POPULARITY
Categories
In this solo episode, I'm welcoming in 2026 with what feels like a deep exhale and a powerful reframe: this is the year of harvest. After years of shedding, refining, and staying faithful through seasons that didn't always make sense, I share why I believe this is the moment where the fruit of that work finally becomes visible. We talk about what harvest really means in leadership and business—not hustling harder, but refining, simplifying, and allowing what's already working to mature. I explore why misalignment often shows up right before expansion, how guilt can surface when you want to change what you once prayed for, and why less doesn't mean failure—it often means precision. I also walk you through the different ways you can work with me in 2026, from The Growth Collective to the Brand Accelerator, Revenue Accelerator, and my in-person UNSCRIPTED retreat. This episode is an invitation to stop forcing, trust your evolution, and step into the season where your business finally matches the woman you've become. Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! KEY POINTS: 00:00 Exciting Announcement: First In-Person Retreat 01:30 Welcome to Woman of Influence 02:22 Reflecting on 2025 and Embracing 2026 04:34 The Year of Harvest: What It Means 07:45 Aligning Business with Personal Growth 20:06 Practical Steps for 2026 21:20 Ways to Work with Me in 2026 39:44 Special Retreat: Unscripted 42:52 Final Thoughts and Encouragement QUOTABLES: “ Truly one of the most beautiful parts of growth as a woman and as a leader is when you finally honor yourself and your evolution, and you give yourself the permission to realign your business with not who you were. But who you are today, and most importantly, where you are going.” - Julie Solomon “ If you're feeling that itchiness just use this as a reminder to not gaslight yourself. Because sometimes that discomfort, sometimes that itchiness is just that growth edge. It's just you getting ready to leave this level of the base camp to a sin to another one, and most often something just isn't vibing with where you are anymore or with who you are anymore. And that's okay. That's not a crisis. That is literally the harvest about to take shape.” - Julie Solomon RESOURCES: ✨ Unscripted: My First In-Person Retreat in 2+ Years — Now Accepting Applications If you've felt your voice no longer matches the woman you've become, this intimate 2-day retreat in Nashville (Feb 5–6, 2026) is for you. Unscripted is where your message, identity, and leadership come back into alignment—without pressure, performance, or shrinking. Spots are limited and application-only. Apply now at juliesolomon.net/unscripted. [ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence. Follow Julie on Instagram! MUST HAVES THIS MONTH: [FROM IDEA TO INCOME] Whether it's a side hustle or your big vision, Shopify has the tools to get you selling fast—for just $1/month.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send me a text (I will personally respond)Are you struggling to transition from founder-led sales to a scalable sales-led model in your cybersecurity startup? Wondering if hiring a team of reps is really the fastest way to drive growth, or if there's a better approach? Curious how senior sales leadership involvement early on might speed up your journey to true product-market fit? If so, this episode is packed with insights for you.In this conversation, we discuss:
What if the toughest moments in your life were preparing you to lead better, serve deeper, and live with more purpose? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I sit down with Greg Hess, known to many as Coach Hess, for a wide-ranging conversation about leadership, resilience, trust, and what it really means to help others grow. Greg shares lessons shaped by a lifetime of coaching athletes, leading business teams, surviving pancreatic cancer, and building companies rooted in service and inclusion. We talk about why humor matters, how trust is built in real life, and why great leaders stop focusing on control and start focusing on growth. Along the way, Greg reflects on teamwork, diversity, vision, and the mindset shifts that turn adversity into opportunity. I believe you will find this conversation practical, honest, and deeply encouraging. Highlights: 00:10 – Hear how Greg Hess's early life and love of sports shaped his leadership values. 04:04 – Learn why humor and laughter are essential tools for reducing stress and building connection. 11:59 – Discover how chasing the right learning curve redirected Greg's career path. 18:27 – Understand how a pancreatic cancer diagnosis reshaped Greg's purpose and priorities. 31:32 – Hear how reframing adversity builds lasting resilience. 56:22 – Learn the mindset shift leaders need to grow people and strengthen teams. About the Guest: Amazon Best-Selling Author | Award-Winning Business Coach | Voted Best Coach in Katy, TX Greg Hess—widely known as Coach Hess—is a celebrated mentor, author, and leader whose journey from athletic excellence to business mastery spans decades and continents. A graduate of the University of Calgary (1978), he captained the basketball team, earned All-Conference honors, and later competed against legends like John Stockton and Dennis Rodman. His coaching career began in the high school ranks and evolved to the collegiate level, where he led programs with distinction and managed high-profile events like Magic Johnson's basketball camps. During this time, he also earned his MBA from California Lutheran University in just 18 months. Transitioning from sports to business in the early '90s, Coach Hess embarked on a solo bicycle tour from Jasper, Alberta to Thousand Oaks, California—symbolizing a personal and professional reinvention. He went on to lead teams and divisions across multiple industries, ultimately becoming Chief Advisor for Cloud Services at Halliburton. Despite his corporate success, he was always “Coach” at heart—known for inspiring teams, shaping strategy, and unlocking human potential. In 2015, a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer became a pivotal moment. Surviving and recovering from the disease renewed his commitment to purpose. He left the corporate world to build the Coach Hess brand—dedicated to transforming lives through coaching. Today, Coach Hess is recognized as a Best Coach in Katy, TX and an Amazon Best-Selling Author, known for helping entrepreneurs, professionals, and teams achieve breakthrough results. Coach Hess is the author of: Peak Experiences Breaking the Business Code Achieving Peak Performance: The Entrepreneur's Journey He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife Karen and continues to empower clients across the globe through one-on-one coaching, strategic planning workshops, and his Empower Your Team program. Ways to connect with Greg**:** Email: coach@coachhess.comWebsite: www.CoachHess.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachhess Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoachHessSuccess Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachhess_official/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson 01:21 Well, hi everyone. I am Michael Hinkson. Your host for unstoppable mindset. And today we get to enter, well, I won't say interview, because it's really more of a conversation. We get to have a conversation with Greg. Hess better known as coach Hess and we'll have to learn more about that, but he has accomplished a lot in the world over the past 70 or so years. He's a best selling author. He's a business coach. He's done a number of things. He's managed magic Johnson's basketball camps, and, my gosh, I don't know what all, but he does, and he's going to tell us. So Coach, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad that we have a chance to be with you today. Greg Hess 02:07 I'm honored to be here. Michael, thank you very much, and it's just a pleasure to be a part of your program and the unstoppable mindset. Thank you for having me. Michael Hingson 02:17 Well, we're glad you're here and looking forward to having a lot of fun. Why don't we start? I love to start with tell us about kind of the early Greg growing up and all that stuff. Greg Hess 02:30 Oh boy, yeah, I was awfully fortunate, I think, to have a couple of parents that were paying attention to me, I guess. You know, as I grew up, at the same time they were growing up my my father was a Marine returned from the Korean War, and I was born shortly after that, and he worked for Westinghouse Electric as a nuclear engineer. We lived in Southern California for a while, but I was pretty much raised in Idaho, small town called Pocatello, Idaho, and Idaho State Universities there and I, I found a love for sports. I was, you know, again, I was very fortunate to be able to be kind of coordinated and do well with baseball, football, basketball, of course, with the sports that we tend to do. But yeah, I had a lot of fun doing that and growing up, you know, under a, you know, the son of a Marine is kind of like being the son of a Marine. I guess, in a way, there was certain ways you had to function and, you know, and morals and values that you carried forward and pride and doing good work that I learned through, through my youth. And so, you know, right, being raised in Idaho was a real great experience. How so well, a very open space. I mean, in those days, you know, we see kids today and kids being brought up. I think one of the things that often is missing, that was not missing for me as a youth, is that we would get together as a group in the neighborhood, and we'd figure out the rules of the game. We'd figure out whatever we were playing, whether it was basketball or, you know, kick the can or you name it, but we would organize ourselves and have a great time doing that as a community in our neighborhood, and as kids, we learn to be leaders and kind of organize ourselves. Today, that is not the case. And so I think so many kids are built into, you know, the parents are helicopter, and all the kids to all the events and non stop going, going, going. And I think we're losing that leadership potential of just organizing and planning a little bit which I was fortunate to have that experience, and I think it had a big influence on how I grew up and built built into the leader that I believe I am today. Michael Hingson 04:52 I had a conversation with someone earlier today on another podcast episode, and one of the observations. Sense that he made is that we don't laugh at ourselves today. We don't have humor today. Everything is taken so seriously we don't laugh, and the result of that is that we become very stressed out. Greg Hess 05:15 Yeah, well, if you can't laugh at yourself, you know, but as far as I know, you've got a large background in your sales world and so on. But I found that in working with people, to to get them to be clients or to be a part of my world, is that if they can laugh with me, or I can laugh with them, or we can get them laughing, there's a high tendency of conversion and them wanting to work with you. There's just something about relationships and be able to laugh with people. I think that draw us closer in a different way, and I agree it's missing. How do we make that happen more often? Tell more jokes or what? Michael Hingson 05:51 Well, one of the things that he suggests, and he's a coach, a business coach, also he he tells people, turn off the TV, unplug your phone, go read a book. And he said, especially, go buy a joke book. Just find some ways to make yourself laugh. And he spends a lot of time talking to people about humor and laughter. And the whole idea is to deal with getting rid of stress, and if you can laugh, you're going to be a whole lot less stressful. Greg Hess 06:23 There's something that you just feel so good after a good laugh, you know, I mean, guy, I feel that way sometimes after a good cry. You know, when I'm I tend to, you know, like Bambi comes on, and I know what happens to that little fawn, or whatever, the mother and I can't, you know, but cry during the credits. What's up with that? Michael Hingson 06:45 Well, and my wife was a teacher. My late wife was a teacher for 10 years, and she read Old Yeller. And eventually it got to the point where she had to have somebody else read the part of the book where, where yeller gets killed. Oh, yeah. Remember that book? Well, I do too. I like it was a great it's a great book and a great movie. Well, you know, talk about humor, and I think it's really important that we laugh at ourselves, too. And you mentioned Westinghouse, I have a Westinghouse story, so I'll tell it. I sold a lot of products to Westinghouse, and one day I was getting ready to travel back there, the first time I went back to meet the folks in Pittsburgh, and I had also received an order, and they said this order has to be here. It's got to get it's urgent, so we did all the right things. And I even went out to the loading dock the day before I left for Westinghouse, because that was the day it was supposed to ship. And I even touched the boxes, and the shipping guy said, these are them. They're labeled. They're ready to go. So I left the next morning, went to Westinghouse, and the following day, I met the people who I had worked with over the years, and I had even told them I saw the I saw the pack, the packages on the dock, and when they didn't come in, and I was on an airplane, so I didn't Know this. They called and they spoke to somebody else at at the company, and they said the boxes aren't here, and they're supposed to be here, and and she's in, the lady said, I'll check on it. And they said, Well, Mike said he saw him on the dock, and she burst out laughing because she knew. And they said, What are you laughing at? And he said, he saw him on the dock. You know, he's blind, don't you? And so when I got there, when I got there, they had and it wasn't fun, but, well, not totally, because what happened was that the President decided to intercept the boxes and send it to somebody else who he thought was more important, more important than Westinghouse. I have a problem with that. But anyway, so they shipped out, and they got there the day I arrived, so they had arrived a day late. Well, that was okay, but of course, they lectured me, you didn't see him on the dock. I said, No, no, no, you don't understand, and this is what you have to think about. Yeah, I didn't tell you I was blind. Why should I the definition of to see in the dictionary is to perceive you don't have to use your eyes to see things. You know, that's the problem with you. Light dependent people. You got to see everything with your eyes. Well, I don't have to, and they were on the dock, and anyway, we had a lot of fun with it, but I have, but you got to have humor, and we've got to not take things so seriously. I agree with what we talked about earlier, with with this other guest. It's it really is important to to not take life so seriously that you can't have some fun. And I agree that. There are serious times, but still, you got to have fun. Greg Hess 10:02 Yeah, no kidding. Well, I've got a short story for you. Maybe it fits in with that. That one of the things I did when I I'll give a little background on this. I, I was a basketball coach and school teacher for 14 years, and had an opportunity to take over an assistant coach job at California Lutheran University. And I was able to choose whatever I wanted to in terms of doing graduate work. And so I said, you know, and I'd always been a bike rider. So I decided to ride my bike from up from Jasper, Alberta, all the way down to 1000 Oaks California on a solo bike ride, which was going to be a big event, but I wanted to think about what I really wanted to do. And, you know, I loved riding, and I thought was a good time to do that tour, so I did it. And so I'm riding down the coast, and once I got into California, there's a bunch of big redwoods there and so on, yeah, and I had, I set up my camp. You know, every night I camped out. I was totally solo. I didn't have any support, and so I put up my tent and everything. And here a guy came in, big, tall guy, a German guy, and he had ski poles sticking out of the back of his backpack, you know, he set up camp, and we're talking that evening. And I had, you know, sitting around the fire. I said, Look, his name was Axel. I said, Hey, Axel, what's up with the ski poles? And he says, Well, I was up in Alaska and, you know, and I was climbing around in glaciers or whatever, and when I started to ride here, they're pretty light. I just take them with me. And I'm thinking, that's crazy. I mean, you're thinking every ounce, every ounce matters when you're riding those long distances. Anyway, the story goes on. Next morning, I get on my bike, and I head down the road, and, you know, I go for a day, I don't see sea axle or anything, but the next morning, I'm can't stop at a place around Modesto California, something, whether a cafe, and I'm sitting in the cafe, and there's, probably, it's a place where a lot of cyclists hang out. So there was, like, 20 or 30 cycles leaning against the building, and I showed up with, you know, kind of a bit of an anomaly. I'd ridden a long time, probably 1500 miles or so at that point in 15 days, and these people were all kind of talking to me and so on. Well, then all sudden, I look up why I'm eating breakfast, and here goes the ski poles down the road. And I went, Oh my gosh, that's got to be him. So I jump up out of my chair, and I run out, and I yell, hey Axel. Hey Axel, loud as I could. And he stops and starts coming back. And then I look back at the cafe, and all these people have their faces up on the windows, kind of looking like, oh, what's going to happen? And they thought that I was saying, mistakenly, Hey, asshole, oh gosh, Michael Hingson 12:46 well, hopefully you straighten that out somehow. Immediately. Greg Hess 12:50 We had a great time and a nice breakfast and moved on. But what an experience. Yeah, sometimes we cross up on our communications. People don't quite get what's going on, they're taking things too seriously, maybe, huh? Michael Hingson 13:03 Oh, yeah, we always, sometimes hear what we want to hear. Well, so what did you get your college degree in? Greg Hess 13:10 Originally? My first Yeah, well, I'd love the question my first degree. I had a bachelor of education for years, but then I went on, and then I had my choice here of graduate work, right? And, you know, I looked at education, I thought, gosh, you know, if I answered committee on every test, I'll probably pass. I said, I need something more than this. So I in the bike ride, what I what I came to a conclusion was that the command line being DOS command line was the way we were computing. Yeah, that time in the 90s, we were moving into something we call graphical user interface, of course, now it's the way we live in so many ways. And I thought, you know, that's the curve. I'm going to chase that. And so I did an MBA in business process re engineering at Cal Lu, and knocked that off in 18 months, where I had a lot of great experiences learning, you know, being an assistant coach, and got to do some of magic Johnson's camps for him while I was there, California. Lutheran University's campus is where the Cowboys used to do their training camp, right? So they had very nice facilities, and so putting on camps like that and stuff were a good thing. And fairly close to the LA scene, of course, 1000 Oaks, right? You know that area? Michael Hingson 14:25 Oh, I do, yeah, I do. I do pretty well, yeah. So, so you, you, you're always involved in doing coaching. That was just one of the things. When you started to get involved in sports, in addition to playing them, you found that coaching was a useful thing for you to do. Absolutely. Greg Hess 14:45 I loved it. I loved the game. I love to see people grow. And yeah, it was just a thrill to be a part of it. I got published a few times, and some of the things that I did within it, but it was mostly. Right, being able to change a community. Let me share this with you. When I went to West Lake Village High School, this was a very, very wealthy area, I had, like Frankie avalon's kid in my class and stuff. And, you know, I'm riding bike every day, so these kids are driving up in Mercedes and BMW parking lot. And as I looked around the school and saw and we build a basketball and I needed to build more pride, I think in the in the community, I felt was important part of me as the head coach, they kind of think that the head coach of their basketball program, I think, is more important than the mayor. I never could figure that one out, but that was where I was Michael Hingson 15:37 spend some time in North Carolina, around Raleigh, Durham, you'll understand, Greg Hess 15:41 yeah, yeah, I get that. So Kentucky, yeah, yeah, yeah, big basketball places, yeah. So what I concluded, and I'd worked before in building, working with Special Olympics, and I thought, You know what we can do with this school, is we can have a special olympics tournament, because I got to know the people in LA County that were running, especially in Ventura County, and we brought them together, and we ran a tournament, and we had a tournament of, I don't know, maybe 24 teams in total. It was a big deal, and it was really great to get the community together, because part of my program was that I kind of expected everybody, you know, pretty strong expectation, so to say, of 20 hours of community service. If you're in our basketball program, you got to have some way, whether it's with your church or whatever, I want to recognize that you're you're out there doing something for the community. And of course, I set this Special Olympics event up so that everybody had the opportunity to do that. And what a change it made on the community. What a change it made on the school. Yeah, it was great for the Special Olympians, and then they had a blast. But it was the kids that now were part of our program, the athletes that had special skills, so to say, in their world, all of a sudden realized that the world was a different place, and it made a big difference in the community. People supported us in a different way. I was just really proud to have that as kind of a feather in my calf for being there and recognizing that and doing it was great. Michael Hingson 17:08 So cool. And now, where are you now? I'm in West Houston. That's right, you're in Houston now. So yeah, Katie, Texas area. Yeah, you've moved around well, so you, you started coaching. And how long did you? Did you do that? Greg Hess 17:30 Well, I coached for 14 years in basketball, right? And then I went into business after I graduated my MBA, and I chased the learning curve. Michael, of that learning curve I talked about a few minutes ago. You know, it was the graphical user interface and the compute and how all that was going to affect us going forward. And I continued to chase that learning curve, and had all kinds of roles and positions in the process, and they paid me a little more money as I went along. It was great. Ended up being the chief advisor for cloud services at Halliburton. Yeah, so I was an upstream guy, if you know that, I mean seismic data, and where we're storing seismic data now, the transition was going, I'm not putting that in the cloud. You kidding me? That proprietary data? Of course, today we know how we exist, but in those days, we had to, you know, build little separate silos to carry the data and deliver it accordingly for the geophysicists and people to make the decision on the drill bit. So we did really well at that in that role. Or I did really well and the team that I had just what did fantastic. You know, I was real proud I just got when I was having my 70th birthday party, I invited one of the individuals on that team, guy named Will Rivera. And will ended up going to Google after he'd worked us in there. I talked him into, or kind of convinced him so to say, or pushed him, however you do that in coaching. Coached him into getting an MBA, and then he's gone on and he tells me, You better be sitting down, coach. When he talked to him a couple days ago, I just got my PhD from George Washington University in AI technology, and I just turned inside out with happiness. It was so thrilling to hear that you know somebody you'd worked with. But while I was at Halliburton, I got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Michael, and so that's what changed me into where I am today, as a transition and transformation. Michael Hingson 19:21 Well, how did that happen? Because I know usually people say pancreatic cancer is pretty undetectable. How did it happen that you were fortunate enough to get it diagnosed? It obviously, what might have been a somewhat early age or early early Greg Hess 19:35 time, kind of a miracle, I guess. You know. I mean, I was traveling to my niece's high school graduation in Helena, Montana. And when we were returning back to Houston, we flew through Denver, and I was suffering from some very serious a fib. Was going up 200 beats a minute, and, you know, down to 100 and it was, it was all. Over the place. And I got the plane. I wasn't feeling well, of course, and they put me on a gurney. And next thing you know, I'm on the way the hospital. And, you know, they were getting ready for an embolotic, nimbalism potential, those type of things. And, and I went to the hospital, they're testing everything out, getting, you know, saying, Well, before we put your put the shock paddles on your on your heart to get back, we better do a CAT scan. And so they CAT scan me, and came back from the CAT scan and said, Well, you know what, there's no blood clot issues, but this mass in your pancreas is a concern. And so that was the discovery of that. And 14 days from that point, I had had surgery. And you know, there was no guarantees even at that point, even though we, you know, we knew we were early that, you know, I had to get things in order. And I was told to put things in order, a little bit going into it. But miracles upon miracles, they got it all. I came away with a drainage situation where they drained my pancreas for almost six months. It was a terrible pancreatic fluids, not good stuff. It really eats up your skin, and it was bad news. But here I am, you know, and when I came away from that, a lot of people thought I was going to die because I heard pancreatic cancer, and I got messages from people that were absolutely powerful in the difference I'd made in their life by being a coach and a mentor and helping them along in their life, and I realized that the big guy upstairs saved me for a reason, and I made my put my stake in the ground, and said, You know what? I'm going to do this the best I can, and that's what I've been doing for the last eight years. Michael Hingson 21:32 So what caused the afib? Greg Hess 21:35 Yeah, not sure. Okay, so when they came, I became the clipboard kid a little bit, you know. Because what the assumption was is that as soon as I came out of surgery, and they took this tumor out of me, because I was in a fib, throughout all of surgery, AFib went away. And they're thinking now, the stress of a tumor could be based on the, you know, it's a stress disease, or so on the a fib, there could be high correlation. And so they started looking into that, and I think they still are. But you know, if you got a fib, maybe we should look for tumors somewhere else is the potential they were thinking. And, yeah, that, Michael Hingson 22:14 but removing the tumor, when you tumor was removed, the AFib went away. Yeah, wow, Greg Hess 22:22 yeah, disappeared. Wow, yeah. Michael Hingson 22:26 I had someone who came on the podcast some time ago, and he had a an interesting story. He was at a bar one night. Everything was fine, and suddenly he had this incredible pain down in his his testicles. Actually went to the hospital to discover that he had very serious prostate cancer, and had no clue that that was even in the system until the pain and and so. But even so, they got it early enough that, or was in such a place where they got it and he's fine. Greg Hess 23:07 Wow, whoa. Well, stuff they do with medicine these days, the heart and everything else. I mean, it's just fantastic. I I recently got a new hip put in, and it's been like a new lease on life for me. Michael, I am, I'm golfing like I did 10 years ago, and I'm, you know, able to ride my bike and not limp around, you know, and with just pain every time I stepped and it's just so fantastic. I'm so grateful for that technology and what they can do with that. Michael Hingson 23:36 Well, I went through heart valve replacement earlier this year, and I had had a physical 20 years ago or or more, and they, they said, as part of it, we did an EKG or an echo cardiogram. And he said, You got a slightly leaky heart valve. It may never amount to anything, but it might well. It finally did, apparently. And so we went in and they, they orthoscopically went in and they replaced the valve. So it was really cool. It took an hour, and we were all done, no open heart surgery or anything, which was great. And, yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I feel a whole lot better Greg Hess 24:13 that you do does a lot. Yeah, it's fantastic. Well, making that commitment to coaching was a big deal for me, but, you know, it, it's brought me more joy and happiness. And, you know, I just, I'll share with you in terms of the why situation for me. When I came away from that, I started thinking about, why am I, kind of, you know, a lot of what's behind what you're what you're doing, and what brings you joy? And I went back to when I was eight years old. I remember dribbling the ball down the basketball court, making a fake, threw a pass over to one of my buddies. They scored the layup, and we won the game. That moment, at that time, passing and being a part of sharing with someone else, and growing as a group, and kind of feeling a joy, is what I continued to probably for. To all my life. You know, you think about success, and it's how much money you make and how much this and whatever else we were in certain points of our life. I look back on all this and go, you know, when I had real happiness, and what mattered to me is when I was bringing joy to others by giving assist in whatever. And so I'm at home now, and it's a shame I didn't understand that at 60 until I was 62 years old, but I'm very focused, and I know that's what brings me joy, so that's what I like to do, and that's what I do. Michael Hingson 25:30 I know for me, I have the honor and the joy of being a speaker and traveling to so many places and speaking and so on. And one of the things that I tell people, and I'm sure they don't believe it until they experience it for themselves, is this isn't about me. I'm not in it for me. I am in it to help you to do what I can to make your event better. When I travel somewhere to speak, I'm a guest, and my job is to make your life as easy as possible and not complicated. And I'm I know that there are a lot of people who don't necessarily buy that, until it actually happens. And I go there and and it all goes very successfully, but people, you know today, were so cynical about so many things, it's just hard to convince people. Greg Hess 26:18 Yeah, yeah. Well, I know you're speaking over 100 times a year these days. I think that's that's a lot of work, a lot of getting around Michael Hingson 26:27 it's fun to speak, so I enjoy it. Well, how did you get involved in doing things like managing the Magic Johnson camps? Greg Hess 26:37 Well, because I was doing my MBA and I was part of the basketball program at Cal Lu, you know, working under Mike Dunlap. It just he needed a little bit of organization on how to do the business management side of it. And I got involved with that. I had a lunch with magic, and then it was, well, gee, why don't you help us coordinate all our camps or all our station work? And so I was fortunate enough to be able to do that for him. I'll just share a couple things from that that I remember really well. One of the things that magic just kind of, I don't know, patted me on the back, like I'm a superstar in a way. And you remember that from a guy like magic, I put everybody's name on the side of their shoe when they register. Have 100 kids in the camp, but everybody's name is on the right side of their shoe. And magic saw that, and he realized being a leader, that he is, that he could use his name and working, you know, their name by looking there, how powerful that was for him to be more connected in which he wants to be. That's the kind of guy he was. So that was one thing, just the idea of name. Now, obviously, as a teacher, I've always kind of done the name thing, and I know that's important, but, you know, I second thing that's really cool with the magic camp is that the idea of camaraderie and kind of tradition and bringing things together every morning we'd be sitting in the gym, magic could do a little story, you know, kind of tell everybody something that would inspire him, you know, from his past and so on. But each group had their own sound off. Michael, so if he pointed at your group, it would be like, or whatever it was. Each group had a different type of sound, and every once in a while we'd use it and point it kind of be a motivator. And I never really put two and two together until the last day of the camp on Friday. Magic says, When I point to your group, make your sound. And so he starts pointing to all the different groups. And it turns out to be Michigan State Spartans fight song to the tee. Figured that out. It was just fantastic. It gives me chills just telling you about it now, remembering how powerful was when everybody kind of came together. Now, you being a speaker, I'm sure you felt those things when you bring everybody together, and it all hits hard, but that was, that was one I remember. Michael Hingson 28:50 Well, wow, that's pretty funny, cute, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, he has always been a leader, and it's very clear that he was, and I remember the days it was Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird. Greg Hess 29:10 Yeah, yeah. Well, when he came to LA you know, they had Kareem and Byron Scott, a whole bunch of senior players, and he came in as a 19 year old rookie, and by the end of that year, he was leading that team. Yeah, he was the guy driving the ship all the time, and he loved to give those assists. He was a great guy for that. Michael Hingson 29:30 And that's really the issue, is that as a as a real leader, it wasn't all about him at all. It was about how he could enhance the team. And I've always felt that way. And I you know, when I hire people, I always told them, I figure you convince me that you can do the job that I hired you to do. I'm not going to be your boss and boss you around. What I want to do is to work with you and figure out how the talents that I have can complement the talents that you have so that we can. Enhance and make you more successful than you otherwise would be. Some people got it, and unfortunately, all too many people didn't, and they ended up not being nearly as successful. But the people who got it and who I had the joy to work with and really enhance what they did, and obviously they helped me as well, but we they were more successful, and that was what was really important. Greg Hess 30:24 Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. It's not about controlling, about growing. I mean, people grow, grow, grow, and, you know, helping them certainly. There's a reason. There's no I in team, right? And we've heard that in many times before. It's all about the group, group, pulling together. And what a lot of fun to have working in all throughout my life, in pulling teams together and seeing that happen. You know, one plus one equals three. I guess we call it synergy, that type of thinking, Michael Hingson 30:56 Yeah, well, you've faced a lot of adversity. Is, is the pancreatic cancer, maybe the answer to this, but what? What's a situation where you've really faced a lot of adversity and how it changed your life? You know you had to overcome major adversity, and you know what you learned from it? Greg Hess 31:16 Sure, I think being 100% honest and transparent. I'd say I went through a divorce in my life, and I think that was the most difficult thing I've gone through, you know, times where I'm talking to myself and being crazy and thinking stupid things and whatever. And I think the adversity that you learn and the resilience that you learn as you go, hey, I can move forward. I can go forward. And when you you see the light on the other side, and you start to create what's what's new and different for you, and be able to kind of leave the pain, but keep the happiness that connects from behind and go forward. I think that was a big part of that. But having resilience and transforming from whatever the event might be, obviously, pancreatic cancer, I talked about a transformation there. Anytime we kind of change things that I think the unstoppable mindset is really, you know what's within this program is about understanding that opportunities come from challenges. When we've got problems, we can turn them into opportunities. And so the adversity and the resilience that I think I'd like to try to learn and build and be a part of and helping people is taking what you see as a problem and changing your mindset into making it an opportunity. Michael Hingson 32:40 Yeah, yeah. Well, you've obviously had things that guided you. You had a good sense of vision and so on. And I talked a lot about, don't let your sight get in the way of your vision. But how's a good sense of vision guided you when necessarily the path wasn't totally obvious to you, have you had situations like that? Absolutely. Greg Hess 33:03 And I think the whole whole I write about it in my book in peak experiences, about having vision in terms of your future self, your future, think where you're going, visualize how that's going to happen. Certainly, as a basketball player, I would play the whole game before the game ever happened by visualizing it and getting it in my mind as to how it was going to happen. I do that with golf today. I'll look at every hole and I'll visualize what that vision is that I want to have in terms of getting it done. Now, when I have a vision where things kind of don't match up and I have to change that on the fly. Well, that's okay, you know that that's just part of life. And I think having resilience, because things don't always go your way, that's for sure. But the mindset you have around what happens when they don't go your way, you know, is big. My as a coach, as a business coach today, every one of my clients write a three, three month or 90 day plan every quarter that gets down to what their personal goal is, their must have goal. And then another kind of which is all about getting vision in place to start putting in actual tactical strategies to make all of that happen for the 90 day period. And that's a big part, I think, of kind of establishing the vision in you got to look in front of us what's going to happen, and we can control it if we have a good feel of it, you know, for ourselves, and get the lives and fulfillment we want out of life. I think, yeah, Michael Hingson 34:39 you've clearly been pretty resilient in a lot of ways, and you continue to exhibit it. What kinds of practices and processes have you developed that help you keep resilience personally and professionally? Greg Hess 34:54 I think one of them for sure is that I've I've lived a life where I've spent you. I'm going to say five out of seven days where I will do a serious type of workout. And right now bike riding. I'll ride several days a week, and, you know, get in 10 to 15 miles, not a lot, but, I mean, I've done but keeping the physical, physical being in the time, just to come down the time to think about what you're doing, and at the same time, for me, it's having a physical activity while I'm doing that, but it's a wind down time. I also do meditation. Every morning. I spend 15 minutes more or less doing affirmations associated to meditation, and that's really helped me get focused in my day. Basically, I look at my calendar and I have a little talk with every one of the things that are on my calendar about how I'm setting my day, you know? And that's my affirmation time. But yeah, those time things, I think report having habits that keep you resilient, and I think physical health has been important for me, and it's really helped me in a lot of ways at the same time, bringing my mind to, I think, accepting, in a transition of learning a little bit accepting the platinum rule, rather than the golden rule, I got to do unto others as they'd like to be treated by me. I don't need to treat people like they'd like to like I'd like to be treated. I need to treat them how they'd like to be treated by me, because they're not me, and I've had to learn that over time, better and better as I've got older. And how important that is? Michael Hingson 36:33 Well, yeah, undoubtedly, undoubtedly so. And I think that we, we don't put enough effort into thinking about, how does the other person really want to be treated? We again, it gets back, maybe in to a degree, in to our discussion about humor earlier we are we're so much into what is it all about for me, and we don't look at the other person, and the excuse is, well, they're not looking out for me. Why should I look out for them? Greg Hess 37:07 You know, one of the biggest breakthroughs I've had is working with a couple that own a business and Insurance Agency, and the they were doing okay when I started, when they've done much better. And you know, it's besides the story. The big part of the story is how they adjusted and adapted, and that she I think you're probably familiar with disc and I think most people that will be listening on the podcast are but D is a high D, dominant kind of person that likes to win and probably doesn't have a lot of time for the other people's feelings. Let's just put it that way to somebody that's a very high seed is very interested in the technology and everything else. And the two of them were having some challenges, you know, and and once we got the understanding of each other through looking at their disc profiles, all of a sudden things cleared up, a whole, whole bunch. And since then, they've just been a pinnacle of growth between the two of them. And it was just as simple as getting an understanding of going, you know, I got to look at it through your eyes, rather than my eyes. When it comes to being a leader in this company and how sure I'm still going to be demanding, still I'm going to be the I'm not going to apologize about it, but what I got him to do is carry a Q tip in his pocket, and so every time she got on him, kind of in the Bossy way. He just took out, pulled out the Q tip, and I said, that stands for quit taking it personal. Don't you love it? Michael Hingson 38:29 Yeah, well, and it's so important that we learn to communicate better. And I'm sure that had a lot to do with what happened with them. They started communicating better, yeah, yeah. Do you ever watch Do you ever watch a TV show on the Food Network channel? I haven't watched it for a while. Restaurant impossible. Greg Hess 38:51 Oh, restaurant impossible. Yeah, I think is that guy? Michael Hingson 38:55 No, that's not guy. It's my Michael. I'm blanking out Greg Hess 39:00 whatever. He goes in and fixes up a restaurant. Michael Hingson 39:03 He fixes up restaurants, yeah, and there was one show where that exact sort of thing was going on that people were not communicating, and some of the people relatives were about to leave, and so on. And he got them to really talk and be honest with each other, and it just cleared the whole thing up. Greg Hess 39:25 Yeah, yeah. It's amazing how that works. Michael Hingson 39:28 He's He's just so good at at analyzing situations like that. And I think that's one of the things that mostly we don't learn to do individually, much less collectively, is we don't work at being very introspective. So we don't analyze what we do and why what we do works or doesn't work, or how we could improve it. We don't take the time every day to do that, which is so unfortunate. Greg Hess 39:54 Oh boy, yeah, that continuous improvement Kaizen, all of that type of world. Critical to getting better, you know. And again, that comes back, I think, a little bit to mindset and saying, Hey, I'm gonna but also systems. I mean, I've always got systems in place that go, let's go back and look at that, and how, what can we do better? And if you keep doing it every time, you know, in a certain period, things get a lot better, and you have very fine tuning, and that's how you get distinguished businesses. I think, yeah, Michael Hingson 40:27 yeah, it's all about it's all about working together. So go ahead, I Greg Hess 40:31 was working with a guy at Disney, or guy had been at Disney, and he was talking about how they do touch point analysis for every every place that a customer could possibly touch anything in whatever happens in their environment, and how they analyze that on a, I think it was a monthly, or even at least a quarterly basis, where they go through the whole park and do an analysis on that. How can we make it better? Michael Hingson 40:55 Yeah, and I'm sure a lot of that goes back to Walt having a great influence. I wonder if they're doing as much of that as they used to. Greg Hess 41:04 Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, yeah, because it's getting pretty big and times change. Hopefully, culture Go ahead. I was gonna say a cultural perspective. I just thought of something I'd share with you that when I went into West Lake Village High School as a basketball coach, I walked into the gym and there was a lot of very tall I mean, it's a very competitive team and a competitive school, 611, six, nine kids, you know, that are only 16 years old. And I looked around and I realized that I'm kid from Canada here, you know, I gotta figure out how to make this all work in a quick, fast, in a hurry way. And I thought these kids were a little more interested in looking good than rather being good. And I think I'd been around enough basketball to see that and know that. And so I just developed a whole philosophy called psycho D right on the spot almost, which meant that we were going to build a culture around trying to hold teams under a common goal of 50 points, common goal, goal for successful teams. And so we had this. I started to lay that out as this is the way this program is going to work, guys and son of a gun, if we didn't send five of those guys onto division one full rides. And I don't think they would have got that if they you know, every college coach loves a kid who can play defense. Yeah, that's what we prided ourselves in. And, of course, the band got into it, the cheerleaders got into it, the whole thing. Of course, they bring in that special olympics thing, and that's part of that whole culture. Guess what? I mean, we exploded for the really powerful culture of of a good thing going on. I think you got to find that rallying point for all companies and groups that you work with. Don't you to kind of have that strong culture? Obviously, you have a very huge culture around your your world. Michael Hingson 42:54 Well, try and it's all about again, enhancing other people, and I want to do what I can do, but it's all about enhancing and helping others as well. Yeah. How about trust? I mean, that's very important in leadership. I'm sure you would, you would agree with that, whereas trust been a major part of things that you do, and what's an example of a place where trust really made all the difference in leadership and in endeavor that you were involved with? Greg Hess 43:29 Yeah, so often, clients that I've had probably don't have the they don't have the same knowledge and background in certain areas of you know, we all have to help each other and growing and having them to trust in terms of knowing their numbers and sharing with me what their previous six month P and L, or year to date, P and L, that kind of thing, so that I can take that profit and loss and build out a pro forma and build where we're going with the business. There's an element of trust that you have to have to give somebody all your numbers like that, and I'm asking for it on my first coaching session. And so how do I get that trust that quickly? I'm not sure exactly. It seems to work well for me. One of the things that I focus on in understanding people when I first meet and start to work with them is that by asking a simple question, I'll ask them something like, how was your weekend? And by their response, I can get a good bit of an idea whether I need to get to get them to trust me before they like me, or whether they get to get them to like me before they trust me. And if the response is, had a great weekend without any social response at all connected to it, then I know that I've got to get those people to trust me, and so I've got to present myself in a way that's very much under trust, where another the response might be. Had a great weekend, went out golfing with my buddies. Soon as I hear with the now I know I need to get that person to like. Me before they trust me. And so that's a skill set that I've developed, I think, and just recognizing who I'm trying and building trust. But it's critical. And once, once you trust somebody, and you'd show and they, you don't give them reason to not trust you, you know, you show up on time, you do all the right things. It gets pretty strong. Yeah, it doesn't take but, you know, five or six positive, that's what the guy said he's going to do. He's done it, and he's on top of it to start trusting people. I think, Well, Michael Hingson 45:31 I think that that trust is all around us. And, you know, we we keep hearing about people don't trust each other, and there's no trust anymore in the world. I think there's a lot of trust in the world. The issue isn't really a lack of trust totally. It's more we're not open to trust because we think everyone is out to get us. And unfortunately, there are all too many ways and times that that's been proven that people haven't earned our trust, and maybe we trusted someone, and we got burned for it, and so we we shut down, which we shouldn't do, but, but the reality is that trust is all around us. I mean, we trust that the internet is going to keep this conversation going for a while. I shouldn't say that, because now we're going to disappear, right? But, but, trust is really all around us, and one of the things that I tell people regularly is, look, I want to trust and I want people to trust me. If I find that I am giving my trust to someone and they don't reciprocate or they take advantage of it. That tells me something, and I won't deal with that person anymore, but I'm not going to give up on the idea of trust, because trust is so important, and I think most people really want to trust and I think that they do want to have trusting relationships. Greg Hess 47:02 Yeah, totally agree with you on that, you know. And when it's one of those things, when you know you have it, you don't have to talk about it, you just have it, you know, it's there, right? Michael Hingson 47:16 Yeah, and then, well, it's, it's like, I talk about, well, in the book that I wrote last year, live, it was published last year, live like a guide dog. Guide Dogs do love unconditionally, I'm absolutely certain about that, but they don't trust unconditionally. But the difference between them and us, unless there's something that is just completely traumatized them, which isn't usually the case, they're open to trust, and they want to trust and they want to develop trusting relationships. They want us to be the pack leaders. They know we're supposed to be able to do that. They want to know what we expect of them. But they're open to trust, and even so, when I'm working with like a new guide dog. I think it takes close to a year to really develop a full, complete, two way trusting relationship, so that we really essentially know what each other's thinking. But when you get that relationship, it's second to none. Greg Hess 48:15 Yeah, isn't that interesting? How long were you with Rosella? Before the event, Michael Hingson 48:21 Rosella and I were together. Let's see we Oh, what was it? It was February or May. No, it was the November of 1999 so it was good two year. Good two years. Yeah, wow, yeah. So, you know, we we knew each other. And you know, even so, I know that in that in any kind of a stressful situation, and even not in a stressful situation, my job is to make sure that I'm transmitting competence and trust to Roselle, or now to Alamo. And the idea is that on September 11, I all the way down the stairs just continue to praise her, what a good job. You're doing a great job. And it was important, because I needed her to know first of all that I was okay, because she had to sense all of the concern that people had. None of us knew what was going on on the stairwell, but we knew that something was going on, and we figured out an airplane hit the building because we smelled jet fuel, but we didn't know the details, but clearly something was going on, so I needed to send her the message, I'm okay, and I'm with you and trust you and all that. And the result of that was that she continued to be okay, and if suddenly she were to suddenly behave in a manner that I didn't expect, then that would tell me that there's something different and something unusual that's going on that I have to look for. But we didn't have to have that, fortunately, which was great. It's. About trust, and it's all about developing a two way trust, yeah, Greg Hess 50:05 yeah, amazing. Well, and it's funny how, when you say trust, when in a situation where trust is lost, it's not so easily repaired, no, Michael Hingson 50:16 you know, yeah. And if it's really lost, it's because somebody's done something to betray the trust, unless somebody misinterprets, in which case you've got to communicate and get that, that that confidence level back, which can be done too. Greg Hess 50:33 Yeah, yeah. Important to be tuned and tuned into that, Michael Hingson 50:40 but it is important to really work to develop trust. And as I said, I think most people want to, but they're more often than not, they're just gun shy, so you have to really work at developing the trust. But if you can do it, what a relationship you get with people. Greg Hess 50:57 Circumstances, you know, and situational analysis change the level of trust, of course, in so many ways. And some people are trusting people where they shouldn't, you know, and in the right in the wrong environment. Sometimes you know, you have to be aware. I think people are fearful of that. I mean, just even in our electronic world, the scammers and those people you gotta, we get, we get one or two of those, you know, messages every day, probably people trying to get you to open a bank account or something on them. Better be aware. Don't want to be losing all your money. Yeah, but it's not to have trust, right? Michael Hingson 51:41 Yeah, it's one we got to work on well, so you you support the whole concept of diversity, and how has embracing diversity of people, perspectives or ideas unlocked new opportunities for you and the people you work with. Greg Hess 52:00 I got a great story for you on that. Michael A when I got into this coaching business, one of the one of the clients I was lucky enough to secure was a group called shredding on the go. And so the mother was kind of running the show, but her son was the president, and kind of the one that was in charge of the company. Now he's wheelchair, 100% wheelchair bound, nonverbal, very, very, I don't remember the exact name, but I mean very, very restrictive. And so what she figured out in time was his young is that he could actually take paper and like putting paper into a shredder. So she grew the idea of saying, Gosh, something James can do, we can build a business. This, this kid's, you know, gonna, I'm gonna get behind this and start to develop it. And so she did, and we created, she had created a company. She only had two employees when she hired me, but we went out and recruited and ended up growing it up to about 20 employees, and we had all the shredders set up so that the paper and all of our delivery and so on. And we promoted that company and supporting these people and making real money for real jobs that you know they were doing. So it was all, you know, basically all disabled autism to, you name it. And it was just a great experience. And so we took that show to the road. And so when we had Earth Day, I'd go out and we'd have a big event, and then everybody would come in and contribute to that and be a part of growing that company. Eventually, we got to the company to the point where the mother was worried about the the owner, the son's health was getting, you know, his life expectancy is beyond it, and she didn't want to have this company and still be running and when he wasn't there. And so we worked out a way to sell the company to a shredding company, of course, and they loved the the client. We had over 50 clients going, and they ended up making quite a bit of money that they put back into helping people with disabilities. So it was just a great cycle and a great opportunity to do that and give people an opportunity. I got to be their business coach, and what a lot of fun I included myself in the shredding I was involved with all parts of the company, and at one point, what a lot of fun I had with everybody. Michael Hingson 54:22 Yeah, yeah. There's something to be said for really learning what other people do in a company and learning the jobs. I think that's important. It's not that you're going to do it every day, but you need to develop that level of understanding. Greg Hess 54:37 Michael, you'll love this. Our best Shredder was blind. She did more than anybody, and she was blind. People go, you can't be doing that when you're What do you mean? She had it figured out. Yeah. Michael Hingson 54:48 What's the deal? Yeah, no, Shredder doesn't overheat, you know? But that's another step, yeah. So what's an example you've worked with a lot of teams. And so on. What's an example where a collaborative effort really created something and caused something to be able to be done that otherwise wouldn't have happened? Right? Greg Hess 55:10 Well, I referred back real quickly to the psycho D thing, where he had a common goal, common pride in taking it, and we just were on it. And I think that was a really, really transformational kind of thing to make everybody better as one whole area in a team. Now that's probably the first thing that comes to mind. I think the the idea of bringing the team together, you know, and really getting them to all work as one is that everybody has to understand everybody else's action plan. What's their plan? What is their vision? Where are they going in terms of, you know, playing basketball, to whether you're on the sales team, whether you're on the marketing team, or whatever part of the business you're in, do you have an action plan? And you can openly show that, and you feel like you're 100% participating in the group's common goal. I can't over emphasize an element of a common goal. I think, in team building, whatever that may be, you know, typically, the companies I'm working with now, we try to change it up every quarter, and we shoot quarter by quarter to a common goal that we all and then we build our plans to reach and achieve that for each individual within a company. And it works really well in building teams. And it's a lot of fun when everything comes together. You know, example of how a team, once you built that, and the team's there, and then you run into adversity, we have a team of five people that are selling insurance, basically, and one of them lost her father unexpectedly and very hard, Hispanic, Hispanic background, and just devastating to her and to her mother and everything. Well, we've got a machine going in terms of work. And so what happened is everybody else picked up her piece, and all did the parts and got behind her and supported her. And it took her about five months to go through her morning phase, and she's come back, and now she's going to be our top employee. Now going forward, it's just amazing how everybody rallied around her. We were worried about her. She comes back, and she's stronger than ever, and she'd had her time, and it was just nice to see the team of a group of company kind of treat somebody like family. That's a good thing. Michael Hingson 57:30 That's cool. What a great story. What mindset shift Do you think entrepreneurs and leaders really need to undergo in order to be successful. Greg Hess 57:45 Boy, you know, we talked a little bit earlier about the idea of looking through it, through other people's eyes, right? And then as a leader, you know, the same thing you were mentioning earlier, Michael, was that you draw the strength out of the people, rather than demand kind of what you want them to do in order to get things done, it's build them up as people. And I think that that's a critical piece in in growing people and getting that whole element of leadership in place. Yeah, what was the other part of that question? Again, let me give you another piece of that, because I think of some Go ahead. Yeah. I was just remember, what did you ask me again, I want to make sure I'm right Michael Hingson 58:28 from your books and coaching work. The question was, what kind of mindset shift Do you think that entrepreneurs and leaders have to adopt? Greg Hess 58:39 Yeah, yeah. So that's one part of the mindset, but the big one is recognizing that it's a growth world that we need to look at how we can grow our company, how we can grow individuals, how we can all get better and continuous improvement. And I think that is an example of taking a problem and recognizing as an opportunity. And that's part of the mindset right there that you got to have. I got a big problem here. How are we going to make that so that we're we're way better from that problem each time it happens and keep improving? Michael Hingson 59:10 Yeah, that makes sense. Well, if you could leave everyone who's listening and watching this today with one key principle that would help them live and lead with an unstoppable mindset. What would that be? What, what? What advice do you have? Greg Hess 59:30 Yeah, my advice is make sure you understand your passion and what, what your purpose is, and have a strong, strong desire to make that happen. Otherwise, it's not really a purpose, is it? And then be true to yourself. Be true to yourself in terms of what you spend your time on, what you do, in terms of reaching that purpose. It's to be the best grandparent there you can be in the world. Go get it done, but make sure you're spending time to grandkids. Don't just talk it so talks cheap and action matters. You know, and I think, figure out where you're spending your time and make sure that fits in with what you really want to gather happen in your life and fulfilling it. Michael Hingson 1:00:09 Well, I like that talks cheap and action matters. That's it. Yeah, I tell that. I tell that to my cat all the time when she doesn't care. But cats are like that? Well, we all know that dogs have Masters, but cats have staff, so she's a great kitty. That's good. It's a wonderful kitty. And I'm glad that she's in my life, and we get to visit with her every day too. So it works out well, and she and the Dog get along. So, you know, you can't do better than that. That's a good thing. Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely super. I we've I think we've talked a lot, and I've learned a lot, and I hope other people have too, and I think you've had a lot of good insights. If people would like to reach out to you and maybe use your services as a coach or whatever, how do they do that? Greg Hess 1:01:00 Well, my website is coach, hess.com Michael Hingson 1:01:06 H, E, S, S, Greg Hess 1:01:07 yeah, C, O, A, C, H, H, E, S, s.com, that's my website. You can get a hold of me at coach. At coach, hess.com that's my email. Love to hear from you, and certainly I'm all over LinkedIn. My YouTube channel is desk of coach s. Got a bunch of YouTubes up there and on and on. You know, all through the social media, you can look me up and find me under Coach. Coach S, is my brand Cool? Michael Hingson 1:01:38 Well, that it's a well worth it brand for people to go interact with, and I hope people will so Oh, I appreciate that. Well, I want to thank you all for listening and watching us today. Reach out to coach Hess, I'd love to hear from you. Love to hear what you think of today's episode. So please give us an email at Michael H i, at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, wherever you're monitoring our podcast, please give us a five star rating. We value it. And if you know anyone who might be a good guest to come on and tell their story, please introduce us. We're always looking for more people to come on and and chat with us. Coach you as well. If you know anyone, I'm sure you must love to to get more people. Now, if you could get Magic Johnson, that'd be super but that's probably a little tougher, but it'd be, it'd be fun. Any, anyone t
In this episode, we welcome Zen Honeycutt, the passionate founder of Moms Across America and author of the book Unstoppable. Zen shares her journey of advocating for children's health by tackling the dangers of biocides, GMOs, glyphosate, and toxic chemicals in our environment. As she discusses the alarming rise of chronic illness among children and the impact of harmful agricultural practices, Zen provides actionable insights on how we can collectively create a cleaner, healthier planet for future generations. Join us as we explore the importance of community action and the role of informed parenting in safeguarding our children's wellbeing. Support the Podcast via PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url Zen Honeycutt is a key figure in the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement. We essentially live in a synthetic chemical soup. Given the amount of toxic exposure we face from harmful chemicals used in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and the energy industries, our times ask us to be relentless in the pursuit of clean air, water, soil, food, and every consumer product we use. Behavioral change and action are imperative to ensure the continuance of all life. Zen Honeycutt shares how we can advocate for the health of our children, public health, and that of the planet itself. Zen has motivated and inspired millions of mothers to advocacy and action on behalf of their children and communities, many of whom have directly suffered from the harmful legacy of toxic chemicals being used in the US and globally. Our children deserve the inheritance of a clean and thriving Earth free from toxic exposure. Zen Honeycutt is here to encourage us to invoke change by leading and acting in our own communities in order to uplift the children of the world. For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio Zen Honeycutt is the Founding Executive Director of the non-profit, Moms Across America [https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/], a National Coalition of Unstoppable Moms with the motto "Empowered Moms, Healthy Kids." She is also an international speaker and the author of UNSTOPPABLE Transforming Sickness and Struggle into Triumph, Empowerment, and a Celebration of Community [https://www.amazon.com/Unstoppable-Transforming-Empowerment-Celebration-Community/dp/1986668266/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1526656802&sr=8-3&keywords=unstoppable+transforming&pldnSite=1]. Zen has been featured in over a dozen documentaries such as BOUGHT, Secret Ingredients, Modified, and Common Ground, in hundreds of podcasts, and other media outlets. Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, Indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth. Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url Executive Producer and Intro: Jack Eidt Hosted by Carry Kim Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats Episode 275
In this episode of the Tax Rep Network Podcast, Eric Green is joined by Roger Knecht, founder of Universal Accounting, for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about sacrifice, overwhelm, clarity, and the realities of entrepreneurial success.Drawing from decades of experience training accounting and bookkeeping professionals, Roger breaks down why success isn't about working harder – it's about having clear goals, making intentional tradeoffs, and staying focused when life inevitably gets in the way. Together, Eric and Roger explore why overwhelm causes so many practitioners to quit, how breaking big goals into small daily actions creates momentum, and why surrounding yourself with the right community can normalize success and accelerate growth.If you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or questioning whether building your own practice is worth the effort, this episode offers both perspective and practical guidance—without the hype.Contact Roger Knecht here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerknecht/Join us at GrowCon in May 2026 here: https://universalaccountingschool.com/growcon-2026/
Hear the message from Ps Ashley Evans live from our 10:30am service at our Alpharetta campus on Sunday, January 4! We stream our services live every Sunday at 10:30am ET on our YouTube channel so make sure you subscribe and get notifications to join us live.
To learn more about us, visit faithcenter.tv today!
Jaylen Brown is playing at an MVP level. With a historic 30-point game streak and elite efficiency, we break down how the Celtics star has taken his game to another dimension this season.If you want to support, every little bit helps!We appreciate SuperChats, or you can donate:CashApp: $TheFormatPodcastVenmo: TheFormatPodcast
What do you do when fear, doubt, or circumstances remind you how little control you really have? Tim looks to Luke 1 to challenge our thoughts about life's obstacles and the way God works through them.
The first in the series through Acts
Pastor Sam Houston's message reminded the church that while some entered 2026 easily and others through great difficulty, opposition has always been a reality for followers of Christ. Drawing from Acts 5, he demonstrated that opposition to Christianity has taken many forms throughout history; yet, two truths remain constant: the gospel of Jesus Christ is unstoppable, and God empowers His people to carry out His mission. Even when the apostles were imprisoned, beaten, and threatened, God used an unlikely voice—Gamaliel—to protect them and advance His purposes. Rather than being silenced by suffering, the apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus' name. Their response revealed a supernatural joy rooted in Christ's death and resurrection. The sermon concluded with a challenge for believers to reject fear and complacency, live boldly for Christ, and trust that nothing can hinder the power of the gospel. That the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly unstoppable.
Leave an Amazon Rating or Review for my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!Check out the full episode: https://greatness.lnk.to/1735"I don't need to worry about money again. I know how to make money. And it was such an empowering feeling." - Leila HormoziLeila Hormozi was 21 years old when she closed her first personal training sale for $1,300. She wasn't confident. She didn't believe in herself. But in that moment, something clicked that most people spend their entire lives trying to understand: money is a skill, and skills can be learned. "From the words that came out of my mouth to somebody," she remembers, still struck by the power of that realization. For the first time, she wasn't dependent on a job, a boss, or luck. She had discovered she could create value with her own abilities. But here's what's different about Leila's story: at every new level, the doubt came back. When she'd proven she could make $1,300, she wondered if she could make $20,000. Then $50,000. Each time, she didn't believe it until she did it. Her secret? She acts before she believes. She moves before confidence arrives. She borrowed this from a concept called "acting the opposite": if you want to be different than you are today, act like that person first. The feelings catch up later.Fast forward to today, and Leila is making investment decisions worth millions. Two years ago, she lost close to $10 million on a bad investment. The company wasn't what she thought. The money was gone. And her response? "That's the cost of making money." Because she's learned something most people never grasp: there's a direct correlation between how much you're willing to lose and how much you're willing to gain. If your mind is constantly focused on not losing, you'll never open yourself up to making more. The same decision-making principles that led to that $10 million loss also led to crushing wins in other investments. Sometimes the outcome just doesn't work out, but the process stays sound. Leila doesn't wait to feel competent before she acts. She acts until competence builds, and then confidence follows. This isn't about positive thinking or manifestation. It's about understanding that the experience creates the skill, the skill creates competence, and competence finally creates confidence. You can't think your way into believing you're capable of something. You have to do your way into it.Sign up for the Greatness newsletter: http://www.greatness.com/newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Zubac is back! Kawhi Leonard is on one of the best 6 games run of all time, and the Clippers are taking advantage of it! Clips n Dip talks the Clippers win streak, Kawhi's excellence, Yanic's moment in the rookie-sun, and whatever else comes up
Unstoppable Food Fridays #5 – Bend your Zone, Not Your Gender.
Raheel Siddiqui is a dynamic speaker, coach, and podcast host who embodies resilience and the power of personal transformation. Having lost over 200 pounds on his journey from being overweight and bullied to becoming a beacon of inspiration, Raheel uses his story to empower others to break through barriers—whether those walls are physical, mental, or emotional. Fueled by the memory and lessons of his late father and driven by a passion to help others rise from rock bottom, Raheel now shares his insights via his own Wall Breaker 200 podcast, TEDx stages, and coaching sessions. He brings unmatched energy to every room and is dedicated to helping people discover strength they never knew they had. Takeaways: Admitting You Have a Problem Is the First Step: Transformation begins with accountability and the willingness to recognize and confront your struggles head-on. The Journey Is Just as Important as the Results: Progress requires focusing on the process—commit to the work and trust that the results will follow, in any area of life. Ask for Help and Build Your Support System: Whether it's joining a team or reaching out for guidance, surrounding yourself with people who care can be the catalyst for real change. Sound Bytes: “Any wall in your life is truly meant to be broken, man. You can get off of the mat. You can be heavyweight champion of the world.” “The old Raheel didn't have the Raheel right now, and the old Raheel needed the guy that I am now.” “There's nothing more heartbreaking than to see your parents crying over you, feeling that pain over you. So I said, okay, sure, I promise. So we drove off, we drove home, and the journey begun.” Connect & Discover Raheel: Instagram: @raheelwallbreaker200 Facebook: @raheel.twopointzero
“If you have a very empty but very conscious mind…then anything can happen in that mind.” – Stan Lai, PhD. Today's featured international bestselling author is a director, legendary playwright, and the co-founder of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival and Huichang Theatre Village, China's most famous living playwright, Stan Lai, PhD. Stan and I had a fun on a bun chat about his book, “CreativitRy: Asia's Iconic Playwright Reveals the Art of Creativity”, his journey from pioneering theater in Taiwan to developing his unique philosophy of creativity, how true creativity requires breaking free from mental constraints, and more!!!Key Things You'll Learn:What inspired Stan to write a book about creativity and finally share it with the U.S.The differences between book promotion in China and the U.S.The need for both wisdom and method in creativityHow labels and preconceived notions limit creativity and authentic experienceWhat People Get Wrong About CreativityDr. Stan's Book: https://a.co/d/eM47mAEThe opening track is titled “Kirin” by Marcus D. To listen to the full track and purchase the whole album, click the following link. https://marcusd.net/album/kirinPlease support today's podcast to keep this content coming! CashApp: $DomBrightmonDonate on PayPal: @DBrightmonBuy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dombrightmonGet Going North T-Shirts, Stickers, and More: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/dom-brightmonThe Going North Advancement Compass: https://a.co/d/bA9awotYou May Also Like…960 – The Power of the Actor with Ivana Chubbuck (@ivanachubbuck): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-960-the-power-of-the-actor-with-ivana-chubbuck-ivanachubbuck/Ep. 301 – “Transformative Creativity” with Firdaus Kharas (@Culture_Shift): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-301-transformative-creativity-with-firdaus-kharas-culture_shift/Ep. 941 – South of the Yangtze with Flora Qian (@FloraQian): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-941-south-of-the-yangtze-with-flora-qian-floraqian/1 - "Burn the Box" with Shawn Purvis @shawnepurvis: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/1-burn-the-box-with-shawn-purvis-shawnepurvis/946 – How Stories Drive Impact and Inspire Action with Autumn Karen (@autumncarrying): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-946-how-stories-drive-impact-and-inspire-action-with-autumn-karen-autumncarrying/609 - The Film Director's Bag Of Tricks With Mark W. Travis (@MarkWTravis): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/the-film-directors-bag-of-tricks-with-mark-w-travis-markwtravis/Ep. 884 – How to Go From Stuck to Unstoppable with Murielle Marie Ungricht: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-884-how-to-go-from-stuck-to-unstoppable-with-murielle-marie-ungricht/Ep. 602 – “How to Unlock Your Creative Potential” with Robin Landa (@rlanda): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-602-how-to-unlock-your-creative-potential-with-robin-landa-rlanda/Ep. 720 – “Unleashing Your Creative Potential” with Michaell Magrutsche (@michaellart): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-720-unleashing-your-creative-potential-with-michaell-magrutsche-michaellart/Ep. 1038 – From Bulgaria to Publishing Success by Finding Your Unique Voice with Katerina Stoykova (@Katya_Stoykova): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-1038-from-bulgaria-to-publishing-success-by-finding-your-unique-voice-with-katerina-stoykova/Ep. 320 – “See Your Life As a Movie” with Bob Brill (@BobBrillLA): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-320-see-your-life-as-a-movie-with-bob-brill-bobbrillla/#Bonus Ep. - “Touched By The Music”: Dave Combs On Inspiring And Uplifting People's Lives (@DavidMCombs): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/bonus-ep-touched-by-the-music-dave-combs-on-inspiring-and-uplifting-peoples-lives-davidmcombs/Ep. 1043 – Answering the Call to Become a Multihyphenate Edutainer with Dr. Candy Campbell (@CandyCampbellRN): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-1043-answering-the-call-to-become-a-multihyphenate-edutainer-with-dr-candy-campbell-candyca/
Normally no criminal organization would want to blow up a tower full of super heroes, so the idea of getting inside a gang by doing such a thing would be isane and something only plotted by the wildly ideological. However, thankfully for Kimon, many super villains are the types of minds to blow up the earth because humanity wasn't ready to accept male pattern baldness, so coming forward with an insane, ideological proposal is just par for the course.
What if most marketing struggles have nothing to do with tactics and everything to do with clarity? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I sit down with marketing strategist and global entrepreneur Sacha Awaa to explore why so many small businesses waste money on marketing that never works. Sacha shares how growing up across cultures shaped her approach to strategy, leadership, and customer connection. We talk about why understanding your audience matters more than any tool, how AI is changing speed to market without replacing human judgment, and why marketing should be treated as an investment rather than an expense. You'll hear practical insights on audits, go-to-market strategy, process building, and leadership decisions that help businesses grow with intention instead of noise. I believe you will find this conversation both grounding and useful as you think about how to build something sustainable in a crowded marketplace. Highlights: 00:09 – Hear how growing up across cultures shaped a broader view of leadership, communication, and business.10:11 – Learn why AI improves speed to market but still requires human judgment to work well.12:13 – Discover why not truly understanding your audience is the biggest reason marketing fails.19:22 – Understand what marketing strategy actually means beyond tactics, tools, and trends.27:51 – See what small businesses can borrow from enterprise companies without losing agility.46:09 – Learn why strong leaders know when to step back and let the right people lead. About the Guest: Sacha Awaa is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of My Marketer Mentors, a fast-growing community designed to help small business owners cut through the noise and succeed with marketing that actually works. With a unique ability to blend creativity and data, Sacha has guided startups and small businesses in turning limited budgets into measurable results. Her career has been driven by a passion for helping entrepreneurs avoid costly mistakes, drawing on insights from both Fortune 500 playbooks and scrappy startup strategies. Through workshops, mentorship, and one-on-one guidance, she empowers business owners to find clarity in today's overwhelming marketing landscape. Sacha's own journey reflects the intersection of design thinking and strategic planning—leveraging both sides of the brain to unlock powerful growth. She believes that marketing isn't just about selling products, but about building authentic communities, which inspired her to create a peer-led space where entrepreneurs can learn from and support each other. Whether she's breaking down practical go-to-market frameworks, rethinking outdated marketing tactics, or sharing her personal story of resilience and innovation, Sacha brings both warmth and wisdom to the small business world. Ways to connect with Sacha: www.mymarketermentors.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachaawwa/https://www.instagram.com/uncomplicate__it/https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachaawwa/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson 01:21 Well, hi everyone, and I want to welcome you to another episode of unstoppable mindset today. I your host Michael hingson gets a chance to talk with Sacha Awa, who is a marketing professional. She's going to tell us a lot about that I know, and she's a marketing strategist in general. She's an entrepreneur, and she's co founder of whoop I lost it there, my marketer my marketer mentors. So we'll learn about that as we go forward, if I don't get tongue tied anyway, Sasha, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Sacha Awaa 02:05 Yes, thank you so much. I'm really happy to be here. Well, why Michael Hingson 02:08 don't we start? I love to do this to have you start by talking maybe about the early Sasha, growing up, and just telling us a little about you. Yeah. Sacha Awaa 02:18 So I was born in Dallas, Texas, where my middle eastern dad and my European, Swedish mother collided. And then I grew up in the Middle East and migrated my way down south, down to the US, really, to attend college, where both of my parents went, and I have since stayed and been here. So I am sort of a, a, I guess, a global citizen in the sense that, you know, I, I, I travel a lot to my parents hometown and countries as well as, you know, have a base here in South Florida in the United States. And it's just really great to, you know, have that connection across the board, and I think it truly helps with work just, you know, working alongside and coming from different parts of the world, Michael Hingson 03:09 what do you think about the fact that you have lived in various parts of the world, and how that has really shaped the way you view working with people and viewing the job that you do. Sacha Awaa 03:22 Well, I think that when you are sort of that global citizen, and I think a lot of you know, my generation is having lived all over, it really creates that sense of truly understanding and being able to connect with folks all over just, you know, really the nuances of culture and you know, really how things sort of function and work in their in their country, and really being able to adapt it so it's not just, and I have clients globally. And you know, some clients are some, some people are like, Oh my gosh, it's so hard to do business in X country, or so on and so forth. And I think you just, you adapt, and you, as long as you're open to understanding how other people work and how they get things done, then I think it's a great fit for you to for you to be, for you to be doing that. Michael Hingson 04:11 Yeah, I think it's so important to have a broader perspective than so many of us do. I also think that, and know that traveling around the US, there are a lot of different kinds of attitudes and cultures, if you will, in different parts of the country, which is really cool, this country is large enough that it has that but then traveling to other countries has also allowed me to gain a broader perspective, which is why I asked the question. Because I agree with you. I think that there's so much to be gained by seeing and experiencing various parts of the world. Yes, it broadens your horizons in so many ways. Sacha Awaa 04:49 Yes, in so many ways. I couldn't agree more. Yeah, Michael Hingson 04:53 which is, which is really cool. So, so how long did you live in the Middle East? Sacha Awaa 05:00 I was in the middle east from when I was four months until I was, how should I say, until I was 16, and then came here for boarding school, and then later continued on and lived here. So it hasn't, it's, you know, I've probably spent a majority of my life in the US. But I think what's interesting is when you grow up at a young age, anywhere you really get into really having that foundation and that makes you who you are. Michael Hingson 05:34 Yeah, yeah. Well, how, why did you come back to the US when you were 16, or how did that work out? Sacha Awaa 05:43 I came for the purpose of education. Michael Hingson 05:46 Yeah, your parents were all in favor of that. 05:49 Yes, that's where they went to school. So they Michael Hingson 05:52 wanted you to get that that sense as well. I mean, you've certainly had 16 years almost of learning and so on in the Middle East, but it must have been quite a big difference coming to the US. Sacha Awaa 06:07 Yes, it was, but yeah, of course. I mean, it's when you're when you're at the tender age of 16. Yeah, you know, coming here and migrating anywhere away from your family, especially long distance, even though you're probably like, banging your fists on the wall and saying, I can't wait to leave home. You then have a rude awakening when that happens. Michael Hingson 06:28 Mm, hmm. Well, so are you so your parents still in the Middle East? Or how does that work? Sacha Awaa 06:36 No, my parents are. Well, they're between the Middle East, Europe and the US as well. They're all over Flin around, huh? Yeah. And they continue to do so well, Michael Hingson 06:48 which gives them a broader set of horizons about things. But they they do come and visit daughter occasionally, I gather, Sacha Awaa 06:57 yes, they do. And they come and they stay for two to three months at a time. So it's 07:01 great. Well, that's cool. Michael Hingson 07:04 And so what languages do you speak? Sacha Awaa 07:08 I speak both Swedish, English and Arabic. Michael Hingson 07:12 Okay, wow. So what? What prompted Swedish as part of it? Sacha Awaa 07:18 What prompted Swedish as part of it, my mother is Swedish. Michael Hingson 07:22 Oh, that's true. You said she was, didn't, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, cool. So, so that gives you, certainly a plethora so next you have to learn an Asian language, and then you're going to really have a number of continents. Much less you could do Africa. 07:39 Yes, exactly. Michael Hingson 07:42 But that's, that's cool. So where did you go to college? Sacha Awaa 07:45 I went to American University in Washington, DC. Michael Hingson 07:48 Ah, okay, what did you study marketing, I assume. Sacha Awaa 07:52 No, actually, I studied, I studied graphic design. I mean, I eventually worked for advertising agency, but I was on the design side. Okay? Michael Hingson 08:02 And then you graduated. Did you get an advanced degree or just a bachelor's just a bachelor's degree that was enough to get you going, Yes. What did you do after you You graduated? Sacha Awaa 08:17 What did I do after I graduated? I worked in, I worked in two advertising agencies. I worked in a much smaller one that, you know, when you live in Washington, DC, you either work for the government or you have government contracts. Yeah, yeah. So I worked with government contracts and advertising agency backgrounds Michael Hingson 08:40 cool and you, you liked it. Sacha Awaa 08:46 I did. I worked as a graphic designer for about four years, and I switched over leaving graphic design because I just felt that it was really hard to be creative under pressure. Michael Hingson 09:01 Yeah. Well, yeah, but as you transitioned into doing more marketing things, that's pretty creative under pressure, isn't it? Yeah. Sacha Awaa 09:12 I mean, I guess marketing in general is just a lot of pressure to begin with, Michael Hingson 09:17 yeah, but still, but you, you certainly seem to do okay with it all. Sacha Awaa 09:26 I Yeah, and I think it's I'm always up for a good challenge. Michael Hingson 09:31 When did you go out and start your own company? Sacha Awaa 09:36 Started my own company, if you'd imagine, I graduated in 2003 and then I worked all throughout the years, and then I started my own company in 2022 Michael Hingson 09:46 oh so. Post somewhat, post pandemic, Sacha Awaa 09:50 somewhat in the midst of why did Michael Hingson 09:54 you decide to start your own company rather than just continuing to work for others? Sacha Awaa 10:00 I wanted to break the shackles and basically have my own freedom. Michael Hingson 10:08 And it's working out for you. Okay, Sacha Awaa 10:10 yeah. I mean, starting anything is tough, right? Michael Hingson 10:13 Yeah, yeah. But you like being an entrepreneur. I do. I love it. So what do you do in your own company? Maybe, what do you do different? Or what do you do that you didn't do when you work for others? Yeah, I think Sacha Awaa 10:30 everything that I learned in terms of working for other companies was really just, you know, my bottom line and focus is ensuring that small business owners and entrepreneurs survive and thrive in this environment, of, how should I say, survive and thrive in the environment, of, of what it's like to build a business these days. It's no longer that American dream in the 40s, 50s and 60s and the 70s, really. That made that was so much easier. I think the AI boom is making things a lot easier. To start a company again, but it's just, you know, it it's a different time, right? So owning any kind of business is a struggle. Michael Hingson 11:13 Why is AI making it easier? AI is Sacha Awaa 11:17 making it easier because AI has created platforms that can build a website in Six Minutes or Less versus, you know, I don't know, you know, I mean, it's, it's very, it's very different, you know, so, and I think it's, it's really speed and agility is what it is. It's speed and agility to market. You know, yeah, Michael Hingson 11:45 well, and with AI and all of it, it does. Do you find that it still makes mistakes, or that it may be a better way to put it, rather than it still makes mistakes? Maybe a better way to say it is that even with AI, you need to go in and tweak whatever it does so that it really comes out more like what you're specifically looking for. Yes, yeah, yes, yeah, because AI is great, but it isn't you, and it never will be. It's going to work at times to get closer to what you are, but still being able to go in and and tweak it is probably a very helpful thing 100% so that that makes a lot of sense. Yes, so you have been working now at this company. Talk about being under pressure, I mean now, but it's, it's, it's a self imposed pressure, so it's really not the same as what you would experience working for someone else, right? Correct, yeah. So Correct, yeah. So it's not really the same kind of pressure, not at all. You can make the pressure what you want it to be. Oh, yeah. Well, so what are the most common mistakes that you see small businesses making that you when, when you start to talk with them about marketing so on, what are the what are the mistakes that they usually make? Sacha Awaa 13:18 Oh, the it's, it's not necessarily mistakes that they make. I think it's just the lack of education of what people understand marketing truly is to really, then be able to develop out, you know what that could look like, right? Or you know how it would work for them. So it's just really, not truly understanding, you know, where they are in their business, maybe even doing the work of, you know, digging into, you know, who their customer audience is, and so on and so forth. So it really then becomes a struggle as to, you know, creating creating content for them to connect with. How should I say their audience? Because they have maybe a message that doesn't make sense to their audience, because they really haven't dug into the mindset. So I think really to answer your question, the biggest mistake that that small business owners make, and this is what I push all the time, is ensuring that you do the work of understanding who your audience is and connecting your product and service to that. Michael Hingson 14:28 So when you asked me, before we started about what the audience is like, and I said, it's really a general, pretty eclectic audience because of the way we do the podcast, that must have drove you crazy. 14:38 No, not at all, Sacha Awaa 14:40 because I think that in a medium like this is different, right? I mean, you probably deliver, you probably deliver a lot of content that makes sense for for a lot of people. And so, you know, I think that that that works in so many ways. Oh, so, in essence, kind of do understand who you're. Audiences in a way, Michael Hingson 15:01 yeah, well, as much as we can. But the other part about it is that in this podcast, having different kinds of guests with different kinds of messages, like yesterday, I talked with two people who are very religious and faith based. And I'm sure that there are people who aren't going to be interested in that, who listen to our podcast, they might listen to it. I hope they will, just because I think it's good to always hear other perspectives. But I do understand that sometimes people in the audience will listen to one thing and they won't listen to someone else and what they do, and I think that's perfectly okay, yes, because the kind of medium that we have exactly so I my background has has been since 1979 in sales. Okay, of course, we work very closely with marketing, and there's a lot of overlap and all that, but in looking at the people that you work with and so on, can you give us a story of maybe a company or someone who really overspent on a marketing campaign that they really didn't need to spend so much on their or a tactic where they just overspend without getting any real results. Sacha Awaa 16:27 That happens when there's a lack of understanding of, you know, jumping into something just because you think the world has told you that that's what you need, or, you know, you've been told, you know, this is what you should be doing. So in that sense, it makes it very hard because of the simple fact that they don't really they jump into making a mistake when it's not the right time for their business. And most of these sort of marketing agencies that are out there kind of focused on a one track setup so they don't really it then becomes a bad marriage. If that makes sense, you're meeting the you're meeting the client. You're connect a client is being connected to an agency at the wrong time, and it's it's just not where they should be as a as a business. Michael Hingson 17:26 So a company starts doing something in a particular way because someone told them to do it that way, but they don't get results. Then what happens? Sacha Awaa 17:36 Then they think marketing sucks, and that's the majority of who comes to me, you know, yeah. Michael Hingson 17:42 So when that happens, what do you do? Sacha Awaa 17:46 I have to rehabilitate them back into understanding that marketing does actually work. And that's when I build out my whole process and explain to them like, this is, this is how it actually works, you know, you just it wasn't the fault of, you know, the the business that you were working with. It was just the simple fault that you weren't ready and they didn't guide you in the manner that they should have. Michael Hingson 18:15 How do people take that, when you, when you, when you say that to them? Sacha Awaa 18:20 I wish I had met you, you know, before this happened. Because sometimes, you know, dependent, there can be a lot of money that's wasted, right? So, and that's really what the struggle is, and so, but then it automatically gains trust because they know that I'm not here to, you know, to just rip them off and tell them I'm going to TEDx your business and so on and so forth, when I'm actually really going to, you know, support them getting to where they need to get to. Have you Michael Hingson 18:58 had situations where you started working with a company, and you you thought you understood what was going on, but then when you started a campaign, it didn't work either, and you had to punt, as it were. Sacha Awaa 19:10 Well, I always tell them, you know, we have to test and learn, and that's what marketing is all about. So it's going through those motions, and they have to be open for it, but what I do when I test and learn is that I don't throw money out. I make sure I dip our toes in very cautiously to then, you know, make sure that we build accordingly. 19:33 Yeah, yeah. It is. It Michael Hingson 19:37 isn't an exact science, as it were, but it is certainly something that, when you understand it, you know, you know generally how to proceed. And there's a lot of Troy that has to go on. And so it's not magic. But by the same token, it is a process, yes, and I think most people don't really understand. Marketing, they don't understand exactly what it is that you really do that helps companies grow. And maybe that's a way to ask that question. So what? What really, when it comes down to it, is marketing, and what do you do? Sacha Awaa 20:16 Yeah, so think of I'm a strategic I'm a marketing strategist, whereby I really look at a company in terms of what products and services they've created, who they've created for, and then how do we go to market, and where do we find their audiences at a high impact, low cost? So that's essentially what I do, is maximize their dollars spent just based on making sure that their foundation is in a good place. Have I confused you even more? Michael Hingson 20:45 No, no, not at all. Okay, good, but, but I understand it. So yeah. And I think that that it, it really is important for people to be aware that, that it is all about trying to, well, in a lot of senses, you're educating the people you work with, but through and with them, you're also educating the rest of the world about what these people have to offer, and showing that it's a valuable thing and and that's something that, Again, that's what marketing really is all 21:20 about, yes, absolutely. Michael Hingson 21:24 And so it's important to understand that it is a that it is a give and take. It is a process, and it doesn't happen all at once. One of my favorite examples still continues to be, and you're probably familiar with the case was it back in 1984 when somebody put poison in one bottle of Tylenol and yes, and within a day, the president of the company jumped out in front of it and said, We're going to take every bottle off the shelf until we Make sure that everything is really clean. What a marketing campaign by definition. That really was because he was he was building trust, but he was also solving a problem. But I think the most important part of it still is that he was building trust. And I'm just amazed at how many people haven't learned from that. And when they experience a crisis, they they hide rather than learning how to get out in front of it. Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. How do you deal with that? Sacha Awaa 22:32 Um, I don't know. Sometimes I ask myself why I didn't get a degree in psychology as a second major? Michael Hingson 22:39 Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is amazing. But, well, you got to do what you got to do? 22:49 Yeah? Absolutely, right. Michael Hingson 22:52 So what's the first thing that a company should do to make sure that their marketing dollars are really being well spent, Sacha Awaa 23:02 make sure that their marketing dollars are being well spent. And it really goes back to the foundation, ensuring that they really know what their mission and their vision and who they're actually talking to, because if they're creating content that is is not aligned with the pain point of who their audience is, then you've completely missed the beat. Michael Hingson 23:22 And I'm assuming that you find a lot of people who haven't really thought nearly enough about their vision and their mission, and who haven't really learned to understand what their audience 23:32 is. Oh yeah, 100% Michael Hingson 23:36 so what do you do to fix that? Sacha Awaa 23:39 What do I do to fix that, um, that's when I go through my, my, my three part process, in the sense of, I really take a look at, what's the word I'm looking for, understanding, you know, again, like the foundation, I come in and I do an audit, and I really look into, you know, the details of, you know, how they've set up, how they haven't set up, what they've been doing, you know, that hasn't worked for them, and so on and so forth, and really moving through that process, you know, Michael Hingson 24:17 yeah, Do you? Do you find that you often surprise customers because they thought they knew what they were doing, they thought they understood their mission and their audience, and oh, 24:30 they do all the time. 24:32 They're just surprised, Sacha Awaa 24:33 yeah, I mean, they definitely think that they know what they're talking about, you know? And sometimes it's it's difficult to to unpack that, you know, with clients, but it works out in the end, Michael Hingson 24:49 yeah, it's all about education and teaching, and as long as they're willing to learn, which is, of course, part of the issue. Have you had some people that no matter what you tell them, they just refuse to. Buy into what they really need to do to improve, Sacha Awaa 25:04 to try and see if I can make sure that when we're having the initial setup, to ensure that, you know, it's a good fit for both of us that we, we, we make sure that, you know, in general, it's a good fit, right? And so I tend to, I tend to try and hope to have that interview process that that makes it work in the end, right? So, more than not, I'm, I'm pretty I'm pretty accurate with it. But of course, you know, we can always make mistakes, and I have, you know, I have yet to, to let go of a client. But you know, sometimes you have to, you have to allow the client to to, you know, to guide you. But then, you know, I always am Frank in the beginning that, you know, this is what we're going to be working with. This is what we're set up to do so on and so forth. And, you know, if there's pushback, I feel it in the beginning, you know, and I tell them how I work, and they tell me how they work, and we just hope that it becomes a good marriage. Michael Hingson 26:23 Ultimately, it's all about education. And I gather, since you said you've never had to really let go of a client that you've you've been successful at working out some sort of an educational process between the two of you. Yes, because that's really what it's what it's all about. Yeah, I'm assuming that you've learned things along the way too. Sacha Awaa 26:49 I definitely have learned things along the way. Yes. Michael Hingson 26:53 Do you find that sometimes customers, or a customer of yours really did know more of what they were talking about than you thought? And you had to adapt. Sacha Awaa 27:03 Those are a blessing when they when, when they have that. So I'm always open for that, and I think that that's great when they've done the work, you know, yeah, Michael Hingson 27:16 but they've obviously done something that brought them to you, because they were or they felt they were missing something, I assume, yes. So again, it's, it's a learning experience, and I think that's so important, that that that we all learn. I know for me in sales, I figure I learned from every customer that I have ever had, and whenever I hired someone, I told them, at least, especially at least for the first year, you need to think of yourself as a student. Your customers want to teach you. They want you to be successful, as long as you develop a mutual trust and in and ultimately, you have to be a student to understand them, and let them teach you what they do, and so on. Then you go from there, Sacha Awaa 28:07 100% 100% I couldn't agree more, Michael Hingson 28:11 and it's so important to do that, and it makes for a much better arrangement all the way around. When that happens, doesn't 28:18 it? Yes, it does Michael Hingson 28:22 so fortune 500 companies tend to have strategies they've used, and that's probably what brought them to the point where they became fortune 500 companies. But what are some of the strategies, maybe, that they have, that smaller companies can adapt to? Well, it's Sacha Awaa 28:41 interesting that you asked that you asked that because I worked for a fortune 1000 company. I mean, I worked for the New York Times, and what I really have been excited about leaving them and going into the startup world is the simple fact that enterprises have processes and systems in place that startups don't. And that's what's so interesting, is that, you know, while a startup is beautiful chaos and they have more speed and agility to get to market, they just don't have the process, the practice of the processes in place to really be organized to get to market. So that was really one thing that I brought into, into the system, to be able to help support Michael Hingson 29:30 so for example, what are some of those Sacha Awaa 29:34 processes, you know, creating road maps, go to market strategies, you know, digging into systems. And what really tends to happen at startups, it's just like, go, go, go, go, go, just get market. You know, Michael Hingson 29:50 that doesn't work necessarily at all, because even if you're successful, if you don't have a system in place, do you. Really end up figuring out what it was that made you successful? 30:04 Yes, absolutely. Michael Hingson 30:07 So there is, there's a lot of value in in putting processes in place in terms of documenting what you do. Yes, and documentation is a very key part of it, I would think, yes. Because if you do that, then people, or you, when you go back and look at it, can say, Oh, this is what I did, and this is this worked. So we ought to continue that process, yes, 30:37 for sure, for sure, for sure. Michael Hingson 30:41 So the other part about it is, though, that some of these processes may may cost a bunch of money. How do they implement some of these without breaking the bank? Sacha Awaa 30:55 How do they without breaking the bank? In Michael Hingson 30:57 other words, it's going to cost to put processes in place. How do you convince business people, or how do they realize they can do it without losing all their money and just getting a marketing plan going? Sacha Awaa 31:13 I hope that they get in touch with, you know, somebody like me that can really help them through that process and really just, you know, guide them along the way and and support them in that sense, right? So it's a risk listen like with everything that you take in life, with any a vendor that you work with, with any support system that you have, it's a risk that you take to ensure that you know, it is, it is a it is a good marriage at the end of the day. That's why, when I sign up with clients, I ensure that, you know, I guide them along the way to, you know, support what they're doing, understanding that, you know, they may be bootstrapped from a budget standpoint, so it's going in slowly, giving them a proof point that, you know, hey, this is working. And then moving from there, Michael Hingson 32:07 yeah, so you have checkpoints along the way so that they can see that they're making progress. 32:13 Yes, exactly, yeah. Michael Hingson 32:16 And then, by doing that, they gain more confidence. Yes. But it is, it is just, it is a process, and marketing is a process. And we, we all need to really understand that. 32:34 Yes, I Sacha Awaa 32:35 completely agree, you know, but it's an exciting thing, and if clients start to stop, start, stop, to look at it as a line item, but rather an investment. They will, they will see the difference in that. Michael Hingson 32:50 Yeah, that's really the key. It's an investment, and they need to recognize that. And yeah, I'm sure that's part of what you have to teach. Yes, people take that pretty well? Sacha Awaa 33:03 Um, it's not that they take it well immediately. They have to, they have to adapt to it. And, you know, it's, it's once they see that it works, then, then they can feel comfortable about it. You know? Michael Hingson 33:19 Yeah, yes. So can you share a story where a small business applied, maybe the large business approach to branding and so on and experience growth? 33:38 Let's see that question again. Michael Hingson 33:40 Can you share a story where a small company applied a big brand approach and did see growth, Sacha Awaa 33:51 where they applied a big brand approach and they did see growth when you say brand? Are you talking about changing logos, like all that kind of stuff. Michael Hingson 34:02 Well, I don't know that's why. I was wondering if you had a story where somebody looked at a major company and they said, Well, we like what these people are doing. We're going to try to apply that to our business. And they did it with your help, and they were successful. Sacha Awaa 34:22 Um, so, like, so, as I mentioned, like, logos and stuff like that. Okay, that what you mean, like, from a brand. I just want to make sure I understand what you mean by, well, brand, Michael Hingson 34:36 I'm I'm open. That's why I wanted to get your sense of so big companies are successful for one reason or another, and so I was looking for maybe a story about a smaller company that adopted what a bigger company was doing, and found that they really were able to experience growth because of adopting whatever it was that they did. Sacha Awaa 34:59 Yes. Yes, so Well, I think that the audit is the most important part in the beginning, and it's focusing on that audit to ensure that they're in the right place for growth, and that's why we do that work, to make sure that we set them up for success, right? And that, to me, is extremely important, because if that work isn't done, then, then it can be set up to fail. You know, Michael Hingson 35:34 when you say audit, you mean what? Sacha Awaa 35:38 So I look at their their previous marketing history. I look at their mission, their vision. I really dig into who they think is their ideal customer profile. And then, lo and behold, we find out that there's a multitude of different customer profiles that they haven't even thought to look out for, you know? Michael Hingson 35:57 And so then your job is to help guide them to bring some of those other customer potentials into what they do. 36:05 Yes, exactly. Michael Hingson 36:09 So when you're helping a company develop a strong go to mention go to market strategy, what are some of the key elements that you you put in place and that you you you invoke Sacha Awaa 36:24 the key elements that I put in place, it really goes back to really doing the work on who their customer is. Because a lot of, like I said, it goes back to the beginning of what you asked me, What's the biggest mistake? The biggest mistake is that they don't really, truly uncover who they're targeting. They really, they really don't, you know, a lot of companies don't, even enterprise companies don't. Michael Hingson 36:44 So what is the process that you use to get people to recognize and put process, put procedures in place to really experience growth, so that you discover that they don't know their their customer base, for example, like they should, or the way they're they're speaking to their customer base, isn't necessarily the best way to do it. What are, what are some of the procedures and the processes that you actually put in place that help move them forward in a positive way? Yeah. Sacha Awaa 37:18 So you know, when, when we look into the audit. You know, we we really get their content in a good place. We really tighten up their mission. We tighten up their vision. We really expand on who their customer profile is. We make sure that all of their marketing tech is connected so that they can track a lead in through the funnel, from from from the lead to the final sale. And that's that's really important, you know. So that's really, that's really where we start. And then whatever we uncover from the, how should I say, from the audit, then we start to put, and every business is different. And then we really start to put implement and implementations in place to build from, and that becomes the ground up. Michael Hingson 38:09 And how, how long do you typically work with a company? They come to you and they have a problem or whatever, is there kind of any sort of average amount of time that you end up spending with them, or is it a kind of ongoing relationship that lasts a long time? Sacha Awaa 38:26 Project Based clients, and then I have clients that are sort of, you know, have been with me since day one. Marketing never stops. So as long as clients understand that, then, you know, we keep moving. It's the heartbeat of every company, right? Michael Hingson 38:47 So you continue to work with them, and you continue to create and run their marketing campaigns. Yes. How many people do you have in your company? Sacha Awaa 38:58 Um, I am a solopreneur, and I contract people depending on the clients that I bring in. So I also help with other solopreneurs. So that's, that's how I have managed to to make it work, because it will be difficult to keep people on staff if I don't have work for them, right? Yeah, right. Michael Hingson 39:16 Yeah, right. But, but you bring people in so that works out. Well, do you have customers outside the US, or is it primarily in the US? 39:28 They're global. Michael Hingson 39:29 They're global, okay, yeah, yeah, the value of video conferencing, right? 39:36 Exactly, exactly, exactly. Michael Hingson 39:40 So say the pandemic has helped in in fixing some things anyway, or enhancing some things, 39:46 I think so, Michael Hingson 39:49 yeah, I know zoom has become a lot better because of the pandemic as a video conferencing tool. Yes, it's more accessible than most. Which is which is really pretty good. 40:00 But, yes, Michael Hingson 40:03 but it's, I think that that we're, we're seeing the value of it. Do you, which brings up a question a little bit away from marketing, but how do you think that the entire working world is, is changing? Do you think that there, there are a number of companies that are recognizing more the value of hybrid work, whereas people can spend some of their time working at home, as opposed to just having to come into an office every day. Or do you think we're really falling back on just being in the office all the time? Sacha Awaa 40:38 Some people want to go back into the office. I think that they missed the point of of the hybridness of being able to, you know, to connect with people that I really give somebody the opportunity overseas, that can really support them. So I think a majority of people pre covid were maybe not as open. And I think they're, they're very much open to it now, Michael Hingson 41:05 and so you're seeing more people work in a more hybrid way, exactly, yeah, I I'm glad to hear that. I think it's, it's so important. I think that we're seeing that, that workers are happier when they they are in an environment that they're really comfortable in. And the reality is, while offices are great and there's a lot of value and people spending time with each other in the office, that doesn't work all the time or shouldn't work. Yeah, it's true, so it's nice to see some changes that that will help that, yes, exactly, does AI help all that in any way? Sacha Awaa 41:51 Oh, I mean, there, there are some things that AI can help with. But, I mean, from a connect to, it's, it's really maybe platforms that help you connect, that help you get, you know, the job done that maybe assimilate you being together, you know, and and, you know, brainstorming and so on and so forth, right, right? 42:11 So, what Michael Hingson 42:14 do you think about the people who say that AI is going to take away so many jobs? Sacha Awaa 42:19 I don't think that it's going to take away so many jobs. I think the people that focus on jumping on the bandwagon of AI and ensuring that they make their job a lot better with AI are the ones that are going to survive with AI. Yeah, yeah. Michael Hingson 42:36 We had someone on the podcast about a year ago, who pointed out that AI will never take away anyone's job. It's people that will take away jobs and they'll give to AI without finding other opportunities for the people who are potentially being displaced. But in reality, that AI still is not going to do everything that a person can do. So Sacha Awaa 43:03 you Yeah, there's going to be things that AI can never do. And I think that that is great, you know? I mean, I think people are going to look more for authenticity than, you know, focusing on what is not real, right? I think, I think, you know, people are so scared that it's going to backlash. I actually think that it's going to showcase that we, we need things. We need certain things, right? Yeah, yeah. Michael Hingson 43:44 Well, and I've talked about it here, but one of my favorite interesting things about AI is, when I first started hearing about it, I was talking to a couple of teachers who said that, well, AI is just going to make life really difficult because students are just going to let AI write their papers, and students aren't going to learn anything. And and I asked, What are you going to do about that? Well, what can we do? We we're working on programs so that we can try to figure out whether AI wrote the speech or the or the paper, or they wrote the paper. And that got me thinking, and I finally realized what a wonderful opportunity AI is providing. So you assign a paper for a class of students, and the students go off and do their papers. A lot of them may use AI to do the paper, but if you're concerned about whether they've really learned from the experience. The way to handle it is let everyone turn their papers in, then take a day and let the students in the class each have like a minute, get them up in front of the class and say, now defend your paper. You'll find out very quickly who knows what? Sacha Awaa 44:58 Yeah, it's. True, and they are saying that more people that are using AI, it's actually like hurting their brain from becoming creative, right? Michael Hingson 45:09 Well, I I use AI, but I use AI to perhaps come up with some ideas that I hadn't thought of, but I still create the article or create the paper, because the only way to do it, I think AI is great at coming up with some possibilities that maybe we didn't think of. But yeah, it still needs to be us that does it. 45:31 I completely agree. I couldn't agree more, yeah, and that works. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Michael Hingson 45:40 So when, when startups start launching and doing things, what are some of the common mistakes that they make? Sacha Awaa 45:56 They rush to get to market, and they don't do the foundational work that we chatted about, and then that can really, that can really have a major pushback on them. Michael Hingson 46:13 Are there others that you can think of? There are other things that companies ought to do that they don't Sacha Awaa 46:21 organizational, creating project plans. But it's at its core, you know? I mean, if they, if they rush to get somewhere, and it doesn't turn out to work in the end, it's because, you know, they haven't done the work to really ensure that they're in a good place before they start spending money. You know, Michael Hingson 46:47 companies need to to have leaders and visionaries. How would you define a leader? 46:54 How would I define a leader? Sacha Awaa 46:58 Well, that's a little bit of a loaded question. I would define a leader who understands that they are as strong as who they bring on to support the growth of the company and their ability to know when to take a step back, because they're the founders, and to allow whoever they brought on to help them grow. If that makes sense, it does, yeah, because a lot of the times people hire somebody and they're and they just do the work for them, but it's like, why have you hired them? You know, Michael Hingson 47:43 I think that one of the key attributes of any leader is to know when as to learn your people and know when to step back and let somebody else take the lead because they happen to have more of a talent to do a particular thing than you do 100% I think that is so crucial, because so many leaders 48:06 don't do that. Yep, I completely agree. Sacha Awaa 48:12 They don't. They don't do that at all, you know? Michael Hingson 48:15 Yeah, I you know. And there's a big difference between being a leader and being a boss. 48:22 Yes, absolutely. And Michael Hingson 48:24 I, you know, I always tell every person that I ever hired, my job is not to boss you around. You convinced me that you could do the job we're hiring you for, but my job is to use my talents to help you be more successful, and you and I need to figure out how to make that work. How do we use each other's talents to do the things that you need to be successful? 48:48 Yes, exactly. Michael Hingson 48:51 I don't think that all that many people tend to do that, and they really should. 48:56 Yes, yes. I couldn't agree more. Michael Hingson 49:01 Well, there are a lot of tools and tactics available that people can use. How do you decide to use what in a particular stage of growth or to help people move forward? Sacha Awaa 49:14 It really is just dependent on, on, on their business and their industry and that's what makes it unique to just to focus on, you know, because the same industry could, should, just could have different needs, right? So it's, it's understanding what their needs are that you then assign that to particular tools that help them with growth and so on and so forth. Michael Hingson 49:43 Yeah, that that clearly makes sense. So there's a lot of noise and lot of distractions in marketing. How do you recommend cutting through the noise and focusing on what really matters in any given situation? Um, Sacha Awaa 50:06 what really matters in any given situation? Michael Hingson 50:10 So there's, again, there's there. There's so many ways to get distracted. How do you how do you help to keep people focused on the job at hand, whatever that is to to ignore distractions and focus. Sacha Awaa 50:27 So I guess distractions can come in many different packages. So it's really understanding how those distractions are and what they mean to the company. So just depending on them on that. It's, it's, it's really offering up whether that distraction is important, you know what I'm saying, or if it is, you know, something that is just something to bypass, or if it's noise, so it's really kind of analyzing the worth of spending time and effort on it. Michael Hingson 51:05 How do you get people to get past focusing on those distractions, though? So I mean, you're right and all that you've said, but how do you get people to to recognize what they really need to do in any given situation? Um, Sacha Awaa 51:23 it's really the analysis of of throwing back data to them. So it's like, okay, so this is a distraction. What does this mean to the company? You know, how can we leverage this or not leverage this? Does it make sense, or are we wasting time focusing on think it's just reasoning, right? It's logical reasoning with any type of distraction, whether it's business or personal. Michael Hingson 51:48 Yeah, I know for me, when I worked for a company a number of years ago, I was the first person into the office, because I sold to the east coast from California. So I was in the office by six, and I had two to three hours that I could focus on doing all the phone calls and the other things that I needed to do, because it was nine o'clock on the East Coast, and I started to observe after a while, not so much for me, but when other people started to arrive, they spend time chatting and all sorts of stuff like that. And sometimes I would get interrupted, and it slowed things down. But people chatted and didn't focus as much for quite a while on whatever it is that their job responsibilities required them to do. Yeah, and of course, that's a distraction. It's an interesting distraction of just communications. But still, I never saw that. The company did a lot to get people to really focus. They did some things. They put some procedures in place, for example, where you could see how many phone calls you made in a given day. Yes, some people took that to heart, but a lot of people didn't, and the bottom line is they continue to be distracted. Sacha Awaa 53:14 Yes, it's true, but I think, I think then what, what that what that becomes, it's, it's the personal characteristic. 53:26 Yeah, they have to solve for Michael Hingson 53:30 that they didn't have to solve for. But if you were the leader of a company where you saw some people who were doing that, what would you do? How do you get them to understand, Sacha Awaa 53:44 how do I get them to understand Michael Hingson 53:46 that they need to focus? And how do you help them focus? Sacha Awaa 53:51 I think that's out of my paycheck. Hopefully they have a psychologist back Michael Hingson 53:56 to getting that degree again, right? Sacha Awaa 53:59 Yeah, you know, I mean, like, there's only so much that I can do honestly, you know, 54:06 yeah, yeah, Sacha Awaa 54:11 there really is only so much that I can do in the arena of supporting people, You know, 54:17 right, yeah. Michael Hingson 54:20 So if you encounter an overwhelmed business owner who's trying to create a clear marketing path to do something and they feel overwhelmed, what kind of advice would you give them Sacha Awaa 54:39 that it's natural to feel overwhelmed, Michael Hingson 54:44 and but, but they feel overwhelmed. How do you deal? How do you fix that again? Sacha Awaa 54:50 I mean, I'm somebody that focuses on marketing, so it would be, it would be out of my, my core scope, to be honest. You know? I mean, I just. You know, I can talk them through a certain amount of things, but like, you know, I mean, I can't really change somebody's personality, and it's either, you know, I can guide them in one direction as to, like, what is going to hurt or make or break their company. But I'm not an organizational psychologist. I think that that would be a really good question for an organizational psychologist versus a marketer, 55:21 okay, you know, yeah. Michael Hingson 55:24 Well, if people want to reach out to you and engage you in terms of your services and so on, how do they do that? Sacha Awaa 55:32 Yeah, so you can find me on LinkedIn. It is Sasha Awa. And then can you spell that S, A, C is in Charlie H A, and then the last name is a W, W, A, and my website is S A M, as in Mary G, as in George H Q, so headquarters.com Michael Hingson 55:52 so it's S A M, G, H Q, H 55:57 Q, exactly.com. Yes. Michael Hingson 56:02 And they can reach out to you through the website, and, of course, on LinkedIn and so on. 56:06 Yes, exactly. Well, we've Michael Hingson 56:09 been doing this a while, but do you have any kind of final words of wisdom and things that you want to say to the audience here to get them thinking and maybe reach out to you? Yeah, yeah. Sacha Awaa 56:20 I think, you know, marketing isn't as complicated as it's made out to be. It is. It is loud and noisy. But you know, there are, there are marketers that are here to support you on complicated and to really support your growth. So really lean on them and and and trust in the process Michael Hingson 56:46 and through that, they'll grow exactly well. Sasha Sacha, I want to thank you very much for being with us today. This has been a lot of fun, and I appreciate it, and I appreciate your time. And I urge all of you to when you're thinking about marketing and growing your business, Satya is a person who can help with that clearly. So hopefully you'll reach out. I'd love to hear from you. Love to hear your thoughts about today. Feel free to reach out to me. At Michael H i@accessibe.com that's m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I, at, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, love to hear from you and get your thoughts and for all of you and such as you as well, if you know anyone else who might ought to be a guest on our podcast, love to get introductions to people and wherever you're observing the podcast today, Please give us a five star rating. We really value your ratings. We value your thoughts and your your ratings and your opinions are what keep us going. So we really appreciate you giving us those and for you again. Sacha, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun. So thank you. 57:58 Thank you so much. Michael. I really appreciate it. Michael Hingson 58:06 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.
5 wins in a row, Kawhi Leonard is dominating, and the Clippers look to be figuring it out…how much of this is real? Adam, Will, and Chuck talk the recent Clippers run, try to wrap their heads around what Kawhi is doing, praise…pretty much everyone on the team, and talk the upcoming East Coast Trip.
As we step into a brand-new year, one thing is clear—2026 will require women leaders to be stronger, more focused, and more intentional than ever before. In this episode, Teresa and Jennifer challenge Boss Ladies to reflect, reset, and recommit to who they are becoming in the next season of leadership. This conversation is about clarity, confidence, and courage. They will discuss letting go of what no longer serves you and stepping fully into your next level. If you're ready to lead with purpose and power in 2026, this episode is your starting line.CONNECT WITH US:Connect with Teresa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresarandLearn more about Boss Lady events and coaching at Ladder Network: https://www.laddernetwork.org
When new people find the Nutritional Therapy and Wellness Podcast, they ask, "Where do I start?" While we'd love for you to go back to the beginning and take them all in, this is for those who need a quick catch-up. We're doing a Rapid Replay Series of condensed episodes, including the most popular episodes according to streams and downloads, and a few of our team's personal favorites. This episode is a condensed version of Episode 031: COLD TURKEY - From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable. (Click HERE for the full, original version instead.) This episode is stackable with the last Rapid Replay on Bioindividuality. Episode 76, 77, and 78 are all complimentary in helping you structure and organize so you can roll confidently ahead with a solid plan. Host Jamie Belz walks you through her hot take on going "COLD TURKEY." If you feel stuck on the hamster wheel of "I'll start tomorrow" or are tired of setting new goals only to feel overwhelmed and defeated, give this new approach a try and go from overwhelmed to unstoppable. What's C-O-L-D T-U-R-K-E-Y? • COLD – Cut Out Little Distractions: Small vices sabotage big dreams. Discover how tiny, seemingly harmless habits quietly drain your time, energy, and potential—and learn simple swaps to reclaim your life. • TURKEY – Take Inventory, Understand Your Why, Replace the Habit, Keep It Simple, Establish Accountability, Yield to the Process: Step-by-step, we'll break down exactly how to make meaningful, sustainable changes—without the overwhelm. Learn: • Why traditional resolutions fail (and why it's not your fault). • Practical ways to reset, refocus, and finally stick to habits that align with your goals. • How to leverage the Foundations of Health—optimal digestion, quality sleep, stress management, nutrient-dense eating, blood sugar balance, and physical activity—to build unstoppable momentum. Reclaim your focus and transform your life one intentional step at a time. Subscribe, share, and let's go!!
From Swiss Banking to Indian Orphanages—One Woman's Relentless Pursuit of Justice. What does it take to dismantle systems of injustice while building hope—one child, one case, one project at a time? Meet Noëlle Demole, born in Geneva, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree who juggles fighting white-collar crime at Julius Baer Bank, running a groundbreaking NGO for India's most vulnerable youth, and pursuing a PhD in criminology at Cambridge. Her secret? Relentless planning, radical self-organization, and a vision that ties every facet of her life together. Noëlle's journey began at 18, when a single month volunteering in an Indian orphanage gave her life new meaning and ignited her mission to uplift children cast aside by society. That spark grew into Shere Khan Youth Protection—an NGO now supporting over 500 young people to break cycles of poverty and crime through education. But Noëlle didn't stop there. She's also tackling period poverty with her start-up Egidays, producing eye-opening documentaries, and speaking on global stages from TEDx to the Forbes Money Summit. How does she keep all the plates spinning? And what drives her to tackle some of the world's most urgent humanitarian and financial challenges—often at the same time? Tune in for an exclusive conversation where Noëlle reveals her strategies for managing multiple lives in one, her insight on the interconnectedness of social impact and compliance, and her advice for anyone daring to live their purpose at full throttle. Don't miss this episode of "Living a Life in Full"—where purpose meets action, and one woman's story just might inspire your own.
In this special flip series episode, I sit down with my dear friend Lindsey Schwartz for an honest, expansive conversation about leadership, identity, and what it really takes to build meaningful success without abandoning yourself along the way. We talk about how seasons of growth often require shedding old expectations, redefining ambition, and trusting the inner knowing that calls you toward more alignment—not more pressure. Lindsey shares her journey of evolving as a leader, embracing uncertainty, and choosing purpose over perfection. Together, we explore boundaries, self-trust, and why slowing down, listening deeply, and honoring your values can actually create more impact, not less. This episode is for the woman who feels herself changing, who's ready to lead with clarity and conviction, and who wants her life and business to reflect who she truly is becoming. Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! KEY POINTS: 00:00 Exciting Announcement: First In-Person Retreat 01:30 Welcome to Woman of Influence 02:19 Masterclass on Messaging 02:52 Journey and Insights 03:52 The Importance of Divine Timing 04:22 Navigating Personal and Professional Transitions 06:13 Embracing Change and Authenticity 09:10 Overcoming Financial Challenges 10:18 Post-COVID Reflections and Business Evolution 13:09 Aligning with True Identity and Purpose 17:10 Supporting Yourself Through Transitions 22:35 Refining Messaging and Identity 27:53 Identifying Misalignment with Clients 28:34 Clearing Clutter and Strategy 29:02 The Importance of Energetic Match 29:30 Signaling Depth in Messaging 30:07 Focusing on Premium Clients 31:34 The Cringe Test for Alignment 33:01 Leading with Presence 35:01 Refining Offers for Different Buyer Phases 38:04 Balancing Multiple Passions and Offers 39:59 Steps to Effective Messaging 44:09 Momentum Messaging Movement 46:17 Working with Me 48:31 Final Reflections and Powerhouse Moments QUOTABLES: “ Everything is going good. Why do I feel this uneasiness? My ambitions are changing.” - Julie Solomon “The thing I've always given myself permission to do is evolve. And I've trusted that the people who are gonna come with me. Are meant to.” - Lindsey Schwartz GUEST RESOURCES: Listen to Lindsey's Podcast “Powerhouse Women” RESOURCES: ✨ Unscripted: My First In-Person Retreat in 2+ Years — Now Accepting Applications If you've felt your voice no longer matches the woman you've become, this intimate 2-day retreat in Nashville (Feb 5–6, 2026) is for you. Unscripted is where your message, identity, and leadership come back into alignment—without pressure, performance, or shrinking. Spots are limited and application-only. Apply now at juliesolomon.net/unscripted. [ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence. Follow Julie on Instagram! MUST HAVES THIS MONTH: [STOP DREAMING, START DOING] Shopify makes it simple to bring your ideas to life. Build your store today for only $1/month. [ENHANCE YOUR SELECTION] Upgrade your everyday essentials with the Fits Everybody collection, available now! [BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE] Practical advice and emotional boosts come standard. Start MasterClass now!
Episode 601: December 2025 Bonus Round Episode release date is December 31, 2025 Show Notes Intro of Meeple Nation The World's Most Okayest Podcast Web Page Links to Episodes SaltPOD: A SaltCON Podcast Bios Email us at MeepleNation@gmail.com Patreon Instagram @meeplenation Facebook Meeple Nation Facebook Group Meeple Nation Off Air X Meeple Nation Discord Meeple Nation Sponsorship Game Toppers SaltCON Meeple Nation Gaming Highlights (Highlight-Thirty) 2025 Edition! Nathan Most Played Games Conspiracy Abyss Universe Pixies Captain Flip Azul Flip 7 Middle Ages Dice Hospital ER River Valley Glassworks Fromage Lucky Numbers Hadrian's Wall This Year's Favorites Flip 7 Star Wars: Battle of Hoth River Valley Glassworks Conspiracy Abyss Universe Break the Code Dead Cells: The Rouge-Lite Board Game Ticket to Ride: Legacy: Legends of the West Azure Douglas THE BEST OF THE YEAR! MOST PLAYED (MIXED) Nature (37) (Table + App) Oathsworn (34) (Table) My City (34) (BGA) Let's Go to Japan (29) (Table + BGA) Jump Drive (27) (BGA) Arkham Horror (21) (Table) Cthulhu: Death May Die (18) (Table) My Island (18) (Table) The Crew: Mission Deep Sea (18) (BGA) Sky Team (18) (BGA) MOST PLAYED (TABLE ONLY) Oathsworn (34) Arkham Horror (21) Cthulhu: Death May Die (18) My Island (18) Slay the Spire (13) Marvel Champions (13) Flip 7 (12) The Gang (11) Elder Scrolls: BotSE (8) The Hunters A.D. (8) Unstoppable (8) STANDOUTS (My top 5 of 2025) Elder Scrolls: BotSE SETI Unstoppable The Gang The Hobbit: There and Back Again Bonus: The Mandalorian Faction for Star Wars: The DB Game Bonus: Dice Throne Outcasts
Send us a text On the last show of the year we talk about sellouts, JD Vance's ridiculous statement, the loss of Rob Reiner and Trump's online crash-out, Beyonce becoming a billionaire, our review of the new Avatar, thoughts on the new Gears of War and 28 Years Later and of course hoopsSupport the show
“Worthiness. We all want to feel worthy… but just who we are being validates us.” That's the energy Lanasia Angelina brings to the Detroit is Different studio—fresh out of the church service, East-side rooted (48205, Black Bottom lineage, Gratiot-Gunston memories), and ready to shake the room with her new book 'Stop Playing Small: How to Go From Stuck to Unstoppable.' From sleeping under pews at Perfecting CHurch as a child during choir rehearsal to blue-collar lessons (“my dad worked for Chrysler… my mom was a phlebotomist”), Lanasia breaks down how Detroit survival can harden us—and how healing can free us. She talks sisterhood, moving schools, and the kind of grit where you learn quick, then flips it into compassion and perspective about what we all carry as children carry. Her Pretty Girl Campaign years (serving 2,000+ girls) taught integrity: “I wanted to really hold that integrity so that I was really walking what I was talking.” In a city shaped by displacement, faith, and hustle, she names the trap of chasing titles and things—“they're looking for something outside of themselves when it's all within”—and offers a blueprint for Legacy: disrupt what shrinks you, rebuild your inner authority, and pass that power forward. Detroit is Different is a podcast hosted by Khary Frazier covering people adding to the culture of an American Classic city. Visit www.detroitisdifferent.com to hear, see and experience more of what makes Detroit different. Follow, like, share, and subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Sticher. Comment, suggest and connect with the podcast by emailing info@detroitisdifferent.com
SummaryThe conversation delves into Dave Chapelle's new special The Unstoppable . We also review Wake Up Dead Man discuss like 'Knives Out' and their role contemporary cinema. The crew then pivots to their review of the Season Finale of Pluribus, give initial thoughts on the last 3 episodes of Stranger Things and gets to a few news and rumor topics. (00:55) Dave Chapelle (11:57) Wake Up Dead Man(24:42) Pluribus Review (60:02)- Initial thoughts on Stranger Things (60:07)- News and Rumors
Ed McCaffrey is a three-time Super Bowl champion and Stanford Cardinal legend who's just as celebrated for his work off the field as he is for his NFL career. Known for his humility and quiet strength during his playing days, Ed has since become renowned for his philanthropy, founding and running football camps for athletes with Down syndrome and children from military families. He now leads McCaffrey Brands, delivering premium food products and healthy snacks nationwide, all while remaining committed to using his platform to make a positive impact. Whether inspiring the next generation or creating “the best mustard in the world,” Ed exemplifies the all-American values of teamwork, leadership, and giving back. Takeaways: Ed McCaffrey values teamwork and using his platform to uplift others, whether through his philanthropic work, business endeavors, or family legacy. Building McCaffrey Brands was rooted in the desire to bring joy and flavor to everyday life, drawing on lessons from athletics and partnership, and driven by a commitment to quality and purpose. True fulfillment comes from investing in people, building strong teams, and always focusing on providing real value—on the field, in business, and in the community. Sound Bytes: “You don't do it to have people hear about it, but it certainly feels fulfilling to me and to Lisa and to our boys who feel that it's important to give back.” — Ed McCaffrey “Everything we do is to help bring new, creative, premium products to market that make people's food taste better, that provides them value.” — Ed McCaffrey “Hopefully, people remember me as a good husband, a good father, and someone who cared about other people.” — Ed McCaffrey Connect & Discover Ed: Instagram: @edmccaffrey87 X: @87ed Website: edmccaffrey.com Website: mccaffreybrands.com
In this powerful episode of Day of Destiny, Dr. Michelle releases a prophetic word for 2026, calling God's people to rise up in Unstoppable Vision. Drawing from the powerful testimony of the Apostle Paul in Acts 26, you'll discover what it means to be fully obedient to the heavenly vision—no matter the obstacles, opposition, or seasons of waiting. Learn how divine purpose, courage, and unwavering faith position you to fulfill God's calling over your life in the coming year. This message will ignite your spirit, strengthen your resolve, and empower you to walk boldly in the vision Heaven has declared over you.
Fear of judgment can quietly shape how you show up, even when you are capable, prepared, and driven. In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I talk with Carlos Garcia, an attorney, Army Reserve JAG officer, certified Army Master Resilience Trainer, and high performance coach who helps people move past fear and into purposeful action. Carlos shares his path from growing up in Simi Valley to serving as a trial defense counsel in high pressure legal settings, and how his own fear of rejection once led him to stay quiet, second guess himself, and avoid opportunities. That struggle pushed him to study resilience, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, and to test those lessons through intense physical and mental challenges that reshaped how he shows up under pressure. Together, we explore why fear of other people's opinions feels so powerful, how the brain exaggerates threats, and why growth requires planned exposure to discomfort. We talk about preparation versus worry, training your mind before the crisis hits, and why small wins matter more than people realize. I also share lessons from September 11 and from my book Live Like a Guide Dog, connecting mindset, preparation, and courage when it matters most. Carlos's guiding idea runs through the entire conversation. Get calm so you can think clearly. Get bold so you can act with intention. Get after it so progress actually happens. If fear of judgment, public speaking, or stepping outside your comfort zone has been holding you back, this episode offers practical insight and encouragement to move forward with confidence. Highlights: 00:58 – Learn how early success can still create fear of judgment and quiet self doubt. 06:14 – Discover why exposing yourself to discomfort breaks fear predictions that rarely come true. 08:29 – Understand how preparation builds calm before pressure ever hits. 16:28 – Learn how to use stress as energy instead of letting it trigger avoidance. 25:23 – Discover why reflection turns mistakes into growth instead of shame. 52:04 – Learn why getting calm must come before bold action and real progress. About the Guest: Carlos is an attorney, certified Army Master Resilience Trainer, Army reserve JAG officer, and high-performance coach for smart, driven people. He's spent over a decade navigating high-stakes environments, from adversarial legal settings fighting for soldiers as a trial defense counsel to the frontlines of resilience training with soldiers and leaders. It all began in 2011 in Washington, DC, where high-stress, high-judgment, and constant pressure came with the territory. But behind the business attire and confident façade was a harsh reality: a fear of rejection that kept him second-guessing, staying quiet, people-pleasing, and missing out on opportunities he knew he wanted. For years, he avoided rocking the boat, held back in meetings, and lived for external validation. The result? He was invisible in rooms where he should've been leading, stuck on a path that didn't feel like his, and missing out on the roles, relationships, and rewards he worked so hard for. Then, he decided to rewrite the script. He dove into resilience training, went deep into neuroscience, psychology, ancient philosophy, and anything that could help him (and others like me) reject the fear of, well, rejection. That journey led him to the U.S. Army Resilience program, where he got certified to teach soldiers and leaders how to face judgment, stress, and adversity head-on. It led him on a path of continuous testing and personal experimentation—at work, in ultra running, and in combat sports including Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. And eventually, he created True Progress Lab to bring those same principles to leaders who are ready to step up. His motto: Get calm—clarity starts there. Get bold—stability fuels courage. Get after it—progress demands action. Ways to connect with Carlos**:** Website: http://trueprogresslab.com Newsletter: http://trueprogresslab.com/newsletter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamjcarlosg/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trueprogresslab/ X: https://x.com/TrueProgressLab hello@trueprogresslab.com About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes:
Astro Predictions for Year 2026 | Yogi & Modi will be Unstoppable | Kaartik Gor Vedic Predictions
Dolly Parton BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Dolly Parton, the indomitable Queen of Country, has been making waves even from her sickbed, as AOL reports shes still pushing herself to work despite doctors orders to rest, with loved ones fretting shes stressing her health into the ground. No public appearances in the past few days, but her name lights up stages nationwide through her timeless productions. Ticketmaster lists Dolly Partons Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol running hot in Lexington, Kentucky on December 26, while Concerts50 hypes a tribute show at Huntsville Levity Live on December 28, tickets vanishing fast. Looking ahead with that signature sparkle, Travel and Tour World announced on December 28 that her lavish SongTeller Hotel a 245-room Nashville stunner with a museum exhibit tracing her rags-to-riches saga in pink-and-gold glory opens spring 2026, poised to redefine Music City luxury and draw fans into her world. Shes also revving up the trucker crowd, partnering to rebrand Tennessean Travel Stops flagship as Dollys Tennessean Travel Stop in 2026 per 995 The Wolf, expanding her empire with Southern flair. Health whispers cast a shadow over her future gigs JamBase notes a Las Vegas residency date shifted from December 6, 2025 to September 19, 2026 amid challenges but her spirit shines undimmed. At 77, the Oreate AI blog celebrates her as a timeless icon blending music, philanthropy, and bold ventures like these travel stops. Her Journey of a Seeker exhibit endures at the Country Music Hall of Fame, chronicling her fearless path. No fresh social media buzz surfaces, but Dollys legacy hums on, from Imagination Library nods at Scappoose Library to her reflective new book Star of the Show, where AOL says she muses on turning 80 without slowing down. Insiders whisper these expansions could etch her as Nashvilles ultimate hospitality mogul, blending glitter, grit, and goodwill into history.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
What if your past isn't the reason you can't, it's the reason you must? In today's High Vibe Life episode, I sit down with life & performance coach Sabrina Militello to unpack identity, belief, and the exact inner work that turns "impossible" into inevitable. We go deep on rewriting old stories, showing up when you don't feel like it, the difference between easeand easy, and how women of faith can build wildly abundant businesses without the guilt. If you've ever felt "not enough," this conversation will feel like oxygen. We cover: Identity shifts that actually stick (not just cute affirmations) How to find belief when you only have 1% faith left Why "alignment" isn't code for "easy"—and what to do instead The seven-layers-deep exercise to expose your real block Business, money & faith: powerful reframes to drop the guilt Connect with Sabrina Militello: IG: @_inspiresabrina Web: sabrinamilitello.com If this helped, share it with a friend, tag us in Stories, and leave a review—your words help more women find this show.
In this episode, Candice sits down with Brit Nicole, a powerhouse clarity coach, transformational speaker, and founder of the Unstoppable SheEO. Brit shares her journey from surviving domestic abuse and rebuilding her identity to building and scaling multiple six-figure businesses and leading high-capacity women through healing, clarity, and aligned success. In this episode, they discuss:How Brit rebuilt her life and confidence after leaving an abusive relationshipWhy tying identity to business success can lead to burnoutHow survival mode impacts decision-making and entrepreneurshipWhat it means to build a business that works with your brainWhy doing it scared is often the first step toward confidenceHow the Unstoppable SheEO was born from resilience and purpose No matter how many times life knocks you down, this episode is a reminder that healing, clarity, and aligned success are always possible when you choose to rise again. About Brit Nicole:Brit Nicole is a powerhouse clarity coach, transformational speaker, and the founder of The Unstoppable SheEO™ — a faith-fueled movement helping high-capacity women rebuild their lives, businesses, and confidence after trauma, burnout, or breakdown.Brit built a nationally recognized photography brand from scratch - scaling it to multiple six-figures, leading a team of associate shooters, and getting featured in media giants like FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, Yahoo Finance, and CNN. She knows what it means to rise... then get knocked flat. Then choose to rise again.Now, Brit is THE coach high-achieving women call when they are ready to wipe the slate clean, silence the self-doubt, and build something holy, wise, and wildly aligned.Website: www.BritNicolePhotography.comwww.TheUnstoppableSheEO.comTry Brit's Online Group -Free for 7 Days LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/brit-nicoleInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/its.brit.nicole/# -----If you're struggling, consider therapy with our sponsor, BetterHelp.Visit https://betterhelp.com/candicesnyder for a 10% discount on your first month of therapy.*This is a paid promotionIf you are in the United States and in crisis, or any other person may be in danger -Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Dial 988-----Connect with Candice Snyder!Website: https://www.podpage.com/passion-purpose-and-possibilities-1/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/candicebsnyder?_rdrPassion, Purpose, and Possibilities Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/passionpurposeandpossibilitiescommunity/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passionpurposepossibilities/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candicesnyder/Shop For A Cause With Gifts That Give Back to Nonprofits: https://thekindnesscause.com/Fall In Love With Artists And Experience Joy And Calm: https://www.youtube.com/@movenartrelaxationClick this link to receive your FREE TRIAL to The Greenhouse Communityhttps://www.thegreenhousecommunity.com/checkout/the-greenhouse-membership?affiliate_code=11e889
On this episode of A Pod Named Kickback, No Brakes Nu and the squad dive into mental calibration — the connection between what you think, what you say, and what you do… and how aligning those three shapes who you're becoming. We break down real-life conversations around growth, discipline, and moving like your future self.We also talk Dave Chappelle and the outrage over his Saudi Arabia comments, separating facts from emotional overreactions. Jacq (J-A-C-Q — spell it right
The Brutal Truth about B2B Sales & Selling - The show focuses on Hacking the Sales Process
Here is a FAQ Video on the Courses: https://youtu.be/0F7imrzjXWs Here is a deep dive into which course is best for you: https://youtu.be/JM_jgS8M-iU https://www.b2bRevenue.com - Get Your Free E-Book on How Companies make Decisions. FAQ: 1 YEAR ACCESS, PAY MONTHLY OR ANNUALLY NOT A SUBSCRIPTION OFFICE HOURS EVERY OTHER WEEK VIA ZOOM. 1 HOUR GROUP Q&A. UNLIMITED 1-ON-1'S ARE FREE AS LONG AS THEY CAN BE SHARED IN THE COURSE. 1-ON-1 ARE FULL ACCESS ON DAY ONE - NOTHING IS GATED OR TIME RELEASED. ALL CONTENT IS VIDEO BASED AND SELF PACED I RECOMMEND TAKE COURSE ONCE WITHOUT NOTES OR APPLYING IT SO YOU UNDERSTAND THE BIG PICTURE FIRST. THEN TAKE AND APPLY IT STEP BY STEP. YOU START WHEN YOU WANT AND GO AS FAST OR SLOW AS NEEDED. Email me additional questions: briangburns@me.com — SAMPLE EMAIL TO EXPENSE THE COURSE MGR, I have been listening to the brutal truth about sales podcast for X months and it speaks to the issues we face. They currently offer a course that includes video instruction, group Q&A and One-on-One coaching. I'm committed to my own personal development and would like your help in expensing the course. It would pay for itself if I closed only one new deal of $X value. Please let me know by Friday if I can move forward with this 1 year course. Thanks, ME Here are some student interviews from the courses: ———————————————————————————————————— Audible 30 day Free Trial: http://www.audibletrial.com/BrutalTruth
There's a brutal truth that separates average even good practice owners from the unstoppable ones. It's not luck, intelligence, or how long you've been in business. It's your habits. In this episode, Tristan exposes the daily disciplines the top 5% of practice owners live by and the habits that keep everyone else busy, overwhelmed, and stuck. You'll discover: Why your current habits are perfectly designed to give you your current results The power of ruthless time discipline (and why "diary is the boss") How top performers obsess over data, not drama, to scale with precision Why relentless learning, coaching, and peer groups are non-negotiable for real growth Success doesn't come from doing more. It comes from doing the right things consistently and removing the habits that sabotage you. P.S. If you want to learn more about how to scale your healthcare practice, chat with one of our expert coaches at https://practiceacceleration.com/application and see how we can help you! Thanks so much for joining us this week. We hope you love it! Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave us a review on iTunes!
Welcome! We'd love for you to comment where you're watching from!If you would like to join the PAZ Kids Line Group please do so here: https://lin.ee/B5lAYxJ If you want to give your tithe or offering, go here: https://tithe.ly/give?c=196796Download our Paz Church app today to check out the message notes, today's service, get access to worship videos, Paz Kids videos, and more! https://tithely.app.link/paz-churchIf you would like to connect with us about anything please send us an email to info@pazchurch.com!To comment or ask a question privately or join the PAZ Church Line group, please do that here: https://lin.ee/ngolxL3ようこそ!みなさんが今どこから見ているのか教えてください!PAZキッズライングループに参加したい場合は、こちらのリンクをご覧ください。https://lin.ee/B5lAYxJ 10分の1献金もしくは通常献金をしたい方は、こちらから: https://tithe.ly/give?c=196796今日、パズチャーチアプリをダウンロードしよう!メッセージノート、礼拝のメッセージ、ワーシップビデオ、パズキッズビデオなど、いろいろなコンテンツがあります!是非チェックしてみてください! https://tithely.app.link/paz-church-japanese私たちに興味がある方はinfo@pazchurch.com までご連絡ください!コメントや個人的な質問、PAZ Church Lineのグループへの参加は、こちらからお願いします: https://lin.ee/ngolxL3
Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Outwork Them All – Morning Motivation to Build an Unstoppable Life outwork them all, morning motivational speech, work every waking hour, powerful motivation 2025, hard work and discipline, daily motivation video, rise and grind mindset, push yourself motivation, unstoppable success mindset, best motivational speech, work ethic motivation, discipline motivation, motivation for winners, consistency and effort, change your life motivation, relentless mindset, take action today motivation, strong mindset speech, how to succeed 2025, personal development motivation, self improvement speech, grind daily motivation, stay focused motivation, achieve your dreams motivation, motivation to work harder, inspirational morning message, mindset shift 2025, work harder than everyone else motivation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This sermon from Pastor Seth Fisher explores Acts 12 and the miraculous deliverance of Peter from prison, contrasted with the martyrdom of James. This message emphasizes that God is fully capable of miraculous intervention, yet wise enough to work beyond our preferred outcomes, it challenges believers to engage in "ektenos" prayer—intense, full-bodied, dependent prayer—while trusting God's sovereignty even when answers don't align with our expectations. The central truth is that no earthly power can stop God's kingdom, and He advances His mission through the faithful prayers of His people. The message calls the church to passionate prayer and obedient participation in God's unstoppable work.
This sermon from Pastor Seth Fisher explores Acts 12 and the miraculous deliverance of Peter from prison, contrasted with the martyrdom of James. This message emphasizes that God is fully capable of miraculous intervention, yet wise enough to work beyond our preferred outcomes, it challenges believers to engage in "ektenos" prayer—intense, full-bodied, dependent prayer—while trusting God's sovereignty even when answers don't align with our expectations. The central truth is that no earthly power can stop God's kingdom, and He advances His mission through the faithful prayers of His people. The message calls the church to passionate prayer and obedient participation in God's unstoppable work.
If Kimon is going to attack Unstoppable HQ, it's going to require a distraction of some sort, but it'd be a wasted opportunity to send a message if the distraction were just a cat up a tree or some minor speedbump to the life of the city. No, this distraction is going to require a bit of classical, super villainous pinache. Of course, you really have to go through the trouble to set it up if you want it.
Psychologists Off The Clock: A Psychology Podcast About The Science And Practice Of Living Well
If you've been dragging some of last year around with you, or you've been feeling that strange mix of excitement and pressure that shows up every January, this episode is calling your name. Closing out the year, the POTC cohosts are bringing you a conversation about how creativity can be a lifeline, a mindset shift, and a really enjoyable way to start 2026 feeling more like yourself.Walking you through simple ways to reflect on the past year, we share some creative exercises that spark real insight and explore how tuning into your creative side can help you make meaning, connect with people, and better handle the tough stuff life throws at you. If you're craving more joy, connection, or just a new angle on the year ahead, you're bound to find something that resonates.So settle in, and join us in starting the year with intention, curiosity, and a little touch of creativity.Listen and Learn: Reflection Exercises, including: Finding Meaning: Reflecting on the past year, where were you last New Year's, and what were your biggest highs and lows since thenMeaningful Moments: Reflecting on two or three meaningful moments from the past year and vividly recalling the sights, sounds, and feelings of each experienceLessons, Wins and Moving Forward: Reflecting on your past year to uncover lessons from mistakes, celebrate achievements, and clarify what truly matters to you as you move into 2026Vision for the Year Ahead: Reflecting on what you truly want, the areas you've neglected, and the values you want to prioritize in the year aheadHow incorporating creative, life-affirming activities can boost your well-being and help you navigate life's challengesPractical exercises and tips to spark more creativity in your life in the new yearResources: Access the New Year's Reflection Questions from this episode (.pdf or editable MS Word versions available) Debbie's Guided Journaling Substack with writing prompts and a 30-day journaling challengeYear Compass worksheets: https://yearcompass.com/Word of the Year and Unravel Your Year worksheets by Susannah Conway: https://www.susannahconway.com/unravel Creative Mornings: https://creativemornings.com/ Jill | Betrayal Weekly: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jill-betrayal-weekly/id1615637724?i=1000726003078 If you have a story connected to trauma, crime, or someone who's caused harm—and you feel ready to share it—Jill would love to hear from you. You can book a free 30-minute consult at:https://jillstoddard.com/contact-us About the POTC CoHosts: Debbie Sorensen, PhD, Co-hostDebbie (she/her) is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Denver, Colorado with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard University. She is author of the book ACT for Burnout: Recharge, Reconnect, and Transform Burnout with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and co-author of ACT Daily Journal: Get Unstuck and Live Fully with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. She loves living in Colorado, her home state, with her husband, two daughters, and dog. When she's not busy working or podcasting, she enjoys reading fiction, cooking, traveling, and getting outdoors in the beautiful Rocky Mountains! You can learn more about Debbie, read her blog, and find out about upcoming presentations and training events at her webpage, drdebbiesorensen.com.Jill Stoddard, PhD, Co-hostJill Stoddard is passionate about sharing science-backed ideas from psychology to help people thrive. She is a psychologist, writer, TEDx speaker, award-winning teacher, peer-reviewed ACT trainer, bariatric coach, and co-host of the popular Psychologists Off the Clock podcast. Dr. Stoddard is the founder and director of The Center for Stress and Anxiety Management, an outpatient practice specializing in evidence-based therapies for anxiety and related issues. She is the author of three books: The Big Book of ACT Metaphors: A Practitioner's Guide to Experiential Exercises and Metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; Be Mighty: A Woman's Guide to Liberation from Anxiety, Worry, and Stress Using Mindfulness and Acceptance; and Imposter No More: Overcome Self-doubt and Imposterism to Cultivate a Successful Career. Her writing has also appeared in The Washington Post, Psychology Today, Scary Mommy, Thrive Global, The Good Men Project, and Mindful Return. She regularly appears on podcasts and as an expert source for various media outlets. She lives in Newburyport, MA with her husband, two kids, and disobedient French Bulldog. Michael Herold, Co-HostMichael (he/him) is a confidence trainer and social skills coach, based in Vienna, Austria. He's helping his clients overcome their social anxiety through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and fun exposure exercises. (Though the jury is still out on whether they're mostly fun for him). He is also a certified therapeutic game master, utilizing the Dungeons&Dragons tabletop roleplaying game to train communication, assertiveness, and teamwork with young adults. Or actually, anyone ready to roll some dice and battle goblins in a supportive group where players want to level up (pun!) their social skills. Michael is the head coach of the L.A. based company The Art of Charm, running their confidence-building program “Unstoppable” as well as workshops on small talk, storytelling, vulnerability, and more. He is the scientific advisor and co-producer of their large podcast with more than 250 million downloads. As a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), Michael is the current President of the ACT Coaching Special Interest Group with nearly 1,000 coaches worldwide, and the co-founder of the ACT in Austria Affiliate of ACBS, a nationwide meetup for ACT practitioners in Austria. He's a public speaker who has spoken at TEDx, in front of members of parliament, universities, and once in a cinema full of 500 kids high on sugary popcorn. In a previous life, he was a character animator working on award-winning movies and TV shows such as “The Penguins of Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda”. That was before he realized that helping people live a meaningful life is much more rewarding than working in the film business – even though the long nights in the studio allowed him to brew his own beer in the office closet, an activity he highly recommends. Michael grew up with five foster kids who were all taken out of abusive families. His foster sisters showed him how much positive change is possible in a person if they have the love and support they need.Emily Edlynn, PhD, Co-HostEmily (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in pediatric health psychology who works in private practice with children, teens, and adults. She has a BA in English from Smith College, a PhD in clinical psychology from Loyola University Chicago, and completed postgraduate training at Stanford and Children's Hospital Orange County. Emily spent almost ten years working in children's hospitals before pivoting to private practice, which allowed her to start a writing career. Emily has written her blog, The Art and Science of Mom, since 2017 and a parenting advice column for Parents.com since 2019. Emily's writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, Scary Mommy, Good Housekeeping, Motherly, and more. She recently added author to her bio with her book, Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent Confident Children and has a Substack newsletter. Emily lives with her husband, three children, and two rescue dogs in Oak Park, IL where she can see Chicago's skyline from her attic window. Yael Schonbrun, PhD, Co-hostYael (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist who wears a number of professional hats: She has a small private practice specializing in evidence-based relationship therapy, she's an assistant professor at Brown University, and she writes for nonacademic audiences about working parenthood. She has a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and completed her postgraduate training at Brown University. In all areas of her work, Yael draws on scientific research, her clinical experience, ancient wisdom (with an emphasis on Taoism), and real life experiences with her three little boys. You can find out more about Yael's writing, including her book, Work, Parent, Thrive, and about her research by clicking the links. You can follow Yael on Linkedin and Instagram where she posts about relationship science or subscribe to her newsletter, Relational, to get the science of relationships in your email inbox!Related Episodes: 410. Creativity and Making Things with Kelly Corrigan and Claire Corrigan Lichty345. Writing for Personal Growth with Maureen Murdock211. Subtract with Leidy Klotz73. Essentialism with Greg McKeown257. The Gift of Being Ordinary with Ron Siegel 37. Post-Traumatic Growth with Diana and Debbie375. Midlife: From Crisis to Curiosity with Meg McKelvie and Debbie Sorensen 285. What Do You Want Out of Life? Values Fulfillment Theory with Valerie Tiberius 351. You Only Die Once with Jodi Wellman 138. Exploring Existence and Purpose: Existentialism with Robyn Walser 329. The Power of Curiosity with Scott ShigeokaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
C&R dive right into the Niners "unstoppable offense!" They give more praise to Philip Rivers & Covino doesn't do family board game night. Plus, jersey swaps, & there's a pickle in Idaho regarding a holiday classic that may not stand the test of time!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ever wondered why so many remote teams fall apart while others scale to $100M and beyond… without burning out? This episode is a raw, practical look at exactly what it takes to build and lead a remote-first organization that actually works, not just in theory, but in the trenches.Cameron Herold sits down with Ryan Montgomery, COO of ClickFunnels, to expose the real playbook behind thriving distributed teams, rapid-fire decision making, relentless innovation, and building systems that keep a visionary CEO's wildest ideas on track. You'll hear the battle-tested culture moves, hiring decisions, and frameworks that eliminated chaos as ClickFunnels vaulted from scrappy startup to industry king.Don't let unpredictable growth, relentless tech changes, or a “too many ideas” CEO destroy your progress! Listen now for exclusive, battle-proven insights you won't get on any other COO podcast. Miss this conversation and risk getting left behind chasing hacks instead of building something legendary.Timestamped Highlights[00:00] – How a rejected idea turned into a $100M phenomenon[02:35] – The radical decision that forever changed ClickFunnels' growth[04:28] – Why most teams struggle with remote culture—and the proven fix[09:55] – The secret to keeping a visionary CEO happy without burning out your team[13:39] – What to throw away from your last company if you want to survive hypergrowth[18:44] – How ClickFunnels keeps employee turnover shockingly low[25:31] – The Go Meeting: an addiction for solving obstacles at lightning speed[32:06] – When and why “killing sacred cows” saved the company[41:03] – What Ryan wishes he'd known before leading thousands through explosive changeAbout the GuestRyan Montgomery is the Former Chief Operating Officer at ClickFunnels, where he's been instrumental in scaling the company from a small startup to a global, remote-first powerhouse serving nearly 100,000 customers. A seasoned software engineer and relentless problem solver, Ryan is celebrated for building high-performance teams, architecting resilient systems, and distilling visionary energy into repeatable growth engines.
In this special flip episode, I join my friend Danielle Amos for a grounded, honest conversation about growth, leadership, and what it really looks like to build a business that supports your life—not consumes it. We talk about redefining success beyond hustle, releasing the pressure to constantly do more, and creating sustainable rhythms that honor both ambition and wellbeing. I share how my own definition of success has evolved over the years, why capacity matters more than speed, and how clarity, boundaries, and intentional choices create long-term impact. Danielle and I explore the mindset shifts required to scale without burnout, lead with integrity, and trust that slowing down can actually move you forward faster. This episode is for the woman who wants to grow with intention, lead with peace, and build something meaningful that lasts—without sacrificing herself in the process. Liked this episode? Make sure to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review with your takeaways, this helps us create the exact content you want! KEY POINTS: 00:00 Exciting Announcement: First In-Person Retreat 01:30 Welcome to Woman of Influence 02:19 Meet Julie Solomon: Empowering Women 04:33 Julie Solomon's Journey: From PR to Coaching 06:19 Overcoming Insecurities and Finding Your Voice 08:43 The Turning Point: Embracing Self-Acceptance 17:53 Breaking Free from Financial Struggles 26:20 Helping Women Shine: Julie's Mission 30:50 The Power of Belief and Positioning 31:12 A Transformative Networking Dinner 32:31 Owning Your Brilliance 34:56 Embracing Natural Gifts 36:43 Positioning and Value Perception 38:16 Rewiring Self-Worth 41:34 The Brand Accelerator Program 43:28 Building Confidence and Authority 44:41 Stepping Stones to Success 48:33 Rapid Fire Questions 49:04 Final Words of Wisdom 56:28 Conclusion and Call to Action QUOTABLES: “ You can see the things that other people can't see, but you have to make sure that they're ready to see it and hear it. Because if you give it to 'em and they're not ready for it, it can actually be very triggering and it can create the opposite effect.” - Julie Solomon “ You're not bad or wrong. You're hiding it because it is the way that you have learned to protect yourself. So let yourself off the hook with that. And now is the time that you can start. 'Cause now you're aware. It's like you know that you're hiding this and it's not supporting your highest self, your highest vision, your highest dreams. So now you have to start doing something about it.” - Julie Solomon GUEST RESOURCES: Listen to Danielle's Podcast “The Mystic Millionaire” RESOURCES: ✨ Unscripted: My First In-Person Retreat in 2+ Years — Now Accepting Applications If you've felt your voice no longer matches the woman you've become, this intimate 2-day retreat in Nashville (Feb 5–6, 2026) is for you. Unscripted is where your message, identity, and leadership come back into alignment—without pressure, performance, or shrinking. Spots are limited and application-only.Apply now at juliesolomon.net/unscripted. [ORDER] my book or Audible, Get What You Want: How to Go From Unseen to Unstoppable so you can leverage the power of your own influence. Follow Julie on Instagram! MUST HAVES THIS MONTH: [THE TOOL I WISH I HAD WHEN I STARTED] From your first sale to your biggest month yet, Shopify supports you every step of the way. Try it now for just $1/month. [COMFORT AND FREEDOM] Shop the SKIMS Fits Everybody collection today and experience comfort like never before. [GAIN A NEW PERSPECTIVE] Learn life-changing insights you won't find anywhere else. Get 15% off.
Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3849: Ross Enamait highlights how Anthony Robles turned adversity into dominance, showing that greatness comes not from ease, but from relentless drive and self-belief. His story is a raw, powerful reminder that limits are often self-imposed. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://rosstraining.com/blog/2009/01/inspiration-from-anthony-robles/ Quotes to ponder: "Just getting up to compete is a victory in itself." "So many of us have potential that we never even realize." "People need to worry about their own lives, and stop interfering with the lives of others." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices