Podcasts about well mark

Have you ever been whale watching? Has a whale ever watched you? Well Mark and Drew tried to make songs about whales on this one. Tyler Cole stopped by to help guest judge this one and he done did a real great prompt! SHA-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-Neat!

This Week Conor explains Doughnuts… and in particular why we can't stop eating them! Well Mark really wants to know why ‘We' can't stop eating them! If you want to get involved, then follow us on TikTok andInstagram.- @BaffledPodOr email us info@baffledpod.com ---A Create Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, Ryan Porter with Next Home Realty Experience tells us what we should know about investing in Jackson real estate. Learn about the particularities of the market, return metrics, the school zones, taxes, common problems, and what you need to do to win in this hot market. Ryan Porter: RyanPorterhomes@gmail.com. 601-238-6620 --- Transcript Michael: Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the remote real estate investor. My name is Michael Albaum and today I'm joined by my colleague, Mark whittling. And we're going to be chatting with an agent out of Jackson, Mississippi. Ryan Porter. local guy knows a lot about the market and is just killing it out there. So let's jump into it with Ryan and learn a little bit more about the Jackson Mississippi market.   Alrighty, Ryan Porter out of Jackson, Mississippi, how you doing, man?   Ryan: Man doing great. So glad you guys could invite me on the show.   Michael: No, we're happy to have you and thanks for taking the time. Really appreciate it.   So let's just jump right into it. Man, you are a Jackson, Mississippi born and raised?   Ryan: Born and raised Rankin County just out of the Jackson area and lived here all my life.   Michael: Awesome. And I'm curious, how did you first get into the real estate game.   Ryan: So a friend of mine gave a book to me around Christmas Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And I'm sure a lot of people got into real estate with that book. And I bought in hook line and sinker several, several years ago. And it was one book led to another and I just never stopped. I've been scratching and calling ever since. And it's been a really, really cool, fun ride.   Michael: That's awesome. I think so many people share that similar experience. I know I did for with Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I just kind of smacked me upside the head. And I was like, Man, what have I been doing up till now?   Ryan: Right?   Michael: It takes just simple book to figure it out and explain it to me.   Ryan: They tried to tell us with monopoly, but we had to be pointed out it's   Michael: Right. Right, right. So you're an agent, you're a property manager, you're an investor. Talk to us a little bit about all the things that you're working on.   Ryan: So last year, I teamed up with a next home franchise and started a brokerage here in Brandon. We've got 22 agents. Now we teach a lot of investing class. That's a lot my background. And a lot of our agents are invested minded. We teach how to we'll do field trips on newer agents to show them how to video a house for someone that's out of town, how to work with clients, they'll never see that house.   So they'll have that special skill set to be able to point out potential problems going down the road, or a potential problem right now it says hey, this is just not a good fit for out of town, this house may need a lot of maintenance, something like that. We want to teach those agents. So we've, we've started that with next home, we've really had a lot of success, we've got a lot of really killer agents.   With our property management. I've teamed up with one of my high school friends that we've remained friends throughout our life, he's got his real estate license with us it next time we started a broker, Property Management Division. Super excited about next rental we used to build software we spent several several months doing our homework on property management, probably another year, doing our personal properties and just our local friends and acquaintances properties to where we felt comfortable. Okay, we could pretty much take anything on, we've seen so much within the last three years of running property management that it's just a really fun job for certain people.   Our employees we have, they love their relationships with the tenants, we've learned that if you can get that right tenant and teach them how to take care of a home in a way that we're not just putting them in a rental home, we want to show them how to take care of a home because one day they're gonna buy a home and we want to be there with them, potentially maybe buy that home. So that'll give a win win win to everybody, the people renting the home and the investors.   Mark: This is the story how I connected with Ryan. I saw he was an educator because one of his agents named Bo was all over whether real estate investor Facebook groups. So I reached out I said, Hey, Bo, I really like what you're working on. Who do you work for? Tell me a little bit about you. So he said, so I told him about the certified agent network. And next thing you know, we're connecting with Ryan. And Ryan is just as you can see an educator. He's the kind of guy who's got the experience so he can walk the walk talk the talk at the same time.   But we asked him to be a part of the certified agent network because we knew he had the educator approach and that's what our buyers are really looking for. So you know when they they can talk to an agent and have that ability to connect virtually and not have to you know pony up, side to side. You know, they could do it the way that they feel comfortable. So we knew is a natural fit to bring them into the certified agent network. And that's where we're going today. So Ryan's been successful and just watching him kind of grow and do his own thing has been awesome because he doesn't need training on our side, he just walked in said, I got this and got a ton of properties under contract already. Ryan: Mark, when I didn't know a whole lot about Roofstock when you came to me, but when I got the link to the university, I was just blown away how you guys had taken everything to do with investing from day one to closing day to, whatever and put it in the format that you did, where it really broke down and investor, let them know what they were getting into told them. And I just like this is how I like to do business, we want to educate our investors where they're making smart choices. That way, they will make money, and we will make money and everybody will be happy.   So I really loved the way you guys have built your format. If I was an investor just starting out or whatnot, you just can't beat the training that you guys have thought of everything on how to pick your property manager. That is such a huge, huge chapter. Because that property managers everything buying a house, that's simple. I can point you to 15 houses tomorrow and Jackson that you could get a 25% cash on cash return. But unless you've got somebody to manage that property, well, that's going to drop down to 12 really quick.   So I love how you guys have built the templates on how to ask those questions. And we're starting to see that as we're working with these investors. They are very knowledgeable they've been through they know the questions to ask. So I love working with experienced people. I love working with anybody I love teaching, like you said, but it does make it easy when these investors know what they're doing, because they've been through your portal. And they know what smart questions to ask.   Michael: As you say, as soon as we get off this call, we're gonna we're gonna go look at some of those 25% cash on cash return properties Ryan!   So, Ryan, I love that you talked about making that partnership with kind of a win win win with the education side, both for the investor owner as well as for the tenant because I think so often there's this almost adversarial relationship where owners see the tenants as the enemy and the tenancy the owner as the big bad landlord, but you're kind of breaking down those barriers. And it sounds like having a lot of success, fostering some great relationships.   And you know, it's not that hard to do. Honestly, at the end of the day, people want a nice place to stay, they wanted to be treated, right? We try to pick nice houses that we try to get those items taken care of a before they buy the houses in inspection, have a house rent ready, somebody can move into it and not really have any problems. If something pops up, just take care of it as simple as that those people are happy. it's not rocket science to have a good property management company. It is rocket science to have everything organized, where you can provide that quick response time. So you can answer when they do call. That's all they want. Is anybody wants is somebody to hear what they have to say and fix it.   Michael: I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Because I agree, I don't think it I don't think it's rocket science. But I think anybody who's been in this business long enough as an investor has come across their fair share of really poor property managers or property managers that they don't want to work with again. So what in your estimation separates the really great property managers from the less than great property managers?   Ryan: I think the biggest thing would be communication. If you can get somebody on the phone, you can usually get an answer. That's been the biggest thing that I've heard when somebody said, I can't get ahold of my property manager. It's been a week. I'm like, what I don't understand that is 2021. Everybody's glued to their phone, that person was ignoring that call. So if you're ignoring somebody call, you're usually hiding something. So that goes back. I think if you're communicating with everybody, everybody's on the same page, then there's really no confusion. And as long as somebody is just not acting a fool, what you do run into people like that you try to screen them out. things do happen, people lose their job, but there again, I tell that person, I don't care what you're going through. You text and tell me every single day if you're going to be late or whatnot, but I need to have that communication. Once that stops. That's when we'll start assuming and and that's not good. And I asked my ex girlfriends that assuming stuff is not good.   Michael: No, I love I love that. I think it makes a lot of sense because I think you're for me anyhow, that I would agree makes a really great property manager. If there's bad news, call me Tell me Don't let out about a week   Ryan: Yeah that's a house, you know, we can fix it. When it boils down to it, there's not much a house can tear. I will say that there is, but just communicate it and fix it. There's an answer to everything.   Mark: I got a quick question for you in Jackson, Mississippi. I mean, you're in the south, it's hot. But you know, here I am. in Dallas, Texas, we have foundation issues and something that not all investors really know about. What do investors need to know in Jackson that are the big, the big risks that you're always call it out and making sure buyers just know before they get into a property?   Ryan: Just know. Yep. So if a house has Foundation, or has had Foundation, and we get somebody that bids on it, I like to call that person in, I want to talk to that investor and just let them know, because I understand in Arizona, their dirt may not settle. And they don't even know what a foundation problem is probably like, I don't know what a basement flood issue would look like. I've never seen a house being a basement.   So with Mississippi, we all are in that delta type. swamp land, I guess you would say. So we've got a lot of dirt here, there's just not great. Now, as a builder, when they're building a home, they'll take all that bad dirt out, packs nice, fresh dirt in, pack it down. And they're supposed to give so many feet. But unfortunately, 20 30, 40 years ago, they didn't have those rules, it was a little bit of the Wild West. So you can have literally a neighborhood that had this builder build this house, and this joker did great work, he was proud of his work, this house would never have foundation problems, the drainage is well around the house, the water's not coming against the house, the house next door, this builder came in and threw it up didn't care about his drainage, the level of the house may be off might be the low down the block. He's probably if he's not had foundation problems he's going to so we want to avoid the house that has any drainage problems around it.   That being said, you can have a house that's had foundation problems that's been repaired, and that house be just fine, the drainage has been fixed. Whatever that builder did has been fixed, we've got nice pilings, a lifetime warranty. Still, as an investor, I'm not going to recommend any house that could even potentially give foundation problems. To me, that's the worst mistake, that's the death zone. If it's potentially gonna have a river going around it, that will just wash that dirt right out from under the slab. And that's just no good for anybody. So foundation is something that I think is where you need the boots on the ground to go view these houses to look at their past look at the neighbor's house to see if they've had foundation problems. See maybe if you can find who built that house. And that type thing.   So it's it's house to house but foundation problems are huge, huge thing that we look at when we're looking at a house and different areas are a little worse than air others. And older homes are a little worse than the newer homes. That being said some of the newer homes built in certain areas do do have some problems.   Mark Yeah, I think it's a great point to look at the neighbor's house because it may not be your drainage issue is theirs, but it becomes your problem. Right?   Ryan: That's right. And just little things like that tree overgrown and leaves falling down, getting in the way of that drainage. So trying to spot those problems. Even if I try to assume that our renters are not going to rake the yards, I just assumed the worst that the leaves will fall they'll cut them with their lawn more when it's summertime. So if there's a a French drain that needs to be raked out once a month to keep this house from having foundation problems, that's not going to be a good rental home, that's going to be a good home for a person to move into that's going to take care of that home to keep that stuff because that's his investment. So those are things with foundation. We're very very careful when we get involved with something like that.   Michael: Are there other things Ryan that are specific to Mississippi That you see as very common issues that maybe to a California or to a Texas investor might be a big deal, but they just are regularly occurring issues that you tackle no issue maybe like moisture intrusion or warping. I don't know something to that effect.   Ryan: Yeah, I think foundation would be the biggest issue. We have a little bit of mold. Sometimes I don't run across that very often. If so, it's on where the outside rooms or whatnot. air conditioners are a huge deal here. They're usually ran from March till probably sometimes in December. So almost year round, people are going to use their air conditioner. The air conditioner lifecycle is probably, if you get a new air conditioner in take care of it had it serviced once a year, you can get 10 to 13 years out of the air conditioner. Still, sometimes, you know, you'll have that's a big service call is air or air conditioners, yeah, usually, January, February or March, we're going to get a call. And when it gets really to that 105 degree days, it's hard to get a house down to 72 degrees sometimes if it's not insulated just right,  if it's an older home.   So we try to prep people as part of our move in when Bo brings a new client in utility and explain to them about the air conditioner that you know this is not a brand new home, it's probably not going to get 62 degrees if it's 100 outside and explain how to change the air filters to keep it at that lowest point. So air conditioners and foundations. I think that's our two biggest things. roofs are just pretty normal everywhere. We do have tornadoes, or hail storms a bit bit. There's just nothing you can do about that.   Michael: I love that question mark because so I bought a property a triplex up in Alaska years ago. And I used to work as a fire protection engineer. And I went up there and I was up there for work. And I was looking at the property and the agent was showing me around and he says, Oh yeah, and here's the fuel tank for the diesel fired boiler that's in the basement. I was like, What? There's no way we're having diesel fuel sitting by this property?   And he goes, No, no, like, that's what people do here. And so coming not being a local, you don't know. And so that's, I think, a really great question. And a really great talking point is you might see that and think Yep, not gonna touch it. But that's just par for the course in that market. So understanding those types of things, I think is huge.   Ryan: Absolutely.   Michael: Can you talk to us a little bit Ryan about kind of the numbers as an investor so if I'm an investor looking into the Jackson market, from a purchase perspective, on average three to you know, not the main, you know, into different neighborhoods, maybe talk to us what the purchase price map and what might some of the rents might look like as well.   Ryan: We've got two or three in the Florence areas, little suburb blocks south of Jackson, when you get out probably, I'm going to say the really good schools zones in Rankin County, you'll see anywhere from 150 to 200,000 that's kind of where I guess I like to be I think a lot investors like to be around at 150 to 200,000, 2-3 with a  garage, a nice 1015 year old home that's similar dated or this move in ready. We'd like to see anywhere from 1500 on the 150 up to around 200 like to get around 1850   Michael: Awesome so we're kind of flirting alright that 1%   Ryan: Yep, yep, absolutely. In this market you know that i think that's that's very decent. You know, a year and a half ago, we were getting a lot better numbers. Houses are just bring in maximum value right now. But also, renters are easy to get to there's not a shortage of renters went through our app out it's usually taken snatched up pretty quick.   Michael: You beat me to the punch. I was just gonna ask both on the purchase side and on the leasing side. How quickly Are you seeing things move?   Ryan: Yeah, they move quick. People are complaining people are getting beat out of leases. I got a call this morning run up, tried for leases on my own. I need help finding a rental home. He was just out applying on his own off of Zillow or whatnot. And it's not like it used to be used to you could look at your phone, dial that number and go rent that home and there wasn't a line now it's apartments are booked up. Houses are pretty booked up. It's It's hard to get a house in any fashion right now.   Mark: What I like about the Jackson market is you really have three big counties Heinz, which is really where Jackson is out east is Rankin, and up north is Madison. And they all have different personalities. And so maybe Ryan give us a little idea of what you're going to get with each of those and you know, how the schools are compared and just overall cost of living.   Ryan: So, starting in Jackson, I love I own a few. That's where I started my investing was often McDowell road. Great spot, I used to cruise up and down and when I was a kid, the numbers are great in that area. The last house I bought was around $40,000. And I've got a nice $850 renter, the area, you know it's hit or miss. As far as street to street, you may have this street, it's a little bit abandoned house abandoned house, you know, you don't want to really be around a lot of abandoned houses in any market.   So I try to go to the upcoming streets, one that I may see a couple for sale signs on that's a good sign those houses are about to probably get rehabbed. So we really try to go select right there, northeast Jackson's a little bit harder market to get into, it's a great flip area, a great way to do a BRRRRs up did a few BRRRR in that area, the numbers just match up. If you're set with a lender to get a free home may not have gotten a few of them. You get up so I like to BRRRR the Northeast Jackson area.   Rankin it's a great school zone. The public schools are great. The housing is around $200,000. You can find nice deals around 130 to 150. Sometimes, and those you want to scoop up quick because if it's in that school zone, there's demand for it. Every school zone he can in Rankin County, it seems like there's a demand for housing for rental housing in that area.   And Madison, it's a little bit higher in homes, you do get a lot better rants in that area out that county, it's a little bit stricter on their landlord policies, you have to apply for a permit different, just different loopholes that we jumped through, though and help you jump through. It's a great market, though, that you're going to see in Rankin and Madison, that's when you'll really start seeing your investment long term for when you want to sell that home, you'll get a great return, the housing really has skyrocketed.   Several the areas are just moved to USDA financing. And just that area alone when you go from FHA, VA USDA, and now that opens up for a buyer to get 100% financing. That just opens the market up to so many more people in this area. Because in Jackson, in Mississippi as a whole there are a whole lot of people with approval letters, but not a whole lot of people with 3% downpayment in their checking account. So having that USDA having a home when I'm an investor, I look at several different things. So I want to see if I can find the area that may be coming up for USDA soon, our buyers in that area, those houses are definitely going to be worth more in three years or four years, I can put a renter in it, let him pay my note for a little while, make some money, and watch that house really, really appreciate. So that's one thing we're watching for in the Madison area right now is that USDA, they're doing a few things.   Michael: What great insight, Ryan, I mean, it reminds me almost like an opportunity zone. It's these geographic areas that are now getting opened up to additional investment that wasn't there previously. I think that's awesome. I think that's awesome.   Mark: So when one thing that I want to point out, not only to the listeners, but you know, to this group, you know, Ryan's actually picking a lot of properties that are going on the Roofstock select program, which is you know, he his hand picked a good number of those and he's the one running the numbers from a rental perspective and then the rehab. And then he's pushing those through if he thinks it's a good investment property.   So maybe Ryan Give, give the listeners a little idea about what you're looking for that you feel is kind of that that opportunity that other investors maybe aren't seeing? Because you know, these are on the market MLS properties that are in our select program. So there's a lot of eyeballs on those properties. So what are you looking for That maybe you can give a little explanation to our buyers about.   Ryan: So when we're looking in MLS a, I want to see the houses that just hit I want to be the first one to get it out, well you guys can see it before right now there's going to be multiple offers usually on a reasonably priced house, and especially if it's in a very good schools zone.With that we want speed, we want to get it on as quick as possible. And we want numbers to be accurate. Also, Bo, and I like to get on our phone late at night. And we'll tag team and we'll go over each address and look at that house, we'll look through each of the pictures, we'll come up with a repair by budget based off for what we can see.   And then also we'll both check the rental rates, we want to both do our own compare at the end. And usually we can take a property from when we first start looking at it to when we hit publish, it's gonna take us 10 minutes to go through the taxes and whatnot, we're gonna we're not just going through slapping houses on we really want to be exact, because I understand as an investor, I'm a huge BiggerPockets guy, huge BiggerPockets, calculator, I'm a numbers freak, I want to see how those numbers line up. And if those numbers aren't, right, that's a big deal.   If I tell you, you can get 1500 but you get down here and can't find anybody. But for 1400 I just blew your whole plan out of whack. I don't want to be that guy. So we want to make sure that and a lot of times we undercut for that reason, I don't want to tell people that and expect more. But whenever I'm running my numbers on anything, I like to undercut you know, and overdeliver so when we put a property on there, we're very certain we can get that rent for that property. Well, we've looked into it.   And then once somebody is serious about it puts an offer we're gonna go out and look at the property do a nice video posted on YouTube, send it out to the buyer. And when we do that we're actually looking at that house just to confirm Okay, we can get this for this house we've looked at the area have looked at the neighborhood that's part of our inspection process. We're not just hiring that inspector in that first 10 days to go inspect that house we're also inspecting the house just to make sure it's a good deal for our investors.   Michael: That makes a lot of sense and that's really great background to know that it's not just getting thrown up there grab that random that there is actually investors looking at this underwriting it and saying okay, we're going to stamp of approval this Can you talk to us Ryan and all of our listeners a little bit about I think something that should be on every investor's mind if it isn't but property taxes How do those look in the greater Jackson area for the different counties you have?   Ryan: So Jackson area is definitely the highest in taxes and I hear a lot of complaints honestly I think it's right you take a Jackson's are very old city and the utilities are very old it's the water problems have made national news the pipes are just to hold there's no way around it. And if you take all those pipes under all those roads, there's just no way to go in and repipe a city it's just not feasible so they're constantly patching on it and I think that's just the way it's going to be as far.   As the sewer it's kind of the same way it's it's old so we look again at house by house we're doing that it the sewer system and water system and do the best we can on that but the taxes are high for that reason, and they're probably not going down anytime soon. They're probably gonna keep rise to keep combating and investors gonna pay 1500 ish taxes in that home. The government will give you a little bit of break on your tax. Just by living in that home. It's kind of a bi sticky to the investor his taxes will be higher. But Madison's obviously the highest property values are higher in Madison. u is not a far fetched higher than Rankin. It's not as high as Hans but it is because most of the homes are valued are a little bit higher than Rankin.   Michael: So is it fair to guesstimate around one to one and a quarter percent of the purchase price if you were just doing some real quick back of the napkin math to determine what your property taxes might be.   Ryan: There again, we like to check that and each county has different ways we can check taxes Hans County, we can see the exact rate on Madison and Rankin county you can call the tax assessor's office say this is the address Can you give me them non-homestead rate for this house, get that answer pretty quick.   Michael: I love that you said that it's something that I talk about all the time in the academy is don't use the Zillow number, don't use the Redfin number because that could be the homesteaded prior value. And if it's based on purchase price, that owner is locked in. So pick up the phone call have a conversation. How do I calculate my after sale taxes as an investor?   Ryan: That's right. That's right. Just give him a call. Those ladies are happy to help.   Mark: Yeah, a lot of our listeners want to know who Ryan Porter actually is we got your investment background, but they also want to know you're married, you have kids, you have a boat you take to the reservoir because they have a pretty awesome reservoir. What what kind of fun do you have?   Ryan: Well, actually, I do have a boat. It's parked in my backyard. I live on the reservoir. I love getting on a pontoon. I had two girls, we actually spent Sunday on the water cruising around, watch the sunset. I'm not married. Married to my work. I really stayed at my computer all the time. I love getting on the road, checking the houses out. It takes a lot of my time and I'm not disappointed. My girls are my life.   Got one that's in the banking career. She's trying to get work her way up the lending ladder with a local branch and my youngest is just going into 11th grade. I'm super proud of her. She's really been my mini-me with real estate. As I was coming up through the ranks with me and my open houses, baking cookies, we would go all out she'd have a great time.   Michael: That's great.   Mark: So she looks at you as the rich, the rich dead. she's she's listening. She's watching. She's learning. That's great. That's all possible. That's, that's important. Yeah, we want to get to know that the ryan that's, you know, behind the scenes, because, you know, we work hard but important to play hard to. So that's, that's awesome.   Michael: I love that. Ryan, if folks have additional questions for you want to reach out to you directly? What's the best way for them to do that? Get a hold of you.   Ryan: So my cell phone or email, like I said, it's 2021 it's always beside me. My cell phone 601-238-6620 text or call. If you call us leave a voicemail? Chances are I'll probably have to get back to you or email. Check it pretty much regular throughout the day at RyanPorterhomes@gmail.com.   Michael: Awesome. Awesome. Well Mark, any final questions or thoughts around for let him out of here.   Mark: I think we're good. I'm just appreciative of all the hard work because he's one of the newer certified agents that's joined us recently to broadcast these select Properties. In already in the first 30 days, they get seven properties under contract and you're feeling a lot more offers than just those 70 got under contract because it's it's a wild market. But you know, we appreciate what you're doing. And these are ways that we can always broadcast all the good things that are happening. So you know, buyers can tune in and then give you a call after this.   Michael: What are you seeing buyers do to win offers? How are they being strategic? What insights tips tricks, can you get folks that are looking to make offers in the Jackson market?   Ryan: So we actually teach a class on this once a week at our brokerage next time we get together as agents, all of us and we talk about Okay, what have you done in the last week or for last? What have you seen as listing agents that other agents are doing all four Why's the Step Up Calls is a popular one. I tell investors that if it's a hot house and has multiple offers a let's make it easy as we can be on seller as far as closing time. That's a huge deal. You tell me your parameters on when you'd like to close? Let me see when the seller would like to close and try to make it easy as possible on them. That's what they really like is easy closing dates.   As far as the finger goes. I don't try to recommend a price. But I will tell an investor to do their numbers and look at the house. And if it's a solid house getting that rent, where are you comfortable, where do your numbers line up to where you can make this much profit a month and this will make you happy. And let's go in at that number.   I'm a huge again, I'm a huge math guy I like to see my numbers work and it's something satisfying whether you're preparing to flip a home or BRRRR a home if you're just buying a straight out rental to have a plan on paper and say okay, the house is gonna cost this gonna cost this device can call CES to fix it up ran it. My property manager has been it's going to cost this at the end of the day, my checking account is going to get this much deposit in it in it each month. To have that plan come to fruition and on All those numbers actually work mass is super satisfying to me. So we want to take it from that point where I want your numbers to make sense. Don't go overboard to try to win this house, do not fall in love with the house, fall in love with your numbers on paper and stick to that.   So we want to keep them at bay. But at the same time, we want to get as many houses as possible. So we want to be flexible on our closing date. Don't ask for any closing cost, and our communicate with that other agent and really sell our investor Hey, this is what everybody wants an investor coming in and giving you top dollar from California. Man, I'm on sale you to these guys. And they're going to be excited about selling their house to this guy.   Michael: Awesome, awesome. I love that.   Mark: To me, that is the that is the value right there. The certified agent is you know, getting your foot in the door and knowing who that listing agent is and calling up and saying, Yes, give me some info, give me a little information, what's going on, you know, and just letting them talk a bit. So you can go back and make that best offer.   Ryan: That's right. That's right. And I can usually let them know, you know, hopefully what it'll take to be in that top running.   Michael: Which is so huge, which is so huge.   Mark: And that that is huge because the buyers know whether they're in the running or not. If they are not, then take the money and put that towards the next property and move on. But you know you you don't want to tie up money that doesn't have a chance.   Michael: Well, Ryan, thank you so much for coming on, man. Really appreciate you. This was a lot of fun. And like I said, I'll be definitely reaching out to you because the Jackson market sounds like it's on fire. Awesome.   Mark: Thank you, Ryan. Appreciate it. Michael. This was awesome. enjoyed it.   Michael: Everybody that was our episode a big big big thank you to Ryan for hanging out with us and giving us a walkthrough of what the Jackson Mississippi market has to offer and what investors should expect and know when going into that market both with regard to things they might be encountering, and also how they should be making their offers. If you enjoyed the episode, please feel free to leave us a rating or review or subscribe to the YouTube channel. We always look forward and welcome feedback as to additional episodes ideas, just leave us a note in the comment section.    We look forward to seeing on the next one. Happy investing

Adult

30 May 2021: Have you always wanted a tattoo, but worried you may regret it in the long run? Well Mark visited Le Inka who create organic temporary DIY tattoos.  When it comes to meat shopping, it doesn't get more luxurious than a visit to The Dry Age Boutique, that specialise in some of the best meat cuts in town. Guy in Dubai is back and this time he is trying out all the rides on Yas Island. And Mark chats to Spek, who is the CEO of PopArabia, and a big advocate of developing local artists in the MENA region. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sermon series through the Gospel according to Mark.

Click the title above to access this sermon from the teaching ministry of Reynoldsburg Baptist Church. Please visit rbctoday.com for information about service times and activities.

In this weeks' sermon, Pastor David walks us through an oft-ignored passage where Jesus calls Levi to follow him. In the calling and in his corresponding relationship with tax collectors and sinners, we see the heart of Jesus for those who have ruined their lives. He invites them to come to him, the Great Physician for healing.

Christ Fellowship - Sermons (Audio) clean 39:33 10384 cfpresentation@gmail.com (Christ Fellowship)

Your Faith Makes You Well - Mark 10:46-52 For a transcript of today's message, please visit: https://dvministry.blogspot.com/

Guest speaker Dr. Seth Polk

Patrick Mahomes accepted Wilson's well wishes, Ravens had to make tough "business decision" about Ingram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to 2021! In the new year people are asking their realtors if they should buy now or wait to buy. Well Mark is here today to talk about those questions... He dives into the market, expected volume and the expected financing trends... Don't miss any episodes and keep learning about the home selling process with The Mark Moskowitz Team. Please remember to subscribe and share!You can find out more information and contact us hereStay Safe Everyone!

Welcome to 2021! In the new year people are asking their realtors if they should buy now or wait to buy. Well Mark is here today to talk about those questions... He dives into the market, expected volume and the expected financing trends... Don't miss any episodes and keep learning about the home selling process with The Mark Moskowitz Team. Please remember to subscribe and share!You can find out more information and contact us hereStay Safe Everyone!

Everyone is asking "should I sell now." Well Mark is here to talk about the record low inventories and if it's a good idea to sell your home now... Stay tuned to fine out. Don't miss any episodes and keep learning about the home selling process with The Mark Moskowitz Team. Please remember to subscribe and share!You can find out more information and contact us hereStay Safe Everyone!

When Jesus is bringing healing to your life, don't be surprised if he does things that seem out of the norm. The Decapolis crowd wants Jesus to lay his hands on the man who is deaf and who has a speech impediment, and as we might expect, healing follows. It's how Jesus does it that is so striking. The way he cares, the way he communicates, and the way he looses his creation: truly, he does all things well!

In a time of uncertainty and political and cultural volatility it can be easy to become overwhelmed. It can easy to lose hope and to give in to despair. Thankfully, as Christians we can return to the Scriptures for perspective. We can look to the Word of God and be reminded that for those who know Christ there is a day coming when all will be well. There is a common way that the story of the Bible and of human history is often summarized: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation. These four words are often used to remind us of the plan of God for the world. He created all things, and He created them perfectly (Gen 1:31). Through sin came the fall and the curse, but through Jesus came redemption. Now, we await the consummation of all things when Jesus calls His people to Himself and restores all that sin has distorted and destroyed. The promise of the Bible is that for those who know Christ a day is coming when all will be well (Rev 21:1-5). In Mark 7:31-37 we have the account of a deaf and mute man who is healed by Jesus. It’s a great reminder of the power and compassion of Jesus. But there’s more to be gleaned from this passage than seeing Jesus as a kind miracle worker. The response of the crowd and Mark’s subtle allusion to Isaiah 35 serve as reminders that Jesus came as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament and to set in motion the fulfillment of the promise that all will be well.

In this series Pastor Garrett takes us through the book of Mark. Verse by verse we walk with Jesus as He reveals Himself to us in the truth of His Word. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/fervent-church1/support

In this episode, Michael and Emil chat with Mark Ainley from GC Realty and Development about his experience with hundreds of BRRRRs.    Mark Ainley with GC Realty - c. 630-781-6744  --- Transcript   Michael: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of The Remote Real Estate Investor. I'm Michael albaum. And today I'm joined as usual by,   Emil: Emil Shour.   Michael: and we have a special guest with Mark Ainley with GC Realty and Development. We did a deep dive on Chicago with Mark a while back. He's got a property management business, but today's going to be talking to us about the burst strategy. So let's get into it.   Michael: Mark. Thank you so much for coming back on the podcast. We had so much fun with you doing the Chicago deep dive for anyone who didn't catch that episode. Go give it a listen. We've got Mark Ainley with GC Realty and Development. How are you, man?   Mark: I'm good. I'm not as hot as you guys. You guys got a lot to fire in us out there.   Michael: So yeah, big time fire. It seems like the market's hot. The state is hot. You know, everything seems to be on fire these days. Um, so today I wanted to chat with you. Not just I, but Emil as well. One is chat with you about BRRRR. Cause we were chatting with you before we recorded the last episode. And you were telling us how you had done like 480 some odd BRRRRs out in the Chicago area. Is that right?   Mark: Yeah, no, we did between Oh eight and 18. We did a, just over 400, I think it's 482 to be exact units, which were all made up of like one to four unit buildings.   Michael: Fantastic. So for those of our listeners who might not be familiar, can you just give us a quick and dirty definition? What is a bur and how does it work?   Mark: Sure. Buy, renovate, rent, refinance and repeat the acronym goes. Now when I started doing it, I didn't know what it was. I just thought I was smart. I wish I would have pointed trademarked it or… I was thinking about that today when I was preparing for this call. I'm like, man, if I would've came up with that, that was so smart. So we started doing it and it was really a business model to us and how we were approaching it back then. So for us, when we started in 2008, I got my into real estate in 2003. And you guys know out there in California, just as much as we do here in the Midwest, you couldn't do those types of things in the two thousands, just because pricing was so high, the opportunity wasn't there. So I really didn't have a, that access to those types of deals until the market crashed. And when the market crashed, the math just made sense to me on a couple of things I was looking at how to go at it.   Michael: Right on. And so why do you think just at a high level, we're going to dig into some details of a couple of birds you've done, but at a high level, why is it such a powerful tool or vehicle, whatever you wanna call it.   Mark: So it is powerful because the concept of it is you are not leaving any of your money into the deal at the end of the day, instead of a there's tons of these late night commercials are vest with other people's money or no money down, or do seller financing, all that type stuff. You can do these types of deals without having to do these by these crafty sales type pitches or get some guy to tie you to his second loan. I don't know. They got some crazy things they do out there to find ways to not have to put money into a deal. And this one's halfway legit. Now don't get me wrong. You have to find a way to have money on the front side of things. And we can talk about that. But, uh, um, at the end of the day, you can get out of a deal having little to maybe five, 6% in the deal. And sometimes even we were successful. We even were able to exceed what we had in there on a cash out, depending on the lender we're working with.   Michael: That is so cool. So I know people talk about the rural all the time. People tell successful and unsuccessful burgers all the time, but you've got enough under your belt. It sounds like you've probably done some good, some bad and maybe I think in between, right?   Mark: Yeah, no for sure. That's how the, the quick story of, uh, in our adventure for an 80 units, our first property, we bought that we're going to Burr and we did, it was a little, had a little more hair on it. We were combining a couple of deconverted condos and rolling into one, and we're going to cash out at the end of the day with a three flat versus a few individual units. And, uh, got stuck with stop work, order permits. We, we did, we made all the mistakes we could, you know, and then, uh, when we were getting inspected for the stop work order permits, we had someone else that didn't have a permit, horrible, horrible, but we did 131 other units in the time. It took us to do that first project. So, uh, that's kind of a horror story of, of, uh, bad planning or really being too optimistic. And then obviously making a whole bunch of mistakes of permits and, and who are really dealing with.   Emil: Wow.   Michael: So when you were first getting started in that first unit, you refer back to we a lot. Who is we and what kind of experience did they have doing this type of project?   Mark: So I had a couple of partners when we started off in the four and 80, we're kind of broken up into two groups where I had one part in there. I was consistent on both a hundred for 480 units. The first group, I had a partner and he was doing rehabs all around the city. And again, the concept of just kind of buying it cash and then refinancing out w what we really started with. And then, uh, as we part ways with the first partner enrolled with our second partner, where we did the balance of the units, it really turned into, Hey, we have a bunch of, uh, uh, private money that we could use and, uh, move faster and be able to, uh, go that route. So I've always had partners, different skill sets. You know, my one partner at the time, you know, he had the money, the first partner had the money.   And then my other partner that was consistent the whole way through, he had the construction, no hallway at that point. So I've learned all that stuff since then. It was kind of the we.   Michael: Right on   Emil: When you guys are doing all these deals, and this is something I wonder for myself, do you need to buy everything, all cash when you're going out and buying these properties?   Mark: Yes and no. A lot of the properties where you're really trying to find the add value ends up being in properties that might not be financeable, uh, where it might be missing a kitchen. It might be missing furnace. It might be just, my mind would be habitable where conventional loan won't be. They won't finance you. Or, you know, they have the two or three K loan, which is a lot of hoops to jump through or would even make sense to do something like that for that.   So you're buying a property that is really going to be bought by an investor only, and that's going to require cash. Now, whether that cash out of your pocket, or maybe you have a uncle or a private lender or a partner that that's where the cash ultimately is going to come from, and that's going to be. So if you think about it this way, when you're buying properties that can only be bought by investors that are have cash or are not financeable, now you can beat your in kind of the section of a properties out there that only a handful of people can actually buy. So if you have a hundred thousand dollar property, that's not, financeable, you know, out of a crowd of 10 people, you might only have a couple people that really have the means to pull together that a hundred grand to do it.   So now the supply and demand laws that property's going to go even for cheaper, which means there's more of an opportunity as far as the gap of what you can put into it, appraised for and cash out for on the backend.   Emil: So what kind of properties would you guys target? I'm sure after doing this enough, you had like a, a model or a buy box. We were like, alright, this is the kind of property we really want to hone in on. I don't know if I'm asking for too much of the playbook, but..   Michael: Give us the secret sauce.   Mark: No, no. So when you, I guess when it comes to BRRRR, the name of the game is a for trying to do as many as you can. The name of the game comes down to speed. So we did hone in on that and we honed in on, on single family homes, two flats, whenever for a reason, even though it's only times two, it always took us so much longer to do it. Three flats, forget about it. It was, uh, we always, uh, screwed up the timeline and messed out up that side of things. So we started focusing on single family homes that were in that really eight to $1,200 range, um, two to three bedrooms, one maybe sometimes a two second bath in the bathroom. So we focus on that. We focus in a handful of neighborhoods and we focused on certain floor plans. So we even were able to focus on specific, floor plans where we knew it just based on that floor plan. And we did 12 other like that, that these were gonna be our costs going into it. And we knew that we were creating comps for ourselves along the way as well too.   So one of the important things about a BRRRR is your backend. If you gotta make sure it plays out now, we were working through probably what would be the hardest time when it came to appraising. Cause there were no comps and appraisers were ultimately scared to do anything that was kind of pushed the line. If you're the highest comp in the neighborhood. That was a red flag in that 2013, 14. So now there's comps out there and be able to control that backend to make sure that a you're compping out based on stuff you're doing is one of the bigger pitfalls that people run up against.   Michael And for our non maybe Midwest listeners, two flats and three flats are duplexes and triplexes.   Mark: Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. We call them flats.   Michael: Good deal. And so the vast majority, it sounds like you bought in cash. Did you ever purchase anything financed on the front end   Mark: In the coming out of the great recession? You know, we had a couple of banks give us some deals or get properties off their hands. And what we thought were, sweetheart deals never turned out to be sweetheart deals. So this, the best deals we ever did were the ones that we bought cash.   Michael: Okay. It's interesting. I was chatting with a meal a few months back about a strategy that I've used in the past for buying rehab and burn type buildings and the multifamily space. And what I did is I'll buy them for cash turn around day one and get a commercial refinance out of 80% because they were financial and then use that cash to then fund the rehab. Once it's done refinance again, and depending on what your refinance costs looks like, that can start to add up pretty quick. So you might want it to go about a different way, but for whatever reason, they only charge me like a thousand bucks to refinance. So it was the cheapest money I ever got.   Mark: When you're borrowing the money on the front side. Uh, you maybe like, people always refer to the uncle, that's got money or whatnot, or a partner, but you know, a lot of people are going through call hard money lenders, and that gets really expensive. And I always tell people, I really figure out what your numbers are. So we were paying 10% across the board, but we just rolled that money over. We never had any points. We never had to refinance it. Those guys, they just want to keep their money working. So we might even refinance a project and have sit on that money for a couple of weeks and pay that interest. And that's where the costs, we always had to be efficient about it, but we're able to, as long as they're getting their 10%, they trusted that they're in good hands with us. So making sure that you're measuring that money out of pocket, and then that comes into the timeframe of doing the deal or how long it takes you to get to the refinance point, which people have pitfalls on when it comes to that, or if they didn't plan.   Michael: And Mark, I want to get really specific on how you structured some of those deals. So that 10% was that interest only. And was that paid monthly or was there an end payment date to talk to us a little bit about how that work and how you structured it?   Mark: Yeah. So how we did it, we did it on a monthly basis, 10% interest only, and we tied them to mortgage it. We had a mortgage and a note for every property. So if we sold the property, we have them sign off on the payoff and then we would basically move it to another property to make sure that they were always protected on their side of things.   Michael: Perfect. And so I just want to give folks an idea of what those numbers look like. So on a hundred grand at 10% interest, only on a monthly basis, that's $833 a month. And so you're making those payments every month while you're using that money until you can refinance pay off the a hundred thousand and then look to go do it again. Right?   Mark: Correct. Correct.   Michael: I love it. Can you walk us through what your best Burr was? Cause I think everybody remembers the high notes and then we're going to ask you in a minute, what your worst one was.   Mark: The best deal, I actually had this, uh, I talked about this when Joel Fairless, I was on his podcast and uh, you know, we got this property and the cool thing was, you know, we buy on the auctions, auction.com and uh, the couple other, um, I can't think of top of my head, but a couple of our different auction sites and this particular property bounced around to a couple of different auctions and were able to finally bid it. And it was a sight unseen. You know, we had to do all our due diligence. We could from the outside and we got the property. It was actually a four flat, uh, so four units. And, uh, we were, I think we bought them for 20 or 25,000 each they're small units. And I think we only put about 50,000 into it altogether. You know, when you do it enough, you just get lucky sometimes.   And this is one of those ones where we had some luck on our side, defendants were happy with even the, not a hundred percent updated conditions. So a lot of that money, we did have to spend on what we thought we're going to spend. So, you know, we actually ended up putting it into a roof versus updating a couple of units. And then we ended up selling that building turnkey to an another buyer a few years later. But the real ultimate win was we ended up clearing probably about end be about $130,000 on that one, uh, when we sold it. So we got the cashflow for call that first year, and then we made 130. So that is probably the best deal. And I still think about that all the time. Cause like, man, you can only duplicate that.   Michael: That's fantastic. So I just wanna make sure I understood you, right. So you bought it for 25, a unit and four units or 25 total?   Mark: So I think we bought it for if we're going to be specifically, I think we bought it for 28, so we had 80 into it. We put 50 into it. And so we had about a 130, we were getting about 3,800 a month. So yeah, I see your mouth dropping. It was sick and that sense and refinance it out and we refinanced and went out to, because it appraised really good. So we actually got more. So we actually cashed out then I think it was about 160. It appraised out for like 200. So we got 160 out and then ultimately sell it for, I believe we sold it for right around. I think it was around two 50 to two 70. I don't remember the exact number, but it was a hundred K plus that we made on the gross let alone, we were able to cash out some and we cash flowed all the way. So that is the best deal that I hands down. I even thought about that today. Make sure there wasn't anything I was missing. And that was probably the best one we ever.   Emil: Yeah. Those are, those are those all star BRRRRs that you read about and people, I mean, you not only make your money, you cash out more on top. So you got paid for doing the renovation and you're still cash flowing. So it's like, yeah, the best of everything.   Mark: That was a win. And I got plenty of lackluster ones too that offset that. So yeah. I only stay high on a moment for a few seconds. So I started thinking about the other ones, but.   Emil: We try to always bring people back down to earth, have the right expectations, not always have Rose colored glasses. So tell us about a time when it didn't go so hot.   Mark: Will you start back to the first property that we bought? You know, we were trying to combine that with another two units and make it a legal basement. And then the city came in, we got stopped in violation. So by the time we were done, we had about $280,000 out of pocket that we're paying that heavy juice on, on a monthly basis for, I think it was about three years. Wow. That was a, a gone wrong. And that was a painful one to say the least the other thing we had go wrong is the we've had a couple, bad appraisals where all day long, like what are you talking about? Reproduction of the building or comparables, you know, they wouldn't accept the off market comps for us. We knew a bunch of deals that happened in the neighborhood. One was us. We sold, we don't sell everything on them a lot.   So a lot appraisers will not go deeper than MLS. So it's up to us and for anyone out there looking to do a burn, make sure you know what your comps are on your exit side. So even going into the deal. So you're planning a refinancing at eight weeks from now, 10 weeks from now, you better hope you have two of those three comps on file right now that you could bring to that appraiser. And if they're off market, you got to make sure that you're getting the information to the appraiser so he can account for it in his appraisal.   Emil: So now having kind of looked at like your best scenario, your worst scenario, it's kind of saving this for the end, but I want to ask it to you now. You've probably learned, okay, these are the types of BRRRRs I want to take on. And these aren't. So like, do you have like, like your tips or takeaways from the BRRRRs that go well, versus the ones that end up being just running really long and expensive   Mark: As far as, you know, you buy a property that might have city violations on it, or some sort of a, if you buy a property in the city, Chicago, and maybe it's been vacant for a couple of years, if your attorney didn't catch the injunction on it, or some issue that you have to clear up a court before you can put a renter in there, that's something I see people get hung up on all the time where, uh, they bought a property, they fix it up, but they cannot refinance until that rental injunction on the title. The city puts out on the title is lifted. So dealing with the city is a pain in the butt pre COVID, let alone having to deal with self post COVID. So just having a property that has violations that are almost beyond your control, you know, you could take any sort of problems that need to be fixed a rehab and kind of put a timeframe on it.   But when you start working with municipalities or cities or a big city like Chicago, and now they're controlling it and you have to wait a month for a court date and all that stuff, that's where I've seen a lot of people, including myself, kind of get tied up in these deals that they take forever to get your money out.   Emil: Is that something you see during title? Like when you run title during due diligence, but you just kind of say, Oh, we'll get through it later. Or is this something you couldn't foresee until like you bought the property?   Mark: I've seen it happen both ways. So for us, we, we took it on not understanding what it was and then we got bit by it. But we've also had scenarios where we bought a property and it was in the process of being put on the title where we got kind of dinged, just bad luck in that sense.   But I see the problem with a lot more people. They just try pushing through it, thinking we'll make it work. I like to be part of things or investments that I can control. Uh, almost everything go along and, and the BRRRR part, the one thing that I think you have the least amount of control of when it comes to that, is that appraisal on the backend. Um, as far as how much you're gonna get out. So you can pretty much control everything every other step up until that appraisal part. And even then you could have influenced not the right word. Cause it sounds like you're, you're paying somebody off, but you can have a, some inclusion on the data that's being included if you provide a valid comps. So   Michael: What a, what an eloquent w to say that you can have inclusion the outcome. So speaking of timing, Mark, a question that I, and Emil probably get all the time is seasoning period. How soon will a lender re give me a refinance based on a new appraisal, as opposed to the sale price? What have you seen in your work?   Mark: So funny, quick story. Um, I had a guy call me up last week, looking for a bank that will take a property. That's not six months seasoned. And I said, man, you didn't talk to the bank before you he's like I did. I didn't know what season meant. He's like, I heard him kind of ramble. So by being in season, I just didn't understand. I thought maybe he was talking about the time of year or maybe it's busier in the summer,   Michael: Or maybe he was talking about a cast iron pan.   Mark: Yeah, and he goes, I know Mark, just, just laughing, get out with it, please help me find somebody. I could take a, take the letter, tell him like, Oh my gosh, like it's horrible, like scenario to be in. And I could see. So the season part is something that post COVID I, you guys probably know this, uh, the banks have really cut back on a lot of the banks that were saying, Hey, listen, you get the job done, um, we'll, we'll give you the money, but now they're moving back to that season piece. So for us, we were able to work with a lot of local community banks. And you know, there's, you know, the community banks, you get that relationship. It's almost like a 60, 1960s feeling relationship with some of these local community banks where they might have the seasoning issue with anyone new, but because you've been banked with them and you might have x amount of dollars in their bank, they'll work with you. But when you come from out of state and you want to do it, then their risk levels go up and they usually don't work with it. So I found, I don't know, uh, it was down in San Diego, but a guy that was, he found a, uh, bank there that was giving a higher interest rate, but he was, they were doing non season properties.   I don't know if it was a credit union or whatnot, but finding that bank that will do it non seasoned and they're out there. It just ends up taking a, you just have to figure, use your resources to find that out there. But the bottle is tough to do altogether. If you want to continue to build on it, if you have to wait for that six months for it to be a season now for us, we never had to wait. Um, and that we wouldn't have done 482 units if we had to wait six months every property.   Emil: When I was doing research on this, I found that anytime you wanted to get a mortgage back… So any Fannie Freddie loan, they required a six months seizing period. At least every bank I called like four or five different banks. And everyone kind of told me the same thing where you guys getting different loans or were you getting Fannie Freddie loans when you were reading?   Mark: We were not getting any Fannie Freddie. So we were working with local community banks and we were able to whether they get a credit line, we're getting, they're holding our portfolio again. If someone looking to do it has to build that relationship. And, uh, you have a little money in a bank that people will be flexible, um, all around the country, as far as banks go and stuff like that.   Michael: And so for all of our listeners who just might not be familiar with what a seasoning period is like Mark's friend that called and asked him, it's basically the amount of time that you need to own the property for, until they will give you a reappraisal or refinance. And so that's often six months for those Fannie Freddie products, or it can be more flexible with those community banks. But so definitely have that conversation on the front end prior to, I would say, even purchasing the property and know what your exit looks like, who's going to do the refinance will do that. Will they give you a new appraisal? Are they only going to give you your purchase price, plus your costs? You just want to have a very clear picture and understanding of what that looks like. So you don't get caught looking on the backend.   Mark: The other thing, when it comes to that appraisal, if maybe it's not a Fannie pretty type a low and you might get into, but other banks, they might not do it against appraised value. They'll do it against what you have into it. So that's another way I see people get tripped up. So they might have a a hundred thousand dollar property and they put 50,000 into it. So they have 150 all in and it pays off for 200. And I know they could get a, um, all their money out, but the bank will say, well, show us how much you have into it. And we'll only loan to, uh, to that amount. Uh, that's where I see another way people get, uh, caught up with that.   Michael: I was gonna say, so shifting gears here, Mark, the podcast, you know, it's called the remote real estate investor. And so the vast majority of our investors are doing this remote. What would you say to them? Cause I think a question I get in the Academy all the time is how do I get started doing a BRRRR? I don't know anybody half. The reason I use Roofstock is because I don't want to have to get to know anybody. You already have these relationships. So if somebody wants to do a remote BRRRR, where do they start?   Mark: Um, it's a generic answer to start, but, uh, you know, having the right team and I tell people to find someone that's already doing it, and then they have the resources and they have the know about to do it. So example with just saying myself, you know, so for any property management company, they have the ability to do turnovers, right? And where we've worked best with out of state investors, kind of going after the birth strategy has been all right, you buy this property and we can do a, what we call it. We call it heavy turnover. So anything in that 10 to $20,000 range would be a heavy turnover and you take a 900 square foot ranch. You could do a lot for 20 grand in a sense of redoing the floors, redoing a bathroom, you can update the kitchen and that amount and possibly a replacing a mechanical or two. So you can get that and then get it to refinance out and get a majority of money out. So having, whether it be a property manager company that has a little more of an expensive maintenance apartment.   So for us, we have all in house maintenance. A lot of property managers will outsource that part, but any property manager that has in house maintenance has the capability to do those shops, any other sort of a developer that a local to whatever region. I mean, they can usually put you in touch with the right people to do it. So having just the right team that you can trust, I guess, and if you're able to find a proper manager that that's going to actually be responsible for the property all the way through, and then have to put the right tenant in there, find a tenant that's gonna fit, whatever rehab you just did. And then ultimately be responsible or be around six months from now, if something went wrong with the rehab or maybe the deck that was fixed broke or whatnot. So if you're able to keep one group, like some of our clients have done together, um, for the whole time, then that just lowers your risk as an out of state investor as well, too.   Michael: Perfect. And so for anybody interested in investing in Chicago or doing firs in Chicago, that's something that GC Realty can do for them.   Mark: What I ended up doing a lot is people call me up. They might be looking to buy a property. Maybe they were working with a realtor in our office. Maybe they're working with another local realtor, but I'll tell them either a it's something we could do based on the timing. Or I'll put you in contact with two or three guys that I know can get the place fixed up for you. At least I can help him with the scope and then they could do the actual work and then they'll come back to us to manage. So ultimately the end of the day, usually if we don't help directly, we help indirectly as far as set people out, as far as Chicago goes.   Emil: Michael you've had the same experience, right? Like you've your property managers in some of the cities you own property in, they've helped you find a contractor and kind of help manage the process. It seems like if you're an out of state investor, relying on your property manager to help with that whole process, they're like the key to this whole thing.   Mark: Yeah. And I, I put myself out, you know, in Chicago, I got a guy, right. That's what you need. And there's those people everywhere. I mean, there's just those, uh, networking people that are just machines when it comes to connecting people. And, uh, you know, there's a lot of people I talk to on a weekly basis. I might never talk to again, but they'll, or at anytime soon, but they pop up a few years later with six or seven properties that they want me to manage now or something like that. So just kind of drive the people to where they could succeed. And I think the number one thing is starting with the right person to direct you in any of these cities. And I'm sure you guys have property managers all around your network that can at least be the starting point for somebody you're a restock Academy. People to be able to go from there then.   Michael: Yeah, totally. And Emil to answer your question. Yeah. I reached out to my property manager and ask if they could put me in touch with, but then I still did screening interviews to make sure that it was going to be a good fit for me because the property manager wasn't involved because of the scope of work was just a little bit too much for them to handle. So I sought to make sure that it was going to be a good working relationship.   Mark: I'll get every so often, uh, a guy that will be like, he'll want to a GCA from California. He wants to just be part of all and that's fine. And what I'll do for him. It's like, alright for the foundation, call this guy for the roof, call this guy and I'll give him seven or eight people and like go for it and they'll knock it out and they'll bring back the property to rent. So that's another approach to it. You, you can literally, you know, nowadays, you know, I know a couple of investors from California that literally do a couple flips a month here, whether it be flips or rehabs, but they, they, they have their trusted guy on the ground here throw up those little cameras in the corners and they're practically on the job site every day, seeing what's going on. So with technology these days, and, uh, I can't think of the service, uh, that camera, the security service, but, uh, it can almost be there on the job. So as long as you have the people, then they can actually trust you. At least know if they're coming or going even.   Emil: That's super smart. I never thought of that. Like just putting up a ring cam and that's like hooking it up to wifi or whatever. And then you can check your job site.   Mark: That's all that too. And, uh, you know, so they actually have the locks as well to where you can, uh, change the code from, from your phone in California. And so when that, when that contract came back, cause he's saying, Hey, I can't get into the code's wrong. I see some guys do that too, because they don't want to pay someone like us, a few grand to oversee it. Your times was funny at that point, but, uh, that's fine. It is what it is   Michael: Right on. Mark, I'm curious to know, is there anything that you could see on a project or potential deal? That's an immediate, no, go for you. Like it's got a foundation issue or it's got a roof, you know, is there such a thing or do you, until you put a price on it, are you not scared?   Mark: So I've never been a fan of fire properties, um, properties that might had a fire, even if it's just like the second floor has got a partial fire, you just never know. I would never feel comfortable, um, going through without having to really take the part the whole place. So we've never really messed around with fire properties. As far as a foundation goes, we talked about last time, the housing stock and age here, you know, you deal with the foundation stuff all the time. It just ends up being what you do with that foundation. Now, if a house is leaning and it's a hundred years old, more like we're not gonna mess with it. There's a couple of cracks. There's plenty of guys around here that can seal that stuff and make sure that you don't get that moisture in that basement.   Michael: So, so the, the fire,It was like a dagger in my heart. So I don't think I shared with you Mark, but a lot of our listeners know that I have a mixed use commercial building that I'm converting to residential. And I had two fires, not one but two fires in the same building a week apart. Oh, wow. One in a commercial space and one up on the roof during the reroof project. So dealing with the insurance company right now, getting that whole thing adjusted. But yeah, it's a total nightmare.   Mark: I'll tell you a quick story. I I've been very lucky when it comes to fires. Um, and luckily I haven't been investigated probably cause the coincidence of them, but, uh, lucky in the sense of we had a, a, a, a property that, uh, we had a really bad foundation issue and, uh, and no one's ever been hurt. So I'll give the caveat that we've had fires and no one's ever been hurt. So we had that building that, uh, um, was almost leaning. It was like a hundred thousand foundation and December 9th, 2017, it burned down. I'm like, Oh my God, total loss. And then we had another one that just being done. We had a four unit and I converted it to a two larger unit and it just didn't make sense. And the building ran horrible and I had to do something. I maybe converted back to four solid, this kind of lose money and it burned down.   So I got lucky two different ones. I had another building, a vacant building, a burned. Now the one thing I went wrong with on there, because this story is, although I made money and I talk about profit-wise, I made a killing, but I was under insured for some of these properties. I could have almost walked away with another 40% of what I walked away with if had I insured it now, there's always the, what you pay monthly versus what you, you know, you're preparing for something that more likely is not going to happen, but, um, just always have that serious conversation with your, make sure you have a trusted insurance guy that you're talking to that can, uh, uh, put that all in perspective here, what that looks like.   Michael: It's so funny. Cause I come from the insurance world. And so a lot, a lot of people might be like, why the hell is this guy Mark laughing and celebrating that he burned his properties to the ground. And what people don't realize is that if you're going to have a loss, you kind of want to have a total loss. I want it to burn to the ground because then you just get the insurance money and you can go do with it. What you want. The issue is when you have partial losses, when the fire department's really good, or when the building was built, well, you're like crap. Now I got to go repair this thing. And it's, it's a whole nightmare. And that's what I'm dealing with right now.   Mark: We had the two total losses that they were so bad that the city even came in and tore them down, like within 24 hours. So the one property we even know about, we went there, it was gone. It was something we didn't get to yet. We had a kind of a backlog of properties and it was vacant, but yeah, gone.   Michael: Cause that's expensive. Property, you know, debris, removal, cleanup, all that stuff's expensive may or may not be covered under your policy. So yeah.   Mark: Yeah. We had to definitely pay them back for that. They liened it. So they actually got us two properties later. They liened, uh, the land actually for that one. So…   Michael: Well, that's crazy. That's crazy. Emil, you ready to start wrapping stuff up here?   Mark: I got a couple other things you want me to hit on real fast. Yeah. So just let me run through my notes here real fast. So I think for the people that come out of state, they don't realize how long that, that time to get from the day you close to the day, you could actually get it rented to either a, have the opportunity to get reappraised or start the seasoning process. So I think, uh, making sure that people are allowing enough time in there, whether it be their borrowed money or their hard money, or be realistic by the expectation. So just even doing a $20,000 rehab is still going to take probably about 60 days from the time you start, you're going out there verifying scope and all that stuff where people are like, Oh, I thought you'd be done in a couple of weeks.   It's like, Aw man. Like, no, we've got to get permits. We got to do these things. So making sure you understand how long you have to maybe have that hard money out there or when you're seasoning period actually real, really start is something that I see people go wrong on. The other thing that I see, and this is a big one and we are, we did this too. When we first started buying these properties, we did whatever it took to get it rented. Um, we only did let me reword that. We only did what it took to get it rented, where we left a lot of capital improvements like, Oh, that Ruffino made me, you know, you can see through the roof by your name. I got a couple of years out of it or that hot water heater. That's literally rusted in drip. It's like, Hey, as long as maybe we get another year and we did those things in a, you know, maybe the, the garage, we didn't, uh, do something with the garage where now we weren't, it wasn't part of the rent.   And, uh, so we, we, uh, we, we shot ourselves in the foot where we were able to see how bad our maintenance was, uh, from not really doing a full project and our average, uh, for our kind of our first 140 units versus the balance of, um, you know, I think we spent about another 12 or 13,000 hours, average per unit, just on making sure we did all those things. That way we're not nickel and dime on maintenance for the next two years.   Michael: That's really smart spending the money on the front end to making it more maintenance, proof, more tenant proof. You go so far.   Mark: Yes. You know, when you're getting the appraisal, another thing is, uh, you have the full scope out there. Hey, mr. Appraiser here is the laundry list of everything I did. We have about X amount of thousands of dollars into it. And just want to accompany this with a couple off market cops there. So you can put a nice little package together for the appraisal. You can't tell him he has to use something, but you can at least provide them with the data for him to decide if it's worth using or not. And here's the thing, when an appraiser, he walks in the house, he doesn't necessarily know what the house looked like before he was in there. So he doesn't realize or appreciate how much you actually did. So I know one guy he actually gives before pictures and after pictures to that appraiser, so he can justify the 40, 50 grand. He might've put into it. So that's, that's another, uh, kind of good one to make sure you can at least control as much as you can in that part of the process.   Emil: What type of investor is this a good idea for? Like, I'm sure you've done this with plenty of out-of-state investors who are interested in investing in Chicago, would you say there's a certain type of investor who like, is a good idea versus I don't know, some characteristics of people where it's like, like one thing I can think of is you have a super busy job and like all these other things where you make good money, it's like, is it worth all your time and energy spent in a BRRRR versus buying something turnkey? I don't know. I'm just curious if you've had that experience.   Mark: So in a BRRRR, you might just say you run through a whole Burr and you might have only, uh, you might only get 95% of it. Now you have typically 5% of the deal, but if you bought that right, there should still be some equity in the deal that maybe it didn't appraise for enough. So one of the tips I have, or one of the things I say is make sure that when these property or buying or the reward is worth the risk, because there's risk when you're doing this type of strategy, where even if you're not getting all your money out, you should still have a nice piece of equity. So that whole add value piece is why you do it. You know what I think a lot of a turnkey model type investors or investors that are buying, I don't know, you call it top of the market. Um, they might have something that they could get very hands off of, low touch, but they are buying at the top of the market.   You might not get all your money out, but you might still have another 10% equity in there even for a future opportunity to maybe borrow against and do something more to it, or at least have on against your, a personal financial statement as something that you have some equity. And so I think someone that's looking to add a little more value and kind of build that equity worth a faster, this is what it's for. This is like, if you don't have time to be a full time investor, but you don't want to do kind of the armchair type investment, uh, this is kind of the go-between.   Emil: Yeah, that makes sense. And you know, I've, I've always thought like, even if you leave five to 10% in the deal, like you're still getting a much better deal than you would had you just gone and had to put 20% down 25% down, whatever it is.   Mark: Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. And so you have that 5% in, and hopefully you have another 10% equity still because it didn't appraise out for the full max. So that's a way better spend than just putting 25% down that, you know, you're not gonna gain money on.   Michael: One additional point to on, on how long it takes to just get this stuff done. And what really surprised me and kind of caught me looking was the whole time and you're holding costs. And so if you're, you know, you're paying utilities for this property, the whole time folks are working on it. And the utility bill is going to be a lot higher than if people are just living in it. Cause they're using power tools and bathroom and water and all that kind of stuff. So I had a month where I had like 800 to a thousand dollars, just utility bills for this multiunit building, because there are a bunch of people working in it and I'm like, Holy crap, that's insane. And something else to keep in mind is you got to talk to your insurance carrier provider agent and ask them what a vacant property or property rehabbing insurance policy looks like, because that might be very different than a tenant occupied policy. And they're often a lot more expensive. So just make sure you're very accurately putting together what your numbers look like for your… whatever your cost of your money has. And then your, your insurance utilities, your property taxes. You still gotta pay those even though there's no one living in it. So just make sure you're very, you get a very clear picture of what the actual numbers look like,   Mark: Cutting the lawn, shoveling the snow and, uh, that, that builder's risk policy is yeah, it adds up.   Michael: Yes, it sure does. It sure. Does Mark. Anything else that you wanted to share with us and Neil? Anything else you got?   Mark: One other thing that you could do with the appraisal. If you are, maybe you get a bad appraisal, you can always contest that. And I'm not sure if everyone knows that. But if an appraisal comes back, you say, hey, listen, you know, they might've had low comps now. It's not smart to contest it unless, you know, uh, that there's actual facts out there that can help you get closer to your value. But, you know, even if that appraisal that comes back gets you another five or 10 grand on a hundred thousand dollar property, that's a, that's a big chunk. Contesting the appraisal. Now we ran into the issue all time of we're trying to turn money too fast. So to appraise, try to contest an appraisal for another four or five grand. We were, it was slowing us down. So that was one of the things that was tough when we were trying to compound, uh, these deals. But if you're doing, what are you doing to take the time to test that a appraisal and try to get that other five to 10% out of it.   Michael: Really good advice.   Emil: Does it cost money? Does it cost money to contest? Cause I remember I was doing a cash out Refi on a property earlier this year and it came in low and we just tried to contest it. It didn't move anywhere, but I dunno if maybe there was like a formal contesting process.   Mark: You know what, I want to say there's like a a hundred dollar fee. Um, but I might be confusing that with, if the guy couldn't get access and he charged you for it, I'm not sure. But uh, so worst case now I think it might be a hundred bucks. Yeah. Yeah. So again, risk versus reward is not that much, even if it keeps the fader $10,000 or even $5,000 out of pocket for an extra hundred bucks in a couple of extra weeks that there's value there.   Michael: Money well spent.   Emil: Totally worth it.   Michael: Once COVID ends, if you could go out on a plane and go anywhere, where are you headed?   Mark: Ah, just somewhere at the beach. I have not been to a beach for a long time. Um, I will literally take anywhere with an ocean. I've actually looked at like day trips, like flying down to quick day trips to like, fly out the morning, go sit on the beach for the day and fly home to Chicago down in Florida somewhere. Uh, but yeah, I've been to Vegas a bunch of times, but you don't get that beach satisfaction there for sure.   Michael: No, you gotta be careful what you wish for though. Cause my brother went to school in Canada and he told me he threw a snowball from the beach into the ocean once. So you don't want to go to over the cold beach. You got to go to a warm beach.   Mark: Nope. Headed down to Florida somewhere. That's the quickest cheapest flights it looks like. So right on time, change screws you up. I've told me down with it, but for a quick trip, the time change screws up too much.   Emil: Come hang in. LA man. If you're ever here   Mark: Yup Yup.   Emil: But a day trip is tough to California.   Michael: Awesome. Well Mark, thank you so much for joining us for round two. This has been super insightful, super informative, and I am sure we'll have you back on again. Soon   Mark: I look forward to it and anybody that, uh, like I, I try to point people in the right direction. So anyone ever interested in Chicago or anyone that is looking for the right context in Chicago, feel free to reach out   Michael: Perfect. And what's the best way for folks to get in touch with you?   Mark: We got, uh, we got our podcast Straight Up Chicago Investor Podcast now, which we started a Facebook group for. And then, you know what, I'll put my cell phone out there, uh, in the, in the show notes. So if you guys can help that   Michael: Fantastic and your website as well?   Mark: GCRealtyinc.com   Michael: Fantastic. Well, thanks again, Mark. Really appreciate it. And we'll chat soon, man.   Emil: Thank you Mark.   Michael: Alrighty, everybody. That was our show. Hope you enjoyed it and took some actionable takeaways. If you enjoyed it, feel free to leave us a rating and review as well as subscribe, wherever it is, you'll send your podcasts. It really helps us out. If there's anything that you'd like to hear covered on an episode, feel free to leave that in a comment that would be look forward to seeing them the next one and a big shout out and thank you to Mark. That was really, really great stuff.  

We are back in the saddle and taking a harder look at the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention take-aways.... Joining us on this fun adventure is none other than Gary Weed, who makes his return after a few weeks. And then later we turn to a discussion about ARCH DEV OPS and one of their founders named Michael Fritzius aka Fritz!  First up Mark and Gary break down relationships and how people should end them with each other. Both gentlemen have been dealing with people who are getting broken up during coronavirus and this goes into a bigger discussion of what is the proper way to break up when you're older. Or anytime for that matter. Next, Mark and Gary breakdown and discuss the RNC and DNC conventions independently. This leads into a discussion about the midwest and what different sections of the country are depending on where you live and how you view them. This of course runs down the path of voting and Mark and Gary start talking about the election itself and how it should be handled in 2020. Finally Gary is back into his I LOVE THE XFL and anything MARK SAYS is just WRONG! Well Mark and Gary discuss the XFL and it's new owner but more importantly mark calling that the XFL reboot would fail (doesn't matter how, because other sports are still going). Next up is Michael Fritzius and he comes by to discuss his company Arch Dev Ops and the kind of things that they are involved with and how they can help businesses during the Coronavirus Pandemic.  Mark asks Fritz about the Kenosha Killer named Kyle Rittenhouse and then explains the entire story to Fritz who is none the wiser. This is because Fritz is a self admitted NERD. So Mark had to investigate. Mark and Fritz start talking about Nerd things and his homelife. Mark wants to break down what Fritz is working with and starts discussing his children and his relationship with his wife.  Finally the guys nerd out and Mark puts Fritz through the Hot Seat and allows his inner nerd to join with Fritz as they argue and discuss Buck Rogers, Mark meeting a Dr. Who and Fritz's favorite TV shows and movies.  So worth the wait. 

On today's show we'll highlight some ways to help simplify your retirement planning all while making sure road to retirement isn't too bumpy.

Peter Mahaffey - He Does All Things Well - Mark 7:31-37 | Sunday August 16th 2020 by Royal York Baptist Church

Your Weekly Dose Show # 177 opens with Owner Of A Lonely Heart by YES in honor of National Cheer Up The Lonely Day. Well Mark & Brian are nominated once again to the Radio Hall of Fame. To honor the guys we give you a M&B Past Moment - When Tom Jones sang and M&B play the brass. Then Steve & Sean talk about a friend who passed due to Covid 19. Amber talks about getting some kind of virus on her throat. Zach talk about passing his class.  Sean offers up some Lock Down Pick Me Ups. Next the gang  plays Carl Reiners Last performance. Then the gang honor the passing of Charlie Daniels & Ennio Morricone. Amber give you Things You Didn't know The Purpose if for. Lastly it's Part III of Neanderthals. LINKS: YES music                        

I got to teach the back half of Mark chapter 6 today. It includes two stories: one is about a woman, begging Jesus to deliver her daughter from a demon (He does) and the other is about a deaf, mute man that Jesus heals. Here are some lessons we can learn from those stories. 1. The Petition of the Woman This woman had plenty of obstacles. She was a multi-ethnic, racial minority woman in a patriarchal world. Even Jesus's disciples tried to stop her from speaking to Jesus. She, nevertheless, persisted in bringing her petition. We can learn from her. In her petition to Jesus, she was persistent, desperate, and asking in faith. Let's pray like that. It's hard to be desperate when you live in America. We're often spoiled. Let's strive to be desperate for God. 2. The Nearness of the Deaf Mute The text says that Jesus pulled the deaf mute aside, and healed him in an one-on-one setting. We often think of Jesus as the savior of the WORLD or the NATIONS, but not as intimately our OWN salvation. Jesus desires to be near to you. Yes... you. Some of us are skeptical of that. We wonder if he could truly love us if we get close. Jesus's entire life, though, illustrates that he's not afraid of your sin or your story. Draw close. In closeness, there is healing. 3. The Compassion of Jesus The most compelling moment in the story to me is this: when Jesus is healing the deaf, mute man, the Bible says Jesus looks up and breathes out a sigh. I feel so much in that sigh. Jesus knows what the world once was and what it will be again. Hebrews says that Jesus is able to sympathize with our weakness. He groans and sighs with us in all of our trials and weaknesses. Additionally, Jesus doesn't only feel our hurt with us, there is coming a day he will return and remake this broken world. The text ended today with this glorious truth, spoken by the deaf mute's friends about Jesus. It's a truth I cling to: “he does all things well.” --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cory-truax/support

The Game Changers podcast celebrates those true pioneers in education who are building schools for tomorrow. In our eighth episode, we celebrate the pioneering work of Mark Hutchinson in developing teacher training and research initiatives for Alphacrucis College that are changing the way in which schools go about recruiting and developing teachers through communities of knowledge, practice and formation. Your hosts Associate Professor of Education and Enterprise Philip Cummins and prominent educational Thought Leader Adriano Di Prato, affirm the importance of excellent training for teachers using the unique hub model with Mark and discuss how to pursue innovation in academia despite the odds. You can contact Mark at mark.hutchinson@ac.edu.au and you can learn more about him here: https://www.ac.edu.au/faculty-and-staff/mark-hutchinson/ The Game Changers podcast is produced by Orbital Productions and supported by CIRCLE – The Centre for Innovation, Research, Creativity and Leadership in Education: www.circle.education. The podcast is hosted on SoundCloud and distributed through Spotify, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts. Please subscribe and tell your friends you like what you are hearing. You can contact us at gamechangers@circle.education, on Twitter and Instagram via @GameChangersPC, and you can also connect with Philip SA Cummins and Adriano Di Prato via LinkedIn. Adriano loves his insta and tweets a lot; Phil posts videos to YouTube.

The podcast from sports commentator Mark Church and his daughter Isabelle. You may have seen them in the media recently and now they have decided to sit down and look back at some of the great moments in cricket. To watch Mark and Isabelle's commentary clips, go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6x7JTj4QkmOsKG4CvfmIDw/featured

Sunday morning sermon by Jeff Gipe at New Creation HB, from a series through the gospel of Mark titled "Lord I Believe, Help My Unbelief".

In the first episode of the untitled solo Jaguars series, Dallas asks one very important question: Why are Jaguars fans asking for the status quo but getting mad when they actually receive it? The solo segment sees Dallas lay out his argument, ask some introspective questions, and then turn the floor over to the rest of Jaguars Nation. What do you think? Is it worth building a Top 5 defense when your offense can only score 10 points a game? Dallas doesn't think so. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dallas-glenn3/support

Mark 4:21-25

Becky shares with us why all things are well. Why Jesus is the greatest gift we’ve ever been given.

Well Mark went and saw the Joker movie and he gives us his review.  We also talk about George Wythe, so you get a little history lesson as well.  We talk about words you can't say anymore, Batman movies, and Sylvester Stallone, because we always have to bring up Sly. Thanks for tuning in and listening.  We appreciate the support we've been getting lately.  Make sure to hit us up on Facebook where we livestream every Thursday.  We've got our tentative topics listed to the side and if you chime in on the chat, you get to choose what we discuss.  We'll see you there.  Cheers!

"This miraculous healing does more than show us Jesus’ compassion or power. It reveals to us Jesus’ identity as the unique Son of God and the promised Messiah." This sermon was delivered by Nathan Rose on 10/20/2019 at Liberty Baptist Church in Liberty, Missouri. To learn more about us, please visit our website at www.lbcliberty.org.

He Does All Things Well Mark 7:24-37August 11, 2019 | Westside Chapel

Welcome to Making Christ Known, a podcast from Catoosa Baptist Tabernacle in Ringgold, GA. Our desire is for you to know Christ personally and make Him known in our generation. Thank you for listening and we trust you will be blessed with the truths brought from God's Holy Word.

Dr Carolyn Lam:                Welcome to Circulation on the Run, your weekly podcast summary and backstage pass to the journal and its editors. We're your cohosts, I'm Dr Carolyn Lam, associate editor from National Heart Center and Duke National University of Singapore Dr Gregory Hundley:       And I'm Greg Hundley, associate editor from the Pauley Heart Center in Richmond, Virginia at VCU Health. Our feature article today really invokes thought regarding LVAD bridging to heart transplantation. I really look forward to the conversation with Dr Veli Topkara from Columbia University, the corresponding author and our associate editor, Dr Mark Drazner from UT Southwestern. And it's regarding the outcomes from their study, evaluating patients waiting for transplant that are bridged with an LVAD versus not. But before we get to that, let's dive into some of our other original articles with our little coffee chat. Do you have an article that you'd like to discuss? Dr Carolyn Lam:                You bet I do Greg and I have my coffee here. Have you ever wondered, does microvascular disease, in any location in the body, increase the risk of lower limb amputation? Well, this was looked at in the paper that I chose first today. It's from Dr Beckman from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee and his colleagues, and they basically examined 125,674 participants in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study from 2003 to 2014 and analyzed the effect of prevalent microvascular disease defined as retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy and peripheral artery disease status on the risk of incident amputation events, of which there were 1,185 amputations over a median of 9.3 years. Dr Gregory Hundley:       Wow, Carolyn. What did this study find? What did Josh and his colleagues find? Dr Carolyn Lam:                They found that the presence of microvascular disease increases the risk of amputation significantly in the absence of peripheral artery disease. As many as one in six below knee amputations may result from microvascular disease, even without peripheral artery disease. Microvascular disease also potentiates the amputation risk in persons with peripheral artery disease to more than 20-fold, compared to persons with neither peripheral artery disease nor microvascular disease. Further research is really needed to understand the mechanisms by which this occurs. And in the meantime, clinicians should bear this increased risk in mind when screening for and managing lower extremity disease. Dr Gregory Hundley:       Ah. Well Carolyn, my first paper is somewhat related because we're going to talk about triglycerides. And this paper is from Zahid Ahmad from UT Southwestern Medical Center. He's the corresponding author. And can you imagine Carolyn an antibody that could correct elevations in serum triglycerides? Dr Carolyn Lam:                Tell us about it, Greg. Dr Gregory Hundley:       Well, I'm going to give you a little background first. Low levels of triglycerides and other lipids are observed in individuals with loss of function mutations in angiopoietin-like protein 3 which inhibits lipoprotein lipase activity, increasing triglycerides and other lipids, and providing a rationale for development of a monoclonal antibody therapy. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Interesting. What did this study do Greg? Dr Gregory Hundley:       It evaluated evinacumab. They looked at the safety of this. This is a fully human angiopoietin-like protein 3 antibody, and it was compared with placebo, with no serious treatment emergent adverse events, no events related to death or treatment discontinuation was reported. They did two phase one studies evaluating single and multiple ascending doses. In addition, substantial and sustained percent reductions from baseline versus placebo were observed and triglycerides with absolute levels reaching about 50 milligrams per deciliter for several of the evinacumab doses at specific time points in both studies. And therefore, the data from these two phase one studies in this one paper support further clinical evaluation of this new antibody in larger studies of hypertriglyceridemic individuals. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Definitely a space to look out for. Well Greg, my next paper is a basic paper. Genome wide association studies have identified chromosome 14 Q32 as a locus for coronary artery disease. The disease associated variants fall in a hitherto uncharacterized gene called Hedgehog Interacting Protein Like 1, or HHIPL1. the function of this gene and its role in atherosclerosis has previously been unknown, well, until today's paper. But Greg, here's your quiz. What do you know about the hedgehog proteins? Dr Gregory Hundley:       Well, I know hedgehogs are friendly little animals and I know they must have great proteins because they're so friendly. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Why did I expect that? Oh, let me tell you a little bit about them. The mammalian hedgehog proteins like sonic hedgehog, desert hedgehog, and Indian hedgehog are secreted molecules that exert a concentration and time dependent effect on target cells following binding and complex signal transduction pathways. They induce the transcription of target genes, primarily involved in cell proliferation, survival, and fate specification.                                                 Now in adults, the hedgehog signaling is involved in the maintenance of adult vasculature and ischemia induced neovascularization, including after myocardial infarction. Today's authors, however, including Tom Webb from University of Leicester and colleagues, report the first experimental investigation of HHIPL1 and the present evidence that it is a secreted proatherogenic protein that regulates smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration. So, that's novel.                                                 Through a series of experiments involving coronary artery disease, relevant human cells and mouse models, they showed that HHIPL1 is a secreted protein that interacts with sonic hedgehog and is a positive regulator of hedgehog signaling. In murine models, HHIPL1 deficiency attenuates the development of atherosclerosis by reducing smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration. The clinical implications are two-fold. First, this study supports HHIPL1 as the causal gene at that 14 Q32 coronary artery disease locus that we did not really understand previously. And secondly, HHIPL1 is a promising therapeutic target that affects a pathogenic mechanism not addressed by current mechanisms for coronary artery disease. Room for novel development. Dr Gregory Hundley:       Very interesting Carolyn. Well, I've got another basic science paper, and this is from Dr Kenneth Walsh at University of Virginia and it's going to look at the role of neutrophils, not necessarily macrophages but neutrophils and their role in pressure overload induced cardiac dysfunction. While the complex roles of macrophages in myocardial injury is widely appreciated, the function of neutrophils in nonischemic cardiac pathology has received relatively little attention. This study examined the regulation and function of neutrophils in pressure overload induced cardiac hypertrophy as mice underwent treatment with Ly6G antibody to deplete neutrophils and then subjected them to transverse aortic constriction or TAC. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Huh? What did they find? Dr Gregory Hundley        Caroline, the study revealed that neutrophils played a critical role in the hypertrophy of the left ventricle that results from pressure overload in this murine model of heart failure and identified that a non-canonical Wnt protein is essential for the recruitment of neutrophils to the injured myocardium. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Hmm. What do you think are the clinical implications of this? Dr Gregory Hundley        This study demonstrates how neutrophils contribute to the hypertrophy of the left ventricle under conditions that do not involve ischemia or myocardial necrosis. Also, since cardiac hypertrophy is a risk factor for the development of heart failure, this study implicates WnT5a mediated neutrophil infiltration as an early step in the progression of this disease. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Wow, thanks Greg. That was so cool. But let's hurry on to our feature discussion, shall we? Dr Gregory Hundley        You Bet. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Bridge to transplant with left ventricular assist devices is a mainstay of therapy for heart failure in patients awaiting heart transplantation. The criteria for heart transplantation listing does not differ between patients medically managed versus mechanically bridged to heart transplant. However, are there differences in post-transplant outcomes between medically managed and mechanically bridged patients? Well, today's paper provides important data to address this question. So pleased to have with us the corresponding author, Dr Veli Topkara from Columbia University Medical Center, New York Presbyterian as well as Dr Mark Drazner, associate editor from UT Southwestern. Welcome gentleman. Veli, this is an important question. Could you please tell us how you addressed it and what you found? Dr Veli Topkara:                We decided to visit an old question of whether bridging with LVAD confers at risk for post-transplant mortality. Because the field and pump technology has been rapidly changing. There has been a significant increase in utilization of devices nationwide to the extent that more than 50% of patients already have an LVAD in place by the time they receive a heart transplant. And patients also wait much longer on these pumps before they could get a heart.                                                 Currently, available devices provide continuous flow and patients essentially live without a pulse for many months to years waiting for a heart. And with this unique physiology, they also have unique complications such as RV failure and there has also been pre-survey reports including one from our center suggesting an increase in the primary graft failure rates after heart transplant. And mostly seen in patients who were bridge to transplant with an LVAD.                                                 To address some of these questions, we took advantage of the UNOS database, which is the largest prospective transplant data registry in the United States. We were able to identify more than 14,000 patients who are either medically or mechanically bridged to transplant. We then derived a cohort from patients who were LVAD baseline by propensity score and we looked at their outcomes.                                                 And what we found was that patients who were mechanically bridged to transplant with an LVAD, had 9.5% mortality at one year, compared to 7.2% in patients who were medically bridged. And this is more than 30% increase in relative risk of death for LVAD patients. When we looked at the specific cause of death at one year, LVAD patients had a higher number of cardiovascular death secondary to primary graft failure, confirming findings of the recent studies at a larger scale.                                                 Next, we looked at whether mortality risk factors were similar in the mechanical versus medical bridged patients. And this is a very important question clinically because the criteria for transplant listing do not distinguish between the two patient cohorts. For example, at my center age cutoff transplant listing is less than 72 years of age and that is whether or not patients are on VAD support. And same applies for example, GFR cutoff for renal function or PVR cutoff for pulmonary hypertension. And all the cutoffs that are utilized are essentially identical for transplant candidates irrespective of the bridging strategy.                                                 But what we found in this paper, however, what's quite different that if we apply the same thresholds for mechanical versus medical bridged patients, for some of these risk factors, you end up having outcomes that are remarkably different. For example, for patients with a normal renal function, the mortality risk is similar going into transplant with or without an LVAD, but for patients with borderline renal function observed mortality has more than doubled for those going into transplant with an LVAD, as opposed to medical therapy.                                                 And we also observed similar trends for recipient age, BMI and PVR, in which numerical increase in these factors would translate to high risk of mortality in LVAD patients going into heart transplant. Despite the limitations of this large registry analysis, I think these findings suggest that we may need to think of it differently when it comes to listing or transplanting patients who are on LVAD. And there seems to be a group of patients who are perhaps maybe better served by staying on an LVAD as opposed to moving on to heart transplant and we need to better identify who these patients are. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Oh Wow. Veli, thank you. First, congratulations on a very important paper and also how you beautifully summarized. Mechanically bridging patients associated with a higher risk of early post-transplant mortality and even providing data on the cause and risk factors associated with that mortality. Mark, could I bring you in here? Not just as AE (associate editor), but as a doc[tor] who manages many of these patients. What were your perspectives? Dr Mark Drazner:             As I step back and as Veli said, there's an increasing number of patients who are being bridged with a VAD, so the question clearly is important, and we don't really have any randomized data available to us in terms of how the bridging strategy may impact outcomes. When you look at the groups of patients who are supported with VADs or not, they're very different and so you need to do some statistical manipulation which here they did propensity matching, to try to come up with equal groups as you look at their outcomes. That was nicely done.                                                 And then theoretically I think you could argue there may be reasons why patients bridged with VADs may do better or they may do worse. They may do better because you may restore their functionality, you may improve renal function and, but they may do worse because they have coagulopathies, the VAD itself may lead to complications and so it's a question you can't really answer just logically. You really need some data which is I think the best study that's been brought forward so far as the one we're discussing today. Veli, let me ask you because the obvious question then is why do you think the outcomes are worse among the patients who are bridged? Dr Veli Topkara:                I think they are doing worse for multiple different reasons. Having an LVAD is clearly an additional surgery which technically makes the second transplant surgery more complicated. But when we looked at the risk factors for primary graft failure at our institutions, the predictors of primary graft failure in LVAD patients were also very similar to factors we identified in this nationwide analysis which included renal failure, RV dysfunction, as well as trans-transplant and increased time on device support. I think it's clear that some subset of LVAD patients who have these risk factors are at higher risk for increased post-transplant mortality for some of the mechanistic reasons are unclear at this point. Dr Mark Drazner:             Do you think their continuous flow exposure is part of it? Dr Veli Topkara:                That's clearly one of the hypotheses that we have been talking about because as we discussed, these patients are exposed to continuous flow for a long time and one of the concerns is whether they lose their peripheral arterial venous-reactivity over time. And this could potentially also be the reason why patients who are on pump support for longer times are at higher risk for PGF. That's a possible underlying mechanism. But in this data set, we didn't have fair data with regards to pulse pressure and pulsatility, which could have helped answering this question. Dr Mark Drazner:             And just for clarification for the listeners, this was pre-HeartMate 3 data, is that correct? Dr Veli Topkara:                Yes. This analysis doesn't include any HeartMate 3 patients. Dr Carolyn Lam:                And Mark, if you don't mind, could you also clarify for the listeners why you specifically pointed out HeartMate 3 in the setting of the pulsatility? Dr Mark Drazner:             There is some degree of pulsatility reintroduced with the HeartMate 3, whether that has any physiological consequences is not yet known. Certainly, in terms of the impact of transplants. But as Veli said, the dataset available didn't yet include the HeartMate 3 so that's, remains an unanswered question for us currently, but certainly an important one. Dr Veli Topkara:                We would probably be able to do this analysis now that we have accumulated more patients with HeartMate 3. At the time of the study we didn't have any HeartMate 3 patients in the registry. In terms of primary graft failure, we have implanted over 160 patients with HeartMate 3 at my center, but we still see primary graft failure in HeartMate 3 patients going into heart transplant, but that would clearly be an interesting follow up project. Dr Mark Drazner:             Yeah, for sure. Another point that people, as they looked at your paper and asked me, is in terms of the impact of the VAD complications, whether the patients who are doing worse or those who, because they are patients who had VAD who have had complications and then went on a transplant and the impact of that, in terms of your findings. I know you did some analyses on that. Could you just clarify that for our listeners as well? Dr Veli Topkara:                Sure, so we wanted to look at for the LVAD patients, if there were any VAD related factors that would impact the posttransplant mortality and one of the things that we looked at was, their specific complications on LVAD support and were able to pull that data by looking at their reason for 1A upgrade status which clarifies the complication pipe. And when we looked at, based on complication type, we didn't see any impact of complication on the post LVAD mortality. In other words, the other patients who are transplanted with an infection or they were transplanted because of device thrombosis, they did not have any difference in terms of their posttransplant mortality.                                                 We also compared patients who were supported by axial flow devices versus centrifugal flow devices and again, there was no significant difference in terms of posttransplant mortality. One factor that we found that was significant was the duration of the LVAD support and patients who stayed on the LVAD for longer times clearly had increased higher risk of posttransplant mortality. And this is also something that we had found in our institutional data. Dr Mark Drazner:             And Veli that would potentially speak to the impact of the continuous flow if duration of VAD is a risk factor. Dr Veli Topkara:                That's our hypothesis Mark. And I think we all tend to think that continuous flow is not natural, and we have pulse style flow for a reason. Now it's possible that if our bodies and end organs and vessels are exposed to continuous flow for a long time, that may be potentially a reason for, increased risk of PGF or raise of PGF after heart transplant. But I don't think we have enough data yet. Dr Mark Drazner:             Veli, one of the other interesting findings was the lack of impact on long-term outcomes. I'd be interested in your thoughts about that, why there was an impact on the first year but not long term. Dr Veli Topkara:                Absolutely. And that was a critical part of the findings and when we looked at our survival, when we visually looked at the curve, it seemed like the curves really separated early on and they sort of remain parallel to each other after one year. And for that reason, we did a conditional survival analysis starting from one year and then we compared starting for one year. There was actually no difference between the LVAD versus medical group. Again, confirming that the adverse impact of survival was really early, within the first year after transplant and I think that really has to do with primary graft failure as well as vasoplegia which are, typically seen early posttransplant. And I think the reason the VAD support is increasing mortality is most likely through increasing risk of PGF as well as vasoplegia. Now that's my read on the early risk rather than the late impact. Dr Mark Drazner:             Do you think that speaks to maybe not as big an impact on the immunological milieu of VADs as one might anticipate? Dr Veli Topkara:                Certainly, I mean the immunology, one thing we know is that LVAD patients have higher HLA sensitization going into transplant. However, primary graft failure is typically very early after transplant. And in general, we don't find, obviously we don't see any rejection in these patients. The mechanism is not related to HLA mediated rejection. Dr Mark Drazner:             That's interesting. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Well Mark and Veli, thanks so much. This is such an important and interesting discussion. Could I wrap it up now by asking each of you, you've already covered possibly the important areas for future research including the pulsatile devices, but what should clinicians take home right now? Veli, if I could start with you, because you had already said earlier that perhaps these patients need to be more carefully considered. What do you mean by that? What's the take home for now? Dr Veli Topkara:                I think the question is whether we should be listing or transplanting LVAD patients who are high-risk, and I think the research should focus on developing tools to better identify LVAD patients who are too high-risk for transplant. In this project, we only worked with a limited number of variables that were available in the UNOS registry, but there may be more specific clinical risk factors or even biomarkers predicting outcome in this unique cohort of LVAD patients potentially transitioning into transplant. I think that's an important question to figure out.                                                 And another important question is whether we should be using identical cutoffs for listing patients with or without LVAD and if not, what would be the ideal cutoff for each one of these risk factors? Because what I read from this paper is that, a creatinine level of 1.8 may signal a different risk in an LVAD patient versus another patient on a minor trump. That's another important question.                                                 And also, since October of last year, the new heart allocation policy has been in place, which now defines LVAD patients to appear status three or four based on their complication profile. And it will be interesting to see how the new allocation system would impact patients are on LVAD support waiting for an organ. And it's possible that these patients may end up waiting longer compared to patients who are with cardiogenic shock and are assigned to higher tier status. And if LVAD patients wait longer as we see from this data, they will have worse posttransplant outcomes. It's going to be very interesting to see how the new allocation policy impacts.                                                 Another point I want to make is that with the recent MOMENTUM-3 trial patients receiving HeartMate 3 LVADs, had a 13.4% mortality risk at one year and this is actually lower than 17.6% mortality at one year in high risk LVAD patients in our study. Again, questioning transitioning from LVAD to transplant in high risk patients. Dr Mark Drazner:             I might take a step back even further. It's an important, it touches on a critical question in my mind, which is if you have a patient who needs to go into transplant and they're not crashing and burning. I'm assuming if they're crashing and burning, you need to go onto an LVAD, the following comments won't apply to that group. If you're a patient who's relatively stable, is it a better strategy to try and get them to transplant directly? Or is it better to go through and VAD and then transplant them? And ultimately that strategy question I think would require randomization to really answer that. But the data that we have discussed today, I think are opening that question and touch upon that in terms of the strategy of the impact of bridging people with VADs itself, which is why I think this is such an important question. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Thanks again, Mark and Veli. That was an amazing discussion.                                                 Thank you, audience, for joining us. You've been listening to Circulation On The Run. Don't forget to tune in again next week.                                                 This program is copyright American Heart Association 2019.  

On this episode the anniversary of the moon landing. Mark Lindsay and Eloy Escagedo talk about this seminal moment in not just American but world history. The first steps on the moon! The Trampled Underfoot cast can't help but dive into the official and non official story. You see how can thousands of people keep a secret of a conspiracy? Well Mark and Eloy share different scenarios and opinions on this loaded topic. We also talk about the efforts put into YouTube videos and is it worth it? These conversations are fun and take a lot of twists. Th Trampled team gets into many more subjects that flow from one to the other. Check out this very entertaining episode you will enjoy it!

General Sermons from First Baptist Church of Fisherville

He Has Done Everything Well (Mark 7:31-37) - Morning Sermon

What does your Easter look like, are you missing the message? Kelly and Mark discuss how the Easter bunny is becoming more like Santa Claus, and how to explain to your kids the real message. Plus, Kelly gets real about a public issue were a mother is fined for her little boy urinating at a gas station. This also brings up Kellys fear of police, what is their to fear? Well Mark has some answers, a total different perspective that some may not agree with. “You have to remember your childhood and what was important”. Why give fictional creatures all the credit, and what we as a parents should own. Join this debate and walk down memory lane to see how much you remember, and what was really important to that kid in you. Podcoin

February 24, 2019

Strategy is the identification of context. In this episode I talk with Mark Kingsley. Having directed at companies such as Collins, Landor and Ogilvy he has a lot of experience. He also did a lot of design work for Blue Note, Atlantic and the Guggenheim museum. We talk about the history and future of strategy and design, Mark’s strategic work for Ogilvy and some really fun anecdotes. You can find the full transcript below the sponsored message on this page. We talk about: The repositioning of Ogilvy Collins, the agency “Strategy is the identification of context” How strategy and design are influencing each other The difference between big agencies and small shops Mark’s encounter with Massimo Vignelli How you can design ‘the situation’ Why you shouldn’t present a logo on a tote bag. The Pepe the frog meme The target brand The brand new conference You can connect with Mark on his Linkedin or website. I'd appreciate it if you could rate the podcast on itunes. It will help me in reaching other designers. Get the latest podcast in your inbox. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. You also get a free Brand workshop template. First Name Last Name Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you! This episode is supported by HolaBrief Very few projects end up with exceptional results. HolaBrief makes it easy to ask all the right questions and nail your design brief every time. Built by designers, for designers. Get early access to Holabrief by subscribing now. Check out Holabrief Here’s the full transcript And a lot of it, you know a lot of it could. Possibly be I mean, I'm just kind of floating this as an idea just came to me that maybe the reason why a lot of strategy kind of sounds the same. It's because people don't really know what strategy is. Hey there first off. I want to take a minute to thank all our brief. They've been sponsoring this podcast season and there are a bunch of amazing people hold a brief is an online environment that allows you to create better design briefs there set of easy and accessible through. Exercises allows me and the client to get on the same page very quickly. I suggest you go take a look yourself at all a brief.com. In this episode I talk with markings Lee Mark is a well experienced guy. He has worked for Collins Lander and he has done some amazing work such as the repositioning of Ogilvy design work for Guggenheim blue note and a lot more Mark has some amazing stories to tell about his. Variances in the graphic and strategy world. We talk about brand strategy logo design and a lot more so buckle up and let's start branding. Hi, my name is Mark Kingsley. I'm a creative director designer strategist educator writer and speaker based in New York City. All right, cool. Could you tell us a bit about your history? Where have you worked? And what's your experience? I was trained as a graphic designer and I really wanted to become a record cover designer. That's all I wanted to do was just to record covers and when I got out of school, I found myself my first one of my first jobs was in the Cosmetic industry where I was designing packaging for fragrances for Giorgio Armani Ralph, Lauren cash Darrell and Lisa East and Drakkar Noir, and I eventually worked. Way in just through meeting people and you know just being present and always showing up. I eventually worked my way into doing music packaging. I started off at a doing work. It was basically freelance. So I started off doing work for a small Irish music label called Green Linnets, which has since been bought and sold a couple times by different couple companies and from there I built a portfolio and was able to. Get some of the largest clients in the music industry. So I did a lot of work for Blue Note. Let it work for Verve some work for Sony a lot of work for Atlantic BMG RCA and it was about 18 years of fun. I absolutely adored it. I just love to I just love doing it and then the MP3 came around the financial crisis, September 11th in New York City and with after all these crises. Things needed to change I wasn't making as much money and music. In fact, there's one designer Mike Mills who says it music pack designing music packaging is the quickest way to the Poorhouse these apps and he's absolutely absolutely correct. So so I found myself working at a division of old will be called Big which stood for the brand Innovation group and there I was designing everything from a logo for double-click before they were purchased by. Google to various packaging and in-store exercises for Walmart for a large pitch that we did to retail spaces for Sprint and various other small projects here and there along the law along the way and after that ended up designing and illustrating. Advertising for about a year and a half for publicist hell writing for HP, which was probably a year and a half of like the greatest experience of my life because everything that ever came through my mind's was printed its time. It was outrageous. I mean, I made a good amount of money, but more more more importantly it was that it was an exercise in just allowing my. Subconscious kind of like work and it was it was quite a revealing experience for me. So after that ended up in San Francisco working at land or as a creative director and the city account and basically I was the global creative lead for all work that land or did in the world for City and Citibank. And that was an amazing position because it was granted. It was a lot of travel and me showing up in suits and talking to large groups of people about typography, but it was also a great education and brand and branding and what that is and it helped me see how design is merely like an execution of a larger brand. And probably one of the greatest compliments that I've ever received from anyone was from the global head of branding at city and she wrote a note to my colleague. And she said I'm really happy to see how Mark has become as gone from becoming a designer to a brander. And if you understand what that means, it's just that. She saw that I had the I then was able to develop the ability to kind of see beyond just shapes and forms and to see how things work with people how things work within contexts and and how things work on a larger business level 2. So after that. Ended up in Paris for a little bits and then back in New York where I had my own branding small boutique studio called malcontents and there I did some lot of projects were Arts organizations and after that ended up a Collins for a couple of years where I was executive strategy director and there I did add some really wonderful experiences their eye. It was able to basically I worked on the global repositioning for Ogilvy, which was just announced like maybe six months ago. And that was that was kind of incredible that mean to sit at the at the table with the CEO of a large global. Advertising agency and have a conversation about where they needed to go. So that was like one of those little proud moments of my life. And so I had a couple other projects. There was one in Japan where we were taking a probably one of the largest companies in Japan and helping reposition one of their divisions. And one other project was for equinox the gym which some people in United States know probably better than people in Europe Equinox is a like a high-end health. And they're owned by a large real estate company called related and they are going into the luxury hotel space and the project was to try and find a way to position logically a health club in luxury hotels and how to find a connect and build that connective tissue. So so those were great projects and then after that I'm back in malcontent for the time being. All right. That's that's quite a journey you had there and that's the short version the project at for like repositioning Ogilvy. Could you I don't know how much you can tell us about it. But could you like elaborate a bit on that experience? Because I think it's like something so hugely difficult just because of the the whole history behind Ogilvy. Could you like give some insight into that project? Yeah. Basically, well, let's talk about foundation and then build from the found on the foundation from there. So basically what is strategy right and there are many different definitions. It's like there is no one definition for design which is really kind of suspicious for designers to go through the world and say, you know not be able to tell people what design is it's the same thing through for strategy. There are different ways of approaching strategy. The definition that I tend to work with and granted it's not a perfect definition. The one I tend to work with is that strategy is both the identification of context and then the proposal for a different and new kind of context. So to identify a context you need various analytical devices and filters and these are all basically metaphors. What metaphors are you going to use to see the world? And for Ogilvy and basically actually, let me step back for me. I the process that I use I was trained in college and semiotic believe it or not. And this is like towards the beginning of semiotic such as a college level course in United States. This was the mid 80s and I studied under a man named. Dr. Michiel Nadine who was from Brown University. And so from semiotic sigh worked my way through various conversations and various courses that I would take and to post structuralist Theory structuralism. No ticks and then into a little bit of phenomenology. So this is a this is a different kind of input than what most people who work as strategists have most people tend to work with the classic Harvard Business Review case study kind of approach where it's a business discussion that happens and I'm interested in the sociolinguistics aspect of. So I don't see things the way that a lot of other strategists do so for Olga V. I looked at it as how do you sound basically how do you act I mean, it sounds like very simple brand strategy activity. But if with if you have a lens that you see the world through. That will color how you see it. Right? So the fact that I see things through critical theory mean that I look at it slightly differently. So Ogilvy the we started off with the classic strategy step of you have to diagnose you look to see what's happening you establish what the context is that things operate in which means you go through their old documents you go through some of their employee reports you go through. A General Industry analysis you look around and you know luckily having had a 30 plus year career. I kind of have some experience and a bit of a point of view about what's happening in the in the industry and ands, everybody's point of view is a little bit different and so I was able to bring that into some sort of diagnosis. Then you have to propose where you're going to go and that really is once again, the creative process that's like being a designer but instead of Designing a shape and form you're designing an ethic and you're designing a mindsets. So that process there was about eight months. I'm sitting with if sitting with the CEO and the CMO of Ogilvy and having a conversation about what you think. What do we think? You need to be? How do you need to kind of reframe what you are? Right and so one of the things that we had to deal with was David Ogilvy because you're right. Yeah. It is a very kind of dense history that they have to address. The problem with a Ogilvie is that he was such a well spoken and good writer. That's his these little phrases of his just kind of. All of the communications that come out of that company to the point where they become like these almost mouth like aphorisms, you know, like how and China in the 1970s Chairman Mao have a little red book of his quotes. Well, this is kind of the same thing that happened at Ogilvy. There is no are actually little books of quotes of David Ogilvy that passed around a Togepi so that personality had to be addressed. And in a way it was this process since I had worked at Ogilvy at a division of theirs was a bit of fratricide. I mean if the patricide I got I had an opportunity to attempt to kill the father, right and in this case David Ogilvy, so but if you take away all the David Ogilvy isms, you need to replace it with something. How are we going to see the company? What filter are we going to use? So. Ogilvy is a creative company. That's that's what they sell themselves as but there are many other people within that organization that helps support that creativity, you know from Finance to client services to accounting and you name it. There's there's they have a huge infrastructure that helps. That machine run but the problem is that if you have a creative departments, this is a conversation we had internally at Collins if you have a if you have a creative Department what that does is that gives permission for many people not to be creative because the creatives will take care of it. And so we're like no no, no, you all have to take charge of your creativity because there are answers that aren't necessarily the logo. I mean the communications of a. And are only a small fraction of the whole overall brand management activity. I mean, there are there strategic aspects to it. There are positioning there's manufacturer. There's just stripped distribution. There's like how people interact with customers. I mean just so many aspects to the to the to the brand customer journey, I guess it for lack of a better term that you need to have. You need to kind of integrate that notion of creativity and that permission for people to be creative. So one way that we did it. It's just to identify the fact that yes, graphic designers have craft art directors have craft the craft of typography the craft of photography of motion of sounds but that same level and appreciation of craft can also be applied to. Finance to marketing to HR. So how do you give people permission to think of themselves in that way and to elevate them at a similar level to the creative? So once you get all the sexy Awards and once you get all the attention that a company like oh like over V, so that was that was like kind of a crucial step for us. And we we said, you know, you are a global company and you have this opportunity and your reach goes beyond your company. Your reach is global and it's outside your company. It's to your clients. It's two people who used to work for you. It's two people who will soon work for you. Its people its everyone basically, so if you understand that whole kind of Networks. What Brian Eno calls a senior so it's not the genius of one person but two seniors of a scene right the collection of people. So if you pull from that seniors and pull from that Network, then you're bringing in whole other layers of craft and execute and skill into the work that you do and basically not to feel like you have to own your little place but to understand your role in the larger. Of all things. So that said on a philosophical level that's basically how we approached it. So in the execution, there's a series of you have to go through yield brand architecture, you know, the classic strategy. Of what are the values of the company? How do you I mean I had saw one night. I sat down and I wrote the values of the company and they pretty much remained after that one night. I mean they've been a couple changes but I'm very happy to say that those values are very close to what I wrote and how do those values interact with the idea of craft and how do they interact with? the. The expression of the brand of expression of the company. So another thing that we said with A over B, is that the era of advertising the way that Olga be thinks of its in a way that most other advertising companies think of it now granted this is not a new idea, but the end of era of advertising is for all intents and purposes changed. If not over so the 30-second commercial the beautiful print ad all that stuff. We still have we still need but there is more to it's right. There is there are whole other layers of design. There are other approaches to environments whether it be a digital environment or an actual physical space environment. There are I mean designed self could be from Graphics to packaging to product to even designing process. How does how does somebody go buy a product and then how does somebody go through a resolution if there's a problem that kind of stuff so looking at it on a craft design and Environmental Way Beyond just Communications which is whatever tizen is so that was that's kind of it in a nutshell. Yeah, I think it sounds like such a challenging project. How did you because that's always something that really triggers me like when you're doing strategy. It's always part where you're you're kind of like you're doing you're not inventing stuff because you're listening to the client. But how much is your input versus? What the client is telling you, especially when you're a repositioning it's a lot of like you're almost designing the future of the company and how do you balance those two? Because that's always something that a lot of designers are talking about like they give an example where they say the company says, that's our purpose but it doesn't sound like the right purpose. How much do you push and pull between those two things? Could you elaborate? Yeah, there's a degree of town. It has two sounds and feel with the degree of authenticity as to have a has to sound like it's coming from the company, but can't you can't everything can't sound like a. As much as much as people like it would like it too, but you're right there is that that dance between between those things and it's one of Personality. It's one of listening establishing trust and speaking honestly and being will and being willing to go through the design process. Design thinking for lack of a better term on a strategic level which means that you know, you're going to propose things that the Clans going to go. No, that's not right and to that's one thing about being a designers that. You know, I'm trained to be at peace with ambiguity and not knowing if you know, I don't have to know and that's that's a lot of the fear that I kind of smell around traditional strategist is that they have to know they have to there's a there's a desire to sound right? And you have to let that go and if you're if you're going to go anywhere different because if you are compelled to sound correct, you're good. That's that's what kind of generates all this kind of jargon that we hear all the time. I mean how many times have you heard some sort of or kind of seen somebody go through a deck where they talk about how they're going to inspire the audience, too. Like words like that how they're going to activate how they're going to let me know this this kind of language that people use is one of fear. And the fear of not looking like they belong and if you're going to build something different you have to you have to be at peace with that and proposed it and say listen, you know this this maybe even if you just say this may be a crazy idea but this is what this is a thought that I have and then allowing the client to kind of push back and then build it together. So it's just. And a lot of it, you know a lot of it could possibly be I mean, I'm just kind of floating this as an idea just came to me that maybe the reason why a lot of strategy kind of sounds the same it's because people don't really know what strategy is and feel like they have to step up to some sort of idealized model. But no one's agreed on that model that model is kind of existed spontaneously. It's like ideology ideology. Don't peep. There's no Committee of ideology that creates ideology. There's no Committee of strategy that sets up what strategy is. I mean, we kind of look to familial resemblance is right. It kind of feels like strategy it kind of acts like strategy. So therefore it is strategy, but that's that's that's allowing ideology to kind of determine. What something is what the form of something is? Okay. I mean I'm a designer but I love it and I've actually had done projects in the past where I try to design something where I don't design it. I try to design a situation where the design is done for me and I'll give you an example. I was doing a I've had for a long time for about almost 20 years now. A client called bang on a can bang on a can is a collective of three composers and they had no place to make you know for people to play the play their music when they were younger. So in the 1980s, they established a thing called the bang on a can Festival. And the name bang on a canvas just a way to kind of Express their outside Ernest to the establishment of classical composition. So over time they have become a very well respected International Group. Okay. Now they also are a democracy there are three of them. And there are very kind of influential people that work for them that help support them who also have a really good idea about how things should be and actually I don't disagree with any of them. So basically they are burdened by democracy. They'll have like five six seven voices chiming in on something on any kind of design that you do. So one point they came to me they were moving locations and I needed new stationery business papers, and I said that burden of your democracy. Makes it difficult for me to give you something that everyone's going to like so why don't we create a situation where no one has a choice right? So what I did was I designed letterhead and business papers. Where I just printed very simply one color and one side all the information that's needed. And on the back side. I went to the printer and I said what printing plates do you have laying around the pulled a few out? We wiped off the logos. We wiped off any kind of identifying texture like patterns and parts of images and I split it up like Robert rauschenberg. Okay, so the magenta plate from this. Project over here and the cyan plate from that project over there and I put it all together and it became literally a Robert rauschenberg on-site collage and it got and the printers got so excited that that when it came time for them to put the designed to print the business cards, they put it through the form then they took the paper out flip it around 180 degrees and put it through again. So basically I found a way for a. Poor Arts organization to have a 10 over 1 business card 10 colors over 1. It's insane and it perfectly expressed the spirit of that company. So that's that's what I mean. When I say that I like to design things where I have no control over it and I accept as a designer. This is the thing that most creative people like date which their eyes whenever they hear me say this. I am perfectly fine with people taking control of brand elements. Within reason Granite, you know, you don't want them to turn it into Pepe the Frog which will get will get back to you in a little bit, but I'm perfectly fine with people taking things and remaking it within within reason for within their own Vision because it's people it's the audience that makes the brand the brand does not issue the. Back in the day of advertising during Mad Men era when we only in the United States. We only had three networks. You could put one commercial on the three networks and that there would be a continuity and consistency to that message but now with social media and the growth of technological, you know Communications technology. We now have seven point five billion individual audiences. Everything is tweaked through program programmatic advertising and through algorithms to be specific for each individual person. So it's impossible and you're a fool if you think that you're going to create one consistent brand that exists perfectly for everyone. So let that happen and try and find a way for people to have that individuality and and for that kind of spontaneity to appear and to exist and try and find a way for it to also be coherent with the values of the brand. That is an amazing challenge. We are at an incredible inflection point and society and which is also like every client that. Spoken within the last two years is that the same place technology communication Society. Everything is understand undergoing such massive change that grants have to change along with it. And we're making it up as we go along. We're look overall looking for the best way to do it. There is no perfect way and it's exciting. It's absolutely great. So I mentioned Pepe the Frog for are you familiar with that whole notion notes never heard of it? Okay in the United States, there was a guy who I forget his name. He had a cartoon an online Cartoon. It was basically for kind of Stoner dudes, you know, dudes, you know college dudes like you know, that kind of juvenile humor. And it was an image of a frog who like walk like a person. So it was basically a human body green skin frog head. And there was one frame in one comic where the frog is urinating on the wall and the Tenney saying hey, man, if it feels good, you know and the alt-right. In the United States on 4chan took that image. And used it and changed it to become the mascot for the alt rights and for pro Trump supporters during the 2016 election the man who drew Pepe, the Frog was horrified that this thing was appropriated to without his permission and perverted and changed into something. That was absolutely the diametric opposite of what he wanted. So that is the power of the audience to make a brand. That's a good story. Well, it's also a very chilling cautionary tale. So if you're going to work on a large level both strategically and creatively. you need to kind of allow for that to happen. You need to be able to Envision what would happen if. And try and do what you can to change to prevent that you know, when I when I speak I often show the graphics of a brand and United States called Target originally was Target at all. Yeah, it's the the red belt logo, right? Yeah, right. I mean it's a very powerful graphic program. They some of the best graphic design of the last couple decades has been done for Target. It's just amazing. I mean the photography is beautiful. The advertising campaigns and marketing all of it is great. But I live in Queens and which is a borough of New York City. I live in Long Island City. Basically where Amazon is going to be in a couple years. I'm only a 5-minute walk from them and. When I ride my bike around Queens, there are a couple Queens is a burrow where there are some malls. It's not all very dense urban area. There are some spots where there are malls with sharpened with parking lots. And there's one model on Queens Boulevard that I that I took a picture of and I use this picture oftentimes when I speak I show targets graphic language. And how great their graphic design is and then I show the Target logo in context in the real world and there is a there's a mall that just like a generic box. It has all these horrible logos or sometimes good logos all kind of jumbled on the exterior of the building with absolutely no concern. As to proportion in between each other or any kind of relationship whatsoever. It's just noise and one of the biggest things that you see is to Target logo. So, you know, we were very happy as professionals to kind of sit within our little blanket forts and envision these idealized world's. I mean, that's what people pay us to do, but. We also need to think about what how it's going to be used in the world. We have to think about basically the visual pollution that were creating. It doesn't matter how beautiful a logo is in the wrong context its pollution. So this is you know, this is a thing that I'm beginning to try and consider in my professional work. Like, how can I how can I address this? I don't have an answer. But at least at least I'm aware of it. I don't have an answer yet. And I'm going to have my answer where my approach to it. But it's it's a problem definitely and I think it's interesting like even Beyond how logos are acting in the real world. It's a lot more clients are asking a lot more about like how they should behave in the real world how they should talk how they should bring support to their customers and it almost feels like as you're doing. Strategy, you're thinking about this brand in like the sense that like how it will be in the actual world and not just how it will look like or how we'll talk like and that's something that's really interesting for me, but it also brings like a huge responsibility. Absolutely. I mean it's there's a branding conference that happens every year. It's called brand new and firemen fit. Yes. Yes. Oh who you spoke to? Yes. Yeah. Yeah and every time someone shows their work, they'll show a logo that they designed and damn it like 85% of the time they're going to show that that visual identity system apply to a tote bag. And that's as far as it generally goes to for designers when they think about the application of their work. I'm more interested. If I'm going to design a design a logo how it would look on the side of that ugly building in Queens, right? That is an exercise to show your clients. Right? I mean that that is that is a dose of what's what right there. Yeah, and I think we've all been there like that situation where you create this beautiful thing and then you walk out in the real world and you see your logo on a place where you absolutely didn't expect it. Then it's really ugly and then we're frustrated and angry at the client. But actually we should be kind of angry at ourselves as well. I suppose exactly which means that we need to change how we design things. We need to change our notion of professionalism, and we also need to. Change our little borders that we have around each other. So what I tell I teach at the School of Visual Arts in the Masters and brand program and I have a very strange kind of Workshop. That's that I called logo insignificant and I present it to the students began presenting it to the students in this way that. The Strategic side of things and the creative side of things are not diametric opposites. They're actually variations on the same impulse to make something to make something with meaning and with use and hopefully with the degree of beauty too. And so if we allow ourselves to have conversations outside of our little area. I think that could be much much more rewarding and richer so yeah, and that's kind of funny because I had this question written down for you and it kind of what you just said kind of makes the question irrelevant because my it was the idea of like how do you balance the strategic person inside of you and the designer, but maybe that's just what you're saying that they should be built the same. It's the same. I mean, you know, we're in the last 20 years. Designers don't show their work as here's the logo they built a deck to sell it in right that deck is a strategic impulse. You know, they're using strategy and the very basic sense of the definition of the word strategy, which is about how you position forces to to reach an end right there using strategy to present their work. So, you know, why not expand. If you give yourself permission to do to do to do that to do that to show your logo or your visual identity system, then give yourself permission to go beyond that. It's that's the conversation that I tend to have with my own personal clients as they usually come to me and go, you know, like I'm doing some work for cannabis for cannabis company right now and it was originally we need someone to design Motion Graphics and like cool. Let's do it. And then as I begin to have a conversation with them, I found myself writing the strategy because they need to do videos. And so I have to. Presenting OK your videos could say this they could be centered around that and I found myself once again kind of falling into the Strategic side of things, but it's because I want my work to have relevance and I want my work to have some sort of difference because like in cannabis everything looks and sounds the same because they're making right now the industry and United States is so young. They're making a play or they're making a case for the medicinal benefits of it. Which means that you're going to have the same tropes and the same kind of messages that you have in big Pharma, but cannabis is not big Pharma. It needs to be something different. So what does that different thing going to be? And so that then becomes part of its both a strategic and creative problem at the same time. So, like I said, I mean I've had you know, I have a few Decades of experience. And so that is like the pull that in I like the pole in my own point of view my unique point of view coming out of what I've studied and what I read. As opposed to reading the Harvard Business Review, which I do every once in awhile, but you know, I also reads, you know, some of the more long-haired weird shit and so it's. It's all basically my Approach, you know, and I'm making my Approach up every day they are and how do you because that's something that the I imagine you won't always in the position to like do the strategy and the design part because those are huge project. How do you like Inspire the designers to to bridge that gap between what you're proposing as a strategy and what should be the. Creative direction for that. I don't have the perfect answer for this because all of my experiences have been less than perfect to be. I mean, I'm going to be honest. I mean I haven't I haven't figured that out yet in my own head. With my own projects where I'm overseeing the Strat the Strategic and creative side of things. It's much more seamless, but what I've experienced on the being at a strategic side of things is that a lot of designers like to have their own little area that they oversee and damn you if you try and make a suggestion. It's like that classic thing about designers and clients, you know, the client that the there's there all sorts of like Tumblr sites and Twitter feeds about you know, stupid things that clients say and designers and creative people tend to have that same attitude towards strategists and strategists have that same attitude towards designers and creative people. So, I have found that my best work tends to happen when I have a little bit of friction and disagreements with other my clients or an account person or a strategist and I've come to cherish to respect and to cherish that kind of interaction that came with me growing up a bit admittedly because I too have been that. Spoiled childlike childish creative person. So a little bit of growing up has helped me and coming to that realization that that conversation no matter how difficult can be helpful. So I need to convey that sense better with the people that I work with when I work in a more strategic side. That's something that I need to do better because. You know creative people and also this is also kind of a structural thing to Industry the advertising branding complex. agencies. are always are they staff differently than people that have in-house departments? Okay agencies don't really have the the money the throw a lot of bodies at something they can't because. It's the imperative is to do as much as you can with as few resources as necessary and those resources and agencies are people so you have fewer people and you also have less expensive people who tend to be younger. Which is why you know, there's been a conversation in the last couple months and advertising and United States how it has an H problem. So we have that youth there's pride in that youth there's pride and accomplishment and if you're in your mid-30s and you have a good maybe 10-15 years of experience and some some achievements and your portfolio. You become prideful. And it's only when you get a little bit older and you have a little bit more kind of road behind you that you start to your ego begins to kind of soften a little bit and you're able to listen, so I've been there and that's part of the. I think part of the the culture the cultural ization process that I need to go through with the people that I work with and helping them get to that place and helping me. I think I kind of understand where they're coming from. I need to I need to be more open to it. So this is how does one do it? You just have to grow up some people grow up faster than others. That's great advice you've been around like in huge agencies and I you have you had your own shop. And do you see like an evolution in the landscape of like these? I see a lot of small boutique shops doing a lot more strategy and even designers and then there's this huge agencies and they're all like, Somehow converging I have this feeling I don't know how you see this landscape evolving. I had an interview about 10 years ago with a very large branding firm and the CEO. It was with the CEO and it was for a position, which thankfully I never got and this guy's a bit of a little bit of a jerk. He had. He said we had met before at the brand new conference. Is it go? Hey, yeah, hi. Nice to see you. Again. He sits down it with a cocky attitude he goes. So what do you think of the world of branding these days like he's the expert. And I said it's upside down and he had to strange look on his face and like we like shocked and I said it's upside down because large firms are owned by holding companies who put a pressure for p&l profit and loss line on them. They have to hit Target numbers every. And what that does is that constricts the amount of flexibility that you have and the kind of clients that you're going to say. Yes to kind of project you're going to do and also how you're going to do those projects. So larger firms tend to have basically off the self shelf solutions that they do. Oh you're coming up with a new brand. Well, obviously, we need to get the c-suite all together in a hotel somewhere on a weekend. We need to run through this process. It's a it's a trademarked process. It's the. Process every time it it just give it a different name and a different trademark. So and that's just like off the shelf that there it is Bill $250,000 for a brand positioning Workshop. I Brand driver minute. All the different chefs have different names for the same thing. Now smaller firms have the ability to be more nimble. Because they don't have that PL requirement and also they're a little bit hungrier and their overhead tends to be a little lower a lot lower actually so they can the opportunity for Innovation is greater there. So and also, you know the dirty truth of hiring a large. Agency versus hiring a kind of a smaller more Boutique place is that both firms are going to throw the same number of people that's project. So when I was a landowner working on City, I was constantly maybe a team of five people between strategy writing myself senior designer and a planner right? That's small team and we were working on a global level. Yes, so so what's the difference? I mean the difference is really the procurement process that differences may be legal representation and a conference room and a receptionist. That's basically it. I mean it's it's all perception. Yeah. I have a network. I mean I'm one individual but I have a massive Network through the companies that I work for around the world if I have someone something that needs to be done in the asia-pacific area. I've got one or two people who I would. I would bet my would risk my life with that's how much I trust them and I've worked with them for over 10 years. So it's you know, I have the same networks that the large agencies do because that's where I got my training and everyone kind of works their way through the agencies and they go off the smaller agencies or they go out on her own. And so I have a network of those kinds of people. And on Facebook, I mean, I belong to various alumni networks on Facebook of secret groups of people that used to work at this company or that company its kind you have to where you have to be invited in and you know, I built my I can build my network there too. It's kind of it's all the same. It's about. I had a head a project but three two and a half years ago. I was asked to write a scope of work and began conversations with a large Global entity on a brand architecture program and I presented that to the company. And the reason why they were talking to me in the first place is that they didn't want to pay a large amount to an agency. So but the the work demanded basically, you know, you give up your life for this this many months. That's what's going to cost and what the team of Lake two or three other people so. The person we were speaking to goes to the finance head of Finance at the company and had a finance goes. Yes, that's what that costs and had no problem with it. And then the person said well if that's the case I can go to an agency. So I ended up losing myself in like a small team ended up losing to a large agency who came in with a scope of work, maybe $30,000 more and the the truth of the matter is that they would have hired the same number of people. So it's a really comes down to perception and I mean, I meant I'm invited to interesting conversations, but the super large ones not always, you know as malcontent as myself with like a constantly shifting team base of people that I bring in other other Independence. It's it's a little more difficult than if I was Sequel and Gale or if I was living Cod or if I was land or. There is a perception thing that you can there's a momentum that you can work with her. Would you say then that it's interesting for like designers are or smaller agencies to to present themselves as being like the big agency or that's like the the wrong way to go in this. Oh, I think that's absolutely the wrong way. You have to be truthful to what you are. And I mean I have experience. That's what I play that up in a big way, right? I let my beard grow just a little bit. I don't trim it. I don't shave it closely. So you see a little bit of great. You see the gray in my beard so that kind of shows that I've been around a bit, but I'm not uptight so I don't wear a tie and it's it's all acting. It's play-acting right? It's so you have to develop devise your. Hmm. I also read on your LinkedIn page. You beat out Massimo vignelli for a project that you tell us something about that story. Yeah, so in between the Cosmetic worlds and working at Ogilvy a big I had my own had a small boutique studio with my ex-wife and we specialized in music packaging and arts and culture. And so like we did 5 years of Central Park summer stage branding and advertising. I mean those are great great great projects, and I also did work in the galleries because I had friends who haven't gone to art school. I had friends who worked in the art world and I had done a few Gallery identities. So I had that we had that portfolio of stuff that we could work from. So my ex-wife actually grew up with the man who was in charge of the Guggenheim Museums retail Division, and she just happened to be walking down Fifth Avenue ran into him and said, hey, you know had a conversation but what are you doing? Oh, yeah. Hey, do you want to show stuff great and we basically did it out of that personal connection. So it I mean, I really don't think people should do work on spec but this we were young. We had this was an opportunity and she knew this person. So it was as for friends. Yeah, and so what we do tell so we show the work and they love it. You know, they that's what they it's it expressed the surface texture of the new building. This was this all happened around the time that they built the addition on back behind the Guggenheim. So they had renovated the whole rotunda the original Frank Lloyd Wright building which needed massive work. I mean, you know all the Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings always have leaky roofs asked another one of those cases, so. so they. The at that whenever fixing that they built the large addition behind it basically was called a rectangular box made the whole thing look like a toilet bowl. So our bags and packaging for the new shop represented that surface. I love that new building on the exterior and Massimo had done a very classic Massimo vignelli approach which was definitely within his style but it wasn't appropriate to the museum. It's actually something that I had seen him do for other organizations. Basically, which is a on one large side a detail of a painting on the gusset of the bag would be the artists signature or the name of the. Organization and at so it's a very kind of classic modernist way of segmenting information and also creating something beautiful. But the problem is that it's it becomes a Trope very quickly and we were more interested in something that was specific to the Guggenheim itself. And that's how I beat him out for on that project. All right, but that's interesting. I think I do think like with these kinds of Legends like Massimo vignelli, it's hard to have like. Balance between what's your your style or people are contacting you for and what is like appropriate for the project? Well, you know, it's interesting. He well first. Let me just say that I introduce myself at the opening of the Guggenheim and said hi. I'm the one who did the packaging and luckily I was a student of a good friend of his and so I drop that name Roger Remington and his face lit up and he would he was the most gracious. Person, he still did work for the Guggenheim. He just didn't do work in the retail division. So like I did all the shopping bags and I design products and special events shopping bags t-shirts all that stuff. So it was much more than than just the graphic design project. It was also a product design project and a sense of Proto branding project at the same time. So he was he was more than generous and. I'm very kind of welcoming and absolutely a lovely lovely person but what's interesting, you know coming back in your question is. You know people go to these figures often times because they have a point of view not necessarily because of the the form or the style the people that depend on the style of their work. I think have a shorter career than those that have a point of view or kind of an intellectual approach and he had. A vital kind of intellectual approach to corporate identity branding and visual identity systems. He basically helped build the modern approach to that. So he you know, he deserves all the deposition in the pantheon. Hmm. Well Mark, I think this was already some really interesting episode and I love to hear you talk a little bit more because you have so much stories to tell but maybe we could just end this episode with like some party or parting words. If you have some kind of advice for for designers and creative people listening wanting to become better designers or more valuable. What could you say the best piece of advice I ever heard. For Francis Ford Coppola the director who said that all the good things in his life came from saying yes. So now granted that does that does not mean to say yes to heroin or opioids but saying yes to Opportunities, even when they don't seem immediately like they're going to be that rewarding. So I've said lest I said yes to. And just being open open to conversations open to Chris criticism open to feedback open to failure open to ambiguity say yes to all of it. Cool. Well if people want to reach out and talk to you where could they reach you? Well, my website is I'm in the middle of rebuilding it. There's a whole long story involving Russian hackers, which I'm not going to bore you with. You got Hillary Clinton or what? It was a little more mundane than that. Basically I had to take my whole digital existence and burn it to the ground and I'm rebuilding it in a new place, but it's an opportunity to rebuild and redesign the website. So hopefully that'll be up in a couple weeks. But I'm at malcontent.com Mal cont ENT and so you can reach out Market malcontent.com if you want. All right, that was it for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and I'm looking forward to the following episodes. If you like this episode, I would appreciate it. If you give me a rating on iTunes or give me some feedback through the block or email. I have some exciting news. My online course is almost ready and you can already purchase it and get Early Access visit branding dot courses and check out the free lesson that's branding dot courses. See you there

Latest episode of Authentic Life Church Tucson

All of us like to be good at something. It is especially satisfying when we are recognized for this. But what do we do when we are no longer good at this thing or are unable to do it? We can feel like we are tumbling down from the top of the hill. What then? Copyright, Dave Andrus 2018

9/9/18 - Message by Rev. Neal Groeling

Jesus Has Done Everything Well! (Mark 7:31-37) by Divine Grace Lutheran Church

Last year I talked to Mark Felton about the escape attempts of British VIP prisoners, held by the Italians. That was episode 49 Castle of Eagles, the book is possibly my favourite read of last year. Well Mark is back, with another cracking story he’s managed to turn up in the archives, that of Operation Cowboy; the book is Ghost Riders. It recounts the activities of an American unit which raced into Czechoslovakia to accept the surrender of a group of Germans, in doing so they manage to rescue a number of Allied POW’s, with the help of German POW’s they fight off a concerted attack by a SS Unit and then evacuate the mares of the famous Viennese, ‘spanish riding school’.

Summary: Jesus does all things well because we do not.

Barry Cameron. 3/16/2014

Jason Kull and Andy Echele jump in to discuss many a topic on this show. The guys start out discussing the State of the Union address by President Trump and the argument that Democrats didn't clap.  Well Mark points out this is quite normal and there are tons of examples from the past where other Presidents got shut down with the clap. Then the story moves to Tom Brady and the Patriots going to their next Superbowl. Mark is a fan and Andy not so much. But his success begs the question, is he the greatest sports athlete of all time? Possibly...listen to the discussion and you make your decision. Finally Mark had a run in with a Flat Earth believer recently and discusses the points brought to his attention and whether anyone else in the country believes the Flat Earth things.  This leads to discussion about conspiracy and the theories people hold.  Plus a reminder from Mark about conspiracy theorist.

How to give yourself a competitive edge, build your brand and bring in business through speaking. Deirdre Van Nest shares top speaking tips to win customers. Learn more at MarkMiletello.com. Note: “Where The Insurance Pros Meet” is an audio podcast and is meant for the ear. A transcript of the audio is provided for referencing a particular section or for you to follow along. Listen to the episode to get the most out of our show. We use both speech recognition software and human transcribers to create the transcripts so they may contain errors. If you’re going to quote us in print, please be sure to check the corresponding audio. TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet, episode seven. Deirdre Van Nest: Every time you speak you have the opportunity to attract people to you, to build up your brand, to bring in business, or the opposite. Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together. Managers, coaches, and producers the very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now here's Mark Miletello, a top one percent producer, manager, and your host of Where the Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome back to the show. Today is an exciting day, I promised myself and the listeners that when I started this show, in my opinion the best, the greatest platform for really investment reps or insurance agents of Where the Insurance Pros Meet anyone that's in the financial services industry that I would search out and even have brand new agents, veteran agents, top speakers, top thinkers and minds in the industry, so today we have a very, very special guest. We have someone and let me give you a little background before I give you all the goods. As you may or may not know I'm speaking in Lamp in 2018 for Gamma as a multiple line speaker and I fly in to Chicago and right before I'm going into my rehearsal where they do provide a professional speech coach I'm fortunate enough to sit next to the next speaker that arrived a little bit early and just so happens she is a professional speech coach. To me that was very lucky to build a quick friendship the few minutes we had together I knew this individual was special, I knew that she was on it and I invited her to critique and to come in and watch me, which they didn't really allow but I forced it. I want to welcome a very special guest to the show that in a few short minutes I just really felt could really help our industry in a way, welcome Deirdre Van Nest to the show. Deirdre Van Nest: Aw thank you, Mark. Mark Miletello: Deirdre you're the creator of Crazy Good Talks the Blueprint, a system that teaches financial and insurance professionals how to become crazy good speakers so that they can bring in business and build their brands using speaking. I mean I didn't really know what all that meant until I met you and within a few short minutes, you're molding me into something that's doing a lot better job at what I'm attempting to do. Welcome to the show, I'm excited to have you and what you do for our listeners here. Deirdre Van Nest: I'm excited to be here and it's been a pleasure to help you. You are a quick student. Mark Miletello: What does that mean? Are there some that are not? Deirdre Van Nest: Some are not, yeah. Yes, you are. Mark Miletello: Well thank you and like I said I just realized you're very special. Can you tell me a little bit about ... tell the listener a little bit about your background and maybe they'll get a sense for maybe what I've found in you? Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah you know what I first loved to do is talk for a moment about why I care about helping the industry, particularly when it comes to speaking. I firmly believe that every person, and then this is regardless of what you do for a living, but every person unless we develop a skill set of becoming a compelling speaker, the type of speaker Mark who can get other people to sit up and listen and act we will never truly reach our full potential. I'll never forget, I used to be in a networking group where ... you know those networking groups where you have to a 60 or 30 second commercial every week? Mark Miletello: Yep. Deirdre Van Nest: Ever been a part? Okay. I was in this networking group and every week I was with the same people and people would get up and they'd speak for 60 seconds and there were certain people where as soon as that person stood up everybody tuned out and it really hurt my heart, it really bothered me, because as I got to know these people I thought, well you know that person's really good at what they do and that person really cares about the people in room, but they're not conveying who they are and what they do in a way that gets other people to sit up and listen and want to take action. It didn't matter if they were an A-plus attorney or an A-plus financial adviser or A plus this or that if they're a B minus or C plus speakers it was hurting their career. Does that make sense? Mark Miletello: No absolutely and I think I'm learning more about you every time we meet and talk, but I guess what you do helps ... I mean you even said attorneys, I guess attorneys do a lot of public speaking in the courtroom and things like that. How do you help ... I mean what industries do you find yourself helping most and how did you end up really relating and now that you're a speaker at Lamp of course in front of every general manager, general agent across all boards of financial services and insurance. I mean how did you really connect with our industry? Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah that's a great question so there's a couple of touch points. When I first hung my shingle out in 2008 I just started speaking everywhere I could and the professionals that raised their hands the most saying, "Hey, we're interested in you. We want what you're doing, we want you're helping. We're financial and insurance professionals." In one sense I fell into these industries, these professions, but it's interesting Mark as I've dug deeper I've really developed a love for this industry, for these professions, and for the people in it. As I sat back, and I started thinking okay I know I feel like I've sort of fell into this, but why do I stay here and why do I love it, and why do I feel a passion around it and why is that pretty much the sole focus of anything I do from an outbound perspective? It circled back to this, and you know this you heard my story about when I was 10 years old my mom was killed in a car accident and Mark I literally was kissing her goodbye one moment for what I thought was the night and within four minutes she was gone. Mark Miletello: Yeah. Deirdre Van Nest: My dad was in the car too, we were really blessed that he didn't die, it was touch and go with him and he was out of work for several months and it took him about a year to recover from all his injuries. What that did for me was I lost my innocence in the sense that I realized from that experience and I realized early in that life can change in a snap. As I got older I became a very strong advocate for proper financial planning. Mark Miletello: Right. Deirdre Van Nest: I was the person at 30 who got pregnant with my first child and instead of running off to the fun little store to pick out outfits and furniture I'm dragging my husband to our adviser and making sure we have enough life insurance, I'm dragging him to our attorney making sure all the guardianship and beneficiary stuff is taken care of. Most people don't think like that and I didn't realize that until I started talking to my friends about it. They're like, "That wouldn't have crossed my mind." Mark Miletello: Yeah. Well, thank you for- Deirdre Van Nest: And I was like, "It doesn't?" Mark Miletello: Thank you for sharing your personal story with the listeners and I know that's tough, but I see now that you have a passion for what our products do and with your expertise- Deirdre Van Nest: Yes, I do. Mark Miletello: With you being the guru, you are the foremost thinker of how to speak and a teacher in that realm I mean I do see that passion come out and so I'm excited that you're connected. I'm sorry that that happened of course, but I'm excited that you're connected with our industry and it kind of leads me to another question that kind of left me thinking after meeting you is if I'm not giving a speech, a public speech on stage, would I really need someone like Deirdre Van Nest to coach me and help me and I think the answer yes and I think you've kind of ... I was able to listen, I wanted to sit through your whole rehearsal and I wasn't able to do that because of my flight, but I did catch one little, and I'm going to try to squeeze that out of you for our listeners, one little tip that you were giving maybe a couple tips, but I do think that there's some validity to increasing your ability speak, finding your voice can help you even if you're not giving a stage public speaking event. Correct? Deirdre Van Nest: Absolutely. This is where I feel like I'm hoping the profession will veer towards and start changing is that you speak at seminars, right? That's kind of what everyone thinks right now in the industry is, "Oh speaking is seminars," and I would like to broaden the perspective and offer that speaking is anytime you're in public. That means outside of your own home opening your mouth and talking to let's say two, three, or more people. Mark Miletello: Right. Deirdre Van Nest: Because every time you speak you have the opportunity to attract people to you, to build up your brand, to bring in business or the opposite, to push people away or just have them be neutral to you. We are in what I believe the communication age, there are so many people vying to be heard and so to have a skill set where you can cut through that and you can be compelling and inspire I don't think that skill to have, I believe it's a critical practice development tool. Mark Miletello: Well that's exactly where I was going with it, is that's what I left feeling is that ... and you just hit the nail on the head as you would and should. Every time you're speaking to two or more or even to one person, but two or more people especially that's a speaking engagement that you should be on your game. I'm excited to kind of dive more into this. As you may or may not know Deidre this show I kind of connect it to the professional athlete and if you recall in the rehearsal one fellow said, "People in our industry earn professional athlete type incomes." Deirdre Van Nest: Yes. Mark Miletello: But my concern in a leadership role is that we don't practice like professional athletes, you know. We go out and do our hobbies, we golf and fish and whatever, play sports and we have our hobbies but we don't look at our own profession. That's a lot of the drive behind Where the Insurance Pros Meet is to have something where you can ride down the road and you can listen to, but it reminds you from the greats as well as you telling us is how you become better is practice, it's learning, it's continually developing and so to me what was kind of neat about meeting you is it reminded me I've never really put any work ... I've never been involved in Dale Carnegie courses or another speaking so it's kind of neat to connect our listeners to someone like you that I think could really help them because you had a lot of good tips before I left early to catch my flight, you had a lot of good tips and one of them that I thought was very interesting is how you can plug yourself into speaking gigs or arrangements or connections or networks. Would it be too much to ask you how or to tell us how to do that if maybe we don't have anything on the agenda for a speaking? Deirdre Van Nest: No, I think that's great. I think what you're alluding to is I made this comment that speaking is not just for seminars. Right? The broad vision is that anytime you're speaking, like we just said, to two, three, or more people you're speaking, you're public speaking. Then the other strategy I offered up as if you're having seminars and they're successful great, keep doing that, but I would also invite you to recognize that there are places in your community where you could get booked at other people’s events in front other people's audiences, and what's beautiful about that Mark is that most people in this profession complain about seminars and rightly so because they're expensive to put on in terms of all the mailing and the postage that goes into it. Then there's the meal, maybe the chicken lit dinner, the steak dinner, whatever it is, and then there's the whole stress about getting people there. It's not an easy thing to pull off and what if you could eliminate that by speaking to a ready-made audience? Mark Miletello: Coattails. Deirdre Van Nest: That's something that professional speakers like me, right professional speakers like me we know, we do this all day long, but that's something the more I bring this up to different financial advisers and insurance agents they're like, "I never really thought I could play in that arena," and you can. Mark Miletello: Okay. Deirdre Van Nest: I just want to even put that idea out there is that you can play in that arena. Mark Miletello: Okay give us one idea. Deirdre Van Nest: Let me give you an example. Mark Miletello: Thank you. Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah so one client, and I think I might have mentioned this to you, I was thinking of client of mine who is an insurance agent, he and his family own their own independent company and he has the specialization of working with daycare providers. We're like okay, well let's just build a presentation for that group and then let's pitch it and market it to them. We have this presentation, now quite frankly that presentation isn't largely different than it would be for any other business owner, but you put the word daycare provider in there when he tells stories he talks about his other clients that are daycare providers. Right? So that you're customizing the words and the language and then you start to think about where do the daycare providers hang out? Let's check out their association. Right? Then you would go, and you would apply to speak at one of their association events. If there are local chapters that they belong to you would talk about having them bring you in. I know that he got brought into a daycare center not necessarily to talk to the owners because there's only one owner, but the different staff that works there. Right? Mark Miletello: Yeah. Deirdre Van Nest: If you pick a couple of niche markets, maybe you work with chiropractors, maybe you like vets, maybe you like dentists. Mark Miletello: Whatever your niche is. I get it. Deirdre Van Nest: Exactly. Whatever your niche is. Mark Miletello: I tell you coming home and on the flight, that's probably what stuck with me the most of what a great concept that was and I had to have it on our show because in a leadership role I've gone with my agents and we've spoken at realtor meetings and we do certain break out speeches that are kind of impromptu but I kind of thought what about looking at what our niche is. Let's just say our niche is farmers or chiropractors. Let's just say it's farmers, then I never thought of taking and going to their organization ... I've thought about going to their organization and trying to connect and relate and be in the backroom and shake hands but I never thought about trying to get on their agenda because I know when you put on a meeting number one you have people coming in that throw a little money at you to take up 10 to 15 minutes of a sponsored lunch, things like that, and also sometimes you just want good information for the speech and I just never thought of that and I think that listeners hopefully could have a light bulb go off like I did and say there's so many niches that you could go after based on whatever company or organization you represent and you don't have to ... because I've thought about doing seminars and at one time did them, but thought about them over the last few years but when I start putting together the time, the effort, the pieces, the invitations, the mail outs, whatever all those things I find a lot of times that was a fleeting thought that fades away very quickly. Deirdre Van Nest: Yes, I understand that. Mark Miletello: When someone else is doing all that and you're plugging yourself into that I thought that was just a brilliant concept, Deirdre. Deirdre Van Nest: Good, good. Go after it. Here's the thing if you decide to go after it, with the putting together of your own seminar the easy thing is deciding you're going to do it and then all the work comes into doing it. Mark Miletello: Yeah. Deirdre Van Nest: With going after other ones your job is going to be reaching out to enough people. Right? And staying after them and following up with that. That's where the work will be is in staying persistent. Mark Miletello: Well you know- Deirdre Van Nest: And following up with them. Mark Miletello: We took off a fast start, we gave the listeners I think what I really, I walked away after just a few minutes of knowing you with that valuable thought. We kind of jumped right forward without really asking you, how did you get involved in coaching with Crazy Good Talks which is a name I love, crazygoodtalks.com. Deirdre Van Nest: Thank you, I love it too. Mark Miletello: I've been to your website, it's awesome. I kind of skipped over you right at the first so I apologize, I'm gonna back up which I don't normally do. Deirdre Van Nest: Oh, that's okay. Mark Miletello: How did you kind of get into this and when did you find out you're really good at helping people learn to speak and maybe you speaking yourself? Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah, I'll tell you what, this is by accident as well. I was terrified to speak. In 2008 I was certified as a fearless living coach, okay? My specialty was helping other business owners get past the fears and excuses that were holding them back in their business. I would work with financial advisers, insurance agents, chiropractors, attorneys, pretty much anyone who had a service-based business. I was out there marketing myself one by one, going to the networking groups like what we were talking about earlier and meeting people that way. Then I just kept hearing, "Deirdre, you really should go out and speak because that's the best way to grow your businesses." I thought no way, no way no how, I had a really bad experience in my ninth grade acting class where my acting teacher told me I stunk. Mark Miletello : Me too. Deirdre VanNest: It broke my heart, Mark. From that moment, I was 14 years old, I left the stage. When I say left the stage I didn't act any longer and I didn't speak in public for 24 years. I never wanted to hear those words, "You stink," again. When someone said, "You should speak," I was like, "Not happening," then what happened was it was kind of like the lesser of two evils. I became more afraid of not growing my business and not helping people with this message that I had than I became of speaking and, so I just forced myself to get out there and do it. Okay? Fast forward a couple of years later and I've actually gotten good at it and I'm actually helping people and I'm actually getting paid for it, but what's not happening is I'm not bringing in clients from the back of the room and at the time that was a really big part of my model was bringing in clients from the back of the room, so I didn't have to run around to all these one on one coffee meetings all the time. Right? So, I thought I got to crack this code so someone knows how to do this, it's just not me. Who knows how to do this? I started studying with some industry gurus and became certified by Craig Valentine as a certified, world-class speaking coach, I worked with another woman Lisa Sakovich who was just a guru upselling from the stage, started using some of what they taught me, then started tweaking it for my own style and trying my own things, and then my clients at the time were asking me if I could share what I was learning about speaking with them. Just kind of like casually and I was like, "All right, yeah. I'll give you some tips on what I'm trying." I was doing that and then I had one client, I'm going to tell you this is the results not typical. One client, it was a husband and wife team, they went and gave a presentation, and this was in I think this was 2011, it might have been early 12, it was 11 or 12. They gave a presentation and within an hour they had signed up 103 new people, prospects to come into their office from one 60 minute presentation. She and I, we were all blow away, we were all blown away. The wife Becky was like, "Deirdre, you have to do this. I don't care what you're doing, but you need to formalize this and start teaching other people," and I was like, "Yes, I do. You are right, this is amazing." I was so excited by their results it actually saved their business. Then that's what happened, I started systematizing things and I started creating a process, I started getting out there and I was out there a lot myself too. I'm out there in the trenches doing the same thing that I'm teaching which is what I still do Mark to this day. Then the brand Crazy Good Talks we came up with that branding a couple of years ago and that was an evolution of time. Right? Of working with different people and helping me figure out the branding, but I do love it because it's fun and that's what it does, it helps people become crazy good so it's just sort of progressed to this point. Mark Miletello: Well you are great and you're a great person and we're glad that you overcame that class. I kind of had a similar story where I could not say two words in front of a group and I said, "I've got to fix this," so yeah thank you. I'll tell you, in our industry especially professional athletes they fumble every now and then. Sometimes they get mulligans sometimes they don't. Well in our industry because you don't make mistakes. When you're on stage you're flawless, so tell me maybe what you think the biggest mistake that most advisers, agents make when speaking. Let's get into some meat that really, we can bite down onto that could help somebody. Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah, that's great. I'm sure I make mistakes too, I am not perfect. The last thing I ever want to paint is that picture. Mark Miletello: You're right, I shouldn't do that. That's extra pressure. Deirdre Van Nest: It's extra pressure, exactly. Let me give you a couple of quick wins that you can go and use. The biggest mistake is that most financial insurance professional rely too heavily on their technical expertise alone to deliver their message, Mark. That type of message or language tends to be boring for the consumer and it tends to not be sticky, it tends to be just a lot of facts and figures thrown at people and not have the elements of a presentation that help make it memorable and emotional. The key to really fixing that problem is to be sure to weave stories and analogies and activities throughout your content. Mark Miletello: You watched my rehearsal. I think I tried to do that, I tried to make it more about the storytelling than the facts and figures. I think that's exactly what you're saying is to ... you even kind of helped me understand, which I knew it as well as the others that were watching me, I knew that I was turning my head and looking too much at my own information. The less information that you plaster on the wall the less you're going to be tempted to turn around and look at it more than you're connecting with the audience. I agree I think we must have more stories. We talked about a mistake that they make, what about ... can you give us like a quick win like a strategy that listeners can use right away to make the best that they can with what they have? You know, make their next speech better. Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah, this is my favorite tip to teach because it's one of those small things that makes a big difference and it's something your listeners could use the moment they stop listening to the podcast. Here it is, the most important part of the presentation is the opening. The reason for that is that's the time frame that people are going to decide if they're going to tune you in or tune you out. Okay? You only have about five to 30 seconds to capture their attention and if what you're saying isn't anything more interesting than what they can find on their phone your talk is toast. What's interesting Mark is that if you can grab people right away they are likely to stay with you for the entire presentation, but if you lose them, in the beginning, you're going to work doubly hard to get them back. You've probably been to presentations where's that happened, where like they start snoozing you in the beginning and you're like, "Oh man," right? And then you're off to the races. Mark Miletello: You can tell from right off the bat, I agree. Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah. Mark Miletello: I went to your website and I watched all the free tips that I could grab off of their which I think we’re really informative, but that's one of the few things you said to me when we met for just a few minutes before my rehearsal and its really kind of gotten me to thinking about is my beginning powerful enough? I've gone back to the drawing board and thinking how can I make that really connect in a way? I think you're right, it's real helpful but maybe you can give us an example of how we can do that. Deirdre Van Nest: Absolutely, absolutely. There are two strategies that I love for grabbing your audience's attention from the first words out of your mouth. The first strategy is to open by immediately asking them a question. Okay? The question should do three things, it should be related to your content in some way, it shouldn't just be some random question, it should be related to what's coming and the topic. It ideally would get them nodding their heads yes in agreement with you and then the third is it should get them thinking about themselves, the audience thinking about themselves. For an example, tell me what are the benefits that the listener will receive from taking your advice? Mark Miletello: What are the benefits ... in the meeting they're more informed of what their coverages are so personally maybe they should consider doing business with us but to be able... they're not a licensed insurance agent but they can say, I do know this, and I know a person that you should talk to because looking at your current policy or moving to this new home you might need to talk to a professional that I know. The benefit is educating them to make them think that you are the go-to person regardless of price. A real estate in town do we shop around and find out who has the lowest fees, or do we go to the most well-known person that we feel will do the best job? That's I think the ultimate reason we would speak to a group of realtors is to become the expert in the field and I need your help to be a better speaker so that I can look better in front of them. Deirdre Van Nest: Got it, got it. You could do something like your point is, hey we want to educate you so that you have the best information and you're not going out and price shopping people. Right? Mark Miletello: That's right. Deirdre Van Nest: Your question could be to them; your opening question could be something like how do you feel if your own clients' price shop you or how would you feel if a client- Mark Miletello: Chose their realtor based on commission rate. Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah, exactly. Yes, if you lost a listing based on the commission or if you lost a listing because your competitor was willing to list for one percent less or half a percent less. Mark Miletello: Right, that'll get their attention. Deirdre Van Nest: Right and they're gonna be like, "I wouldn't like that, I don't like that." That's how you should be looking at this, in this industry. Maybe you're going in there because you're educating them, and you want to equip them so that they're the trusted adviser to their clients who have all the answers about their home buying experience. Maybe your angle is would you rather your clients see you as their real estate agent or a part of their trusted advisory team? Mark Miletello: Right. Deirdre Van Nest: "Oh trusted advisory team." Mark Miletello: I guess my feeble attempts at funny jokes is not the way to open a meeting, huh? Deirdre Van Nest: I guess it depends on how funny the joke is. Mark Miletello: Yeah, I guess so. Deirdre Van Nest: I was going to give you the second strategy. Mark Miletello: I'll take it. Deirdre Van Nest: That's the first strategy is to open with a question. The second strategy is to just jump right into a story. You could open with a story and so let's say you're talking to those same realtors, maybe the story is about a realtor who used to work with another agent and now they're working with you and what their experience has been. Maybe it's what I call your Why Story, why you're even in this business and why you care about the realtor relationship. Kind of like I told you my Why Story earlier. Mark Miletello: Yeah, things are going through my mind right now of how I could have spoken in front of the realtor group and maybe had other realtor’s endorsements and talk about how those relationships have evolved. Yeah, it's good stuff. Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah. Then if you're going to jump right into a story my recommendation isn't just say, "Oh I'm gonna tell you a story," you could just start by saying, "It was May 24, 1980, beautiful spring night in Chappaqua, New York," or you could say something like, "I want to take you back to the fall of 1992," or "I want to introduce you to my client Mark. Mark was a blah, blah, blah," right? Those are story starters if you will. Mark Miletello: No one’s getting up and leaving when you start like that. Deirdre Van Nest: No, they're not. Mark Miletello: I want to hear. Deirdre Van Nest: And you've got their attention, exactly, you've got their attention. Mark Miletello: Well I love the nugget that you gave us about how to interject, implant ourselves in someone else's efforts of either networks or events or seminars. I love the advice, the professional advice that you've given us. I felt so privileged that I had a few minutes to meet you and know you and to have you watch me rehearse. To me just really the things that you've said have given me more confidence, I'm going in a better direction than I was without you. If other people ... and I don't want it to stop there, I do want to continue getting better and there are several ways to do that, but one is to connect with you in a better way. As we kind of wind down this show how would I work with you more, how do I reach you, what do I need to do to take the next step into learning the things that you've already taught me to build off that? Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah great question. There's a couple of different options. I think the best step is to subscribe to Crazy Good Talks TV. That's something that was just launched and it's a weekly video episode specifically for financial advisers and insurance agents. Mark Miletello: Nice. Deirdre Van Nest: Each episode, yeah yeah, each episode has a strategy on how to either be a better speaker or how to grow your business for speaking, how to market yourself, get books for speaking, all things building your business and your brand through speaking. Then each episode also comes with a downloadable template, worksheet, cheat sheet to help you implement that week's lesson. That's a great first step and that's great for readers or advisers and agents and to get that you just got to crazygoodtalks.com/tv. Then the other option is one of the things that I do a lot of is keynoting at conferences and individual companies will hire me to come in and do training for their advisers and agents. If you're a leader listening, and you're interested in something like that just shooting me an email, likewise if you're an individual producer and you're interested in learning this skill set for yourself I do have a 12-month Crazy Good Talks training program where I will teach you step-by-step the ins and outs of how to become a crazy good speaker and how to really build your brand and bring in business through speaking. If either one of those things interests, you I think just sending me an email Mark to D-V-N so Deirdre Victor Nancy@crazygoodtalks with an S .com. Mark Miletello: Well that's crazy exciting, I think that of course you're gonna be on a platform speaking at Lamp in front of all the industry greats and as well as the show will reach a very broad audience including managers and anyone that wants to host a meeting I think you would be a valuable addition like I said in the short amount of time I've known you I feel like I've learned a lot and I feel like I owe you something. I guess you need to invoice me, but- Deirdre Van Nest: No, you are very kind. I'm thrilled to be here. Mark Miletello: It really is, just those few little things when someone is trying to get better at something that is not their forte and yeah, you're saying, "Well Mark you're hosting a radio show so ..." well you know I'm just having fun, I know I can be better at even doing this and every show I get better. But more importantly than that Deirdre is I want to be able to go to my next meeting, I want to go into that and now I can teach my agents how to connect with niche markets that we have, and I can assist them and maybe be the guy that stands up until they feel the confidence and find their voice or help them find their voice. Deirdre Van Nest: Yeah. Mark Miletello: I see a lot of application in what you do and if I wouldn't have sat next to you or if I wouldn't hear you speak I probably wouldn't realize the value of how much we need that to be better at that type of talent. I just want to thank you for agreeing to come on the show Where the Insurance Pros Meet and thank you for your time. Deirdre Van Nest: Thank you for having me, it's been a pleasure. Mark Miletello: Absolutely and if you like what you hear go to iTunes, rate and review the show so that others can find it. You can follow me of course on MarkMiletello.com and you will be able to connect via the show on my website on the podcast link, you'll be able to connect to Deirdre Van Nest. Thank you again and we will see you at the next show.

Have you ever been to Reddit and looked around on the subreddits out of interest? Well Mark has and talks with Jason Kull and Producer Bobby about the justice porn subreddit. Mark discusses how the video and ideals on the subreddit are interchangeable with certain blog stories from Conservative blog websites. There is a ton of correlation and Mark explains how they use it in regards to keeping their fan bases close by and primed for anger. Also, Trump doesn't really care for Puerto Rico's mayor or the people of the country.  He has tweeted out many times since the hurricane disasters to other locales but not until a week later did Trump finally get around to helping the people of Puerto Rico...then he called them lazy and wanted everything done for them.  The guys discuss a little about this because honestly it's difficult to keep up with Trump constantly starting issue and fist fights with everyone daily.  Finally, the guys stumble upon a game when they try and guess the User rating score for a Fast and Furious movie.  

This is a sermon preached by Pastor Bogdan Kipko at Forward Church In Irvine California. The greatest compliment and encouragement we could receive from you is if you would share this podcast with your friends and family and on social media. Connect with Pastor Bogdan Kipko: Podcast on iTunes here: http://kipko.us/1lpvuKY App in the Apple App Store here: http://kipko.us/1N2ETBV […] The post Sermon Podcast: Jesus – The God Who Does All Things Well (Mark 7:31-37) appeared first on Bogdan Kipko.

Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller

We're back!!! Well Mark and Chris are and we have a lot of wild promises that most likely wont be fulfilled! businesssharkproductions.com

Ep#63: This week we're showcasing the session "Productivity for Authors: How to Write and Publish Often And Well: Mark McGuinness." If you struggle to find time for your writing and publishing amid the demands and distractions of 21st century life, this session is for you! Mark will help you carve out time consistently, while still managing all the other important commitments in your life. Topics Covered in this Fringe Highlight Session: How to organize and prioritize your writing time. Laying a creative foundation. Setting your writing priorities. Avoid procrastination that is hindering your writing output. Placing value on your writing time. Freeing up your brain to write. Mark Says: For me it was an immense frustration that there I really wasn’t organized enough and the technology was going faster than my organizational skills. I was spending a lot of time on the hamster wheel of trying to catch up with email and phone calls and this was even before Twitter and Facebook and all of that. It just felt that my day was not in my own control, that I was spending all my time kind of chasing my tail. And I wasn’t getting the most important work done. Which for me has always been writing. And no surprise to see that I started, as soon as I started investigating this, looking into time management, productivity systems, I noticed a lot of my clients coming up with the same issues and the same frustration that, you know, we go into this profession because we love to write and yet if we’re not careful, writing can be the thing that gets pushed off the schedule by all of the other stuff that’s supposed to be an accessory to writing. Our weekly Self-Publishing Advicebroadcast is brought to you by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This Indie Author Fringe Highlight  is one of four regular shows, which include an ALLi Member Q&A, a beginners' salon and an advanced self-publishing salon. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our self-publishing advice center, www.selfpublishingadvice.org. And, if you haven’t already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at www.allianceindependentauthors.org.   If you're not familiar with our Fringe event, it's three-times a year, online conference for self-publishing authors, brought to you by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and fringe to the major global publishing fairs; London Book Fair, BookExp, and Frankfurt Book Fair. ALLi brings together the most up-to-date self-publishing education and information available and broadcasts it to authors everywhere. Running 24 sessions over 24 continuous hours allows our members, and other authors round the globe, to attend sessions, no matter where they’re located. For more information, visit our Conference Home Page.   Now, go write and publish.

Mark 7:24-37

Jesus heals the daughter of a gentile woman, and her response to him teaches us about the gospel.

Sermon on Mark 7:31-37, where the Lord Jesus heals a man who was deaf & dumb, and the largely Gentile (i.e. non-Jewish) crowd preaches Christ, and is exceedingly astonished at Him. This healing was a fulfillment of Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 35:5-6.

Sermon on Mark 7:31-37, where the Lord Jesus heals a man who was deaf & dumb, and the largely Gentile (i.e. non-Jewish) crowd preaches Christ, and is exceedingly astonished at Him. This healing was a fulfillment of Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 35:5-6.

Hey everybody! Do you enjoy Cube? Are you a Cube enthusiast? Maybe you don't know what Cube is? Well Mark from Life Begins At 20 is here to help you understand what Cube is all about! Be sure to listen to the whole thing as it's another awesome episode! Mark from Life Begins At 20 can be found at:https://twitter.com/LifeBeginsAt20 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChyrX2-e2eRV2Vi6dsf63dw This week's question:What did you think of the new changes to Nationals, GP's, and PTQ's in regards to Modern? You can support Magic With Zuby on Patreon here:https://www.patreon.com/magicwithzuby Magic with Zuby can be found at:Facebook: facebook.com/magicwithzubyTwitter: @magicwithzubyGmail: mtgzuby@gmail.comiTunes, Google Play, Tunein Radio, Stitcherhttp://podcastradionetwork.com Sponsors:Legitmtg.comHorizondata Sys: https://horizondatasys.cleverbridge.com/281/purl-magicwithzubyGamefly: http://www.gameflyoffer.com/zubyAudible: http://www.audibletrial.com/zuby

Pastor Andrew Arthur. We continue our sermon series through the gospel according to Mark with a teaching about how Jesus does all things well, found in Mark 7:31-37.

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, again and again we read in the Gospels about Him caring for the hopeless and the helpless. After watching Jesus heal a man who could neither hear nor speak clearly, the people around Jesus made this statement about Him, “He has done all things well.” Jesus doesn’t do mediocre, half-way or almost. Whatever your need today, be encouraged because Jesus does all things well!

In this week’s lectionary podcast Brian and Fr. Shay talk about one of the healing narratives in Mark. What does the healing of a blind man have to do with queer and trans liberation? What can the reaction of the crowd teach us about what it means to be in solidarity? All this and more […]

How to read the Old Testament rightly.

Jeff Suits, 8-23-15

How do you end an amazing story like Mark's gospel? Well - Mark doesn't actually end it at all. He leaves his gospel unfinished so that we can write our own endings. The Bible contains two endings which were written by the early Christians as examples for us to follow. Now Mark tells us that it is time for us to write an ending of our own. You can also watch at: https://vimeo.com/133337005

Scripture: Mark 5:21-43

Well Mark bought an iPod and then the next day Steve Jobs died.  Then to make him feel better Zach forced him to watch Earth Girls are easy for the OFC Movie Chess Game™.  Who and what is going on at Wall Street is tackled, and the boys try and figure out why everyone loves Kat Dennings (its the breasts)M.E.M.E. - Overused Trailer Music Right Click to Download!

“Well Mark, that just means you're a bad parent for lying to your child.” The post Ep 50: Hysterical Rhetoric appeared first on HotBox.Earth.

Okay for those waiting for Winnie sorry man sorry I am suffering from the worst alergic reaction I've ever had and this is the day of my actual alergie tests. So if you have any advice send it to brunch@london.com. Before I go in to full detail glad you're enjoying. I'm looking at show stats which I don't check as offten as I should but you guys rock. Anyway we revissit Mark Steel and an older program called "The Mark Steel Solution." His moto? Give him thirty minutes and he'll convince you of anything. Well Mark is going to convince us of our family. Anyway after that we continue Inspector West. Fred hits us with My Word and we finish up Falco. So please enjoy. Matt and Fred and seriously if anyone has had an alergie test you know the one where they pin you with all kinds o crud at once tips and suggestions will be appreciated. Remember we're three days from radio out of the past.org's first ever sci fi marathon and I'm hosting the first leg so vissit me at http://www.radiooutofthepast.org. Enjoy

Ref: SM1022