you're going to have a stomachache, you're going to have aches and pains, you're not going to feel good some days, but you know what to do take insulin, do ketones, do all of this stuff. And if it doesn't resolve or get better, then you go to the doctor, right? But the first line of action is not to go to the doctor, it's you figure it out, when educators and professors come to me and say, Hey, you weren't gonna you know, you weren't lecture the other day, what happened? And I say, Hey, I wasn't feeling good. Where's your doctor's note? I do not have one. And I do not need to go to the doctor. And that was something that was briefly addressed with COVID was this idea that to extend grace to students when they're absent, right, when COVID first hit, and we were just going into quarantine students were getting sick. And University of Maryland released a public letter addressing faculty saying, if students are absent, just excuse them, right? Because people are getting sick. And I said, in one of my classrooms, I said, kind of aloud and addressing a whole class of so Wouldn't that be nice if we could always take that same attitude of extending grace to students with disabilities? And we didn't hound them to get a doctor's note each time they were out? Wouldn't that be restorative? Wouldn't that be moving us forward? The other thing I will say is that I think that what came out of this was a life lesson, right? One being No, you're worth two is never settle. Don't take no for an answer. I hope that that was sufficient.   Stacey Simms  42:50 Yeah, well, that's how we get to those life lessons. But Shay, you   Unknown Speaker  42:53 definitely look like somebody out there.   Shay Webb  42:55 Like Haley said, it's interesting. She had a class example. And I had an organization and kind of student or example because I wasn't really involved on campus. And some of my organs, they were based off of participation. So if you didn't show up, you could get fined. So there would be times rather than the professor, or the director addressing me, it would be other students like, Oh, well, you weren't here at such and such time. But you can go to the library or your home. Why is this, we see your car here. And it's like, I can't always be where I need to be because you have to read, like, digest everything, just recollect yourself and get your blood sugar down. Because sometimes, especially if I'd come home from work, and my blood sugar would be high, I just feel like crashing on my bed. And if anyone will tell me anything, it's not like I would be able to comprehend it. And then going to Haley's roommate example, I forgot I had a roommate example like that as well. Because, interestingly enough, but when it all started off interesting, because how the dorms were set up, or they were apartment style dorms. And one side was like a single room and a single bathroom. And the other side had two rooms and one bathroom. So I arranged with the girl who was already, um, thought would be rooming with Well, they were both friends, if it would be okay, if we switched because of my condition and how everything was set up. And she said that would be fine. Well, the day came and she got in there before I didn't already set up even though we had made an arrangement. So that was the first issue. second issue is, as you can see, as you've heard, a lot of times our alarms will go off at the most random of times, whoa, my roommate did not like that I had so many alarms and that I needed to you know, get those in check. And, you know, keep them quiet and I'm like, Well, I can't do that. So I'm not really, really sure what to tell you and pertaining to getting accommodated housing, I had the same problem as Haley. Because before I got to college, I did a lot of research. And I asked them, okay, what's the accommodation for students with diabetes with disabilities. And the response I got was, housing can be really difficult. And we've had diabetic students come in before, but you're probably not going to get any accommodation for it. And that did not make any sense to me, considering one of our first symptoms is frequent thirst and frequent urination. So if you're rooming with two three other people, or sometimes even 12 other people, how are you going to be sure that you have always guaranteed access to what you need. And I don't think that there's enough preparation on that end. So I definitely get Haley's points. And to add to it, I would say, you know, just continue to recognize because people will give you their opinions, and they will give you the policies that are in place. But as a parable that I think about sometimes is if there's a fence, and you can't get to the other side of it, you should move the fence so that it includes more people. So I feel like that should be the same thing with these academic institutions with these workplaces. We have to make it so we can include other people, even though you know, we can't change who they are, we can change the policies in place, we can change up the rules.   Haley Owens  46:28 Yeah. And some people will say, we've had diabetics do this before, and they didn't ask these questions or whatever. I'm not like all of them. I have not like that. And some people really do think that this disease looks the same for everybody. It does not. And so just because somebody says we've had diabetic students before come through this program, and they did really well, doesn't mean anything.   Stacey Simms  46:51 Let me go to you. And it just to try to, I don't know if we can wrap up these amazing thoughts, and all of these great words for the students. But I think the point of it really does change and never ends. You know, I mean, you're going to go to the workforce. We are getting older, I have friends who pointed out to me that there is a now menopause for type one women Facebook group,   Anna Floreen Sabino  47:11 right? I mean, these things never. Well, I think the the message even after just listening to all due to both Haley and Shay is that we are in a constant transition phase. And CDN is focused on a lot of the transitions and really fostering independence for the young adult. And the biggest takeaway message that I got from both of you and that I want to highlight from CDN is that lets you be on be your ally, and part of this journey. And even if you don't want to start a chapter, or you're not ready to register for accommodations, or you're a parent, and your kid just really isn't interested in caring about their diabetes, right now, CDN is here when you're ready, and that independence takes time. Every single person's diabetes is different, whether you use a pump, whether you take 100 units a day, whether you take 20 units of insulin a day. Great point, Haley on the well, this is how I manage my diabetes. And it might be different. There isn't one size fits all, you look at a doctor's note, and there's, you know, 10 different patients with 10 different insulin regimens. So I think that's something just to keep in mind, especially for parents as we constantly are looking for support and maybe self judging ourselves in terms of Oh, well, this kid is going abroad, Why can't my kid do that? Well, everybody is going to be ready to master different things related to diabetes and life as a young adult at different points. So I want to highlight by saying, join our CDN young adult journey with us get connected. And best of luck to everybody who is graduating. Congratulations. And thank you both to Shane Haley.   Stacey Simms  48:44 Yeah, thank you all for joining me. This was an amazing conversation. I hope you'll come back and check in and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.   Unknown Speaker  48:57 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  49:02 Lots more information as always at Diabetes connections.com. Or in the show notes. If you're listening on a podcast player, I've been hearing more and more about issues with Apple podcasts, which is the most popular podcast player and the probably the number one download source for this show. So if you are having issues and you can't see the show notes, you can't click on links, or you're having any issues. First, I'd love to know about that. And secondly, just go to Diabetes, Connections comm where every episode now has a transcript and has all the show notes and links easy to get I don't know what's going on with Apple podcasts. They made some big changes in May and it just hasn't been the same since. Before I let you go. Just a reminder that we have our live newscast every Wednesday 4:30pm Eastern Time on Facebook in the news is something I started a couple of weeks ago and the reaction has been great. So thank you so much for that couple of minutes less than 10 minutes every week with the top diabetes news headlines. to round up, and then I'm releasing it as a podcast episode a couple of days later, we will be focusing quite a bit on so much technology news that came out of att D, the most recent conference that just wrapped up and looking ahead to other FDA approvals and research and whatever news comes my way I will pass along to you. Thank you so much as always to my editor john Kenneth from audio editing solutions. Thank you for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here in just a couple of days until then, be kind to yourself.   Benny  50:35 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged

Listen To This Special Solocast as Josh Trent Uncovers: Psychoneuroimmunology: How our thoughts become things. What makes a thought true instead of being static and noise? How all of us, especially men, can be grateful for our feelings. The healing power of singing. How Josh healed his Father Wound and forgave his father. What happens when we don't allow ourselves to embrace and love all of our emotions; good or bad. Steps you can take to heal your porn or sex addiction. How Josh healed after a horrible Ayahuasca ceremony with the help of his friend and mentor, Paul Chek. A powerful prayer to help you if and when intrusive thoughts and emotions want to enter your inner sanctum. The lessons that pain can teach us when we do the inner work.   Get 15% off your CURED Nutrition order with the code WELLNESSFORCE   ---> Get The Morning 21 System: A simple and powerful 21 minute system designed to give you more energy to let go of old weight and live life well.   JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP | *REVIEW THE PODCAST*   BREATHE: Breath & Wellness Program Get 25% off of the BREATHE: Breath & Wellness Program with the code PODCAST25   Boost your immunity and calm your mind with freedom from chronic stress in the modern world. A 21 day guided breath and wellness program using ancient wisdom to boost your immunity, calm your mind, and give you freedom from chronic stress in the modern world. Combining special breathwork infused with safe vape cannabidiol, BREATHE gives you everything you need to let go of old weight, de-stress, and build immunity so you can live your best life. In this special (limited time) offer, you will receive: - Lifetime access to BREATHE - Free upgrades to all future training modules - Free additional training modules - Special VIP coupons for safe vape, essential oils, CBD, nootropics and more - Private WF group access   Transcript From Vision Quest Part 2: Touching Death Josh Trent (00:11): Welcome back to Part Two of this very special Solocast. If you heard us on Part One, we honored our ancestors. If you haven't heard Part One, make sure you go back and listen to Part One. It'll give you perfect context for Part Two of this Solocast. This is where we talk about a concept of touching death. Touching death. When I was on the mountain, I had a direct message and the direct message was about our thoughts. You know, psychoneuroimmunology is how thoughts become things, but yet thoughts are like waves in the ocean. Thoughts come and go. They are unlimited and sometimes like unfathomable in size and texture and in message. So then what exactly is the thought? You know, when I did this four day water fast up on the mountain for the 10 day Native American Vision Quest, the bridge between reality, the bridge between the underworld, the creepy crawlies, the bugs, the animals, and here, the 3D reality becomes so very thin.   Josh Trent (01:15): So very thin. So I took in this message: What makes a thought true instead of a thought being static and noise? And how do I make truth about a signal instead of the noise? How do I disconnect from the quantum, the collective field of thoughts and how those thoughts becomes things? Well, I believe that the only thing that makes a thought true is my soul's attention poured into it. And on top of that, the emotions that I experience after I attach to that thought. Now this is huge: The only thing that makes any of our thoughts true is the attention that I pour into the thought. And then also the emotion that I experience after I attached to that thought. So that is for all of us, the understanding of what makes a thought true. And how do those thoughts completely control subconsciously how I show up in the world with my heart open or with my heart closed?   Josh Trent (02:15): So I can be thankful. And this is, this is the lesson that I want to share with you. I, we, all of us can be thankful, truly grateful for my feelings. Especially as men, we have been shamed into beliefs, like, "Suck it up, Pussy. Big boys don't cry." Which is honestly the abuse of the male psyche in this world. This connection to a belief that emotions should not be felt. Emotions need to be pushed down. Emotions are not to be shown, especially by men. It is actually the bane of our existence. It's the very thing that the feminine, if you identify as a heterosexual partner or however you identify, it is the very thing that the feminine wants from the masculine and that is to emote, to show emotions. So it's a beautiful gift, love and acceptance. Can I accept the thought? Can I love the thought?   Josh Trent (03:08): Can I ask the thought maybe if it's painful, maybe if it's pleasurable, whatever it is, can I turn to my thought and can I ask my thought, what are you here to teach me? What are you here to teach me? And that is the most potent medicine that any of us can ever receive in any ceremony. For me, it just happened to be in nature and nature always holds the keys. I'll never forget. I was laying on my back and I was chasing the sun around the mountain side in Northern Idaho. There was deep forest cover. The canopy is very thick and I was laying on my back on the second night and into the third morning. And I had this awareness. If I'm experiencing an emotion that I do not want to feel that my soul understands is not the path or not my life's choice, then that emotion, that feeling that energy in motion, which creates a feeling - that is actually the power of choice.   Josh Trent (04:06): That is the bridge between me being thankful and loving the thought or me trying to kick the thought's ass and get out of my head. You know, you can connect with this. How many times have you thought a thought and realized that your resistance to the thought, your hatred towards the thought, your lack of love, essentially towards the thought is the very thing that perpetuates that thought from hanging around and keeps that thought around. So this is the gift. If my soul, Josh Trent's soul decides which thoughts are real and which thoughts are not. And by real, I mean, whatever thoughts apply to my soul's purpose and my heart - well, that's the way that I can share my love with the world. And there was this song, this beautiful song, which brings out so much emotion in me, and it was, "Peace Like A River."   Josh Trent (04:55): And the song goes something like this that gave me so much soulless. We have forgotten how to sing in this lifetime. We have been disconnected from our singing voice and this song was my ultimate medicine. And the song goes, "I've got peace like a river. I've got peace like a river. I've got peace like a river in my soul." And I went on and I kept saying things like strength like a mountain, joy like fountain, love from Great Spirit over and over and over again. And out of nowhere, I picture the face of my father. I pictured the face of my father and I don't ever really think I've fully healed from the wounding. My Father Wound until I received this medicine from Mother Nature. Because in that moment with tears streaming down my face, I got to honor the deep sacrifices my father has made for myself and my brother. Growing up, all the money he made to take care of us and the energy that my father spent to provide for my brother.   Josh Trent (05:58): And I. So, to my father, I forgive you. And please forgive me for all the ways that I have not honored you and not being grateful for what you did. Really my projections, my anger for you came from the hurting the relationship I had been trying so hard with white knuckles to make you understand me, to make you love me in the way that I wanted you to love me the whole time. Just not loving and accepting you for who you are in the exact way you are. And this was the greatest gift that I want to share with you. Forgiving my father so that I can be empowered with the father inside myself. Daniel Trent, I forgive you. I forgive all the ways that you did the very best you could. And maybe sometimes they weren't enough and I send you love for your journey and let this be enough for all of us.   Josh Trent (06:50): with the Father Wound. All the ways that our fathers have wounded us, maybe abandoned us because they themselves felt wounded and abandoned. And this is the all retch and no vomit that Alan Watts talks about. We pass on this lineage, this wounding in our lineage as men by regurgitating the exact behaviors that hurt us. This is why hurt people, hurt people. So consider this to be a flag of peace. I put down my weapons. I forgive, forgive my own father. I forgive the father inside myself. We have peace you and I. No longer do I need my father to open his heart and listen, because we are both fathers now. And of course I want my father to be a part of my life and my son's life if he chooses. But the only path of true love is sharing the heart's wisdom without any expectation.   Josh Trent (07:49): So you are loved. And please forgive me for the way that I have acted towards you as a wounded child. And I love you. And this was profound because later that afternoon, as I watched all the bees and the trees and the bugs and how nature has this beautiful synergy, I just became so grateful for the peace in my heart. Because this broken lineage, this projection of wounding, this unawareness of self, it stops with me. It stops with the awareness that I have for what is true, the objective truth that we all do our best, including that time zone, where my father came from, where many of our fathers came from, where sharing your emotions was an act of weakness. And really what that does is it brings us closer to death. And on that night, on that third night in my dream, I felt the washing of my nervous system with peace.   Josh Trent (08:54): Now I can speak to the truth of this present moment to truly honor the truth of the past. I have to forgive. When I choose to forgive, and this is the lightness and the peace you hear in my voice. Thank you, Mother Nature. Thank you Mother Nature for your wisdom, this gift of awareness and the peace and power you have given me washing my blood and my nervous system with the truth. A ho Great Spirit. Now, so I have a wellness podcast and hatred, resentment, bitterness is the poison that makes me feel unwell. And currently in my life at this Vision Quest, I came to this radical cul de sac of awareness, where I am experiencing unwellness. I had to get sick from the system itself. I had to get sick from society itself so that I know what it truly feels like to be a human in our world.   Josh Trent (09:45): And I definitely became sick, pushing the throttle down all the way to the floor. Looking back if I could have trusted Great Spirit and been in dialogue with our Mother Earth. I wonder, I just wonder, could I have achieved a level of success without sacrificing my health? This is how I choose to move forward. I finally know now what the discovery of loving awareness truly is. It's not some social media meme or something Ram Dass or Rumi once said. Loving awareness truly is observing all that is. The joy, the hate, the fear, the ecstasy, shame, guilt, sadness, - all of it. All the colors in the palette of emotions and experiences that we as human beings witness. And I feel that I have unlocked one of these secret keys that I want to share with you and this is to truly capital T to truly observe, to observe in truth.   Josh Trent (10:35): Knowing that all emotions, feelings, thoughts, and beliefs, they are rising to the surface to be loved. And I know it sounds reductionist. But all there is is love. And the truth is God is love. Even the word evil, which is love, right? Evil is love because evil is live spelled backwards, which Paul Chek and Dr. Vernon Woolf have shared. So even the evil in my life that I have experienced within myself and others is love because evil backwards is to live. I experienced so much sadness that day in this washing and this letting go of forgiveness, because when you rip a tree out of the ground, whether it's emotional, physical, or spiritual, some of the roots are going to break. I had to go through all the porn scenes that I had watched, all the women that I had sex with that I didn't love and sit down young Josh at 13, the one that was screaming at me to stop and next to him, next to him was my son, Novah.   Josh Trent (11:37): And I turned to him and I said, when you're angry, let yourself be angry. When you hold onto your anger or your resentment, it's like heating up water on the stove. When you boil water on the stove, it will bubble, but the bubbles have to rise and pop and come out. Now you may not know young Josh and young Novah -when these bubbles are coming out, you may be with friends or family or even playing. So it's very important that you allow yourself to feel your anger and you know what, your anger is always safe with me. Your anger is always welcome here, because what happens with unchecked anger, that you will be angry with people. And you don't know why, because that anger is really subconsciously wanting to express itself. But if you don't allow yourself to feel it, and this is the key, this is the lesson.   Josh Trent (12:24): When we do not experience the permission to feel our anger, that anger comes out sideways towards others, that we care about, that we really don't want to hurt, but we do because of unchecked anger, because it's so uncomfortable to feel. And on this third night, I see life through a new lens with forgiveness, for self, with the letting go of resentment. With the understanding that we are all victims of intellectualization, which is another Solocast that I actually recorded up on the mountain. After the quest, feeling into this prayer for really disempowerment. For many years, I had been curious and even neurotic at times, if I had been like sexually abused as a child, and I asked Great Spirit, you know, with all this forgiveness and all the pain that I 'd gone through with an open heart, you know, has it ever happened? Have I ever been sexually abused?   Josh Trent (13:19): And in the stillness, this was the gift. I was able to see that my question actually came from me trying to hide from the responsibility of my life choices. In other words, shame and blame. As a reason for my pain and misfortune, I went through a full inventory of everything I'd done and Great Spirit said to me, "It is yours, no others." And I flashed to my early porn memories connecting the dots when pornography first entered my life via VHS and DVDs and internet starting at about 13 years old. And I turned to my young self and my son in the forest as the sun was setting. And I said, your sex energy is your fire. Never let anyone steal your fire only ever choose to give your fire to people that you love and that you want to share your life with because when it comes to sex energy, if you're using pornography, if you're using your sex energy to divide and conquer, then you are disassociated from self.   Josh Trent (14:22): That is where addiction truly comes from. And this is for all of us a lesson when it comes to sex energy. Here's how, you know, if you're using pornography too much, or if it's become a tool of disassociation and addiction, if the real thing, if, if a man having sex with a woman, if it scares you and you find comfort in the fake in the screen, well you know that you are now in a path of disassociation and potential addiction? So the wisdom of the heart is really what is all calling us forward. Life in the 3D world seems to be this consistent reminder for all of us to slow down in order to hear the wisdom of the heart. And sometimes the wisdom of the heart points to the masks that wear and the biggest mask that I wear, the biggest mask that I wear is having to have everything all together, having to have the perfect thing to say at the right time and have all my shit together.   Josh Trent (15:20): And it's just all. bullshit It's not reality. We never have to be perfect. We never have to have the perfect thing to say. And that is a massive gift for all of us to look at the masks that we wear and really being ourselves, unlocking, being ourselves in a current moment. Can we just let that be enough? That is the path to be yourself in every current moment and not feel that you have to be perfect; have it all together. There is forgiveness there. There is peace there. And when there is peace, power can be trusted. That is the ultimate lesson when it comes to peace, because we are all searching for peace inside self. Yet people try to find peace by first getting power, but you cannot have power as the precursor to peace. It works the other way around. So where do these thoughts come from?   Josh Trent (16:13): All these thoughts that I've been sharing with you and all these thoughts that we experienced? Well, if I had to make an intelligent observation, I believe that thoughts come from a culminated library of my own experiences, things that I've seen, things that I've thought before, and also the collective field, the quantum, where there might just be thoughts, emanating around vibrationally electronically, literally. And then I also think in some experiences when there's the piercing of the 3D world by the four and sometimes extraterrestrial five. I do believe different beings come in and implant thoughts into people. So how do we make sense of this? How do we make sense of why thoughts are there and how do we learn how to love the thought? I want to share this that was given to me by a mentor and a friend, Paul Chek. When I received an entity after a terrible Ayahuasca session, that took me almost 18 months to clear the beginning of my healing came with this prayer:   Josh Trent (17:04): So for any of us, if you ever have a thought that is intrusive, say this prayer. By the power of God invested in me. If you are not here to teach me something, to teach me how to get closer to love, then I ask you to leave right now. And I send you love for the journey. You are not allowed in my inner sanctum. And if you try to force yourself in my inner sanctum, you will be stuck in purgatory forever. I do not fear you. And I ask you to leave. And this is the key I send you love for the journey. Now be gone. Feel the peace in that, feel the peace in not fighting or being angry at your thought, turning to your thought. Or as Dr. Vernon Woolf says your holodome, and giving it the permission to let go. These thoughts that come just like high, low pressure...sodium, potassium...chaos and order. Chaos is always seeking   Josh Trent (17:55): order. Fear is always seeking love, thoughts that cause constriction, they are guideposts. They are guideposts to what is needed. And what is being called for attention in our psych. And two years ago, Paul said to me in his home that came so viscerally when I was on the mountain. And it really wells up a knot in my throat right now with my son on the way, he said, "Once I learned how to parent the child inside of me, the universe will put one in my arms." And I'm just so grateful. I'm so grateful because the ego is not the enemy. The ego is the amigo. With inside of the ego, There is deep wounding calling to be healed from both my life and maybe the lives and sins of my father and grandfather that came before me. And so as I touch death, I can have acceptance and really joy for the pain.   Josh Trent (18:51): Now, this sounds crazy, but just level with me for a moment. Pain, without a teacher yields a lack of patience, but pain with a teacher yields resilience. And that is the kind of resilience that can be trusted because it is earned wisdom. And I flashed, and I had this deep understanding of why the body carries extra weight, why my body has been carrying extra weight. And that is because of shame, guilt, anger, and trauma. And this is big. Anger - Only anger sure can be washed away by the healing of nature in Great Spirit, a reconnection to nature and the power of God, where there is no anger in this spaciousness, but unprocessed and dealt with anger is the biggest cause a fat storage in the body in the entire universe. And this became radically clear to me, what am I really talking about here?   Josh Trent (19:43): What am I angry about? I was angry about life in this world that we live in, why we die, having anger that we die, but here's the reality. We are all going to die. And there is so much peace in that. There is peace in the understanding that life is finite. We are infinite beings, but the life we chose to live here is finite. And so if you have a 24/7, 365 unprocessed trauma that lingers in the background of your subconscious mind, maybe you have a lifetime of guilt about a person you heard, or what could have been, or what should have been, or maybe you have trauma. That's very deep, maybe it's sexual or physical or emotional trauma, and you're working on it. This is also the time that the body can put on extra weight because trauma is coming up and it is fueled to be burned and away.   Josh Trent (20:36): And so these are all pain teachers. Anger, shame, guilt, and trauma, all of these things, which I unpack very in-depth on the victim of intellectualization Solocast. Pain without a teacher yields a lack of patience, but pain with a teacher yields resilience. And that is resilience. That can be trusted. So when the pain arrives, turn to the pain, ask the pain, what are you here to teach me? What are you here to teach me and then go right to it. Because in that situation, you can really understand and embody the resilience that life is calling you to bring. And that is the lesson that is the ultimate lesson of this Vision Quest, to understand the anger, shame, guilt, and trauma, they all feed the fire of not being loved. Fear of being broke, fear of being hurt, fear of being wrong. Fear of fill in the blank, but what does fear want?   Josh Trent (21:30): Fear wants love. Fear always wants love. Look at the laws of science and the laws of nature and gravity and high, low pressure, and understand that shame and guilt and trauma and anger they simply want love. And so, as we close, which there'll be many more Solocasts, maybe, maybe a few more honestly, because the wisdom is still going to come. As we close, let's feel the anger about what maybe the collective is feeling; the mask, wearing the COVID because below that anger it's sadness, the sadness of how could you, why did you, how could this be? Why God, why? Below the anger and sadness, sometimes sadness has to be woken up by anger. And so we do here, our work on planet earth and these physical bodies in these 3D realms. And we do our loving best to share our true experiences for one another and have the courage, to be honest with one another. Aho Great Spirit.   Josh Trent (22:30): Thank you for my reconnection to our Great Mother and for welcoming me back home. Great Spirit, please forge me in all of us like a tool so that we may do your bidding in this world and that we may have peace. I am weld with emotion after the quest. And if this resonates with you, you can DM me on Instagram. You can reach out to me in many ways. There's a contact form on the website. I am in service to love, present in self-evident truth and at home grounded in nature with space for myself, family, community, and the world to take part in my trustworthy guidance. Let this be enough, let this be enough today that we can all take solace in the words of Rumi, "Beyond right and wrong, there is a field and I will meet you there."   Josh Trent (23:25): If you enjoyed this Solocast, this is a recording. One week when I returned home from the quest with my group of seven and our four guides, Alia, Hayden, Mark, and Tim enjoy this as a reflection of truth that is current the first, second, third, and fourth week on my return home, please enjoy this recording with my group. A ho. Wow! Welcome back to the matrix. That's been my integration. How has it been going? How has my integration process been going? I would say overall from many of the different, I guess you could describe them as ego stripping experiences. This one by far had the most realness when I came home and it's a testament to when I crossed the threshold, as the, I guess, showed up in the monkey in Tim's dream. Uh, there was a part of my young boy inside of me that really needed this medicine.   Josh Trent (24:31): And as I've come home, I've been talking slower. I haven't been in a hurry to wow people. I've really seen like the layers of my psychological onion be fucking peeled when I came back home. And a big part of that was just really feeling safe and secure and loved and whole in my body. And I know that my physical health isn't perfect right now, but it feels damn good to come from a place where I'm being healthy, not from scarcity, not from like, oh my God, it's an emergency blah, blah, blah, but just really loving myself and being healthy from that place. And it, and it really rocked my world, you guys, cause I didn't think about this. I didn't feel this until I got home and I'm sure it'll unfold for a long time, but there was this point a couple of days, I was...We have a trail here and I was walking in nature and I had this little sit spot on a rock and it overlooks the stream and I was sitting there and I was like, it flashed me back to a fucking moment   Josh Trent (25:33): I had, when I was a personal trainer. When I went into personal training, I wanted to make my body look good so that I could like be with the feminine and look cool. And like all these things that I think a young undeveloped 25 year old man does, and I was sitting on a rock and I was like, "Oh my God, this is what I've been wanting the whole time to actually be well and be healthy and love myself from a place of calmness instead of using health and my outward appearance as a way to look cool and be accepted and receive love from other people." Like coming home to the fucking realness is really what it felt like. And it felt really good. And so I'm excited about that. And then wouldn't, you know, it, when I came home, you know, I had shared with y'all that, that I had quote, "hypothyroid," well, I'm doing a podcast and I'm meeting with this functional medicine doctor and he's like, "Josh, you don't have hypothyroid.   Josh Trent (26:27): "That was a misdiagnosis. That was actually somebody trying to sell you a bunch of bullshit." And I'm like, "Oh my God, this is exactly what Hayden said where he was like, 'Dude, in your share, you had to get sick. You had to go on this quest for wellness to feel unwellness in your body. And you had to go into the matrix into the system, into the belly of the beast,' so that I would feel what it's like to be sick from the system itself and be masqueraded and have, and have things presented to me as truth when they're really not true because the truth is that health comes from self love. Wellness comes from me, loving myself. Like period. End of story. And there's no esoteric babble that needs to go along with that. It's just, it is what it is.   Josh Trent (27:13): Like wellness comes from loving myself and from being a loving human being to other people and to the degree that I'm, uh, angry or judging or projecting my bullshit onto other people, well that creates an unwellness and dis-ease in myself and I've heard this shit a thousand times, but something clicked from this quest where I was able to sit with myself and really feel what the hell that even means and what the reality of that even means, because it's so easy for me to get caught up. I have all these books and I have all these interviews and I was feeling this on the quest. I became a victim of intellectualization, a victim of my own intellectual mind, where I had heard Hawkins in 'Power vs Force' and in 'Letting Go' talk about the space between the head and the heart. But something really clicked when I came home and I was like, oh my God, like this, this is everything. And so my work, my path and my integration of this, this quest is to bring the quest home, to be in nature, to pray to our Mother and to connect with her and to honor her, I've been picking up trash when I go on walks with my lady and she was so stoked yesterday, she was like, "I love you coming back from this quest,' she's like, "I love the Mountain Man."   Josh Trent (28:28): I love the mountain man. And so she, she was like, I'm really proud of you. And it's, it's been beautiful in our relationship. You know, it's been really, it's been really beautiful because she's noticing the difference in me where before, when I went out there, like, you know, I'm not going to lie. Like when I came back, there was the culture shock. I mean, holy shit, there was a massive culture shock because I came from like deep nature and just laying with bugs and being in the dirt and like feeling the joy of sunrise. And then I am wearing a mask in the airport and I had this moment, you guys like it really like, it's quite emotional. This woman was playing with her child and she had a mask on and I just, I, in the airports, I take my mask off, you know, it's not a 'Fuck you,' it's not an anger thing.   Josh Trent (29:17): It's just like, come tell me to wear it and I'll put it on. So that's how I roll. And I had my mask off and I had my mask off the entire time and I'm sitting there and I'm talking to this woman about her baby. And I told her my son's coming. And she was like, "Oh, it's so beautiful." She's like, "I wish I could take my mask off and play with my child." And I just calmly took a breath. And I looked right at her and I said, "You can take it off right now. You don't have to wear this." And it was almost like she double clutched emotionally. She was like, is he right? Can I take it off or? And I realized, oh my God, like this, this is what the world needs. And this is what I shared to everyone.   Josh Trent (29:54): And this is what the gift of, of reality that spirit gave me. And that is when it comes to creating change in the world and in, in creating loving change, less anger, more truth. And it's exactly what I shared in our circle. Less anger, more truth. That was the message that spirit gave me when it comes to mask wearing and psychological control and COVID and manipulation, less anger, more truth in the same thing, mirrored in a conversation with my brother yesterday, where he was going off and off and off about all the crazy stuff that's happening in the world. And I was like, well, what if we held them both at the same time? What if we held the dark and the light at the same time? And we said, okay, we're not going to bypass this. We're going to feel into it, but we're also going to present solutions based on love.   Josh Trent (30:38): And instead of focusing on, "DON'T WEAR A MASK!" It's like, "Hey, here's how you can trust your immune system. Here's how you can build your immune system. Here's how you can be healthy in your own body, in your own psyche." That's the direction I want to go in. And I realized I became to go full circle. My integration, my culture shock is just the reality that I had become a victim of my own intellectualization, where I would intellectualize everything to death. I just intellectualize everything to death. So, um, I've been feeling it all. I've been feeling. I've been feeling the deep sadness, feeling the pain. And when I looked into that mother's eyes in the airport, just how controlled she is. And she's just a mirror of the millions of people in our country that are being controlled. And it makes me, honestly, you guys, it makes me want to go out with a spear like our ancestors did and just start stabbing people.   Josh Trent (31:27): It makes me want to go to war and that's not gonna, that's not gonna do anything. It's not going to do anything. You know, if it comes down to that in the future, I'm sure we'll all be on the front lines together, but, but it's not, I think we're in a different kind of war. I think we're in a war of consciousness where, you know, my grandfather went to World War II and he actually had to kill people. You know,...Can you guys imagine what that would feel like? I mean, I just, can you imagine what it would feel like to have to kill people to be free? How crazy that would be? So just feeling into that and we don't have to do that. Like we can choose something we can, we can fight or what we believe in from love, not from violence and not from anger.   Josh Trent (32:15): and just feeling into all that you guys, you know, just feeling into the, the real nobility and the real power in being at peace is one of the things I wrote to Tim and Mark before we started as like, "Hey," he was like, "I, you know, I'm going out here for my birthday. Like may peace and power would be the result." That was my quick mantra, my prayer, I just want, I want peace and I want power because cause that can be trusted. And so, um, that's the meaning of the making, um, mystery has been talking to me in dreams profoundly. So, and I guess there's, there's a part of my heart. That's honestly missing, sounds crazy missing the darkness and missing being out there. And just knowing that every year I will be doing this from now on, because talk about the ultimate spiritual check-in, we'll talk about the ultimate check-in for who you are.   Josh Trent (33:07): I think as far as support, I could use support in sharing the podcast, you know. If these messages align and when one of the things is having shorter episodes, like five, 10, 15 minute episodes that are easier for people to listen to that don't take an hour of people's time and still delivering potent medicine in that short time. So I can request support on that. My experience of the Vision Quest woven has woven its way into my day-to-day life. Um, it's been really strong in my connection to nature and just loving where I live. It could definitely be stronger in the fact where I had this vision of like taking my son out, you know, those baby carriers, I think they're called like baby bjorn or something. So taking my son out and I had this vision of having a guide, teach us how to live from the land, like, you know, which plants are safe and which plants are not. And here's how you do the fire like Jesse did, and just really want wanting that here. So trying to find someone here in Austin, where we can learn about how to live off the land, you know, how to survive basically.   Josh Trent (34:18): So that's it, I'm feeling all the things you guys I'm feeling all the emotions that are in the dark bucket and I'm feeling all the emotions that are in the delight bucket too. And just kind of like, whoa, it's been, it's been intense. Um, I've been living to my commitments and I haven't, I haven't felt the call to have the conversation of healing with my father yet because the father in me is like, it's not time. It's not time. So what's beautiful is that I did the healing with him up there on the hill. And so I don't, I don't need to run to go here with my father cause I've already healed that. Like there's a part of me. That's already touched the compassion and the forgiveness that I have in him. So if that's meant to be in the future, it will be. A ho.         Build Immunity. Breathe Deeply. ​ ​ A simple, powerful 21 minute morning system designed to give you more energy to let go of old weight and live life well. Get Your Calm Mind + Immunity Building Guide  *6 science based morning practices guaranteed to give you more energy and less weight in 21 Minutes. *7 day guided B.R.E.A.T.H.E breathwork included.     Links From Today's Show  breathwork.io M21 Wellness Guide Paul Check | All Is God Leave Wellness Force a review on iTunes Wellness Force Community   More Top Episodes 226 Paul Chek: The Revolution Is Coming (3 Part Series) 131 Drew Manning: Emotional Fitness 129 Gretchen Rubin: The Four Tendencies  183 Dr. Kyra Bobinet: Brain Science 196 Aubrey Marcus: Own The Day 103 Robb Wolf: Wired To Eat Best of The Best: The Top 10 Guests From over 200 Shows Get More Wellness In Your Life Join the #WellnessWarrior Community on Facebook Tweet us on Twitter: Send us a tweet Comment on the Facebook page

Episode 382 is brought to you by... The Lead Guitar Tool Kit Big Ear Pedals Chase Bliss Audio Support this show The notes on this episode were hard to keep track of, but that's okay. Do you even read this? Does anyone care about the pictures, or do they just watch the video? Let me know in the comments - Steve This is the link to the photos 00:00 - Egnater masters the Bait and Switch? 11:00 - Should you build a kit guitar or buy something budget and upgrade it? 28:20 - This was what's new...but this is also where I didn't really take good notes. Uh...Star Trek...Ryan's new guitar? 40:30 - Cartar 53:40 - The Big Mermaid This week's song is from Josh Wren of Plutar and is called "Red Lizard" ***************************** 60CH on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/60CycleHumcast Buy Something with our affiliate links: Buy a Shirt - https://teespring.com/stores/60-cycle-hum Sweetwater: https://imp.i114863.net/rMb1D Thomann: https://www.thomannmusic.com?offid=1&affid=405 Amazon: https://amzn.to/2PaUKKO Ebay: https://ebay.to/2UlIN6z Reverb: https://reverb.grsm.io/60cyclehum Cool Patch Cables: https://www.tourgeardesigns.com/discount/60cyclehum +++++++++++++++++++++ Social Media Stuff: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/60cyclehum/ Discord: https://discord.gg/nNue5mPvZX Instagram and Twitter @60cyclehum TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@60cyclehum? Hire us for Demos and other marketing opportunities   https://60cyclehumcast.com/marketing-packages/ #60cyclehum #guitar #guitars #shameflute

- Julio Jones gets traded to the Titans  - Luka needs help  - Clippers shoot the lights out of the ball  - Uh oh James Harden... - Trae Young is not backing down from anyone  - Should the 76ers be concerned? - Lightning vs Hurricanes 8 goal period  - Are the Montreal Canadians a team of destiny? - Bruins lose game 4  - Golden Knights are back - Logan Vs Floyd was a waste  - USA vs Mexico instant classic Mac_on_sports - Insta 

Do you hear that sound? Can you feel it? The cool ocean breeze in your hair, the salt on your tongue. It's the smooth crash of the Last Wave on KVGM with your host, Hammock, bringing you thirty minutes of the best video game jams(z) from all your favorite composers and consoles, each and every week from our beachside studio in sunny Aqua City Island. Sit back, relax, and get ready to catch...the Last Wave.We hit up some popular franchises for jams, including Final Fantasy, Sonic and Ace Combat...and maybe Metal Max? I don't know how "popular" it is. Of course, it wouldn't be complete without a trip to one of our favorite destinations, Pebble Beach Golf Links in beautiful Pebble Beach, California. Visual novel representation? Uh, check. PC-98 rep? Double check. ENJOY!DOWNLOAD - THE LAST WAVE (6/6/21)PlaylistIt's Our Turn Now! - Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi(Final Fantasy X-2, Sony Playstation 2)Windmill Isle (Night) - Fumie Kumatani(Sonic Unleashed, Nintendo Wii)Gameplay - Yusaburo Shimojyo(Pebble Beach no Hatou New: Tournament Edition, Super Famicom)Blue Moon - yan(Shoujo Mahou Gaku Little Witch Romanesque, PC)Bar - Toshiya Yamanaka(Star Cruiser II, PC-98)Let's Go By Ocean Liner! - Satoshi Kadokura(Metal Max 3, Nintendo DS)Zeami's Theme - Yuji Saito and Hayato Matsuo(Kabuki Ittou Ryoudan, PC-Engine CD)Extra Ending - Nobuhide Isayama(Ace Combat 2, Sony Playstation)

Here we are for episode 439! This time on the show Nick G takes over the majority of the show and chats to his friend, Jon P about some of the famous people they have met face-to-face over the years. All that and Nick and Paul also return to Look-in Magazine to discuss a November 1975 edition of the magazine! Yeti Uncle John also shares some of his very vague memories from when he worked in a bar in Soho! It really is all go this time! Our next episode, #440 sees Yeti Uncle John sharing with us exactly how he is getting on with his trope of magpies... There is some concern about a new arrival and John wants some advice from Paul! Uh oh... Do join us, won't you?! Please email me at shyyeti@yahoo.co.uk if you have any comments - you can even send me a sound-file and I'll include it. The music is by Shy Yeti and Luca. Sound effects by Paul C and Soundbible. All content of this episode is Copyright Paul Chandler, 2021. Episode 439 was recorded between the 25th May and the 5th June 2021.

Todd Taskey has over twenty years of experience as a founding investor, board member, and management team of several business ventures. Now, as M&A at Potomac Business Capital, he helps CEO's and entrepreneurs develop a successful exit strategy by understanding the mid-market investment banking process. Today he joins us to talk about roll-up strategy, the mergers and acquisitions red flags you should avoid, and what you should be offering as an agency if you're thinking of selling. 3 Golden Nuggets Thinking about selling? A lot of agency owners are thinking of selling at some point in the future. How can they be sure to get the most value? Our guest agrees that you should pay a lot of attention to your EBITDA. A lot of times, buyers won't even consider you unless you have $1 million in EBITDA. Specialization is the key. If you own a small agency and are looking at roll-up mergers as a possible strategy for the future ask yourself “am I providing a really specific piece?” “Am I really, really good at providing that to folks?” There are lots of opportunities out there and, if you're smaller, it's easier if you can solve a specific issue. Red flags you should avoid. The most important aspect that sometimes determines the failure of a merger is culture fit. You should always have that in mind. Another mistake is to think of it not just as two identical companies coming together. If they're smaller, they should add certain capabilities. Sponsors and Resources SweetProcess: Today's episode is sponsored by SweetProcess. If you're looking for a way to speed up processes in your agency, SweetProcess will provide the systemization you need to scale and grow your business. Check out sweetprocess.com/smartagency and get your productivity up. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Secrets to Implementing a Successful Roll-Up Strategy for Your Agency Jason: [00:00:00] Hey, what's up everybody. Jason Swenk here and I have an amazing guest today. A repeat guest, Todd, where we're going to talk about a roll-up strategy because there's a lot of things out there right now that are going on and this market is growing very quickly with, uh, mergers and acquisitions and, Todd is going to provide a lot of value to you. So let's get into the episode. Are you frustrated with how long it takes you to get stuff done in your agency? Or tired of your team missing steps or falling through the cracks? You know, you may be looking for an easy way to capture SOPs, to scale your agency faster and easier. Now, our partners at SweetProcess have created an amazing tool to help you overcome all these frustrations. SweetProcess really lets you create a step-by-step instruction from every task in your agency. From writing proposals to executing client work and responding to client requests. So everything gets done more easily, no more mistakes or missed steps. Plus, you'll have a central place where everyone employees, contractors, or even VAs can access your procedures anytime from anywhere, the best way to learn about how Sweet Process really can streamline your agency is to start using it. So exclusively for the smart agency masterclass listeners, you can try it out for 28 days free of charge. No strings attached. Just go to sweetprocess.com/smartagency to start your free 28-day free trial today. That's sweetprocess.com/smartagency to get your SOP is down and your productivity up. Hey Todd, welcome to the show. Todd: [00:01:50] Happy to be here, Jason. Thanks for having me. Jason: [00:01:52] Yeah. So for the ones that have not checked out our other interview, which we'll actually link in the show notes, make sure you guys all check that out, but, uh, tell us who you are and what do you do? Todd: [00:02:04] Yes. My name is Todd Taskey, T-A-S-K-E-Y. You can find me on LinkedIn. I'm happy to connect Potomac Business Capital is our group and we do, uh, investment banking primarily in the digital marketing and digital transformation space. Jason: [00:02:18] Awesome. Well, let's kind of jump right into it. You know, there's a lot of crazy things going on at this moment with, you know, different deal structures. What are you guys seeing since you're in the mix of it with a lot of digital agencies? Todd: [00:02:32] Yeah. You know, it's interesting. We've got one client. I'll give you just a couple of anecdotal pieces. I've got a client right now that is small, you know, they're actually under a million dollars of EBITDA, which is usually an important cutoff, but these guys are very focused in terms of the work that they do. They provide email marketing in a very specific vertical. And that becomes a, a really good bite-size piece for an acquirer. And in fact, both of, we expect two LOIs this week for them, and both of those are very sizable companies, but I think they viewed this opportunity as, like I said, a bite-sized piece that they can build out a practice from and then cross sell across to their other brands. We've also got, you know, we closed the deal right at the end of the year where our client is about 2 million of EBITDA. They're a partner in the HubSpot space, has long time been there. And we were able to put them together with the business, very similar to theirs, probably about twice the size. And that now becomes one of the larger premier players in the HubSpot space. We've got another client now that's in the video intelligence space, again, they're a little bit under a million dollars of EBITDA. But because they're so specific in their, in their offering, it becomes easier for us to find, uh, a very specific or curated fit for them really, you know, from the, almost from the network that we already have. Jason: [00:04:15] And so what should people know about the possible roll-up? Because there's a lot of people listening in that their intent is to have option to sell. And let's say they're to a point where they do want to sell, but they might not be over the certain threshold in order to see the real money that they really want. Like you and me. We always discuss kind of the million in EBITDA is kind of the, the starter, right? Like you got to get to that level in order to really start to entertain some healthy offers. And so talk a little bit about how can the people listen and get a little bit creative. Todd: [00:04:53] So, two things I would say. Don't think of it as a roll-up, think of it as an arc of services. And so when people put together, when larger buyers put things together, they don't want an SEO shop and another SEO and another SEO so that they can become a bigger shop. What they want to do is become a destination, a one-stop-shop if you will, for their clients. So what a lot of, for example, there was a lot of news. People want to check in Tinuiti, which was a, a Mountaingate Capital company that was acquired in January by new mountain capital. And it's very, very, uh, nice data point for the space, but they had spent the last four years building an arc of services. So for an example, they acquired a company four years ago called Elite SEM they added paid media, they added social, they added content, they added analytics, a delivery system and a platform and everything else, and had a wonderful exit from that. So, one question for your listeners is, am I providing a, a really specific piece? Right, to that arc of services. And am I really, really good at providing that to folks? So that would be one. And then I think, you know that the second thing, when you look to be acquired, private equity is driving a lot of the activity in our space today. And so for private equity to get the returns that their investors want, they always will have some debt in their structure. To be able to borrow from an institution they need $2 million of EBITDA. For most lenders, that is the minimum that they'll do. So from that standpoint, I'll give you an example, we've got a bunch of private equity relationships. The transaction that we did with HubSpot, I reached out to three of the groups that we work with and that we know pretty well. And I said, hey, you know, if you don't know about HubSpot, you should, it's a fragmented industry. There's a lot of smaller providers in that space. And it's a great software for inbound lead creation. So two of the groups said to me, Jesus, you know, if you can find me, uh, you know, an a million and a million or a million and a half. You know, any pieces that you can put two together so that we can become a diamond or an elite partner, and we can, we can lend against it. Then we would be excited to do that. So that's a project that we're working on now where I've got actually two kind of in the early stage companies that are both, uh, around a million that will get us to that amount that private equity can, you know, can sponsor. So there's lots of opportunity that's out there for, and it's a little bit easier if you're smaller to solve a very specific issue, if you will. Jason: [00:07:58] So if you're putting two kinds of agencies together, right? Like you're taking one plus one equals two. How long do they have to be together before you can kind of go to someone and be like, yeah, it's a proven model, right? Like, like what you were talking about is looking at like, all right, it's not just adding services to add services. It's adding services to come up with a full solution for getting the max results. So I just want everyone to be clear on, on that, but how long do you feel like if you do take, like, let's use an example in our mastermind, we have tons of agencies and some specialize in one particular service and that's it. And same thing with another one. Now, if they come together and they're like, Hey, we're both going after this industry, we put these two together. Wow. We'll make it over the threshold, but how long do they have to be together? Because I know with Republics we're putting, you know, last year we bought eight agencies and I still look at it going, look, we still need to make sure everything fits together before we talk about exit and all that. So what are your thoughts there? Todd: [00:09:08] So couple of great questions. The first is when you were putting agencies together. Here's what I find, that without cash, the deal oftentimes will break. So for example, Jason, you and I are roughly equals. We're going to put our business together. Let's say we have about a million bucks of EBITDA. A million bucks is, you know what it means. I have a very good life. You have a very good life. Now I'm going to give that up and I'm not going to be in control of my agency anymore. And, and who's going to be in charge. Who's going to make the decision to, you know, a whole bunch of questions that make it difficult. So, real-world example, when we did that transaction at the end of the year with two HubSpot agencies, we, one company had the larger company of three owners and my guy was a single owner. We put them together. Now they all have roughly 25% of the business. To make that work, my guy got roughly $3 million. The acquiring company wrote a check. They had it on their balance sheet and they wrote a check for that amount of cash. So now, that happened December 31st, our expectation is that we'll spend most of the year doing integration, picking up efficiencies. And then we will get credit for that. So the combined businesses, about 6 million, we would expect at the year-end, it would be about seven and a half million of EBITDA. And then beginning of next year, we'll take that to the marketplace, right? With the other project I mentioned where we're bringing those $2 million businesses together. That's going to work because we're going to bring a private equity group together at that time. So each of those owners will get cash at close. Probably somewhere in the two to $4 million each in cash. And then they'll also have somewhere between 20 and 35% equity in the new company, the larger company, and all of these things need to be worked out. The private equity group is going to get a little bit better value on that business because it's not as valuable because it's smaller and because they haven't harvested the efficiency yet. So in, in that deal, it, when we start, it will be agency one agency, two and private equity all coming together at the same time. Whereas the other deal that I mentioned, those guys are going to just do it themselves because they were strong enough and they had enough cash to be able to do that. So that we'll have a little bit of an impact on the answer from that standpoint. But I would think. You would want to be able to show a full financial year cycle to prove to somebody this is real. And it takes that long, right? For things to be humming along that everybody's familiar with the system and move on from there. Jason: [00:11:55] What are the things to look out for that you see as big mistakes when. Because there's a lot of people, you know, I see a lot of people go into my mastermind members and clients are like, hey, let's roll-up. Let's roll-up. Like, what are some of the gotchas to be like, or the red flags for people to avoid? Todd: [00:12:13] Yeah. You know, uh, giving an example, Mountaingate Capital has had tremendous exits so far with Olsen and Sierra and just recently with Tinuiti and, and the, the guys that drive that private equity group say that the number one most important criteria for them is culture fit. Secondly, is culture fit, and I think third is also culture fit. So they also established leadership because there was somebody who writes a check, right? Whoever writes a check is in charge and what I see oftentimes. Uh, in, in kind of failed combinations is that nobody writes a check nobody's really in charge. Everybody's kind of given up their autonomy and aren't completely comfortable and they do it almost without a lot of forethought. So that would be one. I think the second thing is the notion of two companies coming together. If they're smaller, they should add certain capabilities. So for example, in, in a transaction that we just closed at the beginning of the month, that hasn't announced yet. These guys both do digital marketing focused on the SMB space. My guys had really good technology, but not a lot of sales infrastructure. The buyer had great sales capability. They didn't have technology and to add the technology to their sales process should have a tremendous impact. And that will, that will cover both sides. So from that perspective, it shouldn't be just, you know, two companies that are identical and feel like they belong together. There should be something that you add to each other. Jason: [00:14:05] Love it. Well, this has all been amazing. Todd, is there anything I didn't ask you that you think would benefit the audience. Todd: [00:14:10] Um, no, not from a question standpoint. I just think it's interesting when I have conversations, which I do pretty regularly. People are surprised at the type of opportunity that's out there because oftentimes they think, well, I got to sell my business, I guess some cash, I get an earn-out and then I become an employee. And there are so many more exciting opportunities than something like that. That extent, that A gets liquidity, B hopefully a better upside and gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to focus on just the things that they are best at that they enjoy the most. So, so maybe it's just opening up their aperture a little bit to consider what they would like to do. Because I, I believe that we'll see a really strong next two or three or four years in this space where good companies will get strong valuations and have the opportunity to do, you know, what gets them excited. Jason: [00:15:12] For the ones that are interested in chatting with you. They're, they're over the million in EBITDA or close to it. They're wanting to really kind of exit or have a bigger opportunity to take some chips off the table. Where can they reach out to you? Todd: [00:15:26] Yeah. So find me on LinkedIn is the easiest way to do that and just reach out there. But one last thing that I would say, which I think is interesting. You see, I have lots of conversations with clients or prospects, that they do not want to go through this process of putting a deck together, getting their financials right, going out to the market and let's see if somebody will buy us. But I have a lot of them that say, listen, this is how I'm thinking about the future. Here's where I see our strengths and weaknesses. This would be a really great fit for me. And, and so for example, I've got two deals under LOI now. The video intelligence company was exactly like that. When I sold to my client, Arie, he said here's, this is what would help accelerate us and the people that would benefit most from our capability set. And he's been on my board here for a while. One day I had a conversation about a completely different opportunity. And turned out that potential buyer is a great fit for him. So I'm always interested to talk with people that are doing interesting work that want to explore what might be out there for them. Whether that's something that they want to do in the Spring of 2021, or just to be exposed to ideas that are interesting as they come along. So I'm always happy to do that. Uh, our website is potomacbusinesscapital.com and you can find me on LinkedIn. I'm pretty easy to get to. Jason: [00:16:55] Man this new software, I'm waiting for the little keyboard, but, uh, make sure you, uh, tell him, uh, you heard of, uh, him from the smart agency master class and they'll hook you up. And, uh, if you guys enjoyed this episode and you guys want to be around amazing agency yeah. Owners to really help you scale faster, create that predictability, that, that growth, and really achieve the money that you really want in your business. I want to invite all of you to go to digitalagencyelite.com and check out our exclusive masters. Todd: [00:17:26] I will tell you some of the, a few of the guys that I've spoken with have been thrilled, maybe a little bit surprised at how much they have ramped up their agency as being part of the mastermind group. Not just the stuff that they've learned from you, but being around other people is forcing you to think bigger and to do bigger and you know, all those exciting things. So keep up the good work. Jason: [00:17:46] Oh, yeah, we, we love it. You know, if we can, uh, speed up people's, uh, sales process and get them to where they want to go faster, that's our whole goal. So thanks Todd for coming on, everybody go reach out and, uh, until next time have a Swenk day.

A short one because we're all busy people. Maybe us more than you. But we fit in a lot of topics, from how to launder crypto to appreciating 90s mall punk, and everything (well, very little, actually) in between. Sponsor Upstart is the fast and easy way to pay off your debt with a personal loan –– all online. Visit Upstart.com/Overtired to get your fast approval with up-front rates. Show Links Diarrhea Crypto: Everything You Need To Know K.flay Don't Judge a Song By Its Cover Join the Community See you on Discord! Thanks! You're downloading today's show from CacheFly's network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff and Christina as @film_girl, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript Brett Brett: [00:00:00] [00:00:00]Hey, you're listening to overtired. I am Brett Terpstra. I am here with Christina Warren, Christina, how are you? [00:00:11] Christina: [00:00:11] I'm good. I don't know what time zone I'm in, but I'm good. And, uh, how are you? [00:00:16] doing we're recording finally, there were some hiccups that I think you want to talk about. [00:00:22] Brett: [00:00:22] so many hiccups. I mean, scheduling a loan. [00:00:25] Christina: [00:00:25] I know. [00:00:26] Brett: [00:00:26] I'll be lucky if this act, if you're listening to this on Friday, something went really well. There's a good chance. That's episode comes out on Saturday. There's also a good chance. That's only 30 minutes long because we're busy people and things got, uh, just what's the word for when everything goes sideways. [00:00:43] Christina: [00:00:43] fucked. [00:00:44] Brett: [00:00:44] Yeah, everything got fucked. Yeah. So anyway, w last time when we first tried to record this episode, I, I got on and there was this loud hissing that I just assumed was Christina, and then it wasn't Christina. [00:00:59] Christina: [00:00:59] It's a [00:01:00] good assumption, but it was not this case. It was actually not my fault. [00:01:03] Brett: [00:01:03] And I, I th so I want to talk about cable management. Uh, I want to come back to this topic, but I ended up taking everything apart. Like I have so many boxes and cables that everything plugs into trying to figure out where this was coming from. And the thing was it's only in Skype and the audio recorded from the microphone while on the Skype call has no hits at all. [00:01:29] And it's all very confusing, but I had a zoom call right after and the audio is fine. So if you could talk to Microsoft about this, um, it's Skype, it's all Skype [00:01:42] Christina: [00:01:42] Okay. Um, if I knew the Skype [00:01:45] people, I would, and I think they would probably politely listen, but I'll try. [00:01:49] Brett: [00:01:49] when it does that thing. When you end a call and it says, how was the quality of your [00:01:53] Christina: [00:01:53] Oh yeah. I can do like one. [00:01:56] Brett: [00:01:56] I'll I'll do it. It's it's it's my problem. I'll take care of [00:02:00] [00:02:00] Christina: [00:02:00] I'll do it too. And then I'll write it. [00:02:01] I'll be like, you're doing something to our audio and we don't know What it is because it's recording cleanly, but you're adding noise and we don't like it. [00:02:10] Brett: [00:02:10] What do you want us to do? Use Google Hangouts. Come on, [00:02:13] Christina: [00:02:13] Fuck sake. Come on, zoom. [00:02:16] Brett: [00:02:16] everyone. Everyone else is recording through. Like newer, more modern technologies and only people like you may. And, uh, I guess some old school podcasts are still recording on Skype. [00:02:31] Christina: [00:02:31] Yeah, I mean, the thing is, is that it has its issues and I'm not defending that, but it's also like one of those things where, because I have to use zoom for some things, but zoom is such a shitty company. Like they're, they're really just such a terrible company and their policies are jus...

Out of sight, but you're never out of mind. 雖然不見你，但你一直在我心裡。他們會回答這個問題：When you travel, do you miss Kaohsiung? What do you miss the most? 當你旅行的時候你想念高雄嗎？什麼是你最想念的呢？Angela:After being here and, and getting settled, I think I missed the feeling of home. Uh, like I haven't had this feeling with other places. I haven't had this feeling, living in the US so here or when I'm away from my home in Taiwan, I feel kind of, if I'm traveling, I enjoy my traveling, but then at a certain point I do want to come home. And then once I get back to Taiwan, it's just a feeling of relief and Taiwan. When you even get through a border security, it's very, it's not a big hassle. And they're very, um, I think rational and they don't overreact compared to some other countries. So, it's definitely a better welcome. Yeah. I would say.住在這裡之後，我認為我想念家的感覺，但我對其他地方不曾有這樣的感覺。在美國沒有家的感覺，但當我離開台灣的家，在我旅行的時候，我知道在某個時候我會想要回家。然後只要我一回到台灣家裡，就有那種鬆一口氣的感覺。當你入境海關時，也不是太麻煩的事，我覺得他們很理性。比較起來，不像一些其他的國家那樣的過度反應。所以絕對是更被歡迎的一個地方。Donny:I miss it because now I live in the countryside and I live in a place without many amenities. I miss things in Kaohsiung like supermarkets, the swimming pool, which is ironic because I'm in the ocean every day, but I miss the swimming pool and the spa, I miss the easy access to stores to buy things and book shops. And I also miss the mountain quite a lot because where I live now, it doesn't have much highland. So it's not so easy to get some elevation. Yeah. 因為我現在住在鄉下，所以我住在一個沒有許多便民設施的地方。我想念在高雄的超市，還有說起來有點好笑，雖然我現在每天都泡在海水裡，但我想念高雄的游泳池、水療中心，還有能夠到店裡買東西的便利，像是書局。還有我也想念山林，因為我現在住的地方並沒有很多高地。所以也不是那麼方便到海拔高的地方。明天的內容是：他們會回答這個問題：Would you ever run away someday?有天你們會逃離高雄嗎？

We get into a quite a few foreign affairs as we keep with the tone of global solidarity in todays topics. We talk about the ongoing strife in Mali, another international shipping tragedy happens, the DOJ moves to label gangs as domestic terrorists, and is St Louis being run by a death cult? Uh-oh, let's talk about all of it. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/khary-robertson/support

Buddy talks about the word rig(UH)marole, a relapse dream, Russell Brand's book Recovery, Scout's pace and the word undependable.

Tune in now and don't forget to sign up for www.solciety.co!Speaker 1 (00:03):Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail. online teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery. And you are about to become one What's up Solarpreneurs Taylor Armstrong here with another episode.Speaker 2 (00:46):Why should you do whatever it takes in deals and what technologies should you be implementing today? That and much more, what are we talking about in the episode today? So let's jump into it first. I want to say, go, um, follow me on Instagram. If you haven't already, I would love to connect with more you guys. Also on Facebook, trying to be a little bit more active on the social medias ever since we did a couple of social media episodes, a few weeks back, but, um, if you are following me, I did a little demo of a new tool that is seriously a goal of mine. You guys need to be using this, and we've talked about this tool actually on previous episodes, we had the founder come on, uh, Brad Mortenson can go listen to that episode, but the tool was RepCard, which hopefully all you are using by now.Speaker 2 (01:39):But more specifically, what they came out with was a physical card. It RepCard, it's an app. You can go and do the whole customer follow up. You can send your digital business card, but what they came out with is money is a physical card that you can literally just tap people's phones and it pulls up your digital business card, right there, gay, no need to text them. Then open the link, you tap their phone and boom, your card is pulling up right there. What's sweet about it is you can go on there and you can save your contact straight from that digital card. So you can just tap, save his contact. They're going to be in your phone now and it's going to make it ways you're to follow up with people, get referrals. I did old demo demo of it. So I obviously can't show you in the audio here, but, um, it's nice because they can see all your, your views to then go on there, leave your reviews.Speaker 2 (02:36):Um, they can see probably other people in the neighborhood that left reviews, which you should be encouraging them to do. And then with the top of a button, they can also send a referral. They can submit a referral for you. Okay. So I highly suggest that you go get this, um, RepCard hit me up and I can connect you with the guys over at RepCard and then get the physical. I think it's like a hundred bucks. Um, you can get just a card that says RepCard on it, even tap. And I think for an extra a hundred on top of that 200, you can get a, a card with your picture on it, with your company and everything. Okay. So go get one of these things. It is a game changer and I'm already using it. Definitely noticed a difference. Hey, so that's the first, um, thing I wanted to introduce to you guys, and then seconds.Speaker 2 (03:28):Um, as far as technology goes, um, another thing we've talked about is we are launching a full custom training platform. Um, it's called Solciety, and I'm sure we will be doing a full launch episode, but just to kind of give you guys the teaser on it and hopefully get your stoke for it. It is looking super bomb. So you can go check out just a preview we've um, finished some videos and things like that. So solciety.co is the website for it. You can go check it out there, but what we're actually going to be doing is doing this for teams. So you, if you or your team is interested in having a full custom training platform for your entire company, this thing's going to be a game changer for you. So whether you're a rep or needing it for your company, um, this is a full app you can get on your phone.Speaker 2 (04:22):It has training games from the best in the industry. We're constantly adding more coaches instructors on there. I'm on there. Um, guys like Earl Kapule, Jay Pez, James Swiderski, we're getting some heavy hitters on there. So you're not going to miss out. The full launch fit is actually on July 1st. Okay. So it might already be out depending on when you listen to this, but if you listen to this, right, if you're in June, listen to this episode, go get on there. Cause we are doing some special things for those that are, um, doing sort of the beta testing and getting on it before it fully launches. So you can go check that out at solciety.co You guys are not going to want to miss out on that. Okay. So let's jump into the show today. Um, today I want to talk about just why you should do whatever it takes in your appointments.Speaker 2 (05:16):And this is something that I've seen that top producers have that those, um, that really helps set them apart. That really helps them close more deals than anyone else is. They just do whatever it takes. They're so persistent. They have the ability to just keep going when others would quit in a deal. Okay. So giving an example, guys like Jason Newby, he has an office here in San Diego, actually met with their team last week. He's growing to about 40 reps. And I think he's only been a how to soar company like two or three months now is that like 40 reps. Um, and then one of his guys probably going to have him on the show here, um, his first, I think first month and a half or so, he's closed almost 40 deals, something like that. And I'm like, man, Jason, what are you teaching these guys?Speaker 2 (06:08):What are you guys doing? And something that he tells his guys. And I know he himself does. I was on a little panel with them at the door to door conference that I went to too. And he just says, Taylor, what we're doing is we're just not quitting. We're just persisting in deals. We're not really following up. They're not even doing any follow-up. They're just going balls to the walls. Just getting deals closed and just not taking no for an answer. Okay. I'll receive. You're not going to be. Yeah. Or you're not going to make people super mad and you gotta be, um, you know, that sneaky, persistent, you can't be the guys that just keep taking nos, nos, nos, nos, nos, and you're coming out. And what the same thing, but what Jason does with his team is he's an expert at picking and rolling it, just weaving through, through these objections, just being super assumptive, assumptive, and getting these deals locked down.Speaker 2 (07:05):And so it's something super important, just doing whatever it takes. Hey, in a story to go with it that I've experienced personally. Um, a few weeks ago, it was on a Saturday is having a slower week. And I said, okay, today I don't care. I'm going to go out. I need you a same-day deal. I think I only had, I don't know, I was at one close on the week, so I'm like, okay, need to finish with at least two, I'm going to go out Saturday and they hit it hard and they go get at same day deal. It's closed them up, flock it down. So I had no idea what I was going to do. Um, but I came across this deal, I'm knocking. And it was actually like first or second door I knocked and he tells me he's already signed with another company.Speaker 2 (07:49):Um, he says, I'm good, Mike. Oh, cool. No, that's awesome. Uh, yeah, what company you signed with and we start getting into it, just had a conversation. It went less from a sales pitch to more, just a conversation, right. Which is something you all need to be doing. Think of any interaction you have as not a presentation, not a sales pitch, but a conversation with a human being in front of you. So I just started chatting with him. We start talking, he tells me who he went with. And, um, lucky for me, it was a company I was super familiar with. I knew their sales process. Um, I had friends that were, you know, reps at this company, things like that. So I'm like, cool. Well, you know what? We've had several people actually switched our program from that. Um, what I'll do, I'm just going to have our engineers take a look and then we'll get some info back for ya.Speaker 2 (08:42):But yeah, we've had, we've been able to get several people, um, better program, better warranties, uh, better equipment. And then also save them a bit more monthly on what they're paying. So let me see at what I can get with, get for you. And then I'll come back by when they're done. Okay. So I was super assumptive. I didn't say, um, are you okay if we come back, give you comparison? I said, no, um, we're going to have them do this. And yeah, let's see. We can do for you. I'll be back. I'll pop back by. So it wasn't an appointment. It was a pop by, and that's what I did. So I came back, started going through everything. And if you guys listened to previous episode, I talked about how important it is for you to know your competitors and actually know their contracts that possible, know what people signed.Speaker 2 (09:31):So lucky for me, I knew exactly what type of program this guy was in. I knew the ins and outs of what he had agreed to. And I ha I helped him actually pull up his paperwork from the other company. And we went through it. I showed them, were you aware of this? And there's several things that, um, I'm sure they didn't like, you know, lie to them or try to not tell them things, but things that he might've forgotten that weren't, um, you know, it's been beneficial for him. I went through all these things and it gave me such great credibility. I'm just showing them these things. I say, go to exhibit B, go to this point. And he, he saw that. I knew, um, yeah, knew this competitor pretty well. So if you can do that, no, your competitors talked about it in a previous episode.Speaker 2 (10:18):Um, but I did whatever it took. He was not planning on switching. And then, um, what I did is he got hit with the cancellation fee, but I said, no problem. We're going to take care of that. So really I just did whatever I needed to. Um, he kept on shooting objections, reason why, uh, reasons, even though he did want to switch, but reasons why he couldn't reasons why it was too hard. And I just gave him the answer for everything. Oh, you got a cancellation fee. No worries. We'll help you get through that. Oh, your HOA is already reviewing your old design. Oh, no worries. Yeah. Your neighbor actually there, they went through the same thing. I told them stories of people that had switched to us that were that far along in the process and really just helped him, um, feel that I was going to take care of them.Speaker 2 (11:05):I was going to give them the best offer and I was going to be there for him. So that's what set me apart. And that's what helped me get that deal. Okay. But really just doing whatever it took in anything, he came at me with, I gave him a solution. Okay. So help people find solutions, help people get what they want and you are going to be rewarded with deals. Okay. And then another, um, yeah, another actually situation. Just last weekend. I had a appointment, um, this was the next day appointment and set on a Friday. He went back on a Saturday and it was pretty closed off. Um, he was one of these guys wearing two face masks. Any guy that you see, especially at this point, that's wearing double face mass. I know they're they mean business. Okay. They're going to be tough.Speaker 2 (11:52):Close. Um, I don't know what it is, but people coming at you with double face mask, they are, they're no joke. So he comes with two face masks, um, come to the door and I had prepped him beforehand. I said, um, when I first set the appointment, I said, Hey, we're going to be coming back and all come. Um, just inside your home, it's going to be on a computer. I have all the, all the information, all the details with you. So when I, uh, pop by tomorrow, that's what we'll do. We'll go with you. And he had told me, he's like, ah, okay. And when I came back to the house, he said, well, yeah, I don't feel comfortable with you coming in the home. So we're just gonna have to go outside. So I didn't have much of a choice. He takes me outside.Speaker 2 (12:32):He refused to let me in inside the house. And we're just standing back on his AC unit. Okay. He says, just set your stuff here, show me what you got. And I'm like, oh my gosh, everyone knows that if you can't get inside the house, um, if you can't get at that kitchen table, you are fighting a major uphill battle. So I'm in his backyard. I know it's going to be a really tough close, but again, I'm just thinking, okay, what is this guy bought? He's bought lots of other things. I can close this. He's a buyer. And does another thing that helps me a lot. Grant Cardone talks about this, but just look for things that they have bought. They have the Tesla front, do they have, um, out of camper, look up their cars, look at all the things they have purchased in the past.Speaker 2 (13:20):Okay. If you can build your evidence, this evidence in your head of things that they have purchased, then that's going to help you. Even if loo look for things that seem like silly that people would buy, it's like, okay, they have this, uh, I don't know this pile of junk here that they bought. They spent money on. Okay. They can definitely buy some soar. They can definitely let me help them out with solar. They're willing to go buy stuff like this. That's a little games I play in my head that helps me a ton. Just looking for that evidence of things they have purchased in the past. Okay. But we were going, I'm fighting an uphill battle. And my goal was just take it as far as I could. Okay. Some of these, you know, it's going to be a tough close, like this one, but take it as far as you can see where it goes and we go through it.Speaker 2 (14:08):He's skeptical. He's not wanting to sign today. But, um, just pushing through the deal, just being assumptive, I've eventually get them to close. Eventually get them to do the unthinkable. That he was no way he wanted to do that day. I said, okay, we're just going to get the ball rolling. Um, we need to did the takeaway, Hey, we need to see if we can get your home approved, where you, we need to fill out these forms and then have our guys come check it. And the meantime, yeah, you can re you can review it all. This is our agreement. We're going to summit with you. You review it all. Worst case scenario. If you feel like something isn't working for you guys by all means, let me know. And then no problems at all. We'll just scrap the whole thing. But this, um, I mean, obviously we, if we get it approved on our end, you can't think of anything that wouldn't be beneficial for you.Speaker 2 (14:58):Right? Mr. Customer. See what he says, do go a trial close and he's like, no, everything, everything looks good. Um, yeah. Seems like it would work for us. Great. Well, yeah, we'll just get a few forms and they're just going to verify the credit and then, uh, we'll fill out a couple of forms that there you'll get everything that I told you in writing. And then we'll get this started for you. Then hopefully cross our fingers. It does go well on our end. Hopefully we don't have to turn your home down, but, um, yeah, it's going great. Showing them a few testimonial videos, um, got them sold on the credibility that we built with the people we had already helped in the neighborhood. Okay. So just do whatever it takes. Don't quit and deals. I see this so many times where people just quit and deals.Speaker 2 (15:43):They do not want to get to that uncomfortable point. And I still get super uncomfortable in almost every deal I go to because no one wants to sign up the first day. Everyone wants to think about it. Everyone wants to, um, you know, have 10 days to review the contract. Okay. But our job is to get people to take action. Our job is to get people to realize that by waiting, they're missing out on things. So have that mindset and really just think of yourself as someone serving how many people are not going to do this because they get scared of waiting. How many people are not going to do this because they weren't doing with someone that helped them understand the benefits and that helped them take that action. Okay. So that's the biggest thing our industry needs as closers guys that can close them on why they should have an appointment to see their solar proposal, which don't use those words, but, um, have a pop by and see their solar information, right.Speaker 2 (16:40):For the words that I use. So think of that as you were out there and knocking as you out there, setting appointments as you're out closing deals, just do whatever it takes. Um, I think how far can you go? How uncomfortable can you make it that they feel like they need to get in on this? Okay. And then use those tools. Guys, go check out solciety, the training platform, get yourself a RepCard, a physical card. And then last thing, send us questions. I loved hearing from our listeners. What questions you guys have? I went and talked to Jason Newby's team last week, um, was able to go in for one of their trainings. And it was cool. Got to stand up here. Some of their questions that a lot of new guys have. So if you have suggestions on who you'd like to hear on the show, if you have a, I dunno, questions, concerns anything you want us to jam on in the show, give you, what's working for us here at Solarpreneur and, um, yeah. Have experts on, they can talk about it. Let us know. We'd love to check those things out and thanks again for listening. We will see you guys on the next episode.Speaker 3 (17:51):Hey Solarpreneurs. Quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs, and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day. For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level. That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community, exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry. And it's called Solciety. This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give solar pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and to help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds. For, are you ready for it? Less than $3 and 45 cents a day currently society's closed the public and membership is by invitation only, but Solarpreneurs can go to society.co to learn more and have the option to join a wait list. When a membership becomes available in your area. Again, this is exclusively for Solarpreneur listeners. So be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now. Thanks again for listening. We'll catch you again in the next episode. 

Uh.... Where's Hayley? Kent, you forgot something. On this episode of The Backpage, Lloyd and Kent discuss the upcoming Pioneer Day, Graduations and give some unwarranted advice. ======The Williams Pioneer Review, aka RadioColusa.com is an active ASCAP New Media license holder. All music used in this podcast is licensed for use through the ASCAP repertory.MUSIC: "Graduation " - Vitamin C

There are people who you talk with in business, or just in life that you tend to bond with for no apparent reason. My next guest is one of those people. I've known Tim Healy of Healy Success Solutions and podcaster of The Profit Express for many years now. Pre-COVID we would meet up and have business lunches, post-COVID we’ve been talking on the telephone. The one thing about this guy is that I feel like I've known him my entire life. He's excellent at what he does. And I know today's show, you will learn a lot. I'm Hilary Topper and this is Hilary Topper on Air. Tim Healy, welcome back to the show. Tim Healy- I think this officially goes down as my best interview introduction ever. That was, that was fantastic. Thank you so much for the kind words and yeah, we just have this chemistry, when we chat, we talk business over lunch. We've just always had a great back and forth together. Hilary - Absolutely. So let me ask you to remind our listeners about who you are and what you do. Tim Healy - Sure. Uh, as you mentioned, I own Healy Success Solutions where my purpose is to help my clients turn their prospects into profits. Right? That's what I get up every day doing, helping my clients turn prospects into profits, and I do it very simply very directly by helping them create winning sales organizations through the power of personal communication. That's how I do it. That's what I do. And that's how I do it at Healy Success Solutions. Hilary - Okay. What about your podcast? Tim Healy - The podcast is, as you've mentioned, The Profit Express, it's like over 11 years now and I've always had a focus, obviously, in the business side, Healy Success Solutions. I'm very focused on the sales process, everything from the first point of contact to close. But when I created, it was started as a radio show. It still is, it's evolved into a podcast, obviously. When I created the profit express, I did decide not to be just so specific on sales, but more focused on the journey of the small business person, the entrepreneur, the startup, what they go through each and every day to win the battle for business because listen, Hilary, you know what, and I know it each and every day, some days it's more challenging than others. But it's a battle and we are here to win at each and every day, each and every day to me is a competition and we're competing. And it's a matter of bringing on guests to the show who can help the small business owner who can help the start-up in everything from sales and marketing and branding, finance, anything and everything that can positively impact a small business owner. Because so many of them I have found that's been a big focus of the show. They kind of operate on an island to themselves, and I've always wanted to just be a resource for entertainment, for education, for information, for motivation, as they head in the direction of success for their small business. Hilary - So today we're talking about sales. And let me ask you something and I really want you to be really serious with me about this. Can everyone sell or are some people just natural salespeople? Tim Healy - That's a great question. Can everybody sell? No. But the reason I say no is if you don't want to sell, you're never going to sell. That's probably true for most professions. And actually, the people say, oh, some people are natural-born salespeople and they could be, but I think there's been a misnomer over the years that, oh, you know, that person has the gift of gab and they can talk to anybody. Believe it or not, I've seen over the many years, working with my clients, helping my clients interview and recruit some of the sales professionals who have the quote-unquote gift to get, who can talk to anybody that can make them a good networker, might not make them a good salesperson because, and I've had conversations about this, I wholeheartedly believe one of, if not the most important characteristic of a great selling professional, is listening and putting the prospect first. And if you were the kind of person who's got this great outgoing personality and you're gregarious and all that, and you know what, you might not give consideration in the conversation to the other, you might interrupt, you might not listen enough. And it's having the discipline to listen, to ask great questions, to have empathy for the prospect that I think can make a great salesperson. Hilary - I mean, how many people do you come in contact with and they just talk about themselves. It's all about themselves. Tim Healy - Well, it's good. Cause it kinda, it kind of keeps me in business to a certain extent because when the business is eventually not doing as well as it should, they reach out to people like me. But it, you know what, so much of sales is human nature. I mean, you have to understand human nature in order to relate to somebody because I think long gone are the days of feature and benefit selling. Because then you can't relate to, and you can't understand why somebody would need your products and services. So again, it starts with the conversation, starts by asking great open-ended probing questions. So those people who talk about themselves or about just about the products and services, there's no connection. There's no emotional bonding whatsoever. And I think it goes back to human nature. People like to talk about themselves, they want to show how smart they are. And again, if they don't listen, if they interrupt they never going to, I won't say never, but their chances of making great connections are greatly reduced. And I think somebody who's a great listener will eat their lunch every day. Hilary - Now, what about if you have a company and you hire a salesperson. What can you do to motivate them? I mean, you know, you and I both know that sales are tough and there's a lot of rejection. So how do you get people to be motivated? Tim Healy - There's, well, when it comes to motivation, I'm sure your listeners are probably familiar with extrinsic reward and intrinsic extrinsic is the compensation, the commission, the dollars, the bonus, the intrinsic is a sense of accomplishment. You know, doing the right thing, helping a client out, right. Both are very valuable, but how do you motivate somebody? A really good sales manager, a really good sales coach has an understanding of the salesperson and believe it or not sure money is a motivator. Of course it is, but it's not the only motivator. It really isn't. And if you just going to do the carrot and the stick for a commission, you're really going to miss, I think a lot of opportunities to increase somebody's ability to become a better salesperson. So you really have to understand what they want to accomplish, what they want to do. And it often goes beyond just the dollars and the commissions and the quotas. And, is it, you know, getting to another level of relationship, really just cracking into a client or a prospect that they've gone after for years and have never made headway. That could be a huge sense of accomplishment and reward and really connecting to clients. I think the best way to answer that is, as a sales manager, never make an assumption that your people are only motivated by money. Is it a key driving factor short, but it's not the only one that takes time to get to know your sales team, your salesperson, and you can often find out there are other things that they can relate to that can help positively impact their behavior. Hilary - So let's take this one step further and look, and can you offer our listeners some tips on how, if they are a salesperson, how they can be irreplaceable? Tim Healy - That's a great question. That's a great word. Think about that in, in just about, I never want to say a hundred percent, but in just about any industry, you've got competition in your field and what you do. So, most of us do some more than others and a lot of our products there's, people can't get across the street. While you may think that you have the world's greatest products, and you should absolutely think that it should be absolutely excited and pumped up about what it is that you offer, there are other good competitive products and services, and that's fine. So with that in mind, knowing that we are going up against the competition on a daily basis, I think it is a great way to start off a great mindset to develop. To ask yourself, how can I be irreplaceable in the mind of my client? So what does that mean to be irreplaceable? It's a big word, right? Not easy, not easy thing to do, what to do to, to accomplish, to achieve. So, typically, it goes beyond just offering and selling your product to service. So what can you do beyond that? What value can you offer your client beyond? You know, the exchange of money for service or money for a good, the better relationship that you have with the client and Hilary, it goes back to listening, the more that you know about what they're looking to accomplish, the more that you can help them. And I've often said, in becoming irreplaceable, when you get known as the guy or the gal, the go-to person, and somebody would just let me call Tim, maybe he can help. When a customer asked you for advice and something that you don't even offer, you know you become irreplaceable. Do you know what I mean? Because then they're like, they see you as such a resource that, well, I know Tim, I know Hilary doesn't sell this, but she probably knows somebody. And then if you just make a simple introduction, whether it's to a person or a resource or a book or link or a website, and you just help that client help your client. That's one more opportunity became irreplaceable. And that's another chance that they remember you again in the future. So you always want to be selfless and say, what can I do to be irreplaceable? Here's one thing I want to share with you. I think your listeners would love this. I like to remind myself every time I deal with a client and I try my best to do it as often as humanly possible. Sometimes I forget. I'm not perfect, but here's a great thing. Write this down. This is a pen and paper moment, Hilary, remind yourself that today may be the last time you see your client and I'm talking about a great client. I'm talking about clients, you’ve being do business for years. They love you. You've gone to their kid's wedding. It doesn't matter. And the reason I say this may be the last time you deal with them, may be last time you see them, it keeps you humble. It keeps you humble and you never take the relationship for granted because we all have, if you've been in the business, you're a sales professional, you have clients for years. If you're doing the right thing, right. We all have clients. If you're doing the right thing for years, never take them for granted and remind yourself: This may be the last time I see them. So what can I do value today for them? What can I bring different to the table? Let's not take this relationship for granted. And that's another way. Do put you in a place to be irreplaceable. Hilary - Love that. That's awesome. So before we move on, I have to say that I'm so appreciative of our sponsors and must take the time out to thank them. Please support our sponsors and tell them that you heard about them on Hilary Topper on air. Special thanks to the Russo Law Group, The Profit Express, Pop International Galleries, Gold Benes LLP, and the Pegalis Law Group. Now back to you, Tim. So we're talking about sales, but I'd like to shift gears a little bit and I want to ask some personal questions as they relate to sales. So for starters, what did people call you when you were a little boy? Tim Healy - Oh my God. How did you, we’ve never talked about this before we’ve never chatted. Okay. So this is, I talk about transparency and I know it's a big topic of yours and something you've helped me with. And by the way, for everybody listening to Hilary's podcast, keep listening and tell five friends because the things you can learn on this podcast from Hilary alone on branding, are phenomenal, it's worth the lessons. So as a kid, my name is Timothy Joseph. My middle name is Joseph. I always wanted to be called TJ when I was a little kid. And I grew out of that. So everybody calls me, Tim, I can't stand the word. Now people might use this against me now. I'm exposing myself here, Hilary. Hilary - No, I was wondering if they call you Timmy. Tim Healy - Oh, I hate it. I did have your father. May he rest in peace. He was, he was a sweetheart of a guy. He called me Timmy. I dealt with it cause I loved the music. Great guy, but that's the one thing I hated, but I was a little kid, it was TJ, since grew out of that. So Tim is, Tim is fine now that that's. Hilary - So if somebody calls you Timmy in business, do you correct them? Tim Healy - I really do because it's like nails on a chalkboard. I do correct them. Yeah. Hilary - What about now? I know your, your name is very easy to spell Tim T I M but what if someone spells your name or wrong or mispronounces, should you say something? Tim Healy - I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Like if somebody really botches your name, I actually did this. I won't say who she was a sweetheart of a guest and I take great pride. It's funny. She says, take great pride in pronouncing my guests names correctly. And for the love of God, I don't know how I butchered this poor woman's name. Her first and her last name, like three times on the show and she was so sweet about it. She ended up like, oh, I'm so sorry. But like if somebody, mispronounces it say, Hey, that's a great pronunciation. That's, I've never heard that before, but actually, it's pronounced, have some fun with it, thank them for the unique pronunciation. Hilary - How many times people call me, uh, say, write down Hilary with two L's.  I usually don't even say anything at this point, but this one person said to me the other day, oh, I was looking you up online and I couldn't find anything on you. Maybe that's because she spelled my name with two L's. Then is it's impossible not to find Hillary Topper, uh, online is you're everywhere. It's impossible. So. Let me ask you another question. This is also sales related, how often is too often to close the deal. You know, for example, somebody, you have a great relationship with somebody, you meet somebody. They love you. You love them. You write a proposal and then they go MIA, how often should you keep calling them or reaching out to them when they are MIA? Tim Healy - We could do a show just on this one topic. So, If the cause you are now, what you did say in the setup of the question was, you know, a great relationship and all this, then you give your proposal, then they go dark on you and it's MIA. For that to happen, there are a few, a number of things you probably did not do correctly as a sales professional. As far as qualifying as far as urgency, as far as timeline, as far as a decision-making process, in how I do it and how I train my clients and work with my clients, you qualify in the front end. You know, really you leave nothing to chance because it's on the one-yard line that you get surprised in this scenario that you just described. And there's a great scenario to describe Hilary because so many people get kicked in the backside with this, and I get so excited about it because it can be prevented. If somebody spends a time, they sit down and you do a meeting, you put together proposal presentation, do yourself the favor. And usually just a handful of good questions. Find out how they're going to decide on this is their competition. What factors are they going to use? Who else is involved in the decision-making process? And by the way, there's always somebody else involved when they're going to decide, okay, is having this something you'd like to have? It's something you must, that's a powerful question right there. Cause you don't get paid for proposals. You don't make a dime a proposal because here's one thing I would say, you have to earn a seat at my table. I don't deal with pipelines in sales. Okay. We've all heard of pipelines. Pipelines can be very dangerous. We just throw lots of stuff in them hoping that they'll close. It's a seat at my table. And you Mr. Or Ms. Prospect have to earn a seat at my table because I know that it takes time for me to put my presentation together. And I know that there are more people in this world. Forget the world, even, even just New York, I can't even, I don't have time to get to. So I have to talk to the ones who are most qualified, cause they deserve my time and attention. I don't want to waste my time with somebody who's not qualified because it prevents me from helping somebody who really needs Healy success solutions... Hilary - All right, let's take another route. So you're at a business meeting, you're at a lunch meeting and the salesperson decides to show you photos of their babies or their dogs. What do you say do you show your photos too? What does that say about them? Tim Healy - Well, it's what it says is it's a completely natural element of human nature. Everybody's favorite topic is themselves or an extension of their children or their dog, their cat, their Chinchilla, whatever. You look at it. Oh my God, Fantastic is beautiful that, you know, oh, what's the name of that? You have fun with it, you know? And then your next few, the second part is, should you show your pictures? Maybe you do, maybe don't you, you honestly played by ear because if they're so engrossed in their own stuff. Okay, fine. I'm here to learn about them anyhow. Hilary - And on that same topic where you are going out to lunch, and maybe the prospect asks you to go out to lunch, who pays for the lunch, you or the prospect, or do you go Dutch treat? Tim Healy- So this is a great question. It is never worth. Even if you go to a really nice lunch and you drop a hundred dollars, right. And that's not that common. Right. But even if you do that and you're in business, It's never worth the 50 bucks. If you split it to make an uncomfortable moment, you know what I'm saying? Can you believe Dutch? You know, especially if diner, you know, what is it going to be? 40 bucks. They eat it, you take it on it always because you know what, they can never take away from you. Hey, Tim bought me lunch. He's a nice guy. Even if we don't do business, I'm a nice guy. It was worth the 40 bucks. Always, always, always, always, always. And don't cry about it. Hilary - So you're at a networking event and the person that you are talking with is sitting there chewing gum. Well, I mean, what do you say to them? Do you say like, I swallow it, spit it out or you just ignore it and walk away? Tim Healy- Part of me would love to stay. Would you like a napkin? Cause it will be funny but I would, I would ignore it, you know, it just is sometimes, you know, but that's the funny thing about business. Again, you're dealing with human nature and there's a lot of you. One great thing is you can, I will never say I've seen it all. Because something's going to happen tomorrow that I haven't seen yet. So by the way, you're a fantastic host. I love I'm having a blast. Hilary - Right. Here’s another one. So now you are at a coffee shop and you both order cookies and milk. So the person that you're out to lunch with, or, you know, out for cookies with he’s dunking their Oreos or chocolate chip cookies into the milk? What's your reaction? Tim Healy- I think my internal reaction, which I do not share is I think cookie dunking is disgusting. That's me, my wife, who I love dearly, she loves to dunk cookies. So you know what is the great thing about life. She gets to dunk her cookies and I can be a dunk less cookie. You know what? Listen, some of your listeners may know me, some many, many, I'm sure don't. I could be a little wound-tight sometimes, I'm a type a personality sometimes. As long as, this is how I'd answer it, as long as they didn't dump their cookie in my milk, Hey, you know what enjoy life. If they decide to dunk their cookie in my milk, then I'd have to say. Wow. You know, what, can I get you to know the glasses? Hilary - Isn't it the same as when someone takes a fry off your plate? Tim Healy- Oh God. Oh, geez. God. I, yeah, I just, I can't I'm I don't know. In a business setting I'm talking about not, not personal. I mean, personal is not the greatest either, but what it is, this setting, you know what I, I would, I would let it slide and oh, okay. Here's a true story. I can not mention the client. True story. I'm at a dinner with a dear client, a great client. And there are 12 of us there. It's the owner, his wife, one of the VPs of sales and about seven or eight sales guys were there. Dinner comes out. We dinner, dessert and I saw an apple crisp pile mode kind of thing. I'm like, Aw, that sounds delicious. The owner sitting next to me, he goes, what are you getting for dessert? And I tell him, Oh, that sounds good. He's like, I'll have a piece. Oh my God. I love this guy. Can't say enough good things about him. So that's what he does. That's his thing. So the dessert comes out. The second it comes out, I dive bomb the dessert and I want to eat as much as I can. And then he goes, oh, and he grabs the piece. I'm like, okay. Oh yeah, good, good, good, good. And that's the last I have of it and I just, oh, okay. I start talking and I just let it, do you know, I'm fine. I got my couple of pieces in first. I'm good. My client was happy. He went to my plate, okay. Hilary - You're you're terrific. And you just one of those people that just keep making me laugh. Thank you. I want, I just want to find out how people can get in touch with you and learn more about Healy success solutions and also listen to the Profit Express. Tim Healy - Well, thank you. Uh, it's healysolutions.com you know, for and anything from anything and everything. Sales management, reach out to me. healysolutions.com and the show of course, you can follow me on Instagram at The Profit Express, at the profit express page on Facebook, that'd be great. Hilary - Terrific. All right. Well, thank you again for being on the show. And I want to thank our sponsors, the Russo law group, The Profit Express, Pop international galleries, Gold Benes LLP and the Pegalis law group. And last but not least, I want to thank you, our listeners for tuning in each week. If you want to know more about this show or any other show, visit us at hilarytopperonair.com or you can find us on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, apple podcast, Amazon Alexa, you name it. We're out there. Have a great week. And we'll see you next time.

Australia: The CookbookBy Ross Dobson Intro: Welcome to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery by the Book with Suzy Chase. She's just a home cook in New York City, sitting at her dining room table, talking to cookbook authorsRoss Dobson: I'm Ross Dobson and my latest book is out in Australia: The Cookbook.Suzy Chase: In order to understand Australian cuisine I think we need to understand and know about Australian first peoples who have been there for at least 50,000 years, the longest continuous civilization during this time, Aboriginal Australians were creating and inventing dishes that boggle the mind. I'm curious to hear about a few of those dishes. And might I add you noted that many Australians are unaware of these dishes?Ross Dobson: This fascinated me when I started to research the book and look into it more. I think many Australians are not really aware of the contribution that the first peoples made prior to colonization, and they're finding more and more evidence to indicate that the First Peoples weren't just hunters and gatherers, they farmed fish, they grew seeds to make a flatbread of sorts and they certainly were eating a lot of the abundancy food that we have here, unique species, like our own lobster, Moreton Bay bugs and the Barramundi fish and there was a great recipe, which isn't in the book. A friend of mine who's an Aboriginal elder was talking about his tribe made what was like kind of a blood pudding of sorts using all parts of the kangaroo very similar to the blood puddings we see in parts of Europe and his tribe, that was their special dish. There's so many things like this fascinated me and we simply didn't learn about them, but working on the book really opened my eyes. And then we were lucky enough to have Jody Orcher who wrote a short essay in the book extolling the virtues of indigenous ingredients. So it's been a wonderful learning process.Suzy Chase: Yeah. I definitely want to hear about Jody Orcher, but first, can you describe the three main periods of Australian food?Ross Dobson: Writing the recipes for the book in a way was the easy part. I felt like the introduction was a real challenge to try and encapsulate what Australian food was about. And I was playing around with clumsy metaphors and wasn't really sure and I had one of those light bulb moments where I've sat up in bed one night and thought, well, let's history dictate what Australian food is all about and it's a timeline. The first people have been here for tens of thousands of years. So I divided the food of Australia in two, three epochs or periods and the first period is the tens of thousands of years. The first people who've been here, the colonists from Britain came over who mostly are the English military class or Irish convicts. They brought with them their food from 1788 onwards. And I must say a lot of that food for 150 years or so was quite repetitive and blend. That's not to say there aren't diamonds in the rough, there's amazing delicious recipes in there. But then the third period of Australian food comes in the 1950s when Australia opens its doors to immigrants, particularly from Southern Europe, Greece, and Italy, and they bring in coffee, coffee machines, Parmesan, basil, a whole range of ingredients. And the most important one was probably garlic because the Australians like the English loathed garlic, and they rarely cooked with it. And then moving forward a bit more into the 70s. We have a huge influx of mostly political asylum seekers coming to Australia in the early 70s. Mostly Vietnamese bringing their incredible fresh take on food. But I must note, during all this time, the Chinese had been here from the gold rush in the 1800s hundreds, and they were setting up camps, selling food in the gold rush camps and then cooking in the early 1900s. It's estimated that one third of all cooks in Australia were Chinese because this was the only job they could do legally. So we have this amazing rich culture of food that, although there are three periods, we now see a lot more of this overlapping appreciating First People's food. And of course we love the flavors of the Mediterranean Italy, Greece, and also Asian food. Australians are crazy for Asian ingredients.Suzy Chase: The First Peoples, the immigrants to Australia were so instrumental in setting up the food that you have today. Can you describe the hybrid Chinese/Australian cuisine that popped up in the mid 19th century?Ross Dobson: Again, fascinating stuff because the Chinese had been here working very hard, kind of in the background on mining camps, in the gold rush period. And then interesting period, one that we're not particularly proud of it. In 1901 the Australian government implemented the White Australia Policy where it meant only white people could come and live here and then all the Chinese people that have been living here were completely ignored and weren't allowed on property or have jobs. So one of the only jobs that could do was cook and they set up restaurants in, you could almost say literally every Australian town in Australia, from the cities to the Outback towns and here they put aside their own personal tastes like a lot of the Italians and Greeks in the beginning when starting businesses here, they put us on their own personal tastes, that is what they cooked at home and they cooked what they, what made money and what sold to the locals. So we have a lot of land dishes, which is very unusual and unique because most of the Chinese food cooked in Australia was Cantonese and lamb wasn't really big on the menus in that region of China. So we have a dish called Mongolian lamb. I know there's a Mongolian beef in other countries, but Mongolian Lamb has very little to do with Mongolia and a lot more to do with what Australians like to eat. And we have prawn toasts, beautiful prawn cutlets, salt and pepper squid. So the Aussie Chinese ingredient recipes start to use Chinese methods and techniques with the local produce and then in the 50s and 60s, we have a lot of these stable of Chinese are the ingredients like a take on a pork spare rib and we use a different cut of spare rib in Australia, which is very different to America and other places. And then moving into the 80's, when Australians become a little bit more adventurous with their food, we have a salt and pepper squid that is almost on every pub menu in Australia. Now with fish and chips and the hamburger moving further into the eighties, we have even more exciting to like pipis in XO sauce, there's a recipe for that in the book as well. And I felt like I couldn't write a cookbook without indulging that more because there are recipes like ham and chicken roll. Like I've never seen that anywhere else. It's absolutely delicious. It's chicken breasts, fill it with a slice of ham. You roll it up. Then you roll that in spring, roll wrapper and flash fry it and slice it. It's really delicious. So we have this fascinating unique take on Chinese food in Australia. It's really good.Suzy Chase: What are pippis?Ross Dobson: Okay. Pippis, clams. Um, yes, uh, surf clams, tiny little surf clams that, uh, still mostly caught by a traditional method called raking. They're mostly in south Australia on the wild coastline there. I don't know if you're familiar with the technique where you walk in the sand, there's little bubbles and they literally would get a rake and then break with the bubbles, come up and use their fate. And they're not particularly cheap, but the clam in the XO sauce is so delicious and XO is a Chinese sauce and it's called XO because it comes after the Brandy XO brand, which meant something extra special and it came from Hong Kong and the heady days of the eighties, where everything was looked at with opulence and it had lots of seafood in it. And you just need a teaspoon of this in your stir fry.Suzy Chase: You wrote in the book that the industrial revolution was one factor in preventing Australia from developing its own regional cuisines. I found that so interesting.Ross Dobson: So did I, because when I started researching on the book and even prior to that we'd have these discussions, why doesn't Australia have its own regional food? Of course, First People had regional cuisines based on the produce available to them, but certainly for 150 years. And even up until now, most people really started to, uh, come from overseas that weren't convicts. The convict stopped in about 1850. So we had free settlers coming here from that 1850 onwards. And they were educated that were literate they could read and write. And Australian publishing also really took off at this time because Australia is such a big country, people isolated, and they were getting the newspapers. And these were national state newspapers that shared the same news. And lo and behold, they shared the same recipes, which are found fascinating when I started researching serviceably for a cake published in the early 1900s. If it was good enough, it might've been published in a newspaper in say Hobart. And because the print was syndicated, if it was a good recipe, it would be today's equivalent of going viral. So the recipe would go over to Perth or Darwin or Brisbane, and these recipes would be shared. So I think there are two factors in, um, the thing about the industrial revolution. It was communication. And I think we have to think also where we have these countries that have a strong history in regional cuisine. I'm thinking Europe, you might have a village in Italy where someone might put ricotta in their pasta and down the road, it would be heresy to do so because these villages were very isolated often. And I often had their own dialects as well, but in Australia, because we were really populated after the industrial revolution, there was this national communication, if you will. And also production food production comes into play as well as refrigerated food canning of food is very important so ingredients could be shared across the country. So it didn't just limit it to one region. And I hope that explains it a bit further for you, Suzy.Suzy Chase: How did you determine if a recipe was worthy of inclusion in this cookbook?Speaker 2: Well, you know, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to work on the project. And the first thing I thought was I just have to put my ego aside. I mean, I've had several food businesses where I've certainly cooked a whole bunch of different, I think things that are really interested in tasty, but that didn't belong in the book because they didn't have a place in our history or our culture or our social structure. So I think that there were really important aspects that a recipe had to belong to all of us. It wasn't just something that a friend told me that they cooked, or I thought that was tasty. And I think this was really important to see it as a collective project. And one of the ways of doing this was, um, doing a lot of research, fascinating Australian government initiative, it's called Trove, it's a national library where they are systematically scanning and putting up documents of literally every printed newspaper that in Australia. So I could Google, for example, banana bread and all banana cake and I might find this recipe first published in 1928, for example and then as I looked further, I thought, well, this really is part of us. This is what we eat. And so really it was about the research and its worthiness was based on, do we have a connection with it? And I really wanted people when they look at the book and I felt like I've got this reaction so far where people go, oh my God, I forgot that existed. I'm so glad it's in the book. So that makes me very happy.Suzy Chase: Like their grandmother used to make it and they forgot about it. What do they mean when they said they forgot it existed?Ross Dobson: Well it's like you know, when I first started looking at the book and you know, I was researching and talking to a whole bunch of people that obvious Australian recipes where pavlova Lamington make pie, but then as I delved a bit further, people might ring me a few days later, France and go, my auntie Joan made a cake, it was called ginger fluff. And I said, I've never heard of that. So I then go to the research and look at the history. And lo and behold, there is a whole bunch of recipes for something called ginger fluff. Another really good example is a cake called peach blossom cake. This was really popular from about 1900 to 1950 or 60. And it wasn't until maybe eight years ago. And I'm sure, you know, you're familiar with the cooking competitions and celebrity chef, et cetera, that now are on television. It wasn't until they had a guest chef from an amazing institution called the CWA, which is a Country Women's Association. And they've been making scones and cakes for a hundred years or so. And a woman went on to the show and made a peach blossom cake and it went viral. People were like, where's this been? And they loved it. It's a very easy cake. It's beautiful to look at. There are other recipes like cream buns and finger buns and match sticks. And a finger bun is like a really soft yeasted bun. It's oval shape, not very big. And it's got some currants and some sultanas in there, and it's generally has a really soft pink icing with a sprinkling of desiccated coconut. And when I put that in the book and people were saying, oh my God, we ate that in the seventies and eighties, but then it's had a huge resurgence. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the term hipsters. We do have them here to Suzy, which fascinates me. They've got bakeries popping up all over the city and the hipsters have now discovered the finger bun and they're making it their own. And I actually just the other week was in one of the local newspapers talking about my classic recipe and they had a few young dudes cooking finger buns and re-inventing them, which is fabulous. So we're really holding on to our food history and it's incredible that people have just taken so warmly to these recipes that have reignited an interest in baking as well. It's really lovely.Suzy Chase: Speaking of history, the essay on indigenous food written by Jody Orcher at the beginning of the book sheds light on the fascinating and ancient culinary techniques that went largely ignored for years and years. Can you talk a little bit about Jody and her tips for demonstrating respect for the cultural integrity of Australian Aboriginal people?Ross Dobson: I first started working on the book. We thought it was imperative to engage an Aboriginal Australian, to write and contribute to the book Jody Orcher is fascinating and genuine and generous, and she sheds light and a knowledge on, on the ingredients is so worthy. Uh, and I must say my scope of knowledge of the First Peoples food. I would say like many of my generation was really went on ignored or, you know, I think it went to go a bit deeper into the whole psyche of when Australia was colonized the British assume that, you know, it had never been colonized before and it was theirs. So I was very much part of that generation and my grandparents, my parents and grandparents weren't enlightened. And I think it's time to open our eyes. And certainly Jody helps us do that with a beautiful essay and a glossary of some of the fascinating ingredients, uh, that showcase the wonderful cuisine of indigenous indigenous people.Suzy Chase: Bushfoods were often considered to be inferior by colonists. Is that changing? Are they making a comeback and restaurants are the hipsters onto it?Ross Dobson: I would say on the most part of getting much more adventurous about Aboriginal indigenous ingredients and many of these now can be bought online because a lot of, a lot of the ingredients like the lemon myrtle and the peppers can be bought because they dry very well. And a few people from overseas have asked me if they can get the ingredients. And I certainly know there's a lot of websites where you can get them and have them shipped to you. But the other thing too, um, with the book was, you know, I think when we think of Australian Aboriginal food, um, in terms of protein, we automatically go straight to the kangaroo, which is very high in protein and you can buy that in the supermarket, but the other meats still very much a niche. It's very difficult to get them. But in looking at this, I realized that we often overlook the native seafood that we eat. Muscles, I mentioned Balmain bugs before Moreton Bay bugs and pippis of course, clams and puppis. And we have our lobsters here, which aren't really lobsters or they're called a spiny lobster. They don't have the claw on the front. They just got a spine spiny thing. And we have yabbies, I think he's a really delicious, they're a freshwater crayfish. All these ingredients are available at the fish market and even the supermarket. And, um, there's a bit of a stereotype that Aussies eat emu koala and kangaroo. And you know, that simply isn't the case. And I hope this book something to throw off the shackles of those stereotypes.Suzy Chase: I hope so too, because I was on an interview on the BBC last week and he said, what's your next cookbook coming up? And I said, I'm interviewing Ross Dobson, who has Australia the cookbook. And he's like, are you going to talk about kangaroo? And I said, oh my God, Maybe, maybe not.Ross Dobson: Well you can talk about it because it makes sense. Like there's a recipe in the book for a Thai kangaroo salad which makes sense because you know, the whole thing about usually use a lean cut of beef in the salad and kangaroo makes perfect sense. So I think it's fun to talk about these things, but as you've looked at the book Suzy and other people, I've really heard, they've gone, oh my God, there's such a wide range of interesting ingredients from all over the place that have come together to make our food truly unique.Suzy Chase: I'm curious to hear about the section at the end of the cookbook on guest chefs.Ross Dobson: At the end of the book, we have these wonderful, um, additions from some incredibly talented, enthusiastic chefs that have contributed recipes that you would say people at the other end of the cooking spectrum with a high degree of knowledge and skill would attempt at home. But what it, what they're there to do is to showcase, I think the talent of chefs in Australia and also their talent in using local and indigenous ingredients and really showcasing Australian food on the world stage, you know, Mark Olive has got this great recipe for it's simple, it's a real fusion. Mark is indigenous Australian and he's using chicken thigh with Spanish Sherry and a native pepper. So that's a really good example of kind of, if you will, high-end Aussie cuisine.Suzy Chase: The other day I made Damper, which is apparently super trendy these days, it's on page 242. Can you describe this?Ross Dobson: That probably came from the influence of the Irish convicts, where soda bread had always been, you know, I loved simple throw together bread. And then in Australia we have a lot of itinerant workers, jackaroos going from farm to farm finding work and they'd have a backpack or a swag bag and carried few things as they could, and they'd have to make food and they would have Billy tea which was a can over a fire. They'd sweeten it with golden syrup, which is also called cockies joy causes swagmen also known as cockies. So it was their sweetener, and this was also used on damper, which was pretty much just two or three ingredients self rising flour, baking powder and some water, or maybe some milk, so it was very, very simple and it too would be cooked in a Dutch oven and just put on the fire with a lid on it. It's lovely, fresh. It's a bread that's meant to be eaten fresh. You know, it's not a yeasted, so it doesn't toast that well the next day, but it's delicious, fresh, and I make it in the cafe and serve it with soups. It's really yummy.Suzy Chase: I read in the book that Aboriginal Australians make a similar style from seeds. Have you ever tried that?Ross Dobson: No, I haven't. And this all came about about three years ago, Bruce Pascoe wrote a book called Dark Emu starting to explore the notion that, and the evidence is there to support it that aboriginals were making a flatbread. I haven't tried it. I would love to. So, um, maybe that could be my project. Try and find a shop that supplies the seeds or the flour and make a flatbread with it. And I'll let you know how it goes if I do, but I'm very keen to do that.Suzy Chase: Tomorrow I'm making a classic Lamington, which I had never heard of. Um, it's on page 310. Can you describe this and talk a little bit about how it got its name?Speaker 2: There is a story that there was a Lord Lamington from England, like a lot of early colonists and he was in Brisbane and the story goes, he had some chefs that had made a cake they dropped the cake by accident into a bowl of chocolate icing and they didn't want to waste it. So they then took the bits of cake out and rolled them in coconut. Not sure if this is true, but it's such a unique cake it could probably only be invented by accident. So there's so many different recipes for a Lamington. I found that, and it's a good tip for you Suzy, If you make the sponge a day before this can just cover it and let it sit overnight, it's much better to have a Lamington that is not fresh. And you dip it into chocolate icing and rolling in coconut. Uh, so good. And I've been making them here at my cafe mini versions. So they're only about an inch square and I'll tell you what, they're delicious as well, but they're a bit fiddly to make. So if you starting it for the first time, I'd probably do the bigger ones.Suzy Chase: So Australians have a way with words like brekkie breakfast, you celebrate chrissy, you shorten more words than any other English speakers. What are your go-to words?Ross Dobson: Well, um, I liked occasionally I'd have a beer and we drink it out of a glass here called a schooner. So I call it a schooey. It sounds absolutely ridiculous doesn't it?Suzy Chase: But they know what you're talking about?Ross Dobson: People would, I would say I have two schooeys of New is brand of beer to be exact, it sounds like another language, but we're funny even you know, the unique Australian coffee flat white people would call it a flatty. It's a very old language. Australians are known for shortening more words, but then if it's too short, that will make, make it longer. It doesn't make any sense. Please. Don't ask me to explain it.Suzy Chase: We're going to move on to my segment called Last Night's Dinner where I ask you what had last night for dinner.Ross Dobson: I very discovered the American version of this book America: The Cookbook and I've been making some great chilies, like as in you call them chili, you know, chili con carne and things like that. But last night I made beef stroganoff and that's what I had for dinner. It's not Australian. I'm sorry to disappoint.Suzy Chase: No I love that though but it's cold where you are, right?Ross Dobson: Yes, it is. And I would never eat that stuff. It's just too hot here. And it's getting down to like three or four degrees at night, which isn't cold by your standards. But I mean, making in America: The Cookbook there's two versions of stroganoff there's the American stroganoff, which uses ground beef. Personally. I thought this sounded a bit odd, the flavors and textures, but I then went for the other one in the book, which uses a Chuck steak or blade steak. And you slow cook that. And so that we thought had noodles, oh my God, it it's very good. And let's face it. Anything with sour cream. I mean,Suzy Chase: You'll have to make that a fad in Australia and you can call it strogey it's my recipe for strogey.Ross Dobson: It'll confuse it even more if we call it stroggy. Isn't that terrible it turns into something very unappetizing.Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media?Ross Dobson: Instagram- @RossDobsonFood and I also have a great little cafe Cafe Royce, R O Y C E. And you see so many lovely food pics and mood picks of the cafe. And if you go to my Ross Dobson food Insta when I was working on the book three years ago and testing, I took so many food pictures. I'm very pleased that I did because it was a good memory thing and the food does look really good, so I'm very pleased with that. So do check it out.Suzy Chase: It is Aboriginal lore to only take what you need and leave some for others words. We should all be living by. Thank you, Ross for coming on Cookery by the Book podcast.Ross Dobson: It's been a pleasure, thank you.Outro: Follow @CookerybytheBook on Instagram. And thanks for listening to the number one cookbook podcast, Cookery by the Book.

Garage sales, also known as yard sales or tag sales, are a great excuse for homeowners to get rid of clutter by selling their items. They usually last a day, and buyers come to hunt one-of-a-kind items for a cheap price.DialogueA: Olha, esse livro parece interessante e só custa 25 centavos. B: Nossa, que pechincha! A: Eu tava dando uma olhada, esse garage sale* tá cheio de coisa legal. B: É, eu achei essa vela bacana. Meio carinha, mas eu acho que dá pra barganhar. A: Você realmente precisa de mais uma vela? B: Claro! A: Você chegou a ver as roupas? B: Vi, foi onde eu achei essa jaqueta... e esse pula-pula pogo esquisito. A: Esse aí a gente definitivamente não precisa! B: Tá bom, vou botar de volta.A: Hey, this book looks interesting, and it's only 25 cents. B: Dang, that's a steal. A: I've been looking around; this garage sale has some pretty cool stuff. B: Yeah, I found this cool candle. Kinda pricey, but I think I can bargain with them. A: Uh, do we really need another candle? B: Um yes! A: Did you even get a chance to see the clothing? B: Yeah, that's where I found this jacket… and this weird pogo stick. A: We definitely don't need that! B: Okay.... I'll put it back.

As a Certified Management Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor, and certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis, Naten Jenson, co-founder of Agency Dad, is certainly the best person to help you establish a strong business and drive your agency's profitability. Today, he joins us to talk about scope creep, a topic that many agency owners struggle with but should definitely learn more about. Remember that if we can get a hold of scope creep, we're going to increase our profit. 3 Little Nuggets What gets measured gets managed. Many agency owners get so focused on that next client that they forget to measure and they are not managing the profitability of existing clients. First mistake, because you cannot identify a problem when you fail to measure. If you don’t have the data, there’s nothing to analyze. How to get those numbers. There are three numbers that you need to know. The first one is your bill rate. The second thing you need to know is your gross profit on a client, and finally, you need the number of hours that you spent on a client. The formula you will need is: gross profit ÷ bill rate. So let's say your gross profit on a client in a month is $1,200. If your bill rate is $120 an hour, you get an answer of 10. Now, what if we had 10 hours budgeted and we use 17 on a client? Well, we've now measured our scope creep. It was 7 hours, and 120 x 7 is $840 of revenue that you’ve lost. Is the problem coming from the client or the agency? Before doubling your rates, you could look at the origin of the problem. If you do this scope creep analysis over three months and clients are consistently using too many hours, then it’s time to look internally first and see if the problem is with the agency. Do I have an employee who actually doesn't know what they're doing? Do they need more training? Is it the wrong fit? Are some questions you can ask yourself before taking this to the client. Sponsors and Resources Agency Dad: Today's episode is sponsored by Agency Dad. Agency Dad is an accounting solution focused on helping marketing agencies make better decisions based on their financials. Check out agencydad.money/freeaudit/ to get a phone call with Nate to assess your agency's financial needs and how he can help you. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Understanding Scope Creep Will Help Drive Profitability Jason: [00:00:00] Hey, what's up agency owners, Jason Swenk here. And I'm excited, I have a repeat guest and a repeat guest where we're going to talk about scope creep. Right? You should hear that tun-tun-tun on scope creep, because a lot of us, we struggle with this and if we can get a hold of scope creep we're going to increase our profit. And we'll be able to afford those people to really come in and do the things we don't want to do anymore. So this is a really important episode and let's get into it. Hey, Nate. Welcome back. Nate: [00:00:34] Thanks Jason. Glad to be back with you again. Jason: [00:00:37] Awesome. Well, uh, for the people that have not checked out the first episode, tell us who you are and what do you do. Nate: [00:00:43] My name's Nate Jensen. Uh I'm with Agency Dad, our website is agencydad.money. And we are an outsource CFO firm, bookkeeping firm, accounting firm. And our focus is really helping agencies to drive their profitability. We do that by good accounting where we can actually measure profitability, measure what's going on and those metrics drive action, drive decision-making that leads to greater profitability. Jason: [00:01:08] Awesome. Well, let's go ahead and talk about scope creep and how to identify this, because I know there's a lot of agency owners. We're busy at bringing in new business and we really kind of take our eye off the ball a little bit. And there's a lot of, uh, what I call profit leaks in scope creep. So tell us how can we identify these? Nate: [00:01:33] Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. What I, what I see is when, when someone's in growth mode, they're, they're so focused on that next client, that next client. That they're not measuring and they're not managing the profitability of existing clients. Peter Drucker is famous for saying what gets measured, gets managed. So identifying scope creep, the first thing you've got to do is measure it, where's it happening with clients is that happening with? And, and how bad is the problem? And so I want to talk today a little bit about how do we measure it? What are the numbers that we need to know? And, uh, after we go through that, we'll get to, what can we then do about it? Jason: [00:02:09] Cool. So, yeah, let's get into how do we measure it? Nate: [00:02:12] Ok, First, how do you measure it? There's three numbers that you need to know. And most accounting systems you should be able to pull at least one of these numbers out of there. You need to know your bill rates, which is, hey, if we think we're going to spend 10 hours on a client project, we're going to bill them, let's say, $120 an hour. So we're billing $1,200. The $120, that's your bill rate. Second thing you need is your gross profit on a client. This is the one that you should be able to pull out of QuickBooks or whatever accounting software you're in. And your gross profit is what you build a client minus any direct costs. So if you're, if you're spending money on ads for your clients, it's going to be what you bill the client minus what you spent for those ads. That's your what's left is your gross profit. And then the last thing, the third number that you need is how many hours. In a given month, did you actually spend on that client? So the way you measure scope creep, I'm going to give you three formulas there. They're simple formulas. If you're driving don't, you know, don't stop and try and do the math. Jason: [00:02:09] We'll put them in the show notes for you guys. Nate: [00:02:12] But the first thing all you're going to do is you can take that gross profit by clients in whatever month you're looking at and divide it by your bill rate. So let's say your gross profit on a client in a month is $1,200. If your bill rates $120 an hour, you get an answer of 10, right. 1200 divided by your, your bill rates, 10 hours. And that 10 hours. That's how many hours you have available for that client. You've said based on my bill rate, you've got 10 hours. So one of those other numbers that you need is how many hours you actually used. So if you look at that client and you say, h, okay. Out of 10 hours, we only used, let's say six. Well, I have four extra hours, so there's no scope creep. I had 10 hours budgeted. I only use six. I have four leftover. Great. Now what if we had 10 hours and we use 17? Well, we've now measured our scope creep. We have in that month, we have seven hours scope creep, which is, you know, if you've only budgeted 10, that'd be pretty significant. And then the final thing you want to look at here is what did that cost you? Okay. So if we know we're seven hours over and our bill rate is $120. 7 hours x $120. We've actually lost out on $840 of revenue. Does that makes sense? I know it's a lot of math. It's a lot. Jason: [00:04:34] yeah, it definitely does. You know, what we always did and what I've always told everybody is, is you should be tracking all of your hours for everything that you do. And so how we had it in our software, we use a really cool project management software back in the day called My Intervals, but it works like ClickUp or Teamwork or any of those and what we would do after we had a baseline of projects or engagements. We'd be like, okay, well we know this normally takes a hundred hours to go do, and then we would break it up into segments or phases. And then we would actually get a visualization of each of the deliverables and each deliverable had allocated hours to it. So then, then on a weekly basis, our project manager, or on daily basis if they wanted, they could look at it and then it would show green. If they're under, you know, yellow, if we're getting close red, if we're over. And so then we could go, all right, well, why are we going over? Or why, why are we getting close? And then we can make our adjustments. Nate: [00:05:35] Yeah. Well, one of the things that I tell people and I, I've totally made this statistic up, but I use it anyways is I say 95% of your data analysis is new data entry. The number of clients that we work with when we start working with them, who don't actually track their time to clients, uh, it continues to surprise me. I'm like, if you're not tracking the data, if you don't have the data, there's nothing to analyze. And, well, it's no wonder you've, you've spent a year growing your business and you're working twice as hard and you're making just a little bit more money. Jason: [00:06:05] Actually. They're making less. That's what I see a lot of times. Nate: [00:06:09] They are making less, I was giving the benefit of the doubt. But, yeah, that's why you've got to track the data. You got to track the time. And so if you, if you have the numbers. And again, throw them into these simple formulas. It's really easy to see, Oh, I've got this client, this client, and this client, they're each using, you know, seven hours per month too many. And it's really easy to see where you, like, what you call the profit leaks, right. Where it’s easy to see where those leaks are. Jason: [00:06:35] I find scope creep actually starts before you even actually sign up the client. I find it happens in the sales conversation. It's about setting the expectation with the client and not trying to oversell them. I think a lot of, especially if you're an agency owner and you're doing the sales, which that should stop immediately, right? You should find a salesperson, but a lot of times you try to go like this is what we're going to do. And we're going to do this, this, this, and you're just piling all this stuff that, you think in order to close the deal, or if you have a really bad salesperson, you do that. And it really starts there. And, but I totally agree with you on data entry too. Nate: [00:07:15] Well, no, you're absolutely correct. Because whether you bid the job wrong, you know, in the beginning or whether the client has just taken a little more time, a little more time, a little more time, the problem ends up being the same. It is you're not, you're not billing for the amount of time you're spending on it. And so regardless of what caused it, you're still able to measure it and identify where is this happening? So it's amazing. Let's say, let's say you have 20 clients and you find that three of them are using seven hours per month too many. Well, that's only 21 hours per month, but what you bill, times your $120 hour bill rate, and you're losing $2,500 per month in revenue. You should be charging, somebody should be charging, whether it's this client or if they're not using it to pick up a new client, and then you have that bandwidth to take care of them. Jason: [00:08:04] Yeah. One of the things that we found that pointed it out to me, because yeah, like, like you said, you’re like, oh, it was only three hours here, or it's only an hour here, but if you do this one thing and I can promise you you'll change your idea about, because when the client comes to you and go, Oh, can you do this? And you always say yes. You should implement a $0 change order. I talk about this and the agency playbook all the time and we actually give you guys a template for it, but it's really when they come to you for something very small, I want you to print them out a change order. That shows the original price that you would actually charge for it. So if it's a hundred dollars an hour, let's just say easy math, put that down and then cross it out and have them sign it and send it back to you. So you're training them that this is additional. So when they actually come to you for the big items, then you can actually go, oh no, no, no. My digital agency can't do this. Again, we already gave you this free stuff over here. And then the client is programmed to go, oh yeah, it's it's additional. And when you start acting, like, I literally started adding up all the change orders and I was like, oh my gosh, like I gave away $10,000 last month. Nate: [00:09:19] Right. Yeah. It's great if you've taken the time to train your clients that way. And anybody that's not, they should get started. Right. But if you were to do this analysis and say, oh my heck, I'm giving away three grand a month in free services. We need to talk about, okay, what can I do right now? Okay. It's great. I'm going to start changing my process with my clients, but what can we do right now? The first thing I would say is I would not go to a client after one month of analysis and say, hey, we're going to charge more money because that month may be an outlier, right? That month. Maybe you're doing a lot of prep work that's going to pay you over the next several months. But if you do this analysis over, let's say three months, and clients are consistently using too many hours. Then I would go and I'd look internally first and I would say is the problem with me? Okay. Do I have an employee who actually doesn't know what they're doing? Do they need more training? Is it the wrong fit? Etcetera. So what's, what's kind of generating it. If my employee who's done this work, if I asked them, what, what are they spending their time on? And they say, every time he put up their Facebook ads within two hours, there's a phone call. They want the copy change. They want the image changed. Then we know the problem is more with the client than with us. But even then, it's not necessarily that we go to the client and say, hey, look, we're changing the contract. You've got to pay us more money. It might just be a trust issue, right. It might be that they don't really believe that we're the experts. And if they don't put themselves into the process, we're not going to do it, right. So it might just be a conversation of helping them to actually trust that we can do the work. And so we're in, instead of charging them more money, we're helping them to take less of our time. And then again, that frees up our bandwidth and we can then. With those additional hours, we go pick up a new client and build that client instead of giving those hours away for free. Jason: [00:11:06] Yeah. I always, I like how you said kind of look back at your internal process first before you kind of blame the client. Because a lot of times the clients, they'll just, they don't know they're ignorant. They've never gone through this process and they don't know what's in scope or out of scope. When I would talk about scope creep, I would always kind of default back to when I was building my house. Like, I didn't know. The process of building a house. I was like, oh, can I make my room bigger after they do framing? And they're like, you could, but we have to kind of tear down these walls and like all this other stuff. And they were like, well, that would be additional. Or you want a waterfall? Okay. We can do like, like I was just like, it's not included? I thought you said you'd built my dream. Nate: [00:11:51] Yeah. And like, I think it's a good point you brought up earlier is. It is it maybe in the, in the bidding process. And if you're, if you're looking at this on a regular basis and you can… It's gonna, it's going to help you identify that problem, right? If, if you're saying, if you're seeing client after client, where simply their expectations were not in line with what the reality was going to be as an agency owner, that that may be on you and that's, that's fine, right? If you, if you learn that fantastic and let's fix it going forward, but if you're not measuring it and you're just saying, hey, new business, new revenue is going to make me profitable. It's not always going to do it. Jason: [00:12:28] Yeah, I can promise you all of you listening now, before I actually started tracking all of this and actually measuring our time and looking at scope creep, we were losing money on 60% of our engagements, 60%. That's probably what you, Nate, lot of times when you guys probably get an under the covers of a lot of agencies, you probably realize, wow, you're losing a ton of money on these clients. Like, why are you still doing this? Nate: [00:12:54] Right. And I would say sixty maybe high. 60% is, is a high percentage of clients to actually be losing money on. But, but almost guaranteed. There are very few agencies that I do this kind of analysis for that aren't losing money on at least a few clients. And keep in mind, it's not just about, is the client actually profitable or unprofitable, you know. One of the questions you should be asking is, is the client profitable enough? So we may have a profitable client, but because of the scope creep. We're spending so much time that they're, they're just barely profitable. When really if we're going to run a, a good, solid, profitable agency we need to have those boundaries. We need to be able to say, you know, our, our bill rate is 120 an hour that finds you this many hours. And if we're consistently spending too much time, we've got to change that. We've got to fix it. Jason: [00:13:42] That's another good point about like how profitable are they? We had a mastermind member not too long ago. Uh, had a bunch of legacy clients. We showed them a bunch of systems in the mastermind where they really kind of quadrupled their sales, but then they had all of these existing legacy clients and we started looking at it and they were, some of them, all of them were profitable. But just like you were saying, they were barely profitable. And we went to them and we're like, well, how can we get them up to par? And the only way we can actually get the mastermind member in order to do this was to have them calculate the opportunity cost. Like, what was the difference between the new clients coming in? Like how much money were they making there and the old ones. And that actually forced them, like, as they started looking at the data, he was like, holy cow. Well, like if I could just double the rates, and we're like double those rates, and even if half those clients go away, the other ones will make up the difference. But you want to know what happened, Nate? Every one of them said yes. And he made 60,000 extra every month. By not having to sell anything more or deliver anything more just by literally going, hey, we need to be more profitable. Nate: [00:14:56] I'm glad you brought up opportunity costs because some people would say, hey, let's take an example of we're spending seven extra hours on this client every month. And what I said earlier is you're losing $840. Cause it's those hours times your bill rate. And some people would argue, well, no, cause I'm really only losing what I'm paying my employees. I'm not losing the whole bill rate. I'm like, yes, you are because you should be invoicing that. Right. You're spending that whatever it is, 40 bucks or 30 bucks an hour on your employee, regardless of where it's spent or not being used on a client at all, you've got to look at the opportunity cost. It's that's really what, you're what you're losing. It's not just money out of pocket. So yeah. Perfect point. Jason: [00:15:36] Well, this has been awesome. Nate, is there anything I didn't ask you that you think would benefit the audience listening in? Before we go over to the, the cool thing I want to, I want you to tell everybody about right. Nate: [00:15:48] Really, it really comes down to just taking the time to measure this stuff is so easy. Like you said, if you are, if you're an agency owner and you're doing your own sales system, if you're an agency owner and you're doing your own bookkeeping, your own financial reporting, which means you're probably not doing any financial reporting. You should stop, right? You've got to look at this and you've got to look at it consistently. If you're not measuring it, it's going to get out of hand. There's, there's no question. So I don't think so. I think we've pretty much covered it and I'll make sure that you've got the formulas and you can disseminate those out to your listeners, however makes the most sense. Jason: [00:16:23] Great. Yeah. I mean, if, if you guys are not measuring and if you guys are doing this, then you're not doing the other things that only you could be doing, which, you know, it makes me very worrisome. If that's a word, I don't know. I mean, maybe making up words now. But, uh, Nate, tell us about kind of the special offer where you can, uh, you know, help identify this, you know, for them. Yeah. So we do, we do a free audit on some, some various metrics for agencies, just to, just to have a phone call, just to get to know you and see if there's maybe a fit for us to work together. And so we, we offer a free audit of, of your, your profitability and different metrics. And so for this summer, we're actually offering a free first month, if you do want to do some business with us. Nate: [00:17:06] So, there'll be a link. It's that fact, it's the agencydad.money/freeaudit. And there'll be a link there to have a phone call with me and we can, we can talk to see what your needs are. Jason: [00:17:16] Awesome. Uh, repeat the URL one more time for everybody. Nate: [00:17:20] That's agencydad.money/freeaudit. Awesome. All right, well, everyone, uh, go do that now. You know, I really do appreciate Nate coming back on the show. Make sure you guys go get your free audit, because if you can identify that scope creeps are happening, then you actually have an action plan of what you actually need to go do in order to fix it. So make sure you go there. They're incredible. We've said a lot of mastermind members and a lot of listeners over there. And they've all had amazing things to say about Nate and all their crew. So go do that now and until next time, have a Swenk day.

What important steps do you need to roll smoothly into retirement? Joining us to share her newly updated strategies about healthcare, social security, taxes, budgeting, and more, we welcome the author of The 5 Years Before You Retire, Emily Guy Birken. Uh-oh! Another company is in hot water for employing some shady business practices... at least according to one state Attorney General. The catch? The Timeshare-Exit company had, until recently, been a sponsor of the Dave Ramsey show. While that's relevant, we don't think you should invest in any company that doesn't fit in your financial plan... whether it's sanctioned by Dave, the guys in Mom's Basement, or anyone else. More on that in the show. How have our priorities and attitude towards money changed? Rob Williams, Vice president of Financial Planning at Schwab, joins us to share some data from the company's newest survey. How do you turn your side business into a business? We tackle that question for Mac, who's interested in making some Benjamins from his brewing hobby. He asks: what does he need to know? Of course, Doug also gets his share of air time with a great trivia question. Can you guess it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do Tik Tok, a hydraulic press, and my favorite city in Australia all have in common? This week’s guest, Smac McCreanor. In this conversation, Smac and I dig into TikTok, commercials, building creative spaces, and living the lives of our dreams, so get ready to giggle, take notes, and maybe even tear up a little bit, because … This woman lives to laugh, she is strategic AND silly, and she knows how to turn 1+1 into 1 million. Wait, sorry…more like 1.5 million. Quick Links: Smac on the gram: https://www.instagram.com/smacmccreanor/ Smac on Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smacmccreanor YT of her remake Britney Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQk1lzbtzyo Ryan’s Back Flip to the Head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8kFJIt6xtg Transcript: Intro: This is words that move me, the podcast where movers and shakers, like you get the information and inspiration. You need to navigate your creative career with clarity and confidence. I am your host master mover, Dana Wilson. And if you’re someone that loves to learn, laugh and is looking to rewrite the starving artist story, then sit tight, but don’t stop moving because you’re in the right place. Dana: Welcome my friend. This is Dana. This is words that move me. And this is a truly special episode because today I’m sharing a conversation with a person that I have adored at a distance for a very long time, but only really shared time and space with them. A few, uh, very cherished times. My guest today is Smac McCreanor. You may know her as the hydraulic press girl. You may know her as a Tik TOK star, but if you know her at all, you know her as many, many things, because she is many things. She is a very multi type and a man she’s talented, she’s smart. She’s savvy. She’s seriously funny. And she’s also super, she’s also super generous in sharing her experience, um, this entertainment industry thing that we’re doing. So y’all are lucky ducks to be listening in on this conversation. Now, if you know me, which some of you may not, but most of you do, if you know me at all, you know how much I value humor and play in my work. Yes. Play in my work. I really do think that is the sweet spot. So of course, I’m excited to share this conversation because I think Smac is giving new meaning to playful work. And I’m so jazzed about that. I’m so excited to share, but first wins. If you are new to the podcast, this is the part where I share a little personal victory sometimes it’s big, usually it’s small, uh, because I think it’s really important for us creative types, AKA perfectionist types to take a few minutes out of our day of criticizing and scrutinizing and analyzing to recognize what is straight up going well. So first all go, and then I will yield the floor to you. So get your win ready. Uh, today I am celebrating a play date with my fellow Seaweed Sisters. We have some things special up our sleeves, um, and that was a really ev

I want to thank you for listening and for subscribing to Faster Than Normal! I also want to tell you that if you're listening to this one, you probably listened to other episodes as well. Because of you all, we are the number one ADHD podcast on the internet!! And if you like us, you can sponsor an episode! Head over to https://rally.io/creator/SHANK/?campaignId=1f99a340-203f-498e-9665-24723a5f8b7a  It is a lot cheaper than you think. You'll reach... about 25k to 30,000 people in an episode and get your name out there, get your brand out there, your company out there, or just say thanks for all the interviews! We've brought you over 230 interviews of CEOs, celebrities, musicians, all kinds of rock stars all around the world from Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Keith Krach from DocuSign, Danny Meyer, we've had Rachel Cotton, we've had  the band Shinedown, right? Tons and tons of interviews, and we keep bringing in new ones every week so head over to XXXXX rab an episode, make it yours, we'd love to have you, thanks so much for listening!  Now to this week's episode, we hope you enjoy it! ---- Named by TIME magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” Dean Karnazes has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits. Among his many accomplishments, he has run 50 marathons, in all 50 US states, in 50 consecutive days. He's run across Death Valley in the middle of summer, and he's run a marathon to the South Pole. On ten separate occasions he's run a 200-mile relay race solo, racing alongside teams of twelve. His list of competitive achievements include winning the World's Toughest Footrace, the Badwater Ultramarathon, and winning the 4 Deserts Challenge, racing in the hottest, driest, windiest and coldest places on earth. A NY Times bestselling author, Dean is a frequent speaker and panelist at many running and sporting events worldwide. We're thrilled to have Dean with us today- enjoy!       ----------  In this episode Peter and Dean Karnazes discuss: 1:42  -  Intro and welcome Dean Karnazes!! 4:32  -  On the concept of “the runner's high” and what is Dean's and how does he feel after he runs 5:46  -  On learning the chemistry behind the runner's high and what do you have to do to obtain it 8:02  -  On the 100 mile races you've been involved in – tell us a little more about those.  8:42  -  On training for such long runs,  what's your process?  11:36  -  On keeping yourself occupied during races that don't allow headphones or music.  Do you do anything specific to pass the time?   12:08  -  On whether or not you are literally thinking “step, step, step, step?”  13:48  -  On what you tell yourself on mornings,  or even days when you get up and just aren't feeling it?  What do you do?  14:31  -  On confirming that it's 50 marathons in 50 days?   14:45  -  On the logistics of that kind of extensive race.  How do you prep for it?  15:05  -  On what the 50th marathon city was.  16:48  -  Dean, I'm so excited to have a chance to talk to you. I definitely want to get you back on here.  Guys, the book is called https://www.amazon.com/Runners-High-My-Life-Motion/dp/0062955500  but Dean Karnazes is the New York Times best-selling author of author of https://www.amazon.com/Ultramarathon-Man-Confessions-All-Night-Runner/dp/1585424803/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=ultra+marathon+man&qid=1622464092&s=books&sr=1-2 , and Superhuman…. [laughter] I love this, Good Morning America,  “a superhuman athlete writes love letter to runners.” This is, if it's anything like your last book, it's going to be inspiring as hell and I can't wait to read it. Dean thank you so much for taking the time to come on the podcast. I really appreciate it, man. It's great to see you again. You can find deal on the Socials @DeanKarnazes here on Twitter  Facebook. @Ultramarathon on INSTA and via his website www.ultramarathonman.com  Thank you so much Dean Karnazes! And thank YOU for subscribing, reviewing and listening. Your reviews are working! Even if you've reviewed us before, would you please write even a short one for this episode? Each review that you post helps to ensure that word will continue to spread, and that we will all be able to reach & help more people! You can always reach me via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterThanNormal on all of the socials. As always, leave us a comment below and please drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! Do you know of anyone you think should be on the FTN podcast? Shoot us a note, we'd love to hear! 17:15  -  Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits TRANSCRIPT:  — Hi guys. My name is Peter Shankman. I'm the host of Faster Than Normal.  I want to thank you for listening, and I also want to tell you that if you've listened to this one, you probably listened to other episodes as well of Faster Than Normal.  We are the number one ADHD podcast on the internet, and if you like us, you can sponsor an episode.  Head over to shank.mn/sponsor  - that's shank.mn/sponsor. It is alot cheaper than you think. You'll reach... God about 25….30,000 people in an episode and get your name out there, get your brand out there, your company out there, or just say, thanks for all the interviews we brought you over 230 interviews of CEOs, celebrities, musicians, all kinds of rock stars all around the world from we've had... God, who have we had...we've had Tony Robbins, Seth Goden, Keith Krach from DocuSign, we've had Rachel Cotton, we've had  the band Shinedown, right? Tons and tons of interviews, and we keep bringing in new ones every week, so head over to shank.mn/sponsor  grab an episode, make it yours, we'd love to have you, thanks for listening.  Here's this week's episode, hope you enjoy it. You're listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast where we know that having ADD or ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Each week we interview people from all around the globe from every walk of life, in every profession. From rock stars to CEOs, from teachers to politicians who have learned how to unlock the gifts of their ADD and ADHD diagnosis, and use it to their personal and professional advantage.  To build businesses, to become millionaires, or to simply better their lives. And now here's the host of the Faster Than Normal podcast, the only man who goes skydiving to calm down and focus, Peter Shankman — Hey guys, Peter Shankman look, another episode of Faster Than Normal. This episode actually really is faster because we have someone on the podcast today who I have been fortunate enough to meet in the VIP tent of the 2006 New York City Marathon, and when I talk fast and when I talk, uh, determination, this guy always comes up in conversations I have with my running buddies, my travel on buddies, talking to Dean Karnazes.. And, and if you have ever run, or thought about running, or ran by pressing X on a joystick, you know, this guy. Uh, he is pretty incredible. He has written several books on running. His latest is called  https://www.amazon.com/Runners-High-My-Life-Motion/dp/0062955500 Um, but he's a New York Times bestselling author of https://www.amazon.com/Ultramarathon-Man-Confessions-All-Night-Runner/dp/1585424803/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=ultra+marathon+man&qid=1622464092&s=books&sr=1-2 , which I've got to tell you, Dean, what sticks out at me, always about that, was the time the part of the Ultramarathon Man, where you just decided you want to get back into running, and so on a whim, you ran something like 40 miles and called your wife and said, Hey, um, can you bring me a new pair of sneakers, some Taco Bell and my health and my, uh, my health insurance card, cause I think I have to go to the hospital. And that is totally something someone with ADHD would do, they just start and 40 miles later, they'd be like, yeah, that was, that was a mistake…. so well to the podcast, man, it's, it's amazing to talk to you again.  Yeah, it's good to be with you again, I got to preface and say that I was drunk during that episode, so that got even better. [laughter] Spectacular.. I love that. So, OK, so let's talk first about the book, uh, the concept of ,  https://www.amazon.com/Runners-High-My-Life-Motion/dp/0062955500 right? So I started running, I was taken out for a run by one of my employees back in 2000, and prior to that, I'd never run, right?  I ran... like to the store for cigarettes, right? I went to a performing arts high school, we didn't run, we sang.  We, we, we fulfilled our gym credits in, in, in, in, in other ways. And my, this woman who works for me, Rebecca, she took me out for a run. Somehow convinced me to go on a half mile run with her, like a five mile run that was only….but I only lasted a half a mile, but I remember going over to half a mile, probably took like six minutes or so I nearly died.  Like, I look at him like, oh my God, I'm gonna die. And then 15 seconds later, I had this feeling of euphoria that I've never had before I'd never had before in my life. And that was entirely my runners high, right? Now I know that your book,   https://www.amazon.com/Runners-High-My-Life-Motion/dp/0062955500 is about your entire life and as a runner in motion, and all that, but you know, for someone with ADHD or someone with any sort of neurodiversity, runner's high is one of the closest feelings to God you're ever gonna get, because we live our lives perpetually denied dopamine, serotonin and adrenaline. And when I tell people and when people learn that it is literally as easy as going for a run or a bike ride or a swim or walking up 20 flights of steps to get that back for a certain amount of time, they're blown away. And so tell us about your runner's high, tell us about what, what you feel after a run. Now, mind you, when I say after a run for you, I mean, you know, it's not the same as a run for me, which is, you know, five miles you go, you know, to the next state or whatever. But tell us about, tell us about how you feel after a run and, uh, tell us about yourself as well, I'm really excited to be talking to you, so I have to shut up now.  Yeah, no, that, uh, what you just described happened to me when I was six years old. I mean, I'll never forget it. I was….I was in kindergarten and you know, I'm a young boy and they tell us to sit still and pay attention and whatever your six year old wants to do is run wild and not pay attention, right?  That's our, that's our, our nature as a six-year-old. So I, I just remember, you know, chewing the back of my hand off until the be…..the bell rang, and I was free and I would run home from kindergarten. I'd run a mile home from kindergarten. And that was the only time I felt whole Peter.  When I walked through the door, I just felt like a different person when I got home, and that's how I discovered the runner's high and the power of running to really quiet the mind and just give you that peace and that, uh, It's profound. I mean, you and I both come from the same place, you were just a little bit older when you, when you learned about that place.   At what point did you realize sort of the chemistry behind it, of what it was, you know, runner's high, the actual, uh, chemistry that produces it or, or, or, or what you have to do to get it? You know, I mean, the chemistry is interesting, right? Because we thought it was endorphins. We always attributed a runner's high to endorphins, but they've recently done some experiments where they gave people a drug that blocked endorphins and they went running and they still got to runner's high, and so now they think it's Endocannabinoids that are responsible for the runner's high, and we, you know, just the name suggests, yeah… but, um, it's, I think it's profoundly chemical. And when I talk to other runners that say, I've never felt the runner's high, I look at them, that's it, you're just not paying attention, because that's impossible you know, I think it's your body's reaction to, I mean, you had this reaction to pain and a lot of way that, that half mile that you ran with your coworker back in 2000, it must have hurt like hell… totally…. where your body responds, by numbing the pain in  a lot of ways. Well the problem was, was that the first time, you know, the first, that first half mile, I joke about my running buddy now, David, that first half mile is a bitch. I'm gonnna be 49 this summer, everything hurts that first half mile, right?  But as soon as it's like, it's like a, it's like a, like a stopwatch, the first half mile ends. It's like I've turned a corner, boom, let's go through like, you know, eight, 10, 12 miles. And the crazy thing is, is that, you know, I'm a single dad here, right? So the only time I can really run is super, super early, and so fortunately, David is as crazy as I am and we do our long runs, we'll start at like 3am, um, actually you might know this story, I got arrested in Central Park for exercising before it opened several years ago, I was with that was that guy who was on the front page of the Daily News holding up a summons, cause I have to stop, stop, and he's like, what are you doing?  I'm like, what do you think I'm doi….? you know, I'm, I'm trading sexual favors or crack. What do you think? You know, wrong thing to say to a cop, but yeah. So, um, you know, but that early morning high translates for me. I'll hold that all day, right?. And I know people who realize that.  Yeah, and you've done some of the longer races.  I mean, when I run an ultra marathon, so when I run a hundred miles nonstop, I mean that high, it can last for two weeks, Peter. It's amazing, yeah, you still feel it. And it…. it actually gets more pronounced after about four or five days.  That's that's I mean, I'm just, I'm stuck on that, on a hundred. Tell us about the endurance races.  Tell us about the hundred milers..  Yeah. I mean, the first time I heard about this, I thought it's just trickery, right? It's… no human can run a hundred miles nonstop. I mean, there's, there's hotels along the way, or, you know, you hop in a car, but then no one's looking. But, um, the guy said “ a gun goes off and you start running and you stop when you cross the finish line” you know, you try to do it in under 24 hours.  And I thought, I hate driving a hundred miles, like how, how is this possible? And I went out and did it, and it was just the most amazing, expansive experience I've ever encountered in my life, and I've been doing that same sort of thing now for almost three decades.  How do you train for something like that?  Is it just constant long runs?    I get up like you do. I get up at 3am I might run a marathon before breakfast, you know, fix breakfast for the kids and get them off to school and the same sort of thing. You know, you, you, you train when you can and I'm opportunistic any chance I get, I train, I don't do something that you're doing right now, and we got a camera on people. That's how I know Peter is sitting. You can tell him standing. I never sit down. I do all my book, writing all my emails, everything. I mean, I have a very profound case of ADHD. I've just never been diagnosed, but to quiet my mind, the only time my mind is quiet is when I'm running. Well that's that goes without saying, but beforehand, I want to say the guys, I'm now proud to say I've been, I've been sit-shamed by Dean Karnazes, so I'm going to take that to my grave. Um, but you know, it's really true that the concept of quieting the mind, I mean, I do two things for that. I exercise and I'm a skydiver, right?  And, and I talk about the fact that when I know I have to run a 10 mile training run, or I know that I have to do 50 miles on the bike, either outside or on my Peloton, you know, that is, it's sort of a given that's what I have to do. And, and when my trainer gives me….  when my coach gives me my, my weekly plan, I can't deviate from that, and it's the same thing with skydiving. When I jump out of the plane, I have two options, open the shoot and live, or not open to shoot and die. I don't have any other choices. And I think that the great thing about exercise, about running... about, you know, is that, is that when you're tied to a schedule of, you know, Hey, the race is into, they're not going to move the race, right?  It's in 20 weeks and four days, and they're not going to move that. So here's what I have to do to be ready for that. It eliminates the ability to choose other things and that, and the elimination of choice is something I preach. Cause that's that quiets the mind more than anything else. If I only have A or B, I'm making a decision, but if I have A through M right… forget it.  Yeah, no, and I think running an ultra marathon is very much a binary experience. I mean, you make it to the finish line and you succeed.  You don't, and you fail. I mean, the rules of engagements are black and white and when you're running a hundred miles, it's so intense of an experience, it so commands you… ….that your mind can't wander. I mean, every thought has gotta be on, how am I going to get to the finish line? You're very focused on the present moment of time, the here and now,  you don't reflect on the past. I mean, it, it requires that you be entirely present to get to that finish line, when you're... you know, doing Ironman in Kona in October, you know exactly what I'm describing here. Yeah. Well, it brings up an interesting question.  What do you do, um, to keep yourself occupied? I find that so on marathons, I can listen to my music. They don't, they don't stop you. They discourage it, but they let you wear your headphones? Right. And Iron Man it's, it's a, it's a disqualification if they catch you with headphones, right? So my first half Ironman I ever did, like 2008 or nine or something, I remember. I…. I literally recited the entire scripts to Back to the Future and Midnight Run, like word for word. and that got me through, right?  Do you do anything specific to, um, to allow yourself to, to, to pass the time? I mean, it's a 100 miles.   I try to be in a present moment of time, so it requires a lot of discipline because our minds are active places. I mean, your mind is intensely active, and to come back to center and just be in the present moment, the here and now, really requires discipline and requires, uh, you know, you to make an effort because you can control your mind and it can wander very quickly, so I don't let my mind wander. I bring it back to my next step.  Well that was my question, are you thinking... are you literally thinking step, step, step, step  {indistinguishable}  it's almost like you're, you're meditating in a sense, and I can be there for six or eight hours where the only thought is take your next step to the best of your ability, take your next step to the best of your ability. That's all that's going  through your mind.  So I have a quote on my, uh, well, in several places in my life. I believe it's in my, on my Facebook quotes section, but I've also said it to myself countless times, and I believe it's attributed to you, uh, run… run if you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, but never ever give up.  And I believe you said, yeah. And I have taken that. I've taken that. If you're wondering if your first book affected me dude, I've taken that with me for years now, for years. Um,  I'm glad you're still liking it… and you know, I'm planning on, oh God, I'm planning on taking that into Kona as well. You know…..Tell me about so-so. How, how do I ask it?  So the past year there have been two types of people over the past, like 14 months. There's been types of people who say, okay, I'm going to use this, this virus, the virus, the shutdown and everything, and the quarantine as a way to get out and exercise every day and run. And there's the kind of people that say they're going to do that and they don't do that, right. And so there's two kinds of people, both of them say they're going to do it, only one of them actually does. Um, my rule is I have to exercise immediately upon awakening, or I won't do it. I'll come up with some excuse as to why it shouldn't be running the meteor around Pluto, Pluto might go out of orbit and it might hit the earth and, you know, whatever it is, I'll come up with a reason for it.  Um, so I, I get up super early and I just, I just don't think about it right?. I sleep in my bike shorts, I'm on the bike and I'm out the door. Done. Don't think about it. What do you tell yourself? Or what do you do or are you so super human that you've never had this experience? What do you tell yourself when you wake up and you just don't freaking have it?  Yeah. I know, and people say… you know, it's incredible you know, do you ever not want to run? And yeah, there's a lot of days I don't want to run, but I use this concept called Forward Projection. so I just project how much better I'm going to feel post run, than I feel now. And I know that I'm inevitably going to feel a lot better if I can go for a run, and the thing is, you know, once we get ourselves out the door… Everything changes, right?  Yeah. It's just, it's just putting your shoes on, getting out the door is the hardest part, but if you can get out the door, it's on, you're almost on autopilot at that point.    Last question is only respect for your time… 50 marathons in 50 states consecutively, right in 50 days.  50 day… yeah.  So, I mean, I guess the first question is dude, what the actual F but I'll, I'll leave that, um, Logistically that must've been a bitch.   Peter, I don't, I won't profess to doing logistics. I work with the agency that they coordinate the Olympic torch run across the country. I let them do it because I was, I, there was no way I was going to figure that one out. Yeah.  And what was it that…. remind me again, that culminated with, your 50th was New York or DC…. where was your 50th, I don't remember?  It was New York. We met each other in the… …. that was when you, that was the last one of your 50 my God! yeah, 2006, yeah.  Amazing. Amazing. And I guess the, the, the concept of that is, I mean, I do a 26 mile 26.2 mile run and. I can't go down subway steps the next day. And you proceeded to do it for 50 days in a row. 15:35 How does your body, I mean, what, what do you do for your body to, to not, you know, I don't know, die the next day or the day after, or the day after.   Yeah. I remember at Marathon 19, I couldn't crawl out of bed in the morning and I'm like, I can't, I can't get out of bed, how am I going to run a marathon today? Let alone 31 more and 31 days on top of that. And I stopped counting at that point. I used that same technique as it just, just get yourself to the hotel sink and splash some water in your face. OK, just make it over to that. In-room coffee machine and have some  horrible coffee, put your shorts on one leg at a time. Just get to the starting line. Okay. You're at the starting line. Just take your first step of the marathon, and, you know, I finished New York… that was my fastest of all.  I finished in 3hrs: 30 seconds, which was pretty decent for New York. And that was with 49 consecutive marathons {indistinguishable} prior. Jesus, yeah, I was a 22min, I was 28min behind you, I was a 3:58:03, my fastest marathon before or since. So now I'm kind of at the point where it's…..how old are you? A little bit older than you.  Oh, I hate you…. just, just on principle. I don't like you. I really, really dislike you... but that being said, Dean, I'm so excited to have a chance to talk to you. I definitely want to get you back on here.  Guys, the book is called https://www.amazon.com/Runners-High-My-Life-Motion/dp/0062955500  but Dean Karnazes is the New York Times best-selling author of author of https://www.amazon.com/Ultramarathon-Man-Confessions-All-Night-Runner/dp/1585424803/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=ultra+marathon+man&qid=1622464092&s=books&sr=1-2 , and Superhuman…. [laughter] I love this, Good Morning America,  “a superhuman athlete writes love letter to runners.” This is, if it's anything like your last book, it's going to be inspiring as hell and I can't wait to read it. Dean thank you so much for taking the time to come on the podcast. I really appreciate it, man. It's great to see you again. Thanks for having me run by. Haaah-yeah! —— Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week. 

We have been taught to think that when something is scarce, then the value goes up, but should it? Because I'm looking at human beings and I'm thinking about the 99% not being valued. And the 1% that are valued, the 1% that have the majority of the currency, the majority of the money in our society, how come they are in that state and how come the 99% are so undervalued?! But if you really think about it, we are more valuable than the 1%. And I think that we're not treated as valuable because we are so disconnected from one another. That's my personal theory that if we were truly to connect with one another energetically and physically, that if we shared our ideas and we helped each other out, the 1% would have no power. Does that make any sense to anybody? And then I'm thinking about money and the value of a person. And what is money? Is it a tool? Of course it is. But is it a tool for manipulation? Has some piece of paper, coin, or ethereal coin crossed the line over to manipulation and how we make money? How does that all work? Is it done with integrity or greed or desperation? How does self-esteem play a factor? I would like to use the Socratic method by asking questions for us to get somewhere in our conversations where we can figure things out. I really believe we can figure out a way. Socrates often asked questions that went against the traditions and reflections of Athens. And so we may ask, I may ask certain questions, but I mean, no disrespect. I'm trying to understand things and I'm trying to understand a way for us all to come together again. This roundtable takes us through politics, the economy, self-worth, ethics and a bit of history as we ask questions and define some important terms in order to create change. TRANSCRIPT: [00:00:00] Fawn: [00:00:00] Hello, everyone. Welcome to our round table. Connected. Matt: [00:00:04] Hello? Hi everybody. Today we have Paul. We have Katie. Katy: [00:00:11] Hi, Fawn: [00:00:11] we have Beth. Beth: [00:00:13] Hi, everybody. Fawn: [00:00:14] And we have KJ. Okay. KJ is on the road you guys, she is driving. Uh, well, she's in the passenger seat, but she's in a car. All right. Today's show is currency. What is it? Matt: [00:00:29] What is it? Fawn: [00:00:30] All right. I'll give you some definitions. Currency is a medium of exchange. By the way our round- table is about connected. We're all connected. We are interconnected and our conversations revolve around how we are truly interconnected. And one of the ways in which we are connected is through currency. So I want to talk about that and it's not just money either. And you'll see we'll get into it. So currency is a medium of [00:01:00] exchange for goods and services in the form of some material. It can be paper, money, coins, et cetera, issued by a government and generally accepted at its face value as a method of payment. So there, it has like five definitions for currency. If you look it up, it's something that is used as a medium of exchange, like money. It is, something that is generally accepted, a general acceptance, prevalence and Vogue, whatever is in vogue. The third definition is a time or period during something that is widely accepted, and circulated. So a time period, right; like current events. The fourth definition is the fact or quality of being widely accepted and circulated from person to person. Circulation, as of coin is the fifth one. [00:02:00] And then when I looked at "current", it is passing in time belonging to the time actually passing like current events. It is something that is prevalent or customary. It is something that is popular. It is som

來自聽眾對節目的五星評價辛随我愿主播的声音很甜美！ 这是我听所有的口语节目里面最实用的，因为我们不光是听老师在讲解英语，而且我们能听到纯正的外国人 讲话的语速 ，这让我们感受到了自己的英语学的稍微有一点点慢 ，所以才会听不太懂，我觉得这个节目要是听久了，一定会对我们英语口语有很大的帮助 ！今日格言：Make sure your worst enemy is not living between your own two ears.請確保你最大的敵人不是住在你兩耳朵之間。他們會回答這個問題：What is the worst thing in Kaohsiung? 高雄最糟的事是什麼？Angela:Sometimes people don't like to follow rules. Uh, so sometimes as a foreigner,we're used to, if there's a law, then there's a law. If you break the law, you get in trouble for it, or there's fine. Or, you know, some kind of consequence, but I feel in Kaohsiung, it can be a little bit too lax sometimes. And so if you're counting on a law being enforced, sometimes there's a lack of enforcement.有時候人們不遵守規則。所以身為一個外國人，我們習慣如果有規定，就要遵守。如果你違反規定，就會有麻煩或者會有懲罰。或許是，某類的後果。但是我覺得在高雄，有時有點太過於放鬆。所以如果你寄望在有強制規定的話，可能會有點失望。Donny:The worst thing in Kaohsiung is easily the air pollution, which, um, a lot of people complain about it all the time, which, uh, is it's not the case that it's always bad. It's just as often good as it is bad, but when it gets bad some days, or some weeks, especially in the winter season, then the air pollution is really bad in Kaohsiung. And then you have to be extra cautious about your activities and about looking after your health. Um, it's a good idea to get out of the city when the air gets like that. But definitely just as with all large cities in Taiwan, air pollution is a serious issue at certain times.高雄最糟糕的地方就是空氣污染，雖然不是一直都很糟，然而很多人總是不停的抱怨。可以說是，時好時壞，特別是在冬季的時候，空氣污染在高雄非常的糟糕。所以你在進行你的活動的時候一定要特別注意照顧自己的健康。如果空氣很糟的時候，就要離開城市。但的確就像在台灣的其他大城市，空氣污染是在某些時刻的嚴重議題。明天的內容是：他們會回答這個問題：Is Kaohsiung famous for anything? 高雄因為什麼出名嗎？

Every problem you are facing in your life is more amplified in your imagination than it ever will be in real life. The truth is, when you lean in to solve hard problems, you find that no problem is as hard as you thought it might be in your mind. Let's lean in together in this fight to make the world suck a little less. Transcript Below:if you'll indulge me, I'd like to share a brief story from combat that I think you'll find some really powerful principles in and some really practical tips that you can very quickly apply to your life. And this is um, something I'd like to do a little bit more often on the podcast is recording. Won't be particularly long. I'd like to do these shorter clips for you all I know for many of you I am what gets you through your monday morning commute or your monday evening commute, I guess. Uh and I know you didn't get a podcast this week because it was Memorial Day and I've been rightfully disconnecting myself from pretty much everything going on in the world just so I can be emotionally in a good place because this is usually the hardest time of year for me just dealing with all of the loss and the things that I've seen, not, not necessarily in a bad way, I'm totally in a good place. I just, I've learned over the years to take really good care of my emotional self and when I need to detach, I do it. So that's why you really didn't get much out of me this week. In fact, I recorded a podcast that I just was completely unhappy with and I won't publish it because it felt very self indulgent narcissistic, uh, and not very helpful for you all. So, I want to get out of that energy and come to the story I want to tell you all today. We'll take care of some administrative notes. There's something really powerful I want to share with you at the end of today's story that I'm only going to be sharing with the people on the podcast. I have not made this public. The podcast is a more intimate audience. It's certainly not the millions and millions of people that watch me every week, like on Tiktok, but I will be sharing that with you here. Please keep it private and don't share it with a lot of people because it is only for a select few warriors and it is definitely invite only. But I feel like the people who are listening here are certainly the right people for that. Anyway, let's get into the story so I can get you on with your day. So this is before we actually go to combat. This is days before we're actually wheels up and cleared high. And I had just been briefed on and many of you have probably heard this story before, but I'm gonna tell it from a slightly different perspective. I was given what seemed like a suicide mission basically the way it was broken down to me, we were going to be pushing through a piece of enemy held territory where we were going to be completely at a tactical disadvantage because the enemy had the high ground, they were entrenched. Um, and we were gonna be fighting our way basically uphill through a valley where we were going to be getting shot down at the way our patrols are distributed across terrain, there was a good chance that in this mission of all the people that should and could have been killed me. That was definitely one of them. The way things are set up and I was okay with that. That's not the point of the story. The point of the story was I had to go brief Basically a group of 50 to 100 men, depending on how you look at the way our unit was structured on the suicide mission that we're about to go on uh and get buy in from all these people that hey, this stupid thing we're getting ready to go do is probably gonna get a bunch of us killed, myself included...Application integrationSupport the show (https://patreon.com/bryantchambers)

Hey Everybody! Welcome back to another Bolton Ebikes Podcast today. I'm going to share with you some very exciting news. I have something new coming out and no, it's not a bike, but it's a brand new website and a brand new service related to ebikes. So stick around, stay tuned.  This is the Bolton Ebikes Podcast. In today’s episode you’ll learn more about:  What is the new website and service that we are unrolling and how can you be one of the founding members of it.  How will it benefit you if you’re looking for your perfect ebike.  How you can sell your ebike or buy an ebike easily and how we’re going to help you do it! How to use EbikeSearch and how this can help you to also learn more about the industry.  The benefits of using our new site over others.  How you can get an exclusive invitation to be one of the first to sell or buy on the site.  Are there fees associated with purchasing a bike like on other sites?  What can you expect as a seller as far as fees to sell your ebike? How to narrow down your search and what categories to expect.  Thanks again for listening! I'm Kyle, the owner of Bolton Ebikes, and I'm not just trying to sell you a new electric bike, although we're happy to help you with that, If we have something that fits your needs, but I just want to help you learn all about electric bikes. That's the whole point of this podcast. And you’ll get to learn more in the blog area that's going to be on ebike search.com I think that's going to be a great new resource of even more information. And that's probably something that we'll pull over to the BoltonEbikes.com website as well. So you'll have that in multiple places. If you haven't left me a review, please do. I appreciate those. I try to read every single one, whatever podcasting platform you're using. Just go on there and leave a review. I want this to be the number one electric bike podcast in the world. If we can make that happen, I need your help to do that. Uh, so leave a review. Share with your friends. And again, e bike search dot com is the new place to go for used electric bikes.  See you next week!  Links from Bolton Ebikes Sell or Buy a Used Ebike here: www.ebikesearch.com Sign up for Upcoming Podcast Episodes: www.ebikepodcast.com Subscribe to The Bolton Ebikes YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boltonebikes?sub_confirmation=1 Find your perfect Bolton Ebike: https://www.boltonebikes.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/boltonebikes Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/868947773245145/ Who do you want me to interview for The Bolton Ebikes Podcast? Let us know! Submit the contact information and stories about those ebike adventures to the team at info@boltonebikes.com and let us know you want to be on the show!

In this episode, Financial Advisors at Certified Financial Services, LLC, Erin Hoffman and Jill Van Nostrand, talk about physical therapists’ financial wellness. Today, Erin and Jill talk about prioritising financial wellness, the different types of disability policies and insurance, managing student loans, and saving for retirement. Is it recommended to get a business disability policy? How can you maximise your financial wellness? Hear about a few forgiveness programs, asset location strategies, and the difference between an IRA and a Roth IRA, all on today’s episode of The Healthy, Wealthy & Smart Podcast.   Key Takeaways “Our health and physical wellness goes hand in hand with our financial wellness.” “There’s a huge difference between the language of a group policy versus an individual policies.” “When we’re talking about disability, we’re talking about protecting the source of where all of that comes from, which is our income and our ability to produce income and revenue.” “We don’t want to leave ourselves open to situations that would erode everything that we’re working to build.” “Student loans are probably the biggest threat to our retirement.” “Retirement is something that is never too soon to start.” “We want to make sure we have ways of saving that are going to give us liquidity during our working years.” The Top Three Tips: Protection and disability insurance. Managing student loans. Understanding your retirement. “Start saving sooner than you think.” “Go for it. Achieve what you want to achieve.”   More about Erin Hoffman Erin Hoffman is a Financial Advisor at Certified Financial Services, LLC (CFS), a wealth management firm headquartered in Paramus, NJ, providing individuals, families, and businesses with financial protection and wealth accumulation strategies. She specializes in working with women business owners, and Physical Therapists, as well as other Healthcare Professionals. She understands that as a Healthcare professional, you specialize in the movement of the body. Once she started working with her aunt and best friend, who were PTs, she started partnering with countless others who wanted to focus on the movement in their financial world. She has been successful in assisting with sticking points in their finances, leading them to a place of greater range of motion in their financial world. She also hosts monthly educational classes for Healthcare Professionals on various topics- from financial, to legal, to even marketing.   More about Jill Van Nostrand Jill specializes in helping PTs, dentists, and others in the medical fields grow and protect their wealth by focusing on key areas of importance in their finances. Jill built an impressive career as a musician and college professor, but it wasn’t until her career as a real estate investor that she grew aware that a leading cause of a person’s stress derives from financial worries. As she was intrigued by that relationship, Jill decided to bring together her interest in financial wellness with her desire to help others. Jill’s mission of educating clients and guiding them towards stress relief and financial balance is drawn from her own family experience. She wants to provide families, individuals, and practice owners with the knowledge to help them protect and grow their assets and, in turn, enjoy life more. Jill enjoys spending time with her husband, Gary, and son, John, in the North Jersey lake region or hiking in Vermont. She serves on the Economic Development Commission in her town of West Milford, NJ.   Suggested Keywords Physiotherapy, PT, Healthcare, Finances, Wellness, Policies, Insurance, Loans, Disability Policies, CFS, Retirement, IRA, Savings, Strategies,   To learn more, follow Erin and Jill at: Website:          https://www.cfsllc.com Facebook:       Erin Hoffman                         Jill Van Nostrand LinkedIn:         Erin Hoffman                         Jill Van Nostrand   Mama Bear PT:          https://www.mamabearpt.com   Subscribe to Healthy, Wealthy & Smart: Website:                      https://podcast.healthywealthysmart.com Apple Podcasts:          https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/healthy-wealthy-smart/id532717264 Spotify:                        https://open.spotify.com/show/6ELmKwE4mSZXBB8TiQvp73 SoundCloud:               https://soundcloud.com/healthywealthysmart Stitcher:                       https://www.stitcher.com/show/healthy-wealthy-smart iHeart Radio:               https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-healthy-wealthy-smart-27628927   Read the Full Transcript Here:  Speaker 1 (00:01): Hi, Jill and Erin. Welcome to the podcast. I am happy to have you on Speaker 2 (00:06): Hi, Karen. It's so great to be here. Thank you for having us today. Speaker 1 (00:10): Sure. And now today we are going to talk about wellness, financial wellness for physical therapists. So like I said, in the intro, you guys love working with physical therapists. You specialize in this. My audience happens to be a lot of physical therapists, so this is just a perfect match. And today we're going to talk about kind of the top three things physical therapists need to think about and implement for financial wellness. So guys, I'm going to turn it over to you, um, to start it out. What is your first tip? Speaker 2 (00:50): Awesome. I'm so glad that we're here today. Karen, because as you're saying, right, our health and our physical wellness goes hand in hand with our financial wellness. And a lot of times there's a disconnect, but that's why Jill and I love working with PTs and it's really close to home for both of us. My aunt's a PT and we have a few friends who have come out as doctorates. Uh, and just a quick recap for Jill and I. We are financial advisors at certified financial services, and we love partnering with PTs who really want to focus on the movement in their financial world and achieve that financial wellness. Uh, so the first thing that we always kind of start right off the bat with them is protection, right? That's, that's the first thing. That's the most important thing also, because if we think about, you know, you've worked so hard to get your degree to get into the clinic that you're in or that you're starting, but we really want to make sure that we have a secured, satisfied lifestyle. If we think about what could happen, if, if we weren't able to go to work the next day, right? If we became too sick or injured, that would prevent us from a bring home a paycheck, uh, and without a paycheck, how long could we pay for our rent utilities, buy groceries, make those student loan payments that are so fun. Right? So disability insurance is first and foremost. One of the most important things that we'll talk about with our PTs, Speaker 3 (02:25): That's it that's really well said. Yeah. Thank you, Karen. I think it's really well said, Erin, when we start with protection first, we're protecting our most important asset, which is our ability to produce income, right. To produce cashflow. So that really should be number one in our priorities. And it's really important to think about what our priorities should be. Not everything can come in first for that number one position in terms of things that we need to accomplish for our financial wellness. And that is definitely a number one for us. And there are different kinds of insurance out there. There's individual. There's also disability insurance that covers the daily running expenses of a brick and mortar business, for example, or a practice for example. And there's also disability insurance that covers our contributions to our qualified retirement accounts. So there are a lot of different options out there. Some of which are very new and a lot of people are not aware of them. So we make our clients aware of them and, and get out as much education as we can. Speaker 1 (03:29): So now let's talk about, cause everyone, um, let's talk about a couple of those different types because a lot of times I see on social media, we talked about this before, um, especially newer grads or even those out for a while will say, well, I get disability to the company I work with. So do I really have to have my own as well? Speaker 2 (03:53): Go ahead. It's a good point. Karen and Jill and I get asked this question all the time, and I think one of the most important words that comes to mind when thinking about having your own individual policy is I it's yours, but it's also portable. You might not be at that clinic with that same employer for your whole entire life. So if you have your own individual policy, that's yours, it doesn't go away. Whether you, you know, have clinics, uh, what have you and Jill and I also spend a lot of time reading through the language of a disability policy with, with our PTs. And it's so important. They might, your employer might not have certain riders that an individual policy would have that could be in your benefit. Uh, and it might not be through a carrier that favors PTs or other healthcare professionals that Jill and I work closely with. So I think those are, those are some of the big, uh, advantages to having your individual policy. And also that you're ensuring your own insureability right. Your, your age, your health, uh, at today's point in time. Speaker 3 (05:00): Yeah, definitely. I, and that, that is so true, Aaron, that there's a huge difference between the language of a group policy versus an individual policy. And the individual policies tend to be much more favorable to the insured in terms of what qualifies as a disability, or even in some cases, a partial disability. So when we have an individual policy, we can design that to fit someone's exact needs and their exact situation. And in a group policy, you're just not going to get that kind of customization. Um, it's great to have, but we, we look at it as like an add-on benefit. It's much, much better to have an individual policy and there, and there's another point which comes down to taxation of the benefit if we are actually making a claim and we're getting that benefit, if it's an individual policy that we are paying for, we get that benefit, tax-free income tax free. And if it's a group policy that our paying any part of four, then that benefit's going to be completely income taxable. So there's a big difference in the actual benefits and the language between a group policy and an individual policy. Excellent point. Speaker 1 (06:12): Yeah. I had no idea what a great point. Um, and now let's talk about quickly the difference between an individual policy and a sort of business policy. So if you're a business owner, can you, or should you just continue, so continue with your individual policy or is it recommended that you get a business policy, which are usually more expensive? Speaker 3 (06:40): Yup. So for an, for an individual to protect their income, we definitely recommend that whether that is a business owner or someone who is a W2 employee of a business, whatever it might be, it's really, really important to have that we do recommend it. And then business overhead insurance is something that can be added on to a, sometimes to an individual policy can be a separate policy and that would cover the day-to-day runnings of the business of the practice. So they're usually two separate policies that people would have. So the one would protect the income and then the one would protect those day-to-day expenses of running the practice. So it's really important to have both, if you are a practice owner Speaker 1 (07:24): And would this be, so let's say you are a practice owner and you have what you think is a business, uh, disability plan. Should you specifically ask for business, overhead insurance is, or is, does, is that considered part of it? Speaker 3 (07:42): It is a separate policy business, overhead protection. That should be a separate policy. Um, aside from your business insurance, like your business liability insurance, whatever that might be, um, or any kind of property insurance that a property owner would have. So those are all different kinds of policies. They're all super important to have, of course. And when we're talking about disability, we're really talking about protecting the source of where all of that comes from, which is our income and our ability to produce income and revenue. So super important. Speaker 1 (08:17): Got it, got it. Well, that is a great tip for people and it's making me think too. I have that. I have to, every time I do a podcast with, with, uh, folks like you, it gets me like, wait, do I have that? Do I? Okay. Yeah. Mental note check to see if I have business overhead insurance, which I don't think I do. That's going to be something I'm going to call about. And now when you're working with your clients and they say, oh, but it's so much more expensive. Can't I just stick with my individual policy. Speaker 4 (08:50): Well, Speaker 2 (08:50): We always bring up the point of, well, think about the expense, if you did not have this coverage in place. Right. And specifically with the business overhead expense, as Jill had, had talked about, that covers the everyday. So the rent and utilities. How about if you have employees, their wages, how, how is that going to be covered? Right. You know, even loans, voluntold they're covered under having this business expense policy, you can get, you know, additional, you know, health coverage covered as well. So these different plans kind of cover different things and we kind of help PTs and business owners navigate. What's the best strategies for them. Speaker 1 (09:34): Awesome. Okay. Before we move on to tip two, is there anything we'd glossed over on disability, insurance and protection that you want to add onto before we move on? I would just say, oh, sorry, go ahead there. No, go ahead, Jill. Speaker 3 (09:49): I would just say that it really is one of the most important things that we can do for ourselves financially. Uh, in terms of growing our wealth, we also need to protect our wealth. We don't want to leave ourselves open to, uh, situations that would erode everything that we're working to build. So, you know, just something to leave people with on that. Yeah. Speaker 1 (10:10): Very, very good point. You work so hard. You don't want an injury to take it all away from you, right. Okay. That makes perfect sense. All right, let's go on to tip number two. Speaker 3 (10:21): Okay. Two is management of the student loans. If a PT has student loans, managing them is a major priority. We believe in terms of financial wellness. It's not something that we can, that we can ignore, uh, that needs to be addressed as soon as possible so that we can get, we can help our PTs get on a plan and get them into a situation where they're going to have a comfortable monthly payment. They're going to have, uh, the POS, first of all, the POS first things we do is look at, is it possible for them to get into a forgiveness program? There are a few different programs today. Uh, we work with an expert in the student loan field. She's helped many, many of our clients, and we work hand in hand with her to help our clients. And first of all, we see if we can get them into a forgiveness program. Speaker 3 (11:12): That's number one. And number two, if a forgiveness program isn't impossible, then we're looking into management. How can we get that payment to a reasonable amount that is not going to prevent everything else in life that all of us want to have from happening and to make sure that we can still fulfill our dreams and reach our goals. So if we are, uh, if we have a PT who, for example, is working really hard to get those loans down, we're also gonna talk about, let's start some savings, right? Because we can't get those years back. And it's all about management and for saving and servicing our loans at the same time, then that's going to give us the optimal results. Aaron, Speaker 2 (12:00): It brings up a really good point. And a lot of times, you know, student loans might be one of our biggest expenses in our world. So we have to kind of help find that balance between where are we saving, how much are we saving and still paying down, servicing that debt. So that's kind of where Jill and I come in and find that, that happy balance, because we have to be saving and have some kind of bucket, right? God forbid, while we're still servicing the debt and we'll get into the retirement more. But student loans are probably the biggest threat to, to our retirement. Um, you know, we'll get more into that, but it's important to be balanced in both. Speaker 3 (12:40): Yup, absolutely. And I think from the perspective of a student today, who's graduating, let's say they're coming out with a couple of hundred thousand of student loans that may seem almost insurmountable. And what we do with our clients is help them and help PTs to, uh, be able to fit that into the budget and still have everything else going on that they want to have in their lives. So it's, it's about building that career that you love, PTs love their careers. They want to be in that career. They, they want to work with their patients. It's a wonderful career and they should be able to love it and enjoy it and not have that be something that's going to be an anchor and weigh them down. And that's what we do with our PTs, helping them with that. Speaker 1 (13:30): And let me ask you a question. You had mentioned forgiveness programs. Could you give some examples of some forgiveness programs that, uh, physical therapists and maybe other healthcare professionals can take advantage of if they qualify? Sorry. Sure. We have a few that's okay. Is it okay now? Yeah. Yeah. My internet connection was a little unstable, but it's back. Speaker 3 (14:04): Okay. All right. Awesome. Should I just pick it up there? Okay. Is it, is it not good again? I can hear you, Aaron. Are you okay? Yes. Okay. All right. Okay. We're good. Yep. Speaker 1 (14:20): Okay. Yeah. So you can just pick it up from there. So, um, what forgiveness programs can physical therapists or their healthcare professionals take advantage of? Speaker 3 (14:30): Absolutely. So there are a few different programs today. The first one that I think most people are the most familiar with would be the public service loan forgiveness. So that's for people who work in the public sector or they work at a five oh one C3 non-profit, uh, company, which allows you after 10 years, assuming that the balances have not been paid off to receive forgiveness. There's another program, which also a lot of people are familiar with income based repayment, uh, that has some different things that we need to qualify for in order to be part of that program. But it's actually a lot more, a lot easier and a lot more possible than a lot of people think it's definitely worth looking into. And that program allows for forgiveness of the loans after 25 years of on-time payments. And then there's another program which is fairly new. Speaker 3 (15:27): That's called the pay as you earn program. It has very specific rules and dates about when the loans were dispersed and w we can definitely help go through those and work through them and see if our, see if PTs would qualify for any of those programs. We find that many people do qualify for forgiveness programs. They're not always aware that they can, or they think, you know, they have to work at a specific kind of a hospital or something like that, but, but there are a lot of options out there and it can, it can save hundreds of thousands of dollars. Literally. This is the amount of money that we're talking about here that people have saved by taking the time to talk to a professional who knows the ins and outs of this, this part of the field. So it's really, really important to take a look at this. Speaker 1 (16:22): Excellent. So we've talked about protection, having the right disability coverage, managing student loans, and you alluded to within the managing of student loans that we also need to save for our retirement. So let's talk about retirement because I think it can be confusing and overwhelming and daunting if you have, if, if you're just not sure what you can do. So what are our options for retirement? Yes. Great. Speaker 2 (16:52): And you bring up a good point when people hear retirement, Karen, right. They kind of want to run for the Hills. It can be very overwhelming, Joe. And I try to make it as, you know, as an in line to your goals and help walk you through it as much as we can. And that's, there's a lot of different options for, especially for business owners. There's something called a SEP IRA that a business owner can have. Uh, we walked through a lot of different options that a lot of people might not know about or even available to them. And Jill and I talk a lot about saving into different buckets of money. So not put putting all of our retirement savings into one specific bucket or vehicle, if you will, and really having a strong plan, that's diversified across a lot of different buckets. Jill, I'm sure you can, you can add more to the bucket. We can go on and on about those. Oh, thank Speaker 3 (17:52): You, Aaron. Aaron knows I can go on and on about this. So retirement is something that is never too soon to start it. It's just never too soon. If we start saving for retirement in our twenties, we can, we can literally save half or a third of what we would need to save. If we start in our thirties and then help us, if we start in our forties, it's something that we need to start as soon as possible. And what Erin, when you were saying is so true, it's not just about our asset allocation. It's about asset location. What are the different accounts that we're able to take advantage of to save money in? So that we're both saving now on say for example, on taxes, but also in the future. So we're, so we're not creating a lot of tax liability for ourselves in the future. Speaker 3 (18:43): We want to make sure that we have assets that we can turn into income in the future because while net worth is really good to talk about, it's important, really what we need to be able to do with our assets and with our net worth is in your retirement to turn that into reliable and guaranteed income sources, because that is really, what's going to set us up for wellness now in the midterm and in the future and retirement accounts, we have our qualified accounts like our 401ks and our IRAs and our Roth IRAs. And then we also have other options that have tax advantages that we also talk about. We also want to make sure that we have liquidity during our lives so that we're saving in ways that are going to, so we're going to be able to access some of our savings if we need it while we're in our working years. And then when we get into, uh, finishing up our accumulation period and getting into retirement, which is our distribution phase, that we have created ways for ourselves, uh, to both have that guaranteed and reliable income, and also been as tax efficient as possible all along. So we can continue that tax efficiency in the retirement years as well. Speaker 1 (20:02): And so you had mentioned 401ks, IRAs, Roth IRAs. Um, quick question. And I think I know the answer to this, but I don't know when you're, uh, w working for a company, you can have a 401k. I don't even know if companies are matching anymore. I don't know if that's a thing anymore, but if a company is going to match, do you, let's say a company matches at 7%, I'm just pulling a number out. Right. Do you suggest that as the employee, you put 7% in and have that match, or do you suggest as an employee, you put as much as you can and they'll kick in an extra 7%. Does that make sense? I think Speaker 3 (20:47): In general, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I said, does that make sense? Yeah, that, that does make sense. Yeah. I think it does depend on an individual's particular situation, but if we, it, and believe me, if an employer is so generous today that they do a 7% match, of course, we generally would recommend that people get the match if they can. Um, some employers don't match today. Most common we've seen is around 3% if they do match, but, uh, if they, if they do match and we can be putting enough in there to get the match, that's a great idea to get that because that's like additional income for us from the employers. So that's great to get. And then there, there are some other ways that we can also save in addition to the 401k, because we, one of the, one of the things about those qualified retirement accounts, as you know, Karen, is that they, we do have to wait until we're 59 and a half to access that money without penalties or paying income tax on that. Speaker 3 (21:49): Uh, we do have to, unless there are specific situations along the way, of course. Uh, so we do want to make sure that we have ways of savings that are going to give us liquidity during our working years, during our accumulation years. So there are other types of accounts that we can take advantage of as well and save in those as well. So, as you were saying, Erin, we have those different buckets of money that are in different types of accounts that have different rules as to how they work, how they are taxed. And th that's going to be the most beneficial for us in the long run. It's not just allocation, but asset location. Mm Speaker 2 (22:28): That's. You bring up a really good point, Joe, with location, right. Is almost even more important than the amount we have. Uh, and this is one of the biggest problems. I think that Jill and I see with clients is a lot of clients have, you know, a retirement plan they've been saving, but what's their distribution plan. They want over time and where is money coming from? And where's the best place to be starting to pull it from and in what order? So we're walking through all of those strategies, uh, with, with our clients and ultimately how to have the highest possible cashflow with lowest taxes and, and leave a legacy if we decide to. So those are all really important things that we'll, we'll kind of walk through. Speaker 1 (23:13): And can you give an example, maybe one example of where you can kind of what, where you can park your money bucket. That's not the 401k, the IRA, the Roth IRA, the step, you know, I think everyone kind of has, um, an idea of what those are, but what else is there? Speaker 3 (23:41): Absolutely. So I think it depends also Karen, the purpose for our savings for that particular savings and also our timeline. So when we're thinking about, okay, is, is this money that we're saving, that we want to be able to access, let's say in 10 years, and we want to invest it in the meantime, it's not something that we need right away, because if we're thinking about an emergency fund money like that, we usually recommend that people put that into a savings account, just a regular savings account that they can get to very easily. But if this is going to be invested money, then we can always do a brokerage account, which is going to enable us to access that at any time, we're not going to have any penalties or fees associated with it. If we have gains and we take some of those gains, then we're only going to ever have capital gains tax, as long as we've held those, those, uh, investments for a year in a day. So that's something that I think could be very beneficial to people as an accompaniment, to the qualified plans and, uh, you know, a great something great to have in the overall design of the financial plan. Speaker 1 (24:50): Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you for that. Um, and then I think one more thing on the IRA versus the Roth IRA, can you differentiate those two so that people know what's a Roth IRA what's qualifies for, how do you qualify for a Roth IRA, a regular IRA? Speaker 3 (25:11): Sure. So there, there are a couple of differences between a Roth and actually a 401k can have a Roth option as well. Not all employers offer that, but some do so between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA, the main difference is how money is tax going into the account and then how money is taxed or not taxed, it's coming out of the account. And the difference is with a traditional IRA, we are putting in pre-tax dollars. We are not paying tax on the money that we put in right now. And we can also take that off of our income. So we get slightly reduced income tax, and then we have that money growing tax deferred. And then when we go to use it from 59 and a half on, uh, we are taking that money out and we're paying income tax on it. So with a Roth option, kind of doing the opposite kind of thing, and the rods does have income limits in terms of being able to contribute to a Roth account, uh, both for individuals. Speaker 3 (26:12): And, uh, so going forward, when we think about a Roth, we're going to be setting ourselves up with tax-free income in the future. As long as our money has been in the Roth account for at least five years, when we take it out after 59 and a half, we're going to get it. Tax-free, it's growing tax free all along and what, but when we put it in, we're putting in after tax dollars. So we paid income tax on our dollars that we put into a Roth, it grows tax-free and then we take in retirement income tax free, as long as we have that five-year period. Speaker 1 (26:49): Got it. Thank you. Great. Cause I know, uh, oftentimes people, um, can get confused on that. So I just wanted to kind of bring a little clarity around those different kinds of IRAs and things like that. And, and, you know, physical as a physical therapist, like this is not what we went to school for. So we depend on people like you, um, to walk us through and figure out where, where, where can I put money in now? So that at 59 and a half, I'm taking it out with the greatest benefit I can. And you're not like getting hit with like, oh my gosh. Or if you want to save for a house, maybe you don't want to have that in, uh, obviously in like a, your 401k, because if you pull that out early, you get a big penalty. Speaker 2 (27:35): Absolutely. And that's what we spend a lot of time, you know, collecting goals and walking through personal business goals, because that really determines where we're saving and how timeline wise. We want to access that money and we'll review it at least twice a year with, with clients. Um, and because that plan is always changing. Right? Speaker 1 (27:57): Yeah. And I think, you know, I think this gives this talk, gives, uh, the listeners number one, a lot to think about, to look into maybe what they already have in their retirement, what they already have in disability, how they're managing their student loans and perhaps they can take to their financial advisors, or maybe they want to come and talk to you guys to see how can we maximize our financial wellness. I mean, how can we make sure that we're not wasting money and that in the end we can get back the most money. Right. That's kind of the deal. Exactly. Yeah. So now, all right. Is there anything, um, so I just to, I'm going to recap the top three tips are protection and disability insurance, managing your student loans and understanding your retirement and where all of your, all the buckets that your money is going in. And to make sure that it's not all in one. Speaker 2 (28:59): Yes. Okay. You summed it up very well. Karen, I think ultimately to even break it down even more Jill and I are just here to kind of help people understand how to organize and what to prioritize. And we're here to help kind of navigate all of that because it can be very overwhelming and we are here to, to help navigate through that. All Speaker 1 (29:20): Right. Awesome. And now, where can people find you? Where can people find you, uh, websites, social media, all that fun stuff. Speaker 2 (29:32): Yep. So Jill and I are both on, on LinkedIn. Uh, you can find us on our website. We are on, uh, CFS, llc.com. We each have our own, uh, aims under there. And can you start us on LinkedIn? Speaker 1 (29:48): Perfect. And we'll also have just so people listening will have all the links at the show notes at podcasts at healthy, wealthy, smart.com. Um, so you can just go on there and one click will take you to Jill and to Aaron, to their LinkedIn and to their website. So excellent. Now we're going to finish up, I've got one last question for both of you. It's I ask everyone the same question and it's knowing where you are now in your life and your career. What advice would you give to your younger self Speaker 2 (30:21): Start saving sooner than you think? Even if it's, even if it, we always Jill and I always say we laugh at the start somewhere, right. Even if it's 10 bucks a week, you know, just start somewhere. And that will, that will grow over time. Absolutely spoken. Speaker 1 (30:37): Like it's spoken like a true financial advisor. Speaker 2 (30:41): Go ahead, Jess. How about you, Jill, I'll Speaker 3 (30:44): Give a nonfinancial nonfinancial related advice because I think that was perfect advice. Aaron, the sooner you start the better, um, I would also say to my younger self, um, just go for my dreams and my goals even more than I did. I think for young people today, just, just go for it, just achieve what you are, what you want to achieve with what's deep inside you. You want to bring good into the world. Just go ahead and do it. Speaker 1 (31:12): Excellent advice from both of you ladies. Thank you so much. And I also want to give a shout out to Helene, um, cause she sort of put us together and um, she, uh, is the creator of mama bear, uh, physical therapies. Speaker 2 (31:29): Yeah. So we'll Speaker 1 (31:30): Have a link to Helene's, uh, business in the show notes as well, because I love, um, I love to show sort of the web of how we're all connected, you know? So it's just shout out to her. Yeah. And to her business and we're all very excited. I think the three of us are collectively very excited for her. Speaker 2 (31:50): We're so proud of her. She's awesome. Agreed. Speaker 1 (31:54): All right. Well ladies, thank you so much for coming on and everyone thank you so much for tuning in and for listening. Have a great week and stay healthy, wealthy and smart.  

In this week's episode, Dr. Alison J. Kay, PhD, gives us a thorough explanation of the ins and outs of the chakra system and how it can be used to aid in healing and recovery from trauma.  Support the Podcast Visit Dr. Alison's website Dr. Alison's Books on Amazon   Transcript:   Alyssa Scolari [00:23]: Hey, everybody. How's it going? Welcome back to another episode of the Light After Trauma Podcast. I'm your host, Alyssa Scolari. I hope that everybody is doing well and is hanging in there as this pandemic is hopefully coming to a close. I am excited today to announce our guest who is Dr. Alison J. Kay. For more than 25 years, Dr. Alison has practiced as a mind-body energy healer, founding the Vibrational UPgrade System, and working in yoga, meditation and Qigong, energy medicine, mind, body, fitness, longevity, and holistic health, with a specialization in the chakra system. Alyssa Scolari [01:12]: Considered one of the leading experts in her field, she has taught around the world and has written three books: the award-winning What If There's Nothing Wrong, Vibrational UPgrade: A Conspiracy For Your Bliss: Easing Humanity's Evolutionary Transition, Reasonable Dragons: How to Activate the Field of Possibilities Where Logical Magic Is the New Normal, and her latest masterpiece, The Dragon Master Creatrix: Conversations with a Female Spiritual Teacher for these New Times. And with that being said, I am going to turn it over to the highly successful and wonderful Dr. Alison. Hi, Dr. Alison. How are you? Alison J. Kay [01:58]: I'm good, Alyssa. How are you? Alyssa Scolari [02:02]: Good. I'm so happy that you are here today. Dr. Alison and I were just chatting off recording and we were talking for about a half hour because we just had an instant connection. I really love the work that she's doing, and I think that all of you will be blown away by what she has to say today. My first question I have to ask, you studied in Asia for 10 years. Tell me what happened that got you over to Asia. Alison J. Kay [02:35]: I was already doing energy medicine and holistic health wellness sessions alongside classroom teaching and administrating. I remember one Saturday morning a client, she's probably... IN a series of 10 sessions, she was probably like in her fourth. She was getting great results. I was really pleased. My hands are over her belly, upper belly and lower belly, I'll talk what those actually are later in the chakra system, and was really pleased with the update she'd given me and what I've been seeing.I looked up and asked my guidance, AKA, the sky, the universe, the divine, how does it get any better than this? Alison J. Kay [03:10]: How do I get even more robust results for my clients? Right around that same time, I was balancing my checkbook pre-digital banking. I had a master's, and I had taken up barely any loans. I worked all the way through, and so I didn't have a big loan to pay back. All I was wanting was organic food, massage a week, because I consider that preventative health 101. I had basic housing, basic car. I mean, for Ford Escort at that time. I wasn't living high in the hog, and I had already traveled and lived around the world prior. Even as a senior in high school, rather, I was an exchange student in Venezuela. Alison J. Kay [03:49]: I'm used to adventure and fun, and I demand that I have that and abundant and ease and joy. I just know that we're not meant to struggle. When I was looking at my checkbook that Saturday morning right around the same time I had that session and asked that question about how do I get even more robust results for my clients, I realized this wasn't enough. I'm not going to be in this cage for decades as a teacher barely scraping by. Just know it's not acceptable. Where's the joy? Where's the adventure? Where's the abundance? Where's the fun? Uh-uh. Alison J. Kay [04:17]: Within a month's time at most, my intuition showed me and turned me onto the international school system. A colleague actually brought it up to me. That's what I consider a synchronicity when I'm asking for the information be brought in so I can uplevel. I went. Did what I had to do. Submitted applications. Traveled to the place where all the international school heads were coming in and all of us wanting to place. We interviewed in all these different hotel rooms throughout the day, so I was all over the world literally throughout the weekend. Alison J. Kay [04:47]: I got a bunch of job offers and chose Taiwan because it's the Chinese culture. I considered both Chinese and the Indians of the yogic culture, the Hindu Indians, to not only understand how energy works, subtle energy works, and consciousness works, but to still be operating from it today. Whereas in the West, we had alchemists, but they went underground into the mystery schools. So that's how. Alyssa Scolari [05:13]: That's so cool. I mean, really you were immersed in Eastern medicine. Alison J. Kay [05:20]: You got it right, Alyssa, because I wasn't even an expat teacher living in the expat teacher's housing they provided. I said, "Please help me integrate. I want to immerse myself in the local culture." I was the one who lived downtown and I used stipend, instead of living in the teacher provided housing right next to the school where I'm still with a bunch of expats. I was like, no, I want to understand the locals. I didn't even realized it was any different than anybody else. My first weekend there, I traveled down to a certain forest because I wanted to discover this certain kind of tree and get something. Alison J. Kay [05:50]: It had the same name. It's Alishan and shan means mountain in Chinese, but it's close to my name and yours. Alishan, you know? I was like, "I want to go to that forest." That was my first weekend there. I couldn't speak a lick of... Well, I could speak a little bit of Chinese. I had studied before I went on purpose, but I couldn't read and I was matching maps to train signs. I did things that drew me out there that other expats didn't do. When I say I studied in Asia, I mean, I would get a traditional treatment every week, whether it's a Tui na, massage, or it's reflexology. Alison J. Kay [06:22]: I'd sit there with the chart asking the person, "What does this mean? What does this mean," in Chinese. I was then going to monasteries and talking to... I'll go for a run behind the monastery. There's a great forest path locally in one of them, but I drive down and go with a friend even later to monasteries and sit there and immerse myself in the environment and ask questions and interact with monks. Then when I would go on breaks, I wouldn't come back to the States midyear, between semesters, during Chinese New Year. Alison J. Kay [06:52]: I would only come back to the States in the summer. I'd go around Southeast Asia, and a lot of the time it was Thailand because it's great. Alyssa Scolari [07:00]: Magical. I've heard it's so magical. Alison J. Kay [07:02]: Oh Jesus, it's fantastic. I've had other expat colleagues of mine go to the Vietnam beaches as they were opening or go to India. I actually had tickets to go with that friend to India and I backed out at the last minute. I had tickets three times to go to India before I finally made it, because I just knew it was a huge thing as a traveler. You have to be grounded, and you have to be ready to tackle India. I just went to Thailand because I knew how easy they make it for tourists. It's their number one industry. Alison J. Kay [07:27]: Both of those friend left their trips within the first five days and came to meet me in Thailand at different times because they know how easy it is in Thailand to travel. But while I was there, I'd get treatments and I'd ask questions and I'd learn and I took classes. That's actually where I learned Qigong and then furthered it back in Taiwan. But I was piecing together my understandings from what I had already known, because I was already teaching meditation and I was already practicing energy medicine and holistic health and wellness in the States, getting trained in herbalism. Alison J. Kay [07:55]: I had started with the Native Americans, and then it went from there. Then I went over there, and now here I am back. Alyssa Scolari [08:04]: Now you've brought what you learned about Eastern medicine and you've brought it back to the States. We were talking about this, but I'm so passionate about this topic and Eastern medicine. I think it's because I have had my run-of-the-mill Western medicine and nothing has helped. If anything, it has made me worst. I think that while Western medicine can be beneficial at times, it definitely has its limits. Now, would you agree with that? Alison J. Kay [08:38]: Yeah. Let me give you two things. One is when I was... Here's the story. Let me start with this one. Two women were in this local gym that I was a member of, and one woman was in her 60s and one woman was in her 90s. The woman in her 90s was spry coming out of the pool, didn't need anything to assist her with walking, really looked great. They go into the steam together. The 60 year asked her, "What is going on with you? How are you able to be this vibrant and alive at your age?" She said, "I never went on any Western med." Alyssa Scolari [09:08]: Wow. Alison J. Kay [09:09]: There are certain Western medications that help people. There really are like with certain heart issues. But there's the consideration of... Here's an idea. One of the things when I had my own radio show, I had a nutritionist on. He was the first nutritionist on the first food pyramid meeting the government ever had before setting up the FDA suggested food pyramid. He left because he was surrounded by beef and dairy industry people. But one of the things that he said was... He wrote later The China Study. He went over to a certain part of Mainland China. Alison J. Kay [09:43]: I was in Taiwan, the small Democratic island that had more traditional practices able to be practiced openly so I could learn more about their spirituality or Taoism. But up on Mainland Chian, there was a province hadn't been exposed much yet to the West. They ate a lot of tofu. What this study did is they went in and introduced the Western diet. And as soon as a certain period of time, I don't remember exactly how much, on the Western diet, they started having diabetes kick in. They started having high blood pressure kick in, and they started being overweight and bigger. Alison J. Kay [10:15]: They're considered markers of typically Western or even American diseases from the practices. I know that I say you can eat your way out of it. I used to do more talks in local health food stores where I would present longevity tonic herbs in latte form or a mocha or a chai latte. I would mix together these different medicinal mushrooms and flavors that would end up tasting like mocha or chai lattes, but they were stocked full of tonic herbs that are known in the East to increase longevity, vitality, well-being. There's even the reishi mushroom, which is considered the queen of medicinal mushrooms that actually helps elevate your spirits. Alison J. Kay [11:00]: I'm saying all of this because of just wanting to expose other possibilities when you talk about Western medicine not being able to get to it all. We're responsible, and we're in a time now especially where we need to look at our own choices instead of projecting the responsibility of our health and well-being onto doctors and authority figures and learn about nutrition and learn about what foods and observe how our body reacts when we eat certain foods. Alison J. Kay [11:29]: The power is in our hands in the time where we used to defer that power even to a priest for our spirituality, or to a psychiatrist for our mental well-being, or to a doctor for physical health. That's no longer the case. This is the second thing I wanted to tell you, Alyssa and listeners. When I was in my bachelor's program, my mom at aged 12 had said to me, "You are so good with people, Alison. You have a natural understanding. You might want to consider going into psychology." God bless her, she was so intuitive and we were so tight. I knew it was a yes and so I did it. Alison J. Kay [12:00]: By my third semester, I was like, "You got to be kidding me. I'm learning nothing about what it takes to be the happiest most thriving version of me." I left that major. It was all about the hard wiring, which I understand. In the beginning stages, you got to learn about the hard wiring of the brain, but they were in the stages of proving themselves as a science. It's only in the '90s, the early '90s, that I just got this certification, a specialty certification of behavioral change, because I'm a personal trainer, so I opted for that as part of my personal trainer CEUs. Alison J. Kay [12:31]: There was a field of psychology created in the '90s called positive psychology. That was after I was already going for my bachelor's, right? I have been ever since then exploring, okay, how do we become the most happy thriving versions of ourselves? I've been led to the holistic model and to what some of the things you've already heard me say. Western medicine can't get it all. It's not designed to. Alyssa Scolari [12:55]: It can't and I really love the point about what you said about how it truly is our job to know what we need and to not rely on somebody else to tell us what we need. I mean, in some ways, we can rely on doctors for certain things. But at the end of the day, we have to turn inward to understand what it is that we need to be able live the lives that we want to live. One of the things that I really want to ask you about today because I do not have a lot of understanding on this at all. I am very new to this idea of Eastern medicine. Alison J. Kay [13:33]: You little new born baby you. Alyssa Scolari [13:34]: I know. I'm a noob. I am such a newbie, but I am loving it. Help me and the listeners out there understand the chakras, because you do a lot of chakra work. What the hell is a chakra is my first question? Alison J. Kay [13:57]: All right. Let me start here. Have you ever heard of something, an interpretation like if a body part hurts, then that means such and such a thing? As in like if your feet or legs or hips hurt, that means metaphorically your body is saying, "You mentally and spiritually don't want to move forward." Alyssa Scolari [14:14]: Yes. Alison J. Kay [14:15]: Okay. That used to be the kind of interpretation that would happen that I would see in the holistic community and going beyond the physical causes for disease. I didn't find it reliable. When I was doing the energy medicine sessions in the States, I didn't find that reliable. Now, I learned about the chakra system before I left for Asia. I'm a certified yoga teacher in India. When I was in India and I had to produce a sequence... The reason why you feel so good after you do yoga is because every single yoga pose is designed to open a chakra. You hardly ever hear that in the studios in the West, but that's... Alyssa Scolari [14:55]: You really don't. Alison J. Kay [14:56]: I know. Alyssa Scolari [14:57]: I'm an avid yogi and I have never heard that in any class that I've been in. Alison J. Kay [15:02]: Let me give you this. Eight limbs of yoga. I'm Ashtanga trained teacher, which is the most substantial and traditional, as well as athletic form of yoga. That having been said, there's considered eight limbs to yoga, and only one of them is about the body posture, so the asanas. Five of the eight limbs is about working with the mind and your consciousness. Alyssa Scolari [15:25]: Wow. Alison J. Kay [15:26]: Yeah. Look at what we extrapolated and populated the West with, right? Alyssa Scolari [15:31]: Yeah. Alison J. Kay [15:34]: A chakra means wheel. From Sanskrit translating the word into English, it means wheel, one that turns. A wheel on a car, for example, or a cart. We have seven of them. One is at the top of our head. This is the main chakras from the beginning perspective. One's at the top of the head called the crown. One's in between the eyebrows, that's the sixth. The fifth is at the throat. The fourth is at the heart. The third is at the upper belly. The second is at the lower belly, about an inch beneath the navel, and the first is the root at the tailbone. Every chakra is the intersection of the mind, the body, and the spirit. Alison J. Kay [16:15]: By mind... Now keep in mind, I ended up in the international school I was in for the longest in Taiwan, I ended up teaching AP psychology based on my bachelor's training, because I had also created a global psychology course using the Dalai Lama's text with this biannual summits with Western docs and psychologists, as well as the college 101, psych 101 textbook. I created a course called global psychology. And then they were like, "Ooh," because I was teaching meditation to the students too, "Why don't you teach AP psych?" So I did. Alison J. Kay [16:46]: I've been able to revisit psychology after decades of gaining this understanding from meditation in yoga and consciousness and how it works. It's even more fascinating to me. I bring it together in a bit of a different way. If a chakra means wheel and it is the intersection of the mind, the body, and the spirit, by mind, the mind component, I mean the conscious mind whose thoughts you do hear, and the unconscious, and the subconscious. In the West recently, we're calling it super consciousness. In yoga, we call that higher self, where it's our higher consciousness that then eventually above that connects with the divine. Alison J. Kay [17:32]: All of those levels of consciousness I'm able to reach all those levels of the mind. And keep in mind that we make our daily choices from only using at most 15% from our conscious mind. At least 85%, and I think it's close to the 90 from everything I receive from the tens of thousands of people I've worked with, people are making their daily choices from the unconscious. Un prefix means not. Subconscious, sub means under. Alison J. Kay [17:59]: It's not the thoughts you hear, whether you have a meditation practice or not, that is the majority, at least 85%, of where you're making your what to drink, what to listen to, what to click on, what to go to, what to avoid, what to eat from. Meaning when you learn to drive a car, Alyssa, you were told and you said out loud probably shift, hit brake, put foot on gas. Directions out loud, right? You don't do it anymore, right? Alyssa Scolari [18:30]: Nope. Alison J. Kay [18:31]: That's what I'm talking about. There's all this stuff buried in what I've come to call the back of the house consciousness. That is responsible for where we're making our choices from. And in that is our past, is our imprints, is our conditioning, is our karma, is our very beliefs and conclusions about... From ages zero to two, we have no separation from our parents. We think and feel what they do. Starting at two with the terrible twos and the no. No! Then we're forming our identity. We're separating. Alison J. Kay [19:02]: From two or eight-ish, we're looking around seeing how life gets done on planet earth and having child-like conclusions wired into our brain at the subconscious level. We may have, how do I get that yummy feeling from mom? We may have an older brother or sister and look at them how they get that yummy feeling from mom, that smile or that hug or that love or that attention or that approval. Alison J. Kay [19:26]: It could be, "Oh, my older brother just came home from school and he got an A+ in that project and mom hugged him and dad gave him a $5 bill or a $20 bill. That must be how I get good stuff, that good feeling," so then the person could become a really good student wired in the back of the brain. But if other things along the way also happen, like other conditioning, maybe trauma here and there, that person might become a perfectionist. It might go out of balance is what I'm saying. So then it becomes a block. And then it goes to the relevant chakra. Alison J. Kay [19:59]: Part of perfectionism is the third chakra, because every chakra covers a domain of life. I'm going to stop there for a second. If every chakra covers a domain of life, meaning it has the right to do something, so your root chakra is your right to be here. The second chakra is your right to feel what you feel. Your third chakra is your right to desire what you desire. Just keeping those and stopping there. Alison J. Kay [20:33]: If I don't feel like I have the right to be here because in the womb mom may have been hesitant about having me, worrying how she was going to take care of me, and I picked up on that through the water, the energy, because I was just sitting there absorbing it, and water is extra sonar for energy. Alyssa Scolari [20:48]: Absolutely. Very important to point out. I know I've said this before in previous podcast episodes, but even when you are in utero, you are still affected by everything that is in your environment and all of the energy that your mother is passing onto you. Just wanted to put that in there, but go on. Alison J. Kay [21:07]: Yeah, thank you. Yes. That can end up in your wirings happening. The first thing it gets is your brain's spinal column, right? The root chakra is at the base of the spinal column for a reason. In that period of time or there's some sense of neglect from a parent. You come out of the womb. Let's come out of the utero because I don't want to over emphasize and take people along the path where they think the root chakra is only about being in your mother's womb. It's not. Let's say your first couple of years one of the parents leaves, so you have a thing with abandonment, or one of the parents rejects you, so you have a thing with rejection. Alison J. Kay [21:42]: All of that is signaling to you, "I don't have the right to be here. If I weren't here, maybe he wouldn't have left. If I weren't here, maybe she would have more time and wouldn't be so worried." There's all those kinds of child-like conclusions. Because if they correspond to the right to be here, that's the root chakra. It's territory. If you don't feel like you have the right to be here, you usually don't feel like you have the right to feel what you feel, because you're questioning your overall right to exist. Alyssa Scolari [22:14]: Right. Alison J. Kay [22:16]: And then if you don't feel like you have the right to feel what you feel, you certainly don't feel like you have the right to desire what you desire and go out in the world and create it. I'm not saying... Please don't misunderstand me because people seem to sometimes believe that you have to start working at the root and work up sequentially. You don't. I can go all over the map. Alyssa Scolari [22:39]: Okay. Alison J. Kay [22:40]: If I get your throat chakra cleared... The throat chakra is your right to be heard, to speak and be heard. If you lie a lot or you're lied to, if you don't feel like you're hurt, if you have a thing with secrecy, all of that is what I consider the first level of the throat chakra. But since about 2016 because of the new times we're in, and I say new times from 2012 to 2032, it's a 20 year window of what's considered our greatest evolutionary leap for humanity ever. Alison J. Kay [23:08]: We just spent the past nine, 10 years watching the old paradigm crumble, we're in a stage right now where the new one hasn't been created yet. But we're meant to each becoming new. Alyssa Scolari [23:21]: We're working towards it. Yup. Alison J. Kay [23:24]: I have come to understand around 2016, I saw a lot of my clients, the majority of them, having from their heart chakra up to their throat like this fountain opening, and I had never seen it before. I talk about this in my second book, Vibrational UPgrade: A Conspiracy For Your Bliss: Easing Humanity's Evolutionary Transition, the co-creator's channel. What that means is being able to create based on what your heart's desire. Alison J. Kay [23:48]: And the fifth chakra, the whole higher level of it, is if you don't feel like you have the right to choose, if you don't feel like you have any choice, if you feel like you have to work this job because you have to get that health insurance if you live in the States for your kids, or you have to stay in this job, you're stuck in this job because you have to make sure your mortgage gets paid, then you're going to have a tight neck, for example, or you may have thyroid issues. Because let me come out of the mind now. The mind, body, and spirit, chakra is an intersection of all three. Alison J. Kay [24:21]: At the body level, a chakra affects the region that it sits in, so it affects the musculature. If it's not doing what it's meant to, meaning being a wheel and turning chi or prana or fresh vital life force energy in that region, then the musculature gets tight because it doesn't have fresh life force going through it. Additionally, every chakra is connected to a major endocrine gland. For example, the throat is the thyroid and the element here... I'm getting too advanced. Let me just leave it at that. Alison J. Kay [24:54]: And then Candace Pert, who was studying I think it was antidepressants for one of the big pharma companies, she knew the chakra system. When she was looking at the spinal column and the brain for the central nervous system, she noticed that along the spine, the biggest neuroreceptor site, the nerve ganglia, the biggest ones, that have the most receptors receive messages from the brain were at each chakra along the spine. That's our two communication systems, hormonal endocrine system or chemical and electrical or central nervous system. The chakras are completely... Alison J. Kay [25:33]: Remember, I'm a yoga teacher and a personal trainer, and I have some certifications in different herbalism. I'm very much focused on the body. I'm not about like floating out of the body in meditation and connecting with the angels. I'm very much about thriving in the body here on planet earth and having your material life, whether it's your relationships, your health or your money or how you earn your money, completely infused with the most thriving possible. The third element is the spiritual mind, body, spirit intersection at each chakra. In that spirit aspect, I can connect in with past life stuff, and I can connect in with karmic stuff. Alison J. Kay [26:10]: I had to go through years of training and spent tens of thousands of dollars to understand how to clear karma because it's tricky stuff. Anytime you think that there's a physical issue that can be solved only at the physical level, traditional Chinese medicine has an axiom that says, "Where chi goes, that's energy, vital life force energy, "blood follows." Where energy goes, the physical follows. I add onto that nowadays. Where consciousness goes or where our focus of our consciousness goes, that's where energy follows and then the physical. Alison J. Kay [26:46]: This is what quantum physics is understanding about the wave and particle phenomena. It's the same thing. What we perceive as most important because we can physically see it, because it's tangible, we consider in the West typically the physical is more important. I can assess you based on what I see physically. I can prove myself with my intellect. Go to that good school. Get that good degree. Place in that good job. Get that kind of sized house. Get that kind of vehicle. Now I've made it because my measurements are up there for what people... When we're in an IMAX movie theater, for example, there is the big surround sound, right? Alison J. Kay [27:28]: The bigger the better seems to be a lot of the thinking here. That's old school. When you understand about energy, energy is actually what is creating the matter. It has to exist in energy first before matter. If I can get to somebody's emotional or mental or even spiritual blockages first, then they will never have a physical thing pop to the surface. Once something has come out of a more subtle level and gone into physical... The Tibetans have a scale, subtle energy to crude. Crude is the most grossly physical. This is the most subtle. There's a range as you go out of subtle, subtle, subtle, more energy. Alison J. Kay [28:16]: I consider the yogic culture more able to perceive the subtler energies than even the Chinese. Chinese's chi is more crude. They look at the kidney, the liver, and that energy travels along the meridians. But before that, the yogic culture understands how interaction with the ether affects our system. That's too much distinction for this level. But the point is, in that skill between subtle energy to crude, before it gets to that level of physical, if we catch it, then it doesn't have to result in a physical issue. Alison J. Kay [28:50]: I found that when I was doing more health concerns, like a tumor or cancer or chronic pain, I had to go so much higher and I had to apply so much more energy to the person's body, because it had already physically manifested. Alyssa Scolari [29:05]: Right, because you didn't catch it in time. Alison J. Kay [29:08]: Yes. Alyssa Scolari [29:09]: Okay. I'm getting it. I'm understanding it. Alison J. Kay [29:12]: Yeah, you are. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [29:15]: Now, for somebody let's say who... How do you work on healing? What does chakra work look like? Alison J. Kay [29:23]: With me, it looks totally different than what anybody looks. If we call it chakra work, I want to call that term back, because I don't want people to think... Honestly, I'm the only one doing work the way I am. There's all those YouTubes that you go on and you think... I don't want you to think that if you go and listen to a YouTube clearing with a crystal ball for the third chakra, that you're set for life and you shouldn't have any issues. It's just not that simple. I mean, it's a process. It's a spiritual path. It's a path of enlightenment. Alison J. Kay [29:50]: There's a ball of yarn where I have to come in and unwind or clear these beliefs that are blocking you that have led to a core pattern that we want to move you beyond. Typically, trauma and karma are the most repetitive, redundant, resilient. They require the most for me to go at. There's one more thing. In the chakra system, if you think of them like an urban center, there's all of these highways and side routes and interstates that lead into each urban center, and you're driving to that urban center. Alison J. Kay [30:27]: Those you could think of the 13 meridians in the traditional Chinese medical system, that's what the chi life force travels on out through your body, distribute this fresh vital life force energy throughout your body so it's loose and flexible and juicy and energized. In yoga, we call them nadis and there's like a thousand of them. That's how the energy goes from one chakra to another, and it's meant to be flowing throughout our whole system. Alyssa Scolari [30:50]: Okay. Alison J. Kay [30:51]: Those good feelings, okay? That's why we would open them is to get that vital life force energy flushing throughout our system at the bodily level, at the energy level, and obviously up to the mind and at the spirit level, because it's the intersection of mind, body, and spirit. I will go in in either if it's a... I don't tend to do one on ones that much anymore. I'm training more students to do it nowadays. I still do them for my students basically, which is great. It's great to be at that level of choice, because I do more group work nowadays to be able to help more people and serve more people. Alison J. Kay [31:28]: It's verbal clearings that you can hear me do. If somebody is in a group and I know that I will see cloudiness around their hips, I will perceive like dankness or darkness or cloudiness or heaviness under their sacral. I'll have a sense that that's sexual abuse. I might ask them first are they constipated. I then might ask, if it's a women, are you having your period right now. And then typically, I'll get guidance about what has happened to them. I'll do a clearing to get that moving and it moves. Alison J. Kay [32:08]: Then maybe an hour later on that same call, I will do something that would be the next level of unraveling to get to the core problem, because there's always that core problem. I mean, I do this. I'm doing it with my hands for years with local people on my massage table or at a distance. It doesn't matter, because part of what I can do is teach you using ancient symbols how to open up erethic tubes so time and space doesn't matter. I mean, I feel like I may have to say it because you guys are newbies, but it works. It's brilliant watching it work. Alyssa Scolari [32:44]: It's fascinating. Yeah. Alison J. Kay [32:46]: It is. Because I'm a finely tuned instrument at this point directed towards clearing people, as you hear me say before we hit record, you're even getting splashes of clearing as I talk about these items for you. You guys may feel a little bit more energized or tired after the call, or more tired rather. I affect by doing verbal clearings and then also hands-on or distance, and then even just by field itself. There's two elements though. If you've had sexual trauma, one of the things that results typically is a lack of worthiness, lack of boundaries as well, because you're used to being invaded in a very inappropriate way. Alyssa Scolari [33:34]: Absolutely. Alison J. Kay [33:35]: Right? And this may sound illogical, but you may then without boundaries have very co-dependent relationships and be the over giver. In that over giving pattern, what I would do is I would focus on your heart chakra, and I would clear out all of the imprints, the conditioning, the imprints from your parents and lineage, because mom may have modeled that over giving, grandma may have modeled that over giving, the conditioning of what you're supposed to do as a mom in society from whatever culture you're from, karma, contracts, oaths, vows, stuff that's happened in other lifetimes, trauma, and all these unconscious or subconscious conclusions and beliefs and expectations and projections you've ended up with in order to keep yourself safe particularly after a trauma. Alison J. Kay [34:29]: It's almost like if I over give, then I'm keeping myself safe from invasion down there because I have to over give in order to have the right, because that's just how life works, right? I get invaded. If you look at, that's a Qigong move. If you get invaded down here, so energy moves... This is called the pushing and pulling of the waves. I'm doing stuff with my feet that I don't need to tell you right now. Obviously this looks like stepping out or giving and you could think of this as receiving. Alison J. Kay [35:09]: If you are full up in your field with the giving, you're occupying space. It's almost an unconscious way to keep yourself from getting penetrated or invaded. Alyssa Scolari [35:20]: Okay. Alison J. Kay [35:22]: I work at the level of all that unconscious and subconscious so that it frees up, and I do that through the relevant chakras, so that it frees up more of that to now become conscious. And then I do more clearings and activations and coaching once you have the consciousness like you say, "Oh, okay." You maybe in a moment. The mind-body connection has been cut, so it's not any longer unconscious. You're not unconsciously doing it. Now you have at your conscious mind, I tend to over give as a default mechanism. Alison J. Kay [35:54]: The next time you see yourself engaging and stepping out and over giving or having the thought about to do that, I do clearings and activations there to help your reroute to a new neurological path so that then a new behavior can get routed, this active applied coaching for mindfulness, I call it applied mindfulness, that has to accompany the clearings and activations so that you know how to then take over in your day-to-day life and actualize the change. Alyssa Scolari [36:21]: It's so fascinating. For the listeners out there who couldn't see what Dr. Alison was just doing, she was sort of doing this motion where she was like bringing her hands back and then pushing them open palm towards me. And as she was doing that, I had a lot of feelings in my... Forgive me, because I don't remember what chakra this is or what area, but it's right below my belly button. Alison J. Kay [36:49]: Yeah, that's the sacral, which is where you would feel it. Alyssa Scolari [36:52]: Yes, because I'm a survivor of sexual abuse. That's exactly where I had all of those feelings. That is... Alison J. Kay [37:02]: That's light coming out of my hands from decades of using these hands in that way going right at your sacral. Alyssa Scolari [37:09]: It's mind-blowing and it's very emotional. Honestly, I could sob. Like I said before we started recording, I probably will sob because it's... Alison J. Kay [37:18]: I warned you. Yeah. I did. Alyssa Scolari [37:21]: She did warn me. She did warn me. Alison J. Kay [37:27]: But I just want to say this please, the beauty of this is that that light knew where to go. I didn't say go to where she has had trauma, and I didn't know it was sexual trauma. I did intuitively. But in that moment when I was doing that, I didn't direct it there, Alyssa. The beauty of this is that the light has a divine intelligence of its own. If you read my second book in particular, I talk about how it's like this unconditional love that surrounds us and permeates underneath the undercurrent of all of life. If we can even heal, that shows that there's a supportive force in all of life. Alison J. Kay [38:03]: But that knew where to go, that light knew where to go and your system knew what to do with it. There is a quest for unconditional love that is wired into us and an understanding of that really is the core of our existence and all of existence. And then we just muck it all up with all of our traumas and beliefs and conditioning and imprint in minds. Yeah? Alyssa Scolari [38:25]: Yeah. It's just amazing. It's amazing. The work you're doing is incredible. You have written three books. Alison J. Kay [38:33]: Four. Alyssa Scolari [38:34]: Wait. Oh, Vibrational UPgrade is the second one. Third one is Reasonable Dragons, and the fourth one is the Dragon Master Creatrix. Alison J. Kay [38:44]: Yeah. Reasonable Dragons is on Audible and people have been really enjoying that. It's the only one I have on Audible. Those of you who are on Audible.com, you may want to check it out. My most recent book where I answer a lot of really specific questions is The Dragon Master Creatrix: Conversations With A Female Spiritual Teacher For These New Times. It's advanced. It's told in story form of a woman who goes on retreat with me to get trained in energy medicine. I take her to power spots and ancient sites while she's engaging and learning how to work with the ancient wisdom and become a Vibrational UPgrade practitioner herself. Alison J. Kay [39:17]: The second half of every chapter is me answering their questions. It's not like about, how do I open my third eye, as much as it's about, how do I stop caring what other people think of me? They're very real, down to earth. I apply the holistic model to the daily life living questions. That fourth book is entirely different than the first three. All of them are purely nonfiction, the first three, And the one that's the most text like is the one I wrote while still in Asia for my dissertation. It started as my dissertation, but it became What If There's Nothing Wrong? Alison J. Kay [39:46]: That's one where I address Western medicine the most and used studies and stats and stuff. If you're into that, that's where to go for that one. Alyssa Scolari [39:55]: Can all of these books be found on Amazon? Alison J. Kay [39:58]: Yeah. But you have to make sure Alison J, the middle initial J, K-A-Y, because there's another Alison J. Kay on there. Just put the J, you get all my books. Alyssa Scolari [40:07]: I will link that in the show notes for everybody. Just a reminder that the fourth book, The Dragon Master Creatrix, is on Audible, which is... I love Audible, so that's great. Thank you so much for coming on. I learned so much. You're right, I do need a nap. Alison J. Kay [40:27]: Yeah. Check it out. It's actually my third book, Reasonable Dragons, that's on Audible, not the fourth book. Alyssa Scolari [40:33]: Oh, I'm sorry. Alison J. Kay [40:34]: No worries, because you're feeling spacey. The work that I do helps create spaciousness so that you can get into just out of the everyday intellectual mind into other parts of your system. You're feeling the effects knowing that what I do works. Please space out and let yourself go nap. Alyssa Scolari [40:52]: I'm very spacey. Yes. Alison J. Kay [40:54]: Yeah. Thank you for having me on, Alyssa. It was an honor to have you so hungry to understand for genuine purposes and hallelujah to you for doing this podcast for the reasons that you do it and your courage and boldness. Alyssa Scolari [41:09]: Thank you so much. I truly appreciate that. Alison J. Kay [41:12]: I truly mean it. Alyssa Scolari [41:14]: Thanks for listening, everyone. For more information, please head over to lightaftertrauma.com, or you can also follow us on social media. On Instagram, we are @lightaftertrauma, and on Twitter, it is @lightafterpod. If you're on Facebook, please be sure to join our Facebook group. It is a private community where trauma survivors are able to connect and chat with one another. That Facebook group is called Light After Trauma. Just look us up on Facebook and be sure to join. Lastly, please head over to patreon.com/lightaftertrauma to support our show. Alyssa Scolari [41:53]: We are asking for $5 a month, which is the equivalent to a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Please head on over, again, that's patreon.com/lightaftertrauma. Thank you and we appreciate your support.

為台灣疫情祈福 X 聽Podcast學英語環遊世界，現在用你的IG帳號 Tag （@flywithlily）你在Apple Podcast 五星評價留言，就可以得到一張台灣造型的明信片！來自聽眾對節目的五星評價跟Lily一起每日打卡 开始重拾英语“lily老师声音非常甜美，每天在上课前都会给予我们正能量，开始一天的学习与工作，课程内容实用难度不大，易于掌握坚持，利用早上通勤时间就可以积累实用词汇短语，非常好！口语练习作业老师也会细心指导，我已经被纠正了好几个顽固的错误口音。总之，这个课程非常有意义，学习同时，似乎跟着lily在外旅行，也更加坚定了自己环游世界的梦想！”A梓烨 via Apple Podcasts · China · 05/24/21Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles. It takes away today's peace.擔憂不會帶走明天的麻煩，它只會帶走你今天心靈的寧靜。他們會回答這個問題：What is the best thing in Kaohsiung? 高雄最棒的事是什麼？Angela:I would say it's the combination of a few factors. So for me, choosing to live here, it's the low cost of living. The fact that it's by the ocean, which I mean, all of Taiwan is an Island. So you have the ocean everywhere, but here specifically, there are really nice beaches. Uh, you have the convenience of the city and lots of work opportunities as well. And also for starting your own business. Uh, it's a big market here. So all these factors combined, I think that makes us a very attractive city.我會說是好幾個因素的組合，所以對於我來說，選擇住在這裡是因為較低的生活成本。還有在海旁邊的這個因素，我的意思是，台灣是一個島，所以到處都有海。但是特別是這裡，有很棒的沙灘。你有同時有城市的便利，也有許多工作的機會。還有對於成立自己的的事業也是非常好的，因為市場很大。所以把這些因素綜合起來，就讓高雄成為了一個非常迷人的城市了。Donny:For me, the best thing in Kaohsiung is the weather because I like hot sunny weather all the time. I don't like it when it gets even cool. Anything below 23 degrees is not comfortable for me. So, uh, I think the weather is the best thing and the price of everything, which is just very cheap.對我來說，高雄最棒的事情就是天氣，因為我喜歡一直很熱又有大太陽的天氣。我甚至不喜歡涼爽的天氣，只要氣溫低於23度，對我就是不舒服了。所以我認為高雄的天氣是最棒的，還有每件東西的價格都很便宜。明天的內容是：他們會回答這個問題：What is the worst thing in Kaohsiung?高雄最糟的事是什麼？

In this second episode of the fifth season, Frank and Andy speak to Chris Wexler about using AI to protect the vulnerable. Speaking of which, I would like to advise you, dear listener, that this show touches on some sensitive areas, namely child sexual abuse materials. If you have little ears or sensitive persons within listening range, you may want to pause or skip this episode. Transcript00:00:00 BAILey  Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science and artificial intelligence.  00:00:07 BAILey  In this second episode of the 5th season, Frank and Andy speak to Chris Wexler about using AI to protect the vulnerable.  00:00:13 BAILey  Speaking of which, I would like to advise you, dear listener, that this show touches on some sensitive areas, namely child sexual.  00:00:20 BAILey  Abuse materials.  00:00:22 BAILey  If you have little ears or sensitive persons within listening range, you may want to pause or skip this episode.  00:00:28 BAILey  Don't say we didn't warn you.  00:00:30 BAILey  Now on with the show.  00:00:31 Frank  Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.  00:00:39 Frank  If you like to think of data as the new oil, then you can think of us as well Car Talk because we focus on where the rubber meets the verb.  00:00:46 Frank  Road and with me on this epic virtual road trip down the information superhighway, as always is Andy Lander. How's it going, Andy?  00:00:54 Andy  Good Frank, how are you brother?  00:00:56 Frank  I'm doing alright, I'm doing alright. We've had a chaotic week at Chateau Lavinia we. We ended up going to Baltimore in the middle of the night on.  00:01:05 Frank  Wednesday, wow, so you pick up.  00:01:06 Andy  Wow, what was in Baltimore?  00:01:06 Andy  What was in Baltimore?  00:01:09 Frank  A really good pizza, but mostly we went because there was a situation bad situation where the pit bull that was about to go to a shelter and so we do a lot of fostering and rescuing of dogs.  00:01:25 Frank  So we just got her out and we've spent kind of the rest of the week all over our free time trying to find our new home and she landed in the new home on Saturday and she's doing great. So that's.  00:01:37 Andy  That's awesome, and it's really it's really awesome y'all do that kind of stuff.  00:01:41  Yeah.  00:01:42 Frank  Yeah, I always wanted to do it, but it only and it's only been in the last. You know, maybe like 5-10 years I've been able to do it, so we've been doing that.  00:01:51 Frank  Cool, the risk of fostering is primarily foster failing. How we we got our current dog count up to five.  00:01:59 Frank  Uh, while twelve. That weekend, my wife and I counted it like 12 dogs who kind of come through our house the last two years. Three years.  00:02:06 Andy  Nice.  00:02:07 Frank  So it's a good thing to do. We have the space to do it and.  00:02:12 Frank  You know at the time this one, we didn't know anything about, so we had to kind of keep her isolated.  00:02:17 Frank  So we had like this airlock system. She's a super sweetheart with people, but she's kind of iffy around other dogs and she she's super strong. So once she had her mind to do something it takes a lot of effort.  00:02:18 Andy  Light.  00:02:25  Right?  00:02:32 Frank  To corral her.  00:02:34 Frank  But she's super happy. She's the only...

為台灣疫情祈福 X 聽Podcast學英語環遊世界，現在用你的IG帳號 Tag （@flywithlily）你在Apple Podcast 五星評價留言，就可以得到一張台灣造型的明信片！我的女神���“追随老师7年，老师每天的陪伴成了林子每天的必需品️ 还有老师的声音和故事都�️股无形的力量一直在鼓励和推动我️ 让我想把每一天都过莹润充实的引领人� 爱你�lily �”Remember if you play small you stay small. 記住如果你不盡情發揮的話，就永遠都很渺小。他們會回答這個問題：What is there to do in Kaohsiung? 在高雄可以做什麼呢？Angela:There are lots of events, markets and markets range from the traditional food markets to nighttime entertainment markets. There are weekends like Sunday or Saturday afternoon markets. There's all kinds of markets. And with that also comes with lots of options for food. Definitely. So Taiwan is known for food destination. So when you get here, you try everything.高雄有很多活動和市集，市集從傳統的菜市場、觀光夜市到週末的午間市集。有各式各樣的市集，也因為這樣就會有很多食物的選擇。台灣是著名的美食天堂，如果你來到高雄，一定每樣東西都試試。Donny:As I mentioned before, you have the mountain, which is nice to visit, um, there's also, uh, a lot of parks and museums. There are some museums to visit. Um, there are, there's a lot of new developments going on, especially in the South of the city. Uh, there's the landmark 85 building, which is, um, you know, the second largest, second tallest building in Taiwan. It's quite interesting to see, um, Qijing Island has has some nice activities. You can even do some surfing there. And one of the best things about Kaohsiung is that it's easy to get from Kaohsiung, to places like Xiaoliuqiu Island, Kenting in the national park, in the South of Taiwan, and also the mountains in the central part of Taiwan. So it's a good base to have to visit more of the South of Taiwan and Tainan, which is very close.就像我先前說的，高雄有值得一看的山，也有許多公園和博物館。有許多的新建設正在發展，特別是在南部的城市，有地標85大樓，是台灣第二高的建築，也是非常有趣的，旗津也有許多不錯的活動。你甚至可以在那裡衝浪。高雄最棒的一件事就是你可以輕易的到小琉球島和墾丁國家公園。所以是一個參觀許多南部台灣城市很棒的基地。還有也很靠近台南。明天的內容是：他們會回答這個問題：What is the best thing in Kaohsiung?高雄最棒的事是什麼？

[Following is an automated transcript of Week 1115 podcast aired 2021-05-29] Craig Peterson: [00:00:00] We've got these semiconductor shortages. What that means is various types of chips are just not available and it's been hurting us all the way across our economy. And that's where we're going to start the day with today. Semiconductors. [00:00:15] Man, this has been so bad, these semiconductor shortages, because what it means is we just cannot get the types of devices that we want because those raw components just aren't available. I was talking with a gentleman earlier this week and he was telling me how he has a special little app that tells him when there is a Sony PS five available for sale anywhere online. [00:00:45] It's gotten that bad. First of all, Why does he want a PS five so bad? I've never owned one or an X-Box or any of those gaming consoles? Since the original Nintendo, we had a we as well. Cause we had all the exercise stuff that went along with the week. But anyways, that's a different story entirely. [00:01:04] I'm sure a lot of you guys play a lot of video games, but. There really are not Sony  available. And we're finding much the same problem in even the car industry where some of these major manufacturers here in the U S have had to shut down lines. They've had, gone from three shifts down to a single shift every day. [00:01:30] And in some cases it's gotten even worse where vehicle manufacturers are only. Making vehicles of few times a week. It is incredible. What's been happening and there a number of reasons for it. This isn't just one reason, but it does bring up the real problem we could have with our critical infrastructure. [00:01:53] How critical is it that we have computers that can run our businesses, drive our cars, and fly our airplanes. I think it's pretty darn critical when you get right down to it. Yeah. You can probably get an extra year out of that computer, if you really need to many times that computer's just plain broken, you just can't use it. [00:02:15] So you do need to replace it. But in reality, we've gotten a little bit soft. We are not making most of the chips here in the U S anymore. Yes, it's us technology. But most of this is in Southeast Asia, particularly in Taiwan. And do you remember what's happening with Taiwan with the threats from China? [00:02:38] China is flying over Taiwan right now with military jets in Taiwanese air space, because China has never officially recognized that Taiwan is independent from the people's Republic of China. And do you know how socialists are? They're just going to go ahead and take that land. What would happen if they did. [00:03:00] Remember China really wants to get their hands on our top chip technology because that helps them in the military. It helps them with all of these facial recognition systems they have in China, the social credit systems that they have in China, by the way, all built primarily by us companies and sold to China to track their people. [00:03:23] Including the nasty things have been happening with the Wiggers over there. It's just absolutely incredible as well as Christian communities and others in China. So all of this tech has stuff they want to get their hands on. If they were to invade Taiwan, what would happen? The Biden administration. [00:03:40] There they've been a little soft on this. Unlike president Trump, who said, yeah, the Trump administration, we're not going to tolerate any of this. And the Trump administration shipped all kinds of military systems to Taiwan, so they could potentially defend themselves because we don't really want to get drawn into a hot war, but. [00:04:00] Oh, if they had taken over Taiwan, they would now have access to the U S technology on chip making. Now let me explain what that means from a technology standpoint, the chips that we have are.  into a wafer of silicone. I'm going to try and keep this pretty simple. And then, and that silicone is grown. Cause you think of a crystal or maybe think of a still-life tight or it's like titers to leg might that you'd find in a cave. [00:04:34] Those crystals are grown. They're humanly grown, and obviously you don't want any defects in them. So it's very hard to do to grow them. And we need those crystals for all kinds of things, including these solar panels that some people are so hot to trot about. I, Hey, I love the idea. Don't get me wrong. [00:04:52] It's just right now, again, with solar panels, like so many other things, don't think you're green because you. Are or putting up solar panels. You're not right. There's certainly other advantages to it, but you're not being green by doing that. But what really matters is how much power does that chip use in order to do a certain number of computations? [00:05:17] And how much heat is given off by the chip. Think again about the old Edison light bulbs that we've had and still have in some places and those Edison light bulbs, by the way, one of the original ones still burning in New York city and the fire department after over a hundred years, that one light bulb just incredible. [00:05:37] But think about that Edison light bulb, it gives off light. Sure. But it also gives off heat. And the same thing is true with. Anything electronic the movement of the electricity through that conductor or semiconductor create heat. Heat is a waste. That's part of the problem with Edison bulbs. It'd be one thing if they were giving off just straight light, the, but so much of that energy is used to generate heat that we don't want. [00:06:06] And then we have to dissipate that heat somehow, but that's another story. The same thing is true. When we're talking about these chips, the chips have a resistance to them. In fact, that's what a semiconductor does. It provide some resistance, so that resistance is going to. Do what create heat. So you feel your laptop when you're running it and so hot to get over time, the laptops have gotten faster and have actually created less heat, certainly poorer computational unit. [00:06:44] They created a lot less heat. What we're looking at now is if we can make these chips even smaller. We can decrease the amount of electricity they need, because it doesn't have electricity. It doesn't have to flow as far through the conductors or semiconductors inside these chips. So that's what the race has been over the years. [00:07:09] The race has been how small can we make them? And by making them smaller, You're doing a couple of things. You're making them faster because electricity has to travel less distance. Even though electricity is really fast. When you're talking about a billion transistors inside one of these chips or more, you are traveling through a whole lot of conductor and semiconductor. [00:07:32] So you can make that chip faster by making it smaller and you can reduce the amount of power it needs, because you're not going to be giving off as much power via heat and heat generation. And that's important for everything, but particularly important for our mobile devices. Look at your apple watch or your iPhone or your laptop or your desktop. [00:07:56] All of them need to consume less and less electricity as time goes on. So what we're talking about now are just teeny tiny measurement. We're talking about nanometers. So if you go online, you look up nano meter. Which is a foul. Yeah, there you go. 10 to the negative nine meters. It's a billionth of a meter. [00:08:21] Isn't that something looking it up right now, sell it a 1E-9.000000000. Give or take, and it's a unit of measurement that is being used now in chips and chip designs. And we're seeing these faster and faster chips getting down into the five nanometer process that is incredibly small, incredibly. [00:08:49] Fast potentially, but likely incredibly fast and uses a lot less electricity right now. We're seeing seven nanometers out of Taiwan and we're working on five nanometer, but we have such a shortage of chips right now that they're bringing some of these old 15 nanometer. Chip fabs online, even 22 nanometer. [00:09:14] I'm looking right now online at some of these old chip fabricators that are being brought online and China really wants to get their hands on some of this technology, because at this point anyways, they really can't get to the seven nanoliter chips. China right now. I think is pretty much limited to 14 nanometer. [00:09:39] So we're still, I had in that race, but because they're being made in Taiwan, these chips that we're using here in the us using us technology, and because we had the lockdown in Taiwan and pretty much worldwide, the whole supply chain got interrupted and these big car manufacturers just. Shut off the orders. [00:10:01] So there's no reason for the manufacturers to continue to make these things are a little reason for them to make them for the car industry in the current street, he thought we can just turn it back on and we'll have the chips. And of course they didn't, but it's also been compounded by the conditions in Taiwan right now. [00:10:19] Because the Taiwanese centers for disease control this week raised it's epidemic warning level and is strengthening their containment measures and making things even worse. Taiwan is in the midst of a severe drought. So they are. Rationing water in Taiwan. They're looking at cutoffs of two days a week. [00:10:42] And water reduction plans are expected to decrease supply to all major manufacturers by as much as 15%. So there you go. In a nutshell, that's why we care. Nanometers and we're talking about chips. That's why we need to start making them back here in the U S. And the good news, apple and others are doing exactly that. [00:11:03] Starting to bring some of this technology back from Taiwan, into the U S and I think that's going to help keep us safer in the long run [00:11:12]All electric vehicles are I think very cool. And some people give me a hard time because I am not a fan of it. [00:11:20] If you think you're being green, because you're not. And I went through the whole science behind that the life cycle of an electric vehicle is much more. Dangerous and hazardous and polluting in the environment. Then even a diesel truck is just to give you an idea of small truck. So that's, let's put that aside, but in reality, these things I think are potentially the future. [00:11:50] Now there's a lot of things we've got to take care of, for instance. Our electric grid is not set up for electric cars. Our electric grid is not set up for us to have windmills in our backyard or to have solar panels on our roofs. It's set up to have a main power station of some sort, whether it's nuclear, which by the way is green or whether it might be. [00:12:17] Be coal or natural gas or wood or trash. That's what the grid is set up for. So we have some problems there and there's another big problem. And that has to do with how much power one of these vehicles can hold, because I don't know about you, but having a, what is it? The brand new car that came out a Fiat or somebody and his electric vehicle and its range is 78 miles. [00:12:46]In some places that might be okay, but progress. The problem is I'll write, let's say I'll put up with stopping every hour to recharge these cars, unless it's a rapid recharger, you're going to be there for an hour and a half or more. And even with the rapid recharger, you're going to be there for a least 20 minutes. [00:13:07] Now Tesla had some innovative ideas on how to deal with that. Like the, I don't know if you ever saw it a battery pack, so you'd pull into the station and it would just trade battery packs for you. The idea was it's right in the center. GM has this concept of the roller skate, where the entire car really is built into this frame. [00:13:29] That kind of looks like roller skate. And then on top of that, Goes your car and there's some thinking maybe we can make it so that you can just swap out your rollerskate. Make it nice and simple and hopefully relatively inexpensive, but we still don't see the range on the vehicles. And as of yet, we haven't seen any huge forays by any of the big auto makers. [00:13:54] Of course, Nissan had it to leaf, which. Pretty well accepted GM had their entry. And I chuckled because it was in a lot of ways. It was a joke. And of course they're up with better stuff here in the future, but I want to play a little bit here. I'm going to play about 25 seconds worth of an ad. [00:14:12] And then we're going to talk about it a bit. [00:14:16] Unknown: [00:14:16] It's got a targeted 775 pound feet of torque. It's targeted to go from zero to 60 in the mid four second range. It's a driving experience. That's pure unfiltered exhilaration from the moment you hit the accelerator. Oh, and it's an F-150 introducing the all electric F-150 [00:14:40] Craig Peterson: [00:14:40] lightning. [00:14:41] So you noticed there were no mentions in there of no birds were harmed in January generating electricity here. And of course, a little tongue in cheek because of course birds are harmed in generate electricity, particularly windmill, but anyways, they're not going for the eco greeny. They're not going for the Prius driver. [00:15:01] You remember the stats on the Prius where they surveyed the drivers of Prius's. This was probably five. Maybe a little more years ago. And the number one reason they found people drove a Prius. 70% of the time in fact, was they drove a Prius because of what they thought other people would think of them. [00:15:23] So there they are driving this car that they're driving it for one reason, because they, I think it's going to make other people think that they're just fantastic people. I obviously I disagree with that. I think that's little bit of a problem, but what is what they're doing here with that Ford commercial is they are working on mainstreaming. [00:15:46] Yes. Electric vehicles. Can you imagine this a 700 plus foot point foot pound torque in a sub $40,000 truck? It's just amazing. And you can even use the batteries that are in this truck. Of course, there's a lot of batteries in that truck to run power tools while you're out at a work site. Which I think is a great idea. [00:16:12] And you can even use it to power your house. They have a special adapter you can use to hook up to your house so that you can get up to three days. They say of electricity in your house. If the power goes out, No mention in here of, any of these greeny things, right? Oh, none of oases talking points are in that ad. [00:16:37] At least I didn't hear him on, did you guys hear them, but this is going to be amazing. This of course is Ford's best-selling vehicle, the F-150 and I drove one for years. It was very handy with the horses and chickens and everything here. And I'm looking forward to this thing coming out. I don't think I'm going to buy one, by the way. [00:16:58] They've also got this Mustang mark II, which is this electric Mustang thingy. And then they have an electric transit van. And the reason I don't think I'm going to buy one is it just doesn't have the range. Now you can get better equipped lightening trucks in that sub $40,000 one. You can also go ahead and get bigger batteries. [00:17:22] You can do a whole bunch of things, but this range is a combined output here, a 426 horsepower estimated range of 230 miles. And the extended range of this F-150 lightning is going to get an even. Bigger horsepower rating, 563 horsepower and an estimated range of 300 miles. And 775 foot pounds of torque, which is just stump polling. [00:17:56] It's absolutely amazing. So I don't know about you. I'm not in the mode for pain, 60 ish grand for an electric truck that is only going to take me 230 miles. That, but maybe that's me. And then looking further into the stats on this thing, it can do a bunch of towing. It can have a 77, a hundred pounds of towing. [00:18:22] You can get Reduce cargo, excuse me, reduce cargo course. If you're getting the bigger battery and looking at an illustration of the F-150 lightening, what they're doing is similar to what GM had proposed way back with the roller skate. The entire drive train is underneath the truck. And it's just like an old frame. [00:18:44] You remember, trucks used to have frames now? The F-150 is, I think still do have frames underneath, but the whole bottom of the truck is one piece. If you will, obviously there's little pieces to it, but one major component and then the cab and bed and everything else just sits right on top of it. [00:19:03] It's amazing. Now with this truck, if you connected to 150 kilowatt fast charger, you're going to get 41 miles in 10 minutes. So how long does it take you fill up with gas? Probably about 10 minutes. How long is it good for? It was my car 400, 500 miles in this case that 10 minute stop. At the fuel station is going to get you 41 miles. [00:19:29] And if you can find the, just the 50 kilowatt fast charger, it's going to take you 91 minutes to get 41 miles of range. It's not there yet, but it's very obvious that Ford is aiming for the truck driver. And more particularly if I was a construction guy and I was taking my truck out and I needed to plug in tools and I don't have to drive very far. [00:19:56] I look seriously at that new F-150 lightning. [00:20:00]President Biden .  I've got an article in my newsletter this week about what he's been doing when it comes to the hackers, China, is it Russia? What's going on? He's been blaming. It looks like. Russia for some of the hacks that China has actually been carrying out, but no matter what the bottom line is, we are getting hacked and this is a very big problem. [00:20:28] We have to modernize our technology strategy. Because this ideological divide between these authoritan or authoritarians, whether it's a dictatorship like the socialists have in China, where you have chairman Mao, who is chairman for life now, or Putin. President Putin, who is president for life over in Russia. [00:20:53]It's absolutely amazing. They are coming after us. And so is North Korea, of course, again, socialist dictator for life over there as well, Iran not so socialist, but a very fascist in many ways, which is typically a form of socialism anyways. We need to be able to protect ourselves. It's a real problem, frankly. [00:21:18] 1947 world war two was over and George Kennan, R yeah. Kennan introduced this concept of containment and that containment concept was used throughout the entire cold war. And of course you probably know what that is. At least, excuse me. I hope you do. But today we don't have that cold war anymore. [00:21:45] What is it that we have? Why would China be attacking this? We know, for instance, a China comes after our intellectual property and they w they come after it because it helps them militarily. If they know what we're doing, what we're ordering. What's going on that we know they come after us as well, because they want to cause some havoc. [00:22:11] There's no question about that. Some of these other smaller countries come after us because they need the hard currency. Ultimately they want to trade in those Bitcoin for us dollars, which of course can be spent here. But. This whole system that we have right now is really on the brink of a new economy. [00:22:34] Look at the technology we've been using. Look at the number of people that have been working from home. We're sitting on the edge of three simultaneous bubbles. Right now we have the housing bubble. We have the stock market bubble and we have the cryptocurrency bubble and we've seen downs in all of those just over the last week or so. [00:22:56]We'll see what happens, but there's no denying that they're bubbles are home values adjusted for inflation, have not been higher than the last 100 years as an example. So there's a lot for us to look at. And when these bad guys are under the same types of financial pressures we are under, because, collapses tend to be worldwide. [00:23:21] What are they going to do? What's ultimately going to happen? Here is what president Biden thinks should happen with these two executive orders that came out really It, it has to do with federal government supply chains. And that is people who obviously are selling to the feds. And I want you to think mostly about department of defense here, and we deal with the department of defense contractors and tightening them up. [00:23:50] But in getting them to the point they should be at. And there's a lot to be concerned about it from that standpoint, but they have been releasing some details over the last few months, really. They started in April this year, and they're saying that because of the supply chain problem that we had with solar winds, they are now. [00:24:15] Pushing out some rules that require the people who sell to the federal government to keep a certain level of cybersecurity. We've talked a little bit before about CMMC, which is. Again, it's a cyber security maturity model that's out there and they are requiring certain federal contractors to meet that. [00:24:40] We've also talked about some of the NIST standards, which is the national Institute of science and technology. In fact, we talked about their password standard and how a year and a half or so ago, they changed the way we need to do passwords. And if you don't know what that is, have a look at my. A special report on passwords. [00:25:02] And I go through that in some detail, but there's an executive order on American supply chains that came out in February and it's leaning pretty heavily on these newer emerging technologies, including secure access to semiconductors. And we talked about them earlier in the show today, the high capacity batteries. [00:25:24] Because again, if we're not innovating. In the, you name it. But in end in the automotive field, we're going to fall behind what's important automotive. We just talked about it. Last segment here. Batteries. So it's covering batteries and materials that are used to create them. So they both of these orders address the need for us to really work closely together with our allies economically, as well as national security. [00:25:55] But that's exactly what we've been doing. Isn't it? What it really boils down to in my mind is democracy versus authoritarianism. It was so funny that they called president Trump and authoritarian a decade, her right. He was liking to Hitler constantly. I thought if you brought him up, you automatically lost the argument. [00:26:18] But in reality, now we're seeing more of a hands-on from the federal government more authoritarianism. And I got a question whether or not that's what we really want. Do we need a digital politic. This guiding doctrine, that places digital considerations at the forefront of our national strategy. Is this something that should be handled by the state or the businesses involved? [00:26:47]We've seen all kinds of mixed. Pros and cons to each one of those strategies over the years, we know government controls, centralized government control, ultimately causes serious problems serious as in the deaths of over a hundred million people in the last century alone. So I'm not sure that's the best idea. [00:27:09] And I have to say work. I With defense contractors, even not really a defense contractor, someone that makes something that's sold to a defense contractor. Having a one size fits all cybersecurity policy, a cybersecurity czar, and these executive orders pushing everything down does not make sense. It doesn't make sense for a real small company that makes a wiring harness to have to meet the same. [00:27:38]Cyber security requirements as a big BAE systems, they don't have the time. They don't have the money. It can cost a million dollars over the course of three years for even a small company to meet these federal standards that are required. If you take a contract from the federal government or from one of these contractors. [00:28:04] So you are a subcontractor, all of those requirements that are put on that huge military contractor, all of those requirements get pushed down to you. So this just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I'm very concerned about it. There's a bipartisan bill. That's moving right now called the democracy technology partnership act. [00:28:26] And they're trying to get some collaboration and innovation amongst democracies. I think it's good now that there are rules in place that have changed, that allows competitors to talk with each other when it comes to cyber security. [00:28:43]Internet Explorer was Microsoft's first major foray into the internet browsing world internet browsing didn't really take off until almost the mid nineties. And it was really cool. I remember when I first started using. Web browsing and websites and building them with NCSA mosaic. Oh my gosh. Those were the days heady days back then. [00:29:09] And we were just thinking about everything that could happen, how great it would be. And there were no hackers to speak of online. You didn't have to worry about drive by downloads or so many of the other problems that we have today. And Microsoft took that NCSA mosaic browser code base and created something. [00:29:33] They called internet Explorer. Now the history of internet Explorer, frankly. Is rather interesting when you get right down to it. Internet Explorer. Yeah. It's been around for a long time, but in genetics, Explorer was one of the worst browsers out there for a very long time. It was just terrible. [00:29:57] And one of the things that Microsoft did that really got. With the whole internet community upset with them is they built it right into their operating system. Absolutely. They used the code here from again, mosaic, which was this early commercial web browser back in 2003. It, the whole project started in 1994. [00:30:25]I'm looking right now, Wikipedia. I remember these things happening. It's just nuts to think about how far it's gone, but they took internet Explorer and they bolted it into the operating system. So the operating system now supposedly was dependent on internet Explorer. Now it's an interesting concept to think about if all they have to do is maintain a user interface. [00:30:51] That's web based for the operating system. That's really cool. Microsoft internet Explorer is some 5 million lines of code that is a lot of programming to maintain. And then on top of that, of course you have all of the user interface code that's sitting there in the operating system. So I think this is my suspicion. [00:31:12] What Microsoft is trying to do is make their life a little bit easier. But by doing that by hard wiring in internet Explorer, into the operating system, they ended up making it so that other companies like the Firefox guys, Mozilla, they could not run independently on inch, on a windows. And a third party, like Dell could not decide, Hey, I don't want to use internet Explorer because Google's paying me to install Google Chrome. [00:31:43] So I want to put Chrome on windows. So you just couldn't do any of that. So they got a whole bunch of flack. The industry came after them and because of that, so did the department of justice. And the United States versus Microsoft case, very fundamental. And it was absolutely, it was essential, I think because Microsoft never would have done anything about this, but they developed Microsoft this thing called ActiveX technology, which is a security nightmare and remains one to this very day where you could effectively as a website. [00:32:25] Tell the internet Explorer to do almost anything you wanted to do. And there were bugs after bugs. I don't have a count. It might be interesting to see what the actual count would be, but it was, it had to be in the thousands of bugs that were fixed security bugs that were fixed and internet Explorer because of active X and because of some of these other things. [00:32:48] So it's just been absolutely terrible. One of the questions I get asked most often to this day. What do we do when we don't want to use internet Explorer or more commonly, what is the best browser to use while I'm online? And the answer to that kind of varies. It depends, right? That's the answer, but as a general rule using Firefox is a good idea. [00:33:20] Now, one of the things I like about Firefox for an individual or for a, an extremely small business, like a small office home office, where you're not tying into a corporate network at all. One of the things that's really good is Firefox. Uses a version of DNS, which is the main name, service. It's what your computer uses in order to find websites online, Firefox uses a version of DNS that is. [00:33:50] Encrypted and protected so that your internet service provider cannot see the website names you're looking up and cannot intercept it. And that's the bigger thing. You don't want it to be intercepted because one of the major hacks, and this is affected millions of people. Homed and businesses. [00:34:10] One of the major hacks is let's just go in. We can hack the router and then we'll change the router DNS settings so that it uses our DNS and our DNS by the way is great because it redirects you. If you think you want to go to bank of America, it takes you to bank of America dot China. Okay. A fake site, not a real site. [00:34:31] And you may not even know. You may not even be able to tell unless you look really closely. So that is a big plus for Firefox as well as it has all kinds of anti-trafficking technology. Anti-malware technology built right in, they've just done a bang up job. The reason I do not like it for bigger businesses is that same. [00:34:54] Feature that DNS feature because what we do when we go into a business, and one of the things we do is we change their DNS servers to use some commercial DNS servers that we have from Cisco that get updated minute by minute for the sole purpose of trying to stop the bad guys. And they're very good at it. [00:35:16] It stopped being ransomware just by DNS. If you're using Firefox inside one of these networks, the problem is Firefox is going to try and hide the DNS request. So it was not so much as I care that they're being hidden, except that might be going to a malicious site. It said, I can't see any of them. [00:35:36] And I cannot tell your web browser or your computer not to go to that website because that particular site or that particular internet server is actually malicious. So there's the two sides for Firefox. So if you're a regular little home user, get Firefox, it's free. It's a great little browser. If you are a business, you can still use Firefox with things like Cisco's umbrella. [00:36:04] But what you need to do is turn off the DNS over HTTPS or TLS in which gets a little advanced. You can probably find it. If you'd duck, duck, go search it online. And that'll get you the answers you need. So turn that off so that all of your DNS requests are going through the filter, whatever it might be. [00:36:24] A Barracuda has a DNS filter. I don't like Barracuda. Don't think I'm endorsing them, but it's better to use the Barracuda DNS filter. If that's all you have, then nothing. Let me tell ya. And then there are also free DNS servers that are going to be fantastic for you to check them out. I talked about them this last week. [00:36:44] I got a lot of emails, open dns.com open ope, N D N S the letters, DNS domain name service, or. Dynamic name server or whatever you want. How are you going to remember it? Open dns.com and there it's easy enough. You just set it up on your ad drought or, and you're off and running. So that's my general favorite. [00:37:10] If you want something that's more secure, you can take a look at our friend, the epic browser, epi C. It has been very good in the past, and I assume it's going to continue to be pretty good in the future. Microsoft's newest ed edge browser. I think there's been three different browsers. They call ed just under what Microsoft, they call them all the same thing, even though it's entirely different code basis. And what were there? Seven different versions of windows that were entirely different? I was just, ah, drives me crazy. The current version of the edge browser from Microsoft is based on Google's Chrome browser. So keep that in mind, if you're using edge, Microsoft is looking over your shoulder. [00:37:55] Google may be looking over your shoulder as well. A little bit. The edge browser also uses Google chromium base, but they've gone through and Labatt itemized it pretty seriously. If you're on a Mac, you can even do this on a windows computer. The fastest browser, generally speaking is safari, which is an apple product and it's available for free S a F a R. [00:38:18] I. And it also like most apple products doesn't like you being tracked. And so it has a lot of anti-trafficking stuff. Built-in. And it also not this too. The safari browser has a whole bunch of anti-malware stuff built in. So whether you're using iOS on your iPhone or I panned or Mac iOS or windows, you can get safari. [00:38:46] And I had recommended that. So Fari frankly, is the browser I use for a little bit more secure stuff. And then I also use opera, the opera O P E R a browser. You might want to have a look at it as well, but if you're looking for ease of use and compatibility, I think you're probably about right. Sticking with the Firefox browser. [00:39:09] I do use that. So I actually use all of these browsers in different circumstances. I also use the brave browser and others. I just don't want to confuse you guys. Firefox stick with Firefox and you're probably going to be pretty well off on rare occasions. Firefox is not going to work for you. And in that case, you might consider a Google Chrome or the edge browser. [00:39:34] If you're using a cloud-based to service a website that is obviously a website for something you're doing. And it does not work with Firefox. It might not even work with the default on the Microsoft edge browser. And that's because that website might've been poorly coded, had not written right. And requires the old Microsoft engineer Explorer. [00:40:04] If so you can turn on compatibility mode so that the edge browser will act just like the insecure bug ridden internet Explorer, but try and force the vendor to upgrade their site so that it works with modern browsers rather than having to stick with that old piece of software. That's dangerous as can be internet Explorer. [00:40:29]I have always been fascinated by it ever since I saw people who were communicating, using computers and it, I always thought it just. It would be so wonderful if we could help people out, particularly people who are locked in who have a brain that's functioning fully, and yet their body isn't cooperating, they can't communicate, or they can't communicate well. [00:40:54] And of course, that comes to mind. Of course, one of the greatest scientific minds of our generation, Stephen Hawkins, who was in a wheelchair, he was unable to move. And later in life, other than just a little bit with his face and mouth, and he used that to communicate. And it's just an incredible thing. I can't imagine being in a position like that. [00:41:19] So when I see these technological advances that help people out, even in a minor way, I am just overjoyed, really overjoyed. So we've got to, I want to talk about right now. One is a brain implant that ARS Technica is John Timmer was talking about here about a week ago. And he was talking about robotic arms. [00:41:42] Now you might've seen them before. There's various types of robotic arms and they have different types of functionality depending. Right. Well, one of the problems that we've had with robotic arms is how much force can you put on them? I, again, I remember the first time I saw someone who had lost, uh, the forearm and of course the hand and he had on one of those kind of captain hook things, appliances with a rubber band on it to close it. [00:42:13] And he was able to pull one of the muscles in his arms in order to open it and close it. I thought, well, that's really cool. Those have advanced now, and there are projects with 3d printers. I forget the name of the company. I had them on my radio show. Maybe a decade ago now been awhile and they were selling 3d printers. [00:42:34] And when you bought their printer, they would give you the plans to make a specific artificial prosthesis for. Child that couldn't afford one. So it might be for a leg or an arm or so I guess something else. And you bought the printer, they would provide you with the material that you needed as well as the design specifically for that person. [00:43:01] And that you could print it up. It might take a couple of days and you ship it off. And many of these kids were in Africa. There are some here in the us, and of course in Russia, and this was, I thought an amazing project. It was just so cool again, because they're helping these kids get a little bit of mobility. [00:43:21] Then we came out with some of these robotic arms that can be controlled through your brain. I don't know if you've seen these. Arms, there's been also some major advancement in just thinking about moving a cursor on a computer screen and the computer can track your brain enough to be able to move that cursor around. [00:43:46] And basically what you're doing is you've lost a limb or you've lost mobility. You think about moving your hand or a leg, and usually it's your arm and your hand. And that can be picked up. Of course, that's per person, that's programmable per person. Then they figure out what the pattern is in your brain. [00:44:06] And then they tie it all in so that now you can control a cursor on a computer, which means you can communicate. Robotic arms a little bit different because what you have now is something that can reach out. These things have all of the joint and the flexibility and functionality of a regular hand, except for. [00:44:30] The feedback loop and that's been really important. How do you know if you are actually touching something? How do you know if you're squeezing it too hard? Like that egg and early robotic arms? It was very visual. So you watch that arm and you'd see, okay. It now has a grip on that ball or that pencil or whatever you pick it up and you all visual. [00:44:58] And so you're able to pick it up and you know that you've got it. Maybe you don't know how hard you're holding it, but that's okay. You had to track the arm visually as you moved it around and estimate really when you had that grip, that was strong enough on the object by looking at it. And obviously that's just an incredible improvement over a missing limb or potentially paralysis, but it's not very intuitive. [00:45:25] And the question is how do you make things intuitive for the brain when they're obviously foreign? We're going to talk about an extra thumb here in a minute too, but this is just absolutely phenomenal. It's called propyl. Yeah. Prope re O ception proprioception. And it's a sense that we have, this has been difficult to reconstruct that ties the sense of touch and pressure and. [00:45:55] Knowing where something is. So you can close your eyes. And on the side of the road, when the police offers is there and close your eyes, hold your arm out and touch your nose. Right. Hopefully you can do that. I'm doing that right now, here in the studio. I'm touching my notes with my eyes closed with my arm, starting out fully extended. [00:46:16] That's the sense we're talking about. That's very, very difficult. How do you build that in? Because we've been able to build in a little bit of sense of touch feedback for these arms, a little bit of pressure feedback, but we haven't been able to really understand how the brain processes, all this information that's sent by these sensory nerve cells in the hand, in order to let you know where it is. [00:46:42] And what it's doing. So for this new research at team and planted two electrode arrays into the part of the brain that specifically handles information coming from the skin, and they're able to activate these electrode and produce the sensation of something, interacting with the Palm of the hand, as well as the finger. [00:47:04] So they've made a whole lot of progress here, and this is very cool. They were able to tie it into a robotic arm. They got a study together, got some funding for it. And they got a participant who had been paralyzed from the neck down. And this doesn't save as male or female, but. Default gender right in English. [00:47:29] As he sold, say, he'd been controlling this robotic arm for about two years by using brain implant in the motor control region of the brain. And he could successfully use the arm even without sensation. He'd gotten pretty good at it. Uh, so for these experiments, they had some different tests because they wanted additional, tactile feedback. [00:47:53] They wanted to be able to somehow tie into this perception that your body has, of where your body parts are. Have you ever tried to tickle yourself? Usually it doesn't work. Right. But a third person or a second person tickling you may, it's definitely going to work. That's all party, these same systems. So they come up with a whole bunch of tests. [00:48:16] I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on the tests, but they did say that having a sense of. Touch and the ability to understand where that arm and hand were in space, dramatically improve performance. And that makes sense. Hold on a sense to me, it w it really increased or decreased actually the time it took to pick up something to move something, to drop it in every case. [00:48:43] So. I am pretty darn excited about this, and I hope it's going to be able to help a lot of people very, very soon. This is the university of Pittsburgh medical center, by the way, that's been conducting these experiments. Now there's another one I want to talk about. And I thought this was really cool. I saw this about a couple of weeks ago. [00:49:02] I think it was, and this is a robotic extra thumb. What they did is they placed a robotic thumb on a hand underneath the little finger. So if you're looking at your hand right now, I got my left hand out in front of me. I've got my thumb here on the far left side. I've got my four fingers pointing up and on the right hand side opposite where your real thumb is, they put. [00:49:30] An extra thumb, like a robotic thumb that can, can bend up and down and a little other lateral movements. This study, I think was phenomenal. And there were 36 people that were part of the experiment. This was at Danielle Clode, university, college, London, and her colleagues. Uh, and it's, it's phenomenal. So when we get back, I'm going to play a little bit of audio. [00:49:57] That is from a story over there in the UK about this. I'm going to tell you a little bit more about this thumb and the. Impact to the hat on the brain. One of the things I think it was fascinating to me anyways, was it did change the brain in unexpected ways, basically the brains of these people. And this was determined by cat scans and watching the activity when they were moving their hand, the brains were changed. [00:50:27] Two, if you will, uh, look at the hands and as more of a single unit than individual units. I thought that was really fascinating and that extra thumb became part of the brains understanding of the hand. So this is the kind of thing we can be looking forward to. Now, this one is it's kind of cool. It's kind of fun. [00:50:53] We're going to find a lot of different uses for, and it's part of what's fun is what they did in the experiments. So we'll talk about that as well. Hey, I want to point out if you have questions about cyber security, I might have the answers for you and you'll get those answers in the form of some stuff. [00:51:13] Special reports. I wrote, if you subscribed to my email list, just go to Craig peterson.com/subscribe, and I'll make sure I send them all to you and get you on the right track. [00:51:25]this is augmenting a human and I think this is the future. We are going to be augmented. And how many movies have been made about that movies where they're saying model? Yeah, we'll just tie basically Google into your brain and have Google site into your brain. [00:51:41] That have as a thought. And you'll get a response from Google, which I think is scary. Look at Google now and how they're tracking you. Imagine if they get a copy of every one of your thoughts, but things like this that make us super human. I think are going to become more mainstream. So Google, for instance, had the Google glass, you might remember that these glasses type things that you wore, Apple's done some work on something similar. [00:52:11] And the idea is they can project in front of you an artificial reality. Maybe that our official reality is just telling you to turn left, to get to grandma's house or where the best food in town is. Or maybe you're playing a game. All of which are cool. This that's going to happen. This is really something that is going to happen. [00:52:30] And it's going to talk to you with a set of speakers that are right on those glasses. And it's going to be, I think, potentially amazing not reading your brain, but helping you to navigate a, read an audio book to you, do all kinds of things, and you can already get Alexa. Which is, of course Amazon's digital assistant in a lot of different configurations from your car all the way on out through these little mobile devices. [00:52:59] In this case, we're talking about a third thumb and that third or second thumb, I should say, it's really a third one because you have two hands, right? Two thumbs, but a second thumb on one hand. And the pictures I'm looking at from the experiment had it on the right hand. I don't think it really matters, but it's opposite your normal thumb. [00:53:20] It's not a fancy thing. It doesn't look human. It's close to the wrist. W on your hand, but it still is on your hand and you control this thumb and how it moves based on why our wireless sensors that are on your big toes. So you wiggle the toe and you can move the thumb in different directions and also have it clench the grip. [00:53:49] And these experimenters gave the thumb to people for about five days and the participants were. Told to use the thumb in regular, old things in the world. So they use it in the labs, of course, and they wanted the participants to really push the envelope about what was possible. And they didn't want the lab to just think of all of the different experiments they wanted the participants to think of things. [00:54:17] Maybe they hadn't thought of. So I'm looking at a video that's really cool people think of this guys. You can hold a cup of coffee and stir it all with the same hand, because you use that third thumb to grab onto the coffee and then your right thumb and forefinger. In order to stir the coffee. I think that's cool. [00:54:42] There were other people did things like bloom bubbles, right? You hold the little bottle of the bubble soap, water. And in the fake thumb. And then again, use your fingers to hold the little thing that you are blowing into. So it's really cool. And it did change the brain. What this showed us, I think more than anything else was our brains are capable of controlling limbs and dependence pended, GS dependencies. [00:55:14] Yeah, appendages. There you go. That, that you don't normally have, and it leads him into think about cats here in the Northeast. I don't know if you've ever noticed cats with a thumb. Have you ever noticed that it's really a Northeast phenomenon? And apparently the captains of these old boats loved these cats because they could go on the ship and chase the rats and kill the rat and hold on really well in the heavy weather and even climb up on the ropes because I had a thumb, we had a cat like that. [00:55:52] And it wasn't the brightest cat one, a Fox caught it when it was in our yard one time, but that cat could pick things up off the floor and using the thumb. Now, cats don't normally have a thumb, but some of these cats here in the Northeast, they have a thumb. It's a real thumb. They really can pick things up. [00:56:12] So they, this experiment proved that we can, as humans control an appendage, like an extra thumb. So let's play a little bit here about what happened a little bit of the report. The [00:56:26] Unknown: [00:56:26] additional thumb could cradle a cup of coffee while the same hands, four fingers held a spoon to stare in milk. While some participants use the thumb to peel a banana, blow bubbles, or even play the guitar to understand how the extra thumb effected people's brains. [00:56:40] The researchers gave them an MRI scan before and after the experiments. [00:56:45] Craig Peterson: [00:56:45] Is that cool or what. And you can find more online. I duck goat it, you can just duck, duck go a robotic extra thumb, and you'll be able to find the video and more reports on it, but we will see what ends up happening. With our appendages what are we going to be attaching to our bodies in the future? [00:57:07] We know we are going to be using those glasses like Google glass. We'll see what it ends up looking is it going to project right? Enjoy your eyes. What's going to happen here. We're seeing heads up displays in our cars where the speed you're going, the maps, et cetera, are projected right on. [00:57:25] The windshield. So you don't have to move your head a big direction, in order to see what's going on. So lots of stuff. And we're starting to understand the brain a little bit better when it comes to some of this stuff, dark side. My gosh a little bit of, a little bit about the dark web, because you guys are the best and brightest, right? [00:57:47] So the dark web of course, is that part of the internet that was created to keep things secret. No, not totally secret, but the identities of people posting things on the dark web are hard to determine. And it is in fact, something that is maintained by our military and was developed in order to allow people in other countries to communicate effectively with the CIA, with the military, et cetera, without. [00:58:19] Being caught by their government. So the dark web is a pretty secure place, but because of that, it's a place where people go to conduct illicit transactions. This is the place where the. The major site that was out there that it's called silk road was man, I can't remember how many billions of dollars they say went through the silk road website, but they were selling everything you can think of for drugs or drug running, a gun running some of these military weapons. [00:58:58] you name it? I don't even want to talk about some of the stuff that was being sold there on that website. Now there's other websites and taken over, but we caught that guy by the way. And all the transactions were in between. Coin. So those people that think that Bitcoin is somehow impossible to track you are wrong. [00:59:19] And those who think that the dark web is a place where you can go and really be anonymous. Again, you are wrong. More technically we're talking about something called the onion network, the Tor browser, and it is an interesting thing. So when we get back. We're going to talk about a court case, a really weird court case involving the dark web. [00:59:47] You've heard before about trust amongst thieves, this kind of throws it entirely out the window, shall we say [00:59:56]You might've heard of DarkSide. I mentioned them here on the show before. DarkSide is a bad guy, right? It's a group of people that got together who had been experts at ransomware. And so what they ended up doing is deciding, Hey, we want to make a business. We're going to do ransomware. And because we're so good at it, we're going to sell ransomware as a service. [01:00:28] And this ransomware is a service. All they did was they would take a cut of what you made off of their ransomware. They do things like provide tech support. So you ran some poor guy, some poor, small business, and that small business now is, a really hurting and you say Pay up sucker. [01:00:50] It's going to be whatever it is. I think most of the time for very small businesses, about $40,000 and you need to buy Bitcoin and you can't how to have a lot. I don't know. Why do I buy Bitcoin? So you contact. To the DarkSide, a webs support site, and guess what they do at that point? They can help you. [01:01:13] Okay. So go to this site. This is what you're going to see. Click on this. They have little user guides. They will help you when you're encrypted. Do you just give them the key and they'll tell you, okay. So use this key and this software to decrypt it. Just like a real business bottom line. They disappeared. [01:01:32] You might've heard about this. Of course, DarkSide attacked the colonial pipeline. And if you live in the Southeast United States, you were hit perk too. Darn hard by this, because that shut down over a thousand gas stations, they ran out of gasoline because it was not getting shipped via the pipeline. So off they went and a DarkSide said there, I think there's a little too much heat here. [01:02:03] At least that's what we were thinking. Initially DarkSide was trying to avoid prosecution. And so they shut down their website. Where was the website? Obviously? Wasn't out there for you on DarkSide.com. No, it was on the dark web while they shut down. And apparently they were not paying out these people that they were providing ransomware services to. [01:02:32] Isn't that kind of interesting. So Russian speaking person, you use the handle darks up for DarkSide support had XSS dot IIS. Guess what that is. Yeah, a recruiting site for these bad guys. Now, you're not going to be able to get there. If you're not on the dark web, you shouldn't be able to get there just in general, but he was trying to recruit him affiliates for DarkSide and DarkSide was the new ransomware as a service kid in town. [01:03:05]And it was looking for business partners until a partner could come along and say I have a hundred million email addresses or. I'm going to go after a company X like colonial pipeline. And so they become an affiliate of DarkSide. And as an affiliate, now they can send out the ransomware, try and get somebody at colonial to click on it. [01:03:29] And then once inside then DarkSide takes over and they go ahead and download important files from the machines that are compromised. That's part of the one-two punch that they were doing. And the punch that we saw that happened on Metro PD down in Washington, DC, where the bad guys got in down there and threatened to not decrypt stuff unless a paid up. [01:03:57]And then secondarily, you said. Since you're not paying that ransom, pay us this ransom and you have so many days, or we're going to start releasing information from the private police records. And they actually did end up releasing some of that information. All of that sort of stuff is part of the ransomware as a service. [01:04:16]This is interesting and DarkSide has made a bunch of money. There's some newly released figures from a company called chain analysis and they track cryptocurrency. Trading. Yeah. Guess what? It's not completely private. So chain analysis said the DarkSide netted at least $60 million in its first seven months. [01:04:44] That's a small fortune. Actually that's a pretty big fortune 46 million of it. Came in the first three months of 2021 and Darkseid made another $10 million this month with about 5 million coming from colonial pipeline. You probably heard about that. Colonial paid the ransom. And I saw an interview with the CEO of colonial, who said we didn't know if we'd be able to recover. [01:05:13] And it's basically, it's a small business, my words, small price to pay to know we can get back in business. So they made the 5 million from colonial and 4.4 million from the chemical distribution company known as Brenntag. And then last week, DarkSide went dark. And I mentioned that on the show as well. [01:05:37] And this guy, dark sub said that his group had lost control of the infrastructure and it Bitcoin. Does that mean that maybe Interpol the S somebody shut them down because. We have verified that there was a huge transaction where all of the money was taken out of their bit coin account. Okay, so the servers can the access to anymore the hosting panels to see panels been blocked and the hosting support service isn't providing any information, except quote, you ready for this at the request of law enforcement authorities. [01:06:25] Okay. Yeah. And within a couple hours of the seizure funds from the payment server were withdrawn to an unknown account. And Darkseid hasn't been heard from since now DarkSide is supposed to be paying affiliates 75% of ransoms that are less than $500,000. And that cut rises to 90% for ransoms higher than $5 million. [01:06:55] So DarkSide gets the money, right? Cause they're doing this whole thing. It's a service it's service provided to the bad guys out there, but apparently these affiliates have not been paid. Apparently the ransomware as a service provider of  did not honor its commitment and the affiliates, these bad guys, I feel so sorry for them. [01:07:22] Not they've been asking to be reimbursed from a deposit about a million dollars. The DarkSide was required to make with this website X access, which is one of these sites on the dark web, where they are setting up these deals. Okay. So there's three posts on the site. Where there are plaintiffs who have filed charges against the defendant against DarkSide. [01:07:53] So here you go, honor. Amongst thieves, DarkSide did not honor its financial commitments. It did not pay the bad guys. The ransomed people. Like they were supposed to they've disappeared and apparently their servers have been seized and all have DarkSides, holdings have been taken. All right. Interesting. [01:08:19] That's what you get DarkSide disrupted gasoline supply for the huge swaths of the U S about two weeks ago. And no doubt, the FBI brought full force of its might onto DarkSide. And I also know personally that historically the secret service has gotten involved too. [01:08:40]Electric vehicles. We've talked about a lot. I had a lot of fun talking about, of course, that great Ford electric vehicle in the first hour of today's show. [01:08:52] And they've got some cool looking cars, but they're coming out of everywhere. Now. You've got Italy with a few manufacturers that are now right. Pushing out the cars GM of course has had them for quite a while. The volt Nissan has had theirs. Ford has a couple, including the Mustang, the new electronic Mustang. [01:09:14] There is some good things to say about them. I love the technology myself. I prefer to have something that can go a long distance. I can't really have two or three cars right now. And they might make a nice little car. If I was commuting just a few miles or maybe if it was cheap enough, I would use it to run to the grocery store. [01:09:37] But looking at the cost of these vehicles like that, that Ford pickup truck fully maxed out, fully loaded. I looked it up. During the break it's $90,000. That's crazy money. And even though it starts at 40,000, well $39,999 95 cents. Even though it's a $40,000 start. That's a lot of money to pay for a car is especially with these batteries, there's next generation stuff coming out. [01:10:09] That's going to be just phenomenal. That's what I'm waiting for, but here's part of the problem. We're looking at electric vehicles and there's so many things to talk about, but electric vehicles do not pay the taxes that are used to construct our roads and maintain our bridges and our roads. [01:10:30] There is a per mile tax that is added on by the federal government and by the state governments. But it isn't computed as a per mile tax. It's computed as an add on to the price of gasoline and the price of diesel. What they're doing is they figure okay your fuel mileage may vary. And they had a big hit, of course, when fuel injectors came into cars, because they basically doubled the fuel mileage, but they say, okay, so the average car is getting 20 or maybe 25 miles a gallon and his pain anywhere from about 50 cents to a buck, a gallon in. [01:11:14] Road taxes and those road taxes are supposed to be used to build new roads, maintain existing roads and bridges by the states and by the feds. And again, that's a topic for another conversation. So how about electric cars? They're not buying gasoline, they're not buying diesel. So those vehicles are really putting a major dent in the road budget for the feds and the state government. [01:11:46] We've got states like California, Massachusetts, and New York who want to completely phase out any fossil fuel vehicles by 2035 and Washington state plans to follow the California rules and phase out sale of gas powered cars by 2035. But there's a huge hitch in those plans. How do you have these electric vehicles, including that Ford F-150 lightning hit the road? [01:12:18] Because gas sales will continue to decline along with the revenue from taxing them. It's a very big deal. So what do you do while there are some bills that have been moving in? All of those states had just named, including Massachusetts, where they're saying we need to charge people. Per mile when they're driving within our state, how do you do that? [01:12:48] Charging per mile means, how many miles they're traveling? You could certainly set up something like easy pass that covers the major highways, but the major highways are not where everyone's always driving. Think of the state routes we're on all of the time that have no toll ability. And of course, all of the side roads, how do you tax it while there are things that say maybe we use an easy pass type thing only on the bigger roads and we're charging by the mile. [01:13:21] That's just going to drive people off of those bigger roads that are meant for traffic onto the side streets. I've seen that happen before in my own town. There are other things that are being proposed that include having the car report on miles driven within a state. So the car would have to have GPS information would know when it has crossed state lines and then keep. [01:13:51] Tabs on how many miles it drove in the state and [01:13:55] then [01:13:56] Craig Peterson: [01:13:56] report that to the tax authority for you to be charged. How would that be to have at the end of the year, right? This additional tax burden based on how many miles you drove. Yeah, that would be a lot of fun. And then there are other proposals while we'll just look at all of the vehicles that are registered in our state. [01:14:16] So again, in mass it would be when you go in for that mandatory vehicle check every year at your birthday, we will read. Your car's mileage every year and we'll discharge you by the mile. They don't care if you drove up and down to Florida most of the year or out to Texas, or most of the year back and forth to California from mass. [01:14:40]All of that would be charged against you. So there are a lot of debates going on to try and figure it out. How can we make this work? The feds have a gas tax that hasn't changed since 1993. So the federal gas tax is 18. 0.40 cents per gallon. And then you have the state taxes and most states have increased their fuel taxes since 2010 to beginning to, to bring in more money and fix the roads. [01:15:15] But this is going to be difficult. Some states, including California, Hawaii, Minnesota, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia have implemented road, user fees. A lot of questions there. It's so easy to collect a gas tax. It's hidden away in the price of the gasoline. Are they just going to put an extra tax on electricity and say, the average home is using so many kilowatts for their cars and do it that way. [01:15:43] We really don't know. We just don't know. And our roads I think, are going to suffer until we figure that whole thing out. We've talked about some of these big hacks. And I was talking with a client this week about the whole solar winds hack. And where did it come from and what did they do? The solar winds hack. [01:16:07] It looks like came in through Microsoft exchange server. There are a lot of patches out there for exchange server. If you don't have it. Pay close attention, try and figure that whole thing out. Okay. It this is a very big deal, but these reasons, cyber security instances in incident are really a reminder to all of us that public and private sector entities are being attacked from nation state actors and these big cybercriminals, like what we were just talking about. [01:16:44] Here's our big question, who was behind the solar winds hack. Remember we talked about it here. The reports coming out of the federal government in the U S were, that was Russian intelligence was to be hunted it's Poot and blame Puente. Oh no. It's a Russian. Hacker gang, nothing to do with Putin. [01:17:06]Maybe Putin was, giving them a little bit of a nod, it was a Russian hacker guy, gang. Things have changed a little bit. They announced here, but Microsoft being there. Microsoft announced in March that a detected multiple zero day exploits being used to attack the exchange se

Uh...Sorry, folks. We didn't think anyone would listen to this episode, so there's no description for this one. Uhh...something something "Collateral Beauty". Please clap? Intro and Outro Music: "Bring It On Home to Me" by Sam Cooke Follow the show on Instagram: @bigwilliestylepodcast Follow us on Twitter: @CremeensKellin @skkkrtt

Jill Friday - We Have Hot Water! Starting my House Renovation (LA 1513) Transcript: Steven Butala: Steve and Jill, here. Jill K DeWit: Hello. Steven Butala: Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill K DeWit: And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from happening Paradise Valley, Arizona. It's happening because we are here now. Everyone- Steven Butala: It's- Jill K DeWit: Excuse me. Hold, please. I'm not done. All of you 80 year-olds that are listening that are my neighbors ... Just kidding. Watch out. There's new kids in town. There's a reason we're here. We have no HOA so we're going to have some rocking parties. Steven Butala: We're the young whippersnappers. Jill K DeWit: Yes, we are. Steven Butala: We're the ones who are going to create the noise in the state. Jill K DeWit: Oh, it's going to be good. Steven Butala: We're the Gatsbys. Jill K DeWit: Our neighbors are going to wish we had an HOA. Just kidding. "Paradise Valley Police Department. Yeah, yeah, we know. Jack and Jill? Uh-huh, we're on it." Just kidding. Steven Butala: Today's Jill Friday and she's going to talk about how we actually have hot water in this monstrosity of a mess of a house that we just bought and how we're starting- Jill K DeWit: How we're starting some renovations. Steven Butala: Jill's renovation, I call it. Jill K DeWit: I'd like to add, too ... Here's what realistically happened because this is what happened at the beach. When you call the police department you might get a voicemail because they're at our party. Steven Butala: That's true. Jill K DeWit: That really did happen at the beach. Steven Butala: That's true. Those guys are great. Jill K DeWit: So, just be prepared. Steven Butala: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on LandInvestors.com online community. It's free and if you're already a Land Academy member, join us on Discord. Jill K DeWit: Andrew W. wrote, "Hi, everyone. Question for you. We have a buyer who's interested in one of our properties and he wants to purchase but he stated they want to meet us, the owners, in person at the property to confirm before purchasing. Has anyone experienced this and know what to say or do? The property's out of state and if anything we could make the trip but wanted to see what others have done in the past. Thanks." Jill K DeWit: Well, one easy way to get out of it right now is play the COVID card like, "Oh, I can't. My wife won't go." Play the double whammy. "My wife is not into it and ..." What were you going to say? You're so serious right now. Steven Butala: I've done this ... Jill K DeWit: Have fun. Steven Butala: Here's why I'm serious, because this is a serious question. Jill K DeWit: Okay. I know that. You want me to answer? Because that's ... I believe it. I'm having fun but I wanted to lighten it up a little bit and [inaudible 00:02:30][crosstalk 00:02:30]- Steven Butala: I'm racking Jill's time. Jill K DeWit: And then I can reel it ... give a real. Steven Butala: This is not the first time. Jill K DeWit: You know what, Andrew. I accurately tell people I'm not there. I've had people say, "Are you going to show me around?" And I made a joke and I said, "Yeah, I'll leave a key under the mat," and then they didn't quite get it and I had to ... It's okay. The right people get it. But there's nothing wrong with that. You don't need to be there. You don't need to show the property. I'm just ... You have a lot to say. I can tell you're holding back. Steven Butala: I don't have a lot to say. Jill K DeWit: I'm honest about it. Steven Butala: I've three or four sentences. I've done this a handful of times and every single time it's a mess. Jill K DeWit: You show up there? Steven Butala: Yeah. Jill K DeWit: Oh, I've never done that. Steven Butala: And here's what I've ... This is way early in my career because we were dying for sales and it was never ...

Today’s word of the day is ‘catalog’ as in an organized collection of things as in Josh Donaldson says he’s going to put together a catalog of how every pitcher cheats. Why would he do this? Who’s he going to expose? The Houston Astros? Trevor Bauer? (9:40) The worst play in MLB history happened yesterday. The Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman’s brain absolutely melted. Cubs Javy Baez made a play that broke first baseman Will Craig’s brain. Unreal. (17:22) NPPOD. (24:20) Review: Friends Reunion. (28:40) Let’s talk about the Super League. The disaster that was. This weekend is the Champion’s League final in Lisbon. Manchester City vs Chelsea. It looks like UEFA want to ban Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Juventus for next season’s competition. Uh oh. (34:20) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Noah Syndergaard has had a setback in his attempt to return from Tommy John surgery. The problem with not only his current health is the timing of it… Syndergaard is a free agent this offseason. (43:40) Naomi Osaka penned an open letter about why she won’t be meeting the media during the French Open. She spoke about her mental health and the pain the she goes through during these media sessions, and the questions they ask.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tune in now and don't forget to sign up for www.solciety.co! Speaker 1 (00:03):Welcome to the Solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong and went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in a year and cracking the code on why sales reps fail. online teach you to avoid the mistakes I made and bringing the top solar dogs, the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, falling up like a pro and closing more deals. What is a Solarpreneur you might ask a Solarpreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery. And you are about to become one what's up Solarpreneurs.Speaker 2 (00:43):We are back. We are alive from door to door Fest here in Dallas, Texas, and I'm stoked today because not too often, do we get to do a live interview like this. And we have got the man the myth, the legend river Skinner on today. So river, thanks for coming on the show. Excited to have you.Speaker 3 (01:00):Yeah. I'm excited that we do get to do it live because I think you've missed kind of like a element. Yeah,Speaker 2 (01:06):I know. I love it. It's cool. I've never done one from my hotel room, so nice stuff offSpeaker 3 (01:11):View of unmade beds, you know?Speaker 2 (01:15):Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. My dirty clothes are sitting right behind, uh, you know, the mic, the camera here. So don't mind that if we don't get in the S what he smells there, did a few workouts. So if you smell smoky clothes, that's mere river, but I can handle it for 45 minutes. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I'm excited to be here. So river, we just heard you speak here at door to door Fest and you gave an awesome talk on recruiting. We'll dive into that. And you're here in Texas. So we want to hear all those things our listeners want to know, but yeah. Do you want to kind of share maybe how you got into solar and your story with that? Yeah.Speaker 3 (01:50):Um, I I've always been into sales. I grew up, you know, eight years old. My dad will actually, you know, my dad, my whole life owned produce stands, and he's paying me $3 an hour to work at the produce stands. And he ended up telling him, he's like, Hey, listen, I can pay three bucks an hour. Or if you sell watermelons for me, I'll pay you 50 cents a watermelon. I'm like sweet. So every person that came through the door, I came through the door, but came into the sh into the produce stand I'd, sell them watermelons, make 50 cents a pop. And I was making more off my commission than I was on my hourly pay. I'm like, this is awesome. So, anyway, so I got recruited into door-to-door from one of my dad's other employees named Aaron, Aaron invited me to go satellite with him.Speaker 3 (02:33):And I went and sold satellite with him. Um, that summer, the summer I graduated, um, that following year, no two years later, uh, one of my good friends, um, just was like, dude, why are you not selling solar yet? I'm like, I don't know. Um, so I started recruiting. I got recruited in Utah to sell solar sold solar for a month. I sold eight deals my first month. And, um, back then I, that was like 10 grand or something. And I was like, ecstatic. I was like, oh my gosh, I just made 10 grand in a month. Um, I wasn't making good money previously, um, in door to door. So like, for me, that was like, awesome. And I just fell in love with the product. Uh,Speaker 2 (03:15):That's awesome. I know it's, especially in Utah, it's, uh, I got out of Utah, so scared of selling all the, you know, Mormons and stuff out there, and they're intimidating, but you know, lower rates. So I'm in California, but yeah. Have you been with someone and you died, you feel like, and I know now you're in Texas. What, what do you feel like the differences are between the markets you've like gets pretty similar to, I haven't experienced both Margaret. Um,Speaker 3 (03:43):I think Texas is unique in the sense that, you know, it's deregulated and, and, and a lot of the utilities they're deregulated. Some of them are co-ops where it's just one utility. So it's really different in the sense, like, you don't know, like, Hey, you're not with SDG and E you're not with Rocky mountain power. You could be with one of a thousand different power companies. And so they could be paying 8 cents a kilowatt hour to 22 cents a kilowatt hour. And you have no idea until you collect their power bill. And so that's something that's really unique to Texas is that you're kind of like Easter egg hunting. It's like, Hey, it may be a super sexy prop, or it may not be, um, you know, comparative to Utah, but, you know, Utah, I think, I think there's great. I grew, I started selling in Utah and I sold them Boise where rates are even cheaper than Utah. And so I've never been to a market like California, where, you know, you're showing people these crazy savings. I've just never, I don't even know what that's like. And so Texas,Speaker 2 (04:37):Anytime my friend, thank you.Speaker 3 (04:39):So Texas is, you know, if they have a large bill, great. If they're not paying anything, that's fine too. I'm used to some people with low rates. Um, but at this have a higher rate than great. Yeah. So that's awesome.Speaker 2 (04:51):So, yeah, I'm sure we'll talk more about that, but yeah, what I really wanted to hear, so river, you, um, you won the, the boot camp, they were doing the knock star bootcamp, right? You were at a winner for your group. Yeah. And so for our Solarpreneurs that don't know, um, knock star, if you guys haven't checked them out, they do great trainings. We're at the conference right now. And they have a bootcamp that they do, um, think three or four times a year or something like that. And then they have a tournament that goes on, may do just kind of head to head. They put you in teams and they pick a winner that sells the most during the, uh, six week competition. So river, he won his competition. How many deals did you do in that, those six weeks orSpeaker 3 (05:31):Honestly, it wasn't like that crazy amount. I think it was like 13 or 14 deals in that amount of time. But, um, during that I sold them all out, you know, out of those 14 or whatever nine of them were in one day. Um, and so that was cool. I just didn't workSpeaker 2 (05:47):As hard as I could. They saved all your, your work for that weekend. Yeah.Speaker 3 (05:51):So, um, yeah. Was like 13, 14 deals. It was kind of in this time period where the net metering just changed in Utah. And I was like, ah, I don't, you know, I just kind of put my, I put my feet up, you know,Speaker 2 (06:03):Well, that's incredible nine deals in a day. And I remember when that happens, that's actually when I first hit river up to do a podcast, cause everyone was posting about it. Um, you know, a super crazy number nine deals in a day. My record was four in a day. So I'm like, wow, this kid did more than double what I did in a single day. He's gotta be on some sort of sales steroids or something like that. That'sSpeaker 3 (06:27):A skill that I, I was thinking in my brain the way I think I'm like what I see people doing when people do something amazing, it gets people really attracted to them. Right. And it's really good for recruiting because you establish yourself as an expert. So I started asking myself, what could I do that when people would start giving me more credibility? So people would trust me to come and work with me. Um, it was for, as for recruiting and as I was like, I could do, you know, try to do 50 deals in a month. I could start to do this or that. And honestly, I messaged Sam Taggart and I was like, Hey, what's the record for like the most in a day. And he's like seven, I'm like, sweet. I'm gonna make it. I'm going to do double-digit solar one day. No one's ever done it.Speaker 3 (07:07):And I know someone has, we'll get into it, but, um, I'll sweet. He said seven, I'm gonna do 10. And that's my goal. And so I started realizing like, cool, how am I going to do this? And it's I sort of asking myself that question. Um, and so I'm like easy. I'm just going to set up one Saturday, just as much as I can. And so I started just asking people like, Hey, would you mind doing a 7:00 AM appointment? And in my mind prior to that, I would never have asked that I might call 7:00 AM, boom, seven, 10, 11. So I had an, I had an appointment every hour on the hour from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Wow. And that's the real trick. The solar, in my opinion. Yeah. Closing solar is easy, right? As long as you follow the process, you can enter the homeowner.Speaker 3 (07:47):They trust you. Uh, you answer questions, you know, how to, how to, um, rebuttal to, to the basic objections. What if I move, what happens to my roof, et cetera, it really all just comes down to opportunities, right? So the real challenge of closing 10, nine deals on a day, wasn't the closing part. It was getting in front of the homeowners. And if you get enough in front of enough homeowners, then the new close you'll close a high volume. That, that in my opinion is the real, the real trick to solar is just getting in front of homeowners that are interested in the product. And so that's, that's what I went out and did you know? It was really crazy for me. I closed, like it was like seven, eight, nine, 10, no, seven, no showed closed. My eight, 8:00 AM closed by 9:00 AM, closed by 10, 10:00 AM close by like 11:00 AM.Speaker 3 (08:32):And I heard back, I wasn't keeping up with the appointments then sort of picking and choosing which appointments were the best. Yeah. Um, anyway, so I had like seven by like two, 2:00 PM. And then I got caught up with a few customers, but long story short, I was at eight and, um, I had one other opportunity left and I went to her house, she there. And so I called her and she was like, Hey, she texted me. She came at a party. I'm like, how long is the party? She'll be back at midnight. I'm like, cool. I'll be at your house at midnight. She's like, perfect. So I went to my last appointment at midnight, ended up talking to her husband and close the last one. And at 1:00 AM is when we finished up documents, five of the nine got installed. I've heard some people talking crap. Like all of them canceled only four, four out of the nine. So, but you know, for me, I went back and you know, for me, I just realized like, wow, you can really do a lot in one day. If you put your mind to it, I later found out there's people that close, you know, 17, 18. And that, that boggles my mind because literally there's no more time in a day in my opinion. Um, but it was cool. Yeah. WellSpeaker 2 (09:41):That's incredible. And no, it's, it's kinda like you hear the guy who broke the four minute mile or whatever everyone thinks these things can't be done, but then when you hear someone do it, it's like, yeah, that guy, right. It is possible. And someone's going to go and do the next thing. Right. So I'm sure you got a lot of people gunning for you and yeah. I've heard people, you know, closing more. We got a Ashton Bushworth. Don't know if you heard of him, but yeah. Let's do a podcast. Yeah. He closed, I guess. I think it was 22. I think he too. Yeah. So he claimed that it's probably true, but yeah, he had everyone lined up, I guess just like doc, obviously you can't be in that many appointments in a day, but yeah. I think you just set up something similar where it's like, okay, everyone signed the documents, you know, at 12 o'clock on a Saturday. Right, right. Yeah. But still it's like crazy. The amount of preparation it takes for that. And commitments and 7:00 AM till 1:00 AM. Yes. And the thingSpeaker 3 (10:33):That I realized from that, and I think that I actually got a lot from KnockStar was you can, you, you can get a lot more deals than you think, and you can get a lot more than you think by asking certain questions. I think we stop. I think I stopped coming up with solutions a lot of times when I'm not committed enough to getting the results. So like my first customer, um, the, uh, what was the last names of Bradford's? Um, the Bradford's they messaged me and said, Hey, don't come over. We're not interested. Well, I already talked to them and I said, Hey, I want coffee for my ADA. It was at 8:00 AM. Hey, want to come back and want some coffee? So I had some coffee ready for me. And she texts me and said, Hey, I'm not interested anymore. I said, okay, that's fine.Speaker 3 (11:14):But I still want my coffee. And um, she's like, oh, I'm not ready. I'm like, well, I'm at your door. And I was just texting her. And then she came in, opened up the door and then I got into the home and closed it. Whereas prior I would have just been like, whatever canceled appointment, just wrote it up as not closed. Yeah. Same thing with, um, another appointment, that one, uh, you know, I was supposed to be there at 10:00 PM. I went there. She wasn't there. I asked to come back at midnight. People will do a lot more than you think if you just ask. Um, and I think a lot of times we give up too early and closes, although this wasn't a great story, I would have had 10, but I sat in this guy's home for three hours. I literally tried probably 20 different clothes on this guy.Speaker 3 (11:57):And he never told me no, he just was like, he just kept on saying, I dunno, you know, that sort of language. I just kept on going and going and going and going. And, um, you know, but I ended up closing him. But what I did learn was like, you can get a lot more people than you think you can, if you just continue to go and continue to move forward, instead of just being like, oh, there's an objection. Okay. No worries. And then you edit out. I think that's what I do. Sometimes I give up too early. I think some people give up too early as well. When really when they meet resistance, it's an opportunity to move forward. Yeah.Speaker 2 (12:30):And I love that you like set it up on a day too. I'm sure. Just having it all set up. You already decided, okay, I'm going to hit the nine. And then it's like, whatever, I didn't hit it.Speaker 3 (12:41):I had a failed credit and I had that dude, like, I was like, pull my hair out frustrated. I'm like, dude, just do it. That was my last closes. I'm like, I'm like, let's just do it. Like, let's just do it anyway. Close. Raise my hand. Well, I don't know. I know you don't know, but let's do it anyway. I just was like, I don't know what else to say.Speaker 2 (13:00):I mean, you're trying to break the record. So I imagine you probably had a few closes where it's like, look, I'm in a competition, but you helped me like close. Did you pull out that one to pull out the contract?Speaker 3 (13:10):I did it as a pre-frame. I just said, Hey, you know, I, I have a goal. Um, I've never done more than three in a day today. What we're gonna do is we're helping 10 homeowners move forward today in order to do that, um, I have some extra incentives for you guys to make it worthwhile, to help you move forward today. Um, to help you guys out for you guys helping me out. So at the end of this, we're gonna get everything moving forward. Does that sound fair enough to you? And it gave a logical reason, although I really didn't offer them anything additional. Um, they, in their mind, they're thinking, well, I'm getting a better deal than I normally would have for X reasons. Yeah.Speaker 2 (13:44):Cause it's crazy. I've started using that. And I mean, obviously we're not always in a competition, but if you bring that up with homeowners, say, look, we're trying to help as many people as possible. Um, in a way you're not lying to them, but you know, I'm trying to beat my record, trying to help this many homeowners have a personal goal. It's like, if you can get that emotional of all evolves, then sure you saw him that day. It really helps a lot. You're more motivated than people see. It's like, oh, this kid's really trying to help a lot of people trying to win the trip to Hawaii. I remember when I won my first like big competition that was like every close, like, Hey, will you help me win a trip trip to Hawaii? I'll send you a picture when I'm there. We please help me.Speaker 2 (14:22):And like, boom, boom, boom. People love when they're like on your side of the team. Right? Grant Cardone has that close. Like, come on, be my superstar. If you're going to be my superstar today. Right. Sign here. I love that though. I love that. Yeah. But no, a ton of respect for what you did, obviously, you know, top, top a 1% top would probably 0.0, zero one that have done what you've done. So well, thank you. Super impressive. Um, and so river, you gave an awesome kind of talk the other day here at door-to-door Fest about recruiting. And I like what you're saying, how you did something big to kind of boost your recruiting. So tell me about your results. Did you have a, I don't know, an influx or recruit recruits come in after I did this big, I can'tSpeaker 3 (15:09):Tell you how many recruits I got, but I can tell you, I, I literally, my DMS was like 60 people, just people, people cheer, like people are genuinely good. Like I didn't break an industry record. Like I thought I did, but people still were like, wow, that was impressive. And they wanted to cheer, cheer me on. People want to cheer you on too. So when you do something like that, people are like, wow, that's awesome. And so I just connect with a lot of people and you know, my, I kind of track how many people are looking at my stories. And that day, usually it's like seven, 800 people a day that they, it was like 2000 people, 2000 people, every single story we were just watching. And so that was really, really cool. But the thing that I believe about recruiting is it's not about, um, it's not about saying the perfect thing I used to think.Speaker 3 (15:54):It was always about like, what's the perfect line to say, what's the perfect this or that really what I found with recruiting is it's more of a networking than poaching. Like people look at it as like, I'm going to get this person. I'm gonna get this person. Instead. What I look at it as is like, how can I connect with that person? And how can I become their friend? How can I build a relationship with that person? And my goal isn't to recruit you. My goal is I have an, I have an abundance mindset. I think that's the best way to live. There's so many people out there that are wanting to come work for me. There's so many people out there that want to have solar on the roof from me. Um, so I don't need to get caught up on one person, one customer, whatever, like they cancel.Speaker 3 (16:31):If they don't go through this recruit, doesn't want to come on, no big deal. There's tons of other people that come on that want to come on. Um, I just want to connect with those recruits and I want them to win. And so if at some point me becoming their friend means that they're open to coming, working here. Great. But either way, what I want to do is I want to establish myself as an authority and I want them to feel comfortable going to me for help, and I can go out there to assist them. So I have four or five people I can think of right now that are messaging me through Facebook or Instagram that are out there selling pest control or different products or solar. And they're like, Hey, how would you overcome this? How would you do this? I'm struggling with this. And I just give them free advice. And maybe we get to work together someday, but more, I'm just trying to build my network and build myself as somebody that's truly wants to give value because money follows value. And I know if I continue to push value out that eventually the money will return and the re and the recruits will come. Um, because I'm building my, um, what's the word reputation. Hopefully, hopefully a good reputation as well. I like to think so for sure.Speaker 2 (17:38):And I love that in your, um, yeah. Your talk the other day, you just talked about be the person that you would want to, um, like have people look up to you basically. I can't remember how you phrased, but basically become that person that people would look at first before you try to recruit, because if you're not producing at a high level, if you're just, you know, if you're barely working yourself, then why would people want to come work with you? Right.Speaker 3 (18:03):It's it's like you write, like you use all the hut. You just told me 150 deals in a year. Like that's insane. Um, so like, people will want to work with you because you, they know that you can lead them to where you've gotten, right? It's not some secret that you sold 150. You're amazing. But what you could do is you could teach somebody the same way to be amazing, just the way that you are. And so now you have credibility. And so what I believe is when the is ready, the recruits will come. So now it's like, cool. The leaders now ready? Like you now know how to teach somebody to get where you're at, because you've gone where they want to go. And so the first step is always developing yourself to be a person that other people want to follow you follow, and then you'll start to see you'll, you'll naturally start to find more opportunities to recruit when you're, when you're a better leader. Yeah. I loveSpeaker 2 (18:51):That. So do you have, like, was there a time when it like shifted for you? Like in the beginning? I mean, I'm sure you were always like this, but yeah. I mean, did you have a big shift where you started seeing tons more recruits come in or any, like, I don't know, changes and, and you may notSpeaker 3 (19:05):Like this because of your pod, your podcast. So forgive me. But, um, I, I went to Thailand and, um, I was, I was in 2016 and I was kind of depressed. I kind of always like asking about getting out of sales. Like maybe I can't do this. And, um, I actually took mushrooms for the first time, and this is why you might like it. But, um, I took those and what that did was it gave me a perspective and the perspective was, I looked at myself and I S and I said, why do I, why do I look at myself in such a, a small way? Why do I look at myself and think I'm not good? Why do I look at myself and think I'm sad? Why do I have this perspective, um, of the world and of myself? And when I, and I was like, that's really not serving me.Speaker 3 (19:52):And it really flipped my PR perspective to be like the only reason why I am insecure. The only reason why I am depressed or sad is because I'm choosing to look at life that way. And so when I got done with that experience, which I look at mushrooms as more of like a, uh, a medicine than a drug, when I got done with that medicine, I felt healed. And I, my perspective switched. And that's when I, when I got home from Thailand, I moved to Boise, Idaho, which that I believe that people have these, we're talking about it at the panel. People have these growth spurts, and it's usually over a three month period. And that was when I've truly, I came back to Boise and all of a sudden it was like, boom, I started getting recruits. I started selling more than I ever had. I started the team sort of doing better than I ever had. And, um, it was just crazy. And so that, uh, thatSpeaker 2 (20:46):Awesome shift, so moral of the podcast, do yourself a favor, get some shrooms in, if you feel called to do that, like makes you like see outside yourself and the effect that it, that itSpeaker 3 (21:01):Gives you, but more than anything, it's not like you need something external to do that, but more, it was, I got, I got, that was the way for me to start believing in myself. And when I started believing in myself, that's when, when better things are to happen. Yeah.Speaker 2 (21:15):That's awesome. Yeah. He almost had me convinced I need to try shrooms, but I'm sure there's other ways. Yeah, absolutely not. Yeah. But no, that's awesome. And so, um, yeah. What are, as far as like recruits, how many people would you say you've like personally recruited or contributed to? Do you have a stat on that?Speaker 3 (21:34):I don't have stats. I'd say, you know, a couple hundred, um, I'd say personally, um, you know, there's, I worked with some great people like Jess Regan. Um, he recruited a lot of people for our organization. Um, over the past year, we, you know, but my team that's recruited a lot of people as in a lot, you know, over the past year, probably 450 people have been recruited organization, but that's not just me. Um, that's just from our whole team's effort, but personally like personal recruits over the past couple of years, couple of hundred, um, you know, some still work for me, some don't, um, by recruited a few people. Yeah. Yeah. But that's what I love about recruiting is I, like I said, I don't care if you work for me or not. I just hope that in some way, in some way that if I did get to work with somebody that when they leave my organization or if, if we no longer work together that they can say I had a positive impact on them.Speaker 3 (22:33):Um, you know, there's people that I can think of that have gone off to do awesome things are in great spots of life. And I like to think that hopefully I had some sort of positive impact on their life. And that's why like to recruit is because I believe if they come work for me, that there'll be put in a better position than they were before. Um, if that's not true that I don't want to recruit them. And, um, that's why I love recruiting is because it's an opportunity to help change people's lives. So it, you know, and I don't know exact stats on my recruiting. I have, I have no idea. It could be 150 people. It could be 300, but yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Tough toSpeaker 2 (23:09):Say. I mean, social media, you've pride. Lots of people you've maybe brought in indirectly and stuff like that.Speaker 3 (23:15):And I actually, you know, kind of going back to it, I don't think I'm the best recruiter. I do think I'm a great networker though. I do think I'm a great networker, but I don't think I'm the best recruiter. Um, but I do know that networking over time is what's going to pay off. It's more a long-term thing than a short term thing. Yeah.Speaker 2 (23:31):And I think the abundance mindset you have, that's one of the things I admire the most about what you're seeing is because there's so many reps, I'm sure you've been approached by people like, Hey bro, what's your red line? How much you make them per deal. I, in fact, I was in an, just like a month ago and this punk kid comes up. He's like, Hey, what are you doing on my turf? He's like knocking. I'm like, I've been here for a couple of weeks. Just, you know, getting some customers he's I gotta get that outta here. You don't even, you make trash and like stars in thinking he trying to like recruit me by like, say, I'm like, dude, do you think that that's gonna make me want to come work with you? Like, yeah, I can tack you mean saying, yeah. I mean,Speaker 3 (24:11):I think with recruiting, you gotta be, I mean, that's just a scarcity mindset, right? There's a limited amount of people in this neighborhood. Dude. How many times have you been through a neighborhood after another solar rep? And if you close deals in that neighborhood all the time, I've been to neighborhoods where people have come behind me and they've closed deals that I couldn't have. Like there's always going to be more homeowners. There's always going to be enough roofs. But when it comes to recruiting, timing is everything. And you never know when the timing is right. So if he would have approached you and said, Hey man, how's it going for you? Good. That's awesome. I've been in here. Just barely gotten here. Have you been in here for awhile? Sweet. I'm stepping on your toes. I can go find another turf. Okay. Okay, cool. Um, you know, this is what I've noticed in this neighborhood.Speaker 3 (24:50):You might like some of this, let me follow you on Instagram. You seem like a cool dude. And then you start talking to each other and you start communicating for the next three or four months. Let's say you're in a bad position with where you're at, which I'm not sh I'm sure you're not, but maybe you are. And then he helped you out in some way. He was cool to you. You're way more likely to go to him to talk about the opportunity he may have offered you then being like, you know, yeah. Being a Dick,Speaker 2 (25:17):Like, no. Yeah, no, that's you and you never know. It's like, like you said, maybe they have a pay issue. Maybe their company doesn't pay him like a year down the road or something happened. Maybe their company goes out of business and then who are they going to go to? They're going to go to the people who like cheer them on, who hit them up on social media, which I know you're talking about too. Just, you know, connecting with guys and networking. Like you're saying she has been huge for you, but yeah. Um, I want to hear a little bit about like the social media, uh, speaking of that, can you talk about just kind of what your, how you connect with people on social media and how you, um, I dunno, maybe strategies for guys who want to get better at the networking part on social media, because I'm not good at that. So yeah.Speaker 3 (25:59):I think one just being real and being vulnerable, right? Like sharing, sharing your things that you're, you're struggling with, right? Like you don't have to throw up on people, but just sharing your story, you know, Hey, I, I, I, I had depression growing up, you know, one thing for me, I grew up and I was on Zoloft. I was on antidepressants growing up, um, you know, struggle with that. I've struggled with, with being insecure. And when I share that part of me, there's other people out there that have dealt with the same thing and it makes me connect with them. And so by actually sharing your story and doesn't always to be sad, it can just be like documenting the journey. People will connect with you more, um, and sharing the good and the bad. And the next thing is spending time networking. And so I do what I do every day is I spend actually let me rephrase that.Speaker 3 (26:47):I used to do it a lot more. I can be better at it. I do a hundred touches on social media day, meaning that I, I talk to, or communicate with a hundred people a day, whether that's just sliding up in their DMS and just congratulating them. If it's a quick response of like, I see someone sell a deal, I'll just swipe, swipe up and say, nice job, brother. Um, you know, if I see somebody that, you know, whatever, I'll just find a way to connect. Just little comments, a little comments, I'll just talk to them and, um, just communicate with them. And then what I'll do is I'll just go find people that I'm interested in, in networking with and I'll follow them and I'll just start cheering them on, you know, over time, I'll just, you know, start to get to know them, sort to ask them questions, maybe take a video of myself, send them a video of me telling them, you know, what I'm grateful for about them.Speaker 3 (27:32):What I see in them, what what's powerful about them just spending time investing in other people, like just, just constantly be outpouring, love, gratitude, appreciation, value, and give out all of that for free, give out all your tips and secrets. If anybody wants to know, you know, anything I do that has got me to be, you know, somewhat, I feel like successful, at least I'm, I, I feel like I'm in a decent position and I have a long ways to go. I'm an open book and I want to give that to everybody because I believe the more I give out the law of reciprocation is going to give me back that tenfold. And so, you know, that's kinda my goal with social is how can I just give more out to the marketplace? Hmm.Speaker 2 (28:11):Yeah. It's sweet. Yeah. We just got, had the, uh, Mr. Thank you. You spoke here at door-to-door fists. Want to get him on too, but writes down, you know, five, thank you cards a day for a year. Yeah. And it's like, you don't have to be that extreme, but I mean, you did kind of your version of that on social media, I think, or that's what you've been doing.Speaker 3 (28:29):One of my, what I call them DMO daily method of operations. Um, you know, I believe in routines, I believe in a morning routine, very strongly, you know, work out every day, drink a gallon of water a day, re read, read a book every day. Um, meditate every day. Um, gratitude journal every day. But one thing that I've been working on is sending three people, a text message or a message every day of why I love them and why I'm grateful for them. Awesome. And, um, it could be anybody, like I mentioned, will Smith the other day will Smith. Is he going to respond to me? Maybe not, but if I send three texts a day, I got this from Jessie yet. So if I sent three text messages a day, that's 300, that's almost a thousand a year over the next 10 years. That's 10,000 messages.Speaker 3 (29:12):If I send 10,000 messages out over the next 10 years, do you think that one, one person liked will Smith would respond to me maybe? Right. And I made a connection with somebody I normally wouldn't have. Or you messaged somebody. He, Jesse talks about that. You have three things you consult, you congratulate, or what was the third one you can salt based or you can soul meaning if somebody has something that, um, or compliment, I was the third one. Okay. So consult, like somebody lost somebody in their family, something happened, you send them a message of con you know, consoling them hate, you know, I know you're going through a hard time. I just want to let you know. I love you. And I appreciate you. Um, and I'm here for you. If you need anything, you know, I'm thinking about you consoling, complementing, Hey, you know, I was thinking about you.Speaker 3 (29:59):One thing that I think you're really good at is I think, you know, specifically you, I think you're very, very sincere and you're very genuine, but more than that, you're a really good listener. And you're very, very attentive, which I love that about you. Right? So if you can make compliment somebody every day, that's awesome. Or you can congratulate somebody, Hey, I just saw that you, um, closed 10 deals this week. Congratulations. And that shows a lot about you. I just wanna let you know, I watching you, I'm seeing, you know, I'm rooting for you or whatever, right. But console congratulate or compliment. And you do that three times to three people. You can just open up your phone, go to your contacts list and just start scrolling through people until you feel someone that's on your heart. Boom. And then you can just record a video type out a message, whatever, but it takes what, five minutes, a day.Speaker 3 (30:47):Super easy to do. Super easy. Not to do, but once again, I'm a networker, not a recruiter. And then boom. Yeah. Or go, just go through your messages on Instagram or on your phone. Just scroll to the bottom who haven't talked to in two years. Okay. Boom. You know, you still love them. You still used to like them. I just haven't talked to you in two years, so, boom. Hey buddy. I know I haven't talked in a while. I know we're not super close friends, but I do want you to know, I I'm thinking about you and blah, blah, blah. Right. Just making touches every day.Speaker 2 (31:16):I love that. That's awesome. And yeah. Think of every solar person did that. If every solar printer did that, that'd be crazy. I mean, we'd be getting more deals for sure. Because yeah. I mean, think of even just from a sales perspective perspective, if you're doing that, I bet you get at least a few people you're being like, Hey, what do you do by the way? Yeah. Can you get me some solar panels? I mean, that's a side effect, but even besides that, it's like, you're not trying to recruit every person, but how many recruits have you gotten by doing stuff like that? Probably dozens, same thing with cells. Um, yeah, I think that's a huge key in anything we're doing, just having that mindsets and not looking for their award, but just doing it anyways. And then, you know, karma results are going to fall and to have success. So yeah. That's super cool. You're doing that. Yeah. That she got trained by Parker winder, right? Yeah.Speaker 3 (32:05):He had a conversation with me like four years ago, a long time ago and he taught me something, you know, be highly intentional, but lowly attached that always touched. Did he teach you that? I think he did. He's talking about my quadrant. So anyway, I, you know, I think that's how it is with life. Like, you know, just expect everything you want in your life, as long as you're putting in the work and you're being that person that will come. You just don't know when. Yeah. But so I'm highly intentional, but I'm lowly attached and you don't know, you don't know if that's going to be the customer that's going to buy. You don't care either way. You're not controlled if they choose to choose to buy or choose not to buy, but you are highly intentional and going into it and just live in a space of like, you, you trust God, you trust the universe, whatever you believe in that, what you want will come eventually, as long as you're doing the right thing. Nice.Speaker 2 (32:53):Yeah. It's money. Boom. See, I take note of that. Um, said money tip right there. Um, but I wanted to ask you too, um, river, do you have, like when you're reaching out to people, something that's, um, is tough for me on the social media thing is just, I get distracted, super easy ADT start wasting time on the social media and um, you know, end up just watching cat videos. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. So for you, when you're doing all the, obviously we know social media is good for all these things reaching out to guys, did you have like a set schedule or are you doing it? I know you're probably doing it intentional, but what's your kind of process as you go on social media and not get like distracted and actually have intention. When you're on social media, I spendSpeaker 3 (33:36):So much time on my phone and it's not good. Um, so a lot of is I'm just strolling and I'm just watching people's stuff like not being intentional. And I just naturally will. I'll just naturally at the end of the video, I'll just type something on that. Mainly at stories. Yeah. Um, but no, like when I do it intentionally, it would be, I do my morning routine and then I'll after a morning routine I'll send and then I'll, then I'll get my phone after I've done my stuff and then I'll get my phone, open it up. Then I'll send the text messages, then I'll do the a hundred reaches, like reaching out when I'm doing it optimally, but I'm not as consistent. Yeah. Well,Speaker 2 (34:10):Yeah. I'm glad you struggle with it too. Not just me.Speaker 3 (34:13):It literally knows exactly what you want to see. It, it knows. I want to watch golf videos, fighting videos and motorcross videos and success videos. Those are like the four thing. It's like all of that. And I'm just like, oh, this is so entertaining.Speaker 2 (34:27):Oh no, they hate it. Um, yeah. So, no, I think that's key though. I was trying to be intentional, obviously easier said than done. Yeah. Um, but yeah. The other thing you talked about too in your presentation is just, um, I know he had the top golf story, recruiting guys at top golf the other day. How much of what you do? Are you like constantly as you're out just doing, I don't know, bowling activities, are you always looking for guys to recruit or do you have kind of like a set thing you try to do when you see all these guys could be good? Yeah, I can,Speaker 3 (34:57):I can be better at it. You know, Taylor McCarthy says, you know, you don't go anywhere to recruit you, recruit everywhere you go. Um, and for me it's more of, I'm not like that's not what I'm searching out. Like, you know, people that are do MLMs. Yeah. My, my, my dad is, that's what he does for, he has a produce stand and he does MLM. So I have a lot of respect for that, but I also get the, um, the NFL, the no friends league with MLM where it's like constantly, Hey, how you doing? Cool. Well, guess what? You can make $7 million tomorrow. If you get three friends, I get eight friends, but you have to be one of my friends, I sign up and it's just like, you're always looking for the pitch. Um, I just more as I go throughout my day, if I see someone open up the opportunity, Hey, it seems like, you know, this is a really good line for recruiting than I learned from Taylor.Speaker 3 (35:41):Um, he's, you know, Hey, especially like, let's say it's a waiter, let's say it's someone that's not really in a high level position. Hey, you seem to be really good at your job. You know, you're like I was at, um, four seasons and the person that was cleaning my cup clubs, I said, Hey, you seem to be really good at this. Um, is this a career for you? And obviously no, either like, no, it's not my okay. Cause you would do really, really well at what I do. And then you kind of pause really? What do you do? Well, I basically do the same thing that you do. I just serve people and I talk to people. Um, but I just get paid a ton of money for it. You know, I, our company actually just got off a hiring freeze. I can't, I, you know, I couldn't promise you a job, but I could get you an interview. Uh, I could promise you to interview. If I got you an interview, would you show up? That's like a great word track that Taylor taught me that I use quite a few times. Copy and paste word for word it's the money line. And I didn't create that. I just, I just, I just learned from everybody and try to try to take what works for the people and apply it.Speaker 2 (36:48):Yeah. Well that's Moneyline and yeah, I don't know if we mentioned it, but you won, um, what was the best recruiter at door to con but would've by the people, the people. Yeah. OnceSpeaker 3 (36:58):Again, you know, I don't think I'm the best recruiter. I just think I have influence in social media. So I got voted the most.Speaker 2 (37:04):Yeah. Well, and that just shows the influence you have, like, even if you're not people still recognize you and you have the amount of influence that. Yeah. It was good for seeing the results. Cool. So, yeah. Um, yeah, you know, your stuff and obviously you've had a ton of success. Um, so yeah, we appreciate you all the stuff you've shared river. Um, and then last thing I wanted to ask you just like in Texas, um, or yeah, you had the story about the guys at top golf that you recruited the other day. How, how big have you grown in your, um, um, you told a really cool kind of story about your transition from Utah to Texas, just kind of the struggles you, um, you went through and I know there's a whole, um, thing that changed in Utah with the net metering. So for our Solarpreneurs, can you kind of tell that story? Just, um, we like to hear about, you know, the failures, the struggles, and obviously that sounded super tight.Speaker 3 (38:00):So the net metering changed in Utah and long story short, we went on a blitz while we're trying to figure out a solution. We went in that blitz and Boise came back, thought we had a solution last minute we found out we didn't and there was a meeting. And, you know, I basically, we basically, you know, I, I basically didn't do a good job, um, in that meeting, leading those people, which led to a few of our main leaders, uh, in Utah leaving, uh, which led to about 75 people leaving the company over the past. That was pretty much starting in December from December, like April, we went from like 160 reps to like 75 reps and keep in mind we were recruiting people through that time period. So we will ask them a lot more than just the one 60 to 75. It was like, we probably lost like 80, 90 people.Speaker 3 (38:51):And then we were still recruiting people at, does that make sense? Um, and so we just lost a ton of people and, uh, you know, it, it, it literally brought me to like a place of like, man, I, I should not be, I should not be in leadership. This, this sucks. This is, and a lot of people that are very close to me left and, um, yeah, it was very emotional. And so the thing that I, uh, you know, I learned from that was one to be upfront and honest when you don't have a solution, because I pretend like I didn't feel like we were fine. The second thing is, is when there were, we pretend like we had a solution, I told everybody else to go and sell. It's going to be fine. You're gonna love it. And I, I was like, it was during that time I was kicking my feet up.Speaker 3 (39:32):And during that competition, I was because I shouldn't worry about it. I don't want to have to deal with the new net metering and have to learn it. So I was just like, put my feet up. So the thing at the second thing I learned is I need to do so if I'm going to ask someone else to do something hard, I need to be right there beside them and doing it with them. Um, and there's many more lessons I've learned, but what I'm grateful for is where we're going. We want to have a thousand reps and where we're at today. And the lessons that I've learned from that is gonna help me become the leader that can lead a thousand reps that I may not have learned without that, without that lesson. And so it's, it's given me a huge gift to, you know, the thing that I learned, John Frampton, I listened to that talk.Speaker 3 (40:15):He said, go look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, would you follow you? And I did that. I went into the mirror is in my truck. I could almost do it in my truck. I opened up my, my, you know, my little sun visor popped it open. I looked at myself, so what I follow me and I had a notebook. And a lot of, for some people I would like in these situations that would fall, man, I'm doing this well, but there's a lot of situations where I was like, hell no, I wouldn't follow you. And, um, it, it led me to see my weaknesses. It led me to see some of my downfalls and, um, now it's time to improve, right? It's now time for me to work on myself, to forge myself more into the leader that people need to have to be successful. And so it's been a gift, but, um, one of those gifts were crying. A lot of those games were some, some dark nights where of self doubt and insecurities and frustrations and heartache. And, um, but going to the darks where you get to the light. So I finally feel like I'm through the dark little house a couple of weeks ago, so,Speaker 2 (41:20):Well, I feel for you. Yeah. I was just glad when all those net-metering changes happened in Utah, I'm like, dang, I'm glad I already sold my parents' solar grandpa. I'm glad I'm in San Diego and Utah. Yeah. So yeah, I feel for you, man, didn't seem like, you know, super tough, all that changing overnight. I mean, kudos to you, but no, I really respected dude for being super honest, super raw with all the people that follow you. Cause there's a lot of like, as I'm sure you've seen a lot of people, I know that it's just flashed their, you know, cars flashing their money, but that's all we know about them. And people really respect the things you're talking about and not just seeing the money though, you know, Lamborghinis and all that. So one day, one day I'll get saved. So yeah. Um, so river, before we wrap up here working, do you want to tell people a little bit about your podcast, your brand, your, your, or gear and all that, where they can find all those things? Yeah.Speaker 3 (42:15):Um, so the valid morning podcast, you can find on all social media platforms or on all podcast platforms. I upload one, I try to do it, you know, five to five days a week. Um, but I haven't been consistent lately, but there's, uh, over almost over 200 episodes on there. Um, so tons of content for you to sift through and to, you know, kind of hear what's going on inside of my head and my perspective. So go to the valid morning podcast, listened to that, um, river James Skinner on Facebook and then river Jay Skinner on Instagram, just shoot me a follow and a DME. If you, you know, if you, if you heard this from the solopreneur DME and, uh, you know, let's just chat and I'd love to love to connect with you and, and help and serve given anyway. Awesome.Speaker 2 (42:55):Well, we appreciate you coming on. So guys go out, hit river up, tell them you appreciate them for being raw for sharing his story on the podcast. And we'll have guys in touch with you river and any last, uh, I dunno, words of wisdom you want to share with our Solarpreneurs before we say goodbye here.Speaker 3 (43:11):No, just be grateful. Be grateful. Your situation's better than you think it is. So just be great. Cool.Speaker 2 (43:15):Awesome. Be great guys. Go out and share this with someone who can value from it and, um, tell wherever you appreciate them again. And we'll see you guys on the next show. Thanks Ken river. Thanks.Speaker 1 (43:28):Hey Solarpreneurs. Quick question. What if you could surround yourself with the industry's top performing sales pros, marketers, and CEOs, and learn from their experience and wisdom in less than 20 minutes a day. For the last three years, I've been placed in the fortunate position to interview dozens of elite solar professionals and learn exactly what they do behind closed doors to build their solar careers to an all-star level. That's why I want to make a truly special announcement about the new solar learning community, exclusively for solar professionals to learn, compete, and win with the top performers in the industry. And it's called Solciety. This learning community was designed from the ground up to level the playing field and give solar pros access to proven mentors who want to give back to this community and to help you or your team to be held accountable by the industry's brightest minds. For, are you ready for it? Less than $3 and 45 cents a day currently society's closed the public and membership is by invitation only, but Solarpreneurs can go to society.co to learn more and have the option to join a wait list. When a membership becomes available in your area. Again, this is exclusively for Solarpreneur listeners. So be sure to go to www.solciety.co to join the waitlist and learn more now. Thanks again for listening. We'll catch you again in the next episode. 

This is Your Anxiety Toolkit - Episode 191. Well, welcome friends. How are you? How are you doing really? I want you to reflect for a second on just that... on just that question. How are you? I have not prepared for this episode. I just thought I would sit down and take some time to reflect some of, I’m sure, what I reflect on will be the first time I’ve reflected on it and not just that for reflecting with you. So what I wanted to talk with you guys about is life with a chronic illness or a disability. This is something that has shaken me a lot over the last, I would say two to three months. A lot of you have the background story with me, but if you’re new here, welcome, and I’ll tell you a quick background. In 2019, I got very sick. Through that process, I also got very... not just medically, but mentally struggled because of the symptoms that were incredibly debilitating. After pretty much every single medical test under the sun, I was diagnosed with a lesion in my brain, that they still don’t know what it is, and a disorder called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. It sounds scary and it can be scary, but mostly, it’s a disorder to do with your autonomic nervous system and it basically involves lightheadedness and fainting and headaches and overall exhaustion and nausea and very, very big degree of brain fog. It can be mild and it can be very severe and extreme to the point where you can’t stand up. For months and months and months, particularly throughout COVID, I have been doing my very best to manage this disorder and this syndrome and have been doing really, really well. I’m not going to lie, I thought I’d mastered this disorder. I really did. I think there was a cocky piece of me that was like, “Oh yeah, look at me.” Once again, hard work pays off. And yes, it does. Hard work does pay off. But recently, I have been hit with another... I call it an event, another wave of POTS – POTS is the acronym for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome – and it has knocked me off my feet literally. Not figuratively. I think both. For those of you who don’t know, I was, two weeks ago, taking a tennis lesson, a part of my attempts to take care of myself as I have cut back immensely with work. I’ve mentioned my kids are gone back to school and my husband’s gone back to work. And so I really decided, I made a conscious decision to put my mental health first. I had started taking tennis lessons, and in the middle of my tennis lesson, it was very hot. I collapsed and had to go to the hospital. I’m sorry if this is scary for some of you. It had to be monitored and got IV bags and medications and all the things. Again, once again, I really thought this was a short-term thing. What I am reflecting on today is the realization that I’m not going to manage this. I’m not going to master it. This is something I will probably have to handle for the rest of my life. I was expecting to bounce back and I didn’t. I’ve had many days of not being able to stand. I’m not able to drive. I can drive on certain days, depending on how busy I am, but I have mostly not been able to drive. I am unable to work out. I wear these most fabulous compression socks right now, the compression socks I’m wearing. I have bright colors in stripes. I have ones with spots and reindeers and all of the things. So, that’s very fun. But no matter how much I hydrate, I’m struggling to eat and so forth. The reason I wanted to share this isn’t just to... of course, I can share. I want to share with you. But the main reason I wanted to share with you is to talk about what it’s like to wrap your head around long-term suffering. I’m really interested in this because I’ve been really mindful and watching my thoughts about this syndrome. I wonder if this resonates with you guys because a lot of you are dealing with either. A lot of you have reached out and said you have a chronic illness too, or chronic mental illness, anxiety, depression, or any of the disorders. What has been really interesting for me is to catch the thoughts I have around disability. now, the first thing – and I’m really open about this, and I’m really happy to share how far I have to go – is I didn’t realize I had all this stigma around the word “disability.” I have a career in people with disabilities or struggles or long-term chronic stuff. I wouldn’t judge anybody else, but interestingly, as soon as I had to recognize, I kept saying, “I don’t know why this happened. I don’t know why this happened. Why did this happen? This shouldn’t have happened.” My doctors said, “No, you’re going to have really big ups and really big downs. That’s going to happen. That is a part of this disability.” I really was able to observe how judgmental I was about that in myself. The word “disability” was not okay with me, the word “long-term chronic illness.” I was like, “Uh-uh, no way, I will solve this,” until I had to be like, “Wait, that’s a lot of energy, negative energy on something that does not serve me and is built around a stigma and a judgment of me having a disability.” It’s so painful folks to observe that. Thank goodness I have those skills to be able to go, “Okay. That was judgment. Interesting.” I encourage you guys to take that approach when these types of thoughts come in. Because again, I’m always working with my patients and clients and people on social media around the stigma of the word “disorder” or “disability” or “mental health” or “mental illness.” It’s important that we catch those judgments. Now, once I caught it, to be honest, I didn’t do much with it because I really just had to hold some space there to wrap my head around, “Whoa, okay. This is a long time for me now.” I thought I was the special one who could get through it and it’s not going to bother me again, but it’s not. It’s going to come back. This one has been particularly painful, physically 100%. This was probably my most serious event or wave of POTS. But also, just to be able to really look at how it has impacted me mentally. Now, here’s the thing. Once I came to the understanding, not just the acceptance yet, but the understanding that this is long-term and something I have that I will have to continue to manage, it was so interesting how my thoughts wanted to go to hopelessness. “Okay, well, now my life’s going to suck,” or “I should give up. This is going to impact my life and terribly impact my life. This is going to ruin my life,” and so forth. Again, it was being able to observe and catch and watch myself go into hopelessness and be able to... If you could see me, I would smile and go, “Ah, okay, interesting.” That’s the story I’m telling myself because here’s the thing, I’ve had this since 2019. I’ve been managing it this whole time with the thought “I can manage this.” And therefore, I was happy. Now, nothing has changed. I’m still having POTS. I had another incident. The only thing that changed was now that I had a recognition of this being a problem long-term and I started to think negatively about it. That’s the only thing that changed. I’ve had POTS this whole time. I’ve had good days and bad days this whole time. I happened to have a significantly bad period and I’m still in that. The only thing that’s changed is the story I tell myself, and I have to keep catching the story, catching it, catching it. Now, I know some of you are saying, “No, but my disability is making my life have a lower quality.” I’m not saying that’s just a story. I understand that it’s a situation and a circumstance. So I’m not discounting that. But what we need to do, and this is why I wanted to reflect with you, is to catch the story we tell ourselves about things that are not true, like the future, because we don’t know. We don’t know the future. There may be a POTS drug that comes out and I take it and I’m happy for the rest of my life. I am going to recognize that having this disorder has had some benefits. It’s forced me to slow down. It’s forced me to be grateful for my medical health, for my legs and my arms, and for my heart and my brain. This is where I ponder how wonderful that our body tells us what to eat. How wonderful is that? Because when you have POTS, you have nausea. And when you have nausea, nothing feels good to eat. You have to force yourself to eat. Every meal, I have to force myself to eat. Sometimes, I have to tell you guys, I was cracking up. I eat mostly healthy, meaning I ate all varieties. There is no good or bad food. I have a very good relationship with food. I love food. Food brings me incredible amounts of pleasure. I never judged myself for what I eat. I was telling my sister, who’s a doctor, she was like, “Well, are you eating?” And I was like, “Yeah, I had chicken nuggets for breakfast.” And she was like, “Why?” And I was like, “It’s literally the only thing I could eat. That’s the only thing I could get down. It’s the only thing that sounded good.” And she was like, “Okay, what did you have for lunch?” And I was like, “I had ribs.” And she said, “Kimberley, what is happening?” And I said, “No, this is how it is. I have to...” It’s so hard. And I’m now so grateful for the pleasure around food that I have experienced and hopefully, we’ll experience it again here very soon. I really want to watch (1) the story I tell myself and (2) the hope catch the hopelessness in its tracks. I know a lot of my patients and I know a lot of you because you’re going through a particularly difficult season like me. You’re telling yourself this season will never end, and it will. Seasons come and go. Some last for longer than others. Sometimes it’s a particularly chilly season, sometimes it’s not. The main piece here is for me to catch the judgment, the stigma. Here’s another one guys and I hope this resonates. It’s so humiliating. I collapsed right at the entry of the tennis. People were walking past me, and my instinct was to say sorry to every person that passed by. Even though I was pretty much not in consciousness, I was frequently apologizing to my tennis coach, my husband. My tennis coach called my husband. I frequently apologized to him. I apologized to anybody who saw it. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” And how much that apologizing was embedded in shame around suffering. I’m on the floor, completely limp, but I’m apologizing to other people. That is completely related to the shame I noticed that I am carrying around suffering and struggling and not being super, super-duper high functioning. This is dangerous. We have to check this. I’m going to encourage you to check this because the problem with that is it stigmatizes disability in general and it stigmatizes you being a human who suffers, and you will. You’ll have illnesses or struggles like seasons that are difficult. It’s so important that we break down that judgment we have around suffering and disability, meaning when you don’t have the ability to do things. So important. When we break that down and we work through that, then when we do struggle, there’s not this second layer or fifth layer of pain. It’s just like, “Oh no, I’m just suffering. I’m suffering right now. This is a difficult season.” Instead of, “This is a difficult season. I’m suffering. It’s never going to go away, and I’m weak and dumb and stupid and inconveniencing other people for suffering.” So, I really want us, hopefully, to learn from my own experience here. Hopefully, this resonates with you where you can really break down the stories and the beliefs and the judgments we have about disabilities. I think it will make a safer place for those who do have a disability. I think it’ll make a safer place for you when you’re suffering. I think it’ll make a safer place for us as a human race around the idea of suffering. It’s so, so important. The last piece here is when we’re suffering, I noticed this whole back and forth on the solution. Should I do this? Should I go on this medication, that medication, that treatment, these treatments, see that doctor, see this doctor? I’m sure a lot of my patients are like, “Am I doing the right thing? Have I got the right treatment? Have I got the right therapist? Have I got the right medication? What’s happening?” There’s so much indecision around seasons that are filled with suffering. I just want to validate that. I don’t want to give you advice. I don’t want to guide you in any different direction. I think all I want you to do is to recognize that indecision and not punish yourself by staying there too long. Consult with your doctors. Consult with your therapist. Talk with respected people or people you trust. Be careful of how much mental space indecision takes when you’re in a difficult season because you’re suffering. It’s enough. We don’t need to add. We don’t want to add. We don’t want to make more problems and more suffering for you because you matter and your recovery matters and your healing matters. That’s just something I’m noticing. It’s funny, every morning, I am negotiating with myself in terms of like, “Will I take my meds today?” I mean, I always take my meds. So I’m not going to ever discard someone from making a medical decision without seeing your doctor. I always do, but I really catch myself going, “Maybe I won’t take it today. This is just too much. It’s too hard. It’s too many side effects. It’s too difficult, too painful, too scary.” And I have to go, “Okay, Kimberley, get your head out of your indecision. Honor what’s right. If you really need to do that, be effective and call your doctor. Don’t spend time in your head.” So, that’s just where I’m at. What I will say, just in case any of your worries, I am okay. I have a great team. I have tremendous support. My husband, oh my God, he’s just amazing at showing up when things fall apart. He is incredible. I’m so, so lucky. I hope that I don’t worry you with me sharing this. Someone asked me the other day on social media, “Is it hard for you as a clinician to share this?” And I said to them, “No, really not.” A part of my mission is to de-stigmatize therapy, to take the stigma out of going to therapy. I think a really big part of how to do that is for the therapist to show up as real humans. I think when we do that, when therapists show up as real humans, in the process, we do this stigmatize mental health and therapy because we don’t see the therapist as this person who holds all the secrets and is the knower of all things and is analyzing you instead of just seeing them as humans. You’re just going to therapy to talk to a human who also suffers. I just wanted to share that with you because I think it’s important that I model that to you. That’s one of the things that I hold very strong in my values. So that’s that. There are my thoughts on struggling and going through a chronic illness and wrapping my head around the stigma of the word “disability” and the concept of disability. So, that’s it. That’s all I have to say. I hope this has been helpful. I hope that you feel seen and you feel heard. Maybe you have some insight as I spoke. If that’s the case, we’ll then, I’m a happy girl. All right. Thank you so much for listening. I do know your time is precious, so I’m so grateful to have this time with you. I will continue this conversation as I continue to unpack my own many layers of stuff, of glug around it. I’m very open to continuing to learn. I’m really, really looking and learning around the stigma of disability because it’s something that I have been privileged up until now, not to have to really wrap my head around. So I’ll do the work. I will stumble bravely through this, as I’m sure you are too. All right. I love you guys. Please go and leave a review. The reviews help other people see this podcast as something of quality. When they see other people’s reviews, they are more likely to click on it, which means I get to help more people, and that is just a blessing. So, thank you. Please do go leave a review. Please take care of yourself. Please take some time to hold your heart tenderly and nurture whatever suffering you’re going through because you’re not alone and we’re in this together. Okay. All my love to you. Be on the show

"...However, no matter the age, we meet up with Epiphanies along the way, Light Bulb Moments that shine much wattage onto the playing field. Sometimes we hold that Light as a beacon, other times we ..." Welcome to Episode 67 of Roll With Peace, In Mind. Today's riff is This Thing Called Aging--Epiphanies I discuss this phenomenon called Aging, the thoughts, patterns and behaviors that push it faster or slow it down; the thoughts, patterns and behaviors that make it miserable or pleasurable... This will be an ongoing topic, the first in the series deals with Epiphanies and about Aging and I share an great example of learning to go with the flow and seizing the day. AND I've got some group classes to tell you about-- 1) End of The Month ChillOut: StressBusters Guided Meditation May 30th at 1:00PM EDT. This is my End of The Month virtual guided meditation group class. Click title for more information. If you miss this one, the next one is Sunday, June 27th at 1:00PM EDT. 2) VirtualLIVE Music 4 Your Home Practice Saturday June 12th @10:00AM and 11:00AM EDT enjoy 30 minutes of music in real time to accompany your home practice be it yoga, meditation or dance, book now.  Check out my website for testimonials! * * * Please consider becoming a patron by subscribing to "I am a friend of the Roll With Peace, In Mind Podcast" and click on this link: Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness and choose the Podcast Sponsor plan. Your support is greatly welcomed and Appreciated. Join my mailing list to keep up with new events, products and workshops Click here *** And lastly, who am I? I am Jacquie Bird of Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness. I have lived as a performing artist, Creative, and teacher since the age of 18. Bumps in the road? Um yeah...a LOT! They hurt? Uh huh, made a grown girl cry. But everything is a step in The Journey, to be Experienced and to be Learned from. Today I navigate with much more Grace, Wisdom, Joy, Intention, Mindfulness, Humor and GRATITUDE. In these podcast episodes, I share what I have learned and am still learning, with YOU. For more on my products and services, hit me up on my site Jacquie Bird, Spiritual Wellness  Thank you for listening!                  

Today’s word of the day is ‘popcorn’ as in get your popcorn as in fans are back in the stands and they’re hungry! But that’s not why we’re talking popcorn — Russell Westbrook was leaving the game with an injury and a fan dumped a bucket of popcorn on him. GMAB. Fan culture is dangerous and this needs to be dealt with. (11:56) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me for my thoughts on Joe West confiscating Cardinals pitcher Giovanny Gallegos hat for foreign substances. Cardinals manager Mike Shildt was tossed from the game and was not happy after. (21:24) What happened to the new New Era hats? They were released, destroyed, and gone in the blink of an eye. (28:03) Review:I, Dolours. (32:26) Mickey Callaway has been suspended by MLB for an entire year. Mickey Callaway has been fired by the Los Angeles Angels. What took so long? (37:08) NPPOD. (39:10) What is going on with the Minnesota Timberwolves? Owner Glen Taylor is being sued by one of his partners because of the deal he did with Alex Rodriguez. Uh oh! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After deciding to leave the mean streets of LA, where he worked as a police officer for 13 years, Jason Smith started working at the leading Facebook and Instagram advertising agency Tier 11. He eventually moved to create his own company Spotlight Social Media Consulting in 2016. Today, he joins us to talk about the key factors that have helped him grow his team and making the decision to bring a VP of Operations. 3 Golden Nuggets Having a good foundation to grow your agency. For Jason, an integral part of growing an agency is having a great team that have your back and know what they’re doing and are team players. People you can trust with the tasks that you’re delegating and also, why not, people that you like. On hiring a VP of Operations. Many people are afraid of this step because of the cost it entails. But Jason has seen his agency really evolve since hiring his VP of Ops. Now his agency has SOPs, there are clear steps to bringing new employees and clients onboard, and a new project management system. Definitely worth it. The right Facebook ads agency will be a great partner. Make sure you ask the right questions when looking for a Facebook ads company because the right one will help you triple and quadruple your business and become a great asset to your brand. Sponsors and Resources Oribi: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Oribi. Check out Oribi.io/smartagency for a free trial. Plus when you sign up for Oribi get 20% off the first three months with promo code: Smart Agency Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM How Hiring a VP of Operations can be the Best Call to Grow Your Agency Jason Swenk: [00:00:00] On this show. I talk with an agency owner who talks about how he has grown his team, how he's grown his agency. And when is the right time to bring in a VP of Operations and how did he do it? So let's sit back and check out the episode. Hey, Jason. Welcome to the show. Jason Smith: [00:00:24] Hey, how are you doing? Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Jason Swenk: [00:00:27] Yeah, man, I'm excited to have you on, I've gotten to know you over the past couple of years, but for the people that have not heard of you yet tell us who you are and what do you do? Jason Smith: [00:00:35] Yeah, my name is Jason Smith, owner and CEO of Spotlight Social Media Consulting. We're a, uh, Facebook and Instagram only, I say only because we're not an all-in-one, we're Facebook and Instagram only ad agency. So we do paid media for Facebook and Instagram. Jason Swenk: [00:00:52] Awesome. Now you have a quite interesting story of how you became an agency or really even what you were doing beforehand. So, yeah, I think it's interesting just to tell people kind of where you came from. Jason Smith: [00:01:05] Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Crazy story, actually. When I tell it, people take a 360-degree turn and they're like, wait, what? So I was a, a policeman for the Los Angeles Police Department for, gosh, just about 14 years before I became an agency owner. And the reason why it's kind of crazy is because I went from getting shot at, chasing gang members, getting into shootings, all this stuff, and the mean streets of LA. And literally, I mean that literally, I mean, we're talking about 250 homicides in six square miles in a year, and very violent places in, in Los Angeles. And, uh, went from that to, you know, the thing that kinda drove me to look for something else was number one, I was never home, was in court all the time. My days off were filled with court and overtime and it was just, you know, I never get to spend time with my family and I just, it was getting old, real fast. And it sounds cool when you're up on the stand testifying as a gang expert or weapons expert and all this stuff. But in hindsight, personally, it's not that fun. So, and you know, I've been involved in tons of, and literally tons of stressful situations. I've been in shootings and been shot at and all that stuff. And, man, for making $80,000 a year doing that. I just wanted to start looking for something else. And I stumbled across an opportunity where, you know, running Facebook ads was a core part of one of my friend's businesses originally, like with a supplement company. And he just kind of asked me buddy to buddy, like, hey dude, do you want to help me do these Facebook ads? I'm like, yeah, I don't, I'm a dumb policeman. I don't know how to do this, but let's try it out, you know. So I ended up getting some good results and then I did a little bit more research and ended up finding a certification course. And gosh, the rest is history. And next thing you know, I have, I had 10 clients, not even a year later and making, you know, 30,000 a month, which I never thought possible from home. And yeah, it was pretty cool. Jason Swenk: [00:03:05] So which is more stressful running an agency or getting shot at? Jason Smith: [00:03:09] Man, I don't know. I’m just kidding. Well, it's funny because people will. You know how clients are sometimes. They'll try to intimidate you or something or say something to you. I'm like, dude, relax. Okay. It's not that doesn't work on me, okay. So, and when I, when I shoot back stuff to them, they're like, Oh wow. This guy is not going to take my usual agency fluff here, right. You know, so it's pretty funny. Jason Swenk: [00:03:33] I interviewed an ex-Navy Seal and he was basically was like, look, we just went over so much of training when we get in situations. Like, we weren't stressed. And I was like, that's a great principle to apply, like in your agency, like go over this scenarios is over and over again. And it shouldn't be that stressful. Jason Smith: [00:03:52] Right. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don't get stressed too much. Even my wife tells me like, man, you don't stress over anything. And I'm like, well, you know, after being shot at and being all these stressful situations, not, not much more in life is going to stress me out, you know? So. Pretty funny. Even the guys on my team, stress out about stuff. I'm like, guys don't, don't stress out about that stuff. Just everything will work out, so. Jason Swenk: [00:04:16] How has your agency grown in the past couple years? Like, what are some things that have worked for you that you wish you knew back when you were just getting started messing around with Facebook? Jason Smith: [00:04:29] Yeah. Well, I mean, number one, I think having great people behind you and supporting you. That's probably the number one thing. I mean, you know, I'll never forget how I found you was through Ralph at Tier 11, but it was funny because the first time I applied to work with you, you denied me because I wasn't big enough, right? But that was great motivation. No, no. And Hey, I mean, that's, and that's why you have an elite mastermind that you do because you get to pick and choose the people in it. And that's very important. And, um, I mean, I think number one, support and people behind you, I mean, Ralph and Deacon, those guys at Tier 11 have, you know, and still helped me today. I mean, those guys have been an integral part of why I've grown and there's no, like, even though we're the same, we do the same thing. There's plenty of business to go around. They're just cool guys. They've helped me a ton. Um, I could call Ralph right now and say, hey, you know, what do you think about this? And he would, you know, he would tell me and we could talk about it. So, that's I think probably the number one thing that's helped me the most and then being a part of, you know, probably your mastermind and the group and the support there. I can go to you or anybody else. And I mean, gosh, I just went to you recently, right? About some stuff and was, and you helped me out. So that probably for me is the number one thing. And number two is having a great team, you know, having a great team of people who you can, you know, like, and trust. And not get bogged down with people you can't trust or waste your time or whatever. Those are probably the two things that helped me the most grow the agency and where I'm at today. And I mean, I literally started from nothing. Like I had no clients, you know, and I tell the story on my podcast and Deacon from Tier 11 is the one that gave me, like my first two clients. And then it just kind of went from there. So, having that support structure and those people in your life. And I say your life, because it's not just all about business and you know, you and I could go out and have a drink or something. And we're good friends. I think outside of the business world, you know, we also like the same things, right. You used to ride motocross, you're a big Jeep guy. So that's very important, so. Jason Swenk: [00:06:34] Yeah, we'll party this summer. Jason Smith: [00:06:37] Can't wait. Jason Swenk: [00:06:38] I know. Talk about your team because a lot of people listening, they may be trying to scale their team, trying to grow their team. Where did you find them? How did you find them? How'd you evaluate them? You know, because, you know, that's an integral part. Jason Smith: [00:06:53] Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, most of my team came from recommendations from the mastermind, um, your mastermind and, um, Ralph actually helped me out. Ralph and Deacon over there at Tier 11 helped me on how to kind of screen people, give them a little bit of a test, have them record a loom video. You know, you can tell a lot about a person when they record a quick video. And of course, they're going to be nervous and I think I'm a pretty fair guy. Like I can kind of read through the bs and the nervousness and stuff like that. But when it comes down to the core values of who they are as a person, you can tell a lot by just a five-minute video and it's, we send them basically a little test and say, hey, I want, give me a five-minute overview of this test. And it's not so much of a test. It's really just like an aptitude test of how much they know about Facebook because I. We all do it on resumes. We all overcompensate for all this stuff, right. And, um, for them going through this competency test just shows me how much they know. And then what I do is send them over to my VP of operations. And actually my VP of operations came from a referral from a friend of mine. He used to be a professional skateboarder was, was in the upper ups of Ogio. You know, the company, Ogio, big company. He used to work for them because he was a pro skateboarder. And then when he hurt himself, he went to work for Ogio and loved the operation side. So I got to know him. And just a cool dude, you know, and that's really what comes down to it in my opinion. And yes, they have to have a good work ethic, but if they're going to be part of your team, like, you gotta like them, right? You really do, you know, and people say, oh, well, keep your personal side out of it. Well, I mean, I tend to think there has to be a personal side in it to make a team really solid, a good culture and a team that you can trust. So that's kind of how we evaluate stuff and really it's me talking to them or interviewing them. I have a pretty good, from my background and experience as a policeman, I have a pretty good idea of a person, right. When I talk to them. Jason Swenk: [00:08:50] When they're lying or not. Jason Smith: [00:08:52] Yeah. Just slap them around a little bit, you know? Jason Swenk: [00:08:55] So, are you the good guy or the bad cop or good cop? Who would you play? Jason Smith: [00:09:00] You know, it's funny. A couple of people that I've met, like clients have said, oh man, you're, you're such a nice guy, but then when I saw you in person, I was like, oh man, like this dude, could do some damage. I mean, I'm not the tallest guy, but I, you know, whatever it is, what it is, I'm all tatted down. And I don't, I definitely don't look like the normal marketer. And I do talk about that in my podcast, how I went into this Facebook ad agency world and I don't look like your normal agency owner, and it's pretty funny. But I try to be the good guy, unless the bad guy has to come rear its ugly head. And if it does, you better watch out cause you may get pistol-whipped or something, you know. Jason Swenk: [00:09:36] I love what you said about, yeah, you have to like them. I think it's… and you have to have that similar belief in the values that you share as an individual, because I used to hire the wrong way where I would try to hire my identical twin because I'm hiring someone to pick up the clack for the stuff I suck at. And then if I hire my twin. Well, now we're going to have two people that suck at this one thing. It makes it a really big challenge. So a lot of times you have to figure out what do we personally believe in. Like, do we believe in resourcefulness, do we believe in failure and success and all this kind of stuff. And then, and it's not just about quizzing them and saying. Jason Smith: [00:10:23] Right, right. Yeah, exactly. Jason Swenk: [00:10:25] Coming up with scenarios that you can have them describe that a little bit with that. Jason Smith: [00:10:32] Well, and too, I actually made the mistake one time of hiring somebody who is too entrepreneurial. If you know what I mean? Like when you're an owner of a company and you're trying to hire like exactly what you said, you can't hire your identical twin because that twin is then going to want to take over and be too entrepreneurial and almost do his own thing, you know. Which, you got to follow the systems, you got to follow the policies we have, right. And an entrepreneur will not follow that. They need to be out doing their own thing. Um, and so I look for that as well. Like especially being a team player. And that's one of the, my biggest red flags is they say anything about me, me, me, then I'm like, then I kind of, have to side-eye them a little bit and say, I don't think this is going to be the right fit. So. Jason Swenk: [00:11:19] If you're like many agency owners, it's very hard to show results and show value to your clients for the hard work that you've done. And up until now, you've probably been using Google Analytics, which is really kind of clunky and hard to use and just been around a long time. And there really hasn't been an alternative until now. And I want to tell you a little bit about Oribi. Now I've checked out this tool and it's really pretty cool. It doesn't require any code for you to track interactions and conversions. There's no more jumping from different platforms. You can track your social and paid media really all in one place. And it really allows you to build smart funnels and get tons of insights. I mean, literally, I've even set it up where I could say I want this visitor to get to this particular page and it will tell me what's the likely chance that they're actually get to this page and what pages are actually coming from. It's really pretty cool. So if you want to really kind of get away from Google analytics, I want you to check them out, go to Oribi. oribi.io/smartagency. And just for my listeners, you're going to get 20% off for the first three months using coupon code smart agency. Let's talk about your VP of Ops of when you were looking to bring them on. Like, walk me through that scenario because a lot of times people don't know when to bring on that person. So what was the scenario of like, what was lifelike like in the agency and then we'll talk about the next. Jason Smith: [00:12:58] Yeah, well, actually I had come to you about that probably what a year and a half ago, and was like, hey, I had a couple account managers that were managing accounts. And what I noticed really quickly was that there was all this information in my head and things that I was trying to disseminate to them and balls were being dropped. You know, client communication wasn't the best. And they were coming back to me often saying, hey, Jason, I don't really know what to do here. And I'm like, what do you mean you don't know what to do? But it was in my head. It wasn't on paper, in an SOP, in any operations was not in the agency. And that's what I needed at the time. And you're like, Jason, you're just going to have to drop the money because I was worried about, do we make enough as an agency? Like how much does one of these guys costs? I mean, all the things you don't really know about. And then when I finally found Eric and it was almost, it was a referral, I didn't really know he was good at operations. I kind of hired him to be a video editor because he's a high level video guy. And then he's like, oh, by the way, I'm also really good at operations. And I'm like, oh shoot, really? Awesome. And then he's like, hey, I've been looking at all this stuff at the company. And I could really come in and help out with SLPs. And, you know, we didn't have a project management system at the time. Like we didn't have Trello or. Uh, I mean, we had Slack, but Slack is not a project management system. It's a communication tool, right? And we kind of talked about it and he came in and all of a sudden, next thing, you know, six months later, we actually have things documented and hey, this is what you do to like reach out to Facebook and, and appealing an ad account that's been disabled and everything started coming down in writing, and it was really cool to see that process evolve. And it's still evolving today. But it makes it easier for when we bring on somebody new. Hey, okay, review these videos. This is the kind of first step here. And, uh, yeah, we've evolved a lot as an agency since then. It's been pretty cool. Jason Swenk: [00:14:50] And walk me through when you actually started onboarding him or when he started, did you just kind of give him like, here's what we need to do, go do, and then he'd just go execute. Or did he start coming up with all the, you know, hey, getting off Slack as a project management tool and that kind of stuff. Jason Smith: [00:15:05] Yeah, no, he was great. I mean, he, he had the experience from Ogio to be able to come in and say, okay, these are the top-level things that we need to integrate, which is SOPs and what happens in this scenario and, you know, Facebook's pretty complicated. So there was a lot of things and we kind of sat down one day for half the day and he just went through and picked my brain on everything and just kind of wrote it down. What are the most important things when we onboard a client, like we need to have a system for this stuff. So, you know, the account managers, when they onboard somebody, they can just check the boxes, which is really cool. And I mean, honestly, he's been probably one of my biggest assets in the, in the company and the growth right now. And he went in and went in lucid chart and like mapped out, okay, you guys, we're going to have 10 account managers by this date and we're going to be doing these things. And. It's really cool, you know, to have somebody like that. And, um, at first I thought, man, I gotta pay him all this money, but look how much money we're making now. It's pretty awesome. Jason Swenk: [00:16:03] Yeah. I mean a lot of people, they go, well, I don't know if I can fill up this person full time, because I think the holdup in their mind or their, their mindset is I need to come up with everything that they need to go do. Which I think is a mistake, and a lot of people don't really. Jason Smith: [00:16:18] Right. Well, not really, but yeah. Jason Swenk: [00:16:20] Yeah. It's just like, I have to detail everything I want you to go do, rather than just saying here's where the agency's going. Now you're the how person. I'm the where and why you're the how, right. And you just go execute it. And like you said, you hired the right person. It's going to be amazing. Jason Smith: [00:16:38] Yeah. And you may not hire the right person the first time, you know, I mean, and don't get me wrong. We've had our ups and downs and we've had our disagreements and, but that's just, I mean, that's life in general, you know, and you just gotta get through it. He's a great guy, great person, very organized. He's an operations dude. That's exactly what I needed. You know, cause I am not an operations guy and I do not know how to go into Trello and build boards and cards and all that. Like, I hate doing that stuff. So I'd rather be talking to somebody about our agency and how good we are at Facebook ads and, and running high-quality Facebook ads. That's what I'm good at. Jason Swenk: [00:17:14] Awesome. Well, this has all been amazing. Jason, is there anything I didn't ask you that you think would benefit the listeners? Jason Smith: [00:17:20] No, I just, uh, the only thing I do want to add is, is when you're ready to hire an agency for your Facebook ads, make sure you interview them. You have some great questions for them. If you have a resource that you can reach out to, to ask if, hey, if this agency is good or whatever, don't blame the current agency coming in for all the stuff that happened before, because chances are, you know, if you hire the right agency, they can be a good partner. And I want to stress the word partner because a lot of times. Business owners don't think a Facebook agency is necessarily a partner, but we're helping you grow your business triple and quadruple your business. And that's what we've done for companies. And that's why they'll never leave us is because we've grown them so much. And we're such an asset to their brand. They'll never, they'll never leave. So it's pretty cool. Jason Swenk: [00:18:06] That’s awesome. And where can people reach out to you if they want to chat more about Facebook and I highly recommend they do an amazing job. So where can they go and check it out? Jason Smith: [00:18:15] Yeah, they can go to, um, spotlightsocialadvertising.com or reach out to me. Jason at spotlightsocialllc.com. Jason Swenk: [00:18:23] Awesome. Everyone, go check them out. Reach out to Jason. They do an amazing job. And if you guys want to be surrounded by amazing agency owners, like Jason and many others, and just really be able to have that sounding board, that board of advisors to show you or see the things you might not be able to see and just have a lot of fun doing it. Make sure you guys go to digitalagencyelite.com. That's digitalagencyelite.com apply and maybe we'll have a conversation and then maybe you get to hang out with Jason and I and a bunch of other really cool people. All right. Till next time, have a Swenk day.

I want to thank you for listening and for subscribing to Faster Than Normal! I also want to tell you that if you’re listening to this one, you probably listened to other episodes as well. Because of you all, we are the number one ADHD podcast on the internet!! And if you like us, you can sponsor an episode! Head over to  https://rally.io/creator/SHANK/?campaignId=1f99a340-203f-498e-9665-24723a5f8b7a It is a lot cheaper than you think. You'll reach... about 25k to 30,000 people in an episode and get your name out there, get your brand out there, your company out there, or just say thanks for all the interviews! We’ve brought you over 230 interviews of CEOs, celebrities, musicians, all kinds of rock stars all around the world from Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Keith Krach from DocuSign, Danny Meyer, we've had Rachel Cotton, we've had  the band Shinedown, right? 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This is one of the best stories, (not to mention success stories), we’ve heard in a while!  So glad to have Jason with us today- enjoy! ---------- ***CORONA VIRUS EDITION*** In this episode Peter & Chef Jason McKinney discuss: 1:42  -  Intro and welcome Jason 2:34  -  On Jason’s background and when he was diagnosed, when did the ADD come to fruition and tell me how you use it to your advantage. 3:37  -  On self-medicating, the importance of choosing correctly, as there are two -aspects of medication, a positive and a negative.    5:59  -  On acknowledging how lucky you were to have such an amazing mentor and someone that recognizes your ADD/ADHD and supports and offers ways and solutions to succeed in what you want to do. 6:41  -  On taking advice of keeping personal items (phone/keys/wallet) in same place, as a good starting point to develop habits that would help you succeed in conjunction with your job 7:44 -  A chef with ADD walks into The French Laundry 8:09  -  On the chef term, training stage – tell us what that is? 10:43  -  On whether or not your plans worked out – did you get hired on the spot? 12:40  -  On the restaurant world, and are the stories of drug use/access to drugs, a true statement for the places you’ve worked in?  How did you cope with that? 14:13. -  On any experiences you’ve had that might attribute your ADHD that might have looked negative at the time, but you’ve learned from. 17:08  -  On the variety of knowledge and ideas in terms of things people can do in terms of utilizing their ADHD.  What’s going on with you now? 21:02  -  On taking the worst situations and making something positive out of it 21:36  -  To do a cooking class with https://www.truffleshufflesf.com/collections/live-experiences we have a website called https://www.truffleshufflesf.com/and we do basically live classes on Sunday, and then we also do private events, so if anyone has a company out there and they're looking for something to do with their team, we send all the ingredients. Join, then you get to cook with a Michelin trained chef, it's always a lot of fun. 22:11  -  Thank you so much Chef Jason McKinney! And thank YOU for subscribing, reviewing and listening. Your reviews are working! Even if you’ve reviewed us before, would you please write even a short one for this episode? Each review that you post helps to ensure that word will continue to spread, and that we will all be able to reach & help more people! You can always reach me via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterThanNormal on all of the socials. As always, leave us a comment below and please drop us a review on iTunes and of course, subscribe to the podcast if you haven’t already! As you know, the more reviews we get, the more people we can reach. Help us to show the world that ADHD is a gift, not a curse! Do you know of anyone you think should be on the FTN podcast? Shoot us a note, we’d love to hear! To sponsor an episode of FTN, head over to sha https://rally.io/creator/SHANK/?campaignId=1f99a340-203f-498e-9665-24723a5f8b7a It is a lot cheaper than you think! 22:52  -  Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits   TRANSCRIPT:  — Hey guys, Peter Shankman welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. I'm glad you're here. I want to introduce you today to Jason McKinney.  Jason got his start in the home state of Georgia as a chef…. as the Chef do Tranauneant . I have no idea what that means, we're going to find out... at the https://www.seaisland.com/?nck=8888337235&gclid=CjwKCAjw-qeFBhAsEiwA2G7Nl0oyBQTdvOMQfU8yT36oj0wZs7ELGmmqACS0eUVSb5gSWjTRlsnvPxoC5vUQAvD_BwE, but the thing moved to Napa and he worked at  https://www.thomaskeller.com/tfl  If you've ever been to French Laundry, I don't need to tell you anymore.  If you haven't been to French Laundry, you kind of need to go to French Laundry. While he was working as a Chef de Partie, and I don't even know what these words mean… it looks like poisoner…. I'm sure you weren't a poisoner in Yountville, Chef McKinney earned the Restaurant's Award for Chef of the Year.  He's a family of self-starters,  massively ADHD, welcome Jason to Faster Than Normal... let's talk food.  What’s up Peter, thank you so much for having me here today.  Good to have you, man. So tell me about your background and tell me about growing up. When were you diagnosed when the ADHD coming to fruition?  Um, tell me that whole story and tell me how you use it to your advantage.  Absolutely, so. you know, my Dad was ADD and, you know, he started his own business. And so it didn't really affect him as much as I think it affects a lot of people. Cause you know, he kind of did things on his own terms, but then in school there was always just very difficult for me to pay attention... for me to really get anything done, and so from a very young age I got diagnosed, but what was really kind of different about my diagnosis from what I hear from a lot of people is that, you know, God diagnosed, they prescribed the Adderall or Ritalin or whatever it was at the time, and I took it for about a year, and then at some point my parents were just like, listen, if you want to keep taking this, go for it.  If not, no problem. And so like, as like a seven year old kid, they'd put the decision in my hands and I decided to not take the medicine and always looked for ways to kind of figure out how to self-medicate.  Tell me what it was like. Uh self-medicating because there are two aspects of medication.  There's the positive and the negative, and a lot of people find themselves going down the negative path without even realizing it, until it's too late. Well, so up until I was about 16 or 17. There was really no self-medicating. I just did horribly at school and I had a lot of.. kind of hobbies, so I don't think my parents were too worried about it. But then when 2008 hit, my Dad literally lost his entire business. And so we went from, you know, a well-off family to truly completely broke, and so as a 16 year old kid, I got two jobs, I started going to alternative school and as soon as I got into alternative school, I started being able to work at my own pace. And I literally did all of high school in six months.  Wow.  So once, once I was in a position where I could really just hyper-focus on things, I was able to get through school a lot faster, and then I went to https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ and then I worked at Disney for a little bit. I actually made a fake college resume to get into the internship program at Disney.  Oh my God.  And so I was there, but I really wanted to cook, you know, I loved cooking and I really wasn't cooking at Disney, so eventually I got this apprenticeship program and I was at https://www.seaisland.com/?nck=8888337235&gclid=CjwKCAjw-qeFBhAsEiwA2G7Nl0oyBQTdvOMQfU8yT36oj0wZs7ELGmmqACS0eUVSb5gSWjTRlsnvPxoC5vUQAvD_BwE  and I was working at their nice, the nicest restaurant they had there, was a five-star restaurant and there was one night where the Chef asked me to clean the freezer, right?  And in a really high-end restaurant, you'll have some pretty expensive items in the freezer, the truffles or,  the Wagyu items like that, the visually they have to ship in, you know, I was cleaning out the freezer and I literally only cleaned half of the freezer and I just got so excited and just stopped, got distracted, and stopped the job halfway through the chef came in the next day and was just pissed at me. Oh my God. I can imagine.  And he, he took me out into the dining room, which is where the really bad roastings happen, and he was like, listen, you have ADD, you have ADD very badly and everyone in the world is going to tell you that you have a problem. He was like, I'm here to tell you today that if you can figure out a way to manage this, you can be unbelievably successful. Wow. How lucky were you to have someone tell it to have someone to notice that and tell you that my God.  Unbelievably so, you know, and, and he, he looked at me dead in the eye and he was like, everytime I sit down, I put my phone right here. And then I was like, you know, what, where do I, where do I get started to really work on this?  Cause this was the first time that I truly was like working on my passion or my career, or I needed to figure out a way to manage it. He  was like, the first thing you do is every day you go home, you put your phone, keys and wallet in the same space, and until you do that, you don't shut off. You do that. You turn it off, you focus on your next thing. That's really an interesting point. Cause that's kind of like, that's a, that's a trigger. That's almost like an off button for you, right? You do that, and you've switched environments.  Yeah, and it, it truly, it helped me out a lot. And then I went from there and I went out to, I flew from, from Georgia to California and I was fortunate enough to get a position at the French Laundry, I literally just showed up with a bottle of wine that said “Relentless” and asked for an opportunity to work hard.. and they gave it to me.  Wow. and this was in California...French Laundry?  French Laundry,,, yeah.  You show up at the French Laundry with a bottle of wine that said “Relentless” and said I want to work for you, and they gave you a job? I had an, I had a resume done with golden bossed letters, and then I had a backup plan. Actually, my backup plan was that if they threw me out of the restaurant, because I literally just basically walked into the restaurant in the middle of service, I had a, a life-sized version of my resume that I was gonna torpedo into the restaurant, and I figured if I left that there, somebody would look at it.  That is unbelievable. And, and, and in the middle of a service, they, they, they didn't kick you out. Walk us through exactly. Walk us through exactly what happened.  Yeah. Flew out there. Uh, I was in California for about 11 days. I had seven stagiaires lined up, which are like what you do when you're trying to get a position at a restaurant. And I was on my second day in California.  What is… what is a stagiaire/stage,? Tell us…. A stagiaire/stage is basically an interview, but it's a working interview. So you go stagiaire/stage in the kitchen and you can tell a lot from a chef on whether they’ll be successful or not. It's truly just from how they walk and work in a kitchen. And so I literally woke up one day and was like, if I don't drive up to the French Laundry, I was in San Francisco at the time, if I don’t drive up there, and try to get a job at this, I'm going to regret this for the rest of my life. And…. drove all the way up to Napa got to Yountville, which is where the French Laundry is and turned onto Washington street and was driving down the street, and. If you've never been there before every building, there's a couple of buildings that looked like they could be the French Laundry, and I got so nervous. I finally saw the restaurant and I literally just kept driving. I was so nervous. I couldn't do anything. And I kept driving and I, I got to the little store at the end of the road and I walked inside. I'm from Georgia, and so when I got inside that there's all this wine, right? And I've truly never seen this much wine in it, such a little store before, so I popped over and I was just looking at it and I was like, I was looking at all of this one bottle, just poking out, and there was a https://www.wineaccess.com/catalog/2017-shafer-vineyards-relentless-napa-valley_e90dfce7-146e-42cf-a893-81eace39129d/?rtype=s&chan=cpc&src=google&cmp=&grp=&ver=522290450879&kw=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwna2FBhDPARIsACAEc_UqwcZWX-Ml3IevgXqdOqc4UNVUViKyT7n6QJmkng83aLeAiZ5juIcaAhO6EALw_wcB   and it was $75. And I had about $106 in the bank and I still have to be in California for five more days. And I, I was like it’s now or never. And I, I bought the bottle of wine, I drove back to the restaurant and Plan A was walk in,  and ask to talk to the Chef. Plan B was, they kick me out. And then I, I had brought this life-size version of my resume just in case, you know? And so, I had the bottle of wine, I'm in a full suit, I got my resume, I walk in, I opened the door to the French Laundry and I, a server  walks past me, and my gaze... follows her, and then when she walks away, the Chef de Cuisine, David Braeden is standing right there and something in my head was like, Jason, you have to say something, otherwise you just broken, entered into the French Laundry, and I was like, yeah, and I was like, “Chef, may I request a moment of your time?” and he looks at me, he looks at the wine, he looks at the resume in my hand, he looks at my suit and I think he was just kind of curious, you know, he's like, “absolutely, follow me this way.” And I was like... Unbelievable.  What? And we sat and chatted, and what was crazy is that the chef that trained the chef that  that helped me with my ADD, originally actually trained the Chef de Cuisine in the French Laundry too, and I didn't know that at the time.  Oh, wow. That's an incredible story. And, and so you hired you on the spot or how did that work?  Basically, he said, come, come back Sunday at noon to the gold door in the back, and to be honest, I thought I was getting framed, but then I came back and there, the door to the kitchen at the French Laundry is polished gold, and I stagiaired/staged for the day and an official stagiaire/stage, and then at the end of the day, he offered me a position and I went back to Georgia. I took on two more jobs. I worked, you know, about 110 hours a week to save up the money, to move to California, and then moved out to California, spent, um, four years at the French Laundry. I got named the Core Award winner, which is like the chef of the year for the restaurant ….the whole restaurant group and that was a massive honor. And while I worked there, it was kind of the next phase of like, all right, either you can medicate, or you can figure out a way to self-medicate, and so for the four years I worked there, I literally, I listened to your book, right? I would ride my bike and I started doing like a hundred mile century rides, and then every Wednesday I literally went to a Zen temple and I would, Thursday was my day off, so I would meditate Thursday morning and then come back to the restaurant and the whole time I had this goal of not necessarily like rising to the top of the restaurant, but just being the best chef that I could. And I always wanted to be like a, I always wanted to be a chef that was calm, riight? That that could take on anything that was calm, and before the French Laundry, I wasn't that chef. I was like this sporadic chef when I first got there, the porters had a nickname for me and it was toques , which means like, like I literally just got like electrocuted. and at the end of it, I finally with some very strong mentorship from the people there. I finally achieved my goal…. goal of becoming a really calm chef and I was... I became proud of who I was as a chef and I never medicated the entire time I was there.  That is an incredible story. I love that. Now here's an interesting question. I've read a lot. I have a lot of friends who worked in restaurants and I've read a lot about restaurants and I've been told that, uh, in the kitchen of the restaurant, it is basically almost every restaurant in the world. Probably not so much French Laundry, but almost every restaurant in the world, there's a drug problem there, right? In that it is very easy to get your hands on, uh, pretty much anything you want, and I would think that for someone, with ADHD, who is, uh, you know, we're sort of behind the eight ball to begin with, did you ever experience that at any of the places you worked and, and, and was the temptation ever there to, you know, to be able to sort of clear your brain go faster or whatever, and how did you, how did you deal with a place where, you know, the foods there, the alcohol… You know, the French Laundry and honestly, Sea Island does a very good job at this, but the, the French Laundry truly operates at such a high level that you can't, there's no abuse there. You have to be so on point it's like the, um, you know, it's like truly like being like a Navy seal. And so my Dad actually was a drug addict that never recovered, and so I... oh, wow, he, he dealt with it very bad you know, it started as a….you know, cocaine and then into a meth addiction, and so I watched my Dad never recover from that, and so I, I always just completely stayed away from it  That must've been…. I can imagine how that would just completely be a wake up call to you to, to, to be safe and to be aware.  14:13  Tell me about…. so you, obviously, the cleaning of the, of the freezer was a bad experience. Tell me about some other experiences that you might attribute your ADHD that might have looked negative at the time, but you've learned from.  Well, you know, Peter, I'd love to tell you what I'm doing now. I think you'll be really proud. We got plenty of time. So, so, so give us one story and then tell us what you're doing now.  Nice, and so at the, what I, what I truly learned through practicing Zen and at the restaurant and the chef put me on a station called being there's a fish butchering station right? And the French Laundry is a really interesting restaurant. I mean, literally you can, one person can work, you know, like 15, 16 hours a day, five days a week to process all the fish, right? Cause they get so much lobsters, caviar, shellfish. And so I got put on that station and it gave me an opportunity and I was there. I was on the station for two years. Um, and. I, I learned how to utilize my ADD as a superpower by micro focusing on things like super focusing on it, but then writing down the key items in that moment to not forget, and then putting that somewhere where I could go back to. So almost like a great example is we went from being in the French Laundry kitchen and they did this massive renovation, and during the massive renovation, we're working out of these shipping containers and there's about a month period where I actually ended up being the fish butcher and in charge of all the AM… which is like all the prep crew. So every new person in the restaurant and, that was a big accomplishment and achievement on my end that I was always really proud of. And this is actually what led to me getting the Core Award, and I would go in in the morning, I'll get all the fish butcher stuff going, right? And I really learned to… take a project directly to the whole.  Never pretend like, Oh, I'll get the last five minutes of that project. I'll do it in a couple of days. Cause I knew I would forget.  I would 100%, 100% forget, so I  learned to just have that discipline to get a box of fis in,  break the fish down all the way, then put it in the fridge. Put a label on it. It's done. And then when I got put in charge of the —??—what I started doing. At first, I would tell three or four people to do the same thing, and then I would have everyone just running in circles, you know? And then I learned that if I broke it out, literally by the hour, right. And almost down to the minute I could take a list and literally put deliveries coming in at this time, dinner is at this time and I would write everyone's name on it and I'll give everyone direct projects where I could do my projects and then I could manage the entire brigade. And for a long time, we had trouble getting the commis out before 5:00 PM. And then after I set that system up, literally the commis always finished at 5pm, and that's still the same system that they utilize today at the French Laundry. That's an awesome story. I love that we're getting, so this is probably one of the most powerful interviews I've done in a while in terms of just the amount of, of, uh, con you know, um, and the knowledge that we're getting in terms of what people can do to, to utilize their ADHD. Tell us what you're doing now. So I left the French Laundry and I had a goal of, you know, rising to the top, but truly just becoming the best chef that I knew I could. And so The French Laundry is the kind of place where you kind of go in, you, you learn as much as you can. I love Chef Keller and he gave me an awesome opportunity. Have to have a reason, gave me an awesome opportunity, but I wanted to create something of my own and watching my Dad in business, I knew how much kind of power there was to being in business, right?  And so you take any restaurant in the world, no matter how high, how hard you worked there and how far you work up the chain. But then you leave that restaurant, you're literally at ground zero. When you start a business, you'll have equity that could be worth something and an athletic career, you have your kind of your, what you're known for, but in a, in a restaurant, truly like you leave and you either have to go get all this money to open up a restaurant. And then by the time you open it, you don't own the restaurant anymore, or you go run someone else's restaurant. And so watching my Dad build his own business, I found it very peculiar, you know? And so I was like, what if we start a business instead of a restaurant? What if we somehow figure out how to start a business instead of a restaurant, becomes successful than they are, and then use that money for one day, start a restaurant, and so I left the restaurant, I took a job working for a guy named Mitch Rouse, who I was on his ranch in Wyoming when we talked and I was, I was still trying to put the pieces together and what exactly I was going to do. And I ultimately decided to start a business called https://www.truffleshufflesf.com/collections/live-experiences . And so our goal was to help chefs source sustainable truffles. And so we started the business. I took all the money we had saved up, which came out to literally 10,000 euros and I got it out in cash, strapped it to my buddy's chefs and sent him to Italy, and had him start sourcing truffles and send them back to me. and then I would literally sell the truffles. And so I started it with my wife, Sarah, and then Tyler, who I worked with at the French Laundry, and we started basically the business hustling truffles to teach ourselves business, and we had this idea that if we sold like 500 pounds of truffles, right?  I don't know if you've ever sat down and done like the preliminary forecast on a business. And you're like, wow, this has been a, we're going to be loaded, and so we started out like that and starting 2018, 2019, we actually landed a deal with https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ for our product line, and we're getting we're ramping up for this and all of a sudden COVID hits. And so when COVID hits, we had 20 pounds of fresh truffles on hand, we had our entire 1000 square foot apartment was stacked floor to ceiling with cases upon cases of truffle salt and truffle, honey that we had made by hand. If we didn't do something, we're going to go, we're going to literally go out of business within like four or five days. And so we launched a virtual cooking class,,, of black truffle risotto. And the first one we did when, uh,—?— within three hours, we completely sold out. And then by the time we did that class, we had thousands of people on. Watching us. And at this time we truly are e-commerce business. We only had like 40 customers and we did this live cooking class where we sent everyone all the ingredients, including the truffles, and we got to see people at home cooking together and in the past, since then, and since that day, that was in March and in the past 12 months, we've actually been able to go from a team of six individuals to now we're a team of 50.  We’re on track this year to do 15million and we actually, three weeks ago, got a deal with https://markcubancompanies.com/  on https://abc.com/shows/shark-tank  Spectacular man. That is amazing. And you know, it's funny you took, uh, probably the worst possible time, and you turned it into something that really is a highlight of ADHD. That's awesome. And good for you. What a great story. Tell us, um, I'm sorry.  I had to give you a shout out. Everyone that works with me, I give them a copy, of um, of Faster Than Normal, and I’m  like, this will help you understand what is going on in my brain.  That makes my day. That's awesome. Thank you, man. That's great. Tell me this. How can people, how can people find you? Where can they go?  Uh, to do a cooking class with https://www.truffleshufflesf.com/collections/live-experiences  we have a website called https://www.truffleshufflesf.com/and we do basically live classes on Sunday, and then we also do private events, so if anyone has a…. a dope company out there and they're looking for something to do with their team, we send all the ingredients. Join, then you get to cook with a Michelin trained chef,, it’s alot,and it's always a lot of fun. And we'd love to do one with you and your team and your company. And as a gift for me, Peter, just be an honor.    Oh, wow consider it done, man, that goes without saying. Guys, this was an awesome interview. I'd love to have you back Jason, at some point in a few months, see how you guys are doing, how about that? Absolutely, we’d totally love that.  Cool… cool... guys, you’re listening to Faster Than Normal. I appreciate it as always. If you liked what you heard, drop us a review. If you have anyone as cool as Jason, let us know, we'd love to have them on the show. My email is https://www.shankman.com/ and don't forget, you can sponsor an episode of Faster Than Normal.  All you have to do is go to the link below that our wonderful producer, Steven Byrom will put in the show notes and you can sponsor using cryptocurrency even... you can sponsor an episode of Faster Than Normal. So we will see you next week. Thank you all for listening, thank you Jason for being here, guys, take care, stay safe. ADHD is a gift, not a curse… so always, always remember that.  —— Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were composed and produced by Steven Byrom who also produces this podcast, and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week. 

Uh oh! Keith and Chemda lost a listener over Israeli-Palestinian thoughts, and they are not pleased one bit! Luckily, Keith’s able to calm down after reminiscing over how well he cleaned his own place as his girlfriend’s anniversary gift. Mathew joins the show and talks about his myriad of projects that include Steven Seagal’s only horror film, Restaurant: Impossible, and Mr. Skin before getting into his latest project Comic-Con Begins. Spoiler: Those costumed people fuuuuuuuuck.