Podcasts about vct

A young professional steps into leadership faster than expected and learns what really drives success. In this conversation, I sit down with Dana Prenger, a rising marketing manager at SmartSolve, who shares how growing up in a small town, competing in sports, and navigating college shaped her mindset around drive, resilience, and growth. You will hear how she turned uncertainty into clarity through programs like Life Design, how early career risks helped her step into leadership, and why she believes failure is simply a learning moment. We also explore SmartSolve's mission to create water-soluble packaging and reduce waste, showing how purpose-driven work can fuel motivation. This episode is a reminder that progress comes from consistent effort, not one defining moment, and that your mindset will shape how far you go. Highlights: 00:10 Discover how stepping into new opportunities before feeling ready builds real confidence 06:02 Learn how sports shape discipline, time management, and long-term success habits 10:00 Understand how exploring different paths helps you find the right career direction 20:00 See how real-world internships can define and accelerate your career path 34:36 Discover how early sales experience builds resilience and confidence under pressure 51:39 Learn how reframing failure as a learning opportunity changes how you grow and move forward Bottom of Form About the Guest: Dana Prenger is a Marketing Manager at SmartSolve, a zero-waste packaging technology company with a bold mission to make packaging no longer trash. In her mid-20s, Dana has quickly built a career in B2B marketing, contributing across content creation, social media, email campaigns, event marketing, video projects, website management, and brand storytelling. As SmartSolve celebrates its 10-year anniversary, she is grateful for the opportunity to wear many hats and help bring an innovative, sustainability-driven vision to life. She grew up in a small town in Ohio, where she learned the value of hard work, teamwork, and community. A three-sport athlete in high school, Dana was a member of the 2019 Ohio state basketball team and graduated as her class Salutatorian—experiences that shaped her competitive mindset and leadership style long before her professional career began. Dana earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing from Bowling Green State University. During her time at BGSU, she was a Dean's Scholar, recipient of the Women in Business Leadership Scholarship, and an active member of the American Marketing Association. She was selected for the inaugural Ohio Export Internship Program, where she was matched with SmartSolve—an experience that ultimately launched her career with the company. Driven by curiosity and connection, Dana thrives in fast-paced environments where creativity meets strategy and marketing feels intentional and human. Outside of work, she loves to travel and has visited more than ten countries and counting. She is motivated by meaningful work, strong relationships, and conversations around marketing, sustainability, packaging innovation, and career growth. Ways to connect with Dana: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-prenger/ SmartSolve website: https://smartsolve.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: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe Welcome to unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. I'm your host. Michael hingson, speaker, author and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head on and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear, together, we focus on mindset resilience and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hello everyone, and welcome once again to another episode of unstoppable mindset. I'm really excited to be here today. We've been waiting for this one for a while, and I'm glad we were finally able to do it. I found Dana Prenger online, and her boss and she decided to come on, and then we'll have to get her boss on, because then we want to find out the real truth about Dana. Dana Prenger  01:28 Yes, thanks, Michael, thanks. Michael Hingson  01:31 I'm such a big help, right? But Dana, Dana Prenger  01:35 I was debating on joining. I was like, we should have John, the president of smart solve, share about our story first, and I didn't feel worthy enough to share my story right away, but Michael was very reassuring, and it's like you got this let's give it a go. Michael Hingson  01:48 Yeah, you can tell us a little about smart solve. It's not going to affect having John on because he'll tell more of the story, and he'll tell it from his point of view. So I'm not too worried about that? Well, Dana. Dana is a marketing person. She graduated from Bowling Green State University. I didn't know it was a state university, Dana Prenger  02:10 yep, BGSU. A lot of people get confused with Bowling Green. They think of Kentucky, but northern Ohio, yeah, nice College in town. Oh, cool. Is it? How large is it? Pretty big. It's a d1 school. Michael Hingson  02:25 When I went to UC Irvine, out here in California, one of the reasons I went was that it was a small school. It was actually a new school. The year I was a freshman, was the first year they actually had a graduating class at UC Irvine, there were, like about 2500 2600 students. They had their first graduating class, and I went and visited it in 19, excuse me, in 2024 because when I left, they were just getting ready to start a phi, beta, Kappa chapter, and it was too late for me to become a member. And in 2023 the there was a, there's a magazine that generally is all about Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society. And they discovered me, and they wanted to do an interview. And during the interview, as I love to put it, I shot off my mouth and said that, in fact, I was was going to the school when they were forming the phi, beta, Kappa chapter, but it was too late for me to join, because I was leaving. And one of the people who read that story was a physics professor who came to UC Irvine, basically the year I left, and she is still there. She's still a professor. And she called me and she said, I am the historian for the local mu chapter of Phi Beta, kappa, and we want you to come back and become an honorary member of Phi two. Well, a member of, I guess it'd be an honorary it's not an honorary member. I'm actually a member, but it's of later on, not at the time being a student. So anyway, I went back down and there are 32,000 undergrads at that campus. Now it's crazy. Dana Prenger  04:16 Wow. So cool to see the growth. Michael Hingson  04:18 Of course, UC Irvine or UCI, as they love to say. UCI actually stands for under construction indefinitely, because they're always building something there. Dana Prenger  04:30 It's crazy. Yeah, yeah. BGSU has around 4000 students, so it's cool that it's a big enough college, but they had really great professors and instructors where you didn't feel like just a number there, you got to know people by name. I was involved, yeah, and a lot of different student groups. One of the programs that was really cool was being a life design student ambassador. Michael Hingson  04:53 Ah, well, we'll have to talk about that. But I like, I like the size 4000 is plenty low. Large that's pretty cool. Well, tell us a little bit about you, the the the early Dana, growing up and all that. Where did you grow up? And tell us about some of that. Dana Prenger  05:10 Yeah, of course. I grew up in a small town, Minster, Ohio, so that town's a lot smaller than, Bg, about a square mile. Very good community. A lot of my family's from there. My mom's a school teacher at the school. So very great place to grow up, good traditions, and it's still close to Bowling Green, so it's an hour and a half drive away, so I still go home quite frequently and visit family and friends. Michael Hingson  05:36 So you went you went to school. What time were you Where did you come from? Where were you born? Dana Prenger  05:43 Yeah, born in a local hospital, right near Minster, Minster, Minster, Ohio. We have a lot of German heritage. We do a big Oktoberfest festival every year, which draws a lot of people to it. But besides that, a lot of corn fields. Grandpa's a farmer family. Michael Hingson  06:01 So are you a beer drinker? Dana Prenger  06:05 Yes, I am. I Michael Hingson  06:07 never did like the taste of beer, but that's okay. I did take three years of high school German, so maybe that counts for something. Yeah, there you go. Well, so you, you, you went to school. There you went to high school and all that, and then you decided to go to Bowling Green, huh? Dana Prenger  06:26 Yep, and that's the thing I liked about being in this from a small town, you got to do a lot of things. I was very much a multi tasker, or tried to be well rounded as I could be So, doing school, different clubs, sports. I was a three sport athlete, doing volleyball, basketball and track. So coming to BG, it was fun. I did like an intramural volleyball league. And, yeah, I chose BG. A lot of people, kind of from our area, went there. After being on campus, it did feel kind of like a second version of home. Michael Hingson  06:59 So Wow. So three sports, that's that's pretty cool. That kept you busy. Dana Prenger  07:05 Thanks, yes. And I graduated minster in 2021 so I'm not sure if you, I might be your youngest podcast guest you've had on, Michael. You might Michael Hingson  07:15 be well. You clearly have done well. So you graduated from school in minster in 2021 Dana Prenger  07:22 Yeah, I was born in 2000 to June of 2002 so yeah, nine months after 911 911 Michael Hingson  07:30 so for you, though you were at Bowling Green State four years, Dana Prenger  07:37 three years. Oh, you graduated a year early Michael Hingson  07:40 for you. Now, when you graduated, you were what second in your class? Dana Prenger  07:50 Yep, from Minster. Yep, I was a salutatorian, so had to give a speech at my high school graduation ceremony, Michael Hingson  07:57 and so, so what did you talk about as a as a speaker, as a salutatorian? Dana Prenger  08:05 I shared a story and equated kind of the grade schools reflecting on memories as a clock. So I was like, as the clock strikes one, and I would throw in a funny little memory from first grade to second to third, kind of going around until it was clock striking 12 as we're about to graduate. Michael Hingson  08:23 There you go. So you you had some experience at public speaking? Do you still do public speaking today? Dana Prenger  08:30 I've joined a few podcasts before, but being in marketing too, when students come or groups visit, smart solve, I'll do some speaking there, but not near as much speaking engagements or experience that you have well. Michael Hingson  08:48 So you, you went right into Bowling Green, and you decided right up front you were going to do marketing. Or what did you major in at first? Or did you always stick to one? Dana Prenger  08:59 I was debating between two things. So yeah, I liked marketing, like the business element. I had an older brother who went to BGSU as well. He was in the College of Business. But I also liked design. And in high school, I was on the yearbook committee. So I liked to take pictures, like to design the pages. So I tried out a few different classes before officially declaring my major. VCT is the program visual communication technology. I took a few classes in that but ultimately, after my first year, decided to go on with business and marketing as my specialization. Michael Hingson  09:37 Well. But even so, VCT is, in a sense, related to marketing, although I understand it's a specialty as well, correct? Dana Prenger  09:48 Yep, very much related into it work hand in hand. I'm actually hiring for a digital content coordinator right now, so it's cool to have somebody that I'm looking for. With more of that specialized experience Michael Hingson  10:04 and and are we looking at people from Bowling Green? Dana Prenger  10:08 Yep, it's a in person position. So looking at people around the area or willing to commute? Michael Hingson  10:15 Yeah, because otherwise, bringing somebody in from out of state or from a long way away, and paying moving expenses and all that. That's a bigger challenge. Dana Prenger  10:25 Yeah, and one of the things I was involved at at BGSU that I really loved this program, it was a new program they were implementing called Life Design. So basically, it's based off of the book and research that the Stanford Bill Burnett and Dave Evans did, designing your life, but basically saying that a lot of students come and come to college and don't know their major and are undecided and trying to figure out classes. So it's just a way to build community along the way, and it's a class for first year students to help them prototype different pathways and different avenues for their life. Michael Hingson  11:05 And so do they get a chance to look at different kinds of curriculum, different disciplines and so on? Dana Prenger  11:11 Yep, different curriculum, different careers, thinking, planning out your years. If you would go in this major, join this major, do this club, basically just getting people to think outside of the box, and prototype is a big word that they used in design different pathways that work for you. How's that working? Yeah, it was really great program. I was one of the first people to come as a freshman, to have that class, and then the class evolved and grew. My second year at BG, when I became the life design ambassador, I joined the class and was helping the first year students out, and the program continued to grow, continued to grow. We actually had a new building dedication, Jeffrey, Jeff and Jan, rad, Bill center for life design, so I got to be a part of the whole new building opening, grand ribbon cutting ceremony. And just cool to see something build up. Michael Hingson  12:10 Is it still going on? Dana Prenger  12:12 Yeah, still going on. And it's a big kind of differentiator of what BGSU has compared to other colleges across Yes, Michael Hingson  12:20 I can imagine that is pretty unique, but it really sounds like a great tool, because I think a lot of people aren't necessarily as ready, and I don't know whether as ready as is the right way to put it, but as ready to make a commitment as to what major or maybe this Is that people want to really look at options before they make a decision. But either way, it's great to have that kind of a program, Dana Prenger  12:47 and being a student ambassador just helped students get adjusted. Like this is the first time a lot of kids are living off on their own, and so just being there as a reference and resource for them some things they don't feel comfortable asking a professor even just about living in a dorm or college life. I was there for a group of students. Michael Hingson  13:08 Yeah, well, I remember going down to UC Irvine and starting and I didn't know a lot about a lot of the different things that would go on. But for us back in the day, as it were, you were just kind of thrust into it and you you could learn it and but again, I think that's one of the reasons I really liked the fact that it was a fairly small college or university at the time, and I remember I was put in the dorm with all of The athletes for the campus not being an athlete, but they had World Champion water polo team and other things like that. And people would occasionally pray play pranks on me, until the day came when I got to play a prank on them. Gained a lot of respect for that. So I was pretty cool. Dana Prenger  14:00 Are you going to share the prank or keep it a secret? Michael Hingson  14:03 Well, what happened was my my guide dog, my first guide dog, Squire, who's a golden retriever with a wicked sense of humor. Squire was in my room and I was next door with another freshman. We were trying to solve a physics problem. My master's is in physics. I went back into my room and there was no squire. Well, it turns out that they had stolen squire, and they hid him and and I kind of figured that part out, but I went through the dorm looking and of course, everybody was snickering and watching me. I went into the restroom and called him, and he didn't respond. He you know, I didn't hear him anywhere. I even opened the showers, and there was no response. And finally, one of the students who had seen all this happen came over and he said, Look, Squire is in the shower. Or and we went in and opened the door, and Squire comes right out, bouncing and having a good old time, having put it all over on me, as it were. But what we did was they didn't, you know, most all the students weren't paying attention to the fact that this guy was showing me where Squire was. We hit squire again, and I went out and got really ticked, saying, What did you guys do with my dog? I'm sure you took the dog, and everybody was laughing, always in the shower, and they went in the shower, and there's no dog because we hit him elsewhere. So, you know, we got back at him. It was kind of fun. And Squire made no noise when I was looking for him, what a horrible sense of humor. Dana Prenger  15:44 Golden Retrievers are great dogs. Michael Hingson  15:46 They are. Well, it was fun. I mean, you know, it was all in it was all in good fun, but still not the best thing to do to a guide dog. But that's okay. But the the jocks were, were were, were the major players of the campus. Actually, there's a great story. Every room had a phone in the dorm. And so in one of the women's dorms, one day, one of the women started getting some obscene phone calls from somebody, and she told her boyfriend about it, who was one of the jocks, and they, one day, they they told her, if you get him on the phone, this guy calls back, try to keep him on the phone and get somebody to let us know. And they, when this guy called, One day, she got word to her, her boyfriend, and all of the other jocks. They went through the entire phone book on campus in 10 minutes, dialing every number. Found three numbers that were busy, two of which were clearly not the right ones, because they were offices and all that. And so there was this one, and they all went over, knocked on this guy's door. Can you imagine all these big water polo and football players and all that went over and knocked on his door and they said, Hang up the phone and don't you ever do it again. It was great. I mean, teamwork, what? What teamwork? So, you know, they were all pretty neat guys. I gotta Dana Prenger  17:19 say, Yeah, being part of a team is just so good, and for building your character, like growing up being on basketball team, volleyball team, my basketball team actually made it to state in the year 2019, so you really do form a nice bond with them. And even now, as I'm in a different phase of life, your work, team, workplace, just really important, Michael Hingson  17:47 just really important too. Yeah. Well, if you were to describe your hometown with one word or whatever, how would you describe it? Dana Prenger  17:55 Ooh, that's a good one. I would say tradition, just because we do have so many traditions that bring the community together, or minster school motto is tradition of excellence. So that's what I would use. Michael Hingson  18:09 So that's pretty cool, though. But you had, you've had parents who who honored you, but who also, I'm sure, did a lot to teach you things and and help you grow up in the right way. Dana Prenger  18:26 Yes, yeah, a lot of thanks to both my parents, yeah, Mark and Jody. And then I had two siblings, two brothers, siblings and one sister. So family of six, wow, the second oldest, so I had older brother kind of paving the way me younger sister, and then a younger brother, who's a senior right now, and he's debating on where to go for college, and I think he's also going to be going to BGSU Michael Hingson  18:56 well, and I'll bet Older brother especially made sure that sister was treated well, Yep, yeah, brothers do that, right, what? That was fair. That's okay. Well, so you, you worked pretty hard at it all and, and, and had a lot of fun. So tell me more about your your whole time at college, getting marketing degrees and and what all that was like, and then how you ended up going to work and going to work for somebody close by. That must have been a joy. Dana Prenger  19:34 Yeah. So yeah, I loved marketing. And as I said, VCT, I was considering that, and I could have graduated like I did in three years with just marketing, or I could have stayed longer and did an international business specialization. I love traveling. I've been to 10 plus countries, and yeah, thought about doing a study abroad because that older brother of mine, he did do a study abroad in Strasbourg. Of France, and loved it, but instead, I came across this program called the Ohio export internship program. So basically, it's a program designed for small to mid size companies in the state of Ohio, and the state helps them out by going through the whole interview process for candidate, all the screening, teaching them adequate coursework, and then they'll pay for half of the interns wages for the summer. So in the spring, I did a three credit hour course. Had a group of 20 students in my cohort, and then all different colleges in the state of Ohio participated in this too. But then I could have been matched up with the business anywhere in the state of Ohio for my summer internship, summer of 2023 and I just so happened to get matched up with smart solve and that's how I came to know about them Michael Hingson  20:57 cool well, so having been a three sport person and all that. What do you find today from all of your sports experiences that helps you in your career and and how is that all stuck with you? Dana Prenger  21:15 Yeah, definitely the hard work and the grit and drive being able to focus your energy and really go when you have to go, yeah and yeah, managing your time effectively, like when I was in sports, you still had school, you still had other things you had to do in the evening. So being able to manage your time and get a lot of things done. Michael Hingson  21:42 So you you learned a lot about time management, having to juggle three sports and everything else that you were doing. And so how did all that work when you got to Bowling Green, though, did you? Did you have as many different kinds of activities you weren't doing three sports at Bowling Green, I presume? Yeah, no Dana Prenger  22:01 less sports and more trying to focus the academics and, like I said, what I wanted to do with my life. So, yeah, I spent a lot of time being the ambassador for life design. Still did sports just for enjoyment, fun. I did an intramural volleyball League. Yeah, I was involved in the American Marketing Association. Once I found out my true passion, I really liked marketing. Was involved with that, and I was also involved in through the College of Business Dakota Dean's Advisory Council on diversity and inclusion. Michael Hingson  22:37 What did you think about that? Dana Prenger  22:42 Yeah, it was really good for me to be a part of and opened my eyes to a lot of things, because my small hometown, though I love it, and we have great tradition, we are kind of a little bubble of not a ton of diversity. So being opened up to new, new perspectives and new things that was really beneficial. Michael Hingson  23:06 Well, certainly there were other small colleges around. Why did you specifically choose Bowling Green? Dana Prenger  23:13 Yeah, I think I wanted it was a perfect distance. I still wanted to be close to my family and close to home, but also I wanted to go out and experience on my own. If I chose a school too close to home, I would just be driving home, coming, eating dinner with my parents, and not really fully immersing into my independence. Michael Hingson  23:34 So so it was kind of just the ideal distance, if you will. Dana Prenger  23:42 And being like I said, a bigger college, so there is more opportunities sporting events and games, but they had it at an affordable price too, like going to football games my friends and I love to go watch and cheer on the Falcons, but it wasn't like a big school where we had to pay a lot for the tickets as well. Students got free tickets to all sporting events. So I enjoyed that. Michael Hingson  24:06 Oh, that's cool. How big was the stadium? Dana Prenger  24:10 Pretty big. I don't know the exact size, but yeah, it's right off the highway too. So as you drive on 75 through Ohio, you'll see the stadium in the road Michael Hingson  24:24 well, but you, but you enjoyed it. Do you still do any work or activities at Bowling Green? Dana Prenger  24:32 Yeah, so I'm living in BG right now, as I work at Smart solve, they do have a program called the regional network leaders, which tries to keep alumni engaged. So I joined that, and I'm on a team with seven other individuals just helping keep the alumni connected to the university. How's that working? It's good. It's good. Great to meet. With people, and just gives me something else to do besides work in the evenings. But it's not a huge time commitment. We meet about once a month, Michael Hingson  25:10 but it works out pretty well. Well, so you worked, you worked as a life design ambassador. Do you still do anything with that program today? Dana Prenger  25:24 No, not as much as I would like to. I think they are also in the progress, because I was one of the first people to graduate with having to keep us engaged and involved. I still am connected with a lot of them on LinkedIn, and sometimes one of the life design coaches will message me if a student has questions or wants to just have a quick prototype call or conversation to learn more about marketing or their field. Michael Hingson  25:53 You're you're available to help. Which is cool. It's neat to be able to to be a part of all of that. Yeah. Which is cool. So anyway, you you were part of the export internship program and so on, and that eventually got you connected with smart solve. What attracted you to specifically to smart solve? Why did you decide that that's what you, at least were were willing to explore? Dana Prenger  26:20 Yeah, I really liked smart solve. How strong we are with our core values and vision, mission and purpose statement. Most companies say these are our core values, but they're just words on the wall, and they don't get lived out each and every day. But here at Smart solve, we do something called the daily word of inspiration. So we have about 20 full time employees on our team, and we'll just have a calendar we rotate whose day it is for inspiration, and it's just a brief 15 minute meeting, how we start our day every day. And you can share a personal life story. You can share a Bible verse, any watch a video, motivational video, anything you want to give for your inspiration. And then we start our day with word of prayer, optional. Word of prayer. Michael Hingson  27:13 Well, that's pretty cool, and certainly that's a lot of commitment. I was going to ask, why you feel that the whole idea of smart solving what it's doing generates so many important values, but it's pretty clear why that's the case. Dana Prenger  27:31 Yeah, the core values are character, drive, innovation, joy, humility and growth. All right, it's really cool to hear those lived out, and you can see our team members each embody it smart. Solve is a faith based company, but we don't discriminate or only hire people of the same faith. In fact, not everybody's Christian that works here, but we are open about it because we want people to be comfortable about it, or be knowing that we do have that optional daily prayer every day Michael Hingson  28:07 well, and I think there's value in that. I mean, it's, I think, important to recognize that there are a lot of different religions in the world. And the fact is, if you really study most religions, they all pretty much essentially end up going to the same place, and they all believe in the same basic rules anyway, which is, which is pretty important, which is, which is kind of good. Well, where did the term or the title of the company, smart solves come from? Dana Prenger  28:38 Yeah. So John, he's our current CEO, co founder of smart solve. He smart solve. He calls himself intrapreneur, because smart solve was under CMC group, which is they had a bunch of different businesses. One of their main things was supplying labels, any and all kind of labels. And this is kind of the evolution story of smart salt, water salt. One of the customers was like, our labels are great, but it would be nice if they could just dissolve or wash away, because it was an application in the back of a kitchen. How you have, like, containers, the plastic containers you have to label food days of the week and expiration dates for food safety loss. But when they were putting the containers in the dishwasher, after trying to, like, peel or scrub the labels off, there would still be adhesive, sticky residue on it. Yeah. So, so, yeah, they developed water soluble label. And so, yeah, a label that can dissolve and wash away. So day mark still sells water soluble labels to food rotation business, but John was an intern at that time and was like, I think there's a much bigger. Market for water soluble materials, besides just label for food rotation so he can, they allowed him to take that idea and run with it. So smart solve is specifically water soluble materials. We sell just water soluble paper that dissolves the labels and then also pioneering water soluble, flexible packaging, so power stock applications Michael Hingson  30:27 I remember many years ago, and I still don't know how they knew it, but I got a package in the mail and it had popcorn in it, you know, the shipping stuff, and somebody said, Oh, this is that water soluble popcorn. If you put it in water, it'll it'll melt. And I was going, No. And sure enough, it was, I don't know what visually was the clue that that was water soluble, but it was, Dana Prenger  30:58 yeah, so our company, smart solves vision is to make packaging no longer trash. We realize the increased amount of plastic packaging, or just any packaging unnecessary consumption going on in the world today. So having an avenue or a smart solution of how to solve the problem, Michael Hingson  31:21 well, you can always come up with a new kind of straw that everybody can use, that they if they throw it away, it's not going to fill the world full of plastic. That's another story. Dana Prenger  31:35 Yeah. But in microplastics, to the increasing research and studies how microplastics are impacting human health and the environment. One of the fun facts we like to share is, well, not fun fact, but sad fact that by 2050 they project that plastic in the ocean will outweigh fish in the ocean. Michael Hingson  32:04 I hadn't heard that one, but I'm not surprised which it's so unfortunate. Dana Prenger  32:09 Yeah, great garbage patches of just waste forming out in the ocean. Michael Hingson  32:15 Is there a way, has anybody looked at the fact that, yeah, there's a lot of trash out there and so on, and it's great to come up with trash that won't be trash that will dissolve. But what do you do with all the stuff that's there? Has anybody been working at all on finding ways to dissolve that stuff as well? Dana Prenger  32:35 Yeah, I think that's harder, because it's already all out in the ocean, but there are efforts and people who go out and try to collect it, but then it's like, once we take it out of the ocean, where do we put it, just into massive landfill areas? Well, that's Michael Hingson  32:51 why I was wondering if there is some sort of a chemical process that could be introduced that would dissolve a lot of that material, rather than trying to collect it and take it somewhere, but I realize it's a much more of a significant challenge to do, because you don't want to hurt the fish and you don't want to hurt the ocean. But nobody has come up with a way to just dissolve all that plastic Dana Prenger  33:15 and stuff yet. Yeah, and our material is non toxic to fish, so it's we don't want people to we wouldn't say, just throw it in the ocean, but if it would end up litter becoming there, it would dissolve. Be safer fish. There's multiple end of life avenues for smart solves packaging, which is, yeah, flushable too. So some customers of ours are like toilet bowl cleaner cleaners or feminine care tampon packages that is flushable, so you can just flush the packaging down the toilet Michael Hingson  33:49 right, which, you know, and all of that is very important, but it still seems to me that hopefully somebody someday will figure out a way to dissolve All the stuff that's out in the ocean, yeah? Because I think collecting it is never going to happen as fast as it gets thrown in the ocean in the first place, Dana Prenger  34:09 yeah, especially in different countries around the world where there's not as adequate systems set up for landfills or recycling and waste is just much more incremental. Michael Hingson  34:22 So when you graduated and you started at Smart solves full time, what did you do? Dana Prenger  34:31 Yeah, so, actually, so the Ohio export internship program, I was a full time intern for the summer of 2023, okay, and then I was finishing my final year at school at BGSU, but they offered me to stay working part time. So I did work part time at Smart solve. My senior year of BGSU, I was a sales development rep, so business development, I had to do a lot of cold calling, so you just pick up the phone try to call people. So tell them about smart solve and so, yeah, I did that until I graduated in May, and then they kind of knew that they wanted more marketing support, and I liked marketing better than the sales prospecting. Sales, yeah, so they created a position for me, marketing coordinator, what was Michael Hingson  35:22 it like selling smart solve did you find that there were a lot of people who were very pessimistic or skeptical about what it could do? Or were you able to demonstrate pretty, pretty easily that in reality, sports fans it works? Dana Prenger  35:38 Yeah, I think smart solve products were easier than most things to sell and communicate about because, like we said, it really is a product that is better for people, better for the planet. I said our core values earlier in our vision, but our mission statement is enabling people to better care for the planet by pioneering Zero Waste packaging technologies, so smart solves. Big slogan is zero waste, zero hassle, zero hassle in the consumer. So it's cool to share that with prospects, and they would be more receptive, I feel like, than selling products that people don't necessarily need or want, but still in any industry, no matter how cool the product you have, when you're cold calling people on the phone, you're going to get some of those people that are like, how did you get my number? Or I don't want to talk, or just denies and ends the phone on you. So yeah. Well, that happened a lot of character building, doing that. Michael Hingson  36:38 I experience it oftentimes today, looking for speaking opportunities, even so, same concept, yep, and I've been selling my whole life, so I'm I'm fine when there are objections, when I at least there's a lot of truth to the to the fact when I at least get an objection, at least I can then go off and deal with it, but the people who just shut you down and you don't even get the opportunity to deal with the objection. That's a different story. Dana Prenger  37:06 Yeah, it really does. Michael Hingson  37:07 So was John a chemist? Or how did he develop Dana Prenger  37:11 all of this? Yeah, so John had a team of like, independent contractors that he would work with, and also just some of the knowledge with the water soluble label coming from CMC, but yeah, we have a lot of different team members now, research chemist employees that helped bring this product to life. And one of the cool things is doing a new product launch. So all of our typical water soluble materials we have today you can still buy, but we just now launched a new product called Pure nil zero, which is a completely plastic free, 100% bio based packaging substrate solution Michael Hingson  37:58 is packaging constructed like that, more are less stringent or sturdy than the more traditional kinds of packaging. Or is that something that you've been able to overcome and it's not any less durable? Dana Prenger  38:16 Yeah, it depends. It all depends on what you're trying to package in it. Yeah, it won't be as strong as plastic, but a lot of customers will use it for, like, powdered solutions. So obviously, if you have, like, liquid hand soap, you can't put that in our package, or it will start to break apart. But there's a lot of like, travel and convenience powdered packets that work great in our material. And the thing about pure no which is this new product, it is approved for direct food contact. So our other packaging is more agricultural, personal care, laundry, dish, a lot of those applications, this new product is approved for direct food packaging. So say you would have a powder drink, pack, mix, instant coffee, and eventually we want to get into more snack packaging, but there becomes certain limitations with oxygen and moisture barrier, Michael Hingson  39:12 yeah, well, you know, but that's still, it's it is really fascinating to hear about this, though, because there's, there's so much that that goes into it, it's really kind of fascinating to to see. Do you have customers all over or mainly in Ohio or what? Dana Prenger  39:33 Yeah, we do have customers all over the world. In fact, a lot in the European, European union, union that area, a few customers in the UK, since sustainability, new laws are happening all over. Michael Hingson  39:49 So you recently became the marketing manager. Tell us about that. Yeah. Dana Prenger  39:54 So yeah. I was very, very rapid upward marketing coordinator. For a while, and then just the end of this year, I got the promotion to Marketing Manager, which is great because I yeah, thank you. Get to manage content creators, to have somebody that creates blogs for us, somebody that helps with video support, especially because the water soluble material, it is so cool to see it, dissolve yourself. So yeah, doing a lot of video creation, and then, as I mentioned earlier, we're hiring for a digital content coordinator, a full time in office role. Michael Hingson  40:34 So are other companies doing the same kinds of things that smart solve does? Dana Prenger  40:39 There's a few, not a ton, but there's other bio based solutions. So for example, one company is using seaweed to make packaging, and there's other bio based materials, but not many water soluble packaging. Michael Hingson  40:57 So what makes smart solve unique? Dana Prenger  41:00 Yeah, we are unique for the ability to help you come to market with it. Our materials printable too. So some of the other like plastic PVA based, say laundry packs or dish packs, it's that plastic ours. You can print on it so you can have certain branding or safety warning instructions. Remember the challenge few years back when kids were trying to eat Tide Pods? We say, how different would it be if you could have had a big warning logo or image on the pod itself for them not to consume? Michael Hingson  41:38 Yeah, well, that's of course, the issue is, will they really pay attention to it or not? Dana Prenger  41:45 Yeah, also true, but we do think there's a good branding perspective too. Just to have brand on it, have instructions. We get. Our packaging is a little bit more expensive than just plastic and traditional uses, but we try to show our benefit by being better for the planet, better for the environment, and you do get a lot of good marketing. ROI, some of our customers have said using the materials and videos and being able to make a lot of sustainable claims has helped their company Michael Hingson  42:21 as a whole. So what kind of goals do you basically have as the marketing manager at Smart solve for what you're looking to do over the next few years? Dana Prenger  42:31 Yeah, one of my big grows goals is just growing, growing our followers, growing our reach. I feel like not a lot of people know about smart solve or know about our materials. So we have a LinkedIn page, since we are a B to B business, we also have Facebook and Instagram, but LinkedIn is our primary social that I'm looking to grow. So I think I shared with you smart solves LinkedIn profile, if you want to include that, or if any of the listeners today want to give us a follow, I'd really appreciate it. Michael Hingson  43:03 Well, absolutely that makes sense to do. Dana Prenger  43:07 Well also just increasing website. I help add new pages on our website, increasing our web visitors, new traffic, and creating more leads and sales qualified opportunities for our sales team, Michael Hingson  43:21 so dealing with diversity and and such, what do you do to make sure that your materials are accessible for people who don't necessarily read the print or who aren't going to be able to see pictures on the websites and so on. Do you have you all done a lot with that yet? Dana Prenger  43:42 Yeah, we're getting into improving and open to recommendations and suggestions. A lot of with the package itself, we leave up to the individual brands who sure have the product, because we're just the packaging supplier, not actually the end brand that uses it, but yeah, our website, I we use a site to do that, trying to become more accessible. There's so many ways to learn and do it, so, yeah, Michael Hingson  44:15 well, but it makes sense to do so with all the sports and stuff background that you've had, and we talked about this a little bit already, but what lessons from sports and leadership and all of your experiences have translated most into what you're doing today? Dana Prenger  44:37 Yes, I would say I'll tie it back to drive that one of our core values at Smart solve, and just as an athlete, having to really drive, whether that be your mental state, getting in the right mindset before a game or big competition meet, you. And just putting your effort into your skill to perfect it Michael Hingson  45:06 well, and an important thing to do by any standard. So, you know, a lot of people have jobs, they have worked in various places, they've matured and so on, but a lot of times there's kind of a defining moment that shows them that what they're doing is really what they wanted to do and so on. Do you have a defining moment like that that said this is really it? Dana Prenger  45:37 Yeah, that's a good question. And I think life is a journey, and there's always going to be small moments throughout I haven't had one big knock me off my feet moment that's shaped everything, but more kind of collectively built up small moments, small hurdles, small challenges that's got me where I am Today, any specific challenge that comes to mind, yeah, I would say. I would say, just going through college and yeah, figuring out my path and different setbacks along the way, throughout, trying to figure out my major and things and one of a small, funny setback, but not that big of one. I mentioned it as I was 16 years old, going to get my driver's license from sports. I had an injury and sprained my ankle, so I couldn't walk at the time, but I really wanted to get my driver's license, and it was my left foot, so not my right foot. So I my parents, the car that we had was a minivan with all my siblings, so Driver's Ed test, I'm pull up in this minivan, and I didn't want to let that setback delay me from passing my driver's test, so I had my crutches, crutched out, put my crutch in the back of the car, and then drove, using my right foot to pass my driver's test. Michael Hingson  47:10 And you passed your test, huh? Yes, and you did well on the written part as well, yep. Well, all I have to say is I think you should come out here to Victorville and spend a little bit of time the way people drive out here is crazy. I still submit that they ought to let me have a license, because I am sure that the way I would drive is every bit as good as the way people drive in Victorville right now. Wow, I don't see the problem myself. Dana Prenger  47:40 Yeah, and it's crazy. With innovation, the new things coming up, like nowadays, the autonomous vehicles, I'm curious to see in the next years how that will impact driving. When I am older and have children, when will they have to get their driver's test like that? Or there's some bold suggestions that say in many years to come, you won't have to drive a car. Michael Hingson  48:07 Well, I, in all seriousness, am really of the opinion that it will be great when autonomous vehicles are really as stable and as foolproof as they ought to be, because I think that we really do need to take driving out of the hands of drivers. It's just too many people to do too many crazy things on the road. The reality is that for blind people, and it's not going to be in prime time, certainly in the very near future, but the National Federation of the Blind challenged private universities and companies to develop a car a blind person could drive, and I don't mean an autonomous vehicle, but literally one that would provide the information so that a blind person could drive it just like a sighted person. And if you really look at driving, what is driving and why is it that blind people can't do it well, the answer is, because we don't have a way to get the information in as timely and as functional a way as sighted drivers do with eyesight. And the the people who realize that actually developed a vehicle that a blind person could drive. If you go visit the website of the National Federation of the Blind nfb.org, and search for Blind Driver Challenge, you can actually see a video of a blind man driving a vehicle around the Daytona Speedway right before the 2011 Rolex 24 race. Wow, and he wasn't driving it with people communicating with him through walkie talkies or anything like that, the car was literally transmitting the information to him that allowed him to drive the vehicle, drive through obstacle courses and do a variety of other things, pass a vehicle and so many other things. Because the fact is, today, the technology exists to provide that information to blind people, but it's not ready for prime time, and probably won't be, but autonomous vehicles are coming, and I really am looking forward to the time that they really work and work well, because they're going to make life a whole lot better for everyone. And I'm serious when I say taking the hand, the driving out of the hands of drivers, is pretty important to look at, yeah, so it'll be interesting to see how all that goes. So we've been talking about drive why other why? Else wise, did you really want to use Drive and make that kind of a theme for what we're talking about today? Dana Prenger  50:48 Yeah, I think drive just reflects the path that people have for life. And drive you always want to keep going being a goal oriented, focused person. There's a lot of things, and other people do experience many setbacks. And what I've learned from your story as well. When trouble would come your way, you didn't just stop. You kept moving, kept driving in a direction. Sometimes you might not always get from point A to point B. You might have to do a little bit of a detour in the journey of the drive, but yeah, that's kind of why I thought drive would be a good conversation topic word for today's podcast. Michael Hingson  51:29 But the reality is that that you can succeed. I tell people all the time that I reject the concept of the term fail, because if you fail, that's kind of an end all. You just, you just screwed up. Well, you didn't screw up. The issue isn't failure. The issue is what do you learn from it? And the issue is how you you move forward. And so I've learned that in reality, when things don't go right, I'm my own best teacher. I'm the one that has to take that information and internalize it and figure out how to move forward, people can suggest people can help. And I think that's important. But for me, personally, and for every individual on the planet, ultimately, we have to internalize it and make it succeed, which is, I think, so very important. Dana Prenger  52:19 Yeah, connecting some of those points is what we would talk about in life design too, because students would come and if they wouldn't pass a certain class or wouldn't do a certain thing, they would see it as a failure. And it's reframing failure and redefining it that, yeah, it's not, in fact, a failure, but a learning opportunity and experience Michael Hingson  52:41 it is. It's a growth opportunity by any standard, and that is something that we all really need to work on, because failure just isn't isn't fair and it isn't right, and we've got to get away from thinking that it is, Dana Prenger  52:56 and even reframing your experiences or statements you choose to say and think and believe about yourself like I could. I'm, as I said, one of a younger professional. Sometimes it can be intimidating or room full of people that know more than you. I could be down on myself. And look at it and say, Oh, I'm the youngest here. I am most inexperienced. I don't have as much skills or sets, or I could reframe it and think of it in a positive light and say, I am young, I do. I offer a new mindset. I bring new skills, new things that aren't already established. So kind of having that confidence and positive outlook to be able to reframe Michael Hingson  53:42 the other part of that. The other part of that, though, is that, yeah, you're young and all of that. But clearly some people have thought that you have a lot to contribute, and you're already doing that. And so obviously life is, is a is a place where we can learn, and we do need to continue to learn, but, but the reality is that we can always find learning as an end, as an adventure, and something that we need to do. And I think that that's exactly what we should we should be doing regularly, because it's always all about learning, yep, which really makes a lot of sense. So for you, what's next? For you? Do you have any notion? Dana Prenger  54:32 Yeah, I think I'm excited to continue developing this role, this new marketing manager role at Smart solve. I do like to travel. As I said, I've been to a lot of different countries, so wanting to further learn more about the world, new people, new places. Yeah, I want to have a family. I have a boyfriend that we're getting kind of serious. So looking for. To that next phase of my life and how well of a role model my mom was for me, I do want to be a mom as well someday. Cool. What countries have you been to? Yeah, I've been to Mexico, been to Portugal, been to Spain, one of the recent family trips. We just got back from Costa Rica. It was gorgeous there. We left right after Christmas and got back January 7 of this year. So that's why I'm still a little tan from the trip for you. But yeah, it was a good mix of adventure, zip lining, rock climbing, hiking, and then also just getting to relax and be in warm weather by a beach. Michael Hingson  55:46 What are what other countries, Dana Prenger  55:49 other countries that I've been to, went to Punta Cana, that was a very nice one, that Dominican Republic as the country, yeah. Michael Hingson  56:02 Cool. So the whole family went, Dana Prenger  56:07 yeah, all six of us. Wow. It works out nice because I have one sister and two brothers, and then my mom and dad. So it's kind of perfect, three and three, three girls, three boys. Michael Hingson  56:18 Yeah, that's, that's pretty cool. I'm glad that you you get a chance to have some of those experiences. What have you learned by going to other countries? Dana Prenger  56:29 Yeah, I've learned a lot just the way of life, the way they do things. Speaking of since we just got back from Costa Rica, one of the sayings they say all the time is Pura Vida, just pure life and kind of a more, not as upbeat, fast, hard paced environment as the US more free, yeah. But also it depends on the trip too. I've done some local mission trips. I wanted to do an international mission trip. I had it scheduled, but then that's when covid happened, so I had to cancel that. So bucket list coming up soon, I'm going to do a international mission trip. But it is different when you're traveling for just enjoyment vacation versus other purposes. Michael Hingson  57:19 You find that a lot of places where you visited, don't tend to take, and I don't mean this in a negative way at all, but don't take life as seriously as we tend to try to do here. Yeah, yeah. And it's, and it makes a lot of sense to lighten up a little bit, and then ought to do more of that. Well, if people want to reach out to you, how do they do that? Dana Prenger  57:42 Yeah, they can message me on LinkedIn if they have a LinkedIn profile, or they can go to smart solve website, contact us through there. What's your LinkedIn name to me? Yeah, Dana, just my name. You can search it. Dana pranger. Dana, D, a n, a pranger, P R, E N, G, E R, Michael Hingson  58:04 okay, well, I hope people will do that. This has been fun, and you've got a lot of good insights that you've offered, and we're going to have to after you your marketing for a while, we'll have to have you come back and tell us Dana Prenger  58:19 more stories. Yeah, that would be wonderful. And, yeah, thank you for having me as a guest. Super fun. Yeah, we'll see you, John. Yeah. Now we'll get John on and he can, I gave you a little warm up to smart solve. He can get into more of the details. Michael Hingson  58:36 Well, I want to thank you, and I want to thank everyone for being here today. We really appreciate it. Love it. If you'd give us a five star rating wherever you are, and also, even more important than a rating, please give us a very positive review. We really love your reviews. People will and do monitor and read and watch these podcasts more when people review them. So we'd love you to voice your thoughts. If you'd like to reach out to me. I would love to hear from you, and especially if you might know and Dana you as well. If anyone else, in addition to John, who ought to come out on on unstoppable mindset podcast, feel free to email me, and we're changing the address so it's easy. It's speaker, S, P, E, A, K, E, R, at Michael hingson, M, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, O, n.com. Love to hear from you. Love to get your thoughts. And we'll we'll value them a lot. And if you know people who ought to come on, please introduce us. But again, Dana, I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely a lot of fun, and hopefully we'll get to do it some more in the future. Dana Prenger  59:48 So thank you. Yes, this was great. Thank you, Michael, Michael Hingson  59:55 thank you for being here with me on unstoppable mindset. I hope to. Day's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about if you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to Michael hingson.com and download my free ebook blinded by fear, it explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward together. Thanks again for listening, keep learning, keep questioning and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset. You you.

In this episode, Dave sits down with Mike Seebeck from Earth Laboratories to chat about their innovative cleaning products—especially Proxy HDOX, a powerful, concentrated cleaner and infection-control solution. Mike shares how Proxy HDOX stands out for its impressive safety profile, versatility on a wide range of surfaces, and its ability to streamline cleaning routines by replacing multiple chemicals.  The conversation also touches on some great complementary products, like a VCT floor maintainer, the Formula 14B demineralizer, and a hardworking degreaser. Plus, Mike announces a series of upcoming one-hour workshops in Orlando, Clearwater, Ocala, and Jacksonville, where he'll demonstrate these products in action and share the latest research on indoor air quality. Throughout the episode, Dave and Mike highlight the importance of improving safety, reducing chemical use, and creating healthier environments in all types of facilities. Don't miss this insightful discussion on making cleaning simpler, safer, and more effective!   RSVP here: https://collections.humanitix.com/peroxy-hdox-showcases-26   **Introduction to Workshops and Proxy Stocks (00:00:21)** **Product Safety and Versatility (00:01:22)** **Simplifying Cleaning Processes (00:02:26)** **Showcase and Workshop Dates (00:03:41)** **Correction of Workshop Dates (00:04:21)** **Other Cleaning Products Overview (00:04:40)** **Formula 14B and Its Uses (00:05:33)** **Degreaser Introduction (00:06:22)** **Product Versatility in Demos (00:06:57)** **Reducing Chemical Use and Hazards (00:07:33)** **Fragrance-Free and Indoor Air Quality (00:08:37)** **Workshop and Onsite Demo Opportunities (00:09:33)** **Importance of Cleaning for Health (00:10:48)** **Workshop Recap and Closing (00:11:49)**   https://gemsupply.net FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/GemSupply/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/gemsupplyco INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/gemsupplyco

In this episode of the FT Adviser podcast chief reporter Tara O'Connor chats to Oliver Bedford, lead manager on the Hargreave Hale VCT, and Diana French, chief commercial officer of retail distribution at Triple Point, about the impact the chancellor's cuts to VCT income tax relief will have on the industry and clients' financial planning.The FTAdviser Podcast is designed to inform regulated UK advisers on a range of topics, covering investments, pensions, regulation and other key issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Chris Heminway, Executive Chairman of Time to Act, joins the UK Investor Magazine as part of the Aquis Showcase Series running up to the event on 19th November.Please register for the Aquis Showcase here using the code ‘UKINVEST' for a 20% discountTime to Act is an Aquis-listed aggregator platform that builds and acquires businesses in the SME cleantech and renewables engineering sector. Operating under a “Best Owner” principle, Time to Act provides patient-to-permanent capital and strategic support to early and later-stage companies, filling a gap left by the VCT industry.The platform combines a lean corporate structure with capable business-level management teams, offering portfolio companies access to strategic planning, commercialisation advice, financial expertise, and technology support. Unlike traditional funds, Time to Act operates as a hands-on business operator focused on long-term value creation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are doing another LIVE show in NYC thanks to Red Bull! For tickets and more information head to: https://platchat.com/

feat. Leo Faria, Tarik, Jawgemo, Valyn, Sacy, TenZ and several bonus Plat Chat members!PLAT CHAT MERCH IS HERE!! https://platchat.com/ Members check the Discord or Community Posts tab on Youtube for $5 off your purchase

Some great questions this week about planning for the loss of the personal allowance, investing in GIAs, persuading an aunt to write a will, and much more besides! Shownotes: https://meaningfulmoney.tv/QA26  01:11  Question 1 Dear Roger and Pete, I enjoy listening to your show driving to work. You are both down to earth and humble with your opinions. I read a lot on finance and have been investing in stocks and share ISA since 2004 and VCTs since 2017. I have built a healthy portfolio of nearly 300k in VCT, 400k in Stocks and share ISA. I also have a healthy DC pension of roughly 700k and DB pension worth around 10k per year from age 60. I am approaching 50th birthday this year and so decided to use up some of my cash savings which is in excess of my target investment of 20k in ISA and 50 k in VCT(as unable to go over 10k in pension (due to annual allowance threshold). I know I am fortunate and I also live frugally as that's my nature and don't have too many wants. The question is if I have roughly 80k in mortgage and I have the ability to clear it, should I invest that 80k in VCT on top of my regular VCT allocation of 50k and get the 30% tax benefit(as I am unable to get much tax benefit from my pension) or clear my mortgage as the mortgage is coming up for renewal and likely interest rate will be 4-4.5%. I am torn as I understand in my head that 80 k invested is better than clearing the mortgage over a 20-30 year time frame, but as I am going to be 50 and would like to clear the mortgage and have freedom to decide if I want to enter a life of FIRE or have the ability to FIRE if I get bored. However, I have kids in school and so unlikely I will FIRE until they go to university. Sorry about the long question. Thank you, Fred. 06:25  Question 2 Hello Pete / Roger, Great podcast! I hope karma holds true and all the good you give out back comes back to you both! Question: I am a higher rate taxpayer who maximises their pension, stocks & shares ISA and other best tax sheltered places so need to also build wealth in a taxable GIA. What is best strategy for a higher rate tax payer to do this... dividend / income generating stocks or accumulating (non dividend paying) investments and pay CGT at some stage (regularly)? Thanks, appreciated as ever and hope may help others Ivana  10:43  Question 3 Hi, Nick (who I assume will read this first), Pete and Roger, I'm not sure if this is a suitable question for the podcast but here goes. How can we persuade an aged aunt that she needs to write a will, as us knowing what her wishes are is not sufficient. I have an aunt who has no children but she has said she wants her estate split equally between her 8 nieces and nephews but she refuses to make a will. The problem is that if she dies intestate there is an estranged brother who would be a beneficiary as far as we understand  and so what she wants to happen won't happen. Richard J 15:50  Question 4 Hi Pete and Rog My husband and I have been MM diehards for many years. We think It's a sad reflection of the state of nation when David Beckham gets considered for a gong before Pete does! I wanted to ask you about UK T-Bills because they are rarely (if ever) mentioned in your discussion of financial instruments. We are at retirement age I have a few DB pensions and a SIPP with Interactive Investor of approx. £300k. About ½ is sitting in Cash (including short term money market funds) because we want to draw out our 25% tax free allowance within the next 2 years and we want to minimise risk until that time arrives. I still want to diversify my low risk investments  as much as possible into bonds but my experience of bond funds is that they can also drop significantly with economic conditions whereas we want something to deliver us a (near as possible) guaranteed return. Our platform (ii) allows us to purchase bonds on the primary market however they are too long-term for us to see them through to maturity given our timescales. The platform has started to release UK T-Bills which seem typically much shorter term (3 or 6 months) and therefore appear to give us what we are looking for (guaranteed rate at a decent %) and very low risk. I know the % return is determined by the ‘auction' but it currently looks to be around 4.5% on average (especially the 3-month ones). We plan to apply the bond ladder concept and buy these T-bills over the next few years on a rolling basis. As they are very short term, if rates drop we can change our strategy mid-plan so I think it also gives us a degree of flexibility too. Have we overlooked something obvious as it seems to fit our needs perfectly for the next couple of years? We are very hands-on on the platform so we don't mind getting stuck into the action process (which looks straightforward). I'd be interested if you had any additional insight / comment on T-Bills being used for this or other strategies. Regards, Gilly 22:55  Question 5 Hi Pete, Roger, Thank you for the podcast, I always look fw to listening to it on my Wednesday commute. I'm trying to figure out when it makes sense to accept paying more income tax versus increasing my pension contributions? My total compensation this tax year is estimated to be £125k meaning I will lose all of my personal allowance with an effective 60% marginal tax rate on the last £25k of my earnings. Part of my compensation is made up of RSUs and very predictable quarterly bonuses. My base salary is approx £85,000.Last year, my total compensation was £105k, with a smaller base salary. My pension contributions kept my taxable income below £100k. I do not have any children, so the loss of funded childcare is not a concern. I've been contributing 15% for the last 5 or 6 years, starting when I was earning about half what I earn now. I chose that percentage to bring earnings under the 40% threshold at one point. At the start of this tax year, I increased my pension contributions to 20% because my income increased and I had no immediate need for the extra money. My employer only matches up to 5%. I am in my mid 30s and have roughly £140,000 split between my SIPP and my current workplace pension. Both invested in 100% equities in a global fund. I am considering increasing my salary sacrifice from 20% to around 30%, to keep my taxable income below 100k to avoid the loss of personal allowance. I'm hesitant because, playing around with the compound interest calculator, starting with a £140,000 balance, contributing £1,700 per month (20% salary sacrifice), and assuming a 7.5% return (which may be slightly optimistic), I would end up with a pension pot of about £1.5 million at age 55. Which might be too much. I have £80k in my stocks and shares isa, also in global equities and I'm on track contribute 20k this tax year.  I own a flat with a mortgage, fixed at less than 2% for a couple more years with no interest in over paying. I'm worried I might end up with too much money left when I (eventually!) die, I have no kids and I am not interested in leaving a legacy. Shall I just accept the tax bill and increase my lifestyle today given I'm already saving enough that I know I will be comfortable later in life. I read die with zero a year or so ago, and it resonated with me a lot. What else is there to consider? Thank you, Mark. 29:15  Question 6 Dear Pete & Roger, I have one question on my financial planning. This year I had received extra bonus which lead to my salary at the end of tax year of £123k. I have contributed £17k to my pension using employer contributions but remaining £6k is through my company stock which was vested and I got £3.1k income after paying 47% tax. My question is as my salary threshold for this tax year crossed £100k, for this additional £6k do I need to submit self assessment and if yes, do I need to declare this £6k full stock amount completely as a separate income even though I already paid tax on it, does this mean I am also liable to pay capital gains tax on this £3.1k? I look forward to hearing from you what are my options to submit to HMRC through my self assessment so I can calculate if I owe any additional tax or HMRC will refund me some money due to £17k pension contributions? Many thanks, Vai  

In Episode 145 of the Diary of a UK Stock Investor Podcast this week:- (00:00) Show Start (01:49) Messages from Our Listeners (05:35) Becoming a Stocks & Shares ISA Millionaire (15:12) UK Stock News, BYIT, QTX, VCT, CURY, GLE, AUTO, FXPO and BOOM (25:35) Joel Greenblatt on Growth & Value Investing (26:05) This Stock Failed It's Investors Drop us a COMMENT on Spotify or Email Chris at the show on chris@chrischillingworth.com Diary of a UK Stock Investor Podcast is a show for everyday long-term retail investors, hosted by Chris Chillingworth. The podcast is unique in that it serves as a place for Chris to reflect on the highs and lows of long-term UK stock investing, as well as sharing detailed updates on how his own portfolio is growing. With new episodes every Thursday, and a detailed update on his quest to reach £1,024,867 in portfolio value by 2043, episodes often discuss investing education, strategy, mindset, ideas and even stock picks and analysis. The show, which now has an active following of over 4000 downloads a month, is curated by Chris Chillingworth, a UK investor for over a decade whose stockpicks have achieved a 18% annual average return between Jan 2014 - Nov 2024. Email Chris at the show on chris@chrischillingworth.com Checkout the website https://chrischillingworth.com 

This week we found ourselves down in Dilley Texas for Police Week out at the The Ranch Texas! We got to observe as dozens of Texas Leo's ran through all of the training lanes. The video version of this is the best so head on over to YouTube and find the good stuff. Thank you to Dillon Donovan and Russell Jones for the invite. Thank you to Kim Kelley for letting us shadow her while we were recording. Chad Timney, thank you for having us out and showing us the badest damn training facility we have EVER seen.  Shout out to the instructors this weekend: Breaching by @donovanMFG, VCT by @VanpeltConsultingLLCTraining, CQB by @knuckle_Dragger_Society, ODST (On Demand Skills Training) by @SlyTacTraining, Weapon Mechanics by @Slick_0321, TCCC (Medical) by @Knuckle_Dragger_Society.Also, thank you to our new friend @Jonathan_Coyle for coming out to help turn the spotlight on The Ranch Texas.   Welcome to Donovan Manufacturing! When you see the red and black logo with shield and serpent, you know you're in the right place for another Donovan MFG episode. This branch of the Fort Worth Roots is still taking shape. Our friends Dillon and Russell are creating a new platform here to not only bring you entertainment and information but also all of the tools our military, LEO'S, and other first responders need to operate at 100%.  "Trusted by law enforcement, built for mission success". Are you ready to get involved with Donovan Manufacturing? Let us know that you're interested in the show. Reach out to Dillon to get scheduled on the show, have your product or services highlighted, or to ask questions .  Text or Call 682-747-6408 Another big change to the format of the show is right here in this section. On regular Fort Worth Roots episodes you will always see information about our sponsors that help is keep the lights on. This is a Donovan Manufacturing take over! They have purchased the full advertising rights for their own episode on the Fort Worth Roots platform. They will be collecting their own sponsors to help fund these segments and to support the organizations they have connections with. If you sell products through Donovan Manufacturing, this would be a great time to talk to them about getting your businesses info listed here for each of these episodes. Thank you for listening to this episode!Contact Fort Worth Roots by email at media@fortworthroots.com Attention LEO's! How can we get you involved on this segment? Take advantage of this North Texas podcast segment to enhance your community engagement through PSA's and general exposure. Contact our friends at Donovan Manufacturing with the info bellow. Cheers! Donovan Manufacturing "Trusted by law enforcement, built for mission success."www.donovanmfg.comdillon@donovanmfg.com682-747-6408

It's been a while. But come with us as we shit talk our way through the Premier season, discuss the end of VCT split 1, and oh, were there some Tejo changes? Discord: https://discord.gg/n5eP3XxzuGSubreddit: www.reddit.com/r/drunkvalorantpodcast

This week Nick talks to Judith MacKenzie. Judith joined Downing in October 2009, bringing with her extensive experience in venture capital and fund management. Prior to this, she was a partner at Acuity Capital, where she managed AIM-listed VCT and IHT investments, as well as a small-cap activist fund. Before Acuity, Judith spent nine years as a senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management Growth Capital, where she co-managed five Aberdeen VCTs, focusing on technology and media investments across both public and private companies. In 2010, she founded Downing Fund Managers, the boutique investment division of Downing LLP. Judith currently serves as Chair of the Quoted Companies Alliance and holds active board roles in both private and public sectors.Nick and Judith discuss her journey into finance, inspired by working in her parents' small businesses in the Scottish Highlands. Her early exposure to economics and investing sparked a lifelong interest in smaller companies. She discusses her career progression from stockbroking to fund management, emphasising her focus on UK micro-cap and smaller companies through Downing's IHT (Inheritance Tax) service. Judith explains the appeal of AIM-listed firms due to their tax benefits and potential for strong returns, highlighting a hands-on, diligent investment approach that mirrors private equity standards. She identifies three key types of companies she targets: value compounders, self-help businesses, and balance sheet leaders—mentioning Ramsdens, James Latham, and Flowtech as examples. Judith critiques the negative narrative around AIM, advocating for its role in supporting entrepreneurial growth and job creation. She expresses hope for a shift back to active investing and UK-focused capital deployment, especially in light of current global economic uncertainties and US-centric fund flows.  Judith's book choice was:Vassal State: How America Runs Britain by Angus HantonJudith's music choice was:Human by The KillersThis content is issued by Zeus Capital Limited (“Zeus”) (Incorporated in England & Wales No. 4417845), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) for designated investment business, (Reg No. 224621) and is a member firm of the London Stock Exchange. This content is for information purposes only and neither the information contained, nor the opinions expressed within, constitute or are to be construed as an offer or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell the securities or other instruments mentioned in it. Zeus shall not be liable for any direct or indirect damages, including lost profits arising in any way from the information contained in this material. This material is for the use of intended recipients only.

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Let's start this Carfagno Cleaning solo business with a WIN! Last week, I got 5 referrals through my local network (listen to Play Powerball with your Business). The lead from my friend and carpet cleaner, James Hardy, converted to a new office cleaning client! Since this new client is a school, I had to jump through a few more hoops. First of all, I needed to go beyond adding them as a 'Certificate Holder' on my general liability policy. I needed to increase my insurance for this additional customer. This is called 'Additionally Insured'. My current policy provides $2 million of coverage per year at $500 in annual premium. This new client cost me an additional $50, which I count as an expense. I also had to coordinate a cleaning time with the school and their weekend janitor to let me into the building. The school is not in the habit of handing out keys to outside contractors. Spoiler alert: I prayed over this situation as I desire to have offices with the flexibility to clean anytime over the weekend. A few days later, the school made an exception for me and gave me a set of keys! Lastly, this new client is a school for autistic children. I know autism and realize that these students will be on the floor a lot, touching things, and likely touching their faces. Thus, disinfecting of the classrooms and floors was vital. They already had a food & skin safe disinfectant and asked me my opinion for the floors. I researched it and immediately determined it was a bad choice. Why? The title of this episode is "Art Trumps Science". Let's talk science first. The pH was slightly alkaline at 9. The floors are VCT (vinyl composition tile). VCT is commonly used in schools and supermarkets. They are also waxed & buffed on a regular basis to keep a beautiful finish and to protect the tile. My friend James Hardy did the job, so we conferred with him and he agreed. This ph 9 disinfectant had just enough alkalinity to eat away at the wax finish, which would dull it and cause James to come back sooner. Therefore, their disinfectant was a wonderful choice for the refrigerators, microwaves, table tops, door knobs, and light switches, but NOT the floors. I connected with my good friend Mark Lineberry at Universal Janitorial and he recommended the perfect solution. It's called MatPro. The school purchased it and now uses my recommendations for disinfecting and protecting their students and staff. This raised my expertise and trust with the school big time. See! Understanding science is vital. It sets you apart from the basic cleaning service! Another lead from last week was Mike Thompson of Envoy Mortgage from my MCBA group. Mike is a mortgage advisor. What is that? It means he focuses on what's best for his clients. He coaches and consults them, looking at their lending scenario from a holistic approach. Of course he sells mortgage products too. He's a Go-Giver and his clients ask  him to sell to them as a result of his giving approach. Anyway, Mike got back to my estimate and accepted a biweekly option. There's new client #2 for the week!Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website

In this edition of the Money Makers Investment Trusts Podcast, Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook and winner of the 2024 AIC Best Broadcast Journalist Award, is joined by Nick Hyett, investment manager at Wealth Club, and Robert Whitby-Smith, partner in Albion Capital. Section Timestamps: 0:00:24 - Introductions 0:01:32 - Reaction to the budget 0:04:31 - Performance of tax-efficient products so far this year 0:08:23 - Looking at the VCT market overall 0:11:37 - A short break 0:12:32 - Interest rates and the broader market environment 0:17:44 - Diversification of holdings 0:20:24 - Changes in an ideal world 0:22:31 - Close If you enjoy the weekly podcast, you may also find value in joining The Money Makers circle. This is a membership scheme that offers listeners to the podcast an opportunity, in return for a modest monthly or annual subscription, to receive additional premium content, including interviews, performance data, market/portfolio reviews and regular extracts from the editor's notebook. This week, as well as the usual features, the Circle features a profile of Manchester and London (MNL). Future profiles include Temple Bar (TMPL) and Schroder Japan (SJG). Look out for the latest edition of our new expanded weekly subscriber email which summarises Jonathan's latest thoughts and includes a comprehensive summary of all the latest news. The content of that email is also available for subscribers via the website. A subscription costs £12 a month or £120 for one year. For more information about the Money Makers circle, please visit money-makers.co/membership-join. Membership helps to cover the cost of producing the weekly investment trust podcast, which will continue to be free. We are very grateful for your continued support and the enthusiastic response to our nearly 240 podcasts since launch. You can find more information, including relevant disclosures, at www.money-makers.co. Please note that this podcast is provided for educational purposes only and nothing you hear should be considered as investment advice. Our podcasts are also available on the Association of Investment Companies website, www.theaic.co.uk. Produced by Ben Gamblin.

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That's a wrap on VCT 2024 folks! Now I can fall back asleep and dream of a world where Sen won it all....This week were coming in with a lot to talk about, all of champs and its insane results, and the new agent Vyse. Join us as we argue about all the shit we don't know yet, and develop the econ meta for the new Valorant.Discord: https://discord.gg/n5eP3XxzuGSubreddit: www.reddit.com/r/drunkvalorantpodcast

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss Riot Games subtweeting at us with more misleading information from Chris Greeley's account, IWDominate's treatment by Riot, Viper's strong recent performances, the LPL and LEC Playoffs, rumors of Rogue being bought out by Team Falcons, VALORANT and VCT's impact on LoL esports scheduling, and more. Get 50% off FACTOR meals at https://www.factormeals.com/lfn50 with code LFN50. High-quality, never-frozen meals delivered to your home!

Cass comes back from Australia with his head still upside down, claiming some people should never buy a rifle.... not cause your aim is dogshit (which it is) but for econ? Plus a recap of a very wild Kick Off tournament for VCT, and some SEN fanboys are in the chat.Discord: https://discord.gg/n5eP3XxzuGSubreddit: www.reddit.com/r/drunkvalorantpodcast

Kerri Weingard is a founding partner and global chief operating officer at Verified Clinical Trials (VCT). VCT is the largest global research subject database to reduce dual enrollment and prevent protocol violations. Ms. Weingard is also the CEO and founder of Study Scavenger and Clinical Hero. Both companies are dedicated to clinical trial recruitment and education. Ms. Weingard, who is a nurse practitioner, holds a master's degree in science from Stony Brook University. She, before creating VCT and Study Scavenger, has conducted over 500 clinical trials as a research administrator and sub-investigator. She has more than two decades of experience in the field and is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the Drug Information Association and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals.  

Adam Cox is joined by Chand Chudasama from Price Bailey Chartered Accountants to explore the issue of the unclear extension of the sunset clauses for EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) and VCT (Venture Capital Trust) schemes. These schemes have played a crucial role in fostering the growth of the UK AI Tech industry. Chand sheds light on the concerns that might arise if these schemes were to come to an end and why there's hesitancy in announcing extensions, which is already impacting investments. Additionally, they delve into the potential long-term economic implications of this situation. https://www.pricebailey.co.uk/

On today's episode of Nadeshot Knows, Matt and Joe discuss The Guard not competing in VCT 2024, New Juvee flavor, Valorant world championship, and more!

We're back again this week with Hunter and Chase taking over the show for the first while. Talking new ways to queue into games, Chase's unwavering desire to win, and some more shit as we waited for Cass. Eventually we do get to talk gun stats for VCT and go over the Discord server's official map ranking.Discord: https://discord.gg/n5eP3XxzuGSubreddit: www.reddit.com/r/drunkvalorantpodcast

Filmed March 15, 2023 Special thanks to our podcast partner Secretlab ✨ https://bit.ly/3i2LB7X TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - Tech issues00:08 - Intro00:35 - OTV win at The Streamer Awards04:42 - The Streamer Awards 2023 vs 202209:03 - The Streamer Awards stream11:11 - The Oscars13:11 - Racial discourse around The Oscars14:43 - How does The Oscars voting work?17:06 - Movies from 202220:04 - Best Picture23:20 - Austin Butler24:33 - Pete Davidson27:03 - VCT Brazil trip29:45 - Leaving Toast behind in Brazil32:27 - John's awesome Brazil travel experience33:28 - Bus tour in Brazil36:13 - OTV is going to Japan again!37:09 - Soapland...?38:20 - Soapland vs a strip club38:55 - John's goal to play video games in Japan39:45 - Mori Museum in Japan43:26 - OTV art museum idea44:07 - VALORANT Champions in LA44:40 - Next OTV party during VALORANT Champions45:10 - INVITING 10 FANS TO THE OTV PARTY???46:20 - Would you go to a celebrity party solo?47:45 - Influencer product businesses50:21 - OTV soju?50:42 - Golden ticket to an OTV party52:40 - Which celebrity's party would you want to go to?55:03 - Which celebrities would we sleep with? Find out in our Patreon-only After Dark segment :)55:40 - Outro