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I had the opportunity to hang out with the author of True Loves Kiss, Debbie Moran on this episode, join in the conversation to get some practical applications of spirituality that you can use in your daily routine! Unknown Speaker 0:00 Your journey has been an interesting one up here. You've put in so much more than those around you. You've even questioned yourself as to how you could have grown into these thoughts. Am I crazy? I'm wondering why do people in general You're so limited as Bob process for ensuring you are not alone The world is slowly waking up to what you already know inside getting can't quite verbalize. Welcome to the spiritual dough podcast, the show that answers the question you never even knew to ask questions about you in the world, the people in it? And most importantly, how do I proceed? Now moving forward? We don't have all the answers, but we sure do love Living in the Time for another spiritual dope with your host, Brandon Handley. Let's get right into today's episode. Brandon Handley 0:41 Hey there spiritual dope. We are on today with my good friend Debbie Moran and Debbie and I connected through spirituality group that we're both members in the soul side, right soul side by side community. Yes. Also community with Mark Youngblood for some of you who've listened to the podcast a couple times, you've heard mark on the podcast, hurts I think I had Anna champagne on the podcast as well, all members of this incredible group, Debbie is no exception, in this group well, and they're just trying to learn how to improve, improve, you know, just how to harness our spirituality better throughout life. And Debbie has written a book that she's going to talk a little bit about with us today, that's going to help you to figure out, you know, what are what are some practical applications? And what are some ways that you can harness spirituality so that you can have some more fulfillment, some more happiness, confidence, Legos, some anxiety, those types of things. So, Debbie, thank you so much for being on today. Debbie Moran 1:43 Hey, you're welcome, Brandon, thank you for having me. Brandon Handley 1:46 Absolutely. Absolutely. And I always like to start these off with the idea that we are directly connected to source energy, like at all times, right? And it creates and speaks through us, right, we're vessels for for this. And the idea is that there's somebody listening to this podcast today, that is going to receive a message that can only be delivered through you at this precise time. What is that message? Debbie Moran 2:15 I love that you're we're on the same page. I do believe not that we're connected to source, but that we are an extension of source. So we are here to embody us. So I feel like that actually is something that took me a long time to actually realize that I was here to embody Debbie Moran, rather than I was going to change my name. And so many of us have changed our names in our spiritual circles, I realized through my process that a lot of the names that I was going to change my name to, were simply the state that I was in and in my own evolution, for instance, bliss. So. So what's the message, the message is we are here to be who we came to be? Brandon Handley 3:04 What's that look like for you? If you wanted to elaborate a little bit more? Debbie Moran 3:09 Well, each of us, I think you said it really nicely. In the beginning, I don't feel like we're here to learn anything I hate, we're here to remember the truth of who we are, and the extent of what we're capable of, which is beyond our conscious level of awareness. So it's really about raising our states of awareness. So that we can actually tap into and become that presence. That is that clear vessel, that Clear Channel that doesn't, you know, words are what we have to work with. But the truth is really beyond words. And so it's challenging sometimes to actually put an expression in terms of a language to all of the truth. And so I feel like what you said is true. I in fact, a coach once told me, you know, there are people in the world who can only hear what they need to hear through you. Brandon Handley 4:08 Right, I mean, it's true, right? There's, there's, you know, I think we all resonate at a certain level to our different people. Right. And, and that's really the idea of the podcast is, I may resonate with plenty of people, but you resonate with a different group, you're gonna attract, and you're gonna speak to a different group of people that that tune in, and they're gonna hear your message, they're gonna pick up on the Debbie vibe, right? And, and, and, and you're gonna maybe open up something inside of them, right? I really liked that idea, though, to what you were saying that, that you had considered changing your name, because of these states that you were in and the idea of all these other people kind of that maybe you knew that have changed their name that maybe they find the spirituality and then they go change their name. Right, they live into this other state of being that they think can flip in and out of at any time. Right. And and I'm really glad to hear that what you decided to do, though, was just, you know, understand that you were here to be, you know, kind of who you were meant to be. And not like these other, these other things, these other when you change your name like that, it's kind of like you're just changing your mask. Right, Debbie Moran 5:24 exactly. Right. Right. So start roles. So it is the roles we play, and they vary throughout life, but our presence never buries. So it just shines through different masks and different roles. Brandon Handley 5:40 Right? Well, so let me let me um, what what kind of got you into spirituality space to begin with, Debbie Moran 5:47 was kind of born into a dynamic actually, it really wasn't meant as a that was really part of what maybe it's like coming full circle, rather full spiraling inward to this awareness that I came in sort of rejecting. Rejecting the sense of being here, there was a part of me, I literally came in with going, whoa, where am I? And this is pre words, where am I? And how did I get here? And none of this makes sense? And what is this language I'm hearing and I couldn't say it, but I say all these thoughts were going through my head. And so it took me almost my lifetime up till now to actually be okay with not only be okay, but recognize the brilliance and the blessing of being human. And being born into the family I was born into, and into the experiences that I experienced, to help me to be to remember to become aware of this is not a punishment, this is Brandon Handley 6:57 what I mean, I don't know about you, it's just another experience the same way that we experienced any other sensation. We're having this? You know, I guess if we were to say it in one way, if this is basically our life sensation. Debbie Moran 7:10 Yes. Yes, our experience of those things that if we truly are one, then I say that because I feel that and I believe that and I have a knowingness of that. However, we don't experience that full, that full expression of that all the time, because otherwise we wouldn't be having these senses that we have are these thoughts that come through, or these words that we're able to express these are things that the theory is we came to experience what we are not to remember who we are, and that's kind of Brandon Handley 7:47 right, and, you know, I think that that's always, that's always a challenge, and you'll get like some eye rolls from people that haven't, I guess, experienced that space. Right, that happened kind of gone through some of those, those those those developments. And I think that, um, since it's such a subjective experience, you can't really you can't really, you can't really impart it on anybody else. Right, you can just all you can do is be like, Well, okay, I mean, I can just tell you from what I've experienced, and what I've gone through. And, you know, maybe if you these are some signals, right? Have you experienced this, that or the other thing, okay, then maybe, right. I like and I like in that experience to the idea of Joseph Campbell's, the hero's journey, right? When when, you know, when you hear the call of the hero, like, that's, that's kind of like your wake up call, right? That's, and you don't have to, you don't have to respond to it, but it's not gonna, it's not going to go away. Right, right. And it's kind of what you do after that, or each time it comes along, what do you do with it? Debbie Moran 9:01 And it doesn't look the same for any individual. Right now. I work with a lot of people and a lot of families and a lot of times one family member will come to me to actually work on another. And I always bring them in first, especially as children or spouse, because, you know, it may look like the other person's not doing their work, but just because they're not doing it the same way you're doing. It doesn't mean they're not doing your work. Brandon Handley 9:26 That's right. That's right. Right. And that's, that's a challenge. I mean, how, how was it for you to kind of overcome that idea, right? Yeah, the idea of, well, that person is not doing the work that person, I know, they're not doing the work and then you got to do it like this. You got to do it like that. And, you know, because I, I bring that up because when, you know some of my first experiences were similar to that until like, there was like this point was like, wait, wait a second. Your experience is going to be totally different than mine. I don't know what you're actually transfer is gonna be but yes. Right. So Where, where? Where did I mean? Where Where did that come into sight for you? Debbie Moran 10:11 Again, it's deepened through my whole process. But I really kind of came in with the ability to see a person's soul that actually created problems for me a lot of times because I would see their soul and ignore their behavior. And I'm sure many people have had that experience. So it actually took me a long time to actually be aware that I could see their soul but I needed to pay attention to their behavior. So it was like, in a way, I wasn't holding others accountable. I was holding myself accountable for the world around me. So it was it felt very heavy and very burdensome. And so I I very early went to nature. Actually, I grew up Pentecostal. So I kind of grew into that indoctrination, which is I had a Pentecostal. Brandon Handley 11:04 Okay. That's right. Yeah. Holy rollers. Right. Right. Right. I, you know, I, there's, I think there's a, from what I've heard, I kind of think that there's a grain of truth to, to, to that whole series. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm a fan, Debbie Moran 11:23 lifetime journey to actually realize that Sunday was the day of Pentecost, and for the first time ever, I actually understood what that meant. Brandon Handley 11:32 What is it? So what does that mean? Debbie Moran 11:34 Pentecost is theoretically what is today, like 50 days, 10 days, meaning 50 days after the the resurrection of Christ. And what happened is, it's also the Jewish day of harvest. And from the Bible perspective, is the Jewish day apartness, that 50 days after the resurrection of Christ, and all of the disciples came together, and all of a sudden, they were all speaking in a language that no matter is funny. We started out with saying there are only those who can understand through you, right, in this any cost theory is that the apostles spoke in the language that whoever they were speaking to, could understand. Brandon Handley 12:18 Yeah, that's, that's it? Yeah. I think it's beautiful, right? I mean, I see. Yeah, yeah. I think that i think that's pretty cool, right? If you can be in a place and you know, no matter what, whoever you're speaking to understand you. And I think that that's really, again, this space, right? Once you kind of get into this space, there's maybe there's a little, maybe there's a little dance, right? And then but then you just kind of land on Yep. Okay, cool, then then we're speaking the same language. Right. So, so real similar, I think in that right. And, you know, and so, I wouldn't take that literally, that's how I would see it, right. So kind of like this, you know, symbolic and or, you know, our allegoric kind of way. So very cool. Now, I love that. So, what, yeah, let's talk a little bit about the book that you you've put out. Debbie Moran 13:06 Okay, so here's a picture of it. And it's interesting. It's called true love's kiss, and keep it simple, sweetheart. There you go. Yeah, books in one. Sure. And true love's kiss is it came to me. It's interesting, because I was writing, I was doing a 90 day book writing course, I have like books written everywhere, but none of them ever actualized. And I was in the middle of writing a different book. And all of a sudden, it got derailed. After the 90 days, I was ready to start putting it into book form, and is like, no, that goes away. This is what you're writing. And these characters came through these fictional names came through. And all of a sudden, I was like, Genevieve, who's genetti. What is this? So then I had this and I couldn't even like spelling, it wasn't even like the easiest names or names I would have chosen. So I started these, these voices, these names, these characters came through and started writing the story of a mother daughter, that like the birth of a daughter and the mother daughter relationship, all the way through the first chapter of her life. True from birth to 21. And so that that's the first part true love's kiss. It's the story told in fairytale form, from the perspective of a mother and daughter of what happened in their lives. And what it does is it shows how patterns or patterns emerge and how they're actually solidified and rigidify it and they become habits and then how they're unconsciously repeated. Brandon Handley 14:40 What would be an example of that out of the book maybe? Debbie Moran 14:44 Um, okay, so what I talked about earlier is being able to see an individual so in ignoring their behavior, and then constantly just saying, Okay, I'll forgive that behavior, but still not hold them accountable and go back and just kind of repeat the same thing over and over and over. And so there was that, and then there's so there's a dynamic around finances and money. So the consciousness here is about what is love? What is this this life I've come to live? And what is this money thing? You know, what is this all about? Why do we need this? And why are people saying one thing and doing another or not saying what they need. So it's it's story after story of just the pattern. And it was, it was brilliant how the mother and the daughter, we're parallel, but you kind of got both of their perspectives. And that's awesome. Brandon Handley 15:41 That's awesome. So and so I guess, you know, the inspiration came from, you know, just basically these these figures coming forth for you, right, just kind of showing themselves, Debbie Moran 15:53 they did show themselves. And then but the inspiration was, I don't know if it was a parallel like or what, but it was from Miami like, Brandon Handley 16:02 Sure. Okay. That's great. That's great to know. And then so we, you know, we do I think you talked a little bit about the patterns. And then there was some more, I think that talks about, you know, the concept of belief systems. Debbie Moran 16:17 Oh, very much. So, yeah. systems, habits, patterns, they all are just another word for a way that we rigidify ourselves and limit ourselves, and, and forget the brilliance or the divinity of the birth of ourselves. Brandon Handley 16:38 You know, how is it then, you know, so as we forget, is there a way that you have come across or can think of that would prevent us from forgiving? Debbie Moran 16:50 You know, it's funny, because I said this to mark recently, and he's like Devi, everybody talks about that, the breath, Brandon Handley 16:57 the breath, Debbie Moran 16:59 in breath. I mean, I have gone through an endless array of encyclopedias full of studies myself, different masters, different philosophies, and different religions and spiritual practices. And I put them all into action. And yet, I feel like part of the message here is the remembrance of that simplicity of the breath. I mean, literally, the breath is the first thing we take when we come out of the womb. Sure. And they've done scientific studies that show that when a person dies, the breath until that last breath is exhaled. Like that weighs six ounces, from what I understand, it's like they measured the breath. Exhale was six ounces. And that's like, essentially your spirit. Right? So that's our luggage. Brandon Handley 17:50 Did they get the six ounces? Uh, yeah, I hadn't heard that. I hadn't heard that, that they nailed down a number. That's very interesting to hear. Debbie Moran 17:57 That way, don't quote me. Do you remember six pounds? Brandon Handley 18:01 Yeah, that'd be interesting. If we could find a I'd love to, I'd love to know kind of where that came from. I'll look it up and see, Yeah, that'd be great if we could share that out. Because again, you know, I agree to the breath, being this kind of kind of a recall, right? If we've been breathing this certain way, and we've been doing it incorrectly our entire lives. And that's the, you know, the easiest, the number one thing that we do, what else have we gotten wrong? As is my question, right? Debbie Moran 18:36 You're not breathing, when you're not breathing freely. First of all, the breath, it's the rest of our lives. Man, he is the Bible quote here and God breathed life into the man the nostrils of mankind. So for sure, if we are not breathing, we're cutting off our connection to that to that source, that we are legislating through us experiencing through us. And when we do that, we don't make good choices. Brandon Handley 19:10 Fair enough. Fair enough. would would you be able to point to any breath exercises or breath work that have had an impact on you throughout your life? Debbie Moran 19:21 What does so many have done to Gong and everything and done the yogic practices, but the simplest breath that I've come back to, is to keep it simple, sweetheart. That's it. Breath of just in the nose, out the mouth, in the belly of the belly. And it's just and then gradually, there's a Buddhist smile meditation. So they gradually as you increase and bring the breath to without, without mentally thinking about it as you bring the breath into an even in an even exhale, but then you gradually add a smile. And what that does is that increases the end Do orphans in your body nice and has your body start to produce those endorphins, those chemicals that actually do help you stay clear in your thinking and in your feeling in your, in your physical body. make good choices. Brandon Handley 20:14 Yeah. Well, I mean, look, I think that when you're creating love the fact that we are these walking chemical factories, we are, right and that we have the capability to generate, whichever chemical we we did we dictate that right? You're talking about being able to go in and say, you know, right now, right now, this is what I need, I need to feel gratitude. And my body's gonna respond and create these kinds of these, these endorphins, right. And so it's gonna, it's gonna send out like, these kinds of things that are making my entire body feel good. So knowing that you're This is walking chemical factory, I think that's just another another thing that along the path is very empowering. Debbie Moran 20:58 It is. And and when you get that you recognize that you have everything you need. And by breathing in, and by the right chemicals being produced, what happens is you start seeing these seemingly synchronistic events where suddenly the right resources like, like, you reach out to me and say, Hey, you want to do a podcast? Brandon Handley 21:19 So So I mean, I think I think you know, that just to your story, really, is it that you've always felt like this connection to source and you've always, you've always just kind of surround yourself by it was just a matter of how to really bring more of it into your life and be accepting of it in your life. And then, kind of letting it play a greater part in your life where again, we're here not here being you know, Debbie, the human, you're here being Debbie, the spiritual being having the human experience. Is that is that fair? Debbie Moran 21:56 No, I am. Before I was rejecting being human. I was like, I am not this. What How did this happen? Brandon Handley 22:06 That's funny. Yeah, no, that's good. That's good. Now, so I mean, I think that that touches on a pretty, pretty key point, too, because this whole experience is you. Yeah, yeah. And and I think that it's really easy for people to reject their body and spirituality, right in favor of spirituality. You want to talk a little bit about how you you've maybe merged, merged those two pieces yourself? Yes. Debbie Moran 22:34 Well, part of the benefit of but the way I came in with this kind of dynamic of rejecting was became my big key, I became very physical. I was very athletic, always, I always love to dance, and those kinds of practices, and just I just had this awareness as I was writing this book. I, it really helped me remember I was in a body. So it helped to keep me grounded. And so what that what occurred with that is, I started realizing, and as I started accepting my role, right, rather than wanting to just go off onto a mountaintop somewhere, or an island, and just kind of living in peace, I started accepting my role. And I began teaching something called Body Talk. And the body talk was a really big key factor for me in terms of that put me on my spiritual path in a way where things started integrating and a structure was built within me to where I could actually tap into my intuition even more. So I came to realize that too often through our spiritual and religious practices, we talk about transcending the body. And that in itself is a rejection. So I don't feel like that's the case. I feel like we greatly misunderstand our physical bodies. We are like these walking galaxies. And we greatly misunderstand the capability of them. Because we watched nature and assumed that that is the pathway of this body. So that's what we create. So it's really unlearning the indoctrination of that is the way of biology because biology, I feel like our bodies are deliberately evolving into these light bodies that can bring that can actually bring in more of our source energy, so that we can actually fulfill an even greater, unimaginable way of being Yeah, no, I Brandon Handley 24:38 think that makes sense. It's the idea of if we think about if we think about any type of conduit or anything that if we don't treat it properly, I'm thinking right now have a battery cables, right. And sometimes they get corroded and if they do, you let all this corrosion come through then then the juice doesn't go through. Right. And so if we neglect our bodies and this thing, this is really what allows us to be like those conduits of divine energy. Exactly. Right. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. So I love that. I love that. So, um, before we I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions. Maybe like one, we'll start with one, see where it goes. Because basically, the idea here is that this is a spiritual speed dating. So right, like, so there's going to be somebody on the other side, that's like, you know what, I'm looking for my next spiritual date. And Deb, you may be it. So, but it's all gonna hinge on what your answer to this question. And the question is gonna be? Ooo, let's figure Oh, man, let's Debbie Moran 25:49 spiritual speed dating, Brandon Handley 25:51 speed dating. Say yesterday? What is your one wish for the world? Debbie Moran 26:03 That we wake up? And that we actually have to tap into see the divine vessels that we were designed to be? What would that look like? I Well, I've been saying multiple things about part of my role is to, and history as we know it. And to awaken to awaken the remembrance that heaven never left Earth. And it's just right here, as soon as we are able to open our eyes and be able to see it and experience it, and be it. Brandon Handley 26:39 Have you been able to have that experience yourself? Debbie Moran 26:42 I feel like I have been ironically, these last couple years when the world is in turmoil. I mean, I feel all of that out there. But I had this bliss, that experience of being able to work at home, I do all remote work. And I was able to write this book during that time. And I live in a home with a partner who, who has a different, much different approach than I do, but he's conscious. And we hold ourselves accountable in this conscious relationship. So it's like, we basically say, you know, I'm in charge in my my consciousness and my awareness, and you're in charge of yours. And if either of us feels out of integrity with that, we're gonna call the other on it. And ourselves. And I live in a home in Florida, Sarasota, one of the most, it so many people are coming here. But I live in a home where we can open up all our doors and windows and be outside from the inside. So it's like living in the inside out, which is kind of a great metaphor for what I choose to do, living from the inside out, or is market say living from the suicide? Brandon Handley 27:51 For sure, for sure. Living from the soul side, I love it. Let's have one more we have time for another question. You know, you're talking about this as we started kind of being present. So what does it mean to live in the present moment. Debbie Moran 28:13 It means to breathe fully, and allow space for your presence to come through, rather than having a preconceived idea of what that's supposed to do. When I find when I do that, it's like, time slows down. The words come through. It's not Debbie, the incarnate speaking. It's God, the incarnate speaking through it. And so it's this ever evolving discovery of the wonders of what this length is all about. Brandon Handley 28:58 That's great. So I mean, it's a being present to what is, Debbie Moran 29:05 right and what is because that's all there is. And you can you can another just a simplistic description of that is true. Many people worry about the future. So it robs them of the moment. And there's so much beauty and grace in this world that's being missed. And as a consequence of that, not being given. It's the grace, the glory is do is there. If we're if we're actually just to take that moment, to consciously we're never out of the moment. We just often think we have to take that moment of breathing into this space. It's like the miracle of life shows. Brandon Handley 29:54 I think that's wonderful and I agree. It's the idea of it's all Present, right, those moments that you're talking about, they're always available. Sometimes we get caught up in some other moments, some other thoughts and worries, some concerns. And really, when we look back at those moments, when we are worried and concerned, we're like, why did I expend so much time and energy in that space? And when this other thing was available to me, you know, kind of whatever that was, but chances are, what you expended your time and energy on at that time, there was something better available for you at that time. Right. So, agreed, agreed. And I think that, you know, that's a brilliant point. That's not just because I agree, but you know, so where can I send people to find more out about Moran and the book that you've got out? Debbie Moran 30:51 Okay, um, I have a website buddy talking beyond. And I've actually put on the front page, there is a link where you can go buy the book from Amazon if you choose to, but you can go to body talking beyond calm and on the front page, it can lead you to more information about me as far as the bio and everything and also to the link to the book where you can just go to to Amazon and look for to less kids by giving land and its loved with an apostrophe s so Brandon Handley 31:24 so And where would somebody if they want to get in contact with you? How can they do that? Debbie Moran 31:30 They could get contacted through there is a form on my body to on my body talking to me on website, or they can just email me at debbie dot Moran dot lol@gmail.com Brandon Handley 31:43 thank you so much for being on today. Debbie Moran 31:45 My pleasure. Thank you Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Did you know our FITposium conference is more than 30% sold out?! When: September 16-18 Where: Live in Phoenix or in person What: How to get published. See more details here: FITposium 2021 In this episode, I'm talking all about why we shifted our focus for this year's FITposium and why you will want to be there! IN THIS EPISODE The importance of brand awareness. “Be seen, be heard, be read.” The fastest and most effective way to grow your business. The power of earned media. YOUR chance to get published. Unparalleled media opportunities for you. “Ignore everything, everybody. Stay in your lane. Go where you want to go.” Share this podcast with a friend and remember to leave a 5-star review! For more, visit jamespatrick.com

Jd is a 23 year old bisexual who is in a poly relationship with a sixty year old couple. What How did he realize he was poly and how did he go about finding the couple? What is their marriage like and why did they get involved with him? Who hooks up with who and what exactly goes down between them? Tune in for all the details which include why he chose them even though they were so much older, their first meeting which ended up in a threesome at a movie theater, his bisexual past, the gay husband and how he brings in male escorts for them to enjoy, the most number of people they have had sex with at one time, how the wife enjoys watching gay sex, how she was gang raped when she was younger and how that affects her sex life now, how the public reacts when they all go out together, how the couples kids feel about the relationship, why they had to move out of town and how he's dealing with them being far away plus a whole lot more. **Also, was he jerking off while talking to me?? Stay tuned to hear me call him out...and then let me know what you think in the comment section below. Want to have better S-E-X?! Use Promescent! For 15% automatically applied at checkout click here: https://bit.ly/39WbIqa   **NEW FEATURE!! To see anonymous pics of my guests + get early access to all episodes, join my Patreon. It's only $3 a month. You can sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/StrictlyAnonymousPodcast  Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClVFROTaiguy_FSB1L_v8hw Instagram https://www.instagram.com/strictanonymous/  Twitter https://twitter.com/strictanonymous?lang=en  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/strictlyanonymouspodcast/ Everything else https://linktr.ee/Strictlyanonymouspodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest is Lori Costew, Chief Diversity Officer and People Strategy at Ford Motor Company. In this role, Lori oversees the company's corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to cultivate a culture of belonging and advance the organization's mission and business objectives. She has been with Ford for nearly three decades and has leveraged her expertise in various positions. In addition to her leadership role, Lori is also an accomplished author of two award-winning novels that provide inspiration and tools against bullying. In this episode of Scaling Culture, Ron and Lori discuss: Ford's intentional focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategies on how to develop deep listening amongst leaders D&I Audit WHY, WHAT & HOW behind “Days of Understanding” at Ford? This was a unique approach we hope will inspire listeners.  For more information about Lori, please connect with her on LinkedIn. For more information about the Scaling Culture Podcast or our upcoming book or Masterclass “Scaling Culture”, go to connollyowens.com 

Transcription is AI driving from otter.ai Unknown Speaker 0:01 But can you get a couple of BJJ reports in this period of time? So first of all, I will say that if if the sound quality on these isn't the greatest, that's simply because I don't know where my lav mic is. And be, I'm driving in the car. But, you know, we live in this, this land of high productivity and all these other things. And there's, there's some times where I just want to create versus consume a and b. maximize my time. How do you how do you maximize your time? Where do people always like? Where do you find time to? To do all the editing for your podcast where you find the time to? To do anything? And sometimes the short and simple answer is you just you just fuck us free, you make the time Unknown Speaker 1:09 you find the time, if it's important to you, you will find the time to do it. I always say that because get up at four 447 so that I can snooze for at least three minutes Unknown Speaker 1:30 and drag my ass to resilient jujitsu. So I can get there at 530 in the morning. So that I can get the exercise that I like, was available, I haven't done it for mostly year, in once. But creating that time to do what's important. So like I said, I'm maximizing, maximizing this 20 minutes to just kind of pop in here and tell you, you know, hey, if it's important to you, you'll find the time and when you do it, you're going to be you're going to be pleased with yourself, you're going to be glad that you took that time to do that thing that you kept saying you wanted to do. And you did it. And you finally fucking did it. I was a couple conversations I had yesterday that that illustrate this, again, just really kind of glad that something went out in Florida or not in Sweden, or Texas. So things haven't been this wide open this a way that has been for some other places. So being able to get out and see people has been great. So yes, I was able to get out and see see a couple of people. And, you know, talking about making that time again, going out to grab breakfast with somebody that I know, admire, know, like, and trust and respect. And is the finding that time to find somebody who also has the capability to elevate you and and has good questions and is also just a joy to talk to and not like this just a friend, right? And then so so finding that time and getting that time in yesterday was was awesome. Again, had the wake up, you know, actually didn't have to wake up to do to get there on time. But I still woke up at 530 so that I was able to meditate, so that I was able to journal that I was able to put my gratitude stuff down in the journal the way that I aim to do every day. And if I don't do it first thing in the morning. And that time that I have set aside, it's not usually it's not, it's not going to get done. So So woke up and made and created that time where it would have been so much more comparables as lay in bed we're doing great. And I wouldn't have had outset either way. However, I'm just telling you that if it's important to you, you'll make that time so make time for that make time for that breakfast and you know, just it was meaningful. And so that's another place where again, if you're trying to find that time and trying to have that time, proofreading it and asking somebody to to repeat part of a group, I'm not sure what kind of groups out there these days, I know there's a number of groups like Toastmasters and all these others, there's all kinds of organizations that he doesn't have to be, you know, waking somebody up out of their bed and saying, hey, let's go, let's go grab breakfast, there's all kinds of groups that you can find that are willing to spend that time with you. And my guess is that they're starting to pop up again right now. And the second part was of the day was, had I grabbed once with another friend slash, you know, working, working co here, you know, the partners that I work with in the industry. And, you know, she and I were talking, and she was talking about wanting freedom, and in her life, and I asked her, I said, you know, what do you what do you want to do with that free time? She said, I don't know, like, wake up and, and exercise when I want, you know, just do things on my own schedule. I saceur is the point like, What? What's stopping you from doing that right now? And she tells us, he goes, nothing, I guess, and I'm like, okay, you know, what, that's often that's often the thing that we find. And we talk about these things that we want to do. And the first question that's gonna come to your mind, is what's stopping you from from doing that thing. And you'll hear a lot of people say, money. And you'll hear a lot of people say, time, we've already talked about time, we know that time isn't the enemy, that the time is available, Unknown Speaker 6:41 the time is available for you, you've just got to make the decision, that that's what you want to do. And a lot of other people talk about money, you know, being in the way of what they want to do. And that's also simply not true. Because my guess is my question is, you say, first thing you say is Oh, money stopping me from doing what I want to do? And the first question that somebody got, gotta ask is, is that true? What How do you know? What have you found? That, you know, if it's money to stop me from what you want to do? My guess is that money is stopping you from the scaling up of the thing. Money stopped me from the scaling up in the thing, meaning? Maybe you've got an idea. Have you tested it? Have you put it to the market? Have you gone to the bank? Have you asked for a commercial loan? Have you looked for partners? Have you exhausted the truth of that statement of you know, what's stopping you from doing what you want to do? And you saying that it's money? Are you certain that the only way that your plan could ever happen is money my other than, then I would say that chances are, what it may be stopping you from is accelerating the process, accelerating the scale that you're trying to achieve or trying to get to, and you know, what you're trying to do and accomplish. And this was the other part of the conversation yesterday was like, when you go from one level of being a professional in the industry, in any industry, and you swap roles or, or you know, things that you're doing in life, then you're not going to be at the same level, there's a good chance, you're not going to get paid the same. And there has to be a willingness to, if that's what you say you want to do, there's got to be willingness for you to absorb that, and be doing what you say you want to be doing. Otherwise, chances are, we go regardless of how much you say, that may not be what you want to be doing. Right. And you can always be doing something, you can always feeling something to take slow and steady steps towards it again, the money is going to be the accelerant. And since we're, since we are, since we're spiritual beings living a physical life, I think that you know that intent and that fear, getting rid of that fear, Unknown Speaker 9:21 and starting to take steps into that space of the thing that you say you want to be doing. Unknown Speaker 9:29 Or you know, even aligning yourself spiritually. So the things that you are doing, will begin to change will begin to change the way you approach it. And so what does that mean? It means that again, once you start taking action towards the thing that you say that you want to be doing, it's kind of like this signal to the universe. You're sending out a signal regardless whether or not you think you are to the universe. Or even somebody else like sitting around and looked at and seeing you. You're signaling them, you know, so maybe you've got to take it from 100% exterior way of seeing things. And you feel that if people see you doing what you say that you Unknown Speaker 10:17 want to be doing, they will recognize it. And if you share it with them verbally, maybe they say, you know, yeah, Unknown Speaker 10:27 I've got somebody that you should talk to. Right? Or, you know, Hey, I know a guy that sits in the same industry, would you like to talk with them. And that happens in more ways than then then then acts your way. So if you see an exterior only, that's fine. You could do the same thing with just taking the actions and not even telling anybody else really what your intent is. And I promise you that the universe, the world, whatever is going to see your intent. And how does that how can you validate that for yourself? This is along the same lines of letting go. And it's, it's when you again, you start to start taking small, tiny steps that maybe other people aren't even going to recognize what it is that you're doing. And suddenly, you know, after you take this first couple of steps, you're going to recognize that a, Wow, you are taking steps. And that you can start working towards that thing you said you want to be working on. For me, it was the first the first podcast I did, as fatherhood for the rest of us. And, you know, it was it was just awesome, because like, I was really scared to start it. I didn't know how or what it was that I was doing. But as I began to do it, I began to learn more about learn the things that I didn't know, learn, learn that right, you begin to learn as you start to do, and, and then the resources of people that would reach out to me, because of what it was that I was doing in the industry that I was in, again, just simply podcasting in an industry that I was in an area space, that area that I was interested in, gave me confidence to reach out to people to say, Hey, I'm in the Dad, I'm a dad podcaster looks like your dad, he's off about being a dad, wherever you are. And he has some tips and tricks to help other fathers to be successful in fatherhood and in life. And that opens so many doors and the more people that I engaged, the more confident I became. And the same time more opportunities just started falling from the sky, like falling from the sky. Again, one of those that I can share I was being contacted by the state of North Carolina, who was I think they're working with students is working with either foster children or something else. And a big part of of that system. Is that fathers, fathers, fallouts, fathers aren't there and so, you know, makes it challenges the family life and then like, you know, at a certain point, these kids got to go be fostered. So I was being contacted to speak on that to help create a program. And so things like that would just kind of open up for themselves with simply because I was doing and following something that I was interested in and had had signal to the universe simply by stepping into that direction. Please show me and share opportunities that are in line with my my spiritual intent. And so my question again to you is what is it that may see your spirits saying, right from my friend she's wanting to Spain's you want to do or exercise? Have more of that in her life? And, you know, what would it look like? You know, what would it look like? Cast yourself what would a perfect day look like for you? plan it out, and go do it. Take that vacation days, go do that thing that you you say that you want to do and see That's your perfect like if you had the opportunity to do it for a week doing what what is that? You know, how does that look for you? How Unknown Speaker 15:08 does it actually feel to experiences and try it on you know, let your let your spirits say let your hearts follow your heart song is the lose debut I had with Tom Cat shoe was was released, check out him and his content with you talking about involving your heart song. He went from being a lawyer to a therapist to use kind of this holistic energy, spiritual author and coach and therapist and bringing all these pieces into his own practice. Now I stress the word practice, because these things are something that you never do you never finish it. You never and this type of search or goal seeking or living way of life and feeling, feeling your bliss. So yeah, make the time for it. Like I said, the BJJ for today's today's thing is you're making that time for the thing that you said it's important to you kind of brushing off the excuses. That that you're suppressing, if so, you're essentially you're suppressing yourself from having the life that you say you want, and there's nobody else that's that's keeping you from it. And, and once you once you make that time, and once you take a couple of those steps, and once you see this evidence of it, I promise you that you'll have at least that experience of of having that time for yourself and doing that thing that you said you wanted to do. And having that heart song, and feeling and following your bliss and feeling feeling into it and experiencing it. And once you kind of had that experience, I don't think that you can quite ever look back. That's it for the BJJ report. If you're enjoying this podcast if you're enjoying the guest please go to good iTunes and leave a review shoot me an email Brandon at spiritual dope.co if you've got a topic that you want me to hit on, in particular, and from any angle, let me know Susan do an email like Hey, what do you think about this? And how does this line up into spirituality? If you've got some questions, happy to attempt to answer them from from my perspective, but a lot of this happens through dialogue through questions through comments and questions. So take it easy. Thanks for listening. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Jason Bay is Chief Prospecting Officer at Blissful Prospecting. He helps reps and sales teams who love landing big meetings with prospects—but hate not getting responses to their cold emails or feeling confident making cold calls.JB:Cold outreach is such a scary things for reps to do.  Getting your team bought-in to cold outreach.  So much of that comes down to your mindset, so you can feel confident in your outreach, knowing you’re actually adding value and reaching quality prospective buyers. Prospecting is a hard thing to get over regardless of where you’re at in your sales career. How did you get to this point? And how do we help people get in the right mindset to be comfortable prospecting?  JBay:Emails you don’t know where it goes or what happens. Cold calling 95% of the time people don’t pick up! Started sales journey selling house painting services door to door. 18 - college - studying to become forensic scientist- lots of CSIHad a friend that intro’ed him to College Painting BusinessSURPRISE → you’re going door to doorI didn’t know what sales wasI ended up being really good at it but never struggled, I was really nervous to go door to door, I had never painted a house before.Was in hometown of Brookings OR had 120-130 people to sign up for estimates first weekend Closed $10K in paint jobs first week and found out I LOVE salesGot into sales by accident, but didn’t really struggle with it much at first. Where I struggled was at teaching people how to do it JB: As you grew into teaching people about sales, where did you find early sellers struggled the most? JBAY:Becoming a manager and many of these college students had no interest in actually being in sales. Many used this as an internship to get experience for a future job.The toughest thing at first; Let’s talk about What Sales Is & What it isn't?The fear of being pushy, talking a lot, making them uncomfortableMANY PEOPLE PROJECT THE BAD EXPERIENCES THEY'VE HAD WITH SALES IN TO WHAT SALES ISYou have to convince the new sellers, just because someone doesn’t SEE they need something, doesn’t mean if presented different evidence, they may realize there’s a problem.What’s the difference between pointing out a problem and HELPING PEOPLE trying to be a super hard closer?We are going to tell this person they don’t need our service and if they want to buy, that’s on them!Companies with fresh BDRs & SDRs that think it sounds so cool being in salesLet’s talk about what sales is and understand the mental game where you get hung up, because you feel like you’re doing something dirty.  JB: That story you tell yourself is so important to sustaining in sales over the long-term. Where do managers struggle to get their reps to prospect? JBAY:Anytime you’re teaching/coaching someone to do something, your blind spots will be those things that come naturally to you. If you were good at building pipeline and prospecting, you’re probably not going to focus on that. Getting managers to see their biggest strengths will probably be their biggest weaknesses across the teamSDR managers who don’t know how to cold call, they are trying to get their team to buy into something that they don’t know how to doThe player/coach thing doesn’t work out too well. Most managers don’t even have time to coach. Make cold calls with your team. Get on a Zoom call and make cold calls with the team to train them!As a manager, you don’t need to be the best prospector on your team, but you need to be proficient at the job. The best thing I did between my first and second year - was sometimes me going 0/3, then 2nd year I went ahead to CRUSH it. If I don’t show them success, they won’t believe it can work. I am going to show them success so they see what it looks like and they believe it! JB: It is easy for managers to get so far away from the job and many managers struggle to allocate their time to coaching reps. Getting reps to have that power of belief is so critical.  How do you balance showing someone what to do and being a super rep vs. letting the leash out for them? JBAY:Confidence is 80% of the game in sales, especially prospecting. If the prospect doesn’t hear the conviction and belief. That conviction that I can help you and if nothing else I know you can spend 20-30 minutes with me and it’ll be worth the prospect's time. Some people may say you rob them of their learning, but they need to see success.Coaching is not an all or nothing thing. Why? What? How?Why- theory, psychology behind it, old way vs. new way -- Maybe with your intro we need the prospect talking within the first 10-15 seconds because the sooner they are engaged, the betterWHAT? Use a permission based contract early onHOW? Maybe doing a couple quick examples for them.  Sales can be compartmentalized. Could look at Starting a demo call, set an agenda and purpose. Now you can be looking for the part that we’ve identified and they can be ready for it You can still do stuff for people and make it a coaching moment, but you’ve got to give them the WHY, WHAT & HOW! Salespeople are incredibly resourceful, if you never tell them why it works, you are robbing the system from any possible improvement. Sometimes too many people focused on the WHY - but no HOW to actually do it. Individualized for the rep and doesn't have to be all or nothing! JB: Without bringing the WHY to the coaching and selling, it gets really boring after awhile.  JBAY: Personal trainer - more like a coach - I show you what it looks like then ask you to correct your own form by looking in the mirror. It’s pretty common sense when we start talking about it. We make it a lot more complicated than it actually needs to be. Managers probably weren’t taught how to teach or how to coach.  JB: How do you coach or train reps to bounce back after the tough days or weeks? JBAY:Compartmentalize What can you control? What can’t you control?Personal Trainer example- how do you wrap up your self-esteem in the things you can drive success towards and find victories in. You want your self-esteem wrapped more around doing the things you said you were going to do vs. looking at the skill. Focus on the habits. If I do the right things the result will happen at some pointDis-attach yourself from the result and the outcomePsychology technique- Pattern Interruption- hear about it a lot in sales, but this is to do it to yourself4 Parts - Upper Left - IDENTIFY THE PATTERN (I make cold calls, don’t set meetings and get bummed) Upper Right - PINPOINT THE TRIGGER (get really specific here, block of cold calls for an hour, bummed out. What environment am I in? What do you feel physically? The story you tell yourself?)  DERAIL AND REPLACE (How I feel is that I’m not good at this thing.  Diffusion is not to ignore it, and acknowledge it) PRACTICE & REPEAT - make it a habit!John Jones- UFC/MMA - was lightweight champion - was fighting at 205lbs now going to 265lbs, HUGE jump. Wants to fight Francis Nganno - this guy is a human Hulk.  Ask John, Are you scared?  YES I AM scared, I am comfortable with the worst case scenario he, might knock me out or break my jaw.  Take the worst case scenario and become really comfortable with it. Then you can derail the negative talk, have some RADICAL Acceptance for the worst case scenario. Maybe make the calls from outside the office, do it somewhere else, shake it up and do something totally different.  What am I telling myself when I’m struggling? JB: How do you manage Mental health in sales? JBAY:Atomic Habits- James ClearThe #1 thing you can do is change your identity and who you are up stairs mentallySmoking cigarettes- someone offers you a cigarette - “I’m trying to quit” = that story is you are a smoker vs. “I don’t smoke” changes your identityYou have to realize how I feel about stuff is important and how you think about it and identify as a mentally healthy personStudies of Blue Zones - where people live to 90-100+ years. One of the biggest things is they have a strong community with a sense of purpose! Longevity studies point to the mental part of the community is what helps them live longerYou are taking YEARS off your life if you don’t take care of your mental healthIn sales, the only thing you can control is the inputs. At the end of the day the prospect is the one that gets to decide if they take the meeting or make the purchaseMental health needs to be part of your identity, Jim Rohn- You are the product of the 5 people you spend the most time with we are chameleonsUncrushed.org Find people talking about mental health in sales JB: Mental health in sales is a struggle and challenge. I’ve been going to see my therapist more to give me space to talk out loud about my own shit. The downward spiral is the easy place to be and it takes some real effort to break out of that. JBAY: If you don’t prioritize something in your life, and prioritize people that prioritize the same things you do, it’s going to be a struggle. Crabs in a bucket- when one crab is getting close to getting out of the bucket the other crabs pull it down. The one hack, if you want to make something more of a priority, surround yourself with more people that value that same thing. It makes it easy. Biggest key with habit building, lots of people talk about discipline. Discipline to me isn’t about making the “right” choice in the moment, it’s about REMOVING CHOICES and making it HARD TO DO THE WRONG THING.If you can remove the bad decisions so they aren’t easy because you only have so much will powerHow do I make it easy to do the right thing? How do I orchestrate my life and my workflow so doing the right thing is easier than doing the hard thing.  JB: This is the stuff I wasn’t trained on in school and making it an identity of the type of person I am and clear your environment of the things you want to avoid, it makes it so much easier!Top traits and characteristics in sales leaders you’ve worked with? JBAY: Empathy, not just talking about it but really sit in their reps feelings and take a chance to empathizeEmpathy is #1 skill in sales and leadership!Empathy is a skill that you can work on and build. I didn’t have a lot of it until I started going to therapy JB: It’s very hard to empathize with anyone else if you hadn’t dug into your own stuff. Do you Love winning or hate losing more? JBAY: I love winning! I can get over losing pretty quickly, but making that $$, getting some cheddar.  I love that! JB: What does success mean to you? JBAY: I think it’s totally different to everyone with their own definition of successIt starts with understanding. What do I value in life?Work/life balance. I don't’ want to work more than ~40 hours a weekCan we make the income that we want and do something that I enjoy and spend quality time with my family wife and dog, parents, brother, sister, in-laws. Not about the hustle pornI love what I do for workKNOW WHAT YOU WANT AND BE ABLE TO GO AFTER THAT AND DO THAT JB: Joseph Campbell: “Follow Your Bliss”Blissful ProspectingResourcesFollow Jason Bay on LinkedIn

Scott Miller: Sponsorship (Why? What & How?)

What + How: Conditioner: On the second episode of the What + How series, we're discussing conditioner! What is conditioner and the different types, how to use it, and recommendations. New episodes every other Monday!

We can't wait to travel again! Looking back on this episode really makes you want to hit the road. Jeremy Larsen is an American currently living in Japan but he's traveled the world. Jeremy started the 70-130 project (the “perfect” blood sugar range) to show that type 1 diabetes shouldn’t hold anyone back from travel. In 2017 he came back to the states to do a national parks trip and now he blogs and posts videos over at T1D Wanderer. This interview with Jeremy took place in October 2015. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Episode Transcription Stacey Simms  0:00 This episode of Diabetes Connections is brought to you by inside the breakthrough, a new history of science podcast full of did you know? stuff.   Announcer  0:13 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  0:19 Welcome to a classic episode of Diabetes Connections. I'll be so glad to have you along, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. These classic episodes are a chance to revisit episodes that aired in the first and second year of the podcast, when frankly, we didn't have quite as many listeners. And it's always fun to go back and check in with these folks. I spoke to Jeremy Larsen, back in 2015, he has traveled the world and he is currently living in Japan as he was when I first spoke to him. He started a project that he called 7130, the perfect quote unquote, blood sugar range to show that type 1 diabetes shouldn't hold anybody back from travel. Jeremy was diagnosed with type one when he was nine years old. And he says he got the travel bug from his parents and he's from America. He's an American citizen living abroad. And he says he spent a lot of his childhood seeing the US from the back of the family car. He has been all over the world. And you can see from his many, many videos, where he usually shows his blood sugar talks about his management, he's far from a perfect guy. That's not the point. He says, as you'll hear, it's more just about getting out there and living well. With type one little bit more on Jeremy is doing these days. I'll catch up in just a moment. But first, this episode of Diabetes Connections is brought to you by insight the breakthrough, a new history of science podcast created by Simon Simon is a group of Canadian researchers dedicated to changing the way we detect treat and even reverse type two diabetes. The latest episode features the question does snake oil actually contain snakes, it's a look into how this phrase snake oil came to be. And it was kind of surprising. It's a little gross. But it's also very interesting. I got a sneak peek of this show at the beginning of the year. I love it. I've subscribed to it. I listened to every episode. They're all terrific circuitry inside the breakthrough wherever you found this podcast. And if you're listening through the website or on social media, there is a link to inside the breakthrough at Diabetes connections.com. And this podcast, as you know is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. When I reached out to Jeremy Larsen back in 2015, he was because I was just really intrigued by his Twitter feed. He was traveling all over the place. And he was always showing his blood sugar. And he had interesting stories about everything that you would we would expect, right finding insulin language barriers. We talked about that a little bit, you know, talking about what sang type 1 diabetes in different languages. He was just as fascinating to talk to him as I had hoped. And we actually connected again a couple of years later, he did a huge road trip across the USA in 2017. Going to different national parks. I think he talks about that in this interview that he was planning that and when I caught up to him recently, he said hey, I'm actually still in Osaka, Japan still teaching although we're watching the Coronavirus numbers with concerning the canceled big Amtrak travel plans last year he has been biking to and from work every single day. And he has a big YouTube channel. So I will link to that now as well. So you can check out what he's been up to. One more quick thing I need to let you know, my intro to this interview. Initially, the beginning of my talking had a lot of music under it. I did things a little differently back in 2015. So it'll be really weird. If I play that now. It'll sound odd. So I will just set it up to tell you that at this point. Jeremy is talking to me from Japan. I am in North Carolina. And I'm starting out by mentioning the time zones here. I thank him for joining me today. Or maybe it's tonight.   Jeremy Larsen  3:57 Tonight, my time early morning, your time.   Stacey Simms  4:00 Let's start. When you were diagnosed, you were a kid you were living in the United States. You grew up in the southeast. How old were you when you were diagnosed?   Jeremy Larsen  4:10 I was nine. And I was living in Augusta, Georgia. I don't remember a lot about it, except that my parents say I was laying around on the couch a lot and had no energy and all that kind of stuff. drinking a lot of water going to the bathroom a lot. I think it was the lack of energy that really, really concerned them. And as I recall it, and I was only nine I'm not sure how accurate This is. But I recalled that they took me to the hospital on December 24. I know it was December 19 just a few days before Christmas. And I don't remember exactly what happened. But remember somebody probably my dad saying that you might have diabetes. And I had heard that word. I knew it was something but I didn't really know what it was right. So I was in the hospital for several days, you know, and of course it was diabetes. And I remember them saying The doctors were real good, never saying they weren't sure I was going to get out for Christmas morning. But they were trying to do that. And I didn't really care. I just wanted to get better. And finally, they let me get out on December 24. So I actually went home and had some kind of Christmas morning the next morning. So that's kind of all I remember, I remember a few things from the hospital, but it was just basically pretty, probably the pretty standard story from back then.   Stacey Simms  5:28 Yeah, when you're nine years old, you kind of just want to get back to your, your friends. And if you play sports, and just doing what you want to do.   Jeremy Larsen  5:36 I remember some of my friends at school had given like, Christmas presents to each other, and somebody had given me a box and I had like a giant candy cane in it. And I was kind of looking forward to getting back to that. And my parents had thrown it out about that.   Stacey Simms  5:51 Do you remember kind of life changing quite a bit? Or did your parents treat this as Okay, we're just going to go on, as we did before with diabetes?   Jeremy Larsen  5:59 No, that's exactly how it was. They just, they were really great. They were obviously very concerned and everything, but um, they kind of presented a just Well, that's how it is kind of face to me. And that's just how it was. I don't really remember a difference. I don't remember what life was like before it. You know,   Stacey Simms  6:18 we're going to talk a lot about travel today. Did you have that bug as a kid? Did you travel with your parents a lot?   Jeremy Larsen  6:24 Yeah, that's where it started. I don't I wouldn't say I had the bug. But we lived. I grew up in Nashville. Actually, I just moved to Augusta when all this happened. But when I lived in Nashville, Tennessee, and when I got when I lived in Augusta, we would take these long car trips once or twice a year down to Sarasota, Florida. And you know, especially from Nashville, that's whatever it is 12 or 14 hours, we do it one straight shot. So it was me and my sister and my parents, and we would just spend me and my sister in the backseat playing games and looking at license plates and all that kind of fun stuff. And we just got used to sitting for long periods of time and watching the world go by and we drove all around. We drove around the Mississippi once and just long, long car trips. I think that's where it started.   Stacey Simms  7:10 It's funny, you mentioned the license plate game and things like that, because I travel a lot with my kids who drive with the car, but they've got their movies in their iPads and they don't. I hope they look out the window sometimes.   Jeremy Larsen  7:19 I don't think they do. I still play the license plate game when I'm driving around America.   Jeremy Larsen  7:25 But you don't know,   Jeremy Larsen  7:26 Wyoming.   Stacey Simms  7:28 But you don't live in America anymore. How did you get to Japan?   Jeremy Larsen  7:32 Well, I had only I was still living in America. And I'd only left. The United States once now was for a month in Scandinavia. And that was a lot of fun just backpacking around, you know,   Stacey Simms  7:42 did you go by yourself?   Jeremy Larsen  7:43 Were you with friends? Yeah, by myself. Yeah. And that was just just kind of learning how to travel, how to be outside the US and how to find trains and how to find accommodation and stuff. And it was a lot of fun. But then I was back in the US. And I was working in Augusta, actually in Aiken, South Carolina. And I started I don't know what the thing what made me do this. But I started realizing I can I could not even not only travel overseas, I could live overseas somewhere. And I thought, well, how would I do that? So I started looking at websites and stuff. And I found that you could teach English. And you didn't really need any special qualifications depending on the country. There's a lot of different countries you could do it in. So I decided to go to Chile, because I was pretty good at Spanish in high school in college. And I still remembered most of it. So that I go to Chile, I'll be a teacher. And it turns out you had to have a teaching certificate or some kind of degree or something for GLA Chilean government's rules. So looked around. And then I kind of settled on either Japan or Korea because they had a good reputation for having a lot of jobs. And you didn't need special qualifications. And the salaries were pretty good even for introductions, introductory teachers. And then Korea kind of had a bad reputation. I don't want to smear Korea because I don't actually know they had a bad reputation for some of the schools didn't pay on time or wouldn't pay in Japan had no such reputation. Everybody thought Japan was pretty good. So. So I actually, I applied through a website to one of the big companies here in Japan and they flew I flew up to Toronto to have a an interview. And they hired me and a few months later, I came to Osaka for one year. My plan was one year, maybe two and that ended up being four years. And then I left Japan after four years went traveling a little bit and then I came back to Japan. I've been here another four years. That's where I am now.   Stacey Simms  9:40 What do you like about it? I mean, did you enjoy teaching or do you just like being in Japan?   Jeremy Larsen  9:44 My mother always told me that I should be a teacher and I always thought she was crazy because I never did anything like that. Like I was in I worked in newspapers I worked in like graphics and stuff like that. And just because that's what you do if you want to move here I started teaching English and it turns out I do I get it's, it's not really why I'm staying here. But it is fun. It's very, it's like, you know, most people have desk jobs where they just sit around and they're on a computer all day. But my job was just talking to people. And it's really a lot of fun for that. So the reason I stayed was kind of, it's just, to me, it's like traveling every day a little bit. Because as I don't read Japanese that well, I don't I'm not actually that good in Japanese, despite my time here. So whenever time every time I like walk down the street here, everything's kind of weird and new to me, still, it's still that way. And that's what I like about like a little sense of, I don't quite know what's going on. So I have to fight to you know, make my own way here. And I'm kind of used to it but still, it's it's an odd place to be. It's the people like me who thrive here are generally people who are probably more loners, or they probably, they just enjoy, they enjoy the challenge of trying to figure things out.   Stacey Simms  11:00 It must be just so fascinating, as you say, to feel like you're traveling every day. But we haven't really mentioned type 1 diabetes. Tell me a little bit about how you do it. Especially let's let's back way up. Tell me about your first trip that month of backpacking. It seems like this is second nature to you now, how did you prepare? And what do you do when you travel?   Jeremy Larsen  11:22 Um, it's kind of funny when I look back on my life, like because I was diagnosed at nine when I think of, you know, the rest of elementary school and junior high school high school, I don't really remember diabetes, like in high school, I don't remember if I took shots to school and took them or if I just took regular in the morning, I don't know what it was. Because I just had like a regular life. And I always, almost always tried to maintain diabetes, but I didn't really it wasn't like a huge, huge, huge thing. It was just something to deal with. You know, when I was in Scandinavia, all I really remember is that I had my glucose machine. And I was on human log and probably NPH. Yeah, human organ NPH at that time, and it was insulin pen with replaceable cartridges. That's what I was using. And I just, it was only a month. So I knew exactly how much I knew about how much I would need. And I made sure the doctor gave me probably two or three times that amount just to be careful, you know, right. And I kept it in a cooler pack, and just carried it around with me. I remember I carried a an empty Coke, coke bottle like an empty plastic bottle. And I would put my used strips and needles in it. Just carry them around month. And it got like all this bloody water and stuff. I remember crossing over from Sweden and Norway by train and some lady came by to check passports and stuff. And she saw that she just looked at it and didn't seem to care. Put it back in my bag. Sorry. But that's got to be the most suspicious thing she's seen all day. Exactly. As long as you have enough supplies, and all I have is insulin and blood sugar machine and strips. Just make sure I have enough I keep them in a couple different places like two different bags in case something happens to one. So it's not ever been in problem. Really.   Stacey Simms  13:09 You know, it's interesting to hear you speak about it. Because you're very low key about this. Obviously, you're taking care of yourself. You're doing what you need to do. But this I like that you don't remember what you did in high school to me that shows Hey, it's just life. We're getting through it. I mean, I don't remember all the stuff I did in high school. I don't have diabetes, it's just the way it seems to go for you. Is that attitude? You think something that is important as you live now in Japan?   Jeremy Larsen  13:31 Yeah, I think so. Again, it never really comes up here. Actually, the real I don't exactly know why. But I think one of the reasons and I don't know how cool of a story this is, but it is true. When I was in the hospital, and when I first got diagnosed, I remember you know, it's kind of a heavy atmosphere, like you've got diabetes a little bit. And I remember the doctors saying a couple times, well, you have diabetes, and that's not good. But the kid in the next room, he's got leukemia. Oh, geez. And another word I had heard that I didn't know what it was. And they explained that's much, much, much worse, you know? And I kind of think maybe because I eventually learned what leukemia was. And I kind of think maybe that's what gave me my outlook on diabetes. Like it could be much, much worse.   Stacey Simms  14:18 I think it's fascinating. You know, I'd love to talk to more people about their first impressions because I think it's very important. I don't doubt that that did affect you. When we were in the hospital with my son. There was a nurse who came by she wasn't our nurse. My son was not yet two years old when he was diagnosed, and we didn't know we were doing well. But what is this what's gonna happen? And she came in and she has type one, she was pregnant with her second child. And she said, I just wanted to come in and tell you everything's gonna be great. life's gonna be good. They told me I couldn't have kids. Here I am with my second. Don't baby Your son, get out of the hospital have a great life. You know, see you later. And it affected us to the point where we thought Oh, great. Look at that. I think if we had let ourselves kind of wallow in the world. mean nothing's going to be good ever again, it would have changed. But this great nurse came by and said, Dad, come on, it's gonna be okay. It really   Jeremy Larsen  15:06 a lot of people do follow it and they don't have anybody like that. And I think that sets them on a bad course this isn't a bad attitude. You know,   Stacey Simms  15:13 I think we were extremely lucky. So, Jeremy, now that you have traveled and you have traveled extensively, you started at really interesting project that I want to talk about. And that is how I saw you on on Twitter, this is your your Twitter handle and tell me about 7130. What is this all about?   Jeremy Larsen  15:36 7130 rows, really, because those are the numbers that the American Diabetes Association recommends for pre meal blood sugars,   Jeremy Larsen  15:47 right, that's the   Jeremy Larsen  15:48 best range, the best range for generally speaking, I think 70 is a little bit low for me personally, but that's what they say. So it's got a good ring to it. 7130. What happened is I knew another diabetic type one diabetic, and he didn't take care of his, I guess he took insulin a little bit, but he didn't. Like he got sick one night, like he felt really bad. And he called his father who is a physician. And he said, I feel really bad. And his father said, Well, can you check your blood sugar? And he said, No, I don't have any I don't own a machine. And I heard this story. And I mean, whatever that story is worked out. Alright. But I thought, and he's had a couple surgeries for like, diabetic retinopathy and stuff like that. Wow. I thought why do people do that? Why do people just not accept it like it life is so much better, if you take a few seconds, every, every few hours, whatever it is, check your blood sugar and try to get it right, you know, it's gonna be real high and low sometimes, but just try to try to learn more, you know, the the psychological barrier that some people have not being able to face, it is very unhelpful, and what 7130 is really to me, for one thing, it's way for me to brag about the traveling, I do, and I like that. And I like blogging and stuff, but um, it's a way to show people that you can go anywhere, diabetes doesn't have to hold you back. And if you watch your blood sugar, and really like, you know, accept diabetes, except that you have diabetes, and that's just how it is. And it's not that big a deal. It's not that hard. It doesn't always make sense. But it's a pretty simple process to take care of it. If you do that, you're more likely to do fun things, you're more likely to whatever your thing is, if it's traveling or if it's getting a certain kind of job or living in a certain place, or whatever it is you want to do sports or something like that. So it's really all about checking. I know a lot of people are, are knowing your blood sugar and maintaining, I know a lot of people are aching to find a cure, they just want to cure like I'm fighting to find a cure. And I like the work that people do, especially the jdrf. Like they all do really good work. But I think psychologically, I'm not so worried about a cure. If it comes, that's great. But there isn't one now so I have to deal with it now.   Stacey Simms  17:58 And this 7130 project is a video project a picture project to where you're basically taking pictures of yourself in your meter, whatever the number is, and sharing them what's what is the reaction been? I love the videos. I think they're they're really fun. And a lot of times, almost all the time you have a pretty good number, do you I shouldn't get ahead of myself here. But do you wait till you have a good number to stick it in the video?   Jeremy Larsen  18:23 It depends on which one it is there's different things. There's one I did called Osaka A to Z. The point of that one was I made a list of 26 places around Osaka This is while I was living here working so I couldn't be traveling. I was kind of stuck here. So I made a list of 26 places around Osaka from A to Z and I went to each one I took a picture of my blood sugar machine. And those I did do some cheating on if my blood sugar wasn't good. I would I would drink juice or take some insulin and wait a little bit or I just pull up a fake number. You would not? I would Yes. Because the point was the finished product. So I had like all these I think yes 26 places and I think they were all between 7130 that was the point right? After I did that I thought that what happened was the feedback I got from people people said they liked it and found it inspiring that I was getting out to these places and stuff. But people were saying how's your blood sugar always perfect like that. And I kind of realized was kind of annoying because it's not even true. So the next one or one of the reasons I did was when I was in Europe for four months, I just said well whatever it is, this is what it is. And I'm gonna go to the top of this hill in Budapest and take a video or picture and whatever it is when I get there that's the blood sugar but I'm still here and I'm trying to do my best with with my insulin and my food and exercise and everything and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work but I'm still here anyway.   Stacey Simms  19:46 I like those better because it's go right   Jeremy Larsen  19:49 just go right.   Jeremy Larsen  19:51 You can you can stay at home and have a blood sugar this 350 or you can be traveling through the Czech Republic now which is better.   Stacey Simms  19:58 What has surprised you With about traveling with diabetes and and living in Japan with diabetes, anything really surprised you?   Jeremy Larsen  20:05 While living here, the big difference between living here is how easy the healthcare system is. It's nothing like it is in America. And I remember we know when I was in America had insurance through my employer and all that, and the deductible and which doctor you can see and all that kind of stuff. None of that exists here. I pay monthly into the nationalized health surface health system, and I can go to any doctor, or they can write me a prescription, I can go to any pharmacy, everything's really like, the prices are all set. doctor visits are really cheap. And the insulin cost about the same as what it does in America. But it's just no worry. There's no health insurance worry.   Stacey Simms  20:43 It's fascinating, isn't it all the same supplies? I do have access to everything that you would have used in America.   Jeremy Larsen  20:49 Actually, somebody asked me today on Twitter, what kind of Insulet What kinds of insulin are popular here? And I didn't really know what to say cuz I only know what I use, which is human log and Lantus. Now, and those are actually manufactured for the Japanese market here, like my pins actually have are written in Japanese on the side. Oh, they're very, I mean, yeah, even if I go to a doctor, and then like a brand new doctor, and then they write a prescription and I go to the pharmacy next door, the pharmacy will probably have humalog and Lantus in the refrigerator there. And if not, they can get it within probably 1824 hours.   Stacey Simms  21:25 Have you ever been in a situation that you're traveling kind of led you to a difficult situation with diabetes, you have to forgotten a bag someplace?   Jeremy Larsen  21:37 Well, nothing like that nothing where I was just out of supplies and couldn't find any, because I'm so paranoid about it, that I always make sure something's gonna happen. I've like my longest trip so far was about 303 130, some days, but 11 months in Southeast Asia. And I took enough insulin with me for about maybe two or three months, so I had to buy it several times while I was on the road. And in those countries, like I was in, I ran out in Thailand. And I was in a small town in southern Thailand. And I thought, well, what am I going to do? And I went to the local like the prefecture or hospital, or whatever it was, and I talked to this doctor who spoke English for some reason. And she said, I said, I need a human log, just so you can't get human log here. You can get it. There's a private hospital over on the other edge of town, but it's whatever, like expensive was like $40, a pen or something like that for some reason. And I was really budget traveling, and I didn't have $40 for a pen. So she said, Well, you can buy this stuff called act rapid here. I said, What is it? She's Well, it's fast acting, it's probably good enough. And I said, Well, how much is it and she told me it was like dirt, dirt, dirt cheap. But it's a real kind of insulin. So I bought a bunch. And it was really cheap. And it was kind of a test. I said, if this works, okay, and if it doesn't work, I have to go home, back to Japan or something because I won't be able to continue this. I mean, if I can't find the insulin I need the trip is finished. And I have no problem with that. Because diabetes is priority number one. But it worked fine. And so I got lucky. So I had bought a bunch and I was good for another three or four months or something. And then I was in Cambodia. And I went to I was in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. And I needed some more insulin. And I knew in that region x rapid was most common. So I went to this pharmacy, I think it was like on August 31. Because they had pins, they had x rapid pins in the in the refrigerator, and to two boxes of five pins of 10 pins. So that's good for about three months or something. And I said, Great, I'll take them. And they said, Oh, and then I noticed the expiration date was that day, oh, these are expiring today. So I was kind of thinking he would go and go into the back and get some others, you know, right. And he me guy kind of looked at me. And he kind of lowered his voice and said, Would you take these for half price? And I said absolutely, I would. Again, it was just, I'll try it, you know, and those worked fine for the next three months. And just things like that. I've always, if I can't find what I need, I would cancel a trip. But that's only that's the closest it's come to happening. And that wasn't really a big problem. So I've been lucky or I just been careful.   Stacey Simms  24:26 I probably a little bit of both. I would think too. I mean, you know if you're packing that well, as you're traveling, and I think we also forget, diabetes is not an American experience. You can get flies around the world.   Jeremy Larsen  24:38 Right, right. Yeah, when I was crossing over from Cambodia and Vietnam, it was this strange little outpost of a border crossing and not many people used it and they were looking through my bags and stuff and they found a bunch of syringes and pens and stuff. And so what's all this and they didn't speak any English and I didn't speak any Vietnamese and it was kind of they were kind but they're they're friendly about it but there was obviously they weren't gonna let me through And finally I remembered I had a phrase book and I got it out and the word diabetes was in the phrase book. So I showed it to them showed him the Vietnamese version. And they all started like smiling going, Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. And they said, Well, you know, zipped up my bag and told me they told me to go ahead. Wow. So even even they were very, very suspicious. But as soon as they learned it was diabetes, they're like, fine, fine, fine. Go ahead.   Stacey Simms  25:22 That's great. Probably a better reaction to get from the TSA sometimes in this country.   Jeremy Larsen  25:27 But yes, hey, so   Stacey Simms  25:28 how I put you on the spot here. How do you say diabetes in Japanese?   Jeremy Larsen  25:33 diabetes is Tonio Bo, which means, I think it means urine sugar sickness. That's what they call it. Tonio Gill,   Stacey Simms  25:43 what's your advice for people who are worried about travel?   Jeremy Larsen  25:48 My advice is that almost all of the problems in the worry are psychological. And it has nothing to do with diabetes. I actually actually think to get a little philosophical about it for a second, I think diabetes is mostly a psychological condition. I mean, obviously, what it is, is an imbalance of sugar and glucose and insulin, yeah, take care of that, because you don't make your own insulin. But that's fairly simple. It doesn't always make sense. And like I checked my budget earlier today, and it was 360. I had no idea it was that I have no idea why. But it just happens. Like physically, it's easy to take care of, basically, you know, just balancing those two things, but all of the psychological worry, that's what takes a bigger toll. In some ways. Obviously, there are physical tools. But so when people are worried about doing anything, I understand the worry, because you're going to go to a strange place. You don't know what the food is, you don't know. Is there going to be like a refrigerator from insulin? Is there going to be what if I break my insulin pin? What How can I go to a clinic and buy a new one has all that work, but what I've found is that people will always help and there's no problem, there's not going to be any problems. People like health care as the same everywhere, no matter it might be good or bad quality, but the people behind it are the same everywhere. They want to help. And if they realize that you are if you can communicate somehow that you're diabetic, and you need this, you need that, they'll do something, something will work, you know. So I'd say just go, just don't worry about it. But you have to plan to make sure you have enough insulin and stuff if you don't feel like buying it overseas, but there's not much to really worry about. It's all in your head. That's kind of basically my advice. Diabetes is the same when you're in a little guesthouse in the middle of Laos, as it is when you're home, you still have to make sure that you had enough food and enough insulin and you have to check if you don't know and it doesn't really change when you're on the road.   Stacey Simms  27:39 What's next for you? You're in Japan right now. Are you planning any big trips are you going to stay there another four years,   Jeremy Larsen  27:46 not another four years.   Jeremy Larsen  27:49 Going back to Aiken   Jeremy Larsen  27:50 back to Aiken   Jeremy Larsen  27:53 would be an interesting change, I'd   Jeremy Larsen  27:54 love to visit Aiken. I don't know if I'm looking to move back to a   Stacey Simms  27:58 small town in South Carolina. I   Jeremy Larsen  28:00 should mention.   Jeremy Larsen  28:01 I just finished up a four month trip to Europe, which was a lot of fun kind of eastern and southern Central Europe. And then I was actually in the states for a couple months. And then I just came back here in April. So I'm kind of here. refilling my coffers. And teaching classes, you know, saving the next trip, which will probably I hope would start about a year from now. But I don't know Don't hold me to that. I would like to rent a car and just drive around the US for two or three months going to see the national parks.   Stacey Simms  28:33 Wouldn't that be great.   Jeremy Larsen  28:34 And I've seen some of them. And I've taken a few car trips across America with friends of mine, but I've missed a lot of like I saw the Grand Canyon, but I didn't see a lot of the great national parks Yosemite, I haven't seen Yellowstone, I haven't seen things like that. So I have a big list and have a big excel sheet with all of them. That would kind of be my next trip.   Stacey Simms  28:55 That sounds terrific. We did a small trip like that two years ago to the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon and Zion. And, um, we were really nervous about diabetes. And it worked out so well. And my takeaway from it has always been my son. We went on a mule ride on you know, we were we were all on the mules on in Bryce Canyon. And he was I want to say, seven or eight years old at the time. And I remember thinking, Okay, we're going to be in this mule for two to three hours. You know, what are we going to do? Go and logo and Hi, we weren't remote monitoring at the time. He wasn't even wearing a CGM. It worked out so well. We didn't worry about diabetes. We had a blast and the pictures from that trip. Were just incredible. And it was so much fun. So I love that idea of just realize that diabetes is the same whether you're in your house or you're on a mule in Bryce Canyon. It really is.   Jeremy Larsen  29:48 It's right.   Stacey Simms  29:49 Well, definitely keep in touch. This was really interesting. I'd love to talk to you again, especially if you wind up doing a trip to the States. That'd be great.   Jeremy Larsen  29:55 Yeah. Okay.   Stacey Simms  29:56 Gary, thank you so much for joining me.   Jeremy Larsen  29:58 Thank you very much. I enjoyed   Jeremy Larsen  30:05 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  30:11 Lots more information about Jeremy Larsen. You got to watch his YouTube channel. I didn't set up at Diabetes, Connections com. He also let me know that he's got a lot of videos from that park trip. He's in the process of uploading a lot of that stuff to YouTube. Apparently he's redone a lot of his social media and as many of us have since 2015. So that's getting uploaded. So please go ahead and check that out. And he said he has a few things up his sleeve for the next couple of months or years, you know, after Coronavirus passes in Japan, which if you go just as an aside, if you go to his website, and I watched a couple of the videos, it's been really interesting to see how Japan has handled Coronavirus. You know, of course, they have had far fewer cases in the US they handled the virus itself differently in terms of better masking and that kind of thing. But they have been slower on the vaccines. And Jeremy talks about the Japanese culture and kind of why that is they're really just getting the vaccines rolling out now several months after the US. It's just so interesting to get that perspective. Right. I mean, travel is the greatest thing you just learned so much. You opened your mind. I can't wait to travel. Alright, thank you so much for joining me a couple of really fun and interesting episodes coming up if I do say so myself. I'm not exactly sure which one I'm going to go with next week. Because as I'm speaking to you now, schedule is a bit up in the air but here's what's coming up. I have a roundtable on sleepaway camp. This is non diabetes sleepaway camp. So we're going to talk to two adults who went to this kind of Camp when they were kids to adults with type one and two parents. I'm one of the parents who have children with type one that they have sent to regular sleepaway camp and kind of how to do it and what you can expect that kind of thing. And we're also talking to the man who just set a record a brand new Feat. He ran from Disney to Disney. He ran from Disney Land in California to Disney World in Florida. I am still working out the logistics, but Don promised me months ago that we would talk so I'm hoping that will be the episode for next week. But that's really up to him and boy, if anybody deserves a rest and we can hop, it's him. Alright, thank you, as always to my editor John Bukenas fom audio editing solutions. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here next week. Until then, be kind to yourself.   Benny  32:29 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All rounds avenged

Nothing Is Real And This Is A Simulation or "NIRATIAS" is the first new album from Chevelle in 5 years.Will hardcore fans be happy? What took so long? What How the hell do you pronounce it? All the answers you need are this episode of DNM! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pastor Robert Rohlin celebrates his 40th anniversary of his ordination as a pastor by dealing with plumbing problems, computer problems, and logistical issues. Sometimes life becomes a trial- So it is appropriate that this message deals with the first command of the book of James -- -Count it supreme joy when you have trials-- What- How can you do that- What good comes of trials- These questions are answered in this life-essential lesson from God's Word. Pastor Robert Rohlin is the executive pastor at First Baptist Church Las Colinas, a family-integrated church in the Baptist Missionary Association. This church focuses on expository preaching to equip fathers to build strong families.

This is the first episode of the What + How series, where we talk about a certain product each episode, what it is, how to use it, and what to look for when finding the perfect product for you. This episode we/re discussing shampoo.   You can find black owned brands at https://www.mycurledcrown.com/blackhair 

Chris Stocker is a well-known voice from the early Diabetes Online Community, launching his blog about life with type 1 diabetes called Life of a Diabetic in 2007. In 2019, he stepped back a bit from the DOC with good reason: his daughter, four years old at the time, had just been diagnosed as well. Now, two years later, Chris is jumping back into the online community via Instagram and a YouTube channel. He talks to Stacey about what it's been like for his family to adjust to their new situation. He also has a great message for any men who live with T1D. In Tell Me Something Good, one of the scientists behind one of the COVID vaccine.. is one of us! And some new books are our for the littlest ones of us.. The Adventures of Captain Lantus Little Shots for Little Tots When I Go Low: A Diabetes Picture Book  Friends for Life information  This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android     Stacey Simms  0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health – manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen, the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom   Announcer  0:21 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  0:27 This week a well known voice in the early diabetes online community stepped back for a bit stopping his blog and his brand new podcast when his daughter at age four was diagnosed with type one herself.   Chris Stocker  0:39 Do you want to help me do it? Do you want to help me I you know decorate my infusion sets and things like that. So we shared those common bonds and that's how we looked at it from the day of diagnosis was Hey, you're like daddy now.   Stacey Simms  0:51 It's been two years since Chris Stocker’s  daughter's diagnosis, and he's jumping back into the online community. Chris shares his story as a dad of a child with T1Dwho lives with it himself in Tell me something good. One of the scientists behind one of the COVID vaccines is one of us and some new books for the littlest ones of us. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. We aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with an emphasis on people who use insulin aim host Stacey Simms, my son Benny was diagnosed with type one right before he turned to more than 14 years ago. My husband lives with type two diabetes. You know, I started blogging just after Benny's diagnosis. And that blog, which I eventually called off the dial led me to the DOC the diabetes online community at that time, and this is 2007. When I started, it was basically blogs and some online chat rooms. And you know, gradually social media exploded and everything changed to what it is now shorter posts, influencers, more podcasts, that sort of thing. The Twitter chat remains DSMA on Wednesdays, if you're not familiar with that, that is a 10 year old now more than 10 year old chat on Twitter, I'll put a link in the show notes, but it's just hashtag DSMA Wednesday evenings at 9pm. Eastern for anybody in the diabetes community we'd like to give it a plug it's not separated by type or if you're a parent or a person with type one. And that's one of the ways that I first remember meeting Chris stocker and it was great to talk to him this week for so many reasons, but it really brought me right back to those early days. You know, when we had diabetes blog we can you know, to feel like we're finding all these really to me amazing, cool people in my computer, which depending on your age, either sounds ridiculous or you know, right on you, you know what I'm talking about. But before we get to Chris, I do want to share a Twitter post that I was tagged in this is self serving, but I just I have to share it. A gentleman named Hugh Stimson retweeted my episode release about Lily and Ypsomed and my conversation with with Mike Mason from Lilly diabetes all about that. And he wrote, “I wish political journalists asked follow up questions, the way Stacey Simms asks health device executives follow up questions.” Whew. Thank you so much for writing that. It's hard to describe what that means to me. And and compliments are always nice. But that right there is why I started the show back in 2015. I would listen to podcasts. And I'd be yelling back at the hosts, I'd be asking my own questions. I'd be like, follow up on that. He didn't ask. You know, look, radio people are interesting. And well, I am really glad to be built like this. It is an odd thing sometimes. But I'm glad it came in handy. I'm glad it helped. And I'm really glad that you feel like I'm doing a service by asking those questions and trying, you know, sometimes we don't get answers, but you got to ask. So thanks again. I really appreciate it. All right, Chris Stocker  in just a moment. But first, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health. And you know, one of the things that makes diabetes management difficult for us. It just really annoys me and annoys Benny, it isn't actually the big picture stuff. It is all the little tasks adding up, you know, are you sick or running out of strips? Do you need some direction or encouragement going forward with your diabetes management with visibility into your trends help you on your wellness journey? The Dario diabetes success plan offers all of that and more. No more waiting in line at the pharmacy. No more searching online for answers. No more wondering about how you're doing with your blood sugar levels, find out more go to mydario.com forward slash Diabetes Connections. Chris Stocker’s  blog back in the day was called life of a diabetic and he wrote about everything from his diagnosis as a college student in 2009. To Day in the Life stuff to product reviews to what dragged him down and made him mad and what lifted him up. When his oldest daughter was diagnosed just before she turned four. Chris felt like he had to pull back and face this challenge before venturing back online in such a public way. But he never really left the community. And I think dads and men with type one as you listen, there is really great advice here for you in terms of support and asking for help. Chris, welcome to the show. I'm excited to talk to you. I feel like we have talked before, but it's only been on Twitter and Social Media. Thanks for jumping on.   Chris Stocker  5:19 No problem. I'm definitely happy and honored to be a guest here.   Stacey Simms  5:24 Well, you're a podcast pro and a YouTube Pro. So this should be fun. But we do have a lot to talk about. Let's just start at the beginning for you. Because your diagnosis story happened when you were in college. Right? You were 19. Tell us about that.   Chris Stocker  5:35 Yeah. So I was I was a freshman in college, I was playing football at King's College up in Wilkes Barre, and the season was over. And I just was I was working out I was losing a ton of weight. I was drinking a lot of Gatorade and water. So I was urinating quite frequently. And I just thought I was losing weight because I was working out. And then this one night, I didn't have an appetite. I started getting sick all day long. And I ended up in the emergency room with 858 blood sugar.   Stacey Simms  6:05 What year was that? If you don't mind me asking.   Chris Stocker  6:07 That was in 2000. Wow. 2004.   Stacey Simms  6:10 What was the diagnosis process? Like? Did they you as a young adult like that? Did they believe you had type one? Was it an okay, diagnosis?   Chris Stocker  6:17 Yeah, it was. I honestly don't remember too much of it. Because I was kind of in in like a foggy state. My mom has worked at a hospital for almost 40 years. She took me to her hospital. So of course, we got the VIP treatment went right into the ER. And, you know, they took labs, and immediately The doctor came in and was like, You have type 1 diabetes. So there was no real question or debating anything whatsoever. Then I remember seeing the on site endocrinologist, probably I think it was that night. This was probably around 2am. So yeah, there was no discussion ever about whether it was type one or or another type of diabetes.   Stacey Simms  6:56 And what did they start you want? You immediately put on? I think 2004 elantas was around for adults, but not necessarily for kids. Like what what was your beginning entry into diabetes tree?   Chris Stocker  7:07 Yes, my very first night home, I can remember almost exactly the ratios and everything. I was taking 14 units Atlantis at night, the carb ratio was about 51 to 5015 to one. And that was Yeah, I was on lantis. And I think I started on probably either human log or no blog at that time. I can't remember that. But I didn't know anything about pumps or was never even brought up to me at that point in 2004. Either.   Unknown Speaker  7:36 Did you go back to college,   Chris Stocker  7:37 I I was not able to go back to King's College at that time. So I stayed home for a year I went to community college. And then I got this bright, awesome idea that I wanted to go to college away from Pennsylvania. And so I decided to go to Boca Raton, Florida and finish up school at Florida Atlantic University. So not only was I only a year or so maybe a year and a half, after diagnosis, I was then telling my mom that I was going about 1200 miles away to go to college. So it was definitely a rough conversation to have with her for sure.   Stacey Simms  8:15 Okay, well, it is sometime later, let's say right, it's, you know, we know you did pretty well in college, I assume. Can you give us parents the reassurance that you know, you You did? Okay, and that was the right move for you?   Chris Stocker  8:27 Yes, I mean, it definitely forced me to really grow up pretty quickly. I mean, I was 20 by the time I went there, but I was a little bit more mature than a lot of my, you know, my roommates and a lot of my classmates, because I was managing this disease pretty much by myself. I had no family, no friends down there. So it was really it was on me, I was in constant communication with my diabetes educator up here in Pennsylvania. So I was able to communicate via email with them quite often. So you know, there were some times where I had some pretty high blood sugars. I did actually end up at the ER one night, because I was getting my insulin through the school on campus pharmacy, which was not open on the weekends. And I thought that I could go from Saturday afternoon till Monday morning with just about 10 units of insulin which I use in one meal. So I actually ended up in the ER, I had met my girlfriend who's now my wife down there. And this was all new to her too. And she ended up taking me to the hospital and think I was probably up in the five 600 range. And then that was an interesting phone call to my mother as well. Who at that time, then flew down and did the motherly thing and came down and spent a few days down there with me.   Stacey Simms  9:49 I'm wondering though, I mean, my kids, my daughter's in college far away. Then he is a sophomore in high school and we're starting to talk about college and I've told him you know, you can go wherever you want. I'd love for him to stay next year. We're at least in this state, but I doubt that he will. I'm curious looking back What made you want to go so far away? I mean, do you feel I don't wanna put words your mouth I wonder like, did you want to prove something to yourself? Did you just love that school always wanted to go to Florida like why from there's so many great schools in that Pennsylvania northeast corner?   Chris Stocker  10:16 The weather? Yeah. Yeah. So I was playing football. I played football my whole life. I was playing football, I kings, I actually left the football team because I had no energy. I couldn't I didn't want to work out anymore. Later to find out that that was diabetes related. And I just said, You know what, like, I don't wanna play football anymore. I just want to go somewhere that's totally different than than where I grew up. I love Pennsylvania. I'm actually back here now. But I wanted to go somewhere totally different. And I started looking at colleges. I'd always wanted to go to UNC Greensboro. I don't know why, but I always wanted to go there. And I started looking online. And one day I was watching a tennis tournament, and Andy Roddick was my favorite tennis player and it popped up that he lived in Boca Raton. So I went on the internet, looked up colleges in Boca Raton, I found Florida Atlantic and I fell in love with their website. So I always used to joke that I have Andy Roddick to thank for meeting my wife. Even though I've never met Andy Roddick, and Andy Radek has no idea who I am.   Stacey Simms  11:22 Well, you wouldn't be the first to go to college because somebody either lived in that town or went to that town that you admired. But that's a great story. I love it. I want to talk about the diabetes online community, you were a very big part of this. You still are. But there was this time when there were so many bloggers and we were all just finding each other on Twitter. But I at first like to skip ahead in your story to when your daughter was diagnosed. I think that's such a fear of so many people I know who are adults with type one. But it does happen of course and you do deal with it. Do you mind sharing her story too. When was she diagnosed?   Chris Stocker  11:56 She was we're actually coming up on her two years, in about a week and a half year so she was diagnosed on February 12 2019 in the middle of a snowstorm. And that was when we decided to take her to the ER was when we had about eight inches of snow on the ground.   Stacey Simms  12:19 Right back to Chris in just a moment Diabetes Connections is brought to you by g Bo hypo pin. And almost everyone who takes insulin has experienced a low blood sugar. And that can be scary. A very low blood sugar is really scary. And that's where GMO hypo pen comes in. It's the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar Jeeva hypo pen is pre mixed and it is ready to go with no visible needle. That means it's easy to use in usability studies, 99% of people were able to give g vote correctly. I'm so glad to have something new, find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the G book logo. g Vox shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma. Visit chivo glucagon.com slash brisk. Now back to my conversation with Chris about the night his daughter was diagnosed. Had you suspected I mean I, you know I don't wanna get too personal. But   Chris Stocker  13:14 the signs were there. And I feel that I had maybe been living in denial for a little bit. It is something that I had thought about every single day from the day my wife told me she was pregnant, that that what if scenario and it was something that I talked about a little bit, but I didn't talk about it a lot because I felt too vulnerable, I guess. So I shared that because I knew I would not be the only one that had those feelings. But when I would see her, she was potty trained. So she was waking up probably three or four times a night asking for water and having to go to the bathroom. And I really started to see a change in how frequently she was going to the bathroom. And then that kind of was going on for you know, a couple of nights. And then just one night, I just had a gut feeling. And I said well let's pull out my meter. Let's check her so you know, of course, she didn't want that to happen. And you know, I can remember just looking at the meter. The number was in the 250s but I just remember looking at the meter and then just knowing and just knew and just being just crushed. So it was it was something that I had kind of mentally prepared for but it's just one of those things I don't think you're ever prepared. You know you think you might be but it's just you know, it was just a crushing feeling. But then the dad and the type one in me kind of just said hey, it is what it is. We just got to do it. And you know we took it to the hospital. I'm amazed by how she handled the entire thing. It was just unbelievable being in a in an ambulance to go from the ER on hospital to the pediatric unit at another hospital. I mean she loved that still talks about it to this day. Really   Stacey Simms  14:57 what did she do what she did like she was feeling Okay, and she was excited.   Chris Stocker  15:01 Yes. So she didn't really know what was going on exactly our local hospital, which was, you know, a few blocks away, they didn't have a pediatric unit. So it's a system hospital. So they just, you know, put her and my wife in the ambulance and took them to the hospital that had a pediatric unit for her. So she got to watch TV pretty much all day long. She got to play with toys in there. So it was different, you know, getting getting those first round the labs done and putting her into the burrito as they called, it was probably her only bad memory of the entire process. So she definitely still talks about those days, even, you know, she was a month away from turning four. What is the burrito? So sorry, later down on the table to draw labs and freaking out? Yeah, so they kind of, you know, they put like a weighted almost like a weighted blanket over her to kind of strap or in and they just called it a burrito, I guess to make it sound not so terrifying.   Stacey Simms  16:00 How long did you stay in the hospital? And then what did you have to do? I assume you know, your you and your wife are pretty well educated about diabetes. So I don't know that you needed much of that. But it's different when it's your child,   Chris Stocker  16:09 I would assume? Yeah, it's totally different. And we were in the hospital for about two and a half, maybe three days, I do know that they kind of rushed us through the process. Because when we first went there, I basically just said, Hey, listen, I have type one. I know what it's like, you know, I know what to do. But I don't have a child with it. So I know I need to, you know, relearn some things, and things are going to be a little different. But the, you know, the staff there and the whole diabetes team was very helpful. And really, they directed most of the education, most of the conversations towards my wife, which was something that we kind of asked them to do, because I really, you know, my wife had lived with me for 14 years before that. But my diabetes was kind of just my own diabetes, I didn't ask her to take an active part and help managing if she knew if I was low to give me Skittles, she knew if I was high, I needed some more insulin, but she knew that I counted while I was supposed to be counting cards, but she knew the basics, but really, she needed to start, you know, learning. What is basal? And what is this? And what is that? So a lot of that education was geared towards her. And I think it was, you know, very helpful, not just for her, but also for me, as somebody that was living with it for at that time, I guess it was 15 years, then that there was like a refresher course that I that I needed. Because I was in my I was in my my own habits. I'm in my own ways. And it was it was really good to kind of take a step back and relook at how you know, what is diabetes one on one, you know, what is the right way to kind of do some of these things.   Stacey Simms  17:48 I'm picturing that, you know, your daughter has watched you do this, even if you haven't been doing it in front of her the whole time and everything that this is now something that while that's not great, but she can share with her father,   Chris Stocker  17:59 absolutely. 100%. And that's exactly how I looked at it was, how can I make this easier for her and just like a parent with anything, my initial instincts were, what can I do to make this better for my child, and it was just instantly that put on a smile for her show her that my diabetes is not a burden on me, it's not something that I don't like doing. So I made sure that when I had to check my sugar, or she, we were going to check our sugar, I would do mine also. And you know, now we share some of those same things. So it's like, oh, when when I have to change out my CGM, you know, my sensors is, do you want to help me do it? Do you want to help me, you know, decorate my my infusion sets and things like that. So we share those common bonds. And that's how we looked at it from the day of diagnosis, as well as Hey, you're like, Daddy, now you and Daddy, we both have diabetes. And my niece was actually diagnosed about two years before my daughter. So that was a whole whole nother thing of trying to you know, help my brother and my sister in law with with dealing with that diagnosis. So, you know, now she shared that with her cousin as well. So it was kind of something that, you know, with her daddy having in it, her cousin having it that that she was able to not. And also she didn't at that time really even know what it meant to have diabetes. She just she thought it was just cool that now she has daddy. So it was definitely the way that we decided to kind of take is to be able to share that bond with her. And that's what we have in common.   Stacey Simms  19:23 Do you use the same technology as each other?   Chris Stocker  19:25 We do. We do. Now, we did it at the time, but the same CGM and we both use the same insulin pumps,   Stacey Simms  19:32 you don't have to answer this but you know when you say to your your daughter and this is what I think we would all want to say to a newly diagnosed child right? It's not going to be a burden. You can do this it's okay to have diabetes. And I think for me as the adult with my son ignorance was a little bit of bliss, right? You know, you can do this it's gonna be okay and it's not gonna stop you. You can play sports, you know, you can. Now they can fly planes, right? You can you can do what you want to do. But for somebody with type one who's lived with it for as long as you have Do you know that it is a burden? Sometimes you know that it is really hard. And I know this is not something you're gonna take, you're now, you know, almost six year old decided to Hey, by the way, you know, I mean these are conversations from they're much older,   Chris Stocker  20:10 we've had some conversations I mean, as much of a conversation as you can have with an almost six year old about living a life with diabetes. So we really kind of talked about it in Scituate, you know, take today, for example, it's been snowing for almost three days, we were out in the snow. And I can I already know, as soon as we go to that, in that snow, she's going low, it's just 100% guaranteed every single time. So we had to stop playing in the snow. So we could drink juice. And you know, she doesn't want to stop playing. So we try to you know, just let her know that, hey, just because you know, the other kids in the neighborhood happen, you know, they're still out playing and whatnot, we just need to take a little extra precaution steps here and just sit down and have a juice and you know, we frame it that day, they don't get to have a juice right now, right? You're the one having giggles and juice. So you know, but it's just you know, so we use those kind of, it usually comes up during Lowe's, where we may say like, hey, let's let's settle down for a little bit. Let's not run around or play rough right? Now let's just sit down. And, you know, we'll play a play game of checkers or something just sitting on the couch. So we kind of have those conversations with her, like why she has to sometimes stop doing what she's doing, she can get right back into it. But we might need to take 10 1520 minutes here or there to just settle down a little bit, have a little snack or juice or something like that. But I think about how I'm going to have additional conversations with her in the future. And I've gone back and forth, you know, talking in the mirror how I'm going to handle it, it's probably going to be one of those situations where I have a great plan going in, and it's just not going to go anywhere near how I play it.   Stacey Simms  21:50 Um, I do want to ask you a few more questions about your children because you have another child as well. But let's take a couple of minutes and talk about the diabetes online community from a few years back, if you're a longtime listener of the show, you know, we started this in 2015, which was probably the beginning of the end of the like the hybrid if we were to check blogging and that kind of thing. And the whole, you know, I guess what some people would call the Oh g diabetes people, you know, maybe that's when it peaked my non scientific method here. But you were, you know, you were right in there and all of those conversations, and I'd love to know, how did you find the online community? What was your first entry.   Chris Stocker  22:26 So I first started blogging or even finding out about blogs back in 2009, I was working for a, I was interning actually at a diabetes supply company. And they said, Hey, we want to start a blog. So I started to write blogs for the company. And then I was like, Okay, this is I kind of enjoyed this. And then I started finding other type one, blogs. And I thought, you know what, I have so much that I want to say, and I felt that I didn't have anybody to talk to about it. Because I didn't know anybody with diabetes, I went to high school with the kid. But I knew we drink Gatorade at halftime of football games. But that was it, we had water in a Gatorade, that was all I knew about diabetes. So I just started writing things that were in my mind that I think I just wanted to get off my chest, I just started writing about them. And I didn't even care that nobody was reading it, I just wanted a place to be able to just share my thoughts. And it just helped me just help my mind mentally just be able to get it out on to you know, typing on the keyboard and just reading it. So that's kind of how I started. And then I can't remember getting my first comment, I got a comment on a post, it was probably after about six months of writing daily. And so I mean, I can't do the math that fast. I mean, I, I was well into 100 posts before my very first comment, and somebody said, Wow, I was going through this exact same thing. And your feedback here really changed my mindset on it. And I'm going to try this and you know, make changes in my life and whatnot. And I just thought, wow, I just changed somebody's life. Like I just changed how somebody thinks about something simply by me just typing on a computer. And then it just that was kind of that first, like, I'm actually helping other people by just getting out the words that are bothering me. And then it just kind of took off. From there. I just started writing daily and just I started meeting other people. You mentioned previously speaking to people on Twitter and a little bit of Facebook back then, but just meeting a ton of different people online, and just writing and writing and writing and writing and just sharing my story. And it was just, you know, I was never very edited in my blog post. And even my wife would always say, Did you know that you spelled this wrong? Or you said this? Like No, because I type and I wrote the way that I speak and it came out that way and it was just how, you know it was I didn't have a you know, a very like a very edited style. And it just kind of, you know, people kind of just connected with it and it was just Every time I would get a new comment or a new share or something it felt it just felt motivating to know that I was helping people by getting those stories out there.   Stacey Simms  25:08 It is funny. That's one of the reasons why I love podcasting, because there is no editor for my grammar or my spelling. And I have transcripts now. And those are very difficult for me because I usually we clean up the diabetes language because my transcription software doesn't speak diabetes very well. But I'm not correcting the grammar and the spelling from pot. Yeah, it's really, really interesting. And I'm going to link up your your blog if that's okay. Because I think a lot of those older posts in itself, a lot of residents, I mean, I blogged as well. It's starting in 22,007. And I think two people read that blog, but I've kept it up. Well, I just like you I got so much more out of it right. For me, it was perfect for me, I got I got a lot of help, just mental health assistance for writing it almost like a diary. But it has been in the last couple of years, people have found the goalposts and it's helpful because diabetes issues change, but not really, right technology changes things, but not really,   Chris Stocker  26:03 you know, I still get notifications of comments on posts that I wrote back in 2010 2011. And one of the areas and this kind of circles back to my daughter's diagnosis is that I wrote maybe, I think I wrote two posts total about my fears of one day having a child B die, those with diabetes. And to this day, those are still some of my most, you know, most read posts and most commented posts and people to this day still comment or send me emails like, hey, how did you go about this? Or how did you deal with this? And, and it's just, you know, those are things that I wrote, five, six years ago before I even knew I was having a child. And it's still relevant today as well.   Stacey Simms  26:43 Well, you're dipping your toe back into social media with, you know, YouTube videos, you're on Instagram, are you podcasting again,   Chris Stocker  26:49 I, I am not as of now, but I'm not saying that I'm not going to. It's funny, I did start a podcast, and I recorded two episodes. And my daughter was then diagnosed. So I kind of stopped. You know, I   Stacey Simms  27:05 mentioned that when I started this podcast in 2015, it seemed to be kind of like, I don't know, for sure. But from my experience, it was like this high point of activity online for certain a certain group of people. And a lot of those folks have kind of moved on or paused and come back. And, you know, I wonder too, if there isn't just a natural life to some of this old natural burnout to some diabetes stuff. And you've been very open about those kinds of things. Can you share that part?   Chris Stocker  27:31 Yeah, absolutely. So once my daughter was diagnosed, kind of everything just kind of went on Paul's it was this is our focus. Right now, this is everything that we want to focus all of our efforts on that I was actually going back to, I was getting my real estate license at that time, as well. So there was a lot, a lot going on at that time. And once I decided to start getting back into writing, I sat at the computer probably 20 different times to start writing about my daughter being diagnosed. And I was just filled with diabetes just all day long, whether it was I was managing my own diabetes, and my alerts were going off, and then it was time to check my daughter's blood sugar and then give her insulin and do her calculation, then do my calculation. And it was just too much that at the end of the day, or the the start of the day, I just didn't want to, I didn't want to think about diabetes anymore. I didn't want to write about it, I just kind of wanted to manage it. And that was it. And I definitely felt a disconnect from the diabetes community. Because I just kind of just left I just I shut down. And I just didn't want to be involved with anything. I didn't want to see posts, I didn't, I didn't want to read people's posts, I didn't want to watch videos, I didn't want to listen to anything, I just wanted to kind of just deal with that. And and it was just, it was a lot at once. And that's kind of what shut everything down for almost a year and a half. And then I started to write again a little bit, and they kind of came back to me where it was, I can remember the exact moment I was writing a blog post and my low alert went off and within five minutes, my daughter's low alert went off. And then my Omni pod alerted me that I had a low reservoir. And my daughter's went off about 15 minutes later that hers was being changed that night. So we were both having a low both theater pots change that same night. And I think that I actually had to change out my CGM that night as well and it was just a complete overload and I said are stopping again and I can't deal with this I need a mental break from from diabetes and I need to be at my strongest in order to be that you know role model and example to my daughter and I felt that let her see me get frustrated with with an alert or an alarm and and be like oh, I have to change that tonight or hi we have to do this or I'll have to drink a juice. I tried to never let her see that and never let her see that. There may be some frustrations that come with living Diabetes,   Stacey Simms  30:01 I'm hesitating, Chris, because Far be it from me to armchair psychologize anybody, but I want to plant this in your brain. And I agree six years old is not the time to do that. But I hope as she gets older, you do allow her to see some of those frustrations. And again, I'm not your doctor, or psychologist, right? I think if you were my dad,   Unknown Speaker  30:22 I hope this really is not at a place, I'm such a nosy person. Mom, I   Stacey Simms  30:27 become that we're my dad, to share those experiences, you know, when somebody shares the bad as well as the good, it just makes your bed feel not so bad. So when she's like, 10 1112, you know, those are the times when you guys I know, I know, it's in your future that you're going to share all of that, and she's gonna appreciate it so much. But I I agree, because I remember with Benny, you know, at six years old, you're just, you know, it's like, you know, you gotta brush your teeth. So you don't, you know, you don't get carried away. Everything's fun.   Chris Stocker  30:55 Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it's a struggle at times, just to every three days, when a new pod has to go on, you know, she has to be watching either a cartoon or using the iPad, some some type of distraction. Now, we don't plan on doing that forever. And we've already kind of slowed that down a bit of what we let her do to kind of distract her from it. But I know that that's going to change in the future. And those are definitely, you know, some conversations that I would definitely have with her about the frustrations and stuff. But I think my thought process behind it is that if she sees that I'm getting frustrated of having to put on a new ami pot or put on a new Dexcom that she's going to think that it's so you know that she's going to put up by force who and and it's just something that I know will come one day, but I'm just trying to push it off as far as far   Stacey Simms  31:44 and I think you're very wise, because I will share with you that Danny ran away from insets. He had to bid pump his whole life. And you know, every three days, you're teaching the inset, and we tried everything Chris, we did, you know, numbing cream and ice cubes and rewards and he ran away from them. It was a struggle until about age eight or nine. And then it amazingly got better. And now he does everything himself for the past, I want to say three or four years even. And it's and then some kids start doing everything themselves very early. Right. I think when you're diagnosed tiny the trend that I noticed anecdotally is that it takes them longer just to be completely independent, because that's how they've been taught. So I don't take that iPad away before she's ready. She'll let you know when she's ready.   Unknown Speaker  32:26 You're right,   Stacey Simms  32:27 she will, it'll be fine. And I will tell you one funny story. I don't know if I'll keep this in because I'm talking too much in this interview. But we were laughing the other day because I used to let Benny say what we called potty words when he changed his incident. So right, we put it on and he could be like, oh poop or whatever. And I said to him in the kitchen the other night, he came down to change. And I said do you want to yell some potty words? And we were hysterical of the thought of thinking of my preschooler yelling real curse words, like Could you imagine if you know what he thinks of potty words today, so you can fill in the blank on that.   Chris Stocker  32:58 I like that. I like that idea. Actually, she will probably enjoy.   Stacey Simms  33:03 I think we would all like to yell some potty words when we're doing stuff.   Unknown Speaker  33:06 Absolutely.   Stacey Simms  33:07 Let me ask you about your your second child because your wife was pregnant, which had to be so stressful when your daughter was diagnosed during that time. And you had, as you've said, you'd already been nervous about any of your children being diagnosed. Again, I feel like I'm being very nosy. But What went through your mind at that time.   Chris Stocker  33:25 So initially, I mean, my initial thought was the stress that was going to be put on my wife and her being pregnant at that time, and making sure that she was okay with it, and trying to comfort her as much as possible and try to take away as much of the stress that I could possibly do, you know, from a mother, and, you know, knowing that she was pregnant, we knew there were chances. And it was just a decision and conversations we had throughout our relationship. And before we were married, we're gonna have kids no matter what it's what we want to do, and we're not going to let the thought or the chance of something stop us from doing anything. And that's kind of our, our thought process in life in general. So we knew that we were going to, you know, have wanted to have a second child. And we actually were scheduled to find out whether we were having another daughter or not. On February 13, I think and my daughter was diagnosed on the 12th. So it was actually in the same hospital. My wife left and went, you know, down the hall and oh, my God on the elevator and went like two floors down. And, you know, she did what she had to do there and then so we were you know, planning on having this big celebration to find out if we were you know what we were having and next thing you know, we're we're in the hospital for a totally different reason.   Stacey Simms  34:48 I gotta be honest to Chris, I love talking to dads of kids with type one because we hear so much from moms, right, so many of the bloggers and the writers and podcasters like me Moms. So let me ask you as a dad, now not as just a person with type one, but as a dad of a child of type one. What advice would you give newly diagnosed families, I mean, you're almost you're two years into this. Now you know what worked.   Chris Stocker  35:12 I would say that just being open, especially with you know, your spouse about how you may be feeling about it, I think a lot of times that the reason why we don't hear dads speak out too much is because they want to be the backbone, they want to be the strong one they want to, to not show that they're upset and show their feelings. And for me, I've been open with my wife, me and my wife, we've had conversations, we've cried together about it, we've talked about things that I let her know, my fears that I may have over things about it, it has helped tremendously, because there are times where I just say, like, Hey, listen, I need a break tonight, I can't do this, I've had a bad diabetes day, I'm stressed out by this, I'm just getting upset about it, I need a break. And that open communication has really helped us become an amazing team. And quite honestly, my wife almost entirely manages my daughter's diabetes. At this point, I cannot express like how grateful and like, just proud and I'm amazed by how my wife has taken this on and have she just tackled this head on. And I mean, she's pretty much almost managing my diabetes at this point, telling me how many carbs are in my meals and this and that. So going back to being the dad is that I just think that it's okay to you know, you just have to be okay with having those uncomfortable and vulnerable conversations and, and just know that it's for the better good, like, let your guard down, let it out, it's going to help that you don't have to just be you know, the strong one, you know, every single day in every single situation where it is okay to just let your fears out. And if you need to talk to somebody, talk to somebody find somebody that you know, you may have something in common with and just get it out and talk it out. And it feels so much better. Even having diabetes for 1415 years before she was diagnosed, I reached out to other dads have type one kids that I knew from meeting in the community and had, you know, conversations with them, like, what do I do from here? Like, I know how to manage mine, but like, What do I do? How do I do this? How do I tell her this? How do I explain this, and that helped me tremendously. And that's part of that community feeling and knowing that, you know, for all those years, I was, you know, putting into the community to be able to reach out when I was the one in in need of help. And it was great to have that community there to let me know, like, You got this.   Stacey Simms  37:40 I'm curious, if anything in the last two years with your daughter has surprised you any of your reactions to things or anything that she's done, you know, you were not six years old or four years old, when you were diagnosed, did anything surprise you about her diagnosis or your experiences with it or your reaction?   Chris Stocker  37:57 I am not kind of glued to the Dexcom as much as my wife is. And my wife is with my daughter a lot more during the day than than I am as well. But one thing that my daughter does is she knows that if she's going to be you know, she's playing upstairs in her room, she needs to now take her phone with her or her Dexcom actually with her and she will let us know. I think she was only diagnosed for maybe three or four months, the first time where she said to me, daddy, my knees feel wobbly. And my initial reaction was, first of all, how do you know what the word wobbly means. And second of all, let's get the meter out. And let's check real quick. And I can remember we were in target which another place no matter every time I go in there, it ends up in a low, but we are in target and she said her knees felt wobbly. We checked her she was 41. And I just remember picking her up and sprinting to the front of the store and just finding the first juice I can find and just said just start drinking and I remember her asking about paying for it or something. I'm like drinking it don't you don't have to worry about that. I'll figure that out. Just start drinking. So that was probably a surprising moment to me of her letting me and this was before she had Dexcom. So that was very kind of surprising moment to me that she used the word wobbly and she knew that she fell off. So now she does that quite often now where she she says I feel low. She'll Look at her Dexcom and just randomly I'll just hear her scream out 125 or something. Okay, I guess that's what her number is so low that she she has taken that on as you know, she's kind of proud, not kind of she's extremely proud to have diabetes. You know, she in her classes. She talks tells people that she has diabetes and whatnot. So she definitely surprised me of how proud she is to wear it. That's awesome. That means you guys are doing an awesome job as parents. That's something we actually did kind of talk to her about that she doesn't ever have to be ashamed or, you know, she doesn't have to be scared to tell somebody that she has diabetes. In fact, you know, because my philosophy has always been I want to tell you that I have it because in case something Goes go wrong. I want somebody around me to know   Stacey Simms  40:04 this before I let you go, you have been posting you know more on Instagram and you're really getting back into it. And I noticed you posted a lot about your daughter and her reaction to the virtual friends for life conference. And I, I was part of that. And I gotta tell you, I wasn't sure what to expect me this isn't a commercial for friends for life, even though we love them. But I was stunned at how good it was to connect even virtual with people. You know, we're all stuck at home, we can't get out to meet up. But I loved that conference, did your daughter have fun? There was so much for kids.   Chris Stocker  40:35 She had an amazing time. I mean, she still talks about it almost every day. To this day, she talks about the different events that were going on, she talked about playing bingo with with the guy from Toy Story. She talked about the all the animals that are Parker Ranger that was there. And I mean, she loved it, she loved seeing other kids and hearing other people talk about it. And we were planning on going, you know, this year in 2022 it so it was something that she already knew was going to happen. And you know, the day was over, she was she started crying. She was so sad. She couldn't wait till the next one. And it was just, it was a you know, it was life changing to her because, you know, she had only known me and her cousin that had and a few other people that she had met that had diabetes, but to be opened up to this world of all these other kids that were living with it and we're all sharing their different CGM and their different pumps and seeing a different perspective other than just her life and you know, my life with it was just absolutely amazing for her to experience that even virtually, it was just amazing how smooth it went. And and all the activities that were there for the kids. Yeah,   Stacey Simms  41:50 I mean, I gotta be honest with you, I didn't put a lot of time because I figured, well, you know, I'll do my speech. And I'll watch one or two, the research updates. I was hanging out in the social hallways, you know, with my mom, friends, it was great. I was I thought it was a very well done. And so we'll put a plug in because they've got the march one coming up. And we put a link in the show notes. Is there anything else Chris that you wanted to push people to or to you know, to put all your links to follow or anything that you've got coming up that you wanted me to make sure to mention,   Chris Stocker  42:14 people can follow me on on Instagram, it's just life of a diabetic, it is a newer account, because I am trying to keep it separate it from a personal Instagram account that I had previously. And it's just just to keep things simple and clean. I've just kind of started a new one. And I am putting out weekly YouTube videos now so they can check that out, you know, with the link in the in the show notes, but I just hope that you know, I can continue to help people and share my story and also my daughter's story. And as long as it helps one person, I feel that all the work and effort that goes into it is well worth it. That's awesome.   Stacey Simms  42:51 Well, no doubt you'll be helping other parents and other adults with type one. Chris, I can't thank you enough for coming on. It was so much fun to talk to after connecting online for all these years. I really appreciate it.   Chris Stocker  43:00 Absolutely. I appreciate you having me on.   Unknown Speaker  43:07 You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.   Stacey Simms  43:13 More information including Chris's YouTube channel and his Instagram and all that good stuff will be in the shownotes. And that is always on the episode homepage as well. So if you're listening in an app and it doesn't show you what you want, just go to Diabetes connections.com and find the episode should be very easy to do. I should let you know he mentioned it went by quickly when he was talking about friends for life. He mentioned the Toy Story guy playing Bingo. what he's talking about there is john Ratzenberger who people might remember as Cliff Klavan from Cheers, but who has been a voice of a character in every Pixar movie, his son lives with type one. And Tom Karlya who's a very big part of friends for life, and also the Diabetes Research Institute. He knows him through his work through the DRI together. So Tom brought john to friends for life this year, which is really, really cool. And as I mentioned, they have another event coming up in March and I will put a link in the show notes on that. Tell me something good in just a moment. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. And we started with Dexcom back in the olden days before there was share. I think we had Dexcom for two years, almost two years before Cher was added as a feature. So you know, we know using Sharon follow makes a big difference. To this day Benny and I set parameters about when I'm going to call him how long to wait, you know, that kind of thing. It really helps us talk and worry about diabetes less. It helps if I need to troubleshoot with him. I love this you can see what's happening over the last 24 hours and not just at one moment in time. The alerts and alarms that we set help us from keeping the highs from getting too high and jump on lows before they're a big issue. Internet connectivity is required to access separate Dexcom follow up. To learn more, go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo. Our first tell me something good story is one I wish I had jumped on myself. But I read about it at diabetes mine and Mike Hoskins always does great work over there. And I had to share it with you. Dr. Drew Weissman at the University of Pennsylvania is one of two key researchers behind the science used to develop the first COVID-19 vaccines. And he lives with type 1 diabetes. He was diagnosed more than 50 years ago, he didn't announce that he had type one, you know what he was in the news for this vaccine. But apparently some eagle-eyed folks by the photo of him getting his own COVID vaccine shot and they saw that he had an insulin pump on and I'm looking at the photo, as I'm telling you this, he's getting the Pfizer vaccine. And you can see it looks like a Medtronic pump on his waist. I will link up the story from diabetes mine, which is a great conversation with him, including photos, and Great job guys getting that done. Maybe we can grab Dr. Weisman and get him on the show. Our other bit of good news comes in the form of more books for very little ones with type 1 diabetes. We've had folks on the show before who are authors of children's books, which I think are a really vital part of young children's care when it comes to type one. I know reading books like this to Benny, and bring these books to preschool and kindergarten and really willing to elementary school helped give us friends a good understanding. And you know, just seeing yourself in a book is a wonderful, wonderful thing. So I just want to mention a couple that are newer out there. The Adventures of Captain Lantus is one that I have seen a lot of this focuses on seven year old Maxs, who has type 1 diabetes, and it's kind of a fantastical adventure, because everyone in beta town has type 1 diabetes. So this is a real fantasy story and very cute stuff. Brandy in our Facebook group in Diabetes Connections, the group published her T1D toddler book, it's called Little shots for little tots. And it is also very cute looking. And one that I think is actually a pretty important one is called when I go low, a type 1 diabetes picture book. This is by ginger Vieira. And Michael Lawson. And we have talked to both of those folks on the show about other books that they have put out there. But this is a book that I wish I'd had when Benny was younger. The other ones are great stories and always fun. But this teaches about when a child is low, what does that feel like? What How do you articulate it? You know, what should you know about it, it's a great way to get young people with diabetes to talk about what low blood sugar feels like, and to help explain to their friends and friends, families and kids at school and that kind of thing. So I will put the links to all of these guys. They're all on Amazon. And I'm sure they all have their own author pages as well. But there are so many great books about diabetes right now, if you've got tips, or you'd like to hear more, I had thought about in the past doing book reviews, but I don't have the time. So if that's something you're interested in, let me know, we could have an ongoing segment or something. I'm gonna be looking for new Tell me something good stories in our community. So please keep an eye out for that. I love to ask in the Facebook group. And you can always give me your good stuff. Before I let you go quick reminder, if you are a podcast person, if you are thinking of starting one, if you have one, I have a podcast course it has nothing to do with diabetes. This is all about podcasting, and learning about podcast sponsorship in an ethical way, in a way that makes sense for small businesses. You know, I'm not Amazon podcasts here, or Wondry, or Spotify. This is about independent podcasters who want to serve their communities and make some money, enough money to cover the costs of the podcast or perhaps make a living at it. So I've launched a new course there's a free webinar coming up, I'll put all the information in the show notes. And if you're just here for diabetes, which of course I think 99% of you are we have another classic episode coming up later this week, we're going to be talking about spare arose. But this isn't any spare a rose, informative interview. This is my very first game show that I did here on Diabetes Connections and it features some very familiar names, some very silly stuff, and a couple of mistakes along the way that we left in. So that should be fun, and that should be out on Thursday. Thank you so much to my editor John Buckenas from audio editing solutions. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, I'm Stacey Simms. Be kind to yourself.   Benny  49:21 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged

Giadha A. DeCarcer is the Founder and CEO of New Frontier Data, the authority in data, analytics and business intelligence for the worldwide cannabis industry. An entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in business strategy, execution, management and business development, DeCarcer’s began her career in banking, and progressed to technology, data analytics, intelligence collection and reporting, and emerging markets across multiple sectors, domestically and internationally. DeCarcer has launched, built and operated four data-centric businesses, including disruptive technologies for the innovation behind Progressive’s Snapshot and Verizon’s Hum.  She is considered an expert in strategic positioning and risk management in emerging high growth markets, as well as a seasoned professional in government and commercial intelligence data collection and analysis. These core focus areas, along with unwavering entrepreneurial drive, have defined Giadha’s career and her vision for New Frontier Data. DeCarcer is an official member of the Forbes Technology Council; her work has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, Fox News, CNN Money, Bloomberg, WSJ and many other top-tier news outlets worldwide, as well as in documentaries and books, including “Mary Janes,” “The Marijuana Show,” “The Great Green Gold Rush,” and “Breaking the Grass Ceiling,” among others. Number 7 on the list of the 20 Most Influential Women in Cannabis by greendorphin, DeCarcer has also been designated as one of The Most Powerful Women to Watch in D.C., is a two-time Stevie Awards Maverick of the Year recipient, a 2019 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and Moxie Award nominee, and a winner of the Washington Business Journal 2019 Women Who Mean Business Award. Her commitment to education and information sharing inspired her to create The InterCannAlliance (ICA) in 2018. The ICA is a New Frontier Data-led initiative to foster best practices and knowledge sharing amongst newly emerging cannabis markets, introducing what she has coined the “Nine Foundational Pillars” of a healthy and stable cannabis sector. Her continuous pursuit of knowledge has remained the ultimate constant throughout her life and career, also illustrated in her many mentoring and volunteering efforts such as the creation of Women Entrepreneurship Reinforcement (WeR), a program designed to mentor and coach female entrepreneurs establishing their first business.  New Frontier Data, headquartered in Washington D.C., has been recognized in DCInno as one of 17 DC area startups to Watch for 2017 and PC Mag named the company one of just 15 Blazing Hot Tech Companies to Watch. Since the company’s inception in 2014, New Frontier Data has generated the most earned media of any reporting company covering the cannabis industry crossing 15 billion in earned media reach. As one of the winners of the Best in Biz Awards 2019, Most innovative Company of the Year, New Frontier Data is also at the center of the 116th Congressional discussion on federal legalization, providing vetted and unbiased data and analysis to regulators as they assess the potential socio-economic impact of cannabis federal legalization in the United States.   Giadha A. DeCarcer is fluent in five languages including French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.  Born in Italy, raised in France and Spain, Giadha earned an Associate Degree in Business Administration from Miami Dade Community College, a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations & Trade from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Arts degree in International Security from the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.   Interview Transcript Max  Welcome back to Episode 53 of the Built on Purpose podcast with Max Hansen brought to you by YScouts where we higher purpose aligned and performance proven leaders. Today, our guest is Giadha DeCarcer, the founder and CEO of New Frontier Data. Giadha, is an internationalist born in Italy, raised in Switzerland, France and Spain. All places I can't wait to travel back to she has lived in six countries across the globe. She speaks five languages and has a keen appreciation for cultural and economic dynamics. Giadha an analyst and strategist by training, a serial entrepreneur by practice identified the lack of critical data and analysis through her own attempted cannabis industry research. Despite ridicule from her peers across banking, technology, energy and defense. She jumped at the opportunity to bring big data, the pillar in any modern burgeoning industry to cannabis. She has built her team of unparalleled experts from fields just as diverse as their own in 2014, New Frontier data started collecting data streams and cannabis, normalize them, and centralize them to provide vetted polished and actionable reporting to the industry before and better than anyone else worldwide. Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome Giadha DeCarcer. Giadha  8:57  Max, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. Max  9:00  Awesome. Well, I'm gonna start out let's start off for talking about New Frontier data. I just think it's, it's, it's awesome. I want to hear you know, kind of what you guys do. I obviously, the introduction gave a little, little, little piece or a little intro to what you guys do. But ultimately, what problem are you solving and kind of how did you arrive at this? Giadha  9:22  Well, the problem the core problem is visibility and risk mitigation into this booming industry on a global scale. This is an industry that was born of a movement it was some stigma and transparency into it from a financial perspective, from an opportunity and risk assessment perspective was challenging. Arguably, it continues to be challenging. So what we've set out to be to do is leverage cutting edge technology such as Big Data technologies to begin collecting information in a responsible, objective and comprehensive manner, slice it and dice it. So study So that we can get to the point where we're providing actionable intelligence as close to real time as possible to again, stakeholders. Are those looking to become stakeholders in this now global sector. Max  10:14  Awesome. And let me add a little bit on and I and I read a little bit on it, but I'd love to hear it straight from you. What How did you build up the skill sets to finally launch this company? Like, what were the building blocks of understanding and getting your feet wet in big data and getting confident enough to jump into a new industry and apply that those those skill sets? Giadha  10:36  I mean, isn't the whole you fake it until you make it isn't that sweet spot. So if this is you mean, me personally, it was serendipitous I, I say with as much humility as possible that it almost feels like it was meant to be, I had very diverse careers that fit perfectly into new frontier data. So I started as a financial analyst with JPMorgan Chase, right out of college. So I really sort of got the opportunity to understand how financial analytics impact a lot larger company and a market when you're looking at more financial type vehicles or investment opportunities. I then, because of 9/11, I left banking altogether, because I was in New York. And as most of us in New York at the time, it had a massive life changing impact. So I left banking, and I decided that I wanted to join the war on terror. So I got my masters and I decided to go into intelligence collection, then really honing the skills on how do you turn human human, so human collected information into something that's actionable, all the way to the president and to our national security. And then after that, which was a gruesome experience, a very gratifying one, but certainly a very, very difficult career to have. I left after three, four years, and I decided to go into emerging markets. You mentioned I speak languages, I was very fortunate to travel the world. So I figured, you know what, I have financial analytics, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with intelligence collection at that point. And so I decided, you know, it was around the time when we were experiencing it, the financial and economic sort of crisis. And so a lot of US companies were looking at the BRIC nations is when the BRIC nations was really hot. So I was like, Well, let me go into emerging markets. When you combine experience in the financial industry, with understanding how to leverage technology and how to collect information for humans to turn it into intelligence and then understanding appreciating an emerging market, then you combine the three, candidly, you have new financial data, where financial analysts with high tech technology collecting information trade into intelligence for an emerging market. So serendipitous, is really the word that I would focus on here for for the answer to that question. Max  12:58  Such an awesome story. So let's take me back to when you were when you went on your, your own search for data and cannabis, what did you find? What did you find? Was there anything out there was it was there a lot of bias? Giadha  13:14  a lot of closed doors, and a lot of people looking at me like I was asking them to show me their undergarments. When I asked for data. And the industry remember that the especially the early folks in the industry, were not folks that weren't necessarily happy to share information with others, right? The industry was sort of operating for many years, decades behind the veil. So not only was there no information whatsoever, it's certainly all of this sophisticated, or I guess, mature market. Usual Suspects were not reporting on the industry, it was too taboo at the time. Countries like the Netherlands that I had really had an industry in one shape or another for decades, hadn't was not collecting any information on it. So that was out. academia had nothing, there was no interest beyond sort of, you know, your brain is a fried egg type of research in terms of cannabis. So it was there was a little bit of research, medical research in California due to sort of cancer and AIDS, etc. But in essence, there was really nothing that we could use from a financial reporting and micro macroeconomic reporting. So we really started knocking on doors, and we spent a lot of time a time building trust within the industry, so that folks would open up to us. So I, the first few years, I was attending 50 to 80 conferences a year, just to literally shake hands and meet folks and let them know that we were here to help them and help the industry by providing transparency, objective transparency, and that we're not going to do so at you know, giving away their competitive edge. It was hard. Max  14:56  Yeah, I bet it before we before we went on the air. Giadha and I were talking about Y Scouts transition into cannabis, I think when we first started four or five years ago now, I think we were a little bit hesitant to put it out front and center, just because we didn't know, you know what the rest of the markets that we're working with banks. So, man, we've come a long ways and and this is a legitimate industry that has a huge market ahead. So, you know, one thing I want to ask is, you know, the international experience that you have, I think everybody that has traveled the world and has spent time in other countries and has seen, you know, different cultures, they start to understand how that, you know, kind of helps them in life and in business. How has it helped you in life in business being that internationalist living in so many different countries, and particularly the countries that you've lived in? are, you know, very, very modern companies that you've probably gained some incredible insights and perspectives from But tell me, tell me a little bit about your background and how that's helped in living in those different countries? Giadha  16:07  That's an excellent question. Thank you for asking it. I guess they'd be too too strong points that I'd make there. The first one is appreciating diversity. I'm very proud of the fact that new frontier data, as it's at its birth, was already a diverse company, from a from a gender perspective, from an ethnic perspective, from a background perspective, from a political perspective, religious sexual orientation, you name it even more just for people, and then went on to be eight and then 15. And today, we're almost 50, we were always very diverse. And I think that part of that appreciation came from the fact that I had the opportunity to meet talent, extremely talented people in very different places. So there really wasn't a lot of cookie cutting sort of, you know, I wasn't really looking for a profile, I really was looking for talent, especially given that we were facing unprecedented challenges this industry was so new, the the questions were asking was so complex with no one else answering them. So right off the bat, I wanted to make sure that we had as close to a 360 view into this very complex environment. And so I was able to bring, I was able to appreciate and identify diverse talent, but that diverse talent was also able to connect with me, because I had that experience. So that I think was a huge, a huge benefit of the traveling I've had. The second one, the further along the way in the industry, I think that I was able to appreciate the fact that the industry will go viral and global, probably faster than some of my peers. I remember in 2015, and 2016. So I remember in 2015, and 2016, when the industry was really at the stage where we still had small investors coming in the average check was maybe, you know, 50, or $100,000, a quarter million dollar check would be a huge deal. Everyone was going into cultivation. Everyone was looking at Colorado and California, to some extent some of the newer states. But you know, all the companies that had entered along with me in 2014, were certainly not looking at an international marketplace, they were really focused on planting their flag and strengthening their position in the very local market. Even ancillary services such as New Frontier data. I immediately started traveling, I went to my first international conference in Israel in early 2016. were identified the first company I wanted to acquire which was again an international had an international sort of angle, it was very much CBD and hemp centric. So I think that because my world My, my world was always sort of cross continental. And cross border II possibly. And I guess I did see the international element and opportunity way faster. We entered Europe before any of our peers in North America we're entering, and we started talking about Latin America before anyone else. And we were the first one to put out a global report. So I think those are the two aspects that probably benefited from my early my youth traveling my early stage traveling. Max  19:35  Sure, well, and on that note, let's go to the other side of the coin. Obviously, your traveled has been inhibited a bit from COVID. How has that changed? Yeah. How has that changed? both personally, you know, because it sounds like you're the type of person that just gets charged up by being in a new place and traveling and taking that on as a challenge and enjoying the journey and in adventure of it. But how How has How has it changed both personally and professionally? Not being able to travel and you know, in getting these advantageous positions that you just talked about? Giadha  20:11  Well, on a personal level, I must admit that traveling is exhausting to me. I'm actually an extreme introvert. I don't appear it I know people will say that Oh Giadha, you definitely you're an expert. Uh, no, actually, I lose energy fast when I try when I'm around people. So I've been able to recharge personally, massively because attending in 30,40,50 conferences a year, the Traveling is pretty tasking. However, from a professional perspective, it certainly has been challenging to keep up with some of the nuance, nuances on a regional basis. For instance, we are expanding into Europe, which is why I'm currently in Europe, by the way, and that one of the reasons is because you're the European market is becoming increasingly important, not only from a consumption perspective, but from a production perspective and export import dynamics that I that we will be discussing later this year and reports but but that are going to become very important on a global scale. But but the the, the, we have been fortunate However, in that the because we're now an almost six year old company, we were at a point internally, at least that we were able to focus internally and the market, the market externally sort of did not experience any massive shift. I don't want to say that the growth of regional markets slowed down, because as you know, cannabis consumption has actually gone up pretty much globally under the COVID app and the pandemic. However, when it comes to massive shifts in Dynamics and trends, we haven't seen that. So we've seen sort of more of a linear growth. Thus, we were fortunate that not that there was nothing really that required sort of this, this boots on the ground last year, because of the pandemic, I would say we will however, need to start traveling quickly this year, because we are beginning to see some pretty strong new trends, for instance, in Latin America, with Mexico and other countries, legalizing and of course, in Europe with a variety of bills and regulatory matters that are evolving. But we were lucky the one year I think gave us an opportunity to breathe and to strengthen and to really put our head down and study. But I think that pause is now short lived. I think it's time to get back out there. Max  22:35  Sure. Sure. Yeah, it's coming soon. Speaking of cannabis consumption, I would love to hear maybe a glimpse into some of the trends that you see coming up like, and I'll tell you on the on the micro level for us, I'm in Arizona, in the US and Arizona legalized obviously, for recreation, and it was this past week, where now it's actually the dispensaries are opening up. And I've heard from people that have been to the dispensaries. I haven't been there any my clients this week since they've opened but the shelves are like empty. I mean, and they were preparing they knew that was coming. And so this is on a micro level. And I know we you know your company, this is the data, but I mean, it can let's get into like, What are you? What are you anticipating, as some of the trends as we start to see, you know, we're starting to see states and countries and you know, the like start to start to move towards recreational legalization. Giadha  23:36  So the recreational legalization continues to be centric in North America. So the rest of the world is really much more interested at least for the time being in in medical applications of the plant, not to say that there aren't pockets of interest in adult use. And not to say that there isn't adults use all over the globe. But in terms of legalization, most of the countries outside of North America are very much looking at legalizing medical use before anything else. Again, with some gray areas here and there, there's quite a bit at least half a dozen nations that it's sort of their their loopholes. What we are seeing in North America, which continues to be sort of the most mature consumer market in the world when it comes to cannabis. One of the reasons because indeed there is a mature recreational adult use market is is the during the pandemic we've seen triple and quadruple the size of individual purchases. So certainly a very much a stock up type of trend, which is basically what you just mentioned. So you know everybody and everything off the shelves in fear that they'll run out and not have it. We were not necessarily surprised about this. In fact, when we started talking about this and predicting this Max  24:56  Sorry, no worries. Giadha  24:59  So we Very much like what you saw in Arizona, there is sort of that stuck up mentality, in case you run off and run your runs out. But this is something that we began to discuss, in fact, in March early during the pandemic, because we were also beginning to talk about it potential recession, economic crisis. And during times of recession, economic crisis, sectors such as alcohol, tobacco, and chocolate and condoms tend to do very well. And believe it or not, recreational cannabis would fall in those categories. I think the pandemic and sort of heightened that further because of the potential because of the stress and anxiety that the pandemic itself was bringing to bear. And that's something that we've seen across the board. So consumption went up. The other interesting trend that's worth mentioning is, depending on the population group, depending on gender and age, an increase in edibles and flower. So a little bit of a decrease in vaping, which, again, not surprising, given sort of what we saw happen in the last 18 months with vaping, and the health, potential health risk and health questions around it. But certainly a very large sort of a, which had begun in 2018, with a spike in edible consumption. And a sort of return to flower, especially high quality flower. So this search for very high quality flower. And that's true across North America. And we've seen where that is true in other nations, we've seen that trend also. Sustained. Max  26:40  Yeah, and speaking of So, you know, in the US, I think, you know, in just my travels across Europe, and I think when people travel Europe, I think smoking is a lot more tolerated, obviously in Europe than it is in the US. I think that there's, you know, some differences there. Is, is do you expect the same decrease in vaping? Is that happening worldwide? Or are you talking more in the US? I'm just I just interested in that, just just to see if there's a difference between the way Europeans look at vaping versus the US, Giadha  27:11  So, that is a very much a North American trend for now. And to be candid with you. And we all were always very honest about, you know, if we don't have an answer, and we don't have a data based answer, we don't tell you we don't know, we don't have as much visibility in other parts of the world when it comes to the annual consumption, as we have in the United States and in Canada. That said, the information that we do have in from Europe and Latin America still does support those trends.  Max  27:37  What from your, if you can share what countries are really going to set a precedence, as you see. countries, I don't want to say get more lenient as far as medical, because medical is medical in it, and you have to go through the medical system, but you only think of what countries are leading the way what when you are going to send signals to you that the industry is really making progress in Europe, when they when what countries do want I mean, Germany, like who's leading the charge, in your opinion, like what are going to be the pillars that really lead Giadha  28:11  from the regulatory perspective, in a in an initial sort of early stage consumption perspective, Germany, England, France, Spain, Italy, those are the those are the nations that sort of seem to have the largest opportunities, we are seeing an emergence in interest from Slavic countries. So the former Soviet nations that have northeast, Mediterranean nations are interested. I mean, the whole Mediterranean has high consumption illegally. So there is an emergence of sort of do, again, driven by this economic crisis, right. A lot of countries just like a lot of states in the US are looking at ways to mitigate the loss in revenue. And so taxation of something that is being consumed illegally is a no brainer. Something that is interesting in Europe, however, beyond the consumption, adults use or medical and medical is still most prominent beyond adults use for now is the interest from a b2b perspective, right? So large consumer packaged good companies, whether it is in food and beverage, or health and beauty are interested in entering the space to address consumption in North America and to address consumption in Europe. But there's some very large multinational companies that are looking to come up with new brands that are seeded with CBD infused products, and even THC infused products. So that's something that's interesting, across Europe that we're seeing that I would say is is fascinating to me. And that certainly shows that Europe is maturing as far as perception even if multinational corporation are getting up to speed faster than the individual concern consumer, then the shift is occurring. Max  29:58  Got it fascinating. I'm gonna start switch gears a little bit, I want to go back to something that I think is awesome. I was super excited to have this conversation with you. What does it mean? And because of what I'm going to ask you, but what does it mean to be a woman and minority owned business or business leader? I mean, it's, you're such a powerhouse, I just want to go back to it. You talked about the diversity and everything that that we're in alignment. And that's important to really building, especially a global business doing what you guys are doing, but what does it mean to you? And then second, these might be together. And I could repeat the questions as you as you unfold your answer here. But I believe everybody's fighting something internally, not necessarily in a bad way. But what are you fighting? And what are you fighting against? Is there something that you're that charges you up? So they're they're kind of two separate questions, but I think you'll you'll, you'll crush them together? Unknown Speaker  30:48  Oh, I The second part is certainly something that I'm gonna have to think about. Again, I fight for so many things on a daily basis, I guess that would be the first answer. Listen, as a business owner, regardless of your gender, or ethnicity or business founder, right? Because can my investors own the business, we all own the business, we're also employee owned. But as soon as the founder. It's, it's just it's a constant fight, right? Especially when you're in such a volatile high growth industry, one that had the type of taboos that the cannabis industry had. I mean, it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. And it still isn't, right. So that's true of any as a female and, and as a minority. And as an immigrant. Some of the things that I often find is credibility, right, I went crazy getting degrees from is some of the best companies some of the best  academic institutions in the world just because of this constant feeling that I had to prove that I could be trusted that I was credible that I'm so and i think that that continues. It's something that many women and many minorities will say, I happen to also have an accent doesn't really help because it isn't exactly a British Oxford accent. So there's it when I pitch investors when I especially as we now begin to pitch very large investors, and we begin to work with very large multinational companies. When in North America, there's always a little bit of of that fight of Yes, I know, I'm a woman, yes, I wear red lipstick. And yes, sometimes I wear a very tight pink suit, guess what I still can speak to you and I can, I can sort of hang in here and be at par with you. However, internationally, I will say that being a woman or minority has helped me so the tables have turned a bit while it was excruciatingly painful, the first three, four years. It's not that we are an international company, my diversity and the fact that I'm a woman is actually helping. So there is a day of reckoning, I guess, as I say, in terms of what really drives me every day. It has changed over the years. At first there was this, this really wanting to there's, I've always been very loyal. And I have been very grateful to the talent and the folks that helped me early on. And so there was this massive need to sort of do right by them and make sure that we succeeded. There were a lot of sacrifices made early on by a lot of people. And so there was that drive of do right by all of them, including investors and and and team members. Today, I think I've returned to a little bit of my a pipe alpha, early youth drive where I just want to win. I think that they're we're in a unique position. And this may seem a little superficial. But we have gotten to the point where we're very well positioned to bring transparency into this industry on a global scale. And I think we can do it right. I think when I say win, it's not just making money, when I say win is I think we can truly elevate the discussion on a global scale whereby medicine is is is being allowed, whereby in jobs are being created, where there is social equity. And so those are the things that I begin to think about after six years, and it's exciting to be able to think of these things do you even believe for one minute in the morning, that we could have an impact on such macro level global matters. I mean, I was an international relations student undergrad so these are the types of things that I'm really excited about to see us take an active role and and and i and i think we can and I am working towards doing it. We are Max  34:40  I I really respect the you know, the the idea of fighting credibility but as I was preparing to talk to you, I'm thinking you might have an accent but you you speak five languages. So you could be talking about me and five, you know, four other languages that I don't even know what you're talking about per se. I mean, I know a little bit but So you're not fighting credibility with me. In fact, the interview with you today for me is helping build my credibility, just so you know. So. So I'm gonna move on to some other probably a little bit more personal questions, but I think you'll, you'll enjoy them and so of the audience, but is there a particular motto that you live your life by? Giadha  35:24  Do it. And I know Nike has its Nikes. But hey, I live by, just do it. I've learned early on in life that fear is is probably one of it fear and envy, right or hatred. But for me fear because I'm lucky enough I don't think I I have had much much envy or hatred in my life. But fear certainly. And I decided deliberately that this should be no fear regret, this is something that's awful. So just doing things not to do it thoughtlessly, obviously, not to be, you know, careless, but certainly to just do it, talking and talking about it, thinking about it too long talking about it too long. I it's frustrating to me. And I feel like it can be a waste of time. So the model for me is, if there's something that we need to do when it just do it. And then if we need to go back and tweak the tweak, but just take that step forward. Max  36:17  Got it, love it. And then you talked about winning, which hits home for me, because when I when the when the gloves come off, and I really think about what are we sometimes if I'm frustrated and moving the business forward, or at the end of the day that when I think about what what am I, What's pushing me? and I say the same thing I want to win. But and and I can trace that back to you know, playing a lot of sports and being competitive. And there's a big difference that I had to learn over time, and being competitive in business and being competitive in sports. But what When did you first starting wanting to win? Like what was it? Was it did you? Did you play an instrument? Did you compete? Like Was there anything like early in your childhood that started you down this feeling of like I want to win? or How are you raised? Like, is there something I just want to go back to like, that really connected with me and I, you know, I gave you some of the reasons. For my early childhood. Most of it was sports related but wanting to win. And for the right reasons. It's wanting to win, it's wanting to achieve certain, you know, goals and hit certain pylons with your company, not only not just making money, but that is part of it. But what was the starter or the driver of wanting to win early in your life? Giadha  37:27  I don't know that anyone's ever asked me that question in such a manner. So very, very helpful question. Well, I, I moved every three years growing up, which is why I speak the languages. But with that came a certain level of solitude and independence and autonomy. Every time I shift countries, I had to learn a new language. And as such that getting getting up to speed with everyone else and not feeling like I was left behind was I guess my first I need to win. That said, I think I was born competitive period. In terms of the sports I always played loner sports began, again, the language barrier. So I'm a runner, and I to this day I run. I remember I was in relays and I wanted to win, I wanted to run against the male team and school and I did, and we won. So there was a little bit of there was certainly competitiveness. But if I had to say one experience in my life that wasn't so young, that truly turned things around and made it that sort of ignited that that drive if not passion. early on. When I moved to the United States, I went to community college for about five years. Again, that was the last language I learned English. And I only knew Romance languages. So this one was the hardest for me. And I was older. So having moved here at 16/17 to pick up in your language at that point was certainly a little more challenging than when you're five or six or seven. So it took me a long time to just get my associate's degree. Again, it's a two year degree and it took me almost five years, but I wanted I really, I was very perseverant. And I remember, my goal was to transfer to a to a really good school, I actually wanted to transfer to an Ivy League school. And I took Esau which is English for Spanish or other languages for many years. And finally I was able to take in normal English and I even got to an honors English class, my last year, all with the same professor from Israel to the honors. So I asked her for a recommendation when I applied to Harvard, Yale and University of Pennsylvania and those were the only three schools I applied to. I also took the SAT like 57 times, literally I kid you not. So when I did that, I provided the time you thought it was all typed, and we literally mercy you know, the typewriter and I sent it again with the forms and the next day she came to the seminar and she she called did class to attention and she said that she wanted to discuss Something that was really important. And it was the understanding of not reach, overreaching in life and not to set yourself up for failure. And she used my application to Harvard, Yale and University of Pennsylvania, as an example of overreaching and setting myself up for failure. Something triggered inside of me that day, the humiliation first and foremost was huge. And the lack of confidence from someone who I thought I had made proud, having gone from Israel to honors, was crippling inside. And I did get into Penn. And I sent her a postcard from it. And from that, beyond, it's been sort of this thing of like, I don't care how many times people tell me, I can't do it, I'm gonna win. Max  40:46  I love it. Thank you for sharing that. For those of the for those of you that are listening, and are thinking about ever giving up this is she learned English last out of all of her languages, and then went on to to be successful, you know, in the academia, world, and obviously successful in business. So thanks for thanks for sharing that. And take an SAT 57 times. I mean, there is perseverance. Giadha  41:14  Maybe we feel less but I took it certainly a couple of dozen times I kid you not I took I took this at, at least across the two years period. My first score was 790. And I'm pretty sure you get like, what 600 points for getting your name right. took me a while It took me a while. Max  41:35  I have a feeling here a pretty humble person. So I appreciate this. When thinking about what's your bit, what would you say your biggest professional accomplishment is today, and I have a feeling you're you always think moving forward. Like you've you're humble you're you feel well accomplished to a certain degree. But I know you have your eyes on something moving forward. But let's stop and just think about what what has felt like the biggest professional accomplishment today. Giadha  42:01  The talent that I was able to bring together and I say I and I say that and I shouldn't because it's we write it really has been. We started with four why I started by myself then it was two than it was four and now we're over 40 people across the world. But, but I do still keep the little part of me that says you know what, Jenna, you brought this team together. And with the help of others, but you did and that that, to me is a great accomplishment because the talent of the company is what drives us. Um, I early on, I was not a micromanager. Like, you wouldn't believe OCD control freak, you name it. But I call I call myself a war General, right? Because at a time of war, mistakes cost lives. And so I made that analogy. We have evolved and and certainly I'm no longer that word general. I don't have to be there's incredible talent around me that now leads lives with me. But it's, it's, it's kind of awesome to see. It really is like it's I never thought I could bring that many interesting and unique and intelligent and driven people together in a rather risky journey. This this is still today a risk, like, obviously much less risky than it was five years ago. But there's still it's still an emerging market and you know, so. So that I would say is my feeling my greatest accomplishment. And you're right, my greatest accomplishment, I believe is yet to come beyond. Max  43:36  But man, our worlds just collided as professionals, obviously our entire business is built off of the premise of talent being the number one priority, and really building businesses. So not surprising that that's where you went with the, you know, with the biggest professional accomplishment. What about on a personal side? What would you say you by the way, you've mentioned some good ones. So I'm not discounting anything you've said. But personally, like a personal accomplishment that you look at, like you'd say, that was one of the biggest for me personally. Giadha  44:08  It's gonna sound a little I don't know if it's gonna sound a little petty. I'm gonna say it anyway. I'm nothing if not honest to the fault. Honesty is our core value number one core value New Frontier data. When that incident occurred, I was waitlisted the school one the English teacher, one I went to, I went to university Pennsylvania, yell straight out, say thank you, but no, thank you. But Harvard, Harvard wait listed me and I had seen the movie with honors early on in life. And I had this sort of vision of you know, one day I want to go to Harvard, I was finally able to go to Harvard as an executive for an executive program. December of last year, now well, the year before last. And it was probably one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had. The type of individuals that I sat across and next to I couldn't believe I was there I mean from soon to be president to incredibly successful multinational executives to scientist and folks that have really, that should get Nobel prizes for peace and a variety of other things. And I, it was a very short program, but to me was something that I always wanted to do. And I guess I'm very academically driven. So on a personal level, being able to do that, while working, and while driving forward without sort of stopping to work. I was very excited to take that off my bucket list. Max  45:41  As you should, Giadha  45:43  I think I'm done with studying there now, because it also, after nuts not been in school for like, 15 years, I kind of was like, What the hell was I thinking, Jesus work what. Max  45:54  So, on kind of that note, and this might fall in line with it, what person has had the greatest impact on your life and why? Giadha  46:05  I mean, this is gonna sound a little cliche, but it's the truth. I mean, my mother, my mother, with her presence, and my father through his absence. And you know, and not to get too personal. But I think that the parent dynamic as many of us, as is true for many of us, a truly shaped me, my mother very early on, as early as 10 years old, sort of, remember this as if it was yesterday said, you always need to be autonomous and independent. And the few things that my father ever said to me early on in life, because after that he wasn't around was, knowledge is power. He didn't say it in English, but it basically translated to that, because I could do he had, he had, I believe, nine he spoke then languages, I had three different degrees in two PhDs, which is why education is so in trenched into me, but sort of the idea of being autonomous, that being strong and independent certainly came from my mother and this this need to, to know and to use knowledge, as my strength is definitely driven by by my father while he was around. Max  47:12  Awesome. Well, I have a very strong mother too. So I can, I can relate to that. And I know I do have some Italian friends and their mothers are usually very there, they have presence presence was a great word that to bring the table there. Giadha  47:27  That's one way to put it. Yes. Max  47:30  So I'm going to I'm going to switch gears just a little bit. But. So before, I'm going to take it into some sort of some rapid fire questions, that'll just be kind of short and a little bit light. But before doing so, I want to kind of go back and just see from your perspective. COVID-19, I always talk to the guests that I've had lately, I've always want to, like reach in and find out what good things have come from COVID? Like, what is it? You know, obviously, you haven't had to travel as much. And you said, That's personally kind of taxing on you. So it's probably allowed you to I'm just making some assumptions to do some things personally that you haven't probably done or maybe never did. But what are some good things that have come of COVID. And I always try to concentrate on the positive side, there's obviously a lot of challenges and things that have come up COVID for people and some very unfortunate things, but what are some things that have come positively from the COVID-19 challenges? Giadha  48:27  So I assume you mean for me personally, not for our company? Yeah, you spending time with my family. I mean, one of the reasons I came to Italy was because I wanted to make sure that my entire family was close by I think the is the crisis at this global scale. When many of us are used to being in different states, hell, in my case, we were in different countries, literally, like we see each other over the holidays. And that other than that, it's FaceTime and zooming. But the this pandemic and and I sort of took it I living in Washington, DC, I actually very early on last year felt that the the situation around election was going to make Washington a little bit of a HUBZone. And so I literally just under the umbrella, we can all work remote, I left and I got all my family together in one place. So one great thing is sort of it pushed us and now that we are close together, not to say that we're all in the same house, but we're very close and literally within five minutes we can see each other I don't think we're going to go back to not I think it reminded us after after living apart for most of my adult life, I think there's a renewed appreciation for being close to family. Not just in a time of crisis, but just periods. So that's one big thing. I I'm pretty I've been pretty high stress and high strung for the past six years. Starting this company was a challenging endeavor. But the COVID-19 answer, as you said, the non traveling did allow me or it forced me I'm not really sure which of the two just to be in a little more introspective and to kebab can take better care of myself, not just for me, oh Lord, I need to be strong and healthy, I can't, you know, I, my immune system needs to be strong, I need to work out more, which I've done in the past, but more meditating, sleeping better, drinking less, to say I was drinking that much, but literally like not at all. And I and that is again, a shift that I hope I can maintain. Because the introspection the meditation every morning, well, it's all it's helped me manage my stress associated with everything that's going on. It's also given me a tap of a kind of equilibrium that I had not had before. So I would say that those those two things, I think we're triggered by this pandemic, for me and my family. Max  50:58  Awesome. Well, let's just dig in on that a little bit further, are there, which you spoke of some of them meditation for for mental, and physical well being, but any other rituals that you have stuck with or that you have now that really help you as a person and as a leader, you know, whether it be what you do in the morning, or just rituals that you that you have two different types of workouts, anything like that, that really helped you to perform better as a person and as a leader. Giadha  51:29  I have one. So I've never presumed to be a yogi. Because I don't know yoga. But I do like to stretch. And I do like to meditate. And I like to read about metaphysics I consider myself a spiritual person, I was raised very religious, and I'm today I think, more religious or more spiritual than religious. Every morning, the first five minutes of my morning, literally, I could still be in bed, I stretched my entire body just sort of and take very deep breath to sort of wake up my body first. And then I spend a few minutes just setting I guess, one could say an intention for the day. affirmation. And I literally, it's, I do it before anything else. Like as I open my eyes, I don't want to waste one second of breath of life without a clear intention of what I'm going to do that day. And it's, it was something that was triggered recently, during this pandemic that I had done on and off, and now I just do it well, religiously. I guess. I even though it's not a religion. But yeah, I have helped me set the tone. I know that Yogi's do it, I don't do it or thinking matter in a way that it's as it's supposed to be done. But the idea of setting an intention for yourself for the day, I think is very powerful. Max  52:54  Well, thanks for sharing, there's a, you know, the last three or four guests, they've kind of poked around in this topic. And I've learned a lot and and I guess not ironically, there's been some sort of alignment in, in the thought of really getting things straight in your mind in the mornings. Ian Lopatin is the chairman of spiritual gangster. He's really into breathing in the mornings, with along with some other stuff. But so thank you for sharing that. I'm going to go through this, by the way, I will say has been one of my favorite conversations like Time flies, and I'm sitting here like, Okay, how do I bring this to a close? Because there's so many, I probably only got through the questions that I kind of structurally have in my head, I probably only got through about 20% of the questions. So there's so much more that I could ask, but and I'd love to selfishly, but for the sake of time and to respect your schedule and everything you're doing. And by the way, she's in Italy right now. So it's what time is it there? Giadha  53:58  It's about 7pm. Max  54:00  Okay, 7pm. So we're just getting started about 10am here. But so one, this is kind of selfishly, I want to ask, but hopefully there's other people that are listening that want to know this question, too. So out of all the traveling that you've done, and the places that you live, like I said at the beginning, they're all places that I can't wait to travel back to some of my favorite places, or some of the places that you live, personally. So what is what's your favorite city in the world? And why that you've been to?  Giadha  54:27  Oh, man, that's such a hard question. It's a really hard question. And I have been asked that before, and I really struggle. Because it depends, and I'm sorry to say that but I'll name a few of my favorite washington dc Believe it or not, despite the chaos that it's recently been through is a city that is very dear to my heart does it because of the education I got there, and the friends I have there and my company was born there and the opportunity that it represents is the capital of the nation that gave me everything. I am today professionally. I love Washington DC. It also happens to be a very European looking city for someone who grew up in Europe, and then was sort of shifted over to Miami, I had a very difficult time in Miami. So Miami would not be on that list. But DC certainly is. I love I love Rome. I love Florence. I mean, those are obviously I'm Italian. And so those are, those are the cities that that truly means something to me. And they're just beautiful in terms of the history they bring to bear. And it's really live museums. But to go a little further away from that in terms of truly beautiful places. I had the opportunity to travel to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, as well as Thailand, Phuket. And I cannot think of more. I at least personally have not seen more natural beauty than I have seen when I went there. Truly in incredible, beautiful places. So I would say those, those are the 10 there is one one last one that I will mention, which is kind of unique for those who have not gone to Petra. And can. I'm someone who's traveled a lot. And that took my breath away. It certainly should be considered one of the wonders of the world doesn't really qualify as a city. But it is certainly a place that I would suggest people go It's really amazing. Max  56:32  I would second that. I'd say one of the most amazing experiences I ever had with my wife was in Cannes for the firework show. We did we didn't even know that was happening there. We were traveling and we were getting they're showing us to our hotel at the JW Marriott i think is where we're staying. And they asked he said by the way, you're going to watch the fireworks show tonight. We're like what fireworks show? And then what a question to ask because now we will go back and watch the fireworks show they have. I think it's over four or five weeks, each country puts together a firework show over the Bay of Cannes, and it's choreographed to music. It's one of the most amazing things you'll ever see. I'm sure you've probably seen that. Giadha  57:11  I know. But I tell you what, I'm going to make it my business. This is something amazing. Max  57:18  It was amazing. I mean it when once they told me about it, and then we were out at the beach club, watching them set it up. I mean, they have barges all over the water with a bunch of police around it because it's the other barges full of explosives, but it was one of the most breathtaking taking things you'll ever see in your life. Like it will like bring you to tears without many fireworks with music. And just it was amazing. So Alright, well I'm gonna move into the rapid fire questions. You've been an amazing guest. I'm going to start kind of bringing us to a close but what we're now going to move into kind of some some quickfire questions. What book Have you read more than once? Or what is one of your favorite books? Giadha  57:54  Hmm. I feel like well, I read his news and intelligence reports these days. I can I can tell you I read many of our reports more than once. And some of them are actually not in English. One that I have read multiple times is called Landry. They don't the night of times that it's it's I don't know that if I was ever translated in in English, but it's a childhood favorite of mine. And I've read it in this adult as well. I I actually don't read books multiple times, if I do is for recreational purposes. And I must admit that I don't read for recreational purposes as much these days. So I would say that's the only one that I can say for sure. And the reason why I have read that one more than once is because that is the book that got me into reading. I used to hate reading until a teacher in Spain differentially save forced me to read this book. And that changed me. So yes, let me get on. Max  59:03  Awesome. What's your favorite song? Giadha  59:09  Hmm.I have quite a few Live To Tell I wrote an essay in college about it by Madonna. That's one of my favorite songs. Max  59:20  But what is your favorite word? Giadha  59:24  strength. Max  59:26  What is something on your bucket list that you're waiting to check off? Giadha  59:30  I had to jump off a plane. I have to do it. I'm a little afraid of heights. I just have to face it. Remember fear? No fear. Max  59:38  If you could teach one subject to schoolchildren, what would it be this is you've been through a lot of school and a lot of different places. But so this is coming from somebody that's been in the international school system. So what would it be one subject to school children? What would it be? Giadha  59:54  I don't know if it's a subject that Max and I don't know if there's one word to explain. But learning that the the idea of learning to be kind and listening and instead of understand others around you, I don't know what that's called. But I think we need more of that. And I don't know if that's a subject in school. Max  1:00:18  Almost like emotional awareness. Yep. Are you a morning or night person? I mean, given the fact that I've talked to you at night and given I heard your morning routine, I'm now confused. Giadha  1:00:31  We're both we're both confused my entire life. I've been a night owl. In the past year, however, I've turned into an early morning person coming to the south of it, and I'm in I'm in rural area, South Italy here. I learned now get up with a chicken. And so I'm becoming and maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I'm now definitely more of a morning person. Max  1:00:52  Awesome. If you could change one thing about the world right now, what would it be? Giadha  1:00:57  Oh, Lord. You keep them light. Hmm. That's judgment. I like to stop judging each other. I don't think it's really helping anybody. Max  1:01:09  Awesome. Well, I'm going to leave you the last word. But before I do, I'm going to kind of close this out. This has been the built on purpose podcast with Max Hanson brought to you by Y Scouts where we higher purpose, purpose driven and performance proven leaders. I'm gonna give the last word did Giadha, give us the last word? Giadha  1:01:27  Well, first and foremost, Max, this is a really fun interview. very thoughtful. So thank you for that. I've generally enjoyed it. And then I would leave any listener, especially women, minority, right. And you know, and folks out there that are that feel that they're facing challenges and want to achieve something that I would leave them with, you can just do. Max  1:01:49  Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing. And if you're listening, please be sure to share the podcast and thank you for being a guest today, Giadha this was amazing. I'll be sure to follow up with you and I look forward to reconnecting down the road sometime soon. Giadha  1:02:03  Thank you. Max  1:02:04  Alright, talk to you soon. Thank you. Bye

When confronted with the inevitable disruption awaiting the future market places by Artificial Intelligence many compare the AI revolution with that of the industrial revolution, however, analyzing the scale at which the new technology has already affected our lives and the pace at which both AI and robotics are being developed proves that the level of disruption will not be comparable with anything we have seen before!    In this Let’s Talk edition of Beyond the Present Podcast Daniel and Pouya discuss what we can expect in our near and distant future and more importantly what we can do to make it harder to be replaced by technology via choosing the right niche and mastering our craft.      Daniel's Social:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danmolgan/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Danmolgan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-molgan-41812352/   Pouya's Social: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pouyalj/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/pouyalj LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pouyalajevardi/   Episode Transcript... ----more----   SUMMARY KEYWORDS ai, people, obsolete, field, human, business, mastering, job, means, world, degree, vacuum cleaner, skills, problem, life, subject, talk, difficult, pretty, historically SPEAKERS Pouya LJ, Dan   Pouya LJ  00:09 Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to yet another let's talk addition. It's been a while we had one of these, but now here we are. And we're talking about the future. First of all, Hey there, Dan.   Dan  00:22 And man, buddy, how's it going? How are you? It's been a while, I'm glad to actually talk to you right now, for a while we've been super busy and the COVID has changed all of our plans, that has certainly changed a lot of my plans, in terms of my travels that have been canceled and the exhibitions that have been canceled and so on. But ultimately, it's been a great, you know, couple of months, because despite the fact that we've had dealt with a lot of issues that are Unfortunately, most of them, of course, were unforeseen. Fortunately, we've managed to get over a lot of these challenges. And I feel like even though in the first four or five months of the pandemic, we are not making good practices, we're just adapting and into the new situation. Now that we've all fully adapted the situation, I guess, we're learning to actually make more progress. Basically, in our work in our businesses, and life is great. And I'm very glad things are fine, haven't you? vuzix? How's life in Canada, where you have to these days? What How do you keep yourself busy? And how are things in Canada?   Pouya LJ  01:17 things are going good. I mean, as you mentioned, life has changed a lot. There are a lot of things that we were used to doing that are either done differently or not done at all. You know, socializing is different. And work is different studies, different   Dan  01:31 studies are super nice, even socially, they let you literally take it to heart this whole social listening, probably I think now, half the population in probably Canada are suicidal, the other half are depressed, I'm guessing.   Pouya LJ  01:42 Well, I mean, I don't know specifically. But obviously, it should have a mental toll on people, you know, how things are going, but I guess everybody is doing their best to cope. One way or another to the witness situation?   Dan  01:58 Is jealousy? And so yourself? How do you spend your time basically these days? And cuz I know you're engaged with your studies. And of course, you have your work in business. So because I don't know about that place, because unfortunately, it's probably no. Now, in the US things are very, very divided. So there's on the one hand, those who don't don't ever wear masks, they don't take any of these things seriously. And they just had a you know, life as if nothing has happened. On the other hand, we have those who are very cautious than you know, all over the world. Now we're seeing very different lifestyle. So I have friends in Europe, who are now in complete state of disarray, because especially with some of my friends right now in Italy, and France are just suffering so much. Whereas I have friends in Russia, where they're just quite relaxed, like no man, there's no guarantee here life is great. So it really depends on where you are right now. China is based if you're in China, right, and you're probably the happiest in the world, because there's pretty much nothing they've already beaten the virus A long time ago. So I think this pandemic has made me think a lot more about, you know, how different countries are handling it, basically. So for Canada, because you guys are somewhere in between Europe and America. I mean, you're neither fully all American crazy and nor fully European. So like, I was wondering, like, how are things now there? And people just keep to themselves all the time? Do you have any social events and gatherings or to clubs and bars and restaurants open? Or that kind of stuff?   Pouya LJ  03:17 Yeah, so obviously, it's very, it's a big country in terms of, you know, surface area.   Dan  03:24 Yeah, but he has one advantage, you're very big. But in terms of like, the population, it's not basically higher again. So that's probably a good thing for the COVID case, broadly speaking,   Pouya LJ  03:35 is actually very good. So most of the country in terms of in terms of population, but in terms of area, geographically, it's very loose, because everything is calmed down and chill down to a good degree, the regulations and whatnot, obviously, they're, they're like masks and whatnot. But when you go to places like Toronto, Ontario, and around Toronto in specific, then you have a different situation, we like two weeks ago, we had to go to a what what's called by the officials a modified stage two is actually means that indoor gatherings are limited to 10 people again, it was   Dan  04:10 Wow, much more, monitors these things because I the exact same problem in Russia, where I actually had to, you know, deal with a lot of problems. In the US things are a lot easier, fortunately. And again, not necessarily fortunately, but at least as of now, there are no strict regulations. Of course, the election will determine, you know, how will this continue? And in some countries like European nations, I mean, they're just I feel sorry for those who are now in Europe right now. So if you're listening to us, you know, from the European Union, literally, I'm just sorry for all of you guys. It's just I feel your pain, and I know how difficult it is for you. But ultimately, I guess it depends. So for Canada, like, do they like have any means of enforcing these rules? Or they just say it and the reason that they are they just follow without asking any questions?   Pouya LJ  04:54 Well, I mean, I think it's a degree of both meaning that essentially, it's You know, guidelines are put in put in place on people, for the most part to follow. These things are maybe not to the letter depends on there are some gray areas, obviously but generally speaking people do follow There are obviously always people who don't follow those rules and regulations. And I've seen sometimes people are getting fun, not individuals, usually it's on the side of businesses for example, if a restaurant is not allowed to host people inside like they can do outdoors at this point, no problem. patios, whatnot.   Dan  05:35 Really, is it possible now with a temperature I don't know how the game is right now is there but I'm just harder for outdoor hosting. Now   Pouya LJ  05:41 it's getting, it's getting more difficult. But for now, it's not still above zero. And they have these like heated patios. So they make it a little bit Wow, more doable. I mean, they have to survive the restaurant business specific, obviously, obviously, when it gets really cold, it gets much more difficult. But it's not there yet. So point being, if businesses are not complying, it's going to be very difficult for them to hide, because much more public, but individuals are a different story. I mean, there are cases that there's some enforcement, but for the most part, they're relying on people following the regulations, etc.   Dan  06:17 I think this whole thing taught me the importance of leadership and how almost the way you live your life, it pretty much is dictated by how the leaders make decisions. And I just realized that a lot more than I used to, and it's just a, you know, very interesting fact overall, but overall, good things are fine. And I hope that all of the world we gradually as we get closer to that, that, you know, vaccine vaccination day, hopefully things gets better and occasional just announced that they are ready to hopefully, work very hard to ship the these vaccines worldwide. Let's see what they do. And let's just stay optimistic.   Pouya LJ  06:51 Yeah, absolutely. That's what we'll see what happens. I mean, typically, I mean, historically, I've heard it somewhere. I'm not. I haven't fact checked this. So people who are listening to this are welcome to do it. themselves. Don't take it from me. But I've heard that historically, the duration of pandemics are somewhere around 18 months. With without an accent vaccine, like even if you go further back. So that is sad in a way that it's going to be 678 more months, months, maybe but on the other hand, are   Dan  07:25 officially so far. So you said 18 months, that's pretty much like almost a year and a half. Yeah, I guess it seems fun that we got still almost half a year to go right. Yeah, roughly. I see pretty good, but still is happier just means that most of the you know, the the distance already been crossed? That's a good thing. If you're an optimist, guys, we're to third through man, come on. Let's push it through.   Pouya LJ  07:47 Well, yeah, but but so the historic data, I think, like even if it's close, it's correct. Let's say it's correct, let's say three months stance historically, roughly, obviously, there's no line. But it doesn't take two things into account. One is vaccine, we're not historically popular, like if you go beyond 8090 hundred years ago, then that's another thing. So you that's one thing, whether we have acting or not, on the other hand, like these kind of quarantines, like, what I'm trying to say, virus would burn through population before people would go isolate themselves, if needed, and whatnot. So this timeline might not really work in that sense. But who knows?   Dan  08:33 I see. Of course, now we have more people around. But then again, we have better technologies. And of course, sure, better means reaching people. So I hope that this is going to be around the same as you mentioned, hopefully, hopefully, and and I really look forward to like going back to normal, hopefully, I guess some around March will be a lot better. That's what I personally have planned for my major travels. And we'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes.   Pouya LJ  08:57 Yeah, absolutely, though, so they were actually that was not part of our agenda. I mean, obviously, talk about it a little bit. But what we're talking about today, very briefly, there's going to be further episodes on this subject, obviously, because it's a big subject. It's another kind of disruption. And that is the the AI disruption or the computer, what we had many technological disruptions before. And one of them is we're going to talk about is artificial intelligence, and its powers and how it affects us and our life. And so we know that all of us have heard, we talked about it on this podcast, that division of intelligence, there's a lot of tasks are going to be automated and done by computers, essentially, you know, from grocery stores now that you do self checkout, for instance, or other means. Now, things are changing very rapidly, very quickly. And one of the natural questions for people especially younger individuals who are trying to get into the workforce and trying to see what they want to follow. The natural question is, what area? Or areas? Can I aim at and go to have a sustainable job or occupation in the future? Now, that is another good question. And that's what we're going to address today. So what are your thoughts generally about automation and artificial intelligence as a powerhouse for for this? phenomenal? I see,   Dan  10:31 you see, one of the problems that I get with people oftentimes tend to compare this AI revolution with that of the Industrial Revolution and saying, you know, what, man, we had the same issue back then. So we used to have horses, and then we got into cars and all that. So the jobs changed and became more industrial. So there are some optimists in this regard, who are saying that, yes, this AI, and this revolution will ultimately create new types of jobs, which I believe that to some point is actually true. But the problem is that that world, the industrial revolution happened in an era where we had far, you know, far fewer people than we have today. And based upon the all the basically estimations, the world population is definitely going to increase, there's no doubt about it. So this is we're going to see more people. So you can compare, I don't know, 1900, and 1800, with 2030 2035, because we're going to have a lot more people. That's number one. And even if you take a look into the history, even though we had, as we got into this revolution, we did face with fewer people who are required to work is now all the factors when working with machines, they were, you know, a lot less need for manual labor. So that's the one issue, people who think like this, just, you know, we're gonna have all this AI stuff, and then people are gonna change their jobs, they're gonna actually move on to doing AI things, if you will. But the fact of the matter is that AI is hap occurring, this revolution is occurring at a time where we have far more people, basically, than we have jobs for them. And number two, it is the issue of how AI disrupts work. By its very nature. You see, when it comes to, for example, Ai, we are talking about a type of technology that is capable of learning and growing and developing itself. So when you are, let's say, designing a machine, or an instrument for a factory, let's say in an early 1900s, obviously, you still need operators to work on this, those who build it and so on. But AI, it is not a technology or an instrument that you can just simply use. Rather, it's a source, it's a basically means of creating other types of technologies. Because AI is capable of generating basically its own decisions and its own basically data. The other issue, of course, is robotics, and how AI, once combined with robotics, can do a lot of things that we are doing right now, almost, you know, effortlessly. I mean, right now, what people think of like AI robots, which is not the movie, but like the actual vacuum cleaner. That's a very simple example of when AI meets robots. And a lot of houses around the world are now using this AI robots, vacuum cleaner, which just moves around the house on a regular basis and cleans things. So just imagine that thing, not just apply to a vacuum cleaner, but to almost everything else, whether it being I don't know those who let's say, clean the trash, basically, around the world, let's let's just say those who are, I mean, think of like very menial tasks that we think of like humans to be done. Obviously think about, you know, most almost all the drivers and pilots going out of job. And once you look at the scale at which this AI technology will affect us, you realize that the you know, the damage, if you will, will be a lot more substantial, you know, the employment and the job market than it was back in the industrial age. And other than that, of course, we have the issue of businesses who want to cut costs. So labor used to be cheap, obviously, in the beginning of the Industrial Age. But now, obviously, as you probably know, around the world, there's this trend towards increasing the minimum wage. And if you work in business, you understand that your number one job is to keep the cost as low as possible while maximizing the profit. So any entrepreneur in the future world would very much prefer to get their robotic versions of those, let's say staffs, just kind of like the iRobot vacuum cleaner, then to actually pay for a real human, because that probably will cost a lot less than we will know a lot more reliable because robots don't need sick leaves that don't get pregnant. And often that they don't complain so much, basically, right? I don't know, maybe someday robots will get pregnant. But until then after for now, be relaxed, but it's not going to occur. But the fact of the matter is, this is occurring right now. And for that very reason, we have to be prepared. Now while I do want to raise the awareness of our listeners and to make them a little bit cautious. I also want to say that there's a good side. And the good side is that while AI can replace a lot of our jobs, there are ways that we you know, are listeners can actually prepare themselves for that world to make sure that they are not going to be the first who will lose their jobs, they will actually more time to think of other ways to take their lives to a whole new level. And in one of my latest posts, I typed out the importance of mastering a specific subject a very high level, because that will then prepare you to deal with the future marketplaces where, you know, average skill and average levels of basically accountabilities can be easily replaced by AI, whereas more basically, advanced and masterful times performance will not be as easily replaceable, let's say compared to the average person.   Pouya LJ  15:36 Right? Well, that's true for the most part. I mean, I think it really depends on what is the area you're mastering, like if it's chess? Not really, right. Well, I do chess as a leisure.   Dan  15:48 My any Some even right now, I guess, this is not like about AI. I think like, all the top chess master players right now, they have all lost, I guess, probably say, like, IBM or something, I'm guessing.   Pouya LJ  15:59 Exactly. But yeah, that's specifically my point. And so it makes it very dependent on the field as well, I think I completely agree with you. So the degree of mastery definitely matters. But also the field can matter. And it's very difficult to predict what fields are going to be impact, I mean, some are easier to predict, some are not based on the technological advancements we have so far. But generally speaking, things that are more nuanced, are much harder to you know, teach in machine to deal with, like, chess is certainly a, you know, a tasking, job. But the strategy in chess is basically because of limitation, our limitations of imagining free moves, for what few moves ahead, right? Like, the whole thing is that you anticipate, there are different things I can do. And each of them will have, you will have, be able to see a few steps ahead, if I do this, the opponent will do that, then I'll do this. Right. So there's a degree of anticipation that a machine clearly because of the memory of has a can, and the fast, how fast it moves, everything it can actually do all of those steps ahead of actually playing get in its memory, and decide which is the best move to, to success. So that is certainly the the nuance is very limited. However, if you're dealing with other humans, like it's a management position, perhaps I mean, you can say that decision making can be automated very easily. But no.   Dan  17:53 See, that's the issue. Because we don't when we think of AI, we think about like, I don't know, things moving around, and just, you know, making certain codes to do this and do that. Because AI isn't just about, you know, those type of tasks that we habitually associated with, like, you know, robotics and computer science. I mean, Ai, have you ever heard about, like, there's there right now pages on social media, featuring poetry and quotes made by AI. Now, I don't know if you've ever read one of these. But at first you think like, there's this, you know, crazy philosophers making some random stuff. But ironically, at its current level, which is almost its infancy right now, we're seeing that AI can now come up with arts and philosophy and quotations. So obviously making decisions probably, and that's my problem, because we think that is all about, you know, just the the drivers and the pilots. No, man, what if the AI becomes this CEO of a company? What if you hire top managers, without hiring any real person, what if you literally subscribe to a management, for example, or managerial AI by the future IBM's. And they literally you subscribe at a, you know, literally fraction of the cost of hiring a, an experienced, let's say, top manager, which, which could cost the company, you know, millions of dollars per year in salary, you with a fraction of the cost, you can actually get the AI to use big data and make and who's always online to make literally the kind of decisions that almost no, basically a top manager could make. We're talking about that type of shift, not just, you know, we use AI, will it but just imagine that a company has shareholders and all the managers who are making the decisions are not real people. They're AI and algorithms that are making those decisions for the company.   Pouya LJ  19:38 Yeah, that's exactly correct. And that makes it very difficult to, you know, actually anticipate what field to go to. So that's what I subscribe to one of the best best advices ever heard on this subject. And that is, you know what, nobody knows truly. What fields are going to be more effective, probably most are going to be very much effective. Maybe some more, some less. At the end of the day, the the the advice that I heard is that see what you are interested in are like to do, don't think too much about these things. I mean, think about it to a degree, if you can anticipate it, of course, you want to submit it. But at the end of the day, there is a huge amount of ambiguity and what is going to be happening to any of these fields in 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, whatever have you time. And the advice is to the point, yes, find the field of your interest, have fields of your interest, follow your passion, as you mentioned, to the mastery, and try to keep up with the technology and how it's improving, transforming. And make sure you're not obsolete, as best as you can. So at the end of the day, we will need to be students of this, you know, field not to be researchers, but at least follow them and see what is happening and what are the shifts you can give to yourself and your own field. So you're more compatible with this new era and less obsolete?   Dan  21:18 I agree completely, definitely. Because I mean, it's really a matter of time before the way we do things right now will go completely Absolutely. I mean, just take a look at how we did banking, in the 1950s and 60s. And but today, almost all the skills and abilities that have banker in the 1960s. Let's go back to New York in 1960 and 1970. At that time, a typical New York banker would have had to have a lot of skills, including how to know the right clients, how to know to whom they should be you, for example, cash, the cheque and to whom you will not cash the check. I mean, how will you interact with the customers? What skills do you how to type properly using your typewriter to do those things took all those things. So almost all those skills right now are pretty much made obsolete, basically. And now, thanks to online banking, I don't know about the last time you went to a bank projects. But the last time I went to a bank was just because I had to physically be present to basically change my master and Visa card because they got expired after three years. And beyond that, there's pretty much no need for me to go to any bank at all. And just that's just one example, obviously. But once you take that trend, you realize that of course, this is going to go up to a very, you know, at a level where perhaps a lot of things we are now doing today might be completely obsolete. But then again, while I say that still, technology needs time to grow and expand, and that is why I mean, while we cannot perhaps avoid the inevitable, we could perhaps at least prolong it. And let's just at least those of us who are in our, let's say, mid 20s and early 30s, a chance to last probably as the last maybe generation who will go unscathed with all of this. And by the time that AI really takes over, probably we're already retired. But still, we need to teach the younger generation some skills to prepare themselves. And that's why we believe that being able to, first of all, making sure that our focus is as much about humans as it is about a skill because I really believe that almost all skills that are fully logical in nature and that don't involve humans. certain skills that could easily be automated are the first to go, obviously. And but the more human touch we add to any career path, whether it's me as a lawyer, you can no longer rely on just your knowledge of the law. Because once we have legal advisors AI as a eyes, there's no need for I mean, all your nose means nothing because they have direct access millisecond, right. But what if you focus on mastering law? As somebody who knows how to deal with people and clients? Well, what if you focus on the human aspect of legal practice, that will give you a huge edge? In case I don't know, 15 years from now, you've had to see major lawyers leaving basically a law firm, because there's no job for them available. Right. So whether it is I don't know, as a teacher educator, if you focus on the human element, whether it is in business and finance, whether it is in running early, you know, for example, properties around the world, if you try to focus more on how will you satisfy your guests and hyper generate, you know, more positive reviews. So ultimately, what I'm saying is by trying to focus on mastering, especially the human elements of what you do, probably you can actually prolong the inevitable and remain unplayable for the majority of your adult life. That's, of course, assuming that AI remains at its current growth, and we've not seen a major exponential change, I don't know 10 years from now.   Pouya LJ  24:40 Right? No, that that's absolutely good advice, I think. And, you know, at the end of the day, there's a huge amount of ambiguity and less, but that's just part of it. We have to learn how to cope with it best, of course, and these are all good advice. Sure,   Dan  24:54 sure. But I don't know what's going to happen. So let's, I mean, let's talk about our own field. So I don't know what's what's going to happen? Do you think? So let's have a few fields that we know very well. The fields of education, the fields, for example, science, because I know you're a scientist, entrepreneurship, running a business, real estate, and basically, investments. What do you think people in these fields should do to somehow prepare themselves for that inevitable?   Pouya LJ  25:22 Yeah, I think so. So first, let me narrow it down to science, first and foremost, because that is the area that it's actually been very helpful this these tools that currently exists at least, and enhance the ability of the scientist or researchers or engineers to create things or, for example, this simple example is how much AI has been used in the medical industry, while industry I don't know in medicine in general, trying to find different pathogens and whatnot. So it is all very important to consider. There's also a degree of research going into a eyes generating science, meaning coming up with your own trying them and approving them. Now, that is, that seems to be to the degree that I'm not closely following that research. But to the degree that I understand it, it seems to be proving tasking and difficult, but it doesn't mean it's impossible. So my guess is that it's just a guess. So who knows, but my guess is that you will be a very, very valuable tool to human scientists. At the first stage, it becomes extremely important and maybe a part of their, their lives, but nothing is, you know, certain we don't we just simply don't know and, and make any hope is, the hope is that these tools can help us solve the greater and more difficult questions of our times, we were talking about COVID, how much uncertainty there is about this simple disease that we think we got a grasp on these things. But we simply that it one thing it showed us is that we just don't, we just don't know. So well, about so many of these things. So. So yeah, that's, that's how I see that science. I don't know, if you want to talk about fields related to finance and management?   Dan  27:14 Well, first of all, I should finance I think that's the one thing that I'm very concerned about. Because the field of finance has, it's pretty much about having information. And obviously, there is going to always be an advantage to a an AI that is capable of running all sorts of diagnostics and prognostics, and all those things imagining the possible yields of different investments. So because I know that there is a firm near city right now that has invested more than one and a half billion dollars, just to increase the optic speed of their internet connection, so that by like almost a one or two seconds, and that has given this, you know, hedge fund a huge advantage. If, if two extra seconds and you know, faster processing is going to give you that advantage. Imagine what will AI do to finance and investments just really, somehow makes me sometimes even disturbed about this matter. The other issue, of course, is the issue of business. What if AI, which is a level where we can actually hire AI as those who make decisions for deciding what items to sell. I mean, right now, one of the common ways that a lot of unpresentable are making money is through what we call arbitrage. So buy low in one place, or market or in one situation sell high somewhere else. But one of the biggest challenges of making this work is to know which products to sell, and to how to somehow direct them. What if an AI is capable of finding the right targeted advertising for the clients using Facebook, again, all real time by analyzing and getting all the feedback from the big data, and then decide to sell this, you know, for example, you know, this ad to this type of demographics and to boost you know, the profit of one company. So, when you think about what AI can do to business and finance, it's just it almost pretty much can render any human business person almost out of this business. So that is why I think try to focus so much on learning how to do these things well yourself now, and keep up pace with the changes and trends probably can help us a little bit in this regard. And as you mentioned, education we go through this philosophy pretty well, was definitely those were a lot of changes. Because as information is already right now we're seeing you know, you can just find any information just with Google. So almost all knowledge workers will be facing with dramatic problems because now their knowledge that they have and acquired yesterday could be obsolete today. And AI knows about this, but you don't. And this could actually make a lot of educators also almost somehow rendered obsolete because now we can use AI as its own means of tutoring and teaching and educating. Even as you mentioned generating research, you know, at a university level or conducting, for example, other types of scientific work. So these Things were talking like a major disruptions. But then again, as you mentioned yourself, as of now, they still have faced with a lot of difficulties. And most of this backlog we have right now is still a subject to, you know, science fiction. But also, this is just like most things that were science fiction, but are now true today, things like your your cell phone, and all those things may be here talking to you in Canada. So this, all these it's just a matter of time, which is why we can still prepare ourselves for, you know, a very fulfilling career if we commit to complete excellence, and to really do our best to stay up to date and to basically try our best to remain focused on what we're doing.   Pouya LJ  30:40 Yeah, that's absolutely correct. And great points, great points. Now we're coming to the end of the show, and both of us have a hard stop in a couple of minutes. So is there anything I mean, obviously, we're going to talk about this subject more and more in the future. without a shadow of a doubt, it's a very important subject for the future of humanity, of course. But for the for this lesson, for the sake of this episode, what we talked about, is there anything you want to add on at the end of our show?   Dan  31:04 Well, first of all, it's great to see you and talk to you put yourself in a while. And it was a great discussion so far. And as we discussed, AI is here. And while as of now, it is still at a stage where we can easily beat it. Just wait, I don't know, based on what I've heard so far, and what my own estimations just wait about 15 or so years, until you see how the AI technology will be somehow going to disrupt almost all industries, including those we used to think they belong and are fully downloaded by humans. And for that reason, I believe that as we discussed earlier, it's best to remain optimistic. I mean, all oh my gosh, what's the point, Dan? Listen, Dad, I just I just listened to Pouyjix and Dan on this podcast, and they say there's no Why should I go to college? Why should I get a job man is gonna do everything. I just want to stay home smoke pot and play fortnight. So that is not the answer. Obviously, you want to actually take this seriously and somehow redouble your efforts to try to obtain as much mastery in any field that you really wish to do in order to prepare yourself for that future and marketplace.   Pouya LJ  32:15 Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And I agree the optimism point is very important. You don't want to give into that. Those like there's obviously all of these talking has talked about this the subjects, yes, it's important to pay attention. Yes, it's important to, you know, discuss these things. But it doesn't mean that we have to be panicked by them and lose faith in the I remember that last episode, you were talking about surviving and thriving and the, you know, economy, same thing. You want to remain optimistic at the heart of all of this. That makes a lot of times she will. Absolutely and everyone. Appreciate it. And thank you, Dan, for joining us once more.   Dan  32:53 My pleasure, buddy. I really enjoyed it.   Pouya LJ  32:55 Awesome. Thank you very much. It was a it was a good episode. I hope you enjoyed it as well. You're URLs, please let us know if there's anything specific, specifically that you want us to talk about. You can reach out to me then on social media, you know how to do that it's in the show notes as well. or leaving comments definitely would like reviews and help us grow until later episode.

It's the start of 2021, and while everyone is making goals for the new year, our IQ Pros are walking you through the steps to MAKE and ACHIEVE your golf goals. Get your Goal Setting Guide by emailing info@apexgolflab.comJump to it!1:13 What: Value of setting goals3:20 What: How to pick your goals8:07 How-Process 8:32 How: Tools10:42 How: Making the Time & Envisioning12:58 How: Learning How to Practice: Process Trial & ErrorCoach TalkGrowth Mindset23:51 How: Stress Situation28:17 Why: Intrinsic vs Extrinsic

Investing with family can be complicated.   In this episode, discuss things you should take into account when investing with family and some of the agreement structures that are common for this.  ---  Michael: Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of the remote real estate investor. My name is Michael Albaum and today I'm joined by,   Tom: Tom Schneider   Emil: and Emil Shour.   Michael: And today we're going to be talking about partnering with family to do real estate deals, this can often be a hotly contested and debated topic. So I'm curious to get everybody's insights. Alright, let's get into it.   Alright guys, family, money, sex, drugs, rock and roll, all the cool things, all the fun things we want to talk about in the show. Have you ever done a deal with a family member? Tom?   Tom: I have not I've approached family member but I think my family is generally a little bit risk averse and doing this kind of work. And that's okay. I you know, I've heard horror stories of friends doing stuff with family members were friends that it's gone south, but I personally have not done so. I'm going to be sniping in some some questions and maybe throwing some pessimism shade. But I've heard of people being successful. But anyways, long answer No. Short answer long. No.   Michael: So when you say that your family is risk averse, does that imply that real estate investing is super risky?   Tom: I think that it's fear of the unknown. Michael, if you're not familiar with it, it's can make you concerned that…   Emil: It is a very common consensus.   Tom: For sure. We'll have to kind of drill into some of that on another episode, but not risk averse. But just yeah, fear of the unknown. That's where I'd say my lot my family, I think a lot of people like a lot of them, like get it and want to do it. But man that going from zero to one is a pretty big move. That hasn't happened.   Emil: Yeah, everyone has heard that horror story too, right? Like, oh, I had a friend who bought real estate and it became a crack house. And then it's like, okay, we're gonna pull the one. Everyone's heard that story. And so I think that's where the scariness of real estate is coming from, right? Michael: No one ever says like, Oh, yeah, I had a friend into real estate and worked out really well. So I want to do it now, too.   Tom: Yeah, I mean, I think with a lot of people, it's fear of like, looking like a dummy, you know, and like throwing money away. And I think anytime you're quote, unquote, like making moves, like there's some risk for that. And a way to think a lot of people is just turn into a turtle and just do nothing.   Michael: I like turtles,   Tom: Nice throwback, cultural reference.   Michael: It's interesting. Like, I would argue more people invest in the stock market, via retirement accounts, or via taxable accounts than invest in real estate. And so it's almost become normalized to say, like, oh, man, the stock market went down. So I lost a bunch of money today. And I was like, Oh, yeah, like that happens. That sucks. Versus in real estate, I think because there are less people doing it, it's probably talked about less. And so people are getting less exposure to it. And so they don't want to be that one person that looks bad, who went and lost money in real estate versus all their friends, family, whatever other acquaintances are losing money in the stock market, no one thinks twice about it because it's been normalized.   Tom: Yeah. It's like what weighs heavier like the aversion for loss? Or the what's the opposite of aversion?   Michael: Wanting? Desire?   Tom: Desire, there we go, versus the seeking gain seeking. Yeah, aversion is a very strong force.   Michael: I think loss aversion is stronger than gain. I think we did a book club at the Roofstock Academy, where we were talking about negotiation and that kind of thing. And people's loss aversion is a stronger driving factor in their decision making than ability to win and gain.   Tom: I think it's not just loss aversion, but like aversion to looking like a dummy. You know, like, you don't want to be that person that the family talks about, like, oh, Tom, you know, he put all his chips on XYZ and lost it all.     Michael: We told him it was silly.   Tom: Yeah, it was silly. But anyways, no, so have not done deals with my family. I think I'm the only one in my family network that has drank the kool aid the sweet, sweet kool aid of real estate.   Michael: Okay, Emil, what about yourself? Are your lips sticky with kool aid? Or have you gotten other people to, to enjoy with you?   Tom: Do you share her kool aid?   Emil: I don't. I don't like germs. I have spoken to family and I have family who is interested and ready, but I haven't found anything where it makes sense. And I haven't needed to include anyone yet. So I've had the conversation. Have some family members who are interested for when the right deal comes along where we need some extra capital they're interested in you know, I've set up some terms with them like we've gotten all the groundwork done like what they're interested in, how I think I would want to structure it. So had a lot of that conversation just haven't pulled the trigger because we haven't found any things investment sure   Tom: Question for a meal or in moving forward with this. If you had to say the kind of the push the impetus is it more you looking for another capital partner or is it more Your family or friend wanting to participate in, in the kool aid of real estate investing,   Emil: I think it's more so me requiring capital. And obviously, I'm going to offer them attractive terms better than some of the other invest… like, my family who I'm talking about here. They have other investments that they do on like the lending side. So they'll do, it's not like hard money lending, but it's this company that issues loans to people who have a harder time getting lending, so the interest rates higher. So they usually get like, I don't know, six 7% annual return.   So I'm thinking, you know, how can I offer a, an even more attractive return so that they'll want to invest with me if I need that money versus going and putting it with this other company? So they have some experience investing in real estate notes? Yeah, direct real estate, but with me, it would be like a note where I would pay them back, I don't know, maybe in 12 months, or whatever, depending on the type of project we take on.   Michael: So that would be a debt structure as opposed to an equity structure,   Emil: Correct? Yeah, right now, it's only been talks for a debt structure and not like a JV type partnership.   Michael: Okay. And out of curiosity, why is that for you?   Emil: Um, for me, it's probably just my control freak nature, I would rather just be the one in the driver's seat and not having to really answer to anybody and really make my own decisions, rather than, you know, you include people and they get a right to make those decisions, too. And that's not what I'm looking for with my real estate investing. So if it requires me to grow more slowly, because whatever, I'm the only person in the driver's seat, that's fine. But there's people who are interested in just the debt side of it and don't want to do any of like dealing with real estate or the operations or whatever.   Michael: So is there a way to structure it where they have an equity position, but can still maintain that positivity?   Emil: I'm sure there is. I approached it from a debt structure, they were cool with it. And that I think, works for both sides. So I didn't even you know, think about exploring kind of other avenues.   Michael: Yeah, makes sense. And for people listening, that are sports fans, that might not know what the term JV means in real estate, what is JV?   Emil: So that's a joint venture, that's where multiple people are pooling their money together multiple names on title multiple names on the LLC, or whatever it is holding this property. So they own the property as well, versus this would just be me owning it, I have like a note with them a debt obligation to them.   Tom: And continuing to do the just the definition game before going back too far. Equity versus debt. So debt would be just someone who's just acting as a bank, they're not they're not on title, they're not you know, in a JV, it's just straight borrowing money from that person, where equity be equity is actually participating in the upside of the of the real estate. So debt would be like a confirmed amount on what you're paying back, you know, to that person, you're borrowing from where equity, it could be variable, there's risk, you know, perhaps the person who's loaning money loses money, if they're, you know, structured in an equity way, versus debt. It's just a flat percentage, or however that is structured. And there are pieces I should, we're missing in my explanation there, guys?   Michael: No, I think that's great. But just to kind of bring it all home is If so, Tom, if we're in a debt structure, partnership, and I'm going and buying the deal, I might borrow $100,000 from you, and I'm going to pay you back X percent or X, you know, dollar amount monthly, based on your preferred return whatever you're trying to achieve as the bank. versus if I were to go into a LLC, I sell that property for 200. Grand, I just pay you back what's outstanding of that note of 100 grand versus if a meal and I were partners were Equity Partners. And I bought that same property for 100 grand and we were 50% partners, went up to 100 grand Emil would share in that profit as well versus you, Tom, as the as the debt partner would not.   Tom: Why you gotta leave me out like that? All right Mike, your experience, partnerships, family friends, yeah,   Michael: So I've done a bunch of stuff. My very first deal was a debt partnership with my family, they loaned me the money to purchase that first property. And that was worked out great at the time, interest rates were so low, I mean, interest rates are still so low, so they're able to get a better return than having their money sitting in the bank. It's a very safe investment with me, because they know where I live if I were to default, and it's secured by the property. So there's really very little risk involved for them. They didn't have to do the true traditional underwriting that a lender would traditionally do on somebody to determine, okay, is this person a reasonable borrower, because they knew me and stuff. So that was a really, really great win for both sides.   Tom: How long? You don't mind what what were the what was the length of terms of the debt?   Michael: Yeah, so the term was interest only for five years, because I borrowed more than 20% to help me get into the deal. Because I was just coming out of college, I didn't have a ton of cash. So the mortgage payment, the fully amortized mortgage payment would have made the property negative cash flow. So my dad helped me do is he's like, Okay, well, what if we just do interest only that significantly reduces your monthly payment amount, and then this property will cash flow. At the end of that five year period. Hopefully the rent will have increased So that way you, you'll be able to support a full mortgage payment.   So that's happened, I've opted to continue with the interest only route just because the cash flow is really killer and the appreciation is quite rapid. And so instead of paying it down, I have a better use for that cash flow elsewhere. At the end of the lifecycle of that property, whenever I ultimately sell it, or at the end of the next five year term, I'll either go to a fully amortized payment with principal and interest. Or if I sell the property, the loan balance has remained unchanged over time.   I mean, it's an expensive way to have access to capital. But it was the only way that made sense for me. And it was the only way I could get into the deal. So I said, Okay, it makes sense. Let's do it. And it worked out really, really well.   Tom: Opportunistic.   Michael: Yeah.   Emil: When you structure this, do you put your family on title? Like, how do you kind of is it just like you have a contract? And it's just you making payments? Like, how do they get in on it so that they feel secure? And everything? I'm curious for my own?   Michael: Yeah, so it can it can be one of two ways. So one way is just to have a promissory note that everybody signs and says, okay, yes, Michael Albaum is on the hook for this dollars. And it's, I mean, it's a contract. So if I don't make a payment, there's a late fee. And if I don't make the payment after the late fee, then they probably can get foreclosed on. And depending on how you want to structure it with your partner, or the family member or friend is they can actually have take a first deed of trust on the property and record that as them being the lien holder.   So if things go south with the relationship, and you just decide to not pay them, they actually have they can take title to the property quite easily. And so then you have to have them as a mortgagee on the insurance and on title and all that kind of good stuff.   It can go a number of two ways. The promissory note is definitely the more informal way to do it. While it's still formal, it just is less eyes on it, I guess you could say it makes it a little bit easier. versus doing the recording is is a little bit more hands on. That was one deal I did and then I partnered with my brothers, we bought four duplexes out in the Midwest. And so I bought two and they each bought one and we formed a multi member LLC. And so we kind of pooled our money together, we talked about a couple different ways to structure it. And the reason we did that is to get a killer deal on these four duplexes, because basically, we bought a mini portfolio, they were all bank owned foreclosures. And so we said, okay, we'll buy all four of these from you, bank, give us a killer deal. And they did. So in order to do that, we had to form this multi member, we didn't have this multi member LLC, boom, it was much easier to do, because now it was just a single transaction as opposed to, okay, my older brother buying his one, my younger brother buying his one and me buying my two. So that was a really great winner as well.   And now what we decided to do is share the expense load, because the properties had slightly different property tax rates, for whatever reason, even though the purchase price was all the same, we knew that they were going to have slightly different expenses from one month to the other. So what we did is we said, Hey, you know what, let's just pool the expenses across all of us. I'm a 50%. Owner, my two brothers are 25% owners. So it's almost like a co op in that regard. So if you know, my elder brother had a really bad month, this month, we all share in that loss versus if it's smooth sailing across the board for everybody. Everybody comes out ahead.   Tom: I got a question for you, Michael, I love the way this is working out. We're just kind of go into these use case, because I wrote a bunch of questions ahead of time. So the amount of work that it takes to operate and do the acquisitions and all of that, how did you guys determine that upfront? And is the person who's doing more of the work getting compensated? How do you structure that?   Michael: Great question. So typically, in that type of arrangement, if these weren't my brothers, I would have asked for, what's the word?   Emil: Acquisition promote?   Michael: Yeah, kind of like a promote, which is basically just the work involved for putting the deal together. And so it's family. So I was like, yo, whatever, you know, we don't need that, I'm happy to do it. And I was actually already in the area for other reasons, anyhow, like looking at another deal for my family. So it worked out quite well. But so for the management of the manager, because there's definitely a lot of ongoing work, paying the property taxes, paying the insurance dealing with the manager dealing with the home warranty, companies setting all that stuff up. So we decided to do a management fee that the LLC would pay the manager which I happen to be, but I had to participate in that payment as well. So I was paying 50% of my own management fee to manage the manager and kind of do all this stuff on a monthly basis. So he said that up until automatically every month from the rent, I got paid a management fee to deal with all that deal with the taxes, accounting taxes at the end of the year, all that kind of good stuff.   But so I think it's really important to outline all of that in whatever kind of partnership agreement someone's utilizing. We utilize a multi member LLC structure. So we just had an operating agreement, that outline Okay, who is responsible for what these were the duties, roles and responsibilities of each person? And it was very cut and dry. And it worked out really, really well.   Tom: On the acquisition side was it I assume, since you liked the taste of that Kool Aid so much, who was driving the acquisition process?   Michael: I was, so I was out there looking at another deal for our family and and happened to come across these other properties. And I said, Hey, well, you know, while now here, I may as well look at other stuff because my family always loved doing things for multiple reasons. So we were already invested. As a family out in this other property, and so I said, Oh, these are these look interesting. And I was making contacts with property managers and agents anyhow. So I came across these and say, yeah, this, this sounds awesome. So put it all together and brought it back to my brothers. And I said, Hey, you guys want you on in?     Tom: That's awesome. And so you said your family was already doing stuff out there anyways, I mean, just kind of curious digging into the life of Michael, was this deal done, like before you were involved, or the other stuff that was going on out there?   Michael: No. So it was simultaneously. So we were in the process of purchasing a commercial property out there in the Midwest. And so my dad sent me out because I was being physically constructed. And so my dad was like, hey, go check it out. Because that's what I used to do for a living is look at buildings and fire protection, and all that kind of stuff. So he was out there looking at the building and setting up our kind of footprint out there setting up the team meeting with property managers, meeting with agents, just kind of getting a lay of the land, so to speak.   And so got in touch with this other residential agent, and hit it off. And after interviewing, several decided this was the one to utilize. And she showed me some great properties. It was interesting, she actually double ended the deal. She had the listings from the bank, which again, they were bank owned foreclosures. So anytime this bank foreclosed on properties, they gave it to this agent. And so she said, Hey, I got these four properties. And it worked out really, really well. And then she stayed on as the manager as well. So I always talk about that in the academy, anytime you can utilize a agent who is also a manager, I think it's a big win, because they're very tied into the sales and acquisition side of the market, as well as the rental side. And an agent gets paid based on commission based on when they transact. And if they take off, you never see them again, you know, tough luck versus an agent, you're kind of hitching your wagon to their horse, so to speak. And so you know, you're in it together. So if they sell you a lemon, they've got a manager, lemon.   Tom: Got it cool. Any other examples, or you want to walk through it?   Michael: Yeah, so I've. So that was, let's say, we covered debt structure. So I did an equity partnership with a family member, they provided the capital, I provided the deal, and the management and the rehab and all that kind of good stuff. And so we're in the process of selling one of those properties right now. And they get to collect all of their money back plus, hopefully about a 50% return on their money for just providing the money to do the deal. So that's been well knock on wood will be once it finally sells a great win for everybody. And then another property that we bought together, they'll just get to collect cash flow, and literally have to do nothing for it and gets participate in the upside as well for when that property ultimately does appreciate. And we do sell it at some point down the road.   So I've done both debt structure and equity structure, they both have their place, they both can be great. On the debt side, it's great, because everybody's making money, the lender is making money day one. So if that's something that they need to do great if they have capital laying around, but they're not sure what to do with it, or how to invest it or maybe not interested in learning how to invest in real estate, but want to participate in the upside that real estate offers, the equity structure can be a really great way to go. And it's nice, because then you don't have that debt burden looming over your head as an owner operator. So especially for rehab stuff, which is a lot of what I'm doing right now, the equity structure makes way more sense, because the properties just aren't cash flowing, because they're being rehabbed. So to not have that looming, it's really nice.   Tom: Michael, I'd love to hear what are some of the different terms or I guess, common terms that you've either seen or used, both on the debt side? And on the equity side? And specifically those terms? You know, how long are these typically structured for? And on the equity side? What How is that typically broken up? I'd love your…   Michael: Yes, so I've been super fortunate in that I've got very caring, loving, flexible family. So anywhere from three to 6% on the debt side, in terms of interest rate, which is traditionally better than what you're going to get sometimes can be better than what you get at a bank, both in terms of being the borrower, and then also in terms of being like in terms of parking your money there. So for the person doing the lending, there's no way they're getting three to 6% by having their money in the bank. And as a borrower, there might not be any way I'm getting three to 6% depending on the asset and timing of the loan. So it can be a really great way to go again, kind of a win win.   And then on the debt side, I've just done 50/50 partnerships where people plug in, they pay for the acquisition, and most or all of the rehab, I take care of everything else. And then we just split everything down the middle 5050. And that's worked pretty well for me in the past. So it all kind of depends on each person's individual situation and what their individual goals are. If like Emil, you were mentioning, you're borrowing from family that's doing hard money lending, they have an opportunity to make, you know, 567 percent so you might have to offer more attractive terms versus the person that just has their money sitting in the bank because they're scared of the stock market and they don't know real estate, you know, they might be thrilled with a two and a half, three 4% returns, that's way more than make it in the bond market. And then as far as as structuring, they typically just do fixed 30 year financing and Basically locks in payments to that family member for a long time.   And of course, because we're family, we try to be flexible. And we all understand that there's money involved. And that can often complicate things, but we all talked about, look, if anybody feels like they're getting taken advantage of, or things aren't working out, let's talk about readjusting this. Because if interest rates go up to 15%, and somebody can get 15% by just parking their money in the bank, well, yeah, there's gonna need to be some conversations had to adjust that. So that's the nice thing about doing this with family is that you can be flexible, you're not beholden to the Fannie Freddie rules, you know, this is so much less regulation and eyes on it. It's just whatever is gonna work for everybody involved in the deal.   Tom: Have you ever had a deal go sideways, or had some like major issues, I'd be curious to learn about experience in conflict management, but just like you're doing this partnership with somebody and things are going poorly, some one recommendations and to maybe some case studies or experience in managing when there's issues.   Michael: Yeah, so might not be the best example. But this most recent deal that I worked on with a family member, where I was at 50%, equity partner, they put up the cash to do the deal. There was a contractor that we had involved to just was not working out well at all, he had all the right answers for all the questions, and then turned out to be a total slime bag. I mean, on the verge of criminal, so it did not go well, needless to say, but he was who we were planning on utilizing for a lot of the rehab on the building when we bought it. And so I was running point, giving updates to the family member that financed the deal. And I had to come and say, Hey, you know, this didn't work out. This isn't go as planned, we were supposed to have everything turned around in six months for X dollars. Well, that didn't happen.   So I basically fronted all of the additional costs to get it right. Because the way it worked out is that we just we didn't get the rehab done. And so things were slowing, and the building was eating money. And the rehab wasn't getting done until we weren't generating additional revenue. And then property tax payments, hit insurance payments hit so everything happened at the worst possible time. And so I, you know, I could have gone back and said, Hey, I need more money. But I made a commitment to my partner. And I basically said, Okay, I'm going to eat all this cost all the additional costs and fund the rest of the rehab that you thought you had funded already. So to make it right. And so that was a really big punch in the gut to just not have things go well, but being honest and transparent was by far the best way to go. And my partner was very flexible. They understood that, okay, this is real estate, they understand construction, things are always more expensive and take longer. But this was just one of those instances where things went really sideways, and you're playing with other people's money. So that to me has a much bigger weight on my shoulders than if it's my own money. So I said, Hey, I'm going to go make this right, I'm going to do right by this partner and suck it up and deal with it.   Tom: I love it. I think it's kind of a general takeaway in these like communications is so important, open, honest, constructive, real time. And you might have mentioned this in a previous episode, but I love the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, and it's the the four agreements are, be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions and do your best I think, as a general credo for life, and then also partnership is a good way to go with. Go ahead, Emil, I see you jumping in.   Emil: Yeah, one other takeaway I thought might lay your your thoughts here is like if you're doing this, either have some of your own money set aside, or raise a little bit more as a buffer in case things do go sideways, you don't have to go back and make I guess what's called like a capital call, right? Like projects going extra, you don't want to go back to your investor and say, Hey, we need more money makes you look bad, it makes it likely that you're not gonna less likely that you'll do a future business with this person again. So like just having some money set aside in case some things do go sideways, whether it's your own, whether it's the money you get from them, just having a little bit of buffer for things that do happen like this.   Michael: There is such a difference for somebody, if I go to you and the owner and say, Hey, Emil, I need $30,000 to do this project. Really great, cool. 30 grand, here you go. And then I come back to you a few months later and go actually I'm able to project perform really well. Here's five grand back, you're like, Oh, awesome. Michael crushed it.   As opposed to Hey, Emil, any 15 grand to do this, oh, three months later, by the way, Hey, man, I need another 10 grand to get this done. And you're like, what? So at the end of the day, it's still 25 grand out of your pocket, but to under promise and over deliver as opposed to doing it the other way around? is I think so huge. So that's for sure been, like my biggest takeaway is things will go wrong. They will go sideways more than you think. And it'll be more expensive and take longer than you anticipate. So just be ready for that, especially with construction. It's just one of those things. So with partners, you want to be over deliver.   Tom: One more question for me, and I'd love I know, Pierre is looking into doing some stuff with family members as well. I'd love to hear some, you know, give him a chance to have some self serving questions. But my last question is related to initial kind of prenup or contract that you have. What aspects Do you think it's really important to get into writing upon making either a debt structure or an equity You know, just to specify make it super clear upfront, I'd love to hear your input on that, in that that prenup, but you know, I'm saying…   Michael: Yeah, yeah, just like, like an operating agreement, essentially, if it's a form LLC, or how you're going to operate things if it's not an LLC, so I think it's super important to just have everybody understand what the expectation is around their dollars, whether they're putting money in or they're expecting money out, how long is this money expected to be tied up? And how do you see decisions get made? Is it majority number of people who vote is it whoever put in the most money that gets to control the decision making is it whoever is the manager who may have put no money in so understanding the roles and responsibilities and duties of every person, I think is really important. And having an understanding of who's responsible for what and how power is distributed, so to speak, is really, really critical, because unmet expectation is really what leads to friction in relationships.   And so if you talk about all the expectations, again, for time and for money, and for roles and responsibilities, that tends to alleviate a lot of things down the road. Now, of course, you're not gonna be able to think of everything, you're not gonna be able to anticipate every situation. So planning for the worst, but hoping for the best with whatever you're aware of is great. And then talking to other people that have done partnerships, because that's a blind spot, like that was a huge blind spot for me was not anticipating the property taxes? And what if the contractor doesn't work out? And what if this goes longer than expected? So now that's less of a blind spot for me still working on it on a regular basis. But if I had talked to somebody that had done this exact thing a little bit more in detail, probably would have worked out better?   Tom: Nice. Yeah. Pierre, do you have any self serving questions you want to ask?   Pierre: We're just talking about this yesterday, trying to figure out a payment structure, what's a fair payment structure that he could pay me for the time that I put into what we're doing, we still haven't come to a conclusion yet. But we want to make sure we have some sort of contract so that no one's feeling… I mean, my brother is very generous. So he doesn't want to feel like he's using me. But at the same time, I feel a little bad, because I don't think I'm bringing massive value, if you hired a asset manager, they'd be a lot better at doing what I'm doing. for him. I'm just like bumbling around trying to figure this stuff out with him. And so Asset Management do like one to 2% of monthly income. And so if there's only one property, and I'm only working on one property, that's pretty low for me doing but then at the same time, I'm not bringing that much value compared to what a real asset manager would be bringing in, like Tom says, short story long, I don't know what the heck we're doing.   Michael: So you can do it a couple of different ways you can do an asset management fee. And you're right 1% of one property is not a big deal. But 1% of five properties is starts it gets pretty sizable. So you get to grow together as a team in that you get to build your reputation and experience level on that one property. And you're right, if you're not bringing much value, why should you be getting paid this, you know, a whole lot of money. And so you have to think of it too, from not necessarily his perspective, because he is your brother and his family he loves, you know, that kind of good stuff. But as an owner perspective, right?   Why would an owner be paying someone 567, whatever is a sizable amount of dollars, when there's not a whole lot of value being brought to them. So you can do an asset management fee. And then you can also do like sweat equity, because you're putting the deal together and doing all the legwork. So and participate in the upside. So maybe you know, 5, 10, 15%, whatever of the upside, when the property sells or gets refinanced above and beyond the profit you get taken advantage of. And so you're putting in all of this effort and value into the deal, not seeing a whole lot of return today. But when your brother sees a lot of return, that's when you that'll manifest itself.   And so I actually just remembered, this reminded me, that's what we did with that duplex deal I do with my brothers, I didn't charge them anything on the front end. But when they go and sell the property, I get X percent of the sale price as my feet for putting the deal together. So they're obviously winning, because they're now selling those properties. And so then I get to participate in that upside as well. But so it's kind of a win win. Again, it kind of hitches my cart to their horse, so to speak, and if they don't sell well, then Okay, then I don't get it anything.   But at some point down the road, I would anticipate them to sell these properties. And if not, that's okay, too. That's great. We all got a big win. So think about doing something like that as well and chat about it with your brother.   Tom: Yeah, you know, it'd be an interesting way that I've seen here and it's kind of similar to Michael Zoomers model is if you're doing it when you sell like maybe your brother gets the first 10% of profit. And then you guys split after that. There's a lot of flexibility in the way that these can be structured. But I'd say on the acquisition side, like right now, it's so valuable the value that you're getting, getting and going through this exercise and kind of building that confidence that there's it's pretty awesome. It's important.   Pierre: That's kind of how I feel about it is that I'm very thankful to be participating in this with him. It's I'm learning at time so that when it's my turn to do a deal, it's not going to be my first. So another thing we're talking about is just you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours when I go into a deal, he's going to help me the same, you know, we're just going to be working together when I do my next acquisition. So yeah, this is helpful. I'll hash this out with him.   Michael: Yeah, yeah. And you can think about, you know, you can do a percentage, you know, 1%, or 2%, whatever asset management fee, or you could do a flat dollar amounts, the nice thing about the percentage that it grows over time as the rent grows, but if, again, if it's just one deal, you could just say, Okay, let's do whatever a flat fee, we're comfortable with this. Yeah, just another thing to think about, and take around.   Tom: This is what I without giving recommendations, this is what I would recommend, I would recommend, like a very small percentage of the acquisition price as sort of like a finding fee and like doing that work, because that is like some pretty significant work, like maybe a half of 1%. So that would that if you're buying $100,000 house, that's 500 bucks, you know, not and then I think and then at the exit, I would book ended, I would do something on the front end, and then from something at the very end, and that way you're not…   Pierre: and no fee monthly?   Tom: No, no fees monthly, just so it's, you know, so keeping the operating costs low. And maybe, you know, if he's planning to hold it indefinitely, maybe some like option for you be able to pay him to get equity, if you want to in like five years, you know, at a predefined amount. I mean, what's so fun with these deals is it's very much a white canvas in the way that you structure them, my recommendation would be the book ends with an option to get some possible equity on the inside.   Pierre: I think that makes a lot of sense. Because once you own the place, then there's going to be long periods of time where nothing is happening. And I'm not going to need to be doing a ton of work until we're going to be in the market to buy another place. Yeah, so it doesn't make sense for him to be paying me unless we're actively working.   Michael: There will be active work going on, especially at the beginning with dealing with the property manager and getting the system set up and dealing with the accounting side of things. So there will definitely be stuff. But I think Tom said I think the vast majority is the legwork done on the front end getting to the acquisition point.   Pierre: Yeah. The other thing is that we see this kind of as a partnership, and he's not making money right now. Why should I be making money right now when he's the one putting up the capital? I don't feel right taking money right now, because you're not making money right now. Let's get a deal and contract before we think about putting money but it'd be nice to know what the money is going to do when it's time for it.   Tom: Yeah bookended and give yourself an option to get on the equity. I think for the work on the acquisition side, I think it's reasonable to take a you know, whatever a finder fee or whatever, when so when I was doing acquisitions for one of these rates, you know, that's our bonuses would be on, you know, acquisitions. And do you want to get really creative you could do some sort of bonus on how quote unquote good of a buyer it is, but I don't think you need to get that creative. It's like a family member. Just something simple and right, you know, simple and fair. So..   Pierre: Sure. Thanks guys.   Tom: Exciting stuff Pierre. Exciting stuff.   Michael: Totally. Very exciting.   Alrighty, everybody, that was our episode for today. Thanks so much for listening hope that was valuable for people that are thinking about partnerships or that are in partnerships and how to structure maybe restructure them. If you liked the episode, feel free to give us a rating and review wherever it is you listen, your podcast has really helped us out quite a bit. We look forward to seeing the next one. Happy investing.   Emil: Happy investing.

自分たちが参入している市場 (環境) の理解 [Where] 顧客の定義と理解 [Who] ターゲット顧客に提供する本質的な価値の見極め [What] 価値を提供する手段 (価値を実現する) [How] #ビジネス #マーケティング

The Bad Ideas Squad is going on a wonderful scenic tour to... nowhere! What? How does that work? Tune in to find out! Sarah brings the team a story about how an Australian airline is providing travel-hungry customers with a rather eccentric way to get the airplane experience they so desperately want. The team tries to figure out what is the best way to adapt this into a good story, and how contemplative and arthouse their creation should be.  All of that, plus: human absurdity, the Snowpiercer route, an industry in shambles, land dollars, and a lot of guys called Jake.  Today's Bad Idea™ Support the show: http://patreon.com/NoBadIdeas See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We need to stop thinking “Sales” and “Marketing” are dirty words! They’re already part of our job! As artist we all get hung up on the “WHAT” & “HOW” when it comes to making our work! This is SO important! Our product as artist is for the most part why we started our businesses. The issue comes when we go to SELL our work! I know in the past I have fallen victim to the thought process of “I made it and it can speak for itself” and it can, though only to a point! There comes a time that we all need to realize that our art IS OUR BUSINESS IS PRODUCT! We need to build a structure around that product that: 1) Hooks people and gets them interested/ catch their attention!2) Delivers a message!3) Asks for their money in exchange for your art!This episode dives deep into how you can start to think about the selling of your art differently. I hope it gives you some Gold Nuggets and Gems you can start to implement in your business! Enjoy!MFBuffalo Craft's Professional Resource Directory Link: resourceshttps://pages.buffalocraft.com/resources

Your Superpowers At Work - New Ideas For Finding Them And Using Them From Lead Through Strengths Facilitator Strother Gaines  In this episode, Lisa Cummings and co-host Strother Gaines discuss, through analogies and practical examples, the impact of knowing how to wield your superpowers at work. If our previous episode suggested ways of striking a balance between making your strengths known and not sounding arrogant about it, this topic is all about using your superpowers at work with out overusing your power. Listen as Lisa and Strother explore one of the important paths towards professional maturity, through which StrengthsFinder has been guiding so many. You can also watch the video version of the interview on our YouTube channel. Lisa: You're listening to Lead Through Strengths, where you'll learn to apply your greatest strengths at work. I'm your host, Lisa Cummings, and you know, I'm always telling you about how energizing it is to lead through your strengths every day at work. But sometimes, the truth is, it feels like the work culture is not aligned to our strengths. And it's really soul-sucking. And we don't know how to ask for what we need, because you don't want to look like you're throwing a temper tantrum. You feel like you have more potential yet you don't know how to let it out. Heck, you might even feel like you have some superpowers to unleash at work, but you don't know how to make them known or useful. So if you're in that situation where you're thinking — "Yeah, the culture and what would put me at my best, they're not fully aligned. And I get by because I'm trying to be a good team player. "But yeah, there are some things that really get me down whether that's too many distractions, or how many details someone goes into or won't go into." There are many, many colors of this example. And I'm here in this interview with one of our facilitators, Strother Gaines. And we're chatting about this topic of superpowers at work - and how you might contribute with them without sounding like you're arrogant. We go through a few examples of people and how they have asked: “What?” “How?”  We go through a few practical examples of where people are frustrated by this at work and how they have signaled to their team some of the needs that they have or how they've explicitly asked for them without sounding like a bratty jerk.  So without making you wait any longer, we're just going to jump right into an example that I experienced in a workshop where someone was not liking her superpowers at work (AKA her list of talent themes) because she wasn't getting what she needed at work and she felt like she wasn't able to express them or figure out how to express them.  So watch for this thing. You've heard me call it the volume knob, and you'll hear Strother talking about controlling your powers. Finding Opportunities To Leverage Your Superpowers At Work Lisa: I'm thinking of a person who looked at her list of strengths from CliftonStrengths, and she sees Communication in her Top 5 and she's like — “Number 1, number 2, number 3, number 4 ….. yes, yes, yes, yes. Those are sooooooo me.”  “And then Communication — whelp, I have been told in the last few performance reviews that that's actually one of my weaknesses. So I'm not going to claim that one as a strength. That's actually been my greatest weakness.”  And if you think of it like the “This or That” situation, I feel like when I look back on the situation that she was describing to me, she was saying — “I'm going to give you all my Communication all the time, turned all the way up...or down. Since they don't like it up, I’m shutting off my superpowers at work because they're not welcomed here.”  Strother: Yeah.  Lisa: "I'm not speaking. So..." Strother: Which is great in the meeting, and people love that like…no.  Lisa: Yeah, suddenly you went from, “Hey, you don't give anyone room to speak in a meeting,” to getting feedback that “Hey, you have a resting, grumpy face." Yeah, just literally shut down.” Strother: Yeah. The on or the off, I think it's...you're totally right, it's back into what is the appropriate level right now.  And as you become more adept at your strengths and you give them the space, I think that we struggle with that because in order to learn, it's like your mutant powers. I was just watching the old X-Men cartoons...and they really apply to superpowers at work. This is a weird deviation. You're like, "Yeah, where are you going with this?” And the old X-Men cartoon starts with Jubilee just sort of coming to terms with being a mutant and she has this sort of fireworks powers. And she just doesn't know how to control them. So they kind of help sometimes and sometimes they just go off and destroy everything and she hates them, because she hasn't learned to wield them yet. And you can't learn to wield those powers if you're too protective of them.  She has to swing the pendulum too far to see — “Oh, that's….and now it's too much. I got to learn to pull back my fireworks because if I go that far, it hurts people.”  And so in protection of ourselves and other people's, and not looking stupid and not feeling silly, and all those sort of things that we protect against, when you have it, in particular, strength that has a bias against it, like Competition or something like that, where it's like, “Well, you're just being a jerk,” we're nervous to swing for the fences, because we see really clearly what it's going to look like if it goes wrong. But you have to allow yourself that grace and that flexibility to learn how to control your superpowers at work, or you're going to waste them. So swing for the fences, let the pendulum swing in both directions until you find that nice, juicy middle ground where you're actually leveraging them appropriately. Lisa: Yeah, what a great way just to give yourself permission to experiment with it. And to not think that there's only one way to do it because Competition doesn't mean I'm shutting down or I'm challenging you to a gunfight. It doesn't have to mean this or this all the way. It can be simple things like — “Hey, when I lead through Competition, I'm keenly aware of our standing compared with our competitors. And it means that I make really cool bubble charts that show how we stack up in the industry. And the fact that I'm driven and motivated by that makes me a better performer.” And so I think when people go from the “This or That” pendulum, they shut off the ability to even play with the middle and say — “What else could it mean? How else could I contribute through my superpowers at work" And what else? And what else? And what else? Strother: Well, you and I do, both of us, when we facilitate, oftentimes will do that activity “This or That.” The thing is you ask people, “you do this, you do that,” and then they spread themselves out throughout the room.  And it's very rare that you'll get people who are like, “I’m the full polar.” And sometimes it happens, and that's an identifier for people and they really care about that.  But most people do fall somewhere in that mid-ground. And so in that respect, it's easy for people to see that it's shades of gray. But when it's intellectual, and you're not in like the actual physical practice of the strength, people are like, well, it's “I'm one of the poles,” and you're probably just not. Show People How You Perform At Your Best And Solicit Support To Make It Long-Term Lisa: Yeah. Well, let's end with an example like that. So I did that exercise. And I remember this event vividly. The woman led through Intellection. And it was a question in my “This or That” exercise, I was having them line up on a continuum, whether they do their best thinking when they're in the midst of a group conversation, or if they're able to be alone and do the deep thinking.  And she literally slammed her body against the sidewall to show — “I am so far on the... I need to be by myself.”  But she was in an environment where she was not allowed to work from home. And she didn't have any physical space where she could be alone. At the same time, she felt that her superpowers at work came out when she had space to be alone and think. Yet she felt like she was always getting barraged with “Collaborate!” and “Group work!” and all of these things. But she's saying — “I can't be at my best like that — and I need you to know it.”  And so that was a moment where she could bring it out and say,  “I need more alone time... I need to go in my cave to think.”  But how do you do that where if you just decided "I'm gonna maturely bring that up at work. I feel like I don't have a physical space to do that," without sounding like you're having a temper tantrum and stamping your feet and saying, “I need my corner office where I can be alone.”  You know, how do you raise it...? She's afraid that if she brings up her superpower at work she will actually seem like she's anti-teamwork, and that's not a message anyone would want to hear. In fact, it could be a ding on her personal brand rather than an unleashing of strengths. We know StrengthsFinder can help a lot with these conversations about what we individually need to be at our best. But once you realize "I have this need, but I don't know how to bring this up with my peers or my leader without sounding selfish or like a child or absorbed in me and not thinking about the business needs or how the culture actually works."  So how do you face that?  Strother: I think the first piece that we, anytime we're asking for something like that, framing it in what's in it for you instead of for me. If I come to someone and I say — “Well, I need a corner office because I really need time alone and I just need you to make this accommodation for me.” Like, “Deal with it. You're not gonna get any good work for me until you do it.” Like, "Even if I have that corner office. I'm already like I'm not.... No."  Lisa: You just sound like a brat or a diva. Strother: Yeah, I don't want to give that to you, because you're just complaining right now.  But if you can frame that for me in,  “Here's how I produce my best work.” Especially if you've done like a team StrengthsFinder type thing where everybody kind of knows, and we're all sort of moving into that methodology, we get it.  “Let's find a way to activate your CliftonStrengths and activate mine.”  “How can we make space for everyone?”  If you're lucky to have that culture, then frame it in that way.  Say — “Hey, you want the best work from me? We've found that one of the things I found in my report is that I do my best work like this. And I don't feel like we have access to that. Is there any way? What could we do?” Lisa: What could we do?  Strother: Instead of “Do this,” say, “What can we do to make this work?”  And then it's a co-creative process. Then you are collaborating and you're giving them the opportunity to throw something out there, which maybe you've not considered either.  Apply Your Superpowers At Work *For Work*, Not Just For Yourself Lisa: Yeah, maybe you don't have a corner office. So you get to go down to the park outside and instead of someone thinking that you're just messing around out there for an hour, you're actually at the park alone doing your thinking time and you come back and when you show that produce better work that way, then people will say, “Oh, okay, yeah, go to your thinking in the park. Because right, we want that brainpower that comes back when you do it.” Strother: And don't let your anticipated thoughts of what you think people will think about you, stop you, because I think oftentimes we're trying to project ourselves into other people. And we usually get that wrong. So when you think, “If I went to the park, I bet they would think that I'm lazy, or I bet they would think I'm just slacking off—”  Then tell us you're not.  A lot of times we're very nervous to throw those things out there, especially if it feels like an accommodation, or something that not everybody gets. People feel like,  “Well, I have to do things the way they've been done.”  There's no rule that says we have to do things the way it's been done. And if you can frame it in “Look at what you get from me.”  Even when sometimes you might have to have a little data to support it, like, “This week, I tried out this thing, and I found that I produced so much better or it was easier work with me or I had an easier time in this way... Here's the data from my experiment. Can we make this more long-term?”  So there's lots of ways to make it less like jump your feet and being a brat and more like “How can we build this together?” Lisa: Make it about the business, not about you. Make it a pilot. And use your superpowers at work in service of the team. And I like what you brought up about: “What else could we do? How could we accomplish it, given what we have available to us?”  And then knowing things like, you may not get the whole thing that you want. Certainly getting a physical office space, that's a big request. That's probably not likely. But what if the concession is that the team understands, “Hey, I'm going to put these big ol headphones on, and it's my one hour tiger time, and I'm not going to answer Skype, no instant message, no text. I'm going to shut out the world just for one hour a day.”  And that's not something you've ever been able to have before and suddenly you're super productive, then your team's gonna want to honor that one hour. That seems very reasonable compared with you just deciding that “Well, I can't be productive here so I'm going to pout.” Be Inoffensively Transparent Strother: I had a client who, on the door of their cubicle or like the entrance of their cubicle, had a traffic light magnetic piece and he would put the magnet on the line like — “Could you come talk to me?” was on green.  “Am I deep on something? Don't come in.” was on red.  So he let people know, “I'm in a deep workspace. Don't interrupt.”  Because I think that is a challenge at work, it’s that constant, like,  “Wanna gonna go grab coffee?” “Can I ask you a quick question (that will turn into a 20 minute chat)?”  “Hey, can I grab you for just a second? Can I talk to you for a second?”  And his solution was, “I'll just be very clear and very transparent. Right now, no, you can't.”  And they loved it because they knew when it's green, cool, great. And when it was red, he's busy and I'm not offended because that's not, “I don't want to talk to you.”  It's “I'm not talking to anyone right now because I produce better work that way.” Lisa: And even knowing the talent themes like having the conversation where this is a team event so that someone can see, for example, someone who leads through the superpower of Focus at work -  that they could be in an open work environment and have their back to the room and literally not be able to hear everything that's going off behind them because they are so focused on that one thing. Other people are so distractible that they wouldn't understand that's possible. They may not even believe it to your point about, you know, putting your own behaviors or the thoughts in your head, your lens on other people. So that's a powerful one. Strother: Yeah. Want To Grow As A Professional And Wield Your Superpowers At Work? Do CliftonStrengths With Your Team Lisa: That moment when Strother said the example of his friend who said, “Life is so dynamic right now,” this is what it feels like at work when you're trying to be really mature about it. It's like, “Oh my god, there's so much chaos and I'm burnt out and I'm just overbooked on my calendar and everything has gone awry.” And then you're like, “Alright, now I need to show up and be a pro. So okay. Things are so dynamic right now.”  You find a way to say it, you find a way to frame it, so that you still feel professional, but you still have needs. Even though you show up as a mature pro, there are still things that would put you at your best at work.  And I loved how we were able to just jump around different examples and chat through some simple ways that people have signaled those to their teammates, and how they've asked for those kinds of things from their manager without seeming high-maintenance, without seeming like a brat or a jerk. You may not feel that you can leap from today's current state to "superpowers at work." Maybe that seems to far right now. That's okay. Take the smallest action in that direction. If you think this kind of conversations would be useful for your team to have with each other, and I'm just gonna go — hint, hint — they're really useful to have with each other, meaningful conversation about your talent themes. Over time, they're going to open up so much understanding for you so that you know: What another person's interest is How they would naturally process information How they would naturally relate to the world How they make decisions How you could be helpful to each other by honoring those talent themes What their untapped potential might be (AKA hidden superpowers at work) This would be a great time to do CliftonStrengths with your team, and then consider doing some team building conversations. Many people are doing virtual training today. And Strother definitely facilitates those. So if you're interested in having him in for one of your virtual events, feel free to request him for your event.  It's these kinds of open conversations that you have with each other that ensure you understand what each person on the team needs. Many people will consider it too high-risk, they won't come forward with these kinds of requests or wishes or thoughts because of the brat factor.  They don't want to be seen as a brat. But they also see it as high-risk. They see it as a conversation that if they raise this, and that makes them go down a notch or two in your view, it's not going to be great for them in the workplace.  And if you contrast that with what happens when you're having these strengths-focused conversations at work around CliftonStrengths, it opens it up in a whole different way. It puts it in a new context and makes people feel open in a way that they wouldn't if they were just going to come up with this conversation and raise it to you like it were an issue. With that, thank you for listening to Lead Through Strengths and for bringing your best strengths to the workplace, because you know our workplaces need that from you.  Next up: It's the last interview in the series with Strother and in that one we are talking about whether your commitments match your calendar, whether the things you say you want match what you actually do with your time. It's a powerful self-audit, and we'll see you over there. Charge Up Your Superpowers At Work With These Helpful Resources You can supercharge your career when you can do your best work in a way that will work not just for you but also for those around you. If you lead through Focus and Achiever, consider engaging in some mature conversation with your team and being more sensitive towards the needs of others and the business while striving for your best. In fact, why not conduct a fun experiment with your strengths? Remember the volume knob that Lisa talked about? It’s a metaphorical way of regulating your strengths — in the context of the situation and the people around you. You’ll discover whether you need to turn your strengths up or pull back a bit. And once you’ve found that sweet spot, you’ll find that your strengths are better received. Finally, review Lisa’s episode on how you can offer your awesomeness without sounding arrogant, where she explores the idea of balancing your talent’s energy with outward focus, i.e. thinking about the business outcome your strengths and talent can serve.

Solving Partnership Disagreements (LA 1306) Transcript: Jack Butala: Steve and Jill here. Jill DeWit: Hi. Jack Butala: Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment Talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill DeWit: And Jill Dewitt, broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Jack Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about solving partnership disagreements. Well, it only happens once a year. Jill DeWit: Yes, exactly. Jack Butala: It needs to be- Jill DeWit: As co-CEOs, we have this licked. Jack Butala: And we feel qualified to talk to you about the very, very infrequent disagreements you're going to have with your partner, especially if she's your spouse. Jill DeWit: Thanks. So here, my first thought was, what if we put that on a business card? I wonder who would catch it, like co-CEO. Number two, then I thought are we going to have business cards anymore? Jack Butala: No. No on the business cards, and I have heard of co-CEOs. Jill DeWit: Wait a minute. Last time I checked, you can't catch anything... Well, you can catch stuff, but you can't catch the COVID from handing things over. Jack Butala: What's silly about business cards, really quickly, is that in this day and age, everything changes all the time. Jill DeWit: Right. Jack Butala: There's... How many phone numbers do we have now, especially if you're sending a lot of mail campaigns at different States and stuff. How many email addresses do we have? Nothing's worse than getting a business card and a cell all scratched out on it. Here's my real phone number. Here's my real last name. My last name changed. Jill DeWit: I want to do that. That, I want to do. Next time I put a... I'm going to do that. I'm going to cross off... I'm going to put all kinds of changes, new number, then hand that to somebody. Put co-CEO. You think I'm kidding? Jack Butala: Yeah, and change the name of the company. Jill DeWit: Here's... Oh, hang on a minute. Oh, wait, hang on a minute. Oh, that would be so funny. Jack Butala: Here's the thing. You could look at it and say- Jill DeWit: I want to do that just to be funny. Jack Butala: The name of company's changed. My email address has changed. My physical address has changed. My last name's changed. I'm not married anymore. Jill DeWit: My phone number changed. Jack Butala: Yep. Turn the card over. Oh, and my slogan's different, and I'm in the different business. Jill DeWit: That's what I'm going to do. You think I'm kidding? I'm going to totally do that. I think that's hilarious. Can you imagine? I just want to see the look on someone's face. When I say "Here's my card," and I hand them it, and it's all scratched. It's a home for free, written with a... Jack Butala: What's on there? Like the new... This shouldn't be a business card. Jill DeWit: I;d be like, "Well, let me redraw the new logo I'm thinking about." Jack Butala: When I talk to anybody, whenever we start, it's just... When we run into people and there's, what do you do? What do you do? And when you get through it and its like, that's awesome. What do I do? I say, go to landacademy.com. No one ever says, "What? How do you spell that? What is it?" Jill DeWit: That's true. Jack Butala: No one. How many times have you said, "Well, what's your name?" "Steven Butala" "What? Kukala? Deendida?" No, just go to Land Academy. It's all there. My entire life has been like that. You know what frustrates me? I'm going to use this time to vent for a second. Jill DeWit: I'm sorry. Jack Butala: The next time you... I'm going to make this about partnerships. Jill DeWit: Okay. Jack Butala: The next time you walk into your partner's office- Jill DeWit: This is good. You're making me cry a little bit. Jack Butala: You walk into your partner's office, whatever that means to you, and they're on the phone. Jill DeWit: Aka, the back bedroom. Jack Butala: They're on the phone. I want you to listen to the conversation, and I want you to specifically listen to-

Ramona Holloway is taking care of her aging mother. That’s in addition to her full time job as half of the radio team “Matt & Ramona” on 107.9 the Link in Charlotte. So who will take care of HER when she gets older? Her nephew. Even though she has no siblings. Wait. What? How can she have a nephew with no brothers or sisters??? Interesting story….

So here's the thing. How do we MLMers use modern and current marketing techniques and trends without having to bother or pester friends and family, but still grow a profitable business? How do we recruit A-players into our down line and yet still have time for our busy lives? We'll find out this and more on Downline Automation Radio.                                 What's up Downline Automation Radio? Woo. It is Monday and I am excited to be here. Oh, so much to tell you guys, so much fun stuff happening right now. Where do I start? Let me start with a story. Let's start with a story about me and my experience as a trainer, what that was like.                                 And I love training people. Don't get me wrong. I love trainings. It's one of my favorite things to do. I'm not a teacher. I don't like teaching. I love training. I love this industry and explaining this industry and breaking this industry down. But if you ask me to set foot in a classroom and just teach a bunch of kids or even adults, I'd be like, "Oh, this is so stupid." But I'm passionate about this. So let's get to it.                                 I had reached a certain level of success in my first business where I was starting to be asked to do trainings, like travel around and do some trainings which was fun. Very exciting, very good for the ego. Very bad for the ego, too, in a lot of ways for me. I have an ego that tends to get out of control quickly and I really have to work to not let that happen.                                 And it definitely did. It definitely happened through that process. And I learned a lot through it. I'm a better person for it, but that's not what I'm trying to tell you. Let me get back on track. Sorry. There was so much fun. There was so much enjoyment in training, but this is what it looked like for me.                                 Monday night, I would go out and I would contact. Tuesday night was training. So for three hours, I was showing the plan and then doing a training session afterwards. And this is hotel meeting style, right? We're doing hotel meetings, like 50, 60, 70, 100 people sometimes. Not huge meetings. I wasn't that big a deal. I was really fairly low on the totem pole, really. But it was great. It was a great experience.                                 So I would do that Tuesday night. I would do it again Wednesday night. And again Thursday night at different locations. I would do one 20 minutes from my house, another one an hour from my house. And then another one was another hour away from my house in the other direction. And I would do these three times a week. And I did that for months on end, trying to grow teams at each one of those hotel meetings.                                 And let me tell you what I learned. It's a freaking waste of time. What? How do you say that? I ran all over God's creation, trying to do that. And it was exhausting and I would teach the basics of the business, the four habits, the four this, the three that. Whatever they asked me to teach that week that the local team thought that they needed or I thought that they needed. And I would teach that and then I would go home. And then I would get up the next day, go to work and I'd work all day and then I'd put on my suit and I'd run out to the next hotel meeting. And I would go do it again. I did that three nights in a row for three weeks or three nights a week for months and months and months on end.                                 And if I wasn't teaching, I was still there to support my team, to answer any questions that they had, try to provide support for their growing teams. And it was exhausting and it was expensive and it was time consuming. And what ended up happening was the more I taught these things over and over and over again, the less excited I got about them. It became old hat. It became, yeah. I mean, duh, four habits, go out, contact somebody, add them to the list, show them the plan, follow up, get them started, boom. Rinse and repeat. Over and over and over and over again.                                 And I remember thinking, "Oh my God, is this what I got to do for the rest of my life in this industry? I got to teach the same thing over and over and over again?That's not exciting to me. That's not going to get me out of bed." And my teaching, my excitement went down and the quality of my teaching went down and soon, I wasn't asked to teach anymore. Fairly. I'm not upset about that at all. I just was just phoning it in. I got bored. I have a problem with boredom. I will get bored.                                 So this time around, as I'm automating my business, bringing it back to current day, and this is why I'm excited to share with you, I'm thinking about this. Like, "Okay, you're excited now you're teaching all this stuff, Ben, but how do you bring it back so that you don't get bored again, teaching this stuff?"                                 And so I thought long and hard about it. I looked around at what my different options are because I see a lot of upline leaders in all the different businesses that I follow and look at. I like to learn from the other leaders in the industry. Not just in my own upline, I like to look around and get different ideas and see which work for me and which ones don't. I always honor my upline and what they teach, but not everybody knows everything.                                 So I look around and I see a lot of people, maybe this is you too, they're doing Facebook lives. They're doing Zoom calls with their team. Or they got Voxer going on and messages going back and forth. And they're constantly in the state of training somebody. They're constantly answering your questions. They're constantly going, "Here's where you go to find this information. Here's how you do this. And let me answer a question. Here's how you do this. And here's how you do this."                                 And it seems exhausting to me. It seems like it has got to be horribly boring, to be perfectly honest with you. It seems awful. Right? And then the other ... So some people have figured that out, right? Some people are like, "Okay, I don't like this." So they save all of their trainings on Facebook in a group, put them up there, tag them. And after three months, it becomes so difficult and confusing to use Facebook groups and pages to find the information that you need, because there's been so many videos and so many posts and the tagging system is wonky at best. And how you name it doesn't necessarily translate to what somebody is looking for. And so you end up like people are like, "Oh, forget it." And so they move on. So they move, they go, "Okay. Okay. Okay. What have we got to do?"                                 And then some people take it another step, "Well, let's just warehouse them up on a site and put them in categories online. We'll put them into four or five categories online and make a membership site people can go to, and they can just scroll through this stuff and figure out which one they want." But they still have to guess on the category and they still have to guess based upon the title of the thing. That's better, that's about as good as it gets, right? For a lot of teams.                                 Okay, cool. From my own personal experience, those sites are really not great for me. I have a hard time finding the information. I have a hard time finding the energy to search for the information, right? It doesn't really guide you through the process. There's a getting started section, but it's still not quite enough to really truly run a business. And so you're stuck learning your upline's teachings, which are now a year and a half in and he doesn't want to go back to teach things he's already taught before, because they're up on this website.                                 You're coming in, you're like, "Wait, I don't have the basics. I don't understand what he's talking." It's confusing. And it doesn't work real well. So what's the alternative, what's the solution? And that's what I thought about these last two weeks.                                 A membership site is the way to go. And I'm building a membership site for my team. Now stay with me because this is also for you. Inside that membership site, it's going to be 30 days, unlocked each day, a training. Exactly what you need to do that day to move your business forward. Exactly what you need to accomplish in a bite size achievable goal so my downline is not getting overwhelmed. They're not like, "Oh my God, look at all these videos. I got to watch 17, 20 hours of video just to do this? What? No, man."                                 Here's a five, 10, 15, 20 minutes at the max video, explaining to you what you need to do today in order to set up your business and get you moving and making money. I'm putting that together for my team. It's almost done. All the structure is laid out, we're just finishing up some of the content copy. And then from there, we are going to do something really cool that's going to help you out.                                 Tell me, Ben, how are you going to help me? Well, here's how I'm going to do it. I'm going to take that site. I'm going to clone it. I'm going to make it available for you. I'm going to take out all the things that are specific to my business and my company. Listen, again, I go back to this. I said it in an episode one and if you didn't hear it, go back and listen. I have no intention of pitching you to join my team on this podcast. None. This is a business pitch-free zone. You'll never get pitched for me on this business. I'm not going to tell you what business I'm in. I'm not going to tell you where my application funnel is. I'm not going to tell you all these things, but what I am going to do is I am going to build this website for you.                                 I'm going to build this membership website for you and I'm going to make it available to you. I haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to make it available to you, where the price point is or is it going to be a paid membership or is it going to be a onetime fee? Definitely lifetime access. I don't know. I have to figure that all out. But that part I'm figuring out this week. I'm going to talk to some of my mentors and really get to the bottom of that and nail it down.                                 But it's going to be available for you and you can give it to your team and you can sell it to your team, whatever. Okay? I don't care what you do with it. I really don't.                                 But what I do want you to do is use it for your team. Okay? I want this industry to change. So while I was running around as a trainer, getting bored, teaching the same old stuff, same old stuff. If I had had this, I could have just recorded a video. Here's the four basics. Here's the four habits. Here's the nine course, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, boom. A video for each one. Now I don't ever have to teach it again. Here it is. And each day, it breaks it out.                                 They're going to get it. They just have to watch a video once a day. And then it prevents overwhelm for them. That's why so many people quit in this business. It's overwhelming. They got to learn all this new jargon. They got to learn how to sell. They got to learn how to market. They got to learn how to close. They got to learn how to go to these meetings and they got to work on themselves. It's a lot guys. It's a lot.                                 And if you can find ways to relieve that overwhelm for people, that's an offer in and of itself. Think about that. Think about if you can say, "Listen, man, relax. It's okay. Here's a 10, 15, 20 minute video. You're going to watch one a day. That's it. We're going to work you into the pace. We're going to teach you slowly. You don't have to do anything else than what that video says. And if you have questions, we'll figure it out. But there's this. You have questions? Look it up on this website. It's frequently asked questions and we've labeled it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.                                 And here's the training aspect of it. If you're looking for training and how to chat bots, if you're looking for training in funnels, if you're looking for training on copy, if you're looking for training on traffic. It's all here and it's all broken down and explains exactly what each piece is."                                 How much of a competitive advantage are you going to have? Put that on your application funnel right there. That's a huge advantage. Who else is doing that in your upline? Anybody? Is anybody in your upline doing that, solving those problems? Or are they just going, "Read these books, listen to these audios and show up to these meetings and make sure that you're making a list of 100 names." No, man, it's too much for a lot of people, too much for a lot of people which, I mean, I have my own feelings about because I feel like you should be getting some better people that aren't overwhelmed by that. But that's just my own personal feeling on that.                                 I don't like to work with people that are easily overwhelmed. I'll be honest with you. I like working with people that are hungry and go getters and pros and I don't have to do a lot of handholding. I can just say, "There's the information, go get it. It has everything you need. Come back to me after you've ingested all that information. And then let me know if you still have any questions." And if they do great, great. Now there's an opportunity to do an additional training. Now there's a chance for me to take it a step further and be like, "Okay, well, that was the basics. Now let's get into the nitty gritty of it, right?"                                 So when people come back to you with a question, it's an opportunity to create content for your membership site. You're missing something. They come back with questions. You're missing a detail somewhere. They're telling you, "Okay, that was great. But you created a problem for me. And I don't know how to fix it because this is what I don't know." Fix it for them. Boom. Here you go. Let me solve this problem for you. Now you're even more valuable to them.                                 The loyalty, the comradery, the teamwork that is created out of that is so powerful because what they get for most people is from their upline is, "Make a list of 100 names." Man, girl, you're doing so good. Girl, you're a winner here. You're going to make it, but I need a list of 100 names.                                 I already gave you a list of 100 names. Well, you're going to make it, girl. You're a winner. You're a star. I love you. You're powerful, but I need a list of 100 names and it goes on and on and on and on and on. And that's why people are just like, "Okay, well. I'm done, right?"                                 So can you teach people how to generate traffic to your offers? You can teach them how to make offers and you teach them how to drive traffic to their offers. If you can do that, it's game over man. It's just a matter of time. And that's how I feel like. That's the most exciting thing about this business for me right now is it just feels like it's just a matter of time. I don't remember feeling that. I remember feeling stressed out. I remember feeling anxious and stressed, am I good enough, am I not going to be able to do this? I don't feel that anymore. I don't feel that anymore. I feel like it's just a matter of time.                                 And you just keep doing these things. Keep putting this content out, keep building the things that automate the process. It's just a matter of time for people to find it and the word gets out. And when people find it and the word gets out, it's going to be amazing. Amazing.                                 This kind of funnel. I'm not the first person to develop this idea. I'm not an original on this. One of the people that I've been studying who has been doing this for a while, gets two to three applications a day. A day. Two to three people a day ask him to join his business. What would that look like if that started happening for you?                                 I'll tell you what it will look like for me. I'd been doing the hallelujah dance all day long, all day long., Every time one of those boop, hey, somebody asked to join your team. Cool. Am I going to accept every single one of those people? No. No. They're going to be the right fit. So I'm creating the right culture for my team.                                 I'm going to share an application funnel with you guys. I'm currently building it. I've got the last two pieces for my own application funnel to build this week and it will be done and up and running. I'm not going to tell you what it is, because again, this is not a pitch fest. I'm not here for you guys to join my team. I'm here to better the industry and to make this a better place for all of us.                                 Okay. So I'm going to give you that stuff, too. Just hang in there with me as I build this stuff, it's taking me a little longer than I really wanted it to. But that's because I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I'm having to learn. And I'm having to go back and fix things and be like, "Oh yeah, that doesn't work. Okay. So let me fix that." And that's okay. That's totally okay.                                 I don't mind that at all. I enjoy that. I enjoy that. I enjoy finding out and being able to track the data, like, "Oh, this doesn't work. So now I need to fix it." We talked about it in the last episode. So I'm starting to ramble, but listen guys, I'm pumped up for you. I'm so excited that you're not going to have to do the same trainings over and over and over again but you're going to have access to this stuff and that it's going to be amazing.                                 And I can't wait for all of you to have it. I can't wait for you guys to see it and experience it for yourself. It's unbelievable. So listen, keep hanging in there with me. Keep hanging into this podcast. I promise in the next couple of weeks, some really amazing things are going to be coming out. It's going to be so exciting. Hang in there with me, stay working, stay true and keep believing.                                 Hey, thanks for listening. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Would you like a copy of the book that changed everything in my network marketing business? If so, you can get a free copy of Network Marketing Secrets at downlineautomation.com.

“Leadership is also about building the future” - showcasing how youth leadership means consciously working on building a better future for the generations to come. Kelly Lovell achieved incredible things at a young age already. Founded her own start ups, 3 TED talks, joined the G7 G20 and United Nations as a policy advisor, published her on book and met the Queen. What is driving her? What How can other young people get this drive? And what role does leadership play?  Find out more about Kelly on her website https://kellyalovell.com/ Join Kelly at the YOUNGA Forum https://bridgingthegapventures.com/younga-forum/ Curious about more leadership? Attend our free Global Leadership Day and sign up at: www.global-leadership-day.com. Music by DJ Nobrauws.

- Molly Huffman A year after Tage died, I had processed so much that by the time my husband left, I, I was I was definitely anxious and really struggling at that point. But then there was this little bit of just, a I had to laugh and maybe that was all I could do to keep from drowning, but it was just like, are you kidding me? Like this, too.  This is unreal. You like this. This can't happen to people this much loss. INTRO   Sometimes in life, it seems like one loss piles on top of the next.  And that is certainly the story of my guest today, Molly Huffman.  Cancer, miscarriage, infant loss, divorce.  Molly’s story has been marked by grief.  And yet, her story holds more than grief.  She shares about the heavy, tumultuous emotions and how she has embraced life on the other side of loss…and about her new book, which chronicles this journey:  The Moon is Round.   Before we begin, I want to take a moment to note that, at the time of this recording, our country is reeling from the tragic footage of George Floyd’s death, which is convulsing the nation.  And this systemic, historic, abuse of black and brown bodies is not new news, it is just the most recent in a tragic continuum that spans centuries.  And this is definitely a workplace issue.  We will be talking about this in the weeks to come, because it is not a new issue and it is one that this podcast has not given enough voice to in the past.    As we start, I want to thank our podcast sponsor, FullStack PEO.   If you are a small business or an entrepreneur, let FullStack take care of your benefits and your payroll so you can focus on what matters most:  growing your business.  We are also sponsored by my company, Handle with Care consulting.  We offer interactive training sessions that build cultures of empathy and care…and don’t we all need a little more of that these days?   Now, back to Molly.  Molly is a Hoosier by birth but she lives now in Moorehead, Kentucky, in a little neighborhood tucked up in the hills.    - Liesel Mertes And who are the people and animals that fill your house?   - Molly Huffman My husband. Guy. And then I have two stepdaughters, Ali, who is 14, and Aaron, who is eleven. And then our son, Mack, who is one and a half. We have a chocolate Lab, Marty, who's twelve and a black and white kitty Bella, who's also twelve.   - Liesel Mertes And do the dog and the cat get along well?   - Molly Huffman They became siblings as puppy and kitten. So they've been together their whole lives. However, I don't know what they say in their pet language, but he gets so annoyed with her.   Molly loves to run, even in the sweltering heat of Kentucky summer.  And, as I mentioned at the top of the episode, Molly is also a published author.   - Molly Huffman So the book is hopefully coming in June, and it's titled The Moon is Round. And the subtitle is an extraordinary, true story of Grief, Loss and the Fight for Faith. And I tried to vulnerably share a season of life where everything fell apart. But then what I learned and the good that came from it and with the hopes that it can encourage people, you know, in whatever seasons of loss and grief and questions that they are in.   - Liesel Mertes Well, and that is a great jumping off point. I want to circle back to the book.   - Liesel Mertes But tell me what it was like to begin this season of one loss cascading onto the next. Where were you living? What were you doing? What did life look like for you?   - Molly Huffman I was living in central Indiana at the time and I was newly married, had an elementary teaching job, which is what I'd wanted to do.   - Molly Huffman I lived near my parents and my younger sisters were all nearby and it just seemed like life was suddenly falling into place. I had everything I wanted. Things were great.   - Molly Huffman And then all of a sudden, my mom got a cancer diagnosis and and suddenly everything changed. You know? And I had to really just kind of wrestle with all of that,   - Liesel Mertes And what was your relationship like with your mom? Tell me a little bit about her.   - Molly Huffman She I'm the oldest of four daughters, and so she and I had come to a point where we were friends. And I, for the most part, was never much of a rebellious kid. So we really had a great relationship. For the majority of my growing up years, with the exception of like a six month time period in high school. But she really was my best friend. She was funny and generous and kind and my favorite person to hang out with and dream and talk about life with and.   - Molly Huffman And so it was just really devastating to to lose her.   - Liesel Mertes And was it a long journey with cancer?   - Molly Huffman She there it was a spot on her shin was melanoma. And it was removed and we thought we were in the clear. And then a year later, it reappeared in some of her lymph nodes and from there just sort of spread. So it was less than a year between the time we discovered it and her lymph nodes until she was gone.   Molly Huffman But, you know, the the plus was that we had time to say what we wanted to say. The difficult part of that is. That you might be doing a lot of your grieving while the person is still alive. And, you know, so for me it was it was hard to find the balance between enjoying her and also knowing that she's dying, you know?   - Liesel Mertes Yeah. Tell me tell me a little bit more about that, because that stroke is. Is its own, like daily figuring with that? What would that tension look like one day for you?   - Molly Huffman So, you know, I no longer lived under her roof because I was married. But I would teach all day and then either go to her house in the evenings or in periods of time when she was hospitalized. I would drive straight to the hospital, you know, just to be with her and to be with my dad and. Then sisters and. So it was exhausting in its own right, you know, because I'm working all day and then going and caring and grieving, which takes so much energy.   - Molly Huffman But that's just what you do. You know, so we I just. For months. That was. Just how how my days looked. And so trying to have normal conversation, you know, particularly when she was home, talking about the day and what's going on. While watching her decline and, you know, needing to talk about her pain. And what was really interesting was seeing the shift from her being a mother to me and taking care of me.   Molly Huffman And I was 24 when all this happened. So I hope I would deal with it differently now. However, at the time, I don't think I was done yet being mothered by her. And so it was hard for me to to not feel the care and nurture from her that I was used to feeling as she got sicker and sicker because she just didn't have the energy herself to give in.   - Molly Huffman So, you know, that was part of a grief as well here that that led that the tons of. Being more alone than when she had been healthy and able to give fully out of more of an overflow. Right.   - Liesel Mertes So and what was your mother's name?   - Molly Huffman Susie McCracken. Susie.   - Liesel Mertes Sometimes I find, you know, people, people who have died. We don't even get to a chance to say their names in the same kind of way. And they had loomed so large, you know, in our life sphere of irony.   - Liesel Mertes And so this is a devastating thing for you in your early 20s.   - Liesel Mertes But as you write in your book, this is not the only disruption that was going to come and talk with me a little bit about what that timeline looks like with your first pregnancy and your mother's death.   - Molly Huffman So a year after. No, I'm sorry. Three years after she died. I had come out of the fog of grief. And my husband and I tried to start our family. And seven weeks into that pregnancy, on her birthday of all days. I had a miscarriage. And, you know, I wasn't yet done grieving the loss of my mom as really I suppose we never are. You know, it just morphs. But it was still pretty fresh to me at that time.   - Molly Huffman And so. It was devastating because I was so looking forward to this child and new life. And so my husband, I waited another year and then we were pregnant again. And this time our son Tage was born in March of 2014.   - Liesel Mertes And tell me a little bit about Tage.   - Molly Huffman He. Well, it's I guess I have to say, a past tense. He ended up passing away, but he was just a beautiful boy and so healthy.   - Molly Huffman When he was born and just I I felt my joy coming back. And. He was big and strong and had these bright blue eyes that just sparkled.   - Molly Huffman But around the time that he was five or six months old, we started just noticing that. Something seemed off. He wasn't making eye contact or cooing sounds that babies make. He wasn't smiling. And so we went to a couple doctors and the first one, you know, just maybe thought that I was a new mom and nervous, you know, and sort of dismissed my concern.   - Molly Huffman And so I rallied. I thought, OK, maybe that's the truth, you know, but things just weren't getting better.   - Molly Huffman So we went to a different doctor and he immediately diagnosed Tage as failure to thrive because of his weight. And so we were sent for blood work immediately that day and a follow up appointment at the Children's Hospital the next week where they admitted us for muscle impairment problems. And. And so eventually we. Discovered that he had this rare genetic disease called Lei's disease.   - Molly Huffman And it was affecting the mitochondria of all of his cells.   - Molly Huffman And so the doctors told us that it was terminal and and that he would not make it to his first birthday.   - Liesel Mertes So you go from this this big, beautiful, blue eyed baby who's already, you know, a child who has followed a loss and the sadness and the loss of this first baby you were pregnant with and the death of your mom to receiving this news. Was it was it over the span of a couple of weeks or did it did it come to you all in one day? You know, all of the the reality of his condition, I imagine that that is just a 180.   - Molly Huffman And yes, how we showed centering it was it absolute was we were you know, we went to this follow up appointment at the Children's Hospital, and I legitimately thought that they would. You know, tell us what we needed to do and send us home.   - Molly Huffman You know, I was not thinking terminal at all. And so when they wanted to admit us in that appointment, I was so confused and so. It took a couple days for. Of us being in the hospital with him, for the doctors to be able to, you know, decide what the what they're working diagnosis would be.   - Molly Huffman And so two days later, when they told us, you know, I people use that phrase, you know, the room was spinning. But it really it did. I my my body just froze. I could not believe what they were saying. And, you know, how in the world am I going to deal with this after losing my mom and our first pregnancy? And it just didn't feel like I could handle something else.   - Molly Huffman But as a parent, you figure it out. You know, you you realize, OK, well, once the shock wore off, the next day, it was go time. And we spent a week in the hospital just running different tests and Tage got a G tube so that he could eat successfully.   - Molly Huffman And so, you know, going home from the hospital a week later, life looked totally different than when we had entered the hospital.   - Liesel Mertes Well, and I'm struck, as you say, that about a distinct parallel between what you said about your mom, that you were walking this tension of how am I with her and enjoying her, but also grieving her while she's still alive. Did you feel like did that feel akin at all to what you were doing with Tage? Like, I'm I'm with him and I'm wanting to delight in him and be with this child, but I'm grieving him because I have this, I don't know this limited amount of time.   - Molly Huffman Yes. Oh, it was. It was so difficult. My husband, you know, still had to work. So he would go to work Monday through Friday. And I was home with Tage by myself at first and needing to feed him with a G tube, which was new. And, you know, looking at him was the reminder that he was also dying. And it was just so intense.   - Molly Huffman It was so emotionally intense during that time, trying to balance. I love him. I want to care for him and enjoy him while also knowing that our time is limited. And. And I didn't know how much time at that point we would have.   - Molly Huffman But I can say, thankfully, that once I figured out that I could not do that by myself. Friends stepped in and would come over during the day and be with me and just help help me not feel as alone.   - Molly Huffman Which was so such a gift.   - Liesel Mertes I'd like to hear more about that because. One, you know, distinct aspect of what this podcast is about is enabling people to be able to show up in ways that are helpful and that matter as these friends came to your house. Did you did you ask them to come? Did they offer to come? How did that start? Like, what was the tipping point? For that to change for you. Sure.   - Molly Huffman I, I had told a trusted friend or two that. You know that at the time, I, I just could not stop crying because I'm trying to take care of stage, but he's dying, you know. And just seeing him was the reminder. And, and so when I finally admitted that to someone, she said that was actually this is really neat. It was one of my mom's friends. And I think there was this part of me, you know, that when I needed care, you know.   - Molly Huffman And so she's she saw that and said, what if we make a schedule? And she looks at all these people that were my mom's friends that, you know, were in their friend group,   - Molly Huffman She said, what if we make a schedule and, you know, just for whatever you want, two hours in the morning, someone can come and then two hours that afternoon, someone can come and, you know, and it can be fluid. You know, maybe we start with somebody in the morning and some in the afternoon every day.   - Molly Huffman And if that's too much and you can always text us and say, don't come. And so it was really neat.   - Molly Huffman We ended up making this schedule and so hurt my mom's friends would come and sometimes my friends would come as well, and sometimes we cried. Sometimes they just sat in the other room while, you know, I did the things that I needed to get done. Or they might help with laundry or dishes and. And eventually I realized that actually having someone in the morning, in the afternoon was actually too much because I knew that I needed to process the grief.   - Molly Huffman But when people were there, it was hard for me to be real about the grief. And so we then tapered it back and, you know, maybe someone would only come in the afternoon. And, you know, sometimes people would.   - Liesel Mertes I paused for a second just because I'm, I'm struck. You said something interesting that I want to hear more about, the importance of processing your grief and that when someone else was there, I think you said it kept you from being. And being real about the grief that. Tell me more about that. How did the presence of another person in, in so many ways in which it was helpful, but how did that affect how you were processing your grief?   - Molly Huffman My personality is a helper and a caretaker. It's just what I do. And so when other people are at my house, I can't help but want to take care of them. And so. I got better at letting that go during this time, but. But there was still an underlying sense of like I need to have conversation with this person, I need to entertain them. I need to offer them a drink, you know? And so I I couldn't care for myself emotionally when I'm trying to care for some of the people now, you know, a couple of my very closest friends.   - Molly Huffman You know, I wouldn't necessarily feel that pressure, but some of my mom's friends who, you know, I didn't necessarily spend a lot of time with before then. I felt like I needed to care for them.   - Molly Huffman And so it was helpful to have them, but then also helpful to have time without them so that I could just let the tears fall.   - Liesel Mertes Yeah. And as you were aware of this need to process your grief, what were some of the things that were especially helpful for you in that journey of, you know, just walking with this hard reality being like internally to to make space for that sadness?   - Molly Huffman I think. Being honest about my anger and my questions about it. I grew up in a very faith filled family and, you know, as often under, under the thought of, you know, be joyful, always give thanks in all circumstances. And I think that we can be joyful and give thanks in all circumstances once we've been honest about our pain. And so this time gave me.   - Molly Huffman I was able to. I learned to pray honestly:  the doubt and the questions and the anger and believing that that this God that I had believed in, you know, that he could handle all of that, too, gave me such a space to to be able to process the grief. Honestly.   - Liesel Mertes Was that something that you had someone invite you into or you read a book or it was just the overflow of where you were at? Because sometimes there's this element of finding permission out of out of a context that didn't really have space for that. How did you how were you able to accept that that was OK for you to do?   - Molly Huffman Two things. I had a couple friends who would say things like, like Molly, I would be angry, too, you know, and just validated the feeling or some other friends would say it's okay for you to be angry about this to God. You know, like to give the permission.   - Molly Huffman The other thing that was really helpful to me was. Again, going up in church, I know there were these ways that we prayed as children. Like confession or praising God. But what I hadn't learned how to do was lament. And so during that time I started coming across passages in the Bible where these. Men and women of faith and even Jesus himself would lament, know, God, why have you forsaken me?   - Molly Huffman And so seeing that and, and seeing this pattern and this permission to lament allowed me to process the grief. I also found different counselors over that time who were great at helping me process and allowing me to grieve as well. So there were there were so many parts. They were helpful. Yeah.   - Liesel Mertes Well, then. That's face of a community of people, whether it was friends or counselors, to be able to, yes, allow you to feel your feelings and not have to suppress them.   - Liesel Mertes I I have found in the work that I do in my own experience that grief can feel so profoundly isolating because there's no one who who knows the exact dimensionality of your grief and and how even it changes throughout a day. And that particularly with the loss of children or their sickness, that that that can be something that can be hard in in partners or a couple those moments where you are grieving differently than your partner. Did you run into that as Tage was sickening and declining?   - Molly Huffman Yes. My husband tended to run toward work and and busyness and and so he was away from the house a lot. So being stuck at the house, I tended to run toward my girlfriends and family members who could come by. And so we definitely grieved differently.   - Molly Huffman We we did go on a grief retreat. Together. And this was after staged a yes after Tage died. And, you know, worked on processing it together and. And. Really there I felt a lot of of hope leaving that weekend. But.   - Molly Huffman Ultimately, we were not able to turn toward each other. And, and he ended up filing for divorce a year after Tage died.   - Liesel Mertes So. These are. A number of losses from the life that you were moving into two years previous as you were pregnant and expecting stage. What was going on was that. How did that feel? It seems like just so many losses. One on top of the other.   - Molly Huffman It was I. I think by the you know, after a year after Tage died, I had processed so much that by the time my husband left, I, I was I was definitely anxious and really struggling at that point. But then there was this little bit of just, a I had to laugh and maybe that was all I could do to keep from drowning, but it was just like, are you kidding me? Like this, too.   - Molly Huffman This is unreal. You like this. This can't happen to people this much loss. But one day at a time, one counseling appointment at a time, one walk with a friend at a time. You know, I here I am and. And life is good now. So it was so, so much loss. And I still I miss my mom, like, all the time. And I miss Tage.   - Molly Huffman And, you know, so those losses have not gone away but I have. Learned to live with them. I just picture the wound is not open anymore. There's a scar. And I'll never forget.   - Molly Huffman But I also and as I explain in in the book, I like this version of me better. All the things that loss and grief taught me.   - Liesel Mertes Tell me more. Tell me more about that. What? How is this version of you different than 23 year old Molly?   - Molly Huffman I would say and I don't want any of this to sound like I'm puffing myself up, you know. But I can see when I look at 23 year old version of Molly versus now just that, I I have more compassion for people, you know. Twenty three year old Molly was all about herself and what she could get and what she wanted. I   - Molly Huffman My values are different. As far as what used to be important is no longer important. The things that I, that I think I need to make me happy. I don't need those things anymore. You know, as far as material things or.   Per. I don't know. I'm trying think what else it could be, but. And   - Molly Huffman I think this version of me is just more authentic. I, I am I feel more that I am who I was created to be. Now I know who I am. And I'm just much more grateful.   - Liesel Mertes Thank you for sharing that. Do you do you find so with with a number of losses, you know, and to specifically related to bringing children into the world? Did your experience can also tip into feeling yourself as more fearful or anxious? You know, even starting a new marriage with your husband stepping into has. Has there been a shadow of what if everything falls apart again for you? Yes.   - Liesel Mertes Amen. So I am how have you lived within that?   - Molly Huffman Well, so the good news is I'm now remarried to my husband guy and we have two stepdaughters.   - Molly Huffman Well, I have to say, barters his daughters and we have our son, Mac, who's one and a half. And   - Molly Huffman so two major moments in my life where they there was a crossroads. I remember getting married to Guy and and thinking, how do I do this again when my first marriage failed. But I think this time with marriage, I hold it loosely. I don't need the marriage to complete me or to fulfill me. Instead, I get to just enjoy guy as a gift that I've been given.   - Molly Huffman And it's so interesting because, you know, my first husband wanted out and and that was a huge fear of mine for so long that that, you know, someone would leave. But I saw OK. So the worst thing happened. He left and I'm OK. I was held it and so I know. You know, I've joked with go out with guy like if you want to leave, you can't. Like, I. I'm not going to, too.   - Molly Huffman I'm not. I keep you here if you don't want to be here, you know, and honestly, that that opens up such a freedom. And I think for me, a more genuine love for this person knowing that I don't need to control them. And I can just enjoy it for what it is.   - Molly Huffman And then when our son Mac was born in the hospital, I actually had him like a PTSD moment hearing him cry for the first time because I hadn't heard my baby cry since stage right before Tage died.   - Molly Huffman And so there have been some moments like that where all of a sudden, you know, the fear and the anxiety can come rushing back in or, you know, in quiet moments by myself. There are these questions in my mind of, well, what if what if he dies, too? And I think it's important for us to to take that question and say, OK, what if what if. And you know, what I've learned through all of this is that I will be OK if if Mac dies, it will be treacherous and grievous and it will take some time and it will be hard and I will be OK.   - Molly Huffman And. And, you know, having those realizations for both of those relationships has allowed me to live in such freedom. And I think sometimes, you know, we fear, well, what if this worst thing could happen? And literally, my three biggest fears happened to me within a matter of seven years. And. The thing is, if we lean into it and. Get help and admit that we can't do it in seek our friends and seek counselors and.   - Molly Huffman And, you know, in my belief, see, God like you, he will not let you fall in. And so so that's what I live with now.   - Liesel Mertes Can you tell me a little bit more? You know, if someone is listening to this and to hear you able to say, I will be OK, they might think, well, what does OK mean? Does that mean just that you're still alive? Like, is that OK? What does being OK, tell me more about that and what that has meant for you being okay?   - Molly Huffman Now, being in a place where I can say I will be OK is for me. Being able to acknowledge the loss and that there is still pain there. I still miss the people that I've lost, I miss parts of my former life where I lived and who I lived near. But, I also. I've seen that. We can we can still live with that pain, but it doesn't consume us. And there is still. Hope and joy and beauty after loss. And I think sometimes we do. We have a choice.   - Molly Huffman I remember a specific moment that I write about in the book where I had to decide what path I was going to take. And one path would lead me to bitterness. And I have seen people who took that path after loss.   - Molly Huffman And and I believe the other path leads to life. When, if we, if we can choose to do the work and the wrestling in the midst of our pain and and just cling. Then. I really I really have experienced that. You know, our our biggest fears coming true do not have to they knock us down. They knock us down profoundly, but they don't have to destroy us.   - Liesel Mertes Thank you for sharing that. I think that's that's helpful. Sometimes you've had a diversity of types of losses. Sometimes when people are trying to be helpful in the midst of that, they say or do things that are not that helpful. What are some of the least helpful things that people offered to you?   - Liesel Mertes You just say, oh, my gosh, like you might want to be helpful, but please don't do this. Yes.   - Molly Huffman Well. So after Tage died, I had thought that I was going to be staying home, you know, for a long time, raising stage in whatever siblings might come after him.   - Molly Huffman And so instead, my counselor at the time told me, Molly need to go back to work. You can't just sit around your house all day and. I was so mad that he said that, but it turned out to be so true, and so I went back in to the elementary school as a teacher and. I found there that that.   - Molly Huffman Some people were so helpful in that they would leave little notes on my desk for me to see when I got there in the morning or, you know, if I'd stepped out.   - Molly Huffman Or they would just offer a hug. Or little gifts, you know, just things to let you know. Even if we weren't, they weren't my closest co-workers. But but just offering acknowledgement in whatever way they felt comfortable. The thing I would say most of the teachers were amazing. They really, really were.   - Molly Huffman But I know sometimes, you know, we get wrapped up, sometimes caught up in what do I say? And I think what's important for us to know is that nothing that we could say to someone who's grieving in our workplace or anywhere is going to fix it so we can take the pressure off ourselves that we don't have to find the perfect words. Sometimes less is better. You know, just. I'm glad you're back, Molly. I am so sorry. May I give you a hug? You know, simple.   - Molly Huffman Keep it simple. But what's not helpful? What were phrases like? Well, at least, you know, you can be here now. Dot, dot, dot. You know, putting that phrase at least, you know, whatever follows that is not helpful. And, you know, it minimizes the pain. And I know that sometimes we all do that from. A feeling of feeling awkward or not knowing what to say. But. But it's still not good.   - Molly Huffman That was not helpful.   - Liesel Mertes Yeah, exactly. I'd do it. Yes. When we when we. Because I know that even though I really care about it, I can still, like you can spin into these just ingrained behaviors or you feel like you're just grasping at words.     But that's the purpose. Now, don't do that. Yeah, helpful.   - Liesel Mertes Well, your book your book is exciting. Does it? This is this is a question from someone else who, you know, right in some ways, you know, I I write my own journey with Mercy. I don't know to what end or what I'll do with it, but there could be a sense of like, man like this journey is still unfolding. I'm still changing within it.   - Liesel Mertes Does it feel like a like an important like flag in the sand to have put out a book on it? Did that feel like. Yes, I have something to say. And this is it. Is there a sense of like, oh, but my story is still unfolding with this. Tell me, just as a writer, what that has been like to get something out there.   - Molly Huffman Well, I started writing after my mom died. And so this whole journey of loss is is reflective. Of writing for me in in my. You know, I didn't write really before my mom died, and I thought I was going to write a book about losing a parent. And then all of a sudden, you know, there was more loss and more lesson. And so I never felt like it was time to put it. On paper. But I had a blog while Tage was sick, it started as a Caring Bridge when we were in the hospital, but I couldn't help but kind of write.   - Molly Huffman In story form, because that's just what I like to do and. And so after we were out of the hospital, some people were like, well, will you keep writing about all of this? And so we started a blog.   - Molly Huffman And. So I always thought that it might be neat to write a book someday. And then when I met my husband Guy, I just sense that that particular chapter of life and those losses. I wanted that, too, to not be behind me as in to never think of it again. But I wanted a marker that, OK, here was that incredible season of life and what happened and what I learned.   - Molly Huffman And now I'm going to turn the corner here and see what's next, because I'm sure I'm not done writing and I'm sure I know my story and the listener story. No one story is over, you know. But but it it does feel really nice to just. Like you said, plant a flag. Like, let there be a marker from that season of loss and pain. And now moving into this new season, which I'm sure we'll have loss and pain because that just seems to be life.   - Molly Huffman But but I am excited to get to share this book with the world may hopefully be with a little more space in between the losses.   - Liesel Mertes Right. I can feel for myself when I hit 30. I had friends around me who were like thirties, so old. So I was like 30. Feels just right. I lived a heck of a lot of life in my 20s, 30s. Slow down a little bit. Yes. My hope. Yes. Grief.   - Liesel Mertes If someone is listening and they say, I absolutely want to get this book, where is it available and where should they go?   - Molly Huffman It is currently available on Amazon. I believe that the distribution will be wider soon. But for now, I would just say go to Amazon.   - Molly Huffman And I know that there is a little bit of a backup with ordering, you know, because of COVID.   - Liesel Mertes But and I will include a link in the show note. You can also go there. And it's great because you're already getting a ton of your stuff from Amazon. So you just add it on with your toilet paper.   - Molly Huffman Exactly. Easy peasy. One click.   Liesel Mertes You're also a speaker. Tell us a little bit about people who would maybe want to know more or have you for an event. Sure. What kinds of speaking do you do?   - Molly Huffman I love speaking to groups. I have spoken to women's events, college events, youth group events. I've spoken at churches and done even just a writing talk one time. So I would love to to be invited to speak to any group. I love to encourage.   - Liesel Mertes  So what is the best way for people to be in touch with you?   [00:46:36.590] - Molly Huffman My Web site. MollyHuffman.com. And there is a contact button.   - Liesel Mertes Perfect. Molly, thank you.   MUSICAL TRANSITION   Here are three take-aways from my conversation with Molly If you know someone that is in an overwhelming, isolating season (particularly with a small child) it can be really helpful to make a schedule of support.Molly’s friends made sure that she had someone with her….IF she wanted to and they gave her space to cancel at any time.  This sort of consistent, responsive, flexible support can be deeply meaningful.  Molly noted, “Nothing you do or say will ultimately fix the person that is grieving” so release yourself from the pressure of getting it perfect.Molly appreciated gifts, a hug, and the small gestures of people moving towards her.  Grief can and often will cause you to question what seemed like unshakeable beliefs.As Molly grew in her practice of faith and her ways of prayer, she benefitted from friends that encouraged her to be open and honest in her questions.  And this open, honest engagement is so important for faith and for life.  Avoiding or stuffing unwieldy emotions is toxic, what we resist persists.    OUTRO   Link to The Moon is Round:  https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Round-Story-Extraordinary-Grief/dp/B089D34VT6/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+moon+Is+round&qid=1591579462&sr=8-1   Molly’s Website:  mollyhuffman.com

Sign up for the FREE Men's Training Video Training 5-Part Series! Hi there! This is a message for you if you're a gent (or if you want to peer into the mind of gents :) As the days wear on and the challenges are happening for so many in so many ways, I want to encourage you. I have heard my husband say, during the afterglow of intimacy, "I just feel like everything is going to be ok".   Through my 'Woman-Glasses', I'm like "WHAT? How is that what intimacy means to you... I mean I'm glad, but that is not my immediate emotion". (I've checked this feeling like "everything's going to be ok" sentiment with other of my men students, and yep that's pretty much how gents feel afterwards. Incredible.) It's the way God made us... different.   You may be wondering how your wife feels about intimacy (or wish you could change how you already know she feels about it).   Which is why I'm SO excited to announce that I am launching a FREE Men's Training Video Training 5-Part Series, starting today! (Part 1 & 2 will be on the podcast, but the rest will only be available if you sign up... so be sure to do so!)   When you sign up, you have the option of answering a short survey, it would be a huge help! It'll be available for a limited time--so be sure to sign up and not miss any! Jfyi Part 1 is released today, and Part 2 will be next Thursday but after that it won't be on the podcast, you'll have to sign up for the video training here to catch the final 3 parts! I'm so looking forward to it!   Blessings, Belah   PS. If you heard my episode about Wild Romance At Home and I requested iTunes reviews in exchange for a free gift... I was floored and grateful by your generous encouragement that came in! They hit me in a profound way.  Thank you. Find out how, here to receive a free gift in return! I am so so grateful! Thank you so so much everyone

The addition of a new baby is supposed to be a happy time, right? However, a new study suggests the birth of your first child could be more stressful and lead to more unhappiness than unemployment, divorce or death? What? How is that possible? What are the most common stressors new parents experience? And how can you overcome those issues and experience more happiness and stability? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WHAT??? How are we into Season 2 of Do The Damn Thing Radio already...Crazy Right! In today's episode, I dive into releasing the expectation and how freeing this can be! Most of our stress comes from unrealized or unconscious expectations. Plan, execute, things go left instead of right and you freak out...am I right? So what can we do about avoiding this feeling....? Tune in to this episode where I give you the actionable steps to avoid stress and anxiety within your life. Make sure you grab a pen and some paper because you are definitely going to want to write this down. Be sure to stay til the end of this episode so that you don't miss the amazing promotion I am running within Enriched Life Coaching this month. Huge savings on my programs to celebrate mothers day month. **Registration officially open >>> Use this Link to register today https://linktr.ee/ashleyc.enrichedlife

Picture this: All your life you feel awkward, and out of place. You make the commitment to develop your speaking skills. You decide to become an expert communicator. You determine to be an influencer. You are only 10 years old. What? How does those decisions even cross your mind at such a young age? This is but one of the many questions that Hall-Of-Fame speaker and best-selling author Mark Sanborn answers in today’s episode. During a sit-down with Mark and Darren, Sanborn dispenses wisdom born of 30+ years of influencing leaders…and changing minds. A must-listen for anyone who wants to be influential…and UNFORGETTABLE!

What unanswered questions do you still have about your business & Co-Vid 19? Let's talk We'll go as long as you need to get the answers you need, ok? We CAN cover: - What/How to contact your clients - Delivering online appts - Contacting companies asking for pauses/free use of software - How to Market whilst you're closed - Payment strategies - donations, pay what you can - What tech to be using - UK financial support - Planning for the future - Understanding why clients struggle to move online - Challenging limiting beliefs that are stopping you taking action - Creating new ways to see this as an opportunity rather than threat So join us live - or add questions below and I'll do my best to time stamp when I get to yours. Much love guys x

Although Dr Brown is a real doctor, the Gut Check project is here to inform, discuss and most of all have fun. The show is not intended to diagnose or treat anything. So if you have a new mole, grew and extra toe, and cant figure out that weird rash, we recommend that you go get checked out by your healthcare provider. So sit back , free your mind, and get ready to think and step into the gut check project.Eric Rieger  Alright guys, here the gut check project. It is now Episode 32. We have an incredible show today if you've ever suffered from ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, or anybody that you know has ever dealt with an IBD and inflammatory bowel Disease this show is going to be incredible. We have a special guest today and let's knock off a couple of our sponsors for today we have Atrantil, you can get your own Atrantil at lovemytummy.com chock full of all natural polyphenols you will not find a more comprehensive natural collection of polyphenols to address your bloating, your IBS symptoms etc Dr. Brown you know a little bit about Atrantil.Ken Brown  I know a little bit about it and you know what I want to do to offer everybody you said lovemytummy.com  I'm going to add a little something if you want your beneficial policy and also we're going to get into that with inflammatory bowel disease Crohn's ulcerative colitis, just put /KBMD you'll save some money.Eric Rieger  Save some money go to love my tummy calm /KBMD Dr. Brown is exactly right. Treat yourself treat your gut treat your life Atrantil your bloating relief, it's what they do. Second thing of course here at KBMD health we have the gut check project at KBMD health we also have KBMD CBD and you can go to KBMD health.com and find your own physician vetted co2 all natural extracted, coa of everything that comes out and basically anything that you want out of a CBD we've got Dr. Brown Ken Brown  Well the thing is is that everybody's kind of buzzing about CBD and I know even the Crohn's and colitis community people are talking about it but it's been studies have shown that over 80% of the CBD that people grab, don't have anything that is actually on the label. And what that means is you don't really take anything or you could be taking olive oil or whatever. Time and time again today today we treated people this morning and they said wow, I was on like three different CBDs and when we started the kBm the health CBD I'm actually noticing somethingEric Rieger  Happens all the time. So if you want reputable CBD, used clinically by gastroenterologist, check out KBMDhealth.com. Get your own CBD today and use code GCP to save 20% on your purchase Ken Brown  20% Eric Rieger  20% Next, our final sponsor of today's show is going to be unrefined bakery. If you want to get gluten free keto friendly paleo vegan, they've got it if you've ever wondered I need to adhere to a special diet and I'm afraid that the food's gonna taste bad guess what unrefined bakery makes great food get just so happens to fit your special dietKen Brown  You know it's nuts every patient that we had this morningEric Rieger  Yeah Ken Brown  Knows of Ann & Taylor Eric Rieger  They definitely do Ken Brown  They love them like these like they are true celebrities watch that episode. It is awesome unrefined bakery, gluten free. They can do all the other stuff just watch a show it's it's fun Eric Rieger  Based here in the Dallas Fort Worth area you do not have to live here to get your own unrefined bakery goods. You can actually go to unrefinedbakery.com use code gut check, and you can have yourself some 20% off I believe on your first order and then right 20% off anyhow unrefined bakery. com use code Check, save some money on your first order. So make it a big one,Ken Brown  One impromptu sponsor.. and just keep watching the rest of the show to figure out why.Eric Rieger  YesKen Brown  If you are a reader and you enjoy novels, go look at a book called in the end written by Dr. Michael Weisberg. In the end. He is an honorary sponsor of this show and for reasons that you will soon see later on.Eric Rieger  Yes, absolutely. As I hinted at before we got to the sponsors. This is a dedicated show to ulcerative colitis and Crohn's. And we're going to be visiting with a special someone who will tell us a little bit about her story, her journey, hopefully to relate to anybody that either yourself or a loved one on what it's like to face these kinds of challenges, but Weisberg is a fantastic supporter of the ulcerative colitis and Crohn's foundation. He knows a lot and he's, it's awesome. And he has a book like that available. So ..Ken Brown  In the end Eric Rieger  In the endKen Brown  Honorary sponsor.Eric Rieger  All right, let's start The project. So now we just wait a little bit and then we're just gonna start talking. And I don't want to mispronounce your last name. Okay. Okay. eyeball 321Eric Rieger  All right, we are here on the gut check project. It is now episode number 32. I am here today with your normal host, Dr. Kenneth Brown, and we've got a special guest. Paneez Kahkpour. Oh, you know what we had her and now she can talk.Paneez Kahkpour  Am I back? Hello Everyone. Nice to see y'all.Ken Brown  Well Paneez has been my patient for over 12 years. What do we have 14 something like that.Eric Rieger  Awesome. Thank you so much for coming Dr. Brown. You have a monikor for her already that you just annoyed her with. What is that?Paneez Kahkpour  12-13Ken Brown   Something like that I've always referred to her as the Persian princess. And so she is the she's Dallas's own Persian princess to the end here to the Persian community. This represents you My life the Persian princess. So sweet. She went to Iran of what about three years ago and brought me back a hand painted? What was that? It was art, but it told a story.Paneez Kahkpour  Yeah, it was. I'm trying to remember what it was. I'm pretty sure it was. Maybe it's like an old fairy tale. It's like a couple. I think it's called Laylee Imagine. I think it's their story, and it's the picture of them.Ken Brown  Wow. So.. really beautiful. I took a picture of it and send it to my friend Reza, who's who's a gastroenterologist in Florida, whose Persian also and he goes that's that's really expensive. Be very careful with it was like,Oh, okay. Eric Rieger  You're hanging out the window of your car.Ken Brown  Using it as a fly swatterEric Rieger  Trying to direct traffic in Denver. Ken Brown  Yeah I was. Let's go over here. These Atrantil ads Don't stick on it at all.Eric Rieger  So you've had Crohn's Correct, yes. For how long? Paneez Kahkpour  16 yearsEric Rieger  16 years, you've been a Crohn's patient. And today, I think that what we really want to do is get your perspective on what it was like to be diagnosed to learn about what it was. What led you to go seek help in the first place? So back at the clock a little bit. And what did you first experience that drove you to go? In fact, you didn't go to Ken first you went to another gasterologist.Paneez Kahkpour  I was. I saw pediatric gi doctor in the beginning, I was 15 at the time, all right. Yeah, I just had all the symptoms. I couldn't eat anything anymore. I was just constantly going to the restroom. And every time I went to a doctor or you know, General doctor, they said I had the flu. They'd give me antibiotics. Send me on my way. A couple days later, I'd be feeling terrible again. And that lasted several months. I went to the ER multiple times to get IVs, but nothing seemed to help. It was it wasn't until it was probably my like sixth or seventh ER visit and my grandma was like, You're not going anywhere you need to stay here. Someone needs to see you. I called an old pediatrician of mine. His name was Dr. Shams and he ended up. I gave him the symptoms over the phone and he said, I think I know what you may have. Let me call in a specialist. I was hospitalized at medical city Plano and then did a colonoscopy. And here we are. Eric Rieger  lLet me ask you. So you said you're 15 .. So freshman high school.Paneez Kahkpour  I yeah, I that would be freshmenEric Rieger  So as a freshman in high school going through this, I mean, your peers that age adolescence, what is it like trying to navigate that you internally you already know that you don't feel normal? So what were you having to do to?Paneez Kahkpour  I wasn't ever eating lunch. I you know, everyone thought Something's wrong with her because she's not eating. And at that time, you know, it's something super embarrassing. You don't know what's happening with you. And so it's not something I really talked about. Just because I, I didn't know it was happening, and I didn't have anyone to really talk to at the time. And it wasn't until I was diagnosed. You know, when someone finds out you have something they know a friend of a friend. And I ended up speaking to a girl who was also someone who has Crohn's disease, and she really helped guide me kind of through the initial process of everything, and it was very, very helpful.Eric Rieger  Wow. So when once you found her and so at this point, you probably found her after you've been officially diagnosed. Yes, correct. Yes. So what was it like? I mean that it doesn't sound like it, looking back 16 years, but there's probably at the time seemed like an eternity of not knowing Paneez Kahkpour  Oh, yeah. Eric Rieger  So what was that like?Unknown Speaker  And it was, it was very hard. You know, when you're young, all your friends are doing all these fun extracurricular activities and you just don't have the energy Because I just, you know, was constantly sick. It was very difficult, and very, very lonely. Even though I had someone who had some experience, it was still it was just that one person who wasn't who didn't even live here. So it was pretty difficult. Ken Brown  You said a word right there that I think this resonates with a lot of my patients, you felt very lonely. The Psychology of a disease like this is unimaginable for you. And for your loved ones. Would you just describe the loneliness a little bit? Paneez Kahkpour  You know your entire family, the ones who know and who really understand are there for you, but I mean, they only know so much. They can only help so much because they can only empathize to a certain degree. And so, you know, when you just don't have anyone to talk to it feels really difficult to try to even begin like know where to begin and who were to go who to talk to, but I was able to find some people And find my way through the Crohn's and colitis foundation that took me a few years to even find I had no idea about it. No one told me anything. Ken Brown  Why did it take so long to find the Crohn's or colitis foundation?Paneez Kahkpour  You know, I just don't know if it was back then it was still something super new, you know, no one really talked about it, it. It's even still now it there's a stigma. It's, it's embarrassing. It's gross. So no one really talks about it. But it took me several years until I knew that there was such a thing as the Crohn's and colitis foundation. But after it took me a lot of googling, lots of lots of googling until I was able to find it.Eric Rieger  So but leading up to that you you get this diagnosis and as you're trying to educate yourself and you haven't found the foundation yet. What type of changes did your pediatric gastroenterologist ask for you to make? What were you? Did you have difficulty with compliance? What was it like to step out of there and say I've got this diagnosis and now kind of have an idea of what I'm going to do. What How'd you handle that?Paneez Kahkpour  I mean, it was hard. You're 15 and you, you know, don't, you're not usually on some type of regimen. You just kind of live your life as normal as can be. But when with this change, I was taking 15 pills a day, when I was barely even taking a Tylenol before that, you know, I struggled taking pills. And then yeah, he just told me I had to, you know, watch what I eat, see what my triggers are. Beyond this, you know, diet of pills, you know, it's pretty much I was what I was consuming and so my entire day was spent taking medication and so I didn't really have time to have friends really go out and do anything because I was at home taking medication or going to bed.Ken Brown  I it's it's weird because I smile when you say this because I've seen you progress over these years and become this and tremendous advocate, super. I mean, healthy you you radiate this energy right now. And that is to bring so much hope to a parent that has a child who was recently diagnosed. And that's what I want this episode to be about your story. What I love hearing the questions that Eric is asking you are the wait a minute What is this because as a gastroenterologist, and this is probably what you experienced, it's like, Look, this is your disease. It's either 5% no seniors all sort of, these are our options. Where do we go from here? He's asking life questions. He has an 18 year old and a 16 year old. Yeah, it's Max 16 Eric Rieger  Eh two weeksKen Brown  Two weeks Okay, it's getting real close. So he's asking it as a parent Yeah, well what happened this and that. I'm listening to this and I'm like, I asked it as a clinician. So I always keep going, I love I love where you go with this.I love it love it Paneez Kahkpour  It took me many years to get here. It was definitely a bumpy road and I had lots of highs high and low moments. But you know, right now I consider it being a really high moment. I feel good. I'm in a good place. But you know, with all the struggles goals and all the things I had to get through with, you know, taking medication every day having to be doing IVs every six weeks like that was insane like, what 15 year old does that you know like that's it was a whole new territory. Eric Rieger  So making a change. You talked about that he said, watch what you eat and pay attention to your triggers. My wife was recently diagnosed with celiac disease and for her there's, there's an interface, right? We used to enjoy just sipping on a cold beer every now and then that and that's gone. So that's not the end of the world. But the changes obviously for her are more stark when you family gets together or you want to go on a road trip. There's just certain things that were cut out what was it like to you to discover? These are my trigger foods? These are the things I can't do. I've got my circle of friends that may or may not fully understand what I'm dealing with. How did you integrate back to I've got at some point you're gonna get a crossroads I gotta get my social life back in.Paneez Kahkpour  Right. Eric Rieger  So what did you do?Paneez Kahkpour  Well, first I educated all my friends. That's the big step because if they don't know what you're going through, if they don't understand what the disease is and they have Zero empathy for you. They don't really understand Ken Brown  What did you say to them?Paneez Kahkpour  Well, I have Crohn's disease and they look at me guys go cross, like what is that? I'm like, well, you know, it's a digestive disease. I try to use words as simple as I can for them to understand. I'm like, basically, I can't eat lots of things because my body rejects it. And half the time I say, if you want to know more, just go Google it because I don't want to get into the nitty gritty, all the things I just go look it up. But that that helped. And then finding out which friends were, you know, there for you and which friends were not that was really helpful. And then with diet changes, and just lifestyle changes, I had to I learned that had to be present for the things that could be present for and if I couldn't, then I had to listen to my body and say no, and really just crossing my fingers and hoping that my my friends would be empathetic to thatEric Rieger  So for Paneez. Think about the ones Small advantage that she did have was turning her friends to Google. Because think of someone just a decade before that having this type of disease trying to share that experience with their new diagnosis with their friends, like, go to the library and look whatever up if you can. And thats just not going to happen.Ken Brown  As an adult doctor, I have the advantage of sitting down with somebody that has either been handed off to me by our pediatric doctors .. had has some incredible ones in that Whitney Kendall Brown, john Baker, jack and they've got incredible doctors. So I get the pre prepared family. And now at this stage of my career, my patients are their, their children are starting to show up we're seeing more of this disease. So when I said you have what did you say because I don't know how much to vomit on somebody. Paneez Kahkpour  Yeah. Ken Brown  And well, quite honestly, when I met you when you came into the hospital as a flare And the only thing I was thinking back on my Paneez on and she'd been my patient for a long time. And you're an incredible patient, you do everything that you're that you're supposed to do, and you're an advocate, we're going to get into all of that about how you've been giving back, and how important people like you are coming on the show and doing this and being part of the Crohns Colitis society. I remember one thing I remember your mom crying. That's all I remember about the whole impatient experience, because it was too much. Eric Rieger  Well, maybe, maybe she maybe your mom was curious about the challenges it was going to be to you. And I'm going to ask you about that in a second. But the second, the second thing I was kind of curious about that may lead into why her mom would would cry because I think that that's anybody cares for the kids going to be upset. But what was it that the physician said would happen? If you didn't make these appropriate changes? And know what, what did you begin to learn the risks would be if you didn't become a compliant patient, because at some point, for some patients, it doesn't matter. They just kind of like I don't really care. I'm just gonna keep living and yeah suffer the consequences. That's not the route that you took. So what did you hear that made you decide? I'm gonna do this.Paneez Kahkpour  It was mainly how I felt. I didn't want to feel terrible anymore. I was very tired. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. You know, that's what I remember telling myself when I was really young, as I'm tired of feeling this way. And my doctors at the time, they just said, Listen, if you're not going to do this, you're not going to get better. You're just going to get worse. You're going to have to have surgeries, you're going to have to do all these other things. And mainly, the surgery is what really scared me. Especially being so young, because most people don't have to go through that stuff. But it was mainly just really not wanting to feel that way anymore. And I must say there was a period of my time where I wasn't compliant. And that's when I met you. And that was really what changed everything for me is because a doctor changed my medication. And I didn't really take it because it was a pill. I was on IV before and then it changed. And I got super sick and I was in the big, big flares when I met you. And after that, I was like, I never want to feel like this again, like it was not worth it.Eric Rieger  Was the risk of a collective mean or anything else like that kind of on your radar? Did you think that that might ever happened to you? Paneez Kahkpour  Thats always in there like the backburner. I always think that like in the back of my mind, like there's always a chance for all of that. Eric Rieger  Sure.Ken Brown  Yeah. So let's, for everybody else that's listening this not familiar that. I mean, our audience is getting pretty broad right now. And for those people that don't know what Crohn's is, that's why I wanted to say, what did you tell your friends what Crohn's is? And you said, I couldn't eat certain things. Paneez Kahkpour  Right. Ken Brown  Let me rephrase it now that you're, you've had it for a few years. What would you tell people what Crohn's is?Paneez Kahkpour  I would just say it's a digestive disease is an autoimmune disease. And so basically, my body doesn't know what's happening. So it's attacking itself. And with that comes all these terrible side effects.Eric Rieger  Yeah. Ken Brown  That pretty much sums it up. Eric Rieger  Yeah, definitely. Ken Brown  That is beautiful, everybody Makes it too complex that So you went from. I'm talking so what you are gifted with is the ability to understand what your peer will will will hear which is I can't say automated. I can't say all this. I'm just going to say what I struggle with as a doctor is how much do you want to hear about this? Right? So when you were 15, you said like, the bottom line is I just can't eat certain things, and I may get sick. Now you're like, Look, here's the deal. Yeah, my body's attacking my own intestines. That's what Crohn's is. We're gonna leave it at that.Eric Rieger  Yeah, definitely. So do you want to get into to mom? Because this is something that just for the audience, this is something before you even got here Paneez that came was like, the thing I never forgot is how resilient Paneez was and how much your mom apparently and I've never met her but was concerned about your future.Ken Brown  So we each every single episode regrow and we we find new ways we find new science and I become a better doctor because of it. I mean Eric sees the patients he puts them all to sleep. And when I asked you to come on the show is because of the emotional aspect of being a parent. It wasn't so much that you because you're amazing. I mean, like you persevered and we're going to get to the Oasis camp where you've been a counselor, we're going to get to the fact that you're a speech pathologist for underprivileged autistic kids with so you are up here. I just always thought, did your mom know you were going to do that when you were diagnosed? Paneez Kahkpour  You know? I don't think so. I mean, you have all the hopes but there was a time where the disease was all that I was and that very much defined defined me and my life. And I think that was a big struggle for her. Because you never want to see your child sick and in a hospital bed with hooked up to all these wires and IVs. And that's just a terrible site. She struggled a lot. My entire family did. My grandmother, my brother, my dad, but a lot my mom because she was my main caretaker, she was there for every step of the way. But I don't think she ever thought that I'd be doing all these great things and being, you know, self sufficient.Ken Brown  It's a story of perseverance. It's a story of giving back. It's a story of sharing and caring and doing this kind of thing. It's so we were at the Crohn's and colitis annual gala, where my partner, Dr. Mike Weisberg was being honored as Person of the Year and gave an incredible touching speech, or keynote speech, I should say, where I thought it was just I mean, I admire public speaking, because just like you're doing right now, being on a mic is not so easy sometimes, but you're crushing it.Eric Rieger  Well, not only is he a gastroenterologist, didn't he? Didn't you tell me once before that his one of his kiddos has RBD of some kind?Ken Brown  Yes. So leading it up to this, and I want to ask a favor of you Paneez because it's going to take a few minutes. So I actually called Dr. Weisberg Dr. Mike winesburg last night and I said, Hey, I'm gonna bring a Crohn's patient on and I know that your son had Crohn's because you discussed it in your keynote speech. And I'll tell you what, I've worked with him for 17 years, and I had no idea this was going on. And so it was like, it's like the duck with the, with the flippers, right? You got to keep your game face on go to work, just like you've probably done a million times. Yep. You feel like, you know what, and you're Paneez Kahkpour  Pushing through Ken Brown  Push through. I got to tell you that. I'm just a quick side note, before we get back to that really quick. Crohn's patients. I have to tell them that they're sick. They're like, No, no, no, I'm good. I've been worse, i've been worse. They're tough as nails like Crohn's people just like at some point, they just start sucking it up and they're like, No, I'm just gonna deal. Screw you. I'm not I feel sick, but I'm sick of being sick.Paneez Kahkpour  Yeah, you've done that to me. Actually, beforeKen Brown  I have. I keep trying to make her sicker than what she is. I'm like your bloodwork.Paneez Kahkpour  I know I remember one time I was I was very, is during my second flare and I came in to see you. You had my bloodwork and I was, you know, I dressed up for the day trying to make myself feel good. You know, if you look good, you feel good type of thing. And you made me walk to the emergency to the hospital and it put a gown on because you're like, you're very sick. I didn't know it because I was like, I'm fine. I'm strong. I got this. And I wasn't.Ken Brown  So when I called Mike last night, I was I just wanted like, hey, what was it like being the parent of Crohn's patient and so as it so happens, Dr. Weisberg, whom I admire very much, he's been my partner for years he was awarded Person of the Year for the Crohn's and colitis society. He is also an award winning author of two novels, the hospitalist and in the end that we discussed as an honorary and rather than just sit there and throw, you know, two lines Oh, it's it's tough being a parent of a..wrote a little bit and if you guys would humor me, give me just about five minutes. This experience is something that I want every parent to share. If you have a sick kid, I would like people to realize, because what he showed here and he just wrote this in an email, and I read it this morning and I went, holy cow, so you wrote it last night. So I'm going to read it. And this is from Dr. Weisberg verbatim no changes Eric Rieger  All right.Ken Brown  When I think back 13 years to when my son Reed was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, my mind flooded with vivid scenes and emotions. I will try to relate some of them to you in the next few minutes. Reed had never been a very active child. He was never one to ask to go out to play football or ride his bike. We just assumed that he was a laid back kid, a cerebral kid who enjoyed playing on the computer and playing video games more. At age 12. We decided To send him to sleepaway camp, which is not Oasis, a traditional camp sleepaway camp for a month over the summer, along with his nine year old brother Brent, in order to go, Reed had to have a camp physical, which my wife and I thought was routine. I was working that night when my wife called me and told me that the physical exam revealed that Reed hadn't grown an inch in the past year, and had actually lost two pounds. Plus bloodwork showed that he was severely anemic. I felt guilty that I had not thought of this as a cause of Reeds easy fatigue ability and avoidance of strenuous activity. But as I thought about it more I realized that night that Reed may have Crohn's disease. I had suffered from a related disease called Iritis, which is Crohn's disease of the eyes. And my sister had been diagnosed with Crohn's several years before. I knew that chromes presented and reads it Group and that all his symptoms fit this diagnosis at 730. That night I drove frantically to the pediatricians office wanting answers and I pounded on the doors of the locked offices for 20 minutes until I realized that it was futile. Since I was a gastroenterologist treating Crohn's patients, I knew what a devastating disease it was. And I became terrified. When I got home that night, I personally examine Reed and found that he had an anal fissure, which he hadn't told anyone. He'd been having rectal bleeding read younger brother went to summer camp alone that summer because Reed was too sick to go. My wife was too upset to drive Brent to the airport, so she stayed at home with read while I drove Brent and dodged all the other parents questions about why Reed wasn't going. I met my wife in a park in between our home and office one day at lunchtime, and we just sat talked, held hands and cried. We had no idea how extensive and severe Reed's disease was. But as his parents, we felt so sad for him and what he had been going through and what the future would entail. I personally felt tremendous guilt. I felt that I had given my son this disease and it was my fault that he was sick. I talked to my wife and several friends who told me that if I took all the blame for Reed's illness that I must also take all the credit for his admirable traits, such as his intelligence, his sense of humor, and his willingness to work hard to achieve things. For a very long time. These arguments did nothing to assuage my guilt, and it was only after Reed felt better that I quit being so hard on myself. We took Reed gastroenterologist who did his colonoscopy while I stood in the endoscopy room watching, I saw all the damage the Crohns said done to Reed's intestines on the telly Vision screen as a scope made its way around the colon. Afterwards, I had to go to work and even though I felt depressed and upset and guilty, I never missed a day of work or miss treating a patient due to my grief. Reed was started on enamoran and we waited for him to get better.Ken Brown  Instead of getting better Reed worsened and he had more fatigue and high fevers his liver test went through the roof the Emoran was stopped just as we left for a family reunion on Amelia Island in Florida. I talked to his gastroenterologist the night before we left and he told me it was okay for Reed to go, but to take him to the hospital first for two sets of blood cultures. I drove Reed at tea at 10pm to my hospital and had blood cultures done. The trip to Amelia Island was a disaster. Reed was sick had high fevers the whole time, and I finally found a doctor in the box where they were willing to give him some antibiotics. Reed love to fish but the day of our deep sea fishing trip he was sick the entire time he lay in the boats cabin and vomited into a pail where he lay. I could go on with memories forever overall, until we took read to see Marla Dubinsky and IBD expert Los Angeles. He was constantly sick with pain, fever, diarrhea and anemia. Marla did testing put them on Remicade, which he took for six months until developing an anaphylactic reaction. I was scoping at the time that he had this in the same building I was so I had to run and see my son go through an anaphylaxis reaction. I had Remicade stopped and Dr. Dubinsky switched into humera, which he was on along with methotrexate for 12 years. He stopped the methotrexate last year and is now only on humera shots every two weeks. It was hard giving my son a shot every two weeks, but he was so brave and never once complained. I could tell you that I felt depressed devastated and guilty, and that the light in my life had been turned off. That is until Reed started getting better. Boy did he ever he started to grow and gain weight started having a physique that resembled his classmates instead of a skeleton. He went into remission grew to a normal height and weight. This summer he will graduate from medical school and start a residency in internal medicine. I am extremely proud of all he has accomplished but even more proud of the person he is. He never complained, never cried why me, but instead has met each challenge head on, and fought until he won. When I asked him why he wanted to be a doctor. He told me that he wanted to be like me and help make people better. He wanted to be a healer. The light in my life is back on and I am certain that I will be alive the day, a cure for the diseases is found an impromptu thought by Dr. Michael Weisberg when I just said What's it like being the parent of a Crohn's kid? Eric Rieger  What why so short? Why no detail?Ken Brown   There's a reason why his books are so good.Eric Rieger  Now seriously, Dr. Weisberg, thank you so much for the submission that's it that's an incredible story. Paneez Kahkpour  Yeah. Eric Rieger  How do you think your your mom would relate to that?Paneez Kahkpour  100% like the feeling of guilt I think that my mom and my father felt that for many years and I still think they sometimes do still to this day you know, I don't think that ever really goes away. But yeah, the the guilt the depression just feeling helpless that you can't do anything for your child.Eric Rieger  Did your parents have to watch you try like we've seen a lot of Crohn's patients do the the drug hopping from Enamoran to Remicade to humera etc. Till you finally found some mix. It works for you and then I mean, did you did you have to endure anything like that?Paneez Kahkpour  Well, luckily, no, not really. I was on a bunch of like I was on Enamoran and all these other things when I was first diagnosed, but I was also started on Remicade, and I've pretty much been on Remicade ever since I took a year off, and that's when I met Dr. Brown because I wasn't complying with the medication I was taking, but I've been able to go back and Remicade and that's pretty much all I've ever really been on. Luckily, knock on wood.Ken Brown  One of the coolest things here is in we forget we take the burden of everything but the fact that Dr. Weisberg noted that his friends and family and his wife said, hey, there's a lot of great traits. There's a lot of great traits do. I mean, it's so hard as a parent to go I mean, except for Eric every time Gage scores, thats my son. That's me out there.Ken Brown  But it's so funny because his parents, that's what we do as parents is we just say What did I do wrong? How could I have changed something Because my child may be sick and I don't think it stops at Crohn's or colitis I think it you know anything juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. I don't want to get into the, you know the cancers and things like that everybody says what could I have done different and it was fascinating to think that it's exactly right the same characteristics that Reed, developed, or at least had all along allowed him to now he's gonna be a bass doctor, a real badass doctor, and I've met him and he's taller than me. I mean, he's a stud.Eric Rieger  I live vicariously through everyone I know.Eric Rieger  Nice.Ken Brown  Yeah, you met him at the Crohn's and colitis foundation didn't?Paneez Kahkpour  actually knew him through camp Oasis actually.Ken Brown  Oh, we need what is camp Oasis says,Paneez Kahkpour  Well, Camp Oasis is a camp for kids with IBD Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis to come for about a week to just live like a normal kid and have fun at camp. It's probably the best thing I do in my life every year. I've been going for I think about seven years are so best time of my life.Ken Brown  I thought your doctor visits for me with the best thing?Paneez Kahkpour  No, Yeah, that's it. That's like neck and neck.Eric Rieger  So, Camp Oasis, if I remember correctly, there are 12 states that have a location that routinely host these kiddos with you see your Crohns. And then I think the one here in Texas is what outside of Bruceville?Unknown Speaker  Yeah, now it's, um, it wasn't Bruceville and now it's some place called. I'm not sure. You know, Texas, so many little town. Sure. Not really sure. But yeah, it's some it's like two hours outside of Dallas.Eric Rieger  Okay, nice. Yeah. And so, but it's directly affiliated with the Crohn's and colitis Foundation, correct? Paneez Kahkpour  Yes. Eric Rieger  And so, supporting the camp oasis. It's, you're going to have the latest research, the latest techniques, the the best, quote, unquote, training for a kiddo to learn how to deal with the situation right?Paneez Kahkpour  Well, you know, they have it's basically a week where They can feel like they are heard or noticed. They have other friends there who also have the same disease they have right. And most of the counselors who are there, not all of them but most of them also have IBD. And so it's just like everything you could possibly want in life and a week.Ken Brown  So somebody feels comfortable. They say my belly hurts that's..Paneez Kahkpour  Oh, yeah, we have a whole med staff everything like you were mentioning we have we have a whole med staff nurses, child life specialists that called everything every everything they would possibly need. They have theirEric Rieger  So would you say by attending a camp like that having this disease affliction that you began to learn? I can have a normal life.Paneez Kahkpour  YeahEric Rieger  These people are making it or I remember when I felt like that you probably serve as a mentor if you just happen to be further along than somebody.Paneez Kahkpour  Definitely. I mean, I feel I wish I went to camp as a kid. But I didn't so I'm lucky to be able to go as an adult. But yeah, they they see all these adults doing all these wonderful things like Reed going to medical school, and they see Oh, I can do that if they can do And they have the same disease I have, and they have had surgery, they've done all the things I've done, I can do the same thing. And its wonderful.Ken Brown  What was your first year like as a counselor, because it had to bring back a lot of memories of what you experienced.Unknown Speaker  I mean, it was, it was sad, in a sense, because you just see all these kids, like, I don't remember myself, you know, as a child, like dealing with all these things. We just see them and you just see how strong they are and how happy they are and how they, like you say they persevere. And I'm like, how even though I was the same, but I just, you see, and you're like, it's incredible. And every year I go I cry because some kid says something super motivating and inspirational. I'm like, I don't know if I'm doing anything for you. Because you're the one helping me like feel like I'm there to live a better life. It's all it's all them. It's really wonderful. But yeah, the first year was intimidating. I didn't know anyone. I'm meeting all these people with Crohn's and colitis, like that's super cool. But at the end of the day, you you leave with a family and we've all been together ever since.Eric Rieger  That is awesome. How many times have we heard things on this show with from guests that giving is the best getting that you can do? Ken Brown  Absolutely. Eric Rieger  I mean, it really is. Ken Brown  Absolutely. When I'm curious as there's a doctor, you said that there's a doctor that runs this every year?Paneez Kahkpour  Well, yeah. So it's, it's the Crohns and Colitis foundation sets it up, and then they have a pediatric doctor come along, just because if there's a flare if a child needs medication, we they handle all the medicine, everything. They they do it all and yeah, there's a pediatric gi who comes along and does everything.Ken Brown  Just the whole idea of just being a normal kid, and still experiencing your normal symptoms. And it's not like blown out of proportion. It's not like overreact. It's like Okay, come on over here. Let's go over. Yeah, you're not going home. We're gonna we're gonna make you feel better. Paneez Kahkpour  YeahKen Brown  That's cool.Eric Rieger  Absolutely. And you can I noticed on the website, that Most people can volunteer if they wish to. And you can donate, obviously, directly to the camp through the Crohn's and colitis foundation. So it's obviously an incredible resource for people who are young and newly diagnosed.Ken Brown  I'm going to put you on the spot. But it was there ever a time that you ever were this I'm really put you on the spot because because I think it's like a healthcare provider if I'm in a camp with people that potentially can get sick on me, you know, I'm like, worst case scenario person. So were you ever in a position where you felt that you were worried for somebody?Paneez Kahkpour  Um, yes and no, yes. Because they weren't feeling well, or they, you know, have been vomiting a lot or something, you know, because a lot, it's in the summer. So, there's a lot of heat. But no, because we haven't fully staffed with all these smart doctors and nurses who come and help the kids. So like, there was never a time where you're like, Oh, this is not going to be good because they're fine. They're in safe hands. Ken Brown  That's awesome.Eric Rieger  That is awesome. Well, what can people do if they wanted to connect with someone from Camp Oasis? And let's say that they have a child that they want to get enrolled, but they may not live close, they're a particular resource or a way for them to get in touch with counselors to do that?Paneez Kahkpour  I would say just going to the website would be the best starting point.Ken Brown  Crohn's or colitis or the Oasis?..Paneez Kahkpour  Because that will take you to the camp, website. And m depending on where you live, you can see where the closest camp is and then I think there's always an email or phone number for the director who like sets up sets it up for every state.Ken Brown  Man i'm sitting here thinking I'm just like, wow, it's, it would be really cool for like, I'm hearing this like I learned about Camp Oasis from you. Yeah. And I'm like, Oh, I I feel like like a jerk like I have not been involved sooner than that. And then I went home and talked to my kids lil bit about it. They're just like, Wow, that's great. And I'm sure that there's a lot of different camps for different illnesses.Eric Rieger   Oh, yeahKen Brown  I didn't realize that there's a lot of people giving back all over.Eric Rieger  That brings me. That brings up my next question. I'm glad you brought that up because not that far from here for juvenile diabetics, there's a place called Camp Sweeney. And when people go and that was it, I was a maintenance man there when I was in high school, but..Ken Brown  He was the janitor.Paneez Kahkpour  Come a far way.Ken Brown  She's over here going, Wow, you've come a long way. I had Crohns almost died and I'm doing this but you..Eric Rieger  I guess you got out of your truck. But the thing that I found kind of interesting is almost and I'm kind of curious if it's the same for for camp oasis. The first time that someone came to camp Sweeney, sometimes there was a chance. They were reluctant to get out. They didn't really know why they were going. They really didn't know what they were going to get out of it. They kind of had to be talked into it by their parents. And then when they got there You saw it within the first 24 hours. Oh my gosh, these are my These are my people. Yeah, they understand what I'm doing so I guess I'm just saying that for someone who may be new to camp Oasis, you have a kiddo you get them get them inoculated, get into around and to talk to someone.Eric Rieger  That's awesome.Well..Paneez Kahkpour  Yeah I mean, it's super helpful. I, I, I've seen kids who are newly diagnosed come into camp for the first time crying because they're like, I don't know anything. I don't know anyone. Like I'm super nervous. They leave crying, but not be because they're happy that they met all these friends, and that they're sad to leave, they don't want to leave. And so everyone starts crying. What are they? It's, it's the best. I mean, you know, whoever wants to apply to be a counselor. I think for the Texas camp, it's open. So come hang out. Ken Brown  Well, no, we have a whole new topic that I want to get into. Oh, yes, because I've known Paneez the Persian princess for a long time.Eric Rieger  This is..Eric has no idea what you know.Ken Brown  Yeah. And I've watched Well, she has gone on to not only be a camp Oasis, Counselor, but she's doing something which I think is fascinating. It's huge. And now we're going to talk about something else. That is a passion of mine, which is autism. Eric Rieger  Oh, yeah.Ken Brown  Yeah.Eric Rieger   So I did know that sorry.Ken Brown  Well, you give a little background about your education. And now what you're doing because if you want to talk about the one two punch of giving back, Camp Oasis, and wow, that was just the jab. Now we got the right cross coming. This is coolPaneez Kahkpour  You know, gotta do a lot. So I actually I went to University of North Texas here in Denton, wonderful school. I studied speech language pathology, pathology, audiology, so I have an undergrad degree in that. So technically, right now, I am a speech pathology assistant, but I'm working on my grad school applications at the moment.Ken Brown  You speak better than us. So you're, you're the master in this room.Eric Rieger  Thank you. Pretty good.Ken Brown  Pretty good. Speak English real good.Paneez Kahkpour  You know, lots of practice. But yeah, so I work with most of the kids I work with right now have autism. And it's it's quite a job. It's actually pretty fun.Ken Brown  But it's not just autism. It's actually autism for a lot of underprivileged kids. Paneez Kahkpour  Yes. for underprivileged kids. Ken Brown  Yeah. And so what? So So Penny's and I were talking about this, because autism, I'm a huge advocate of the gut brain access, and that if you heal the gut and you feed the gut, then it will heal the brain and we got into a discussion so you asked all those questions at the beginning of the show. What did your pediatric gastroenterologist do? What did you recommend for diet recommendations? What did he do this and that? So I'm sitting with Paneez in my office and I'm like, Oh, my gosh, that's so cool. Can you get them to go gluten free? Can you get them to go Whole Foods? And she's like, Well, let me tell them my patient population first. Yeah, has described what the typical person lifestyle is and They're, they're home life.Paneez Kahkpour  I mean, most of them are lower income. And so with that brings just difficulty and buying just healthier foods, and having access to a lot of stuff. I was talking to a parent actually, who had to take a child to the doctor, and they waited eight hours. So I'm like, they still have access to a lot of things. And so they're not eating as well as they should, or they may not be doing the things that you know, you and I have easy access to. So that's what makes a little bit harder.Ken Brown  So, a couple episodes ago, Episode 28, Doug Blonde was on here and I challenged him with the same thing he is in. He's a medical doctor that it's an advocate for whole food plant based. And I said well, the problem with that is is that when you say whole food plant based you think of going to Whole Foods and spending a lot of money. Paneez Kahkpour  Yeah. Ken Brown  And I and he told me that no, you can do it really cheap and he gave prices he discussed the price of doing lentils versus as long art..My gosh, I can go down rabbit holes on this one, our secret weapon, which we'll reveal one day he sent me some incredible articles on manufactured fibers or fibers that that are added to foods to augment the plant based diet and to do things like that and the inflammatory process that it actually causes. So if you're opening up a package mean just that means that they put stuff in there which will pause an inflammatory reaction in your body. I know that that leads to intestinal inflammation resulting in brain inflammation. So on Doug's episode, we discussed how you can buy for pennies on the dollar foods which will supply thymine, which I mean he's got the vitamins down, he's got the fiber down. So the misconception is that you can actually take a parents say don't go through the drive thru McDonald's, it seems cheap. When if you can just go to the periphery of the grocery store, it's always the periphery. It's not the middle, not the middle. Do not walk down the aisles, just walk around the outside, you'll be able to fill your cart with sustainable foods which provide most of the nutrients that you will need. And you can do it in a cost savings and it, it hurts my feelings that I mean, I feel like you're doing an uphill battle right now camp Oasis is awesome. That is like you crush it right there. Now you're going and you're helping autistic kids that when they go home, probably the parents are not educated enough or Well, nobody is it's America. Nobody's educated enough on how to properly eat.. Well I'm not I'm learning. Eric Rieger  Well think about the challenge that you said about the mom who has to wait with the kiddo for eight hours. That's a work day for her. It's a work day for the dad. I mean, they're sitting there doing that they're negotiating. I'm going We are going to have to do without because we have to go and do this. And we're going to waste all day waiting. Ken Brown  So let's go back to the parent perspective again. So now you have an autistic child that you are trying to work on their speech capability to express their emotions. And a parent shows up and says we need to pick them up. What's your interaction with the parents?Paneez Kahkpour  Um, it's not too much. It's usually like, every time I see their child, it's maybe like a four or five minute conversation. So not a whole bunch just because in that conversations is, this is what we did today. These are the things you should try to do at home and see you next time. That's basically as much as we really get because most of its spent with that child. So it'sa little hard. Ken Brown  I could just imagine what happens with somebody who is worried about paying next month's rent. Eric Rieger  Oh, yeah. Ken Brown  And they have a trial that it has some trouble communicating on the Autism Spectrum Disorder it's the the ability to become empathetic to that situation. You have that ability because you have Crohn's disease, and you have muscle through it and you chose a career which could be one of the more difficult uphill battles to change a the underprivileged autistic community. And I commend you on that. Paneez Kahkpour  Thank you.Ken Brown  That is awesome. That is it is a bold, bold thing. Definitely, but I could totally see. Man, it's a hierarchy of needs. I have a I have a patient whose they actually corrected their their child's autism but they also have the resources share the intelligence they I mean intelligence, meaning they're both like super educated, and deep dive and didn't stop at the traditional medical thing. And they started looking at all kinds of alternative therapies like hyperbaric oxygen chambers, which then they purchased for their house and they, I mean, stuff that I mean, whenever they come out, I don't know why they even come to see me. I'm just like, so what do you want? What have you read? You're gonna teach me I got several patients like that run like we should probably meet at the coffee shop I learn from you. But..Eric Rieger  What's it like to have to have a kiddo who who has a breakthrough after the training, so maybe you have somebody who's been non verbal, and then suddenly they..Paneez Kahkpour  It's greatest like every, you know, if someone else looking at it may not seem like a very big change. But from someone who doesn't say anything to like, give me a sound is just incredible. It's, you know, it's those little baby steps that make it a, you know, a big change. And so those baby steps are the big ones. Eric Rieger  I'm curious as a parent when they see like this one little victory that helped them kind of buy into the process that Okay, we've got this little victory here. This isn't time wasted, my child's doing better. And maybe they expand their acceptance of things that you're yeaching them to do at home.Paneez Kahkpour  Yeah, I mean, I think so to a degree. Yeah, they, especially the ones who, because I do home health as well. So the ones who see are in the sessions or they can hear they're like a, you know, earshot away, they can hear it. I think it's super helpful. Because, you know, they see like, how much time is spent. And then you get that one little like, like, vowel sound, or like, you know, kid thing more or something super simple that we take for granted, because, you know, we never had any issues with that. But yeah, it gives them hope it gives them you know, like a light at the end of the tunnel.Ken Brown  So, like I always do when I just think what's going on what's going on at a cellular level, how is this happening and you're dealing with the end product of this which is necessary, which communication is the key, so I've never told you this. But anyways, I grew up I was a really bad stutter. And so my ability to communicate was really limited. Like for the first six, the first six grades, and I was put in remedial classes, because they just assumed that I was stupid. And what I did is rather than stutter I did a type of stuttering called blocking. Right? I could see the word coming. And I'm like, I'm gonna stutter on that word. Eric Rieger  Really? Ken Brown  Yeah, no, yeah, it was bad. And so I would block and then I could not get the word out. And then it just became this facial contortion thing. So I'm extremely empathetic to the fact that communication is how you're labeled. So if you cannot articulate yourself, oh, he's so articulait he's must be intelligent. If you cannot verbalize what's going on, then so I'm really well, I went to speech pathology for years and then when I.. So I didn't learn Spanish as a child, I learned Spanish as an adult in med school and went back to the same speech pathologist that I went to when I was a child. And he was just like, crap, you're greedy. He's like you how bad you were. Now you want to like not stutter in another language, because it all kicked back in and then tremendous anxiety and everything. So the ability to actually communicate and a speech pathologist role to help somebody do that, whether it's somebody's post stroke, whether it's somebody that is autistic, whether it's somebody that stutters, is incredible because we're judged by how we actually articulate. And it's the social norm. And I love how you're saying that if I can get somebody to just acknowledge I can see that they're getting it.Eric Rieger  Yeah Ken Brown  That's what's cool. There's something in there. And I want to my my passion is the gut brain access, and I believe that autism is really no different than dementia. It's over activity, it's really no different than stuttering its activity in a certain neural complex, which prevents you from having the appropriate connection. It's all electrical. And there's some really cool stuff. Johns Hopkins is going to do a study on a molecule called sulforaphane coming up, too, because they're showing some deep some improvement with that, if we can find this. And so, the reason why I think it's so interesting that we talked about diet because I've seen in my own practice, autistic their 16 year olds, because that's the earliest I can see him. When we improve their gut health, their brain health improves. So to anybody that's listening that has an autistic child, I think that people like you are making a huge difference. And I think that we have to continue to realize that, that there are people out there working on a cellular level and there are people out there working on the functional level, and that's what you're doing. You're changing the moment. It's great if I say Oh, hang in there. for 10 years, there's a drug or a new study that will come out, but you're grinding it out. That's what I love. Paneez Kahkpour  Thank you. Eric Rieger  That's awesome. Ken Brown  What's your favorite thing in that job?Paneez Kahkpour  No session. No days the same. You're always keeping you on your toes all the time. Keeps it fun, and you get to play with kids. It's great.Eric Rieger  Sounds creepy when a guy says it.Ken Brown  So Eric, Eric actually tried to be a at home speech pathologist. But I mean, for some reason showing up in the windowless van. Eric Rieger  Kind of.. just said candy on the outside. They asked, Why do you want to do this? I just want to hang out kids. That's awesome. Thank you, Paneez so much for coming. Paneez Kahkpour  Thanks for having for having me.Eric Rieger  Absolutely what an incredible show. Ken Brown  You know ...I just love it. I mean, I just admire you so much. You. This is like, like we talked about the whole show. It's a story of endurance. perseverance of being open and vulnerable. Last episode, we talked about being open and what makes people that way. And every characteristic that we talked about you absolutely show the willingness to see new ideas. Try, just get out there. And if you don't succeed, just keep adapting slowly. Paneez Kahkpour  The only way.. Ken Brown  So where are you? I'm gonna put you on the spot again. Where are you at? 10 years from now?Paneez Kahkpour  10 years from now, hopefully still in remission..Hopefully, I mean..Ken Brown  She said that she kind of looked at me like, well I don't know keep me in remission..Paneez Kahkpour  That's on you. Hopefully in remission, you know, hopefully I went to grad school and accomplish that because, you know, working on that right now. Maybe working in a hospital, maybe have my own private practice something, something along those lines.Eric Rieger  Now, I don't know you didn't prompt me because I don't know but I don't know if Paneez is one of the Crohn's patients that we have currently that is taking Atrantil and CBD combo is thatPaneez Kahkpour  I was just on the CBDEric Rieger  Just on the CBD. So I okay, yeah, that's what I wanted to give us your perspective and what you felt. Did you get more control over?Paneez Kahkpour  Yeah, I mean, so the thing is I overall I felt great, but because not going on again. Thank you Remicade. I've been feeling pretty good.Eric Rieger  Sure Paneez Kahkpour  Majority of the time I don't really have too many you know, issues maybe a little tiny players here and there but nothing too big. So overall, yeah, I just feel good. I sleep well. You know, no complaints.Eric Rieger  No, that's that's the awesome part. I get to see the patients when they come through just like you've been through and there's a handful that have just verbalized. I don't worry so much about taking, whether it happens to be Remicade or anything else like that as often They're able to space it out just simply because they feel like they've controlled their inflammatory process. They don't have the flare ups like that anymore. I mean obviously they're adhering to a specific diet for them. But it's it's curious because it CBD to me four years ago I didn't I didn't believe the hype at all. I had to wait till we proved it clinically before I thought there was anything to it.Ken Brown  Well, we this is this is where I want to end up in 10 years I want to end up with the ability to heal people's guts and their intestines so that we decrease neuro inflammation and it all comes down to overactivity your Crohns is because your immune system is overactive. All we got to do is ratchet it back a little bit. And fortunately, Remicade figured out by doing it in one particular manner that worked really well which really well for you. I got a lot of patients it doesn't and I'm not bashing Remicade at all We love all and that's why we tried these different biologics. That's why Reed had an anticlimactic shock and he had to go and humera and his doctors you just sit there and you'll Wow, contrary to what people think we really all want to cure for this. Eric Rieger  Sure. Ken Brown  We really want to care we I could sit here and do if I had my 10 year goal is just Well, this show is huge and we've got you know, we're having fun doing it still in 10 yearsEric Rieger  Yeah Ken Brown  Cuz I like doing it and then I leave the show and I do like 20 Hemorrhoids and then I just go home Eric Rieger  WowKen Brown   I love hemorrhoids Paneez Kahkpour  Sounds like a good line.Eric Rieger  Big goalsKen Brown  Big goals, has nothing to do with you know..Eric Rieger  Someday I'll have a full tank of gasKen Brown  I'm a.. maybe I'll have a new pair of jeans. I don't know. Yeah, no. Eric Rieger  It's a little thing. Ken Brown  It's dude, keep your I mean live the dream just keep the dream real accessible. Paneez Kahkpour  Attainable goals.Ken Brown  Attainable goals.Eric Rieger  Weird way in that episode, but yeah.Ken Brown  Well I want to..Well, we're almost done. I want to ask one another thing here. Just let's do a shout out to your mom because she suffered a lot through all this. Paneez Kahkpour  She really did. I love you, Mom, thank you for everything. Ken Brown  Wave at the camera.Paneez Kahkpour  Thank you. Love you. The best mom ever.Ken Brown  Can you say I love you mom and Farsi?Paneez Kahkpour  ....Mom.Eric Rieger  Big shout out to all the parents of all all kinds of diseases like that. I mean, you are your kids champion.Ken Brown  This is the look at the camera one more time. This is this is the beautiful face of Crohn's disease.Paneez Kahkpour  Think of Crohns and see my face?Ken Brown  Yeah, and this is the beautiful face of a janitor at a..Eric Rieger  Camp Sweeney.Ken Brown   Camp SweeneyEric Rieger  It's been a while but yeah. Well said it.Ken Brown  I think that is a great episode. I think it's very touching. I want to thank Dr. Mike Wiesburg for telling his story. That is very compelling. Go over and Get the book in the end. You can see by the way he writes that and that was like five minutes. Yeah. Like I mean, you know his his novels are incredible. I want to thank you so much Paneez for coming on and sharing I know that it's like really personal and stuff but we just need to get the word out to the Crohn's and colitis foundation camp Oasis thank you so much for everything that you guys do for all of this. And ultimately, I'm hoping that through some polyphenols like Atrantil and CBD, we can start making people feel better heal their guts heal their brain, stop the immune system and we will eventually get to the point where we would talk remember that time when people used to develop Crohns?Eric Rieger  Yeah, that would be a great day to get to in fact, you can help them get to that day by donating to the Crohn's and ulcerative colitis foundation and if you go to gutcheckproject.com check the show notes for this show. We will be certain to have the links to you can check out camp Oasis how to be a volunteer how to give to Crohn's and UC, it's it's, it should be a goal.Ken Brown  If you go to KBMDhealth.com and put in a code Persian princess but has to be in Farsi, you get 120% off. Eric Rieger  Yeah, good luck getting that keyboard Paneez Kahkpour  I have it, i'll go use it right now.Ken Brown  Eric we're losing money!Eric Rieger  It's not gonna work.Ken Brown  Don't do that. Okay, nevermind. I retract the Persian princess code in Farsi.Eric Rieger  Thank y'all very much for tuning in again, check project Paneez. Thank you so much for making time for us today. Paneez Kahkpour  Of course, Thanks for having me. Ken Brown  Awesome. Eric Rieger  See you all later. 

Are you emotionally unavailable?    I never thought I was until Dr. Debbie gave me and so many of you an A-Ha! moment that changed everything.   If I am meeting the needs of others I am unavailable to allow someone else to meet my needs.  I literally won’t be attracted to a nice guy because I have the unconscious contract to someone else.     SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! WHAT??? How is this possible?  AND…how have we gone our whole lives not knowing this.     Think about it… you could be attracting unavailable men right now because of this and ONE TINY change in your mind and a few boundaries could be the paradigm shift.   This episode we also go deep into Dr. Debbie’s list of what it means to no longer be a dissatisfied single.   It is actually possible to say good-bye to dating anxiety and not take rejection so harshly. I wanted this chat with you as I know how much my private clients really needed to talk this through.  I hope this helps you unpack and sort it all out. About Dr. Debbie:  Dr. Debbie Magids, Ph.D. is a counseling psychologist with a thriving practice In New York City.  She is the author of All the good ones aren’t taken: Change the Way You Date and Find Lasting Love. (Order it!, It’s life changing) Dr. Debbie also appears on Good Morning America,  The Dr. Oz Show, Today, the Steve Harvey Show, Good Day New York, Fox News, Montel Williams and Howard Stern. In short, Dr. Debbie is at the top of her game and knows her stuff.   Please share this podcast with your friends and tag @DrDebbie with your thoughts/questions. I highly encourage you to pick up Dr. Debbie’s book, The Good Ones Aren’t All Taken: Change the way you date and find lasting love.” https://amzn.to/2qJTipb Also:  Dr. Debbie has written two blog posts as additions to her book you will find very helpful and a nice summary of our discussion. https://www.drdebbie.com/why-you-re-still-single--part-1.html https://www.drdebbie.com/why-your-still-single--part-2.html   Contact Dr. Debbie: Instagram: @DrDebbieMagids Website: www.drdebbie.com Email: debbie@drdebbie.com I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on this.  Don’t wait another second and go listen. Want more? Join the Back to You Academy (new pricing!!): Click here! Download the Red Flags guide Book a one-on-one session with me for ultimate clarity Join the Private VIP Facebook Group Follow me on Instagram: @themelissaleger Email me: melissa@gumballlove.com      

  Influence, by definition, is the capacity of a person to have an effect on other people. In this sense, being an influencer is about getting people to listen to your expertise in certain matters. Given that you already have an expertise, what does it take to 10x your influence? In this podcast, Nate talks about his experience and strategy on boosting his own influence... on YouTube.   How do you 10 times your influence? Seriously. 10 times. I've actually done this for several of my clients. And I'm excited to show you exactly what I did. The best way that I know to grow influence is through YouTube. Now, I'm talking about an influencer like a thought leader type person. A coach, a speaker, an author, a mentor. Somebody who has expertise and they have this passion inside that they want to share their expertise to the world. They have a passion to serve the world to make the world a better place. YouTube is the place. So, it's easy to see that. I mean, you could say that on Facebook. You can say that about LinkedIn, you can say that about Instagram. You could build influence on all of those platforms. So, why do I focus on YouTube. YouTube has the best search engine. And YouTube has the best partner program. You already know how amazing the YouTube search engine is. If you seen a video or somebody tells you about a video, you know how to find it. You can just go to YouTube and find it just by describing it. You'll find whatever you want. If you saw video 5 years ago and you try to find it, you'll find it like that. No other social platforms or video platform has a search engine that even comes close. Now, here's what it really means for you. You have an expertise. And all around the world right now, people are asking questions or typing in questions in Google or YouTube that you have the answer for. But they don't know that you exist yet. All you have to do is make videos that answer their questions and they'll find you. Now, created another video. Don't watch it now but I'll link to it right there. It's called my Tree Analogy. If you watch that video, you'll know how to do the right type of keyword research so that when you post a video on YouTube, the video will rank on YouTube on day 1. So, that is huge. All you do is make videos that answer people's questions and you rank on day 1 and people all around the world that don't know you exist... Yeah, now they find you. "So Nate, tell me about that partner program." Okay, so you probably heard the partner program before. That's where an advertiser pays YouTube and YouTube pays out 55% of that ad revenue to the creator of the video. So, they're partners with you when they share that ad revenue. "That sounds pretty cool, Nate." Yeah, but that's not the best part. The best part about the partner program is not the ad revenue. Don't get me wrong. I make 5 figures monthly from ad revenue on YouTube. But that really is just the icing on the cake. Do you want to know the real benefit of the YouTube partner program? If you make a video that makes YouTube money, YouTube will promote that video to the masses. So, not only are they promoting your video and you're not paying YouTube for that promotion, they're paying you. Your videos are getting more views. Your channel gets more subscribers. After people watch your videos, they go to your website and they buy your programs. This is the real deal. I've got a channel that went from 0 to 420,000 subscribers. It took us a few years to get there. But get this: That channel brings in $600,000 per month. Just from organic YouTube traffic. What? How does that work? Okay, this videos are how-to. They're educational. We don't do any selling in these videos except for the very end. And the very end, we say, "Hey, if you found value in this video then click the link below because I have a free gift for you." I want to give you my book for free. Covers a much greater detail." When they click that link, the get the free book. Now, they on the click funnel's sales funnel. There's a thousand dollar course that's sold there. There's up sells, there's down sells. There's a sales team that will follow up and make phone calls. And all we did was to make a how-to videos that answer people's questions and we made videos that would make YouTube money so they would promote us and grow our channel. "But Nate, how many videos do I need to create? How long do I have to do this?" Oh, you just got to create daily videos for several years. "What? You got to be kidding me." Okay, look. That's a lot of work. But what are we talking about here? This is not just marketing. We're not just talking about marketing. We're talking about real influence. If the beginning of this episode, we talked about how to 10 times your influence. What I'm talking about here goes way beyond that. I'm talking about taking you from influencer to thought leader. We're building you a massive tribe. Real influence. Daily videos should sound intimidating. I'm the master of efficiency. And I figured it out how on 20 episodes in a single day. And then for me, daily means 5 episodes per week. So, if I film 20 episodes in a day, that covers me for 4 weeks. And I only have to film once every 4 weeks. That's how I'm currently managing 12 different YouTube channels. Soon to be 14. I've got a free gift for you. If you click the link below, I'll give you access to my keyword research guide. It takes you to step by step how I find the titles that get you to rank on YouTube on day 1. I hope you find it helpful. I hope you hit subscribe and then click the bell. You know what? If you hit subscribe, YouTube changed it. It doesn't notify you when I upload new videos. So, if you want to know each time I upload a new episode, click the bell. So once you hit subscribe, hit the bell and YouTube will notify you each time I upload a new episode. We'll see you tomorrow.

Hello, romantics! On this episode, your host is not Manish (@TheManish89)! What? How can that be, you ask? Well, for this very special episode, Dave (@DaveAGiannini) steps up as your guest host and speaks with guest Manish, as they discuss the classic film, When Harry Met Sally…. It not only belongs on the best rom-com lists, the 1989 Rob Reiner film, starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, written by Nora Ephron, belongs on the all-time greatest movie lists. Let’s be friends, or not, just as long as you listen to this episode.

With Halloween in our rearview, we put away the fictional monsters - the vampires, ghosts and ghouls - and set our sights on real monsters; slave owners in Pre-Civil War America. "Harriet" tells the story of slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman. We discuss the merits of the story, the telling, and the factuality of the first feature-length (WHAT? HOW?) film about an iconic woman in American history. Per usual, our conversation is fueled by two exciting craft beers. The first is an 8.25% wine barrel-aged pilsner called Intinction from Russian River Brewing from Santa Rosa, CA. The second is a pale ale from Abomination Brewing based out of New Haven, Connecticut called Urayuli which clocks in at 6.3% abv. Episode Timeline: 0:00 Intinction - FLICK PICKS - - 10:20 "No Country For Old Men" (2007) - 17:07 "Ad Astra" (2019) ***** 25:46 "Harriet" ***** 44:20 "Urayuli" 51:45 "Hot & Bothered" 1:04:08 "Harriet" (Revisit) Thanks to the Handlebar in Chico and all our patrons on Patreon for supporting this show!

As you will read in the book of Hebrews, and hear on this PODCAST, “Jesus learned obedience from the things he suffered.” Wait! What??? How could Jesus, who was always consistently obedience, learn obedience? And what does that mean for us, in our lives, today? And every day? Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play. God bless you richly as you listen.

Four easy ways to lose weight: Host Mary Purdy, uncovers four painless weight loss tips if you are in a place where your weight has plateaued and you are looking for new strategies that may help. PLUS: The Weekly Nutrition Challenge! (Rebroadcast of episode 41)  The Best Food For Weight Loss (the What) How dietary fiber can be your best friend When to Eat For Weight Loss Working with your metabolic cycle How circadium rythms can affect weight loss Mary's Video: Can I Skip Breakfast? How to Eat to Lose Weight The link between time spent eating and feeling full and happy Why chewing is so important It Matters Where You Eat The dirty secret of Obesogens Where to find obesogens And, The Weekly Nutrition Challenge! Eat one meal slowly enough that it takes at least 20 minutes. MENTIONED ON SHOW: BiomeBliss https://www.biomebliss.com/ Use Special Discount Code: "bliss15" to get 15% off your purchase (you’re welcome!) Mary's Video: Can I Skip Breakfast? https://youtu.be/3JqJE_7z9So National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Webpage on Obesogens: https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/obesity/obesogens/index.cfm  

Thank you for joining us on the last installment of our series Honest Reflections: a Study on the Psalms. This week we walk through Psalm 98, a celebratory psalm, that has an unexpected turn at the end…”rejoice because God is judge and He is going to judge you.”. What? How is that good news? Listen as Mike Woodruff opens up this Psalm and shows us why we can rejoice in His judgement.

SEO, What? How important is SEO really? Well if your a business owner, it's very important. What if you're just an individual who wants to be seen more? SEO is still really important. Join us today as we talk with Amanda Tento on how SEO can benefit you and how to set it up. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

It’s official, the book is finally launching on Sunday June 9th! SOOO EXCITED! There is still time to join my book Launch team, for Connect the Dots, turning strangers into meaningful network relationships.   I’ll do a separate Q&A for anyone that joins my Book Launch team. For those that want the behind the scenes – the good/bad & the ugly and by, have I learned a LOT of lessons. Today’s episode is about IMPOSTER SYNDROME with a free downloadable CHEAT SHEET below. This is for everyone that needs a little jolt of confidence. Imposter Syndrome is basically self-doubt. We all have this and experience it. This episode is inspired from all the questions that I receive.     Imposter Syndrome   I love this podcast and the emails that I receive. I’m absolutely grateful for it. I’ve received quite a few emails and messages about feeling like an imposter. Which absolutely breaks my heart because it’s a very real and valid feeling. I repeat, what you are feeling is crippling and REAL!   So, I decided to do an episode about imposter syndrome. We’ve all heard that quote ‘fake it until you make it’ but how can you fake something, when one thinks that they are the ‘fake’ element? When we doubt ourselves? First, you’re not alone. It’s universal. It doesn’t discriminate on age, background, language. It’s truly universal. Einstein used to feel that way too, he described himself as an involuntary swindler. He didn’t feel that his work deserved the attention that it deserved, CRAZY RIGHT!   Here is a great TED Video that explains imposter syndrome. It’s really a cute video. I’ll put the link to the video in the show notes.   What is an impostor syndrome and how can I combat it by Elizabeth Cox on Ted   Download your Cheat Sheet here   It’s interesting, we hear about these Innovators and their challenges and it seems to channel some sort of doubt in our own capabilities versus inspiration of those that challenged the norm. So, let’s talk about it.  Here is my point of view. Imposter Syndrome is actually an ADVANTAGE! I know what you’re probably thinking… WHAT? How is it an advantage?  You have more self-awareness than anyone else.. Yup, It’s an advantage.  Think about all those that overestimate their abilities to do things and they just don’t see the gaps and therefore, they can’t mitigate risks. Then, when it fails they blame EVERYONE else. TA DA!!!! Whenever we are trying something new for the first time, it’s hard. We have learning curves, hard work in front of us. We can see the vision but we don’t know exactly how to get there.   You know, Kevin O’Leary (Mr. Wonderful) stated that he loves investing money in female run companies because they make money in the company. Here is why, women tend to provide conservative estimates in their sales projections. They evaluate the different assumptions, requirements and how realistic things are. They take the time to understand the gaps.   Here is a blog from Business Insider: Kevin O'Leary of ‘Shark Tank' invests in 27 companies and says the only ones making money have female CEOs   You know, when I started off in management consulting (nearly two decades ago), it was sink or swim mentality. We had to find ways to figure things out. Do the research, talk to people, find a way to validate it and then present it to our partners and this was before GOOGLE days. One thing, that management consultants have is, the opposite of imposter syndrome, we had competition, sense of urgency. We didn’t have time to doubt ourselves, we needed to get to the finishing line before our competition did. It was such an ‘up or out’ mentality in the consulting world. We were either moving up in terms of promotions, visibility, branding and so on or we were seen as irrelevant. It really was the survival of the fittest. Good old Charles Darwin makes an appearance again.  However, when I left the corporate world to become an independent consultant. I also decided I wanted to start a podcast. You know what hit me? What disappeared? My confidence. My ability to navigate in the unknown. WHAT? I used to create new product & services offerings not knowing how to do things. What had changed? YUP, I became an imposter!   I had nothing to hide behind. I was literally crippled by feeling like an imposter. It was my name, my reputation and my credibility.   I mean seriously, What on earth did I know about podcasting? Just because I love listening to podcasts, doesn’t mean that I’m going to be great at it. It’s like those foodies that love eating and then decide to open a restaurant. What universe did I belong to? I mean, seriously, I have zero broadcasting background. Never touched a microphone, except for the occasional microphone on karaoke nights. I didn’t have the knowledge, didn’t have the mindset. My benchmark was those that were those that were crushing the podcast world. I’d never hit that status. Trust me, I obsessed over every little detail. We are afraid to fail but we also forget that success takes time and we learn, we tweak, we shift and we pivot. We see people’s FB/Instagram and compare ourselves to these images. You can be inspired, but don’t hold that as a benchmark. Projection is not real.  We are just projecting our insecurities. We see things in others that we ourselves lack. But, how do we know if we lack the ability in something, without trying? Here is the truth.. Those that have ‘so-called’ made-it. We don’t really understand how long it took to ‘MAKE-IT’. We also don’t know about all the struggles they faced. So, here I was,  Imposter in the podcasting world. Did I tell you my favorite quote…? “Thomas Edison failed more than 1,000 times when trying to create the light bulb”. When asked about it, Edison allegedly said, “I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.”   Now, 90+ episodes later, I think… what was I waiting for? I should’ve started earlier and made those mistakes earlier. Nothing that I did from day 1 is the same after a year and a half. The website has changed 4 times, the name of the podcast changed, how we edited changed and we still keep changing things and we still keep making such silly errors (i.e. spelling errors on posts, forgetting to send the newsletter, wrong time zone on events and so on). It’s life. Most days I just shake my head and laugh. The spirit of continuous improvement. We need to start somewhere in order to improve. I’ll tell you, starting this podcast at the time was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done. AT THAT TIME,. 18 months later (TODAY). Could I start another podcast? Yup, in a heartbeat. I’ll share something else, starting this podcast has allowed me to have more opportunities. Now, I’m launching a book. No background in writing or publishing and my grammar, stinks. Did I ever tell you a story about my dad. When I was in grade school, I came home with an A+ on my book report. My dad, was furious, absolutely furious. He marched into the school and talked to the teacher. Most parents would be happy that their child got an A+, but not my dad.  He actually read the book report. My grammar was AWFUL! He got the teacher to change my grade to C+ and I believe the teacher was nearly in tears. So, who am I to write a book?  Well, I have learned a few things. Find out what you’re not good at and find someone to help you in those areas. There is no bottleneck if you have things that you want to try, find out all the reasons why you will say ‘NO or BUT’.  List them all down. Then, give yourself a few options. I always believe in the rule of 3. Find 3 options to overcome this challenge/bottleneck or even I’m here to tell you that – You’re no more of an impostor than I am with starting a podcast, writing a book and launching an online course!   TONY ROBBINS SAYS: FEED THE FEAR!!!     It’s like, when you play a new video game for the 1st time.  We don’t get very far in our first attempt at the level. But, then we think, what could I do differently to pass this level. We experiment, try and learn. Another great example, It’s like dating, we go on a lot of bad dates before we hit the jackpot. Did we stop going out on dates? Nope. But, the stories of those bad dates are what we share with others and we laugh. So, why don’t we share the challenges that we hit in our professional lives? Impostor is because we are lacking confidence. We are afraid to fail. How about changing the outlook, to say that you’re just experimenting. I started the BrainFood Virtual Book Club, because I would read business books and have no one to talk to. I put out a blog to tell everyone that I’m going to try this and see if it’s a failed experiment. It’s been 5 months now and it’s been a great success. There are only a couple of us that come each month.. But the point was.. I had zero clue on how this BrainFood Virtual Book Club was going to work. It didn’t stop me because I know that everything can be FIGURED OUT!  Everything is Solvable (except health, I have zero clue, but I’m learning) Well, we need to start somewhere to beat this impostor syndrome and this ties nicely to the vulnerability episode (which by the way, was one of my top downloaded episodes), along with the episode with Ariel about how to undo those knots in our head. Get rid of those negative thoughts. Links will be in the show notes. So, you know me, I like getting to tactics There is a great book by Valerie Young, called The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It She basically breaks down people into a few different categories: Are you a perfectionist? Is the issue that you’re afraid of not looking perfect Are you Superwoman/Superman? Need to do everything? Are you an expert? The one that needs to know 100% of everything before you can start. This is my challenge area The Natural Genius – that makes everything look effortless. Soloist – the one that never asks for help   Step 1:   Have you ever admitted out loud when you’re scared of something and then all of the sudden, your not? Well, that’s exactly what we are going to do here. What are you in imposter in? Write it down. What are you dissatisfied with? I was afraid of not being able to do everything. Yup, I was guilty of Superwoman. I have now learned a few things I can delegate and outsource certain things. Now your turn! Say it out loud! Say it to someone!   Step 2:   To building confidence in the area, is to research and read. Find out what others are saying about the topic. That will provide you with a baseline. I’m not saying become an expert in it. I’m saying just read the headlines and be familiar with the themes. Is there anything that these top experts are saying that you didn’t know? Maybe you don’t agree with them. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have a benchmark of what the top experts are saying.  Now, you know what and where you’d like to elevate. You know, Tony Robbins is the first to tell you that, when he started out, he read and learned from others that were doing it. In fact, that’s exactly what management consultants do. We learn from others and ‘ELEVATE it’.  We don’t start from ground zero. So, continue to learn – get obsessed with the topic and have fun exploring your curiosity. Starting is the hardest part. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. One step at a time.   Step 3:   Do a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities & Threats Analyze your strengths (S)  and weaknesses (W). We keep underselling ourselves, whether it’s how much we charge for our services or our capabilities. I want you to remember that you have some incredible experiences from not just our successes but also from our FAILURES.  Such a great source of data! Don’t forget to add things like your amazing source of support. For me, I write down my relationship with my nieces and nephew. They are such a source of strength for me.   Step 4: What are the different opportunities (O) that it could possibly bring?  What could it possibly lead to? Dream big? Think of the WHY – get inspired/ get creative and have fun. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget the T, in SWOT. T stands for Threat in the SWOT analysis.  Let’s tackle the T.   Step 5: Take each of those threats and write down 3 options so that it becomes an opportunity. Did I let my fear of my poor grammar stop me from blogging/writing? Nope. I turned it from a threat to a weakness. I recognized it had 3 options.. (1) Get better at it. Read things out loud, pay attention to the red underlines in word (2) Get someone to proofread everything that I do (which is another bottleneck for turnaround time (3) Delegate or outsource it. That’s exactly what I did. I have Claire, my podcast manager and Barbara, who was my book editor.   Step 6: Develop an end to end plan – what does the overarching roadmap look like? How do we get from point A to point B? What does the end result look like? Break things into smaller steps. Celebrate all your small victories. Come up with timelines/goals   “Goals are dreams with a deadline.” — Tony Robbins   Step 7: It is a lonely road sometimes. Find someone to support you and hold you accountable. Have your own personal board of directors, that come from a variety of backgrounds. Diversity really help see things from different perspectives. In fact, I’ve been part of a few masterminds that have really helped. I’ll be starting my own mastermind shortly. Stay tuned. This is after the book and the course is out.   Just in case you wanted another resource: 4 ways to quiet imposter syndrome and start believing in yourself by Tania Katan.   Here is another great read from Ideas Ted: 4 ways to quiet imposter syndrome and start believing in yourself   We are all human and we are always going to have fear and doubts and insecurities. But,  I want you to remember, the bigger picture. For me, my anchor are my nieces and nephew. I want them to know that they can do anything and therefore, I need to be their role model. It pushes me in a different direction. They are my guiding light. Find your WHY!   Remember, we all don’t wake up like models in the morning. Everyone started somewhere.  Surround yourself with things that make you happy and remember what we are grateful for. We are lucky that we can create opportunities to try these things.   7 steps: Admit the Fear – What are you an imposter in Baseline yourself SWOT yourself – get grateful! Find your WHY 3 options to get over hurdle (s) Plan & celebrate Personal Board of Directors I want you to remember to have fun, look at it like an experiment, try and fail (it makes better stories and makes you more authentic).  Have fun going on a bunch of bad dates, but remember, we learn something from every bad date.   Download the Imposter Syndrome Cheat Sheet

What if there was a legalized secondary market? Some may argue there is with new vintage laws being introduced around the country, but then there is the massive flood of online marketplaces that don't have any regulation whatsoever. It's a touchy subject because anyone that is really into bourbon, has seemed to find their way into these corners of the web. And lets be honest, most of us have had to do some sort of buy, sell, or trade to get bottles that we desire. It's the nature of the game and this show looks at the premise of if you could build your own legal secondary market, what would it look like? We are joined by bourbon enthusiast Nate Shue, a Patreon supporter, on this topic. Show Partners: Barrell Craft Spirits is more than just bourbon, they blend rye, whiskey, rum and have a signature infinite barrel project. Find out more at BarrellBourbon.com. Do you have a podcast? Sign up for Chartable Podcast Analytics to track rankings and reviews. Visit Chartable.com. Receive $25 off your first order with code "Pursuit" at RackhouseWhiskeyClub.com. Show Notes: KDA and BIER report on the Kentucky Bourbon industry’s energy, water, and emissions data. - https://www.bieroundtable.com/news/formalizing-sustainability-kentucky-bourbon-industry-collaborates-with-bier/ Whiskey Stocks and the Bubble Burst - https://www.barrons.com/articles/u-s-whiskey-stocks-like-brown-forman-have-soared-beware-the-bourbon-bubble-51557514898 This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about whiskey 'first' marketing. When did you start getting into bourbon? What do you think started the secondary market craze? What are the issues with the secondary market? Do you think referral secondary markets like Wine Searcher or Blur Book hurt or help? How does the value get established? What would happen if you removed the community aspect of the secondary market? Do you think other states should have laws similar to Washington D.C.? What about auction houses like Christie's? If you were to have a legal secondary market, what would it look like? Should distilleries price the bourbon so high that it basically eliminates the secondary market? Do you think if they shut down the secondary market overnight, would it just come back? 0:00 Got a two and a half year old. So there's limited things to be done. 0:06 How about you not be a terror this weekend? Hey everyone, 0:21 Kenny here and this is episode 202. of bourbon pursuit. And as usual, we have a little bit of news to go through that bourbon pursuit we try to find new and interesting subjects to talk about in one podcast we thought of doing a while ago was thing what is the environmental impact of urban? And we haven't really found that right guest and that right subject matter because I don't know if that's really what you all find engaging your interesting, so we haven't really done it. However, I find a little bit interesting. And there was a news report that came out this past week. And this was a partnership that was done by the Katie and bear in 2018. And it was the it's the first time report to actually measure the Kentucky bourbon industries use of energy water in emissions data. For roses heaven Hill, Rosie Tyler, Wild Turkey, Bacardi beans, Suntory Brown, Forman and Diaz, you all submitted data, and this ensures that it represents about 98% of the Katie a membership by production volume. Overall Kentucky distilleries use of energy and water consistently declined from 2013 to 2017. And still rested below the global distilleries averages in 2017. The average water use ratio for Kentucky distilleries decreased 41% from 2013 to 2017. This represents a total water use avoidance of more than 6 million key leaders. Now I don't know what a kilo leader is, I don't live in the metric system. So to put it in layman's terms, it's it's enough to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool nearly 2400 times. Now one example this is heaven Hill updated its water source at Bernheim distillery. The company reduced its water usage by 33%. It plays to still condenses onto a cooling tower loop. The distiller now recycles within its operations instead of sourcing new water. This saves around 330,000 gallons of water per day, you can read the entire report in our show notes. stocks have been on the news lately, and maybe it's because of the trade over the China but stocks in general tech usually gets to seem to get the most eyeballs and folks had just seemed to look past the US whiskey stocks. Now if you would have had the foresight years ago, instead of putting money just in the bottles, you would have put it into stocks like brown Forman and GPI. at nearly 30 times at this year's estimated earnings. These two stocks are trading at premiums to my more diversified rivals such as the NGO in GPI alone, Rose 98 rose to $98 last year from $6 and 2014. However, barons com is telling people kind of pump the brakes and hold on and don't really give the money grab yet, because there could be a bubble that's going to burst. And that happened with celebrity vodka not too long ago. Now that you have people like Bob Dylan endorsing a whiskey investors may wonder if we find ourselves backstroking in the bourbon industry, because there's now billions of dollars that have been added to adding distillery capacity and more barrels of booze, aging and all these warehouses. You can read the full article in our show notes that has quotes from our previous show guests such as Joe Beatrice of barrell bourbon, as well as Chuck Cowdery. At today's episode looks at a cultural topic, what if there was a legalized secondary market? Some may argue that we already have that there's new vintage laws that are being introduced around the country. But then you see the massive flood of online marketplaces that don't have any regulation whatsoever. It's a touchy subject, because anyone that's really into bourbon kind of seem to find their way into these corners of the web. And let's be honest, most of us has had to do some sort of buy, sell or trade to get the bottles that we desire. It's the nature of the game. And this show looks at the premise. If you could build your own legal secondary market, what would it look like? At this time, we also want to say thank you to Nate shoe who's on our podcast today, and one of our Patreon supporters for joining us with this topic. Now with that, we're going to hear from our good friend Joe over a barrel bourbon. And then you've got Fred Minnick with above the jar. 4:33 Joe from barrell craft spirits here, barrell craft spirits is more than just bourbon. We blend rye whiskey rum in our signature in a barrel project. Find out more at barrellbourbon.com. 4:45 I'm Fred Minnick. And this is above the char, what sells a bottle of whiskey. If you're listening to this podcast, you know data spent your fair share of money in the liquor store buying those sweet precious bottles of bourbon rye, scotch, Canadian whiskey, Irish whiskey, maybe a little South African whiskey. So you are not necessarily the person the distillers are trying to target. When they are asking the question, how do we sell to the French consumer? You see, you and I were more of what they would consider the base or the geeks, people who are going to buy whiskey, no matter how they market it. So they're always trying to find a way to appeal to that 25 year old freshly out of college MBA working on Wall Street, or in Boise, Idaho at a bank, they're always trying to figure out a way to target that new consumer. And one of the ways that they think they've been able to do this is by saying they are the first at doing something. If you take a look at a lot of the whiskey marketing, you'll see people say they're the first to use this grain first to use this barrel. First to have a distiller with long hair and flip flops make the whiskey Yeah, that's a joke, by the way. But you know, they're always so caught up and saying they're the first as if that new consumer will care. And the fact is, most people don't care if you are the first to do something in American whiskey. Well, we do care about does it taste good? What's the price on it? And can I find a bottle? Now that new consumer they may be interested in like doesn't mix well with coke? Is it good? And cocktails? Does it? Do I like a neat? What is bourbon can be bourbon be made outside of Kentucky? Now there's all kinds of questions that these people go through. But the whiskey distillers are going down this path of trying to own the fact that they are first at something. And I just don't think it matters, unless it's really important. Like you were the first to make whiskey on the moon. You know what I would like to know that. But if you're the first to use a certain type of grain from Guatemala, you know, maybe mention that. But don't make that your entire marketing platform. Because if you have to talk about how you were the first it's something that means you're most likely trying to compensate for the fact that your whiskies not up to snuff. And that's this week's above the char. Hey, if you have an idea for above the char hit me up on Twitter or Instagram. That's at Fred Minnick. Again. That's at Fred minute. Until next week, cheers. 7:24 Welcome back to another episode of bourbon pursuit. Ryan and Kenny here in the basement once again, having our gorgeous backdrop. But today's topic is going to be something that's interesting, I think, to everybody in general, because if you are even entering the bourbon world, which for me, I found that I still find it really crazy that you still have all these one on one discussions on like the Facebook, bourbon or groups. And it's like, if you just started drinking wild turkey last week, you're already going into Facebook forums and trying to figure out your way to learn more about it. Like, I mean, take me back to your first when you started. Ryan, were you actually sitting there trying to like, find more information on the internet after you had your first drink of bourbon? 8:12 No, no, definitely not. After Well, it was a long time ago. And I was inundated and surrounded by it but it was mostly just go into a store talking to friends about it. You know, I think Facebook and the internet is connected everyone and information is so close to your fingertips. That just makes it easier for someone to find out about things how things work and or get, you know, deeply involved in something very fast. And so it kind of takes you down the rabbit hole really quick with how much information there is out there and 8:44 different markets and whatnot. Yeah, I mean, I remember just my my entry into bourbon as well. And, you know, today, a lot of us we go and we look after, you know, how can we find the victors 10s? How do we find a ruling Lou Weller's? How do we find all these ones that are really kind of hard to get your hands on. It took me after I mean, I started I started like drinking bourbon as my regular drink. You know, when I was 21 in college, and then from there, it just didn't stop. But for people that are on the hunt, even to find Pappy Van Winkle, it took me almost four to five years out of college to even know that these even existed like I didn't even I didn't go try hunting for stuff I didn't. I wasn't looking on the top top shelves or racks. I was looking at my price bracket. 9:29 Yeah, like Elijah Craig and Maker's Mark were premium. For me. It was like those were like going on a limb and spending a you're like oh man $30 a bottle man. That's like that's breaking the bank was like it now that's like, that's just like an everyday drinker. 9:45 Yeah, of course, the old sorry. Oh, force was my go to and then every once in a while that splurge on four roses, small batch. And that was like my, that's like, 9:54 that was my my, that's like a graduation or something big celebration. You're like, oh, somebody's got Let's bring out the four roses, or, you know, Elijah Craig 17 or something not? Not the way it is now. You know? 10:06 Yeah. And because at that point, people eventually figure out, oh, they go to this forum, I want to learn more. And then they're like, Oh, what's this whole secondary thing. And then all of a sudden, people are like, Oh, I can make money off this. Oh, I didn't know that. Then winkles were really hard to find. I know, whatever was really hard to find. Now I go and find it. And I try to flip it or try to do whatever. And that's all I'm going to do in oil. It's it's created this elusive secondary market that everybody at least I'm pretty sure that if you listen, this podcast, it's not because you're drinking wild turkey last week, it's because you know, the culture and you know exactly what's what's actually happening out there. And that is really the topic of today. And this idea was brought to us by none other than Nate shoe. And Nate is a huge bourbon enthusiast. He's also a Patreon supporter of ours. So Nate, welcome to the show. 10:57 Thanks for having me, guys. 10:59 Yeah, so I kind of I want to gauge you know, your level here, like, when did you start getting into bourbon? And when did that bug really, really bite you hard? 11:09 Well, it kinda is in my blood. My grand, I came from basically cocktail culture. So my grandparents had, you know, nightly Bourbons. They've been drinking we call bourbon the family drink. So it was literally no matter how all the members of my extended family, sooner or later, you come around to bourbon, whether you start you know, like in college, or you come later on, you know, in your 30s or 40s, it becomes your drink. So, always been around it that my, my family weren't like, you know, fancy bourbon drinkers. They were, you know, my step grandfather was a heaven Hill guy. My, my grandparents were bourbon Supreme, the old one in Illinois, the one before they before the rocket stuff that they have now. You know, it's a little tassel on and everything that was there drink you know, it's unlikely one and and it just after a while, it does affect your what way I mean, like you guys, man, I was in college. It wasn't doing anything fancy when I and I'm, you know, I hate to say this, but my roommate went to UT. So he brought back the love of makers after college, and so makers was my fancy with our fancy bourbon that we would have when they weren't going to grab a handle a jack daniels for everyone. I just wanted to give shots of whiskey. Which, you know, to our mind now, it's like shots of whiskey. Talking about 12:30 a sin. Yeah, 12:31 it is a sin. So So yeah, for the longest time, it was and I still have an absolute love of makers. I'm sure you guys have like that cheaper lower end bourbon that like is just you have a special place in your heart for you go out to a bar and you're not sure what you want to get. You're like, I give me that whatever that is. It's definitely makers for me, but a couple years ago, and honestly, I can't remember what triggered it. You know, it was like you take that first step into Hey, maybe this stuff can get better. I made the time I was at spent many years trying to learn about wines, you know, which is its own rat hole, very expensive rat hole to go down into. And started going to get getting back on the just a regular daily bourbon drinking train. And I'm trying to think back of what basically that first little bridge bottle is what was that that kind of cut you over to wait a minute when we got here. 13:24 And honestly can't remember. 13:28 I can't remember. So 13:31 there was something that just I just added morning it is you just think what the hell was Megan, suppose you go back through your old receipts and figure out what that one was. But basically, once you kind of get like, it became an association of like, I know how, after drinking so much wine, and she were like, you know, there's a difference in wines in that, you know, a red wine tastes like this, but a higher end wine tastes can taste amazing. Why can't it be the same way with whiskey? So you kind of go down that track of like, and then you can figure out what do I like, you know, and so it was advantageous, then, you know, and this is goes back, you know, 1015 years, that the brands don't have the popularity and that cachet and where we're at with social media where everything is in your face, as far as get the get the fancy stuff, get the limited releases, it was just kind of like what do I like to drink became an easy, easy kind of transition into what we have now. Which is, let's just say it's a little bit crazy. 14:28 What do you think was probably the the pushing point that that started making everything a little bit crazy, you know, I I always look at it and think of I measured things by what I would call the Pappy Van Winkle index. And and that's sort of really what kind of started a whole craze of secondary market and some other things that are hard to get. I mean, what did you see is that sort of catalyst. 14:51 That's a pretty good, good one there. I mean, when it would start to show up on TV shows, and kind of the buzz This is again, probably pre social media environment winner. And now so maybe roll back to like 2010 2011 2012, 15:04 I remember seeing an episode of 15:08 Oh, shoot the Norland show on HBO don't recall the name of it this moment. But the famous chef that did a cameo on it, David Chang, I think is his name. He brings out a bottle of Pappy 15 at the end of the show, just to kind of bring everyone together, it was kind of like, hey, it was a total like a name drop thing. But it was like kind of in your face of like, hey, the fancy, you know, famous folks drink it you should do. So there's almost like a top down push of to make it a luxury brand, which for folks that have been buying it and drinking it for so many years. It's kind of like, What are you talking about? This is the stuff that I'm getting up every day, which probably makes the luxury brands consider at least these days luxury brands of bourbon to be strange for people. Other words, a really fine piece of fashion like a close, you know, there wasn't a time that you could you know, by Ferragamo shoes for like, you know, five bucks, right? That's just a fact of life. What we have here is a little bit strange, especially, I mean, you start getting at the dusty room, and you know, stuff that your grandfather bought for five bucks. And all of a sudden, we're, you know, paying 200, 300 500 bucks for it. It's like, what didn't make much sense. today. I mean, even you know, going back to stuff, you know, five years ago, you know, stuff has gone up 300 400, 500%, it's that disconnect, I think, which drives a lot of the frustration in the bourbon community specifically, you know what I mean, it's just, it's when when something was added at a price level, where you were the it's part of the price theory of price takers and price makers, back then the bourbon community with a price makers, they you know, were like 20 bucks a 5030 bucks a fit. That's just what it is, I am the We Are the buying community, we have kind of spoken. Now the situation is reversed. Now their prices takers, because the price makers are the folks with the inventory and the supply. And they can the community at large can be can want to be a price maker all they want. But no one's going to sell it to him for that it's just not going to happen. And so that kind of reversal is very jarring for people, and it makes me definitely has an understandable element of frustration, which is what you guys probably see every day. 17:25 Well, and nothing. bourbon is the like, perfect product. Because for someone to sell because it's rare. scarcity. People love scarcity. They love the awareness of it, you have things like single barrels where everything's unique. And so it kind of like, can dry and like you said, What does these they're not making any more. So it's more rare, more valuable, more collectible to people. And so it's 17:49 it just 17:51 appreciate over time, because they're not making the like they used to and then it's every barrel is unique. So it's like a unique product, and like the perfect product to sell because of that. 18:01 Absolutely. And so the you know, really we were trying to gauge on how do we start talking about what a legal secondary market would look like? If if we could actually imagine one. But let's go ahead and think about the current, the current aspect of the secondary market. And what's that? What I 18:21 ever heard of it doesn't exist? 18:25 Actually, it's probably close to the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth year after raise hands all these times. But let's talk about what what are the issues that are there today? You know, other than a it being completely legal. But what are the other issues that we see 18:43 with with the current state of state of the union of the secondary market? I guess you could say? 18:48 Well, I mean, you really, it's it kind of does begin and with the fact that like Fred said on Tuesday, alcohol is a controlled substance, there's really, for as much as possible market forces can change that, they'll always be an element of control, that's got to go to somebody, it cannot be an unfettered open market, it just can't that that's that's, you know, you got to start from that point, nothing's ever going to change that nothing should be quite honest, it deserves to be a controlled substance. But what the next step that you want to take there is do you want to have a market like by literal definition of market, which is the free flowing information of buying and selling, the way to ensure the product you're buying is what you're at what you're buying, and who you're selling it to transport get transparency, the things that you would see in the financial market, I think I've been reading up again, I liked I think it was Nick from breaking bourbon had a pretty detailed vision about what he wants a secondary market could be. But I think what it lacked was an element of truly a market because in his his vision was you could bottles could go around bottles could go in. And but as a consumer you can, only thing you could take out was bottles. But I think and I think that in itself does not make a market. Because the market involves it's not just products changing, and its products and cash basically changing hands 20:18 on his idea was that your bottles are your currency. 20:22 Right. And in that case, that doesn't mean if we were in a barter economy, sure, or pre or at least in that sub economy as a part of coming, it'd be great. But the reality is, of course, that's not going to that doesn't cut the muster. That's not going to create a true market there, I think. But the secondary 20:36 market is kind of a barter system, really, because I mean, it's gone. Yeah. Because you know, you have bottles that you're selling for, but to get the funds to buy the bottles that you want. And so it's like, it's all this made up money kind of moving around, exchanging hands just to get like, because I have access to certain bottles, somebody has access to certain that I want. And so it's just like, all this moving around trading between people, even though there's money involved, it's like, it's staying within the system, it seems like it's not, you know, going outside of it 21:11 is real element of what the market would need, I think. And again, one of some of the best analogs you can see to this is the financial world is where the market makers, the the end of the end and the role of the person that's going to bring the buyers and the sellers together. And you has to use more more financial nomenclature, who has the order book in front of them, who knows what the offers are coming in, and what the offers in for both sides. Because right now, like we talked about price takers, price makers, it's a one way street, people with a with the inventory, or just like this, the price we're done. I don't know if you guys have been on wine searcher. But I say have very fascinating graphs about offer prices. And so I looked through, you know, the typical ones, happy be tackling the rest, over a five year period. And it's fascinating as the prices don't change, there's the the movement is just not there, you'd think it would appear to be logical that wow, okay, I can't unload as a store, for example, unload this, Pappy 24 1800 bucks, well, maybe I'm kind of old for 14 or 1500, it's, you know, saying as they probably got a retailer at least close to retail, it's, they're still making a good deal of money. It just sits there. And it'll sit there for a long time. And you think if and because they have know, them, since they are their own market or making their own market, they don't care about that no one else's wants to buy or no one's a buyer at that price will just sit there, but a market maker. And given a commission of course, in this you increase the cost of price bottles in general is motivated to make the sale, you know, I'm saying and they're in the what we have now is we really don't, we had the sides are SO FAR Part of that there's no one they're motivated to make the sale, you get a market maker, he's motivated to make the sale. So and that what you know, ideally, of course, that could kind of bring the prices, the the the supply and demand more to balance, maybe get a little more movement in prices. And to actually, you know, so we so give, that would give people a little more opportunity, because of the fair and open market. If people have, you know, again, have the ability to buy it. It sounds, you know, obviously closely like an auction system, like we have at the International round, like with scotch and the rest, but you look at that you look at those prices, and the same thing there. They just the prices Don't move, they sit up, they sit there, and it's, you know, looking at it, you almost say to yourself Is this some kind of ball, setting these things, because they it's just, it's fascinating to me, that for a luxury good life, this, which it doesn't really have a clear set value, you know what I mean, for that, for reselling these bottles, they've it's like it's come into being and it's becomes an expectation for the folks that are selling it. And that become that expectation is then put goes across all of the channels to sell these bottles where the auctions personal, you know, the the, the more gray markets, or the retailers who pretty much at this point are just as much a member of the secondary market as individuals. 24:30 So you brought up a good point, I kind of want to talk about this to you know, you talked about wine searcher, there's also bought bottle Blue Bottle blue book that's out there who and you know, this is these are this is publicly accessible. It's not like some of the secondary markets where you get to know somebody that knows somebody to make sure that you can get in. It's not really that hard. It's just kind of like oh, find it click on this 24:56 actually refer a friend. Yeah, 24:57 no, it's it's funny, 25:00 like the worst kept secret in history. And it's not hard to find it however stuff like wine searching bottle Blue Book, like it's, it's publicly accessible information. Do you think this actually hurts? Or does it help a secondary market or even just the general market? 25:18 Well, value should, there should be some debate about values, they shouldn't just be hidden, you know, think basically behind the curtain. And, you know, at least, to use the auction example, like the auctioneer has the magic value behind him, and he sets it and that's just it. I mean, there should be like, you should be able to kind of challenge from a community perspective, why this bottle is worth why it is valued at this much. Right? Because the other problem we have one of the one of the other problems in this particular market is it's so thin the supply is I mean, we're talking, you know, hundreds of 10s hundreds in some cases. Well, what's up? What's up barrel? Willa, like, what 168 180? I mean, they're just, it's ridiculous. The amount of the the thinness of these markets. So how do you value that? You know, where are these values coming up with? I mean, 26:07 yeah, that's a good question. 26:09 I was just gonna say, because, typically, it's like, Where did the values begin? Because typically, it's like, double, you know, what you paid for it. And then but you have some, like, the band wrinkles, which are like 343 to four x, you know, times and it's like, well, how did those become, because they're not, they're, like, less rare than some of these other bottles. 26:28 And it and it stays, you know, it like jumps people this, this, the three to four or five, x comes up? And I would expect it for it to keep going up? In other words, if it's if it immediately jumps up to a value of that level, why does it stop? You know, it would not, it's doesn't seem logical that it would just stop. Because like, for example, Happy 23 sits at what 2600 or so, and secondary, and it just like gets up there and just stays, you know, I mean, if they're, if, if there's price it if there's people willing to pay that much for that bottle at that price? I mean, you're already so far over what is considered MSRP? Why isn't the price even higher? You know, you're likely to find someone they're going to get, why does these whatever the price movement, I mean, it was to make many, many interesting economic papers. Trying to find the price there this I've read a few just in general and like luxury goods, and doesn't really address this because bourbon such a very unique industry in the product. But it just having the transparency and market makers, apart from the legality, which is a whole nother trick bag of you know, who who's going to solve that one? Right? I mean, just to make it, you know, it. I mean, you talked about on Tuesday, I mean, just from the shipping angle of it. That's a thorny mess. And the, the 21st amendment gives you one sentence about what the states can do, which basically is everything. Otherwise, you don't have a lot of clarity there. And that's why you have the series of decisions, the try to tease out what that precisely means. And if you heard some of the dissenting opinions, and some of those decisions that especially Brian from Supreme Court was talking about on Tuesday, it's a fascinating read, because it doesn't cut across ideological or party lines. 28:17 Yeah, yeah. And another thing about pricing, kind of a few examples that amazed me some like cured oak or tornado, you know, it was $75 bottle with it with two or three years, it was like, only two to 300 bucks, you know, for those. And then like, all of a sudden, like IPOs six, and then now they're not, you know, and it's like, well, how does that how does that happen? You know, like, and then like bottles, you know, they immediately come out, and they're say double or triple x, but then somebody opens ones and drinks one the reviews bad. So it drops down, but then somebody says they like it, then it goes back up. And then it's, you know, 28:54 it's kind of crazy. There's the community aspect, I mean, the community has grown a lot larger and more recent year. And once you know, you have a cured oak or a tornado that was only around for a little bit, and then it it sort of it follows a probably a pricing structure that you see of dusty bourbon. And that is pretty equivalent, because you're never going to have it again. And if you want it, you're going to have to pay for it. And all of a sudden, people are like, Oh, this is great. And there is only what a couple thousand bottles right ever released. You know, you you think of just old granddad from the 1980s, there's probably there's probably hundreds of thousands that are released. So it's it's more scarcity and stuff like that. Sure. It's a name. That's but yeah, it is definitely good investment. That's I think that's part of the reason why people look at this. And you can't, you can't blame them for not looking at this as an investment because it actually is an investment opportunity for for many people, even people that have large collections that have a lot of bottles open, they still invest in by rare things like just rare old knickers, they'll buy rare, very old Fitzgerald's and they'll sit on him because they know, in 567 years, it's going to be worth a little bit more. And they're going to make what they had on their investment. 30:12 Was it the the economists we had from U of L on they said like, they did a research that from 2015. Like now, like if you invested in Berlin, you've seen annual gains of 200%, like, on average, and you're like, holy cow. Like, you can't get that anywhere. 30:28 Yeah, in any investment. It doesn't help that university researchers are helping fuel this. 30:33 Right. Right. Well, CNBC would talk about scotch a few times a year, about the investment and as a category of things to invest in that were, you know, not your typical securities. And it would always be the same way like, yep, it's a great investment along with, with rare wines, if stored properly, and the rest. So yes, go ahead. Okay. 30:57 Well, the other thing I kinda want to talk about was, I talked about earlier is the community aspect. And one, the one thing that's, that's very different with this, you know, we had talked about since it is a controlled substance that needs to be regulated. However, the community is a very, very good job of regulating this market. And if this were to kind of move into a, a legal ish terms, and we can kind of talk about what legal avenues there are here in a second is kind of the next segment. But what happens if you remove that community aspect where you are, you're doing this based on trust, and there is that that sort of connection, because we're all part of the forums, we can read, there's, out of the years, there's only been a handful of times where somebody has actually gotten burned. And so what happens if you remove that that community aspect from it? 31:55 Well, if you have the same level of trust in the individuals that are holding the alcohol, assessing the alcohol, then you'd have something similar. It's a matter of my, you know, trust migration from the guides is that you know, and worked with with some other organization, whatever would happen to be kind of like, it seems to work well, for especially at the UK, the auction international auctions, as people have seemed to have a healthy amount of respect for them, like they're not going to, you know, sell you counterfeits, and they take at least a little bit of, it seems to be a lot of effort to make sure that they're not accepting counterfeits to sell. Either. It's, it's one of the be one of the difficulties and bringing a grey market or black market, if you want to use a more harsh term into the light is, is the taking that trust, because obviously, that that kind of market Trust is everything, you have nothing else, there's no one else to no one else is settling, or setting rules, or anything like that you're trusting the person you're doing business with. So you know, could you be doing this, you could, in theory, be conducting the same business minus you know, a percentage going to whatever is the official are actually more than a few percentages, because you have state taxes, of course, to get in to get their cut, which in the end will mollify a good deal of states, they have their money, they'll have a lot of the complaints will kind of go away. You know, 33:26 it all always boils down to money, but with 33:30 and I'm sure you're seeing the same kind of issues. with marijuana, as you know, as the state's legalize it, there becomes a more formal market, you're moving for, again, from a black market to a to a more open market, where you're dealing with different people versus the trust that obviously folks that deal with illicit substances would do with each other. And certainly, in a case of a class, it was to or what I mean, much more seriously control substance versus vice alcohol, where trust is. So that's a beautiful, difficult, that would be a problem. Like if you were if there would be a formal step forward to do that, you know, through all 50 states is how do you migrate the trust that individuals that are buying and selling and trading bottles now can do a certainly with it, costing them more? 34:18 Right? Wouldn't you think what happened if you remove that, that sort of community aspect? You know, 34:25 I told my like family and my wife about this secondary more, and they're like, Are you insane? Like you're, you're trusting these random people on the internet to sell you are bad, and you're shipping home and hoping and then like, you're taking all the risk shipping and buy, I think that I'm amazed at how well it is regulated within the community, and now would be, I just don't know, there would be as much thoughtfulness from a regulatory as there is now currently with the Barbara community, because it is like a circle of trust and like this little aspect of in, we're not going to let any one mess with it, you know, and so 35:06 I don't know, I 35:08 kind of like the way it is, but Well, I can tell you this if you if you buy a bottle from like Christie's or something like that, an auction house and it gets lost in shipment, they might refund your money, they're probably not going to replace it with a nice equivalent bottle, but they're, they're sure shit not going to send you like a bunch of like free samples, because, you know, 35:26 they feel bad about it, right? We lost in 35:28 the mail. That's one thing that, you know, you can't you're not going to have that that sort of personal connection out of it either. 35:34 Yeah, and because we're all in this, nobody wants to get screwed. And, you know, and when things happen, you feel bad, and you empathize with that person. And so you're going to do what's right to make them you know, feel good about the whole because you are then we are all the same, you know, same bread, same people that are passionate about this. And so I feel like we would do a much better job of taking care of each other versus you know, buying from liquor stores or whatever they probably policy Yeah, your refund or whatever. But 36:04 yeah, I don't know, I think the community so much better. 36:07 So let's talk about what are some of those legal routes today? 36:13 Are you a fellow podcaster like me, the need to go and check out chartable.com, we've been using their tools over three months with amazing results. 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So you've got yourself a bottle of very, very old Fitzgerald or you got yourself a bottle of what Nate was talking about earlier, a really old bottle of bourbon supreme that probably actually isn't worth more the tassel. 38:20 Yeah, that really actually is I do have I do have that one. It's very, it's brought tears brought tears to my mother's eyes, because that was the same kind of Baba, she used to pour for my grandmother. Nice. So it was it was a memory thing. So it was really nice, but it's decent number, but I was like, All right. 38:38 So there are a few different ways that you can sort of regulate some of these things. And you know, in Kentucky, they passed the the vintage spirits law, which allows you to actually take vintage spirits. However, there's still a lot of gray areas and trying to figure out what actually is classified as vintage per se. But, you know, that's, that is one way that is a legal way to be able to sell some of your bottles, but still the unresolved, like the issues, like patties, for instance, if some still in distribution or on shelves, you're not allowed to 39:10 take part in that vintage law or whatever. So it's still kind of leave some holes or things left to be desired. 39:16 Yeah, I was about to say, and you know, Nate, you're, you're in, you're in the DC market. Correct. So that is the, I don't wanna say the Wild West. But 39:26 it's like Wilder, it's pretty 39:30 liberal, and it's like 39:30 or lost, its wilder than anybody else. Let's put it that way. And, and so the the rules that are in DC, for anybody that's kind of unaware about what you can do there. If you're a store, you can buy things on the open market, you can buy them from anybody else, and you can resell them in your stores. That's pretty, it's pretty willy nilly. And how that works. Do you think it would be in for you, Nate, would it be advantageous for other states to kind of have the these laws that allow people to sell through illegal routes, such as what DC does? Or does that hurt? 40:08 It would be useful, but good luck getting it through a control state like Virginia. I mean, it given an avenue to you know, they would have I think liquor buyers in DC kind of understand it's the Wild West, you know, if they see like, wow, this is open sale to Canada on the shelf at you know, my favorite liquor store just appeared there, right? obviously very old. Like, they know, it wasn't just they know the drill like Yep, somebody sold to them, they're going to sell it back to me like kind of understand that's the way it is. And this is a normal thing, but and you would trust them the historic and talk about trust to make sure that it's not you know, someone didn't take it dump it out, put Jim Beam minute versus you do it to the control state. This much more regulated now they have to make sure just like Kentucky the stuff like Kentucky, it's like, well, how do I know that what you're selling me this allegedly dusty Fitzgerald is actually a dusty opens zero. You know, I mean, they as a because they're they as in the control state, they have all the control, and they have all the responsibility. You know, and just just imagine the one time that they resell a bottle with something poisonous in it, you know, not that someone's like literally trying to poison but something got dumped it who knows how it could happen. It would only take one time, like, you know, front of a talk on Tuesday and only takes one really bad event. And in that kind of leads into a secondary market. Like what if we've talked we've seen the stories of folks getting, you know, getting hammered with fake counterfeit bottles, but what if it's something that's worse, you know, and then the and then the investigators follow that trail back to that community. It's over. I mean, it would take one time and it's over. So the control states are would take a very much more strict like, Oh, I gotta figure this stuff out. So you got to give me everything under the sun. You got to give me receipts, you gotta be verified that before they would take it do it versus, you know, DC being very lacks in terms of Asher, it looks like it looks like it's what it is. Go ahead and just resell it. buyer beware. 42:10 Yeah. And I guess, you know, one thing, I was kind of thinking of analogy, while you were talking about this, you know, buying and then reselling, it's, you know, you think of even Justin's House of bourbon and a lot of people that are doing this that they're essentially bourbon pawn shops. 42:23 Yeah, that's all they 42:24 really are. And it's, it's a way for them to kind of make their margins on on whatever that is they need to be able to buy, but you do bring up a really good point. How in you've got to be able to trust the store, in regards of Yeah, is this is this actually a very, very old Fitzgerald. I mean, I can just tell you, from my own personal experience, even being here in Louisville, that there is a store that I bought some stuff from and and then he was like, Hey, I got these other things in a customer sold them to me. And they were bottles of very, very old Fitzgerald. And, you know, he, he didn't really know exactly what the market price was, it's really hard for me to even figure it out for myself. But I also didn't have as much trust in the store to actually know if they are genuine or counterfeit, because they can't prove provenance. They don't know exactly how many times has traded hands. So do you see some some things like that, like as big causes per concern with with this type of law as well. 43:30 Certainly on a state by state basis, I mean, I think to an extent like the internet, the Auction House is the kind of figured out enough. And they understand how their reputation. Really, the reputation as an auction house is relies on the reputation that the items that they set for auction are what they say they are, because they understand that like, again, it only takes one or two bad ones, and then you get a bad reputation, and then even even the big auction houses can can really suffer for it. So it's just I know, it's Kentucky was trying to do a good thing there. But I'm not quite sure they thought it all the way through imitation is just I mean from this from the post that that sip and corn is put on, there's a lot of interesting stuff there and trying to figure it out. But you know, working that into some of these other state, I mean, it all just goes back to the damn 21st amendment. It's states, you got all the control, you get to figure out everything. And what we have is just a mess. And there's everything that we would think, you know, you'd be able to want to accomplish to do and it's just, you know, is it a question if we're not trying to solve the problem of? I mean, we have that the safety aspect is really big, but it's just like, I have a good, I want to sell it. Do you want to buy it? Let's make this happen. You know, give us the avenue to do that. You know, and it applies to, it applies to everything I you know, applies to all I get like the guy in the show talked about, you know, an AR 15. 45:10 He could sell it to his 45:13 cell to his buddy with no consequences. Nothing. But he could do the same thing with a bottle of jack daniels. Absolutely. It's a tough one. It's everything that we want to talk about everything we propose how we're going to get around 50 states 50 laws, 45:30 guns and liquor. 45:31 Yeah, it goes back to. And I think you brought up a good point Kenny about like, you know, having, Justin, I think if the word I have is legalized, you'd have to have a few dedicated store owners who would embrace this and make them like kind of the, because if you just go to everyday liquor stores, and people are buying and selling, like they're not going to give it as but they're not going to put as much thought into it as someone like Justin is because he comes from our community, he knows what to look for. You're not gonna have a dedicated person at each store to like, analyze and determine if these bottles are fake or real, or what are they they're not going to know. And so I can tell you, the average liquor barn employee probably won't know 46:12 exactly like that. Exactly. So I think the way it could work is having something like Justin's house and bourbon in each state or market or whatever to be that kind of go to place for the this kind of sales and the commerce side for total wine and liquor buying it by doesn't make sense for them to even enter that arena, because there's just, it's probably too much time and that they don't, they don't need to worry about. But the other thing I kind of want to talk about is, you know, we brought up auction houses a few times Nate has, and yeah, there's there's a lot of them out there. You've got Christie's there's actually quite a bit that happen. Most of them happen overseas, over in Europe. And yeah, you can you can ship your bottle to them, they'll inspect it, they'll give you a percentage of whatever it sells at auction. And this is a this is a legal route. And you can do this. There's there's nothing that stopping you from doing I think there's one maybe at a New York as well. I can't recall or there's one in California is too but 47:08 Southern beats does some too. 47:10 Yeah. And and I guess the question to you, Nate, is this helpful from a from a legal standpoint? Or does this actually is this is this bad? Maybe from a community standpoint? Because Could this be an increase in awareness, which also means increase in price for these type of items? 47:32 Well, it's very likely will be an increase in price for the things that you want to buy. That's been that the the nature of an auction, the advantage there is, obviously the tradition of auctions goes back a long, long, long, long time. So from a commerce perspective, regulators perspective, they understand that like, Oh, you want to have these things that goes to the things you want to sell goes to an auction house, and then they consider that, you know, a legal entity to move the product and make sure that it can it's not going to hands on people that it shouldn't go into. But yeah, it would definitely they auction based on their commission, commissions on the strike price, they're going to want higher prices, not that they're going to boost it artificially, but the nature of the auction, and the nature of the demand right now would mean that that wouldn't, that might solve the access problem, like you have the x, you have the ability to sell your ability to buy, but I don't think it would do anything for pricing, at least on the on the limited releases. 48:29 You don't think so? I kind of see it a little bit different, I think I think of, you know, 48:35 will say we'll say 2018 bottle of George t stag is will say, today's market at 350, 400, somewhere around there. You put this on a more visible market, something that is freely accessible to anybody to get to and it's it's publicize. It's got Facebook ads, it's got everything that is, you know, you can find through when you're scrolling through your phone and social media. And I think I think the price increases by another 15 20% because of of that right now. And somebody just commented that's a Skinner's auction is getting 23% buyers premium now. So there's there's definitely, I think, I think that would, I don't know, if it hurts values, it just increases them. For people that are trying to obtain it through those legal means as well, 49:27 well, it's just another hand and they they want their cuts. So it's going to naturally just increase because the fifth and sixth, fifth and sixth year and so 49:35 any kind of market you put in, it's going to be a 49:38 cut. It's amazing if you could count from the day is distilled this bourbon to like how many hands is exchanged to the secondary market, there's literally like from barrel brokers to distillers, to the bottling to distributors, retail stores to the it's amazing how many hands and middlemen there are this end. Mm hmm. 50:02 So the other thing that I kind of want to push over to you, Nate is, you know, what will say that it's Pandora's box, you can choose however this is going to work. If you were to have a legal secondary market. What would that what would that look like in your mind? 50:19 We talked a lot about a lot of the principles of it, how 50:24 I think for my personal opinion that the the core of it is to create a liquid market for both the products you're selling, and then the cash coming out. So that's important having a bonafide a market maker that would probably have to double as a Registered Agent to take the set bottles. So it'd be kind of a, they would probably have to have two hats. That was that is ready and willing to make a sale. Like their job is to not let that is to nudge the sellers to not sit at ridiculously high prices based on valuations just kind of pulling out of their behind. Like, no, they want, they're motivated to make a sale. And they like real estate agents, you know, like, 51:13 Yeah, exactly. Everything. 51:17 Right? I mean, it's like, and so I think gradually, that would bring a much more reasonable level more reasonable of of pricing for those bottles. And so you have the transparent you the transparency of the market, you have a motivated market maker, or set of market makers to make the sale. And the ability not only to have the individuals, you know, put bottles into sell and or facilitate trading, which it should absolutely should be a part of the set market as well. But the ability to actually get cash minus the appropriate taxes and fees, which are just going to have to be a part of it. In terms of, you know, then you have how do you solve the state? What How do you deal with the state's problem, apart from giving them their cut, based on the state year in a row is this I don't think this could be like a, you know, this market only exist in New York, you send your stuff to New York and all the transactions takes place take place in the state of New York, I don't think that would necessarily work. So I think, Well, perhaps not a federal solution, at least one that addresses all of the state's concerns. And I think having that again, that Registered Agent, who's also the market maker can do their best and do what they do to ensure that the folks don't get the wrong folks don't get those bottles, no keeps the market legitimate and keeps it legal. 52:45 I think Ryan brought up a pretty funny way to put this in regards of real estate, it could honestly be treated as such like that, you know, you've got your you've got your agents, you've got your your mortgage brokers, you've got all that these kind of people, but not necessarily that that sort of analogous to this, but you would have essentially an online listing market where people have valuations and you can buy at those particular prices. I don't know what the you know, the Zillow for bottle is Zillow, basically. But I don't I don't know like what the analogy is to there to say you default on your loan. And now you have to put your house up for auction. I don't know what the analogy is there that something would actually go to auction, let's say you just felt like, okay, we'll just see what the market will bear on something like this? 53:33 Well, I think like Nate said, it just kind of helps if you do have brokers and agents that kind of helps keep prices in line and what the true value is, versus just some abstract kind of number that we're pulling out, you know, in these markets currently. 53:49 And it's an interesting, I finished a book recently, it's kind of interesting analog here it was, it's all about the concert ticketing business. So the history of pricing and why we're paying such a normal prices that we have today. What it talks about a lot about the concert tickets, secondary market. I mean, they literally use the same word. So I'm listening this going, like, wow, this is just a lot of lessons here. What, you know, obviously, the industry is different, the products are different. But it especially when you get into the realm of Hey, some of these companies that are distilleries, are they they're public companies, right, they're not they're not the heaven hills, you know, the family run companies know, this has been Suntory, right. They're interested in shareholder value, and that the bottles of their product, have a value. And if it seemed that there is another avenue to unlock the greater value of those bottles, why would they not redirect that inventory to this other market where they can actually get that value? And that's what that's what Ticketmaster Live Nation and up to and actually Ticketmaster Live Nation, the promoters, the venues, the artists very interestingly enough for the shows go right to the secondary market. So they're getting those you know, it might have a face value for whatever that's worth of 3040 bucks, but really, the artist is getting a good chunk of the 200 300 $400 that's going for the secondary market. And the same way that again being Suntory they launch I don't know they just told I've taught my head right now that the signature 12 here, you know, they were normally the MSRP being at you know, 50 like wait a minute, we they have a Sastre you know that the value of that is actually 100 or so why the hell are someone else taken that 50 bucks as a beam Suntory shareholder Mind you, that's the you know, the avenue to take their it's like no, we have this is a very valid, we've created now this legal secondary market is a perfectly good way for them to take and unlock the value of those bottles and getting 50 bucks just as a you know, more per bottle. Wow. It's a Pandora's box here opening it. 55:54 Yeah, I was gonna say you opened up a can of worms while we're opening things up here. Because I mean, I couldn't even imagine if that were the thing that Yeah, the beams the will. It's the four roses, the the small distilleries down in Texas, whatever it is the you know, and there is there's too much red tape. There's too many laws today that that don't allow this to happen to just go straight to secondary. And and you bring up a good point of like, God, what what if that day actually came to be able to say, yeah, let's let's break down all these barriers like you, you make the product, you own the product, you figured out how to sell the product? And in the fact that it's a controlled substances is the bad part of being a? How has it has to be in regards to that you can't actually necessarily do what's best for commerce, I guess you could say sometimes, but I couldn't imagine a world that that happened. And honestly, I don't think it would be terrible if it did happen. 56:52 Well, and you kind of have some people doing that sort of art like well, it's I mean, hello. 57:00 They're pricing. But that's, that's a little bit different. Their pricing to be able to make sure that they're okay for themselves. But there's still there's still there's still a hand being traded to be able to make sure that they that, you know, they're still following the three tier system. However, yes, everybody does even doesn't matter what distiller you work for, there is somebody on the inside, that's in the groups that knows secondary values. And unlike y'all, we need to keep bumping these prices up because people aren't going to stop buying. 57:30 Well, not, but they're taking doing these prices to try and to deter, I guess it from going to secondary market. And so they're kind of doing but I mean, it's not working yet, because it's not gotten so crazy out of control. But like, for instance, you know, the Christmas, I went to Willits, and they were having 10 euros for $300, and 14 years for $450. And I'm like, well, that's way out of my way out of my price range. And, and then I just don't see anybody paying six 700 bucks for that for those types of bottles, you know, and but so I don't know, you know, they do that with that kind of help. Do what we're talking about, I guess, 58:15 I guess that's a good question. I mean, should should they should distilleries start pricing things so absurdly that it does sort of start killing this market? Little by little. 58:26 I could be I mean, look at Dave Becquerel, may he rest in peace, that was definitely his view. That's why you know, whistle pig was or the boss hogs or 500 bucks retail. And it's that that has stayed relatively consistent. They still obviously shows up in the secondary market, just good people are, you know, need to resell it's a, it's the role of the secondary market is not just for making money, it's some bits in it just to resell it like I have this good I no longer 58:52 access or anything. Exactly. 58:55 So it's in the end. I mean, there's so many things companies in the bourbon world that are private, you don't have to follow, they follow whatever rules they want saturate being the biggest among Of course, so they don't have that shareholder pressure. I'm just I think you think of the companies with the public companies and that kind of pressure from their shareholders. And it's just, you know, the, the nice things we talked about is bourbon enthusiast, and you know, the way that heaven Hill runs there, but that the family aspect, and we don't want it, we want to keep bourbon, affordable for everyone. So I'll keep prices low, it don't quite fly when it comes to public company and public shareholders have got to stand up in front and wonder, you know, why they're there. Why that X amount of dollars per every bottle sold is going to some own else, when it could be coming to the distillery. So, I mean, certainly will it it will it is like, it's actually a quite interesting example. I mean, because it wasn't just I mean, can you you guys are right there, you know how fast those prices have gone up at the gift shop itself. You know, in the past year or two, I had a guy that lives right around there. A friend of mine that I gave him some, somebody to grab me whatever they had, and it was, you know, a great 14 year bourbon, and he got it for 250 bucks for what, two years ago? And what are they going to said they were for 1514 years or so? They were for a little bit, but then they they kind of dropped down? They've been kind of all over the place. Yeah, really can't put it down. 1:00:18 But they just had a 15 year release. That was 250. So I just want to go back to the days when it's just 10 bucks. Yeah, 10 bucks a year was a nice. 1:00:28 Little, I think those days are behind us. 1:00:30 Oh, yes, they are. And I kind of want to sort of wrap this up with one final question. And that is to say that, you know, we needed mentioned, you know, we're in the media, we are bringing this to light like this is a thing. But we're not the only ones that have brought it to light. Like there's there's countless articles that are out there. There's been spirit industry shows where they have breakout sessions on sort of stuff like this, too. So nobody's unaware of this. But let's just say that the government it is sitting behind the lines right now. And they're watching everything. They're taking notes, and they're figuring out, how do they close down every secondary market outlet in one night? with how large this is gone through a community aspect? Do you think that if they were to close everything in one night, would it actually prevent a secondary market? Or would it be like, just like everything, what else would happen is like, you shut down a Facebook group, there's 12 more, they're going to spin up right behind it. 1:01:34 Well, yeah, the demands not going anywhere, certainly. And the beneficiary or should be the retailers who are charging secondary prices right now. I mean, you want the you can only do a quick check on wine searcher will tell you all you need to know about that, no matter what state you're in. So while you do, you would lose the trading aspect of the community aspect of it, demand wouldn't go away, and people want bottles, they'll just say pay the same price as they're willing to pay, you know, someone over it off. It would just go to their liquor store, go online and get a shift from New York and New York prices. It'll just happen if they want it, they'll they'll get it, you know, through another avenue in this case, you know, obviously illegal one retailer. But yeah, you would lose, you lose the community lose the trading, but you don't lose the demand. I mean, if that's the 1:02:23 demand, I might increase 1:02:24 the demand. Right? You then retailers, like wait a minute, I don't have this whole gray market or black market to deal with? I can make a deal, you know, price even higher, and there's someone that's willing to come, you know, and drop that kind of cash on it. Really, yeah. This problem has a lot of issue. The second year market has so many different angles and so many different things to you know, it means a lot to the bourbon means a lot to people I mean, it's a very personal kind of product. And and in the history of Kentu

I’VE GOT THIS BIRD’S EYE VIEW AND IT’S IN MY BRAIN Ut aliquam purus sit amet luctus venenatis lectus magna. Et magnis dis parturient montes nascetur ridiculus. Nisl suscipit adipiscing bibendum est ultricies integer. Euismod in pellentesque massa placerat duis ultricies lacus sed. (What?) Id cursus metus aliquam eleifend. Elit ut aliquam purus sit amet luctus venenatis. Convallis a cras semper auctor. (WHAT?? How dare you! How dare you accuse me of phoning it in!) Venenatis tellus in metus vulputate eu. Lacus vel facilisis volutpat est velit egestas. (LOOK I REALLY RESENT YOU INSINUATING THAT I’M NOT TRYING WITH THIS BLURB! I always give it 100% you swine, and I won’t have my reputation besmirched. What do you mean am I still in bed? What’s that got to do with anything? Are you suggesting that I need to be in the office in my suit in order to write an appropriate blurb? Sorry pal, that’s not how ‘Le Muse’ works. Now shh. I’m composing) Porta lorem mollis aliquam ut porttitor leo. Felis bibendum ut tristique et egestas quis ipsum suspendisse ultrices… Gary Lactus & The Beast Must Die are here to turn the world’s frown upside down. Or failing that, turn the world upside down so that frown feels better. It’s only another SILENCE! Admin, Admin, gertcha Admin! The Beast’s Newport Convention, Tom Oldham & Nat Metcalfe on Book Shambles, Seth Myers, The Movies That Made Me and sponsorschism…it’s all right here baby Let’s hot foot it into the Reviewniverse, and barring a #classic technical fuck up, the pals talk up Eagle Comic, Punisher 2099, Marshal Law Vs Pinhead, The London Comic Mart, Mr X, Alien Legion: Grimrod, Mike McMahon, Toxic, Armageddon 2001: Justice League Annual, Mark Hollis (RIP), The Green Lantern, The Terrifics, LOEG: The Tempest, Big Guy & Rusty The Boy Robot, and Mr X (slight return)…Phew? YOU’RE AN ITEM! @silencepod @bobsymindless @frasergeesin @thebeastmustdie silencepodcast@gmail.com You can support us using Patreon if you like.

Our second video podcast!! This is the audio to go along with our video podcast found here: https://youtu.be/fLxzIUpbrBg She-shed!? What? How does your own brain mess with you? It happens to us all the time! Also, we have 4, yes, 4 tunes we try. Never played them before this episode!

Why Dave Decided to talk to Cristy Nickel: Author & speaker Cristy "Code Red" Nickel has been in the health and fitness industry since 1994. While studying Exercise Science at the University of Memphis, Cristy competed in 3 NPC Figure competitions, placing in the top 5 at each show. From being named the “Top 3 Most Dangerous Females on the Planet” to becoming a successful Entrepreneur, Cristy takes you on her journey. She explains how hiring a coach was one of her best business investments, by helping take her from being nearly broke to becoming a Click Funnels Two Comma Club Member in record time. Tips and Tricks for You and Your Business: Secrets to Success (5:40) Code Red Lifestyle (8:00) Business and Weight Loss Plan Implementation (9:30) Find the Right Price For Your Product (14:00) Code Red Funnel Information (21:30) Quotable Moments: "In business, you’re going to have to get people around you that know what they are doing." "Find someone who believes in your message, someones who really grasps what you are doing." "There are people out there that know more than you, that’s why their called coaches!" "Do not listen to your critics say, they are irrelevant to your future success." Other Tidbits: Cristy also explains the importance of surrounding yourself around a good supporting cast of people who can be there to help and mentor you in areas of weakness. She also explains the importance of understanding your self worth and product value. Being confident in the services you provide will separate you from the ordinary person. Links: FunnelHackerRadio.com FunnelHackerRadio.com/freetrial FunnelHackerRadio.com/dreamcar ---Transcript--- Speaker 1:     00:00         Welcome to funnel hacker radio podcast, where we go behind the scenes and uncover the tactics and strategies top entrepreneurs are using to make more sales, dominate their markets, and how you can get those same results. Here's your host, Dave Woodward. Hey everybody. Welcome to funnel hacker radio. You guys are. Speaker 2:     00:19         We're going to literally die at this whole interview process because I want to introduce you to one of the three most dangerous woman in the world. This is going to be one of most fun podcasts for Mika. We started doing this as she was telling me all about kind of stuff she was doing. I'm like, wait, wait, we got to stop. I want to make sure that everybody hears this and they get the excitement, enthusiasm that I have as I'm listening to. So Kristy, Nicola is one of our two comma club, winter. She's absolutely been crushing it. She, again, she's one of the most. What are the top three most dangerous woman in the world? Comes from super humble beginnings and I want to just let her fill in the gaps and tell the rest of the story there. So Christina been turned over to you as far as giving people an idea as far as how all this happened? Speaker 3:     00:57         Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I did. I grew up super poor and my parents hate. They hate when I say that, but I'm like, hey, we were really poor. We just didn't have any money growing up. And so when I got out of high school and I wanted to go to college, I started boxing as a way to just earn money because I'm bartending at night and I'm trying to pay my way. So I started boxing and I and I didn't know. All I cared about was I was just, I was making 500 bucks a fight. Well, I started knocking out my opponents like that one right after the other. My opponents, one girl I knocked out so bad, I ended up in the front row. Well that just started growing because if you can speak to the press, if you can sell tickets, that's boxing right there. You've got to be able to be able to sell tickets to put butts in the seats. Right. So I could do that because I could speak to the people and I was a fighter of the people and I traveled all over the world at 154 pounds. I climbed the world ranking system. I have two world titles and I was considered one of the top three most dangerous females on the planet. Speaker 2:     02:00         I want to have that record. That's super cool. People. People say, Speaker 3:     02:04         I don't want to mess with you. And I'm like at 42 years old after being retired for awhile, I'm like, I take me a little bit of time to warm up, but I could probably kill somebody. Kill him. Let me tell you. Speaker 2:     02:17         Well, I think the cool part about it is that led you into the next thing is which you've really made two comma club history for because of this whole idea as far as here you've got an athlete who's at the top of her game and yet as you just said, quoting you basically you were fat. Speaker 3:     02:32         Yeah. I started getting fat and I coined the phrase fat athletes because here I was the fittest, but I started getting fat and I'm in my early thirties. It shouldn't be happening, so I started picking up cycling at the same time and I wrote my road bike almost 300 miles a week. In fact, my husband and I wrote our road bikes all over the world that I'm getting fatter and fatter and fatter. So I started to. I just, I thought, what the heck is happening? I can't train any harder. So I started researching. I found out that I was fat because I have the bull crap food. I was shoving in my pie hole because I was carving up before rise in sugar, but I justified it because I was an athlete. I thought that was okay. All the lies we've been told all these years. I was following him because I've been told the same way, so I then changed my diet, dropped all the way in record time and ended up creating the code red lifestyle because that's what it. It hit me that anybody can lose all day what they want without any kind of bullcrap pill, without any kind of a bullcrap shape membership without a gym, without exercise, without diet foods, and everybody can do this by eating real food. Drinking water is sleeping. Speaker 2:     03:40         That is crazy. I get obviously that's what we call a new opportunity here, which is really tough to to come about and present in a highly, highly competitive industry like weight loss. I mean it's got to be one of the most competitive industries online for sure. Yet you've done it and I'm fastest. First of all, I have to admit I am a sugar holic and my kids bust my chops about it all the time, but it's one of the things I noticed you were as I was going through your site and everything. Again, guys, go ahead and check out code red lifestyle.com. Kind of follow through some of the funnels and thinks she's got there, but fill me in as far as this whole sugar thing because I know it's. It's my downfall, but at the same time I'm addicted, so I got to figure this thing out. Speaker 3:     04:23         Not your fault because sugar is eight times more addictive than heroin and that's not something we just throw around. We, we manufacturer addiction into foods food manufacturers do because they know it's highly addictive and your brain lights up in the same way, so all that stuff that you are not your fault. It is absolutely true and it's something you absolutely have to break and it's the hardest habit to break because it's in everything, but when my clients come to me, I don't let them have the work around. I don't let them have a things that kind of resembles something that might be sugar free. We eliminated completely because sugar, sugar feeds feeds into cancer cells. If these into disease. I mean you want to talk about the most problematic substance and that is sugar. Speaker 2:     05:09         Well, I actually just bought your book so they'll be here after I get back from California A. I'm a book collector I guess, but no, I'm actually super excited to read it. Again. One of things you've talked about is discover how I've helped over a thousand people lose weight and keep it off. He put it off again. That's kind of a new opportunity. Most people don't think about. Everyone talks about losing weight and I was talking with a couple of other people in this space and know. They said, you know, the great thing about our industry is they every three to four months people go on diets because they keep cycling through and through. I love your idea as far as keeping it off and so I want to kind of dive in. First of all, how, what, what propelled you to focus so much in this area and more importantly you weren't having a whole bunch of success until just recently and then all of a sudden it popped. I want to know what was that secret? What made it pop? Speaker 3:     05:57         Yeah. So the first thing that you asked, what made, what made you focus? Because I was. Because I battled with being an athlete. I didn't understand and I have a degree in exercise science. I still didn't understand because they're teaching us all wrong. So that drive to want to tell the world that you were being lied to you or being scanned or the food industry, you're being scammed by the Diet Industry. And so I have this, this, this growing, this incredible desire to spread the truth. But I was in, in, I was a hard worker and I put in the hours in my office. I had a good product. I'm a good nutrition coach, but I was not making any money. I was receiving Idaho state food stamps because I was so broke I couldn't make any money. So the Tasha haze that comes along Speaker 2:     06:41         as far as the timeframe here, we're talking. How long ago was this? Speaker 3:     06:45         Well, I created the code red lifestyle like six years ago, but it only started taking off two years ago. So I was just floundering four years because I didn't charge what I was worth. I didn't monetize correctly in my deliverables were so over. I was just giving everybody my firstborn child. And you know, you care so much, right? I mean entreprenuers we and, and you. Problem is you burn yourself out, you give too much. And I was given too much, I didn't have it streamlined, I didn't know what I was doing. So Natasha haze that comes to me and she wants, she needs to lose 60 pounds well quickly when she realizes how great my program works by just eating real food, drinking water at sleeping, there are no secrets or nothing to have to buy. You just follow the program. Uh, she was like, all right, this girl, it's like, hi. Speaker 3:     07:32         I feel like I'm robbing her by only paying her the $500 a program. Now my program is $3,000. And so she's, she was like, right. So she said, can I, can I give you a couple of tips? Well, at that time I had researched her behind her back and figured out what she was like. Of course you can give me tips. Well, we started a relationship that lasted two years and uh, she took me from poverty level all the way up to winning the two Comma Club award. And now I'm even blowing that out of the water. And just a couple of months since I've earned that award. Speaker 2:     08:04         Congratulations. Seriously, congratulations. That's awesome, and again, she looks great. She, she's been lost weight and kept it off, which is what it's all about. Speaker 3:     08:14         Keeping it off is to lose weight. You lose weight on a Cayenne pepper or diet weight anyway, but can you keep it off and that's what the code red lifestyle has discovered. We only follow three rules to keeping your weight off. You've got to stay on the scale every day. You have to drink your water every day and you never, never, never allowed a junk food back in your house ever because a drug addict doesn't keep drugs in their cupboard and you cannot allow it. You'll end up giving in. So we protect ourselves against giving in. But keeping your weight off is easy. It's not hard. Speaker 2:     08:46         I love it. I love my gosh. I'm hearing all these marketing messages. You're talking, I'm just pulling these crazy. You talk in wonderful soundbites I can. Some of the promoters must have loved having you on. Speaker 3:     08:57         Yeah, so I love this. This is a lot of fun and a lot of it is how you communicate with people. I'm not reinventing the wheel, but I say it in a way that gets through to people and for some reason people love that and I have a real direct approach to people. I don't put up with any bull crap arguing. Nobody tells me what to do because nobody gets weighed out. People better than I do. I mean I put myself up against anybody. You don't know who he was. I got this so you don't got this. I got you don't got this or you need me, so you need to do it my way or go find somebody else and that just seems to resonate with people and they know. I mean business. Speaker 2:     09:31         I love it. So far as a person who was the hard part about a lot of our life is we kind of go through it is we forget all. Even though you've had success in everything else and it was just only four or five, six years ago sometimes, all that, we don't remember exactly how bad it was. There's a lot of people who are listening going, yeah, but you know what worked for me? What is, what's is? What can you tell that as far as how? How can they implement things that you've done to actually get the success that you've had Speaker 3:     09:59         in my business or in weight loss? Speaker 2:     10:01         I wanted to first of all talk business and then we'll hit the weight loss. Speaker 3:     10:04         No, I love talking to business. The first thing you need to realize is that hard work ain't enough because I was a hard worker and my parents raised me on a farm. I know how to work. I can work anybody under the ground, but it wasn't enough. I know a lot of people out there that are hard workers, so getting a good team, getting a good coach. I mean, I know it's like Christie, of course, because your coach work. Getting some people around you that know more than me surrounding myself. I had to get. I just. I didn't understand how business works. I can be a good nutrition coach, but running my business I didn't know what I was doing and so absolutely key. You're gonna have to get people around you that know what they're doing and that can help you monetize and help you. Take the direct different direction. I've got people around me, I've got my husband's a retired CEO. I'd come to him with my profit loss statements, balance sheets. I come, you know I have my dad's an ordained minister. I come to him. I say handling this dad. I mean all these people. I surround myself with a whole team of people that are smarter than me at certain areas and we come together. We worked as a team, but by myself I never would have been able to do it without help. Speaker 2:     11:13         So how do you find a good coach? That's one of things that I hear people say all the time now you need to get a good coach. What? How do you find a good coach that resonates with you, that you're gonna? Be able to get the results that you need? Speaker 3:     11:22         I don't know. Natasha is my first coach that I ever had. I never even thought about. I didn't even know these guys existed. I just, I knew I had the feeling that I was. I was meant for more, but I didn't know what kind of a coach I needed. So as far as what, what really was great between the tosh and I think someone should look for in a coach is someone who believes in your message, someone who really grasp what you're doing is this. She was totally she. She was my heart. We all, we just the same heart I was helping her and she knew so that that helped a lot because we. I found somebody who absolutely everybody from Rachel Peterson does my ads. She and her team who have code red, they believe in Code Red. Carol feels my funnels, Kevin Carol Lambros read. So everybody who's a part of the team, I just think finding a good coach that that can be that, that understands your message and really is fully understands what you're going for and not just that, do this, do this, do this, and then someone's going to be straight up honest with you. Speaker 3:     12:29         I am straight up honest with people. I need someone to pull me aside and say, this ain't working. So I look for someone who's direct and I look for somebody who truly understands what I'm going for it. If you get some skinny person and never been fat before, how did they understand what it's like to be fat? I mean these 21 year olds trainers at the gym. I just go, oh out like you don't know, you don't know. Life live a little bit and then you can come to me. But so I, I look for someone who's going to be straight up honest with me in the nose, knows what I'm after. Speaker 2:     13:00         I love that. I think it's probably one of the biggest things that we've seen. Obviously we do a lot of coaching things throughout our personal business here and in my own personal life. I'm actually in the process of hiring a new coach and I think what you mentioned as you always have to have a coach. You talked about your dad being a spiritual coach, your how has been being a financial ceo, business coach and Natasha obviously helping you and going through that. I can tell you for me personally, I think the whole coaching thing kind of gets it. Sometimes it's real good and sometimes it's real bad and I think it's like anything else in life, if you find one, you're not getting the results, then stop and go out and find one right away and don't let the excuses as far as, well, I don't know what I need. Speaker 2:     13:38         You're gonna find the better you get at it, all of a sudden the new coach appears and I'm excited about the one I'm gonna be working with you next month actually again, just kind of came in is the right time, my life and that's what I was looking for. So I again totally agreed. Coachings and necessity. I love one of the things you mentioned and whether you've got this from Natasha not, but that idea as far as raising your price, it's one of the things everybody I know when they first get started is really hesitant to do. Do I have enough proof? Do I have enough? Is My program really work? And if it does, you know what's the right value in? And I'm supposed to be a giver. I'm supposed to be helping people and and this, this internal battle. So I want to kind of find out from you, how did you, you're such a giver and you just care so much about people and yet at the same time you have these super, super high levels of expectation. So how did you balance finding the right price and overcoming the idea as far as they needed help and give Speaker 3:     14:32         and in that that was a big obstacle for me to get over. I, um, because I wasn't charging nearly what I, what I was worth because I didn't know what I was worth and what I had to do is I had to, I had to rely on Natasha fee too to, to feed that into me an outside person. You know, I, I was doing it. I just, I thought that's what people pay for good coaching, but in person that you trust that comes along and they say, oh no, nobody in this country does what you do and you're undervaluing what you. And it took me awhile. It took me a solid year of. I kept hearing them. I kept hearing that. And then of course, of what she did with me is having me do my own research on my competition. Speaker 3:     15:17         Nobody does what code red does. Nobody offers the accountability. Nobody offers the one on one. And so once I started jumping through the hoops of learning what the market and then doing research and asking people, what do you think would find out like hip, like hypnosis for weight loss? Oh dear God, that was $3,000. And those guys hypnosis, I'm sorry, I, I should make fun of other people. But you know, the different prices of other people were charging. That helped me come to the conclusion that Bologna, I know I am worth this and now I can stand before anybody and say, Oh Bologna, I am absolutely worth this and this is what I'm going to charge. And I pay it. They love it. They pay it, you know, it's not over. But that's a major obstacle for people. And you know, and I had to get over the, the, the hard part, you know, because you do lose a piece of you, you know, people break your heart. Speaker 3:     16:09         Especially when you're in such an intimate relationship with somebody like weight loss. I just got rid of my one on one programs where I work for somebody 16 hours a day of, for 90 straight days and I'm telling you I did it for five and a half years and it just took a piece of my soul with every person. And so you got to learn boundaries, you know, and so it once between that and, and just know what you're worth. And shopping my competition was really helpful because nobody did what I did. And then, and then learning to trust Natasha and she said I need you to take my hand and trust me and we're going to hike up. We're going to double your price and I mean you want to talk about. I was scared but I absolutely trust her because there are people out there that know more than you. That's why they're called coaches. You got to do what they say. I took out a $50,000 loan to hire her. So it was. And I talk about a huge leap leap of faith, you know, and, and then another $50,000 loan to, to write my book. So these are not small steps, but I knew it was the right thing to do. So you're gonna have to be brave. You're going to have to step out of your comfort zone, uh, you know, and do what you know to do. But it takes that step of faith. Speaker 2:     17:17         I love it. Such great value there. Again, I think too often people are afraid to invest in themselves and you've always done such a great job about that. Whether it was for Speaker 2:     17:28         Basically Natasha and her coaching program or for a, I know the person basically writing your book the same type of thing there. And it's, you have. I've seen the same thing as far as my own life. And I think it's why raising prices is so critical as if you take a look at as far as raising your price, you're going to find that some clients actually won't buy your product because it's too cheap and those are the clients that you want. And so at times I see a lot of people starting off in their charging these ridiculously low prices and ensure I think, yeah, if you have to start there, that's fine, but you've got to be pushing that envelope all the time. And I literally, I had this conversation with Russell, gosh, probably almost a year and a half ago when I was like, there's the inner circle is way too cheap, Russell charging $25,000. Speaker 2:     18:11         And he's like, ah, I just don't know if I. I don't want to just edit. Even though it's Russell. And I've worked with him for over a decade now. We've done a ton of different projects. I'm like, the value you provide is so much more. And it's taking first it went a little bit and then there and now all of a sudden you know, it's 50 grand. And it's interesting because I was having that conversation where all of a sudden by raising that price, you start bringing in and attracting people who play at a higher level and, and they're more committed to your program and you inter get better results, which in turn allows you to raise your prices even more and help more and more people. So again, I'm so happy that you did. Obviously you've talked to them a huge blessing in your life and I think it's great to see. Speaker 3:     18:49         Yeah, she, she really has. And I've since moved on to James Freal who is literally just walked in the office. That's why I'm stepping up my game even further. So it's funny because I don't give away any programs for free because there ain't no skin in the game. Like come on. People ask me all the time when you donate a custom program for our option at the high school. No, not because I'm being a jerk. It's because nobody takes. Nobody appreciates free. Nobody values free. I refuse to do that meant do I solve it on July first? I'm good rate of more than double my price for my own program and I'm doing it too slow, too slow down the business a little bit. I need to slow down the flow because I can't. I don't have the bandwidth. They can't get their credit card out fast enough and I don't mean to sound callous. They value good coaching and they don't care. They don't care. The more expensive it is, the faster they'll face. Bizarre. Speaker 2:     19:48         No, I totally agree. In fact, I just recently hired, so it's 2,500 bucks a month for two from basically a session every other week for an hour, so whatever that equals. So I know 12 and 50 bucks an hour or some crazy thing. People are like, why would you spend that Kinda money? I'm like, because it's an investment in me. I know that little tiny investment, the results on that is 10, 2100 fold and it's. It's crazy. I think it's, again, I love the fact that you've been raised and I love the fact of raising them even more and I think the thing you said there, I hope people listen to and that is nobody. You have to. If you want people to play, they have to pay and those people. I can't tell you how many you can talk to people. How many, how many free ebooks do you have on your computer? I was like, oh my gosh, there's thousands. Do you ever read any of them? No, they're never going to read it. It's free. I don't value it. As much. Speaker 3:     20:41         Listeners need to understand too. Don't worry about what the critics say. You can't use that to block out that bullcrap noise from people that are going, I can't believe it. I can't believe she'll so expensive. Go play someone else. Go Away. Go to Jenny Craig. They won't take care of you like I will. I don't want your bad energy in my group, so. So get in, get out. We don't. We don't want you. If you're going to just block out the noise. I, I'm making more money in one month and those guys have ever made in their lifetime, so people trying to be critical of me and I don't mean to sound braggadocious like you try to be criminal critical. I can't believe Christa would charge so much will watch. Watch what happens. People stand back and watch. So you just got to block out the critics. They don't mean nothing. They are ill, you're relevant to your future, irrelevant. Speaker 2:     21:28         You know what? I love it once we get close to wrapping things up, obviously when people take a look@thecoderedlifestyle.com, and so how do people actually get into your funnel? Where does the start join the down. Take down. Speaker 3:     21:41         We're right in the middle of a challenge. So 10 pound takedowns close. We're not registering people, so that's one way though. The Code Red Revolution. You can go to the book, you can read about the book. I've got the audio, I read my own audio and code, red revolution come and lifestyle. You know, we're all over the place. I got a great youtube channel, a great facebook, right? Instagram. We're just, I try to be everywhere, Dave, Speaker 2:     22:03         I know how hard that is. We try as well and it's that content creation is that, and I can be a real time second time. So does well. Again, any parting words is we kind of wrap things up here. Speaker 3:     22:14         You know, I guess I'm just. What's great, real quick parting words with weight loss guys, you need to just listen to my voice and realize that if you are struggling with a weight problem, this is not difficult to do. There really isn't. You've got to be at rock bottom and you've got to start with the basics. Don't try to get all fancy with this. Start with water. Start with turning off your stupid phone an hour early and get better. Start taking care of yourself with water and sleep and you're going to start feeling better. Guys, if you need to lose weight, don't overcomplicate it. Make it simple. You'll be fine. Speaker 2:     22:47         Oh Man, I'm going to leave on that note, Chrissy, a million. Thank you. Thanks so much for being on the show. Love having you continued success and all that you're doing and we'll talk soon. Speaker 3:     22:55         Thank you so much dave. Speaker 4:     22:57         Hey everybody. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to podcasts. If you don't mind, could you please share this with others, rate and review this podcast on itunes. It means the world to me where I'm trying to get to as a million downloads here in the next few months and just crush through over 650,000 and I just want to get the next few 100,000 so we can get to a million downloads and see really what I can do to help improve and and get this out to more people. At the same time. If there's a topic, there's something you'd like me to share or someone you'd like me to interview, why don't these just reach out to me on facebook? You can pm me and I'll be more than happy to take any of your feedback as well as if you'd like me to interview more than happy to reach out and have that conversation with you so I can go to itunes rate and review this, share this podcast with others and let me know how else I can improve this or what I can do to make this better for you guys. Thanks.

Why Dave Decided to talk to Jeremy: Jeremy Griffin is the epitome of Mr. Hustle. His marketing prowess and ability to be the "crazy guy from the outside" has given him opportunities to build multi million dollar businesses. He is also a member of the "2 Comma Club" Jeremy details how he has been able to create a national event paid for by sponsors. He provides the keys you need to take your show on the road. He also reveals how to breakthrough the resistance of people saying, "My industry is different." Tips and Tricks for You and Your Business: Merging industries together to bring success: (16:45) Taking risks (19:45) Learning the fundamentals (20:08) Quotable Moments: "No matter what business you are in, you are in the people business." "If you are going after national fame, you better be ready for national humiliation!" "Every company needs a signature event that is outside of your facility that will bring everyone in your industry together, and  you can put your name on it and control." Other Tidbits: A lot of people focus on how can I bring my company the most value… when in reality, how do I put an event together that gives the sponsors the most value? If you don’t have the sponsors, you don’t have an event. Links: FunnelHackerRadio.com FunnelHackerRadio.com/freetrial FunnelHackerRadio.com/dreamcar ---Transcript--- Speaker 1:     00:00           Welcome to funnel hacker radio podcast, where we go behind the scenes and uncover the tactics and strategies top entrepreneurs are using to make more sales, dominate their markets, and how you can get those same results. Here is your host, Dave Woodward. Speaker 2:     00:17           Hey everybody. Welcome back. You guys are in for the ride of your life today. This is gonna. Be One of the fastest, craziest, next 20, 25 minutes or so. I have the opportunity to bring a dear friend on. Jeremy Griffin. Jeremy, welcome to the show. What's up my man? How are we doing? Oh, I'm so excited for this. You know, the fun part. I wish I could actually record and put it in. I made it. I'll have it at like the end of the. I should start recording there as soon as I start. First start talking because Jeremy, right Speaker 3:     00:41           dude, stop. Yeah. You know the show behind the show is always the fun show. Speaker 2:     00:49           So Jeremy feels the same way I do about title. So let's just say that Jeremy is just an amazing entrepreneur, has been crushing it and killing it. It's whatever. Two Comma club winters. He's got so many different businesses out there from real estate to blow and crap up on with events and honestly just one of the coolest guys out out there and a guy you definitely want to get to know. So check them out. Jeremy Griffin on facebook, but right now we're gonna dive in and kind of talk about. I'm still, again, I was going through all this, so background elite realty, real quick, your gut, but I don't know, $500, million different real estate properties yourself and you're going through and selling a couple here and there. Speaker 3:     01:24           Yeah. That, that's all kind of just been a natural extension of, you know, growing up in the construction thing. I got the opportunity to turn a guy's portfolio around about 10 years probably. And um, you know, when we're growing up flipping houses and whatnot, you're, you're basically doing management and doing this, that, and the other thing and showing them. And I'm just doing it anyways because I'm just aggressive and I've always selling something. Right? So I got the opportunity to do that, hopped on it. Uh, you know, got there, got that revenue up to that, that portfolio right there is probably about four to $5 million worth of assets and got increased their revenue by literally about 35 percent in 12 months and really haven't looked back with that man, you know, so all growing up with crazy uncle Larry paid off. Speaker 2:     02:13           Well, for those of you guys for listening, literally this is going to be just a popery of just random topics here. So with that, I'm going to just off the cuff here, how the world you. I've got a lot of real estate increase in real estate. Thirty five percent a year. What? How'd you pull that off? Speaker 3:     02:27           Twelve months. Alright, I'll, I'll be, I'll be really honest with you. My whole key to we do a lot of property management stuff and the real estate area, my whole entire key to that is to, and this sounds crazy to a lot of your audience, to look at it from a marketer's perspective instead of a landlord's perspective. Okay. You will be shocked how many people treat the properties that they're running. The people that are renting them, their customers has a giant pain in the ass. Okay. I've had, I've had no listen. I've had three women in my office up there, got three offices in Tampa. I've had three women in my office in the last five years up there who were moving for whatever reason I want to move, started crying and saying, I've never had somebody treat me with a level of respect that you have. Speaker 3:     03:11           You treated me like a human being and I will do everything. I'm getting referrals from people that rented it from, from our company, from 10 years ago. Still, you know, so it's. Everybody has to, oh you got to be tough. You got to be. And I'm like, so this is the first industry in the history of industry where if you act like a giant Dick, you'll get better results than if you're nice. Like, no, no, like, stop that, you know. So, and that was really the whole key to it was establishing really turning apartment complexes into actual legitimate communities. Okay. That people can be proud of. And when you do that, people stopped moving and you start. The one thing that I found was key. I started running and newspaper Ad. Think about who still reads the newspaper ads. Older people or people. Quieter people. Speaker 3:     03:58           Okay. And I started off the headline. It says very, very, very, very, very quiet apartments for rent ads. Say the same thing. That. So if you're a party animal, like you're not even, you're not even messing with that, right? Like, and I get people that are sick of all the nonsense and, and I promise I will do everything in my power to maintain that, you know. So it's uh, it's that delicate balance of, of coming off his, you know, his understanding, but also assuring them that if things do need to get dealt with, like trust me, I'll get them dealt with. Okay. So that was it man, you know, get out, get out a lot of the bad problems, tweak the way that their portfolio here. They were actually renting everything on a income based on. They were negotiating everything. Everything. And I'm like, guys, it's like, they're like, well, what if you have to turn somebody down? Speaker 3:     04:48           I go, then your marketing isn't strong enough. Okay, you should have an unlimited amount of people that are coming here to rent these things if you do it right. You know? So streamlining the operations, get the marketing right, develop an actual real community. I mean we're talking with you guys with culture, you know, and culture is so important and it's, it's, it's so definitive how things are going to go and do that. And I'll be honest with you, that is the honest to God's truth, man, with that whole entire portfolio. Thirty five percent by the end of that year and I haven't looked back since then. So Speaker 2:     05:22           for those, you guys are listening, I know we're talking real estate. People are going, gosh, it has nothing to with the funnel. Understand everything is always marketing. You're always, always, always marketing. And it's one of the main reasons I wanted Jeremy on. We're going to talk about a whole bunch of different things, but I want to make sure you guys understand if you're listening here, everything is marketing. I love what you just said, Jeremy, as far as you shouldn't have to be catering to different things. You should literally, if your marketing works, you got enough customers. It's not okay. Speaker 3:     05:46           Exactly, exactly. And it. And here's the thing. It is all marketing, right? And if you want to get into what you guys do, there's no reason why anybody in any industry at this point is not creating their content, putting it out there, driving the traffic, capturing the information and then remarketing to them so those people and then also taking the previous and current clients and remarketing to them through other means as well to get the referrals and all that stuff up. I don't care what industry you're in. Right? And that is kind of what's been really neat over the last three to four years of me jumping into marketing, into management and now I'm in manufacturing with grizzly over there and now we're launching this national event tour thing too, is that you start to find a lot of synergy between industries, between business and, and, and I tell you what man, and you probably will agree with me on this, almost everybody that you talk to when you start getting into things and you come at it with a very simplified way of how we can fix this as well. Speaker 3:     06:44           You don't understand this industry is different. I don't know. This industry is different and I'm like, actually no, they're not. They're all people. Okay. That is the main variable with all of them. They're all the same. So, and you know what I mean, they have different minor differences and whatnot, but everybody always feels like there is this unique. And it's like, no, come on, I'm sorry. It's not, you know. So I've, I'm trying to get further down my goal of eventually becoming the next. Marcus limonus were being all over the place is my emo. Right? Right now I'm too right now too small and everybody I know that like as cash, it's like, dude, you're an idiot. What are you like, you're all over the place. I'm like, you're right. I am. How old am I going to learn all this stuff? You know, I going to get to a point where I could walk into any company and be able to put together a formulation to fix them, you know, and eventually then it get so good at it that I can walk in and get equity out of it too, you know what I mean? Speaker 3:     07:39           And all that. Which is basically what I just did with grizzly. So you know, that's it man. You, you, you, you can watch all the youtube videos on the planet on how to change your brakes. Okay. I assure you when you go out there to actually try to change your brakes, it is a whole nother ballgame. Right? So that's the only way you learn. You got to do it, you know. So. Speaker 2:     07:59           Oh Man, I hope you guys are listening to just writing a ton of notes. I mean, Jeremy's dropping value bombs like crazy here. Again, just to restate real fast, I want to make you guys all understand because if we just said it real quick and that is understand, everyone's always going to say that my industry is different. You are in the people business no matter what business you are in, you are in the people business and focus on people, people, people always. And then the other thing I just love is the fact that you've. You learned by doing so, get off your butt. Go out there and work. Next one I'm going to dive into here. We're going to go real faster and that is grizzly targets. Fascinating business. Dude. You've got equity in this business, so tell people what Grizzly grizzly targets is. Speaker 3:     08:36           Okay, so grizzly targets makes a lot of steel reactive targets. You shoot them, they bounced down and pop back up there. They range anywhere from like 100 bucks a pop. We've got a couple of systems that are $2,500. We sell two military installations, endusers professional rangers. Uh, it's a lot of BDB grizzly targets. I started there with two other guys seven ago out of a guy's garage. I came up with the knit and marketing guy, right? Came up with the name this day and the other thing, all that about 15 months ago, the sole principle in that was like, I think I'm going to go try some other stuff out. I was like, no bro, like, come on man. No. So I was like, give it to me. And he goes, what? I go give it to me. And he goes, what do you go? Give me the business. Speaker 3:     09:16           He goes, so you can do one with it. And I was like, what do you mean? So I can do what I want to do, you know? So we came up with a really, really, really great deal. Went out, found some investment partners, reopened the door and I have been on a terror to take that. And of course it's 12 months from a company that not a lot of people have heard about. Small company to an industry icon. And I got to tell you a like we are well, well, well on our way, I've got the whole product lineup is all fixed. We have literally have the best products in the industry. There are some of the most expensive products in the industry too. But when you're dealing with things like that that are functional and let's face it, like people are shooting at them, I want the best stuff. Speaker 3:     09:59           Okay. So we got the product line all lined up. We've been doing a ton of. I mean honestly straight up just ripping off daily Vee, right? A lot of day in the life video. I do that with all the clients now, right? And they're like, well can you explain that? I'm like, go watch daily Vee. That's it right now when we do it with, when we do it, we make it a little bit more polished because I'm not trying to crank five of them out in a day like that. Maniac is right. So if there's a little bit more music in the b roll is better and this a little bit more set. But we started doing a lot of that, that really caught a lot of people's attention, um, and you know, by doing all of that and then taking that drops on gunner event and merging that in with grizzly has the lifestyle side of the whole thing. Speaker 3:     10:44           I've really, I mean, and we're getting ready to. We're getting ready to grab a possibly merge with something else here coming up. I can't talk about it, but that's another seven figure business that is going to only further this whole thing. And uh, yeah man. Well I'll be honest, my goal was within six months to do all of this. Okay. That was bat shit. Crazy possible to do all of that six months. Right? So it's looking like by the time it's all said and done, we'll be on tour for drops on Grizzly with the drop zone gunner event will be on tour by the end of this year. Um, I just got back from a giant conference. Nobody in those boots is not hurting us at this point. So. And big boots. So I'm talking about boots that are like, you know, 10,000 square feet maybe with offices and I'm like those giant trade shows, right? So it's going to be about 18 months, man, where I've taken them from a company that nobody's heard of and turned it into an industry juggernaut and I tell you what, the formula that I created for this to do this can be applied to almost any other industry too. So you know, once we're done with this, we're going to put people on the hook here and hang on because I want to keep that little bait Speaker 2:     11:54           out there. That's the hook. You guys, this people are listening. They don't know what drop the gun drop zone gunner is and you've got to get the backstory here because drops on. Gunner hardly know what it is. Explain to me, but I can. I think this is where people have to understand is this is what is so cool about when you get involved in marketing and you really get it and you understand it, opportunities present themselves. Here you've got this crazy business where you've got these grizzly targets and all of a sudden it segways and leads into what really the byproduct of grizzlies actually and become a bigger business possibly think grizzly targeted. So tell people what is drop zone gunner. Speaker 3:     12:29           So drops on gunner was an insane idea I had about three years ago to essentially combine tough mudder with Spartan, with American Ninja Warrior, and then throw a bunch of pistols, shotguns and ars in the mix. Okay? And it was, it was crazy. It was, um, I learned on that first one, two and a half years ago that if you are going after national fame, you better be ready for national humiliation because works. One that I put on two and a half years ago was, dude, it bombed, it bombed. It was a sticker. It was an egg. Okay. And I tell you what though, a couple of a couple of really influential people in the industry flew down to check it out. And they said, you know, Jeremy, they said, everybody's always talked about doing something like this. And he goes, holy, holy cow. He goes, you're crazy enough, you actually did it, and I go, yeah, I go and look, it's working now. Speaker 3:     13:19           A lot of people said, boy, that was a disaster. I bet you're never going to do the good thing that's done it, but you're never going to do that again. And I go, what are you talking about? I go, did you have any idea how much I just learned from that, like I logistically cracked the code on how to combine those two worlds in a safe monitored way that anyone can compete on. So I've taken the OCR world obstacle course racing world and then the shooting competition world, the gun industry and merge the two together in this act of fun medium that nobody's done before. Right. And, and I will say I'm very proud of that because you know, the, the word entrepreneur gets used a lot these days. I think a lot of us are small business people. We're not the entrepreneur that's trying to put something together that's never really been done, you know, which is kind of what that word used to mean a lot more. Speaker 3:     14:07           That is something that actually, I mean, it was crazy as shit man. So I did it. It was awful on the first one, um, we couldn't even build most of the obstacles. The obstacles were, a lot of them were supposed to be built like 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide. They all came in and reverse why 20 feet tall guys flying over these things, like they're all going to. Everyone's going to get hurt. I mean it was, it was bad dude. Right? So it's. But we got through it. I put on another one once we figured out that we're doing this grizzly thing, I'm like, cool, now I can merge this right in with grizzly. Right? Because I think every company needs a signature event that is outside of your facility. I mean you guys know, you know, you need that signature event that's outside of your facility that will bring everyone in your industry together that you can put your name on and you can control. Speaker 3:     14:56           Right? So that was essentially the initial event for startup street because I always wanted to have the craziest and I've toned it down a lot over the years significantly. But I'm like, no, we're going to be the craziest part getting group over. Like I found out that you can be too crazy. People won't call you. Okay. So that was supposed to be for that. So I was like, who, we can merge this in with grizzly now. And we put on another one. I got it all sponsored up. I mean it was uh, it was about $150,000 event that we put together. Okay. And I mean hundreds and hundreds of people were running it. A card, Owen's wife Elena, she's on team grizzly. She ran it. She was like, Jeremy, you are the craziest sop I have ever seen in my life. She goes, what is this? This was awesome. Speaker 3:     15:42           And I was like, I don't even, I don't even know what this says at this point. I'm like watching this machine function, right? And I'm just like, whoa. Like how did we do this? So, so we did it in January, perfected the concept, just got back from that trade show a month ago, walked out of there, we needed about a quarter of a mil and sponsorships to put this national tour together, um, walked out with half of that ready and delivered a more than half of it promised, but has, we all know you can't count it until it's, the check is cleared and you took the money out, right? So, so we got enough money to get that going. And basically what we do now is I've built something where the tour is going to take place and go around the country and what we're doing is we're going to different firearms manufacturers, hometowns, and essentially what I'm doing is I'm bringing Lollapalooza to the gun industry and I'll be honest, I think that that is really unique and that's really different because you have an industry that has a lot of challenges obviously. Speaker 3:     16:41           Right? And then this always takes some crazy guy from the outside in every industry to come in with something and push it through. And I got to tell you, man, if you saw the reactions of everybody in January, which I've never seen that many happy people in my life, right? So, so we're doing a national tour and that's how we have a setup is where we go to the home towns of these major manufacturers and essentially throw this party in their backyard and they love this because. And there's something to that I don't think a lot of people realize when they're putting events together. A lot of people focus with events on how can I do this to bring my company the most value, right? It's all about me. How do I get the most value out of all of this? When in reality, for most of us it's about, it should be about how do I put an event together that gives the sponsors the most value, more so than the other events in this industry. Speaker 3:     17:33           Because if you don't have the sponsors, you don't have an event, right? So if you start off with that in mind, you end up with something that you can get sponsored, which is a hell of a lot better than having a really cool idea that no company wants to write a check for and it's dead on arrival. Right? So, so that's it. All of the company stuff is all staged. It's all getting used. We got backpack companies and people are running through the trails with their backpacks on, right. The gun companies sponsoring all the guns are getting used. Um, I mean, you name it, if it's a sponsorship item, it's getting used in it, which is just the most incredible user content. Right? So we'll see. Man, it's, it's, it's pretty far fetched. But uh, you know, I mean, I don't see why it's not gonna work at this point. I'm just going to keep hammering at it until it does. Anyway. So Speaker 2:     18:21           dude, that's just so awesome. Again, you guys are listening. I hope you're taking massive notes. I mean, it's, you're listening to a guy who's out there just taking massive, massive action. And I love journey. I just totally transparent. You know what? Sometimes it just flops, it just doesn't work. But it's what you learned from that flop. Speaker 3:     18:37           Yes, yes. And almost. And there's a rule of thumb generally in most media companies when somebody's putting on an event, don't sponsor the first one, right? The first one is the learning experience, you know, and, and I gotta tell you it like most people never even make it to the first one. Okay. And then they make it and they're like, Oh God, that was awful. We shouldn't do that again. And it's like, no, this is the time when you have to be so stupid and competitive that you're like, no, we're doing it again against all freaking advice whatsoever. Right. He threw up, we threw a party when I was like 17 or 18 and we called it. It was a keg party. We have bands come out and all that. And we called it. The freaks come out at night. And I was, the cops were called. I mean, for all intensive purposes, it was a disaster. Right? And I was the only one that was like, no, it's a good start. And everyone's like, no, never. Again. How about that Jeremy? So I, you know, I, I'm more than willing to fail a little bit and, and embarrassing myself a little bit for the good of everything else in the end because it is, it's the only way you get there and somebody has to be the one willing to risk the humiliation. You know, what risk it. You get all the freaking praise afterwards. If it works too though. So Speaker 2:     19:52           and you've been getting again, you've been crushing it. It is so cool to see the different things your success. Again, I love the fact that you're in multiple industries and yet you're finding ways of bringing them together and you're using the same skill set that you've learned and I think I hope people understand how important learning the skills that you've got to learn the fundamentals. The fundamentals are the most important part in business. I've, you know, you're joking around about this whole idea as far as entrepreneurial right now it's kind of a popular word. I, I remember when I first got started as an entrepreneur basically meant that you couldn't get a job anywhere else. That's how most people looked at me, like, oh, so you can't make it, so that's what you're calling her. Speaker 3:     20:26           So there's a lot of, there's a lot of truth to that. Speaker 2:     20:31           I think there's these days. I, I love just your, your sticktuitiveness. I mean, no matter what, you just keep going. And that's the fight that I hold. People who are listening, you understand the only people that are successful, they keep fighting through all the losses. So as we kind of get close to wrapping things up, Jeremy, what other words of advice would you have for our listeners? Speaker 3:     20:50           Um, I, I don't know, but thinking about what you were just saying, I think that, you know, not so much a word of advice. Maybe Elon Musk is sleeping in his factory right now. Okay. They're so backed up. He is sleeping at the factory. Okay. Now one guy did bring up a good point. He said, well, doesn't he have like five kids or something you think that might have something to do with it? But I mean, so not really. You know, that's not a word of advice, but if you take that and you look at that guy's level of success in what he's still willing to do to get those preorders taken care of for that new Tesla model or whatever that is, that is everything you know, and, and, and there's a lot of smash talk going on out there right now against old hustle. Speaker 3:     21:32           Hustle is, you know, hustles overrated and all that. And I always say that it's very interesting that once that whole hustle culture came to fruition was about two to three years ago and most of the time in business it takes about two to three years to burn somebody out, right? So now we're seeing this, this whole movement came and it's a few years later now, all these people were like, oh, that's all overrated. Like, no, dude, you got your ass kicked. Okay, you couldn't hang man. You know, so that's it, man. It's, it's the, everything is the drive. You cannot work your competition. You can eventually hammer that square peg into that round hole if you hit it hard enough. And I'm not trying to, you know, undermine strategy or work smarter, all of that. These all have to happen. But that is the, that is something man, that everybody's got to take through it a to take from it because everybody who turns into a really, really, really, really big name has that. Speaker 3:     22:27           I love it. It's the one common factor. So I have to agree. Well, tell me, people are going to be dying to reach out to you. What's the best way to connect with you? I would say just go, just go hop on the drop zone gunner page on facebook or go check out the grizzly pages. The one that's most pop in these days. That's where most of the efforts going into a grizzly targets on facebook. There is a lot. I do a lot of contacts and a lot of interactive stuff. We have a Friday night faceoff video series that we're doing now where people can bet and gamble on Monday mornings on who's going to win between a and B and under what time? And on Friday night, like Friday night fights at 9:00 at airs and whoever gets closest and picked the correct winner wins xY, , z. So definitely check that out. It's a, it's a lot of fun. So there, you know, I always love talking to you. It's so great having you on the show. Thank God. I know you've got a million things going on and today wasn't the most productive, as you've mentioned earlier. So, uh, I appreciate you suck. You saved by day. Okay. I haven't smiled all day and I'm so happy. Speaker 3:     23:32           Uh, Jerry, always a pleasure. We'll talk soon. Awesome man. Thank you. Speaker 4:     23:36           No, one of the things that means a ton to me is the personal reviews that you guys leave on itunes. You wouldn't mind going out, rate the show, let me know how I'm doing. Just go to Itunes, click on the episode and rate and leave a comment. I read all the comments. I appreciate all the stars and everything differently already left for me. Again, I really appreciate it and it's my way of finding out how I'm doing. So if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it. And I again, thank you so much for all you guys do. Have a great day.

This is the extended version of what I taught at Funnel Hacking Live 2018. There are TWO parts to a funnel's core... What’s going on everyone? It’s Steve Larsen and you’re listening to Sales Funnel Radio. I’ve spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now, I’ve left my 9 to 5 to take the plunge and build my million dollar business. The real question is, how would I do it, without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer. Join me and follow along as I learned, apply, and share marketing strategies to grow my online business, using only today's Internet best sales funnels. My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio. I am so excited for this episode. I've been dying to record it. I feel like it's going to be one of the episodes that I look back on and I'm like, “man that was one of the Hallmark, amazing episodes of sales Funnel Radio.” You know what I mean? 10 years from now, hopefully this show is still going, but I feel like I look back and be like, “man, that was one of them. That was one of the ones that made it click for a lot of people.” It's one of the things that made a click for me, and anyway, I'm excited to share with you. It all kind of started honestly, well, how should I say this? How far back you want to go? Lets see, I was born in 1988. No. So, it's been it’s been a lot of fun working with Russell because, what is fun about it is, I feel like he and I are probably some of the only people on planet earth that geek out at the level that we do. And so, every time we see each other it's like a show and tell, like, “hey dude, check this out.” And he shows me, and we go through all the cool stuff he's doing. And I'm like, “yeah, check this out.” I tell him all the stuff I'm going through and doing, and the epiphanies that either or of us have had. And so anyway, I was chatting with him a little while ago, and that is when he was saying, “Hey, we want to get you on the funnel hacking live stage”, and I was like, “sweet.” Are you serious? Okay. That’d be awesome. And, which just ended, and I'm kind of backtracking a little, okay? I'm a little bit behind on recording these episodes. But I went and he said, “We want you to teach new offer creation in 10 minutes.” I was like, 10 minutes?! What? Oh my gosh! That's what I teach in 3 days at the fan event.” You know what I mean? Are you serious? Okay. Oh my gosh. So, I was sitting there in and the magic formula happened, which is caffeine and dubstep. I was pacing around my own office here and I remember. My head was just kind of subconsciously on this problem, and I love that. Because I will be in random places around the house, around wherever, and I'll have these epiphanies like, “oh my gosh! It's easier like that... Holy crap!” My head is constantly on these problems, you guys. I rarely think about anything else, which sounds like obsession, and it is, and I'm glad it is, okay. I sit and just kind of think. I told you guys a little while ago how I kind of brainstorm and come up with these ideas. I imagine them as these little threads and I kind of tug on them, see where they lead, and if it's like good then I just drop it and I go on to the next thing and try and find different possibilities for solving different problems. Anyway, I was thinking through. I was trying to distill down the 3 days into minutes. It was rough, it was rough. I was trying to work the problem, and figure out the different angles to teach it. I went into click funnels at like 10:00 at night the week before Funnel Live happened. I sat there and I was trying to do it for about 2 hours. I was doodling. For some reason if I can doodle it I know that I can teach it, and I know that it's a clear thing. And so that's the reason why I draw so many pictures. So, I was doodling and I was like, “oh my gosh.” I started having these epiphanies and they start coming faster, and faster, and faster, on the way to teach this. Well, next morning I'm back in the home office here, which is where I'm now, and I was standing in front of my white board and all of a sudden I had this, guys I don't know really how this happens but I will forget where I am. It actually makes me a little bit nervous because it's happening more frequently. Whatever I'm thinking of, that's where I physically feel like I am at that time. I will forget where I'm standing and I get kind of lost, in my head. 20 minutes will go by and I'll suddenly come to and realize that I've been standing in the corner of the room for a while. But I’ve been deep meditation and thought. It's a little bit weird and it's kind of happening more frequently. I'm kind of trying to get used it. So, I was in one of those little, I don't know what I'm going to call it, weirdness things. I was kind of zoning out a little bit. All of a sudden, I had this realization. One of the things that people struggle with the most when it comes to building funnels is, they think that the funnel is a series of pages, and we have had the hardest time trying to describe in this very small amount of words, the shortest amount of words, what a funnel actually is. Right? My mom used to think that funnels, I was selling literally kitchen hardware. “You’re selling funnels, kitchen stuff. You don’t even know how to cook.” I’d be like, “yeah I know I should not be in that space.” Anyway, we’ve had a hard time getting people to understand what a funnel is without people seeing it, right? We've tried literally for years. We’ve tried to figure out how to explain what a funnel is in the shortest amount of time, where people are like, and “oh.” A couple of years ago, that's honestly where this whole conversation started. We were trying to figure it out. It's a series of pages linked together to turn prospective customers into buying customers. Oh man, that's just a lot of a lot of, how do we shrink it down? What’s the core of funnel building? Suddenly, it hit me! That’s what I'm so excited about, you guys! Holy crap! What is it?! I figured out. I was sitting I realized, I was standing in front of the white board and I realized, that at the core funnel building is the offer. For a long time I was saying that. It's the offer, it's the offer, and the core funnel building is the offer. But it's not. It's actually only half of it. The other half of it is story. It's the sales message. It's the belief that carries the offer, and those two things is what makes a funnel. It's the reason why whether or not you decided to make a funnel, you have a funnel. If you're in business and you've made a sale, you brought them through a funnel. Whether online or offline, intentional or not, you have a funnel. It's just better if it was intentional. It's the reason why people can go, it doesn't matter if it's online, offline. Doesn't matter what you're selling. If there was a sale that was made, there was some kind of offer. Most times people don't make an intentional offer, they have a product, but there's also a message, a belief that carried that into the heart and mind of that person when they purchased it. I was like, holy crap! Maybe I should find that box, because I sent Russell. I was like freaking out like, “holy crap.” And he was like, “oh my gosh that’s crazy. Should we change the drawings, change sketches?” So, this whole concept, it's not leaving me, and it's been staying for a long time, guys. So, what I wanted to do real quick is go down and kind of teach you guys the same thing that I taught at Funnel Hiking Live. It took me a solid, see I had this major realization. It was like three o'clock in the afternoon and I started yelling. No one else was in the house at all and I would start yelling. “Oh my gosh! This is so cool! Are you serious?!” I was just yelling. Legitimate yelling and screaming. “This is crazy!” Yeah, I'm that guy but whatever. I'm proud to be that guy. And I was like, “sweet.” I had to get my slides to them by the next morning. And so I didn't go to sleep. Had dinner, said goodnight to the kiddos, and then from that moment on, I stayed up until 4:45 in the morning distilling down to ten slides. It was so hard, guys, was crazy. So I worked a lot on this, not just at night but this has been a problem that's been on my head for years. I’ve had the privilege of teaching a lot of times. But the quest to make things more simple is extremely important and making things complex does not make you smarter. In fact, usually means you don't bring as many people along with you, because they think you've got to be like techno babbly, loaded up. It’s better to just keep it simple. So, what I want to do real quick is, I want to teach this in the way that I experienced it and I want it to be, how should I explain this, gosh guys, I would take notes. Because when you realize at the core of this, and you realize really, there’s three forces that were fighting with, that I was fighting with, to try to figure out what this is. When you realize what these are, where they come from. I feel like it’ll make people’s lives better because you'll be more intentional on both funnel hacking and creating your offers, your funnels in general. Then I see episodes here, I can dive into this to teach you what I am looking at when I look at someone's funnel. It's not so much about pages anyway. So, let's get into here. So, let's start with the plot to a woman's story. If you don’t know what I'm talking about, go to Funnel Hacking Live. So, I started with this question, how do you make money online? It really happened when my wife and I found out that we were going to have a kid. Our first child. We were super excited. This is over four years ago now, which is crazy. I was reading dotcom secrets. Read for the first time, you guys all now this. I was in the prune, I was in an Army exercise. Laying down, with my M-16 for about 10 days in the dirt. With my weapon in my right hand, and dotcom secrets in my left hand. That's how I read the book the first time. I read the book it was like, “this is crazy.” What I realized was that it was saying, funnel hack somebody.” Model someone to the T and then just do what they did. And there's safety in that. And it makes sense to do that. Students that get hired to click funnels, we start putting together expert secrets, but the message of that one is, create something new. So the first one says, model someone to the T, don’t deviate, the second one says, make something completely new. Do not do something like what someone else did. And then I'm reading another book, read the book Innovator's Dilemma, which says that if a new market does not exist it cannot be analyzed. It cannot be analyzed. It's unknowable because it doesn't exist. It's your turn to create a new niche. Your turn to create a new market. You're going to have a hard time doing that out of your own precepts, out of your own head because you don't know you. So, by the law of the way this happens you must create the new niche with the customer. It cannot be from your own head. Right. So you take those 3 concepts and think about them. Number 1, you've got to model hack, model someone to the T. Number 2, and create something brand new. Don't bottle anybody. Number 3, it must be created with the customer or it'll be an approval based offer by defaulting. What? How does this all 3 go together? This question has been on my head for a long time. So, to answer this we've got to understand more of the core of the funnel I was talking about, because the answer is actually to do all 3 of those in tandem, to a point. First of all, we're going to funnel hack. Second, this is like Dorothy in The Yellow Brick Road. We're going to follow the yellow brick road as far as the yellow brick road goes. When it ends, I'm going to teach you how to make a new brick, lay down there, but do it with people so that it gets laid perfectly, with directional customer. Does that make sense? That's the answer. That's how you do it.... So, to understand more how to do this, let’s understand the core funnel building. First of all there is an offer and a belief, that’s. That’s at the core of a funnel. That's why it can be offline, online. Whether or not you made one on purpose, you have one. If you made a sale, you made a funnel. So, there is an offer and a belief, and the belief carries the offer. This is like those little red wagons. That's a like story, whatever is in the red wagon is belief, that’s like the offer. The story carries the offer. That's how it works. Without the belief, we would have the story part, the offer part does not get delivered. Because they’re going to look at it and go, I don’t understand that.” But if you understand that story it's what changes beliefs, it’s what changes paradigms, that people are like, “oh my gosh, I need that offer.” Yes you do, comes with it. So, the story delivers the offer. Is this making sense so far? I don’t know if it is. I know I'm going kind of deep in this. It’s a little more techno babbly. I have graphics, and pictures, and drawings to display this but I need you to understand how this works. Since that is the core of a funnel, you've got to understand that dream customer, the people that you would love to be buying from you, they're already consuming both. They're already consuming both and here's why. I don't want you to think of health, wealth, and relationships as 3 markets. The health, wealth and relationships, those are like the 3 moneymaking markets. Those are the three no-duh buying experiences. Those are the 3 markets we try and fit every single thing into. Health, wealth, relationships. If you got health, wealth, relationships, one of those, your offer might not fit into it. You're like, “Steven, I'm selling Rubik's Cube. How does that work for health, wealth, relationships?” The actual product does not need to fit in it but the sales message, at least, must. I usually use the example of Gillette. Gillette razors. Right. What market are they in? Health, wealth, relationships? They’re in relationships. Why? Because, I'm thinking of the commercial, some guy is shaving in the mirror, and he's like, “oh yeah, I'm the freaking man,” and a woman comes up afterwards and feels his face up. You've seen the commercials, right. That's what's happening. They're selling relationships through the commodity of razors. Dudes, you want the woman, you use this razor. Right. That's what they're doing. You got to understand that your dream customer is already consuming both an offer and a belief, with hopes that it delivers to them either health, wealth, or relationships. That's another way to think of this. Because they're already consuming an offer and a belief, your opinions don't matter. You're not the one who fills your own wallet, right. You don't fill your own wallet. Stop caring so much about what you think. Step number 1 is all about hacking, which is really answering these two questions. The two question is number 1, what is my customer’s current vehicle, or offer that they're consuming? And number 2, what’s the current belief of how they're buying it? It’s the and how what. What is it? You guys have heard that before. I'm just trying to tie all these pieces together so it becomes clear. That's the core of funnel hacking. Funnel hacking not so much, “hey there's a green button on the right, there’s a picture of someone on the left.” Yes, that's like the micro level. At the macro level, what you really looking at, is you're trying to answer the question, what is the current offer and current story that my dream customer is consuming. That's my starting place, that's funnel hacking. That’s the core of funnel hacking. So, what you're going to do is, like I said, you're going to fit your business into one of the 3 markets, right. Health, wealth, and relationships. And when you funnel hack, you're looking for those two things right. The offer the belief, from the red ocean. Now that you know what the offer and the belief are, the second step is start applying more of the expert secret's model. Expert secret’s model is taking it into a place where you're selling a new opportunity, a new niche a new market that you're creating. And by the law of creating something new that does not exist, you cannot analyze it, therefore you must make your with the customer. And there's various ways to do that. Get clever. That's how it launched my product back in January. So, please understand the offer equals the result, the offer delivers the result. When you create an offer, not product, it means you no longer have to compete on price. Rather than selling back to this red ocean where everyone’s competing on price and someone’s like, “no, I'm going to bleed for the customer more. No I'm going to bleed for the customer. No I'll take less margin. No, I'll take less margin.” It’s this race to the bottom. If you don’t do that crap the way to get around it is by selling it offer. Because it over delivers on value, which lets you sell sell it at the actual price you'd like to. So, just structure an offer, this is super hard to do for podcasts. I hope this is making sense, guys. I hope this is good stuff. Please understand that every single one of these concepts I'm talking about are all things that I realized over the last two years, especially, as my head has just not really ever left the topic. But when you're going to structure an offer, you actually don't structure the offer based off of the offer in the red ocean. You structure the offer based off of the belief in the red ocean. Does make sense? Let me say that again. To create a new opportunity to create a new vehicle, right, that will deliver health, wealth, or relationships, one of those three, you actually don't create it off of what the current vehicle and offer is. Actually created off of the current belief is, and from that we gain the vehicle internal and external related beliefs. This is complete technobabble and I am way the weeds here. Please stick with me, okay? We're going to find vehicle based beliefs that people have inside the red ocean. internal and external. The internal beliefs, I like to think of them as insecurities. These are these are beliefs people how about themselves and their capacity to actually achieve something. I can't speak I'm not good enough. I could get on stage. I can't talk. I would know how to do this. I, I, I, I, and it's their internal struggles that they have when they see this new vehicle that you're going to present. Here's how you get health, wealth, or relationships. They look at it like, “that's so cool.” “You know what. I actually believe you a little bit, but I'm not good enough.” And that's where the internal belief comes from. Or internal false belief. The external false belief is usually more about excuses, then they blame their ability to be successful with that vehicle based on things that are away from them. They are pointing away from their own body. I don't have enough money. There’s not enough, I don't have time, my spouse doesn't want to support me in this. Does that make sense? And they're pointing away, so as soon as you get them to acknowledge the fact that that vehicle is the way to get them health, wealth, relationships right that old vehicles not good any more, and you can offer this brand new one. As soon as you get them to accept that that vehicle, the next two places they go, is usually in this order. It's usually internal for insecurities, and external for the type of excuses that they're that they're running through. Their excuses running away from them. Time, money, resources, spouse. That’s how it’s working. From those very three believes, vehicle interlocks to all, that is everything that I need to create a new opportunity. Both offer and story. This is literally how I did it, guys, when I launched back in January. I launched click funnels December 31st. No offer. I didn’t have an offer, I didn't have a sales message, I didn’t have a funnel, and I had nothing. The funnel wasn’t even built. That's it. I had nothing. All I knew is what the current vehicle internal and external beliefs were. That was all. And from that, I was able to go and develop the product, the message, the offer, and the funnel, the script all of it. This part is so powerful and I feel like people just will skip over it like, “I know what the false beliefs are.” If you really know what those false beliefs are, you also know what stories the people are telling themselves in their heads that are sustaining those false beliefs. You know the experiences they went through that created the story. You know what they're telling, that is the place in my mind where you intimately learn and understand your customer. And when you do so, it is everything you need to actually be successful in your funnel. Because it creates the core in the funnel, a sales message, and an offer. Those two things. So, what we do is we take those vehicle internal and external beliefs, and we make a product for each one of them, a product. And we bundle them together with the main thing you originally wanted to sell, and that is the offer. Does that make sense? Man, this is so much easier to see, drawing stuff. I've it all drawn out here. I wish you guys could see it. So, the offer and the simplest form that I can explain it, if you take the main thing that you actually want them to be buying and you bundle in a few other products that are directly addressing the vehicle internal and external beliefs. For example, “Russell, I would get click funnels but I don't know what to write.” And Russell comes out like, “Don't worry about it. We've got this thing called funnel scripts, you need to write.” Does that to make sense? It’s a bonus that he's giving away when you buy the main thing, funnel hacks? Does that make sense? So, you're trying to sell the main thing, then you have several the products underneath. This is super super techno babbly. A new niche is created when you deliver a new vehicle, a new offer. The offer the vehicle. And second, when you deliver a new story new belief that supports the vehicle. Does that make sense? A new niche, a new market is created, when you deliver a new offer and belief. It's the core of funnels. You're just creating a new funnel, selling it back to the red ocean that you stemmed out of. There was a guy who walked up to me once at an event. He walked up to me and he goes, I don't know remember who it was, he walks up then he goes, “hey Steven, I got this sweet idea.” And he told me the idea. He's on like, first I'm going to do this. And then second, I'm going to do this, and then third.” This is my stack, this is my offer. These are all products that I'm going to deliver, these are the bonuses. And at the end of it he's like, do you think that's a good idea?” And I said, “Well, who's going to be seeing it? What's the sub market that you're stemming out of? What's the red ocean that you're actually stemming out of? And he goes, I don't know.” And I said, “That’s the riskiest crap I've ever heard of in my life.” You have to know what sub market you're stemming out of, otherwise you're creating things out of your own head, your own imagination. Scary. Be creative guys, just be creative. Second, not first. There's no relationship between being good and getting paid. However, there’s a huge relationship between being good at marketing and getting paid. What I'm trying to teach you and show you guys, is that this whole thing, the core of funnel building, is a belief. That’s marketing. It's a story. You're telling a story, you're changing beliefs. It's the sales message itself. And above it, it's carrying the offer. And that's all it is. That's all it is. It was 25 minutes for me to spit all that out. But I'm trying to tell the stories associated with all the graphs, so that it helps break and rebuild your beliefs. But I hope that that makes sense. I hope that that's helpful as I say it. Because I want you guys understand why this matters so much. If you're going out and you’re like, “Hey Stephen. I went out and I created this sweet funnel. It’s not converting. Right. And he took no thought at all of the actual sales message, the offer, and stuff like that. It's going to be it's going to be rough ride. It's the reason why a lot of times I’ll make up a design that I think looks kind of cool, but I don't spend that much time on it. But my stuff converts well. Why? Because I got a sick offer that fulfills the actual sales message. That fulfills the actual belief that I'm breaking and rebuilding for them. That's why. That's why design doesn't matter as much as what you did. That's why. I want you to understand that. Anyway, I'm blabbering now. But I hope that makes sense. Just remember that at the core funnel building, at the core of a funnel general, is a belief, which is carrying an offer. All you got to remember from this episode. And you start to think through that, those are the things your funnel hacking. Those are the things you're creating in the new niche. Those are the things that will deliver a customer to you. So, I'm super excited by that. I am seriously considering, in fact Russell's suggesting I do it too, make a book about offer creation. This is a topic that I obsess over and I love the science, and art piece of offer creation. So, hopefully that was helpful. I know a lot of stuff and it’s a bit of long episode there. Good thing you guys are used to it by now. Alright, talk to you later. Bye. Hey, thanks for listening. Please remember to rate and subscribe. Got a question you want answered live on the show. Head over sales funnelradio.com and ask your question now.

Today we remember a simpler time, where pants were flared, dresses were bedazzled, and our heads were naught but a thick helmet of butterfly clips. We're returning to the LATE 90s, which means it's time to discuss Spice World! In celebration of the 20th anniversary of this film (WHAT HOW), Kat and Jocelyn bubble forth with delight over this not-perfect-yet-also-objectively-perfect film, celebrating Victoria Beckham's impeccable comedy chops (no, really), spurious definitions of feminism, and the weirdest fantasy Jocelyn has ever had. Brought to you in part by RXBAR. RXBAR is a whole food protein bar. What does that mean? Their bars are made with 100% whole ingredients. Beyond being a go-to snack that checks off a number of nutritional boxes, RXBARs actually taste delicious. They found creating a bar made from real, whole food ingredients actually tastes better than anything out there. They don’t need the fillers, the additives, the chemicals or the added sugar. For 25% off your first order, visit www.rxbar.com/LOVE AND ENTER PROMO CODE: LOVE Today's episode is brought to you in part by Freshly. Freshly is the easiest and most convenient way to eat healthy. Freshly's team of chefs create all-natural, gluten-free dinners and deliver them fresh to your door. Check out this week's menu created by Freshly chefs and get $25 off your first order of 6 chef-cooked dinners, plus free shipping by going to freshly.com and entering the promo code LOVE at check out. This episode is also brought to you in part by TeePublic. Check out www.TeePublic.com and discover your next favourite Tee. Psst... they also have nerdy hoodies, sweaters, baseball tees and long sleeves. Check out our favourite designs at www.TeePublic.HateLovePodcast.com Edited by Andrew Ivimey and produced for the From Superheroes network. Visit www.FromSuperheroes.com for more podcasts, YouTube series, web comics, and more.