Podcasts about what oh

英语口语·吉米老师说 英语中有很多缩略语都非常常用，没听说过的小伙伴可能会觉得一头雾水，快来一起学习吧！近日，吉米老师看到一则新闻，一位家长把消息错发到家长群里，来不及撤回特别尴尬。那么跟外国小伙伴聊天时，出现这种情况应该怎么办呢？其实很简单，只需要说一句 Sorry, WC。WC 不一定是“厕所”WC发错人了WC 是 wrong chat 的缩写。chat 是聊天的意思，本来要发给那个人的东西，却发给了这个人，从而开启一段错误的聊天。WC厕所为什么大家看到 WC 就想到厕所呢？这是因为厕所 water closet 的缩写也是WC。water closet 原意是水箱。很早以前，厕所都有水箱，人们一提到 water closet 就想到厕所，后来干脆就用它代指厕所。wrong number打错电话短信发错人可以说 WC，那电话打错了就可以说 wrong number。这里的 number 指的是 phone number，也就是电话号码。1. "It might work." "What？""Oh, sorry, WC""可能行得通。” “什么？” “对不起，发错人了。”2. Sorry, I have the wrong number. 对不起，我拨错号了。“发错了”还可以说 wrong personwrong person发错人了；认错人短信发错了人还可以说 wrong person，除此之外，在大街上跟人打招呼，结果发现认错了人，也可以说 wrong person。mistake认错人、认错某物mistake 做动词也可以表示“认错了”，比 wrong person 更正式。1. Sorry, wrong person.抱歉，我认错人了。2. Sorry, I mistook you for my friend. 抱歉， 我认错人了，把你当成我朋友了。get sb. wrong 误会don't get somebody wrong别误会这里的 get 是“理解”的意思，理解错了别人的意思，也就是误会别人了。do somebody wrong冤枉某人、不公平地对待某人这里的 do 可以理解为“对待”，do somebody wrong 的意思就是用不对的、不公平的方式对待别人。1. Don't get me wrong. I didn't mean it.别误会，我不是那个意思。2. She did me a great wrong. 她太冤枉我了。常用聊天缩写LOL=laugh out loud 大笑LMAO=laugh my ass off笑翻了BRB=be right back马上回来BTW=by the way顺便说一下NP=no problem没问题今天的知识是不是很容易就学会了呢？别忘了在评论区提交作业哦。这些短语和句子你都理解对了吗？最后留给同学们一个小作业：Sorry, it's a ( ). 对不起，发错人了。A wrong chatB water closet这个空应该填什么呢？同学们可以在右下角留言区写下你的答案哦, 老师会亲自点评~

Justin Letheby  0:00   Hey, welcome back to the professor of real estate. My name is Justin in case you're not aware, and this time I got to interview three very powerful National Speakers, we're all talking tech, you're going to get to learn about social media about bad creation, about where the trends we see that we need to pay attention to in 2021. So the three people we have speaking today is Jeremiah j, Mammon arrow, national speaker out of the New York area, but he speaks nationally speaks to a lot of amazing audience audiences, and helps us grow our business. Virtually really, we have Marquis lemons, another fabulous national speaker, she is a very powerhouse in her nature. And you'll see that in this event. And then we have Carrie little also, again, a national speaker, strong speaker knows her stuff very much into the tech as well as the data, combine those three together and put them in the room at one time. And you're going to see it was not only extremely informative, but it was just extremely entertaining. So please sit back, watch and listen to this scenario. And we will talk to you after the podcast. Welcome to the professor real estate podcast. My name is Justin Letheby. And I'm a realtor trainer and coach. My sole purpose here is to take my many years in real estate, as well as my even many more years as a trainer and get you to your goals and beyond. I'm going to do this by talking about business growth, development, branding, marketing, you know, basically all successful things that entrepreneurs are doing today. Hey, since I'm your tech guy, there's gonna be tech thrown in here as well. So let's go. All right, so welcome, everybody. This is just like being a professor of real estate and holy cow, it took us five minutes just to get ourselves ready to go. I'm so kidding. They were ready to fire up before I even started. So we are here today to kind of give you all the back and perspective of really how we think as real estate agents, as tech people as speakers, what we're doing on a daily basis to see where things are heading and how things are going. And that's what we're doing today. I just wanted to give you a back end. And really it might be scary, to be honest, the folks kind of how we think inside our heads on how tech is going and those conversations that we have, not only with ourselves, but with the folks around us. So with that. Let me ask you, where are you guys seeing the tech today? I'll start with Marquis cuz I know we were talking about it early on. So Marquis, where are you seeing real estate needs specifically about the tech ns what we need to be aware of, from an agent perspective. Marki Lemons Ryhal  3:23   What's going on? We're glad to be here this afternoon. And I want y'all to know we stay ready according to Jay, man. So since we stay ready. Oh, no. No, no. Oh, thank you. No. So what do I think? Well, one, I think we're still very heavy on video content and repurpose in that content. When you start thinking about tools like restream, that Carrie uses quite a bit. But here's what I'm realizing were able, especially those who were earlier adapters of social media and technology, we come up with ideas and implement in 24 to 48 hours, because we've become familiar with the tech. So I think that we're gonna see a lot of new tools emerging. But the one thing that I would encourage all real estate professionals to do, stop stepping over dollars to pick up pennies, some of these tools are not relevant, they don't go back to your core business plan. It doesn't go back to who you're trying to connect with. So I encourage people to look at that before they dive into any new tools and I still need realtors to embrace video. It isn't going anywhere and those who have implemented have seen substantially more market share. They're increasing market share the rate at which they increase that market share. They're seeing substantial growth. So concentrate on videos, concentrate on repurposing the content, but then don't just buy any and everything. always come back to your broker. See what They're already providing you with. And then also think about your local Association, state association and National Association of Realtors. But everything should follow your business plan. So if you don't have a business plan, you're starting off on the wrong foot. Justin Letheby  5:16   Yeah, I would agree any weather carry j man any ad libs or add add addition to that. carrie little  5:25   I'm gonna say this, I'm an agreement with Marquis take advantage of the tools that you use every single day. So a lot of times, this is what I was telling agents, especially new agents, I just saw I was having a conversation with one of the local associations because I'm in a, in the Goldman Sachs 10,000k, businesses small business business program. And part of my growth project is research. So I added I'm doing research to figure out how many new real estate agents are coming into the marketplace. And we, in one of our local associations, it's 225 a month. And whenever I speak to real estate agents, I say to them, if you don't know where the inventory comes from, it's like owning your own Nordstrom and not knowing where they buy their clothes from. So if you haven't figured out how to master your multiple listing service, how to master your tech, your tax tools, how to master the tools from the local, the state, and the National Association of real tours, you are spending money You don't need to spend. And I'm telling you, because some today, someone was eat, people are emailing me constantly texting me, Carrie, do you need to lead? Do you need to lead? I'll tell you a lead. I'm like, No, I don't need to leave and just said, you know, what I really want to send the back is Nope, my MLS gives it to me. But you know, I'll pay them. And I'm like, so what? What are you going to sell me my zip code? Okay, great. Now, how many leads Have you? Have you scrubbed them because I have data tools that tell me as of today, in Chicago, single family residential off the markets detached. There was so many in Chicago, with a high self score, I couldn't get the data. But when I dug a little bit deeper, there are 1569 properties in the city of Chicago with a high self score and no mortgage, and they're not listed. And if I go a little bit further, 15 plus years in the home, there's 418. So when somebody says, Carrie, do you need to lead I'm like, give me a minute, because I'm just gonna create my own marketing piece and I'm just gonna go to my own subdivision. Jman  7:38   Yeah, here's Okay, I'm next. I can't wait. You know, I see carry, like, you start talking about video. I'm like this, I'm like, put me in coach who can carry carry her data. And she was like, hold up, I got the stacks of data right over here, stacks on stacks on stacks make me sad, you know what I'm saying? And so I'm all I'm all with it. I think the future is the past the present and the future will be video video is only going to be a bigger percentage of everything that we do. If you got kids that are under the age of 15. They're on YouTube, all the time that's going to become mainstream is going to be how we consume all of our information in the future. And then data using data and predictive analytics to be smarter about how you're prospecting rather than going after the whole world. Why the hell would I do that? When I got data, when it hit carry up and go, what's that high sell store girl, she's gonna go talk to people. Oh, we got them. Awesome. And then hold up those secret sauce comments from the J man over here. Messenger bot marketing on on demand resources that the consumer wants, right today's modern consumer wants you to predict what they're going to ask and have it ready for them on a platter. That's the messenger bots do. Right? What Oh, I was gonna ask about how I can buy a home and low down payment or this or that or, or Marquis son Skyler at a program working with people on how to pay off their student debt. What? I will drop this carrie little  9:12   where the houses reside. Say what I wanted to say. Listen, listen straight up. Just stay positive. Marki Lemons Ryhal  9:25   Just stay positive. That was the best you could stay positive. Oh, no. Oh, wait, carry lift that back up. Look, we got some fabulous people learned how to pivot. In today's marketplace that's straight up out of our private membership group member. Actually, she's not even in real estate. That's the look. That's the beauty of what we teach. She is in the promotional products industry but joined a Real Estate Group because we're always talking about technology and how to pivot with small to medium companies. What I've realized is that as a real estate professional, our mindset in our industry mimics other industries that they can learn a lot about their businesses. As I tell people, we use real estate case studies, but what we teach applies to any industry. Let's go back to the data, Justin, that you and Carrie teach, right? A lot of that is spec statistics, right? What I thought was the dumbest class in the world in my early 20s. But when you're 50, and you live on the south side of the city of Chicago, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of zero temperature, right, you want to know the probability that if I get up, if I wash my face and brush my teeth, if I put on my long johns and I go out and I warm my car up, oh, better yet? Did my car out to warm my car up? What is the likelihood of this person closing on a real estate transaction? Because guess what, we got options? I don't have to brush my teeth. I don't have to do my car out. I don't have to sit in the cold. Or some people have remote started, right? carrie little  11:05   Please put on a good bra. Marki Lemons Ryhal  11:09   Good bra. Ready? Okay. Ready? I just need. Let me just show you what I'm working with. Okay, stay good bra ready. I understand some people, bra sales are down substantially. Some of y'all need to go back on in there put on us a good brazier, as my grandmother would have said, baby. We're not gonna do that. That's why no parts of it. It's gonna hit you Unknown Speaker  11:36   no joke. carrie little  11:38   It was Brian Buffini. Marki Lemons Ryhal  11:41   Blaming O'Brien. Jman  11:43   I feel like Justin right now feels like a zookeeper that let the animals out. Like, oh, shoot. How do I get back in the cage? Justin Letheby  11:53   I'm taking notes. So you can Marki Lemons Ryhal  11:56   real estate data Gone Wild? Justin Letheby  12:00   It's but you know, what if I tell you what, I think it's a good point, though, right? Because this is how we're all sitting. Right? We're talking everybody else is feeling we are right now in that moment in life, where we're all ready to bust out the doors, right? We have been stuck inside way too long. So I get this, I think this energy is perfect. Because that's what we're all feeling Anyways, we're like, let's just go, let's go do something. Let's go get it out. Let's go hit that. Let's go do something. But going back to what Marquis and Carrie and Jay man have been saying, We've got to be tactical, right. We've got to be able to know what we're doing. And we've got to be systematic. One of the things that I feel is really important to things that I teach most people when I'm talking about this stuff is I am tired of people telling me that we need to be the person when they're ready to buy that we're thinking of them IRA say that's too late. We need to be ahead of the game we have to be before they're thinking about real estate, we need to be their thoughts because of real estate, right? That's what we need to be. So how are we as a group? How are you guys doing it today? How are you being that that go to resource before they even know they need to be that person? carrie little  13:10   Who wants to take that? You know, because Martin, listen, I'm gonna go first because when Mark he goes is over. As Mark Marcie, when she gets her ideas, I'm the one that gets a phone call on a Sunday morning at 6am. Okay, Carrie, I'm like, do I need to get Evernote out? No, no, no, no, she gets I'm like, Yes, I need to get Evernote out. Justin Letheby  13:30   So they gotta start recording the conversations. Or I could I could but carrie little  13:35   yeah, actually, you know what, you're probably right. Yeah. Okay. Just let me write that down. Record conversation with marketing in the morning. So I digress. So how do we stay top of mind? I'll tell you, it just goes back to what Jay man said. Video and for me it's been clubhouse. So when club so I was asked to be on clubhouse, and some people were like, what is clubhouse? clubhouse is the new app that allows you to have a swipe your own broadcast, and it's only audio and I was asked to join clubhouse and I was like, not another thing. What do you What are you looking for me to buy? I got all these text messages. I'm like, I can't do another thing. And so eventually I talked to one of the agents in the office and Shane was like here you got to get on because there's all these people, they're in rooms they're collaborating, they're you get to actually talk to people you would have never been able to talk to. And so what it's done for me, it has put me in the forefront to the point where now marquee I'm getting emails for people to interview me on clubhouse. So it's kind of cool. So I am now I have agents that have connected with me all over the United States. And now they're they're they're finding me on Instagram. Carrie, I found you on clubhouse and I'm now following you on Instagram. Marki Lemons Ryhal  14:51   I have a question. It's typically carrie little  14:52   someone from like Virginia. It's been New Jersey, all because of one new south. A media platform. And the cool thing is, is you really don't have to get up, get dressed and brush your teeth because no one can see. I have grown my Instagram account by 1000 new followers because of clubhouse and yes, you do need an iPhone or an iPad to join clubhouse. But here's some good news because the founders on Sunday said in about two months droid, here we come. Finally, Unknown Speaker  15:27   two months. That's a long time carrie little  15:29   it is they're working on it. But now they're there. And now they have a creative platform. They're launching some new opportunities. So So for those of us that have a show, Good morning real estate, we can now have our own show on clubhouse and they'll push it if it's a good show. Unknown Speaker  15:47   Holler Justin Letheby  15:51   shows right now, carrie little  15:52   right there you go. We got the Justin show, the professor show. We've got the six and 12 show. We got the box show. We've got the coffee with Kerry shell and we've got good morning real estate. Marki Lemons Ryhal  16:04   And the other day, Carrie and I tested four people on Instagram Live where they stated now you can leverage it to record your podcast. Unknown Speaker  16:15   Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. That's weird because I'm going to call I'm going to call my cell phone provider and ask them why that call didn't come in. I swear I even asked Marki Lemons Ryhal  16:31   you we need let me say this. We must have sent it to the wrong person in New York right because we did have a New Yorker on I just need you to know that and then Karis twin joined in. We didn't No Unknown Speaker  16:44   no, no. No, no, I Marki Lemons Ryhal  16:49   Jay, we're gonna once you finish your event today, we're gonna come and meet you. We're gonna come and meet you because clearly, I need to talk to your cell phone provider because something must not be working right? Unknown Speaker  16:59   Something something's not right. Something is not right. So we need Marki Lemons Ryhal  17:03   to think about that. Oh, Jay man didn't have his chance to speak cuz I rudely interrupted. I've got excited. I'm sorry. Unknown Speaker  17:13   Alright, so staying top of mind. I'm gonna get on clubhouse. Eventually. I might be on a on a four peat over here with with the ladies. You know, they picked another New York. I thought he only knew one person in New York. Oh, good. No, no, no, it's okay. It's okay. I understand. So good. But anyways, you know, staying Top of Mind, it's it's trying to predict what the trends are. And I think that's what's one thing when you look at us, all of us together is like, We're not afraid to go out on a ledge and try something new, right? where it's like, Damn this, this might be something, I don't know, let's go. We're literally like walking the plank and like, well, I'm about to jump, I'm gonna figure out how to fly on the way down. We talked about that all the time, when rails came out, clubhouse came out all these different, different things. pandemic hit, I'm like, oh, man, we're gonna have to do a lot of virtual stuff, right and seeing how I can do this. And now, just today, I had the AI conference, I was teaching all of the 80s throughout the land, how to hold better virtual events, when, prior to the pandemic, I had been on a zoom two times in my entire life. Wow. So it's like, I took it upon myself to learn new things. And if you're gonna learn something new, don't do it to be average, do it to be the very best that you like, if I'm gonna do something virtual, I'm gonna be the best damn virtual presenter that ever walked the land. That's the goal when you do something. Not just Oh, you know what, I think I might do some virtual stuff. I'm going to shoot to be subpar. today. Maybe average? Unknown Speaker  18:50   What the hell, man? Marki Lemons Ryhal  18:52   Clearly, J man's parents fed him a lot of affirmations and mindset as a kid going up because baby there is no shortage of self esteem. And that young man right there control j man controls, right? Unknown Speaker  19:06   Well, no. And here's the thing. My dad always told me, I could do anything I want in life, there was a lot of affirmations. But he said, if you want to be, you know, if you want to sell hot dogs, because we've talked about that in the past, you know, if whatever you're going to do be the very best at it. Because there's millionaires in every single industry in the planet, right? There's, there's somebody who does tooling and machining, which is what I actually went to school for tooling and machining and they want it right. And I said, Man, if I do this, I'm gonna have to own the place because this sucks being guy on the floor. That's what I said to myself. I'm like, how can I Okay, okay, buy this machine and figure it out. Just predict the trends. Don't be afraid to do new things. Because if we're doing it here in the United States, usually somebody in the UK or somewhere else has some YouTube tutorials already done for us on how we can be better at it. Justin Letheby  19:54   Jay, man, you just made an interesting point because I teach a certain thing and I've wondered when we hit that threshold. I will I've been teaching video for four years do video, do video do video we've been teaching that for ever. And I have told people that right now, although I'm wavering on this lately, that it's okay to fail in video, right? It's, you know, learn and take those steps forward. But I always tell them, there's a threshold where you can no longer fail, right? There's going to be a point in time where they expect the J man backgrounds on the scene, they're going to expect the quality stuff that exists out there. Are we there yet? I mean, I think so. I keep I'm stammered on saying that you, you know, I don't feel to be scared off from doing video. But just to do it. Okay, as Jay man just said, is probably not good enough anymore. Marki Lemons Ryhal  20:44   Well, he is now. So here's what I think you have to have, you have to be consistent. And you have to have content, I definitely know that I get away with not having the greatest visual, you know, like the highest camera. But I'm consistent. And here's the thing, most people do not know how to be consistent. I know that sounds real simplistic. But this is not a one hit wonder. And I was looking at someone's video the other day out of DC. He had 100,000 views on a reels most people want to get with get that 100,000 views. And that's it. Because they believe that this is a one hit wonder, we get great engagement. And once we get that great engagement, the question is how do we improve? Right? How do we do this better? What do we need to we need to pivot the camera. So we're coming back for consistency. And to me in the world of video, nothing tops, consistency and content. Or think about this one thing you can't buy and what you can't teach the ability to be vulnerable. Like we're all vulnerable, right? You can't teach that, like, you really got to have a heart, you really Who are you got to develop, I don't give a damn attitude, they'll be quite honest with you to be vulnerable, right? We've all had failures, we embrace our failures, okay, um, and they won't be consistent. They think it's all about them all about them, and they won't be vulnerable. And that's nothing you can teach in a class like you could try to teach that concept. that mindset back to Jay man. right mindset, those affirmations it's about consistency, because I know that I've put out some video that the quality was not great, but the results were freaking phenomenal. And you always carrie little  22:34   say if they can't hear you, then Marki Lemons Ryhal  22:36   they're out. Oh, audio is everything. But look at how many ways we can repurpose the audio. Right? The podcast how many platforms Can you be on the audio Graham's the Alexa flash briefings, the audio to text transcription. So now we got emails, we also have emails, we have blog posts, we have captions for all of our posts. So regardless to how you look, if you capture great audio, and I'm I'm all about the better audio, because I need to be able to repurpose that content into multiple forms of content. And I'm gonna say one more thing. Everybody also thinks that one hit wonder that everyone has solved that one post, no more than 10% of your audience ever sees any one post, because of the algorithm, we need to start thinking about every time we create one piece of content, how to repurpose or reshare that content, a minimum of 10 different ways so that they can hit people won, and their preferred or learned learning style, whether that's audio visual, or reading, and then on the platform that they desire to hang out on. carrie little  23:41   And you made a good point, Mark. And I'll go back to Justin's statement about having great video, I'm gonna say this, I started editing television back in the 90s. So I had a leg up on the editing part. But if you're if we're telling you to do video, you need to try and if it does come out awful. The cool thing is you can archive it, you can hide it, but you got to start somewhere. And Mark is right. So I've been doing reels all day to day. So I did three reels today talk about that same data, because now I've got Rochester New York on here, by the way. Marki Lemons Ryhal  24:17   Um carrie little  24:20   Yes, J man, I'm coming to your neighborhood. Oh, Unknown Speaker  24:23   wait, you know, somebody in Rochester, New York. carrie little  24:25   I might, I might. And I might know all where all the high self score properties are. I'm just saying. My point in all of this is I took that same video, and I put it on the Twitter story. I put it I went to LinkedIn but they only want to 20 seconds. So LinkedIn last, I put it on my Facebook story. I put it on Facebook groups. I put it on a Facebook page story. I put it in the feed on a Facebook group. And I actually the cool thing is is because it was my own voice. I uploaded it directly to tik tok. Marki Lemons Ryhal  25:03   multiple platforms all highly visual, right? with a different audience almost on every last one of those platforms and I carrie little  25:10   have not known on tik tok, but after my Goldman Sachs cohort and an attorney saying she did it twice, once or twice, and her company made over $265,000 Let me say that again. $265,000 because she tried tik tok, and it wasn't from the platform. It was people were calling her. And if you looked at her feed, you go No way. Cuz every post every She still hasn't figured it out. Every text shut, Her face is covered. But who cares? her staff was pissed at her. She said they never swear. But they were they cussed her out, basically, because they couldn't take a lunch for a few days. All because they tried something. Marki Lemons Ryhal  25:59   I interviewed a young lady today by the name of Candace spears. And it was all about mindset and entrepreneurship. And she wrote a book on top talking about bringing your crayons to work, right? We often come into the world of real estate, and it's to duplicate something that we've seen somebody else do. We have to become originators, right? Have in order to be a thought leader in the shortest period of time. You need to think like blue ocean strategy, and you need to come up with something new, like j man, think about meeting J. Man, how many years ago? Do we meet him carry at rapid? And what was the PowerPoint presentation skill that you told us? It wasn't PowerPoint? What's your prefer? Prezi Prezi. Okay, so we sent in this Prezi class, my mind is hurting, right? But Jay man has always had the ability to do something different, something that the people who have been around longer are not going to be willing to take the chance, which is how he's been successful in pivoting his business. In the past 12 months there, people we have not seen in real estate education since before March the 13th 2020. Think about that, because of their inability to do something different. My competition has narrowed. I don't have to me I don't have new competition, the competition, it fewer people because of their inability to try some of these things new. And the more you tried, right, the the stronger your foundation is to build other new items upon. carrie little  27:37   There's a, there's truth to if you were to take that concept to the new Michael Jordan, Jim shoe coming out, or the new iPhone or the new droid phone, there are some people that will stand in line to get the next new shiny thing. They're the ones they get it first, and then they're the ones in this case, they resell it, or they get to test it first. That's the same thing in our industry. If we're the people that Wait, you get left behind. And I'll tell you back in 2006, or seven, the Office Admin at the company I was with, she was like, Carrie, you need to try Facebook. And I was like, I don't need to try Facebook. I'm already on my space, because my kid is on my space. And I just need to be there to make sure he doesn't condemn himself and get in and I get a phone call from the high school. She was like, No, no, no, no. Let me tell you why. And I'm so glad that I listened to this 20 year old because of it, I was able to grow with Facebook. And there are some people come into the industry. And they're trying to figure out how to figure it out. Now, can it be done? Yes, it can be done. But you still have to start even if you don't have a lot of followers, we have an agent in our office that has figured out the the algorithm for reals to the point where she's grown 1000 followers in days, because she figured it out. Sometimes you just got to you got to test you got to try. And the one cool thing about what Marquis said was that Unknown Speaker  29:09   we were Justin Letheby  29:09   coming to him carrie little  29:12   he was he was like I'm out she's just sick over. See, now I lost my train of thought. Marki Lemons Ryhal  29:17   Don't lose your train of thought we normally do. And carrie little  29:23   I'll tell you, you have to get out here you have to try you have to text we will mess up and I'll talk about so another agent in our office. She came back to the business from the 90s not tech savvy and she's like, oh, Carrie, okay, Carrie, I'm gonna do the videos. And she already knows the business. And the hardest thing for us to do is to get what's here. And to put it into content. And then to put it out there to the masses. You just have to do it. Marki Lemons Ryhal  29:50   Yeah. And we say this I have. I'm stuck between two different age groups. I have some senior professionals and I mean And they are singers. And they're singers, professionals, right seasoned singer professionals who are embracing Instagram reels and tick tock, but then I'm also I have five new agents all under the age of 25. Okay. And when I tell you they get my mind going, because I was joking with Jay man, but my son called him for his back. And Skyler kind of regurgitated, I said, I think I might have mentioned that to you. But he, he needed to say it the way he wanted to say it, right. So I see how he's going to be able to merge being born and raised. And essentially, in the world of real estate. He wasn't born in this industry. He was three years old when I came into this industry. But he's been here for over 20 years, right. And so I can see how his mind is spinning right on what he wants to implement, implement. And I'm noticing that 25 year old and younger group, Oh, I love them. Like, I love them because they haven't been tainted. This is really their first career. And they're taking a hold of things substantially faster without second guessing themselves. I also see how if they had just a little bit of coaching, they can dominate market share. carrie little  31:18   Hey, this is what I heard. I heard the bionic man. They'll be better, stronger, and faster. Justin Letheby  31:28   Guys are right. I mean, here's the thing I think is interesting. Marquis and carriers that does want to come to J man here in a second is I think one of the things that's very interesting, you guys, all both of you are saying is, I am listening to the people that are challenging status quo, right? You when you are you are listening to people saying no, no, no, no. Let's try something different. You're not going No, No, that can't work, which have the industry or more saying to you every day. No, that won't work. No, that won't work. No, that won't work. You're going, huh. Okay, they're challenging that. What's to that? Why are they doing I mean, you're asking those questions. You have open ears. So going to you know, you know, again, we showed us the very beginning, Marquis and Mark Hughes kid and Jamie were talking earlier about bots. And you know, I think that's interesting conversation because bots have gotten so much stronger lately. Right? Can I know early on and I still feel like I'm pretty smart. I can pick out a bot one. I'm getting one but I'm going to tell you it's not the first statement. It's usually about halfway through. I'm Unknown Speaker  32:27   going okay, Justin Letheby  32:27   I just got bought it. Right. It's getting much better. So j man you know going along with their saying about how our listeners go to school I don't know you as your you're a fan of Basilisk I'm pretty sure you are are you implementing those and how are you going after them and why are you seeing value in them? Unknown Speaker  32:45   So yeah, I have a product it's called sir bought a lot. Kick them nasty box. Jamie got bots. Sir bought a lot. And we have real estate bots that are built out for realtors, we actually have a board bot, which is what I introduced the ease of the conference today. And then I also have a mortgage bot that we've created, because all about is is it's a predicted conversation with a personal touch. Right? If I told you right now a seller is going to call you you say how long you've been in the house? How much is that mortgage? What's the credit line? What improvements have you made? My bot does all that already. And then until they're all done and they go with they want their home equity estimate, right? I should trademark that Home Equity estimate on that house. It's what they want. We're giving the people what they want. Especially the today's modern consumer doesn't want to hop on the phone doesn't want to walk into an office I can remember when I first started in real estate in 2005 we had opportunity time, right which makes keep harassing the office and wait for somebody to walk through the front door. That is gonna happen anymore, especially with you know COVID and post COVID. But bots, it you know, it predicts that conversation it helps build rapport for you. Because we know the statistics if we ask Carrie would tell you that today's modern consumers looking to 224 months, they're doing their research prior to ever selecting a realtor to work with. And if we can be found and that's called the zero moment of truth, if we can be found during that zero moment of truth and that information gathering stage, then they're just going to pick us as their realtors not a closing process. It's just man this guy's given me value after value after value. That's what the bots do they go Okay, here's something you want to know about first time homebuyers. Here's how you get ready your home ready for sale and every time so here you go and I walk away so to take away clothes right I walk away go here's something else that you value and I walk away well wait, wait, wait, wait, I know you need something to let me know and I walk away. Right think about every every girl or guy you ever chased after and your whole life was to one try to walk away from you. carrie little  34:54   I chase somebody Wait a minute, listen. Don't even let Marki Lemons Ryhal  34:59   God change Yeah. Luck 50 and still getting chased. Okay, I got secrets on this thing. So Justin Letheby  35:14   that's awesome. Yeah. So Unknown Speaker  35:17   in closing, I'll just say this. I try to pick something when I ask other people to go, Damn, that's hard or Yeah, I tried that. But it was. That's what I do. That's why I picked Prezi. That's why I use e cam live for my virtual stuff that all these things had a learning curve that was like this bots the same way. Because now if I can master it, people want to work with people who are an expert at something. And if it's hard for other people to figure out, don't get frustrated, just okay, this is the thing, I'm going to do this better than anybody else. Now, now they have to pick you because nobody else is good at it. Justin Letheby  35:51   Well, and that's huge, right? I mean, again, we're talking tech, but I think there's a huge word that you just said there become the expert in something. Unknown Speaker  36:01   Something Unknown Speaker  36:01   because that, carrie little  36:03   pick it pick one thing, and if you're like, if it's gonna be Facebook, if it's gonna be LinkedIn, you got to go figure out when they hang out on LinkedIn, or Facebook. And, and Mark, he said, Be consistent, we are not consistent. And sometimes I watch, and I see agents, they disappear. Because you know what I mean, now that I'm coming, My office is kind of at home one day, I'm gonna have my monitor on the screen. So I can watch Hootsuite all day to figure out what people are doing. Because I'm I mean, I'm looking at Instagram, and I'm like, Yeah, they disappeared, or I no longer see their posts, because they're not consistent because the algorithm says they're not engaging. And so you disappear. So if we're mark, you can relate maybe Jay man, maybe Justin but there used to be the thing that we used to say call holding up the wall would go to a party, and the people that will be standing on the wall, they didn't they never danced with someone, they never got a phone number. Maybe back then they never got the home phone numbers because they didn't engage. So if you go if you go Hey, how y'all know what I'm talking about? If you hang out, if you hang out on social media, and you're just the watcher, right, you're holding up the walls, everything we hold up the Facebook wall. You aren't gonna get you won't build relationships, you won't get engagement and you won't generate new leads. And if you don't build the bot because now I got I have to watch I need JV man to build then go sell them. If you're not engaging and you're not doing any of this, you're holding up the wall. Marki Lemons Ryhal  37:31   Hmm. When we do need a man to build a bot. Okay, that'd be first and foremost. I carrie little  37:37   got three now that you said that. Marki Lemons Ryhal  37:39   Here's the next thing. Clearly, I was not the person holding up the wall ever in Facebook or in real life. Cuz look, me and Jake, man. We have Tick Tock videos right. And a whole nother city in Vegas. Right at a conference getting it in. What? Oh, Unknown Speaker  38:01   is it always is always a risk if you want to do some kind of dance stuff related with Marky because then her girlfriends hop on? Yeah, that was all right. But he wasn't ready. Like I'll share the fact is that you're talking about that I wasn't ready. So I'm good. I'm good to go. That was funny. carrie little  38:21   Yeah. Five dances that we all need to practice. So we're all in the same city. We could break out a Justin Letheby  38:30   lot if you need to under practice I'm all for but man I am the whitest of white men. I have no carrie little  38:39   find some easy ones. Don't worry because I was trying to teach mark one Justin Letheby  38:42   Carlton Carlton is not the only one I got man. Marki Lemons Ryhal  38:46   You got to crawl to mastic Oh my god. Justin Letheby  38:50   I gotta have a couple. I got a couple encouraging drinks ahead of time but I can get that one out. Unknown Speaker  38:55   Oh. Justin Letheby  38:58   I need that little that little muscle relaxer. Unknown Speaker  39:02   San Diego ner 2021. Marki Lemons Ryhal  39:06   Oh, who's planning on going? I'm going I don't care. Don't nobody else go. I have to get out of the house. Am I the only one going to President circle? No. You Sarah were the kiya Pipi on McGriff. They're all they all meet you down. They're carrie little  39:22   not on market. You didn't sneak here? Marki Lemons Ryhal  39:24   Nope, I'm not sneaking in. You guys will see me back on the circuit starting in June. I need it. You know, I'm a vet. I am a COVID survivor. So as my husband I needed that vaccine to gonna kick in so that I feel more comfortable hitting the road but yeah, come June. I'm back out here. Unknown Speaker  39:43   We'll do some karaoke. I got I got the mic and then we'll just figure out what the group dance is going to be. To the hip hip hop. You Don't Stop The Rock. Justin Letheby  39:56   I'll just be the background dancer. I'm good to go. Exactly, I'll do that. carrie little  40:03   I'm good. Oh my god, oh Unknown Speaker  40:04   my god. Take Justin Letheby  40:08   the jumpsuit on right now to match. So I'm ready to go. Marki Lemons Ryhal  40:10   I was looking forward to hanging out with you guys this afternoon. Today was kind of a rough day, I got a thank you card back that I actually wrote to someone, one to 2002. And just to see the growth over time, well, one, the fact that the person saved the note, right, they sent it back to me at an appropriate time to just let me know who I was today, right? And the growth and sometimes growth You don't even know you growing. You know, I'm saying like, it's the intention, you want to be better. But when someone acknowledges that and set you back a copy, and they didn't send it back, they actually had my uncle drop it off to me. So here's the note. And it is from January of 2002. So I'm just so grateful, because the day has been emotional, just saying all that has transpired in that almost 20 years. Man, awesome. That's what Forgive me. And guess what? realize I've been writing handwritten notes for a long time. Justin Letheby  41:14   I Well, you know what, and that. I'll tell you what, so let me ask you this. I haven't done a lot of people this year, which I think is a great point. Tech trends are huge. And there's no doubt about it. Right? We all talked about how the power of being in an attack and doing that stuff. And all three, all four of us in this room. We're obviously tech savvy tech strong, right? We are that. But as anybody else seeing a back to basics, boom. Oh, Marki Lemons Ryhal  41:41   yeah. But we're going to be comfortable for a hot second here. Do I see a back to basics bones? Yeah, Unknown Speaker  41:49   they're gonna bust out some signage. Unknown Speaker  41:53   Sorry, David, Justin Letheby  41:54   I sent them off. I did. Marki Lemons Ryhal  41:57   These are the cards that I've received so far. Just this year, right. This is last year's cards that people sent me, I take them and I put them in a Christian planner. Look, look out this thing is jam packed with people who took the time to write a note sign it say something and send it to me. And that goes to say a lot Carrie was great. Pull out her direct mail. So Carrie showing her direct mail. carrie little  42:23   I showed it to you this morning. I mean, but earlier and I this is I am all for you see mark is already got her stuff. I have I have a kid that needs to do mine. But what I've What I know is based on Pew Research, we don't we don't hide where we get the data from we just go get it. Based on Pew Research. anyone under the age of now will the internet is now 31 years old. Yeah, if you are over the age of 50, you are on social media, but you're not using it the way the next generation is. So we still need a shift and and what I realized because of COVID people like the handwritten notes, they're actually they're getting you get out of the house and go to the mailbox and get my mail. And we're opening it we're taking time to read it. So if you really want to build a business, getting back to the basics, but adding the QR code I'm sure Jay man has when he could pop up on the screen. Getting back to bringing in the the new tech with traditional marketing is a game changer because I can now if someone calls me and says hey Ken, I want to buy a house. I can send it right there you go. I can send them the link to my YouTube channel that says here's the steps to buying a house. If you're a new real estate agent, I can send you the link so you got so you got your license. Now what but I can take I can actually get more views there. And then by the time you get to new you already know me Marki Lemons Ryhal  43:52   what's funny because Katie Lance pictures here. This is something that Katie Lance sent me in the mail. Right. So Katie Lance, high tech is sending out direct mail pieces. Barbara bet. Two of the best customized cards I got last year from Barbara bet, right? sent them in the mail. Now this is from Matt definers past president Illinois realtors. Now it was a fact he said the car. Do you see this penmanship like this is a real freaking handwritten note. So when you get Mac the font is barbette Katie Lance, people who are high tech, and they're sending out direct mail pieces that should not even direct mail, handwritten note, that should tell you something about its power. I have people who tagged me because I mail out books. Not only do I mail out books, right? I mail out my own custom stickers. But everything that I mailed to people, I want them to use it without my name being all over it, right something that they could just use in their business. For people to have conversation with them, so I send everybody the world's greatest real estate marketer. It don't say Marquis lemons only so that people will think that they are the world's greatest marketer. So, yep, I mail um, cuz I was social before social media. Unknown Speaker  45:18   Oh, carrie little  45:19   yes because I was selling marquee this weekend I did a photo shoot and we were outside and in when we were, we were walking so my husband and the photographer had me walking into a knee. Oh gosh, I feel bad. What was the challenge the walk challenge. And I was telling Marquis how I was so embarrassed. Unknown Speaker  45:39   Yeah, Mark, he Marki Lemons Ryhal  45:40   was like, I would have just ate that up. Justin Letheby  45:44   No, go for it. carrie little  45:47   Look, I am muzzled. mutter? No. I Justin Letheby  45:50   mean, we started this conversation by doing bots. Now we're back to letters. I mean, how how does that work for you? Are you actually are you reaching out? I mean, I know you are. But how are you reaching out other than the tech side of the world? Unknown Speaker  46:01   I would like to say that I write a lot of personal notes, but that answer would be incorrect. In my in my mind, I would like to, but here's where my my online goes offline. When we can be in person again. I am one of the best in person networkers that you will see. Because I take the social media connections that I have. And I'm strategic about, man, I was super busy. I think that was the REMAX conference where Marquis was, but I sought her out because she's my people. And I'm like Marcie Hill. I know you're busy too. You got to do presentations. Let's just get quick. 10 minutes. Let's hop outside and do a tick tock. And you know, whenever people help, so like, I make sure I'm not the guy that says when you come to town, look me up. And then not answer my phone. Right? Carrie came to Rochester I took her around Rod servicii she's got about marks the bouncer in the back there. What's up, homie? Mark? Marki Lemons Ryhal  47:00   Oh, I got you here. I got you. You got to come out to Chicago and get it make a ride soon as you finish up. Unknown Speaker  47:05   No, yeah, strap up the ride. I mean, just to could you mail it to me overnight. Marki Lemons Ryhal  47:10   No, no, no, no, we're gonna have to meet somewhere safe. Unknown Speaker  47:15   Mark needs to take me on one of those rides and one of those cars that you keep putting out carrie little  47:19   right at Bentley that this guy that I'm sure is hidden. We'll talk about that another day. Go ahead, Jamie. So Unknown Speaker  47:25   that's it. I'm done. Justin Letheby  47:27   You know, I think the thing that everyone said here and Jay man started saying it right off the bat here, right? It's zero moment of truth. And that's what everyone is doing. And we're doing it so many different ways. And that's the thing to realize is that when we're doing this stuff, we're doing it intentionally unintentionally. To be front of mind, Top of Mind right? Everything that we have done is going to keep everybody there and those conversations you're not going to forget Matt defend this for sending that card. But you're going to completely remember him for the essay he wrote in the card, right? It's it's gonna be one of those things and and those are the small things I think people forget and they can be done so many different ways. Through the videos through the bots through those conversations through all these tools to pick that out there. I know you're getting close j man to be in time to go right? Unknown Speaker  48:17   Yeah, I got I'm just a virtual emcee for about 300 people. Justin Letheby  48:21   Yeah, no big deal. Marki Lemons Ryhal  48:23   No big deal. Unknown Speaker  48:24   No big deal with the last example I'll give is one marquee was that celebration. She came into the speaker ready room. And I'm telling you like, you know, when you're when you speak somewhere, you're like, we're on and then when you go to Speaker ready room, you'd like melt into a pile of notes. And then mark came in like Jay you want to do a video? Let's go Oh, it's like you just flip the switch because that's Marki Lemons Ryhal  48:49   cuz we had an event to do up in Minnesota the gambit. Right. And so then I didn't realize when we get to Minnesota, there's two different terminals, right. So so Oh, wait, this is camaraderie. Right? So my boy David knock sends a car for me to come recording his studio. I kidnap j man, we go to david Knox's studio. We record I've been kidnapped again. And we go hang out at a whole different franchise affiliations office and get some little snacks. And then we go to our hotel room. And I know I felt sorry for Jay man. I know he like is this what you do Really? Unknown Speaker  49:26   every trip was a difference that's like this offline social networking, where like, you can see that we are consistent. And we're authentic, because we're the same people online as we are offline. 1,000% there's some people that you see him online and then you see him in person. You're like, Oh, that's a persona. That's not really you. You know, and that's it's almost like when you see behind the curtain of the wizard, like all damn ruins it. carrie little  49:54   That's marking? Well, Justin Letheby  49:57   yeah, it's authentic. Right. I mean, that's who he does good when you're Getting Hired. And when you're being seen, and when people want to use you, they want to use you not the as j man said the persona, right? They're not what they're looking for, and you're going to lose trust almost as fast. And the worst thing about it is, and we saw this early on in social media, when people were hiring to be something and they didn't divulge that it lost credibility in waves, it was a rocket throughout the social media world that was killed. So you still need to be careful about it. So with this being done, we're already talked forever. And it's awesome. And we could do this again, probably have to do it again, probably four or five more times, just to catch all the material on Unknown Speaker  50:31   purpose. A lot of content here. Justin Letheby  50:33   Yeah, a lot of stuff. So let me ask this for each one of you. Let's do it this way. We've got a few things. I'll start with Jamie, on this one. Let's, let's sit there and say what is the top tool people should be paying attention to today? Unknown Speaker  50:50   messenger bots. Yeah, Unknown Speaker  50:51   I would agree. I would agree. Marki Lemons Ryhal  50:53   I'm gonna go Facebook creator. Whoo, I Justin Letheby  50:56   like that. I like that a lot. Gary, the pressures on carrie little  51:03   is on I'm gonna say up house and Matt and and redirect to their social media channel where you need growth. Marki Lemons Ryhal  51:14   That was good advice. Good advice. Justin Letheby  51:19   I'm gonna tell people, the real simple thing, start looking to hire a virtual assistant, a real estate virtual assistant. The honest answer is, folks, I'm telling you that right now, I don't know if I just gave a secret because I saw some smiles going out into it. I don't know. But I'm telling you right now, there's a lot of virtual assistants out there that don't know real estate. And we as realtors need to be able to focus on what we need to focus on and not doing everything that we literally just got telling you done to worry about. And it's a problem for us. That was Marki Lemons Ryhal  51:50   what me and carries I believe my last two hires. Yeah, I just hired a virtual assistant. I think Kerry just hired a virtual assistant and so those were the last two hires carrie little  52:00   and a real person that's here helping me right now so Unknown Speaker  52:04   my life my livestream two weeks ago SEO experts anything was how to hire a virtual assistant. You can find it on youtube.com slash a man speaks. holler at your boy. Justin Letheby  52:12   perfect setup. Unknown Speaker  52:13   Time. Justin Letheby  52:16   Perfect time so let's plug away folks let's plug away so Jay man cuz I know you're the time crunch of all time crunch plug away, say how people need to find you what they need to know about you. Besides that, you are just amazing. So Jman  52:29   solo dot t o slash j man speaks. carrie little  52:33   I'm gonna say join me every Friday on Instagram for coffee with Kerry live. And if you go to my Instagram and you go to my link tree, I have a free download for you today. And I'll let Marquis talk about the more exciting one. Marki Lemons Ryhal  52:51   Well, that could they they can reach us at operation. I've got houses for sale. Well, we're changing mindset. And realize that there is no shortage of inventory there is a shortage of listed property. So I want to change your mind on how to go get you some properties to sale. But you can find me on Marquis lemons.com. If you spell my name correctly, you will find me all over the internet. Ma rk i l e m o n s. Justin Letheby  53:18   Well, thanks, everybody for being there. I appreciate your time. We actually this was a lot of fun, a lot of energy. I feel like I should go run about a mile now. So thanks for everybody for doing this. And we are out. Marki Lemons Ryhal  53:32   Last sale houses. Justin Letheby  53:43   Thanks, everybody for being online and listen to this. As always, please help me get this out. Get the word out what we're doing here. It is on Facebook. It's on YouTube. And if you want to see these interviews live, that's the best place to go is on YouTube Live. That is the best place for this. Find my channel. Justin Letheby. Also, please, if you are listening to this, after the fact like and subscribe to all your favorite podcasting platforms, apple, YouTube, Google whatever platform you're listening to like, subscribe and share it with your others get the word out, let them know we're doing and we'll see you on the next round.  

A friend of mine sent an email recently which mentioned the Allas Cwbys.  WHAT? Oh, he said it’s the NFL… The post Introducing your “Allas Cwbys!” appeared first on Swampswami.com - Sports Commentary & a little lagniappe!.

This episode we speak with a company who takes shelter-in-place to a whole 'nother level. Next, we sharpen our tips and aim for the bull. What? Oh, darts! Finally, "fire in the hole!" Well, fire in our bellies while we keep a fire extinguisher on hand during our BeerDome competition. That, and our usual craic on this episode of Life in 16 oz. SHOW NOTES Ron Hubbard / Atlas Survival Shelters (6:01) Richard Wade / Pacific Darts Association (23:02) Beer Dome - Spicy Beer Showdown (44:13) Atlas Survival Shelters / Pacific Dart Association / The Dart Shop / Discord / DartConnect / Greater San Diego Darting Association / Bay Area Darts / Other Bay Area Darts Leagues / Unicorn Darts / Tio Rodrigo / SLO Brew / Brewtality Beers / Lime Ventures Atlas Survival Shelters can be buried on your property or incorporated into new construction. This is just one of many available designs. (Courtesy photo/Atlas Survival Shelters) Come on in! Not. Ron Hubbard at Atlas Survival Shelters says to keep your shelter a secret so nobody can steal your emergency food and water, or wine, or weapons, for example. (Courtesy photo/Atlas Survival Shelters) An Atlas Survival Shelter during the installation process. (Courtesy photo/Atlas Survival Shelters) Ron Hubbard, owner of Atlas Survival Shelters, tells us on this month's episode that his company can integrate his shelters into your new home plans. Need a secret underground passageway leading from your kitchen island to a wine cellar, a tornado shelter, or safe room? (Courtesy photo illustration/Atlas Survival Shelters) Ron Hubbard, owner of Atlas Survival Shelters, says his shelters can be finished off with high quality interiors to make you feel right at home. Seen here is a shelter from his Nado Series. Use one as a personal escape, emergency food storage, a weapons safe, storm or fire shelter or safe room, for example. (Courtesy photo/Atlas Survival Shelters) One of many things Richard Wade, president of the Pacific Darts Association, tells us about is how the Southern California-based PDA has incorporated a distance league that allows players to see each other's boards, communicate during competition, and to keep score. The method lets dart enthusiasts compete from further away AND allows for spectators. (Courtesy photo/Richard Wade) Carolina Reaper Triple IPA by Brewtality, one of two spicy beers reviewed for this month's Beer Dome tasting challenge. (Courtesy photo/brewtalitybeers via Facebook) Tio Rodrigo's Blood Orange Michelada is one of two spicy beers reviewed for this month's Beer Dome tasting challenge. Tio Rodrigo's uses hefeweizen exclusively from SLO Brew, a brewery out of San Luis Obispo, California, for their micheladas. (Courtesy photo/tiorodrigocraft via Facebook) Paul and Brandon enjoy a few beers before recording this month's episode at Brandon's home-based pub. (Life in 16 oz./Paul Wade)

I was “Paleo’d” twice this week. I figured it was a sign that I needed to weigh in. This episode is the final word on the “Paleo” diet. What? Oh yes it most certainly is. Support me on Patreon SmallSteppers.com (Winter 2020 session starts Feb. 2!–Enter the code “SmallStepsWinter” for 35% off — offer ends ...

Augh, Wednesday is a sneaky one. This one almost got me! I was like, this close to falling into it, but instead, I used my amazing legs and I doinked out of the way. Amazing, you legs. Today, we're having A Tournament! Three contests with randomly selected contestants and categories, and a final bonus road featuring actual murder! What? Oh, nothing. Topics include: A Suck to Remember, Amelia Earhart Died Because of Alcohol, I Hate Snoopy but He Could Kill, and Grinding Bones to Make Bread. 

Hope you've got your bags packed and are ready to roll! I'm joined by Adrienne Ritter, who quit her job and traveled throughout the United States and 14 different countries in four months during what she's calling her “life sabbatical.” Adrienne shares how traveling has given her a better sense of balance in life and what it’s like being an American abroad. Foreigners have a very specific sense of what America is, and the U.S. still has a spotlight on it, despite every country having their own things going on. Adrienne also talks through the glorification of travel. For example, the Louvre’s main attraction isn’t the Mona Lisa – it’s the spectacle of people lining up to take a photo with the Mona Lisa. Travel isn’t always about the Instagram, y’all. Stop and take a moment to look around. Things like the grocery stores, public transportation, and simply the nuances of daily life can be much more enlightening. For folks who aren’t as experienced traveling abroad, Adrienne shares her top travel tips, including the benefits of planning less, giving yourself a rest day, and using helpful apps like Maps.me and Klook. Oh, did I mention Adrienne joined a cult during her travels to Brazil? I didn’t? How silly of me! She discusses how she came across a cult, how she got involved, and what the entire experience was like. We also chat about our craziest “What? Oh hell no! Hold up, huh? Oh, okay!” moments while traveling. Want to learn more about travel and follow along with Adrienne’s adventures? Follow her on Instagram or visit her site, Grown Up Dreads.

The Dudes come together to talk about Wendy's Feast of Legends, and NaNoWriMo... What? Oh, nevermind, they went off topic and talked about video games and D.J.'s old writing instead, go figure.Due to some technical difficulties the introductions and farewells were lost for this Dudecast. See ya next week for part two of this recording where D.J. and Friends get things back on track and talk NaNo for real.   Contact or Follow us!   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dudesfromalteria/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/dudesfromalteria/   Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1462277586 iHeart - https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-dudes-from-alteria-47039149/ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4ss1ITc5DQukvKhG0N7xy8   Vixy's Twitch - http://www.twitch.tv/kunovix Vixy's Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3L-JUyh8JoeJdKcXtn0txQ   Patreon (J-Row, D.J., and Scotty will release YouTube videos of them eating Twinkie Wiener sammichs if they reach $20/mo.): https://www.patreon.com/dudesfromalteria

It's almost time for Autumn. You know what that means? AF hosts Katie and Alex talk about the history of phone phreaking! What? Oh, they set up a new phone system that you can call to leave a vm on (It's a vintage Radio Shack 43-3825 Answering Machine!). We'll even play it on the show! They also recap the last episode, a first Instagram livestream thing for AF, and hit on their favorite things about Fall. This one is packed full of randomness. Hey Fasters, leave us a voicemail at 737 800 1776! Follow us on Instagram: @accidentallyfasting Check out more fun junk at accidentallyfasting.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/accidentally-fasting/support

In 20XX, only one person can save the world; you are the Math Blaster!!! What? Oh it's a game to teach kids arithmetic? Oh... ok. Math Blaster! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_Blaster!) Play Math Blaster Plus! on the Internet Archive for free! (https://archive.org/details/msdos_Math_Blaster_Plus_1987) Donate to the Internet Archive so future generation can play Math Blaster too! (https://archive.org/donate/) Rate and Review Nostalgia Goggles on Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nostalgia-goggles/id1198465829?mt=2) (or just tell a friend!) @nogogpod on twitter (https://twitter.com/nogogpod) Support Nostalgia Goggles on Patreon! (https://www.patreon.com/lyonsinbeta) Album art by Michael Edwards Theme song The World is Saved by Danny Wiessner

The guys open the show congratulating the winners of the 31st Annual Lambda Literary Awards. They also discuss the podcast’s inclusion in Apple Podcasts’ Pride Month recommendations. Jeff also talks about some of the past week’s happenings with his Codename: Winger series and Will asks him what it was like wrapping up the series. Jeff and Will discuss the new Tales of the City series on Netflix. Will reviews the first two books in Piper Scott & Susi Hawke’s Redneck Unicorn Series. Aidan Wayne is interviewed about their three new books out this year: Hitting The Mark, Play It Again and the forthcoming Stage Presents. They also talk about how they decide what goes into the books, how they got started writing, author influences and what’s coming next. Complete shownotes for episode 192 along with a transcript of the interview are at BigGayFictionPodcast.com. Interview Transcript – Aidan Wayne This transcript was made possible by our community on Patreon. You can get information on how to join them at patreon.com/biggayfictionpodcast. Jeff: Welcome, Aidan, to the podcast. It’s great to have you here. Aidan: Thank you. I’m excited to be here. It’s an interesting experience for me. Never done this before. Jeff: Oh, cool. First podcast. Always fun to have people doing their first podcast with us. Now, you’ve had a busy few months of releases and we wanna talk about the most recent one first, which is “Hitting the Mark.” Tell us a little bit about that book and what inspired it. Aidan: Okay. So “Hitting the Mark,” in a nutshell, it’s about a famous movie star named Marcus Economidis, who used to train in martial arts when he was really young and really shy. And that helped him come out of a shell and then he moves. And being in martial arts actually helps him become more confident and he ends up getting a movie role, and that spirals, and then becomes a famous…10 years later, he’s a famous movie star who is also famous for doing his own stunts. Meanwhile, in Marcus’s hometown essentially, his original school – Choi’s Taekwondo Academy – is now run by Taemin Choi. Taemin was Marcus’s kind of assistant instructor growing up. They’re about 10 years apart. So Marcus was 10, Taemin was, like, in his early 20s and Taemin runs the school now. And Marcus happens to be coming back into town for a shoot and he decides to pay a visit to his old school… kind of nostalgia. He lost contact with Taemin when he moved. And so, he kind of wants to bridge the gap again, just like say hi, see what happens. And then they do meet with Marcus being an adult and, you know, there’s kind of an instant connection. The entire book is essentially about them navigating, first, relearning each other because they knew each other for several years, but it’s been several more years since they actually talked again. So they’re relearning who they are as people, especially Marcus as he’s grown into his own self, and that turns into a romantic relationship. And they’re just figuring out how to be in one considering that, you know, Marcus is this famous person and Taemin is a very busy man who runs his own school and takes care of a lot of things. And just, that’s the story basically. I do a lot of character-based stories where the plot is kind of, like, playing the course as opposed to, like, a person antagonist sort of. So it’s kind of like another one of those things for me. Jeff: Okay. And it ticks so many boxes because there’s friends to lovers, and second chances, and an age gap. Aidan: I tend to, when I write, sometimes I have several different things that I wanna include in various ideas. And so, sometimes when I have, like, the base, I’m just like, “Let’s just squish them all together. Let’s just push them all in one thing and see what happens, and if I can pull it off.” Jeff: And you mentioned when we were emailing to set this interview up that this is one of the books you didn’t have to do a ton of research on because… Aidan: Thank God. Jeff: …movies and martial arts, you had the knowledge there. What aspects of your background, you know, play into that? Aidan: Well, I’ve been involved in martial arts for about 20 years now, primarily Taekwondo and that’s the style that I had Taemin doing because I know the most about Taekwondo in Korean style. I technically have my black belt in two disciplines. One is Taekwondo and the other is a mixed type of martial art that I actually ended up teaching. I used to run a school. So a lot of my experience did transfer over into Taemin’s experiences in running a school and dealing with students and various endeavors that are required. And with movies, I actually majored in media production in college. I was on movie sets a lot both behind the camera and also growing up, I kind of dabbled in acting and I’ve been in front of the camera a lot too including on some big sets. Michigan used to be a pretty big movie hub before the tax thing happened and a lot of places moved away from it. And I was actually on a few different, like, SAG films. So I got to kind of be both in front of the camera and behind the camera. So learning about that aspect was…It was fun to basically shove as much knowledge as I could, especially the martial arts into one book because I have such a love for martial arts that it was like, “Let’s include inside jokes and inside knowledge. And I’ve never had to spell this Korean word in English before. So I have to probably look that up.” And fun fact actually, I’m not gonna spoil anything, but one of the plot points is Taemin working towards the Olympics. He’s qualified for the qualification and that entire piece is actually based on a co-worker of mine I used to work with who did qualify for the Olympic matches. Jeff: Incredible. You did stuff a lot in here in terms of all of your knowledge kinda went into this book. Aidan: Yeah. It was kinda, it was a nice break. I still had to do research obviously because I had to, like, fresh some things and again, like, Korean, making sure that I got that right. But for a lot of it, like, I have another book that I released late last year, “His Two Leading Men,” which takes place in New York with a Broadway star, and I’m like, “I like Broadway, I can just write about plays, that’s fine.” No, I ended up having to map out the entire city to figure out distances to whichever…I’m crazy…whichever restaurant he’d like to go to, which is closer, where is laundromat was. Like, I’m absolutely ridiculous when it comes to stuff like that. Nobody is gonna notice but me. But, like, I care. Jeff: But the native New Yorkers might. And so, it matters. Aidan: Yeah, yeah. Jeff: I have stopped myself of books going, “That’s not right. I know where that is and that doesn’t work that way.” So you do work Michigan into a lot of your books. “Hitting the Mark” is in Michigan. “Play It Again,” which we’ll dive more into in just a second, has a Michigan element simply because you have somebody sending Dovid, the main character, some Faygo Red Pop and some other Michigan treats, some Mackinac fudge included. Obviously, you live in Michigan. Is it something you try to work into the books, a little Michigan angle? Aidan: Kind of. Half of it is ‘write what you know’ because I’m thoroughly uncreative when it comes to that and it’s way easier to just, like, I don’t have to make something up, I don’t have to do more research. I just can set it in Farmington Hills or wherever it is. But sometimes it’s because I have, like, certain places in mind or I want to include certain things like, with Dovid receiving a care package, I wanted to make sure that I had a care package that at least was state-based and was really cool and could include especially a lot of food because a lot of…Dovid being blind, a lot of his things are food-based, it’s part of his schtick. So he reacts to taste and stuff. So knowing that I have my own experience with various Michigan cuisines and snacks and stuff, I could include that pretty easily and know that it would ring true but also be kind of funny. And even if the person didn’t necessarily know what things were, it would still, like, be something that they could get. Jeff: Speaking of “Play it Again,” that I reviewed back in episode 186 and really, really loved it. It was like the book I didn’t know I needed at the time. Aidan: Thank you. Jeff: And it’s quite different from “Hitting the Mark.” What was the inspiration behind this tale of two YouTubers who managed to find love even though they live half a world apart? Aidan: Well, going back to my ‘I have various ideas, but squish them all together into one sometimes.’ I really, really wanted to showcase a blind character. A lot of the characters that I do showcase are disabled in some way or have, you know, different aspects of their life that aren’t typical, you know, part of normative parts of society, etc., etc. And I apologize if my verbiage isn’t the best. And I really want to showcase a blind character, but obviously, I didn’t wanna fetishize that I wanted him to be successful and happy, and not be just blind as his character if that makes sense. And I thought YouTube would be a fun angle for that. And on the other side, I really wanted to focus on, like, a Let’s Player because I thought that it would be fun to try to, like, figure out how to write that because it’s so much narration and video-audio-based. And I like playing and like, “Can I do this? I will see if I can.” So making it a long-distance relationship was also kind of something that sort of happened because long-distance relationships, specifically internet-based ones, are very important to me because I have several relationships that started being internet-only and I consider a lot of these people some of my closest friends and I’ve met many of them in person now. One of my friends, I’ve only ever met them once, and it was in our first meeting ever…we then spent two weeks together, but our first meeting ever was in Narita Airport in Tokyo where we both flew separately and then spent two weeks in Japan together. So, like, yeah, there’s a lot that can come from internet relationships and I really wanted to showcase something like that too. Jeff: And I’d imagine here that the research was more than “Hitting the Mark” because you needed to make sure that Dovid was portrayed in the way that you wanted to where, you know, he wasn’t necessarily defined by the blindness. Aidan: Oh, yeah. I do extensive research whenever I write, especially disabled characters, because, you know, there’s so much misinformation out there and it’s so easy to fall into the trap of what the media has portrayed a person to be like or to do as opposed to actually reading experiences and watching experiences about, you know, real people. I kind of posed this question to myself on Twitter a while back, but it was basically, how does one write about a successful blind YouTuber? Watch a lot of successful blind YouTubers basically. So I watched a lot of, like, “The Tommy Edison Experience” is a man who is blind and he has a lot of Q&As; on YouTube. A lot of his videos are older and he’s an older gentleman. But it was still, you know, very informative. He has, like, an episode about cooking, which Dovid is the chef of his little family where he lives with his sister, Rachel. So it was interesting to, like, make sure that I was, you know, portraying his ability to do that correctly and, like, different tools that he’d use. Molly Burke is also a YouTuber that does makeup and fashion. But how she interacts, you know, with her audience and interacts with herself, and the things that are important to her – her experiences – because she does talk about that as well. It was very important. There’s a Tumblr called “Actually Blind” that did Q&As; and did a lot of commentary on different things and responded to different situations where, you know, there’s one impairment affected daily life that was not considered. And “Actually Blind” was a huge help in doing a lot of research because even when I didn’t actually ask the question myself, sometimes they just talked about things that I hadn’t thought about before. So that was a really good thing to notice. Like for instance, they had a post about the fact that the face touch thing in so many books and so many movies is absolutely ludicrous and no blind person really does that. And because it was made up by a sighted person who thought that it was kind of like romantic and intimate to have the blind person, like, touch the other person’s face to see what they look like and “Actually Blind” was like, “No, no. Uh-uh.” So it was something that I didn’t include then and I might have if I hadn’t read something like that. Jeff: The research is oh, so important. Aidan: Absolutely, absolutely. And I do a lot of sensitivity readers too. I have a short story that is going to be coming out probably in October, because I’m spacing it out a little bit, where one of the main characters is in a wheelchair. So luckily, I’m like, “Hey, sibling, I’m gonna ask you some wheelchair questions.” And know about how my experiences in, you know, living with somebody who uses a mobility aid and all that. So proper portrayal is really important to me. Jeff: And you have still yet another type of story coming out with your upcoming YA novel, “Stage Presents.” And I’m fascinated by this way because you’re taking us to Disney College Program. Do you have experience in that or was that a ton more research? And of course, what is this book about because it sounds just delightful? Aidan: Oh, well, thank you. I hope it is delightful. I hope people enjoy it. And to your question, yes and yes. I did experience, I did do the Disney college program many years ago, but I also did do a lot of research for the story in part because, you know, Disney updates and changes things. So some of the things I had to look up were the current menus and stuff because, again, it’s like a tiny little detail that only I will notice but I cared about. But I also had to make sure that I was getting details right in terms of characters because one of the main characters, Ashlee, with two Es, is a Disney princess literally. I did a lot of research into behind the scenes of that a little bit. I watched a lot of ex-princess interviews and posts about the experience of being a character performer. I didn’t have a lot of experience in that capacity. I knew some people who are friends with characters while I was in the program and I did ask, you know, I did learn about it that way. But princesses, I had to learn a little bit more. And, oh, yeah, what the book is about. Two girls who both get onto the Disney College Program and end up his roommates. One, Dana is a kind of, you know, calm, cool, collected, very down to earth, logical girl who is going into international business, she’s excited about working in a Fortune 500 company. She’s looking forward to living away from home. She’s trans. So, you know, that’s just another aspect of who she is as a person and she’s kind of like not sure about how she’s gonna get along with people. But she kind of has the mindset of ‘judge people before they judge you’ sort of thing because of past experiences. Meanwhile, on the other side, Ashlee, with two Es, loves Disney…I know, it’s a very important detail. She loves Disney, she’s a Disneyphile, she loves all the movies, she loves all the songs. She gets cast as an actual Disney princess. This is her dream come true. She’s been dancing since she was little. So one of her goals is to be a parade performer Disney princess, essentially, and she’s super excited. She’s from good old Southern Georgia and has never really, you know, met somebody who’s not exactly like her and her little clique, you know, popular, excited, happy group. So she doesn’t really know what trans means and she was born around…she knows what the internet is, but still, it’s different from knowing and meeting and, like, actually talking to somebody and interacting. And then so, Ashlee is kind of ignorant and Dana is kind of standoffish, and they hate each other. A good portion of the book is just them hating each other, and eventually, of course, a couple of different things happen and it turns into a begrudging friendship, which turns into actual friendship, which turns into more. And it was, you know, writing the evolution of enemies to lovers, which is something that I hadn’t done before really, and integrating different aspects of their situation and being roommates and living in such close quarters and, like, what constitutes that kind of relationship too, especially while you do not like each other and then as friends, and then, you know, once you’re more intimate as well. So that was, like, a whole encompassing aspect of the story itself. Jeff: And now, it sounds even more delightful than when I read the blurb. Aidan: Okay. Good. I had a lot of fun. I like my stories, which is, you know, a fun thing to be able to say because a lot of them I think, just kind of get defined as ‘fun’. There are obviously elements of angst and stuff and, you know, negativity that happens, but I have fun, you know, writing them. I hope that people have fun reading them. Jeff: What got you into writing and M/M romance in particular? Aidan: Well, I’ve always been a storyteller. My dad also, when we were kids, he would make up bedtime stories. We got read to a lot too, but he would make them up. So I grew up with the elements of imagination as something that you could play with and figuring out different elements of what characters could do. Really, you know, being totally honest, fan fiction. I was really, really interested in “Elfquest” as a kid. It is a fantasy novel by Wendy and Richard Penny. And man, I was an “Elfquest” fan. I read and actually own, I’ve collected almost all of the books and volumes and made up as a tiny little 9-year-old, self-inserts in my head as being an elf with such and such power, and being part of that self-insert stuff. And as I got into more media growing up, I really enjoyed reading and writing fan fiction because it was a way to interact with something that I enjoyed so much past where the media itself went. And sometimes things happen that you didn’t like. So you could make them better by writing it yourself or reading it by other people who did a good job or further exploring the world that had already been created with characters you already liked. And from there, it was kind of like, “Oh, I could do this with my own characters and make whatever I want to happen, happen. What? Oh.” And the kickoff was when I was, I don’t know, like, 15, I participated in my first NaNoWriMo and that was the first, like, write a lot of words and also write them really quickly. So you can’t think too much about what you were doing, you know, “wrong.” I wrote 50,000 words in the 30 days. And man, I still have it and it really portrays what I was into, what I was learning, and what I was experimenting with as a 15-year-old because it is a lot of stuff. And I really enjoyed doing that and I kind of just kept at it. And eventually, I had a friend who I really admired, Mina MacLeod, who was also a writer that I was friends with at the time. And she talked about an anthology and encouraged me to also, you know, submit a story, a piece, and I did. And we both got in and I still have the copy of the book, but we’re both in the anthology, both me and this writer that I really admire. And, like, that was really cool. And from there, I went, “Oh, wait, publishing is possible, that this is a thing that actually can happen to, like, real human people as opposed to just authors who are these untouchable people on pedestals.” So my next book that I wrote was written with publishing in mind. That was “Loud and Clear.” And it was technically my first original, original piece. Speaking of smooshing everything together at once, that book is about a man who is so dyslexic, he is essentially illiterate and a businessman who has a stutter so bad that he is a selective mute, falling in love and entering into a relationship. So you got someone who can’t read and someone who communicates through writing and I was like, “Let’s just make this as complicated for myself as possible. That’s a good idea.” But, you know. Jeff: Yeah. For a first book, you took on a lot there. Aidan: You know, it suffers from an overuse of italics, but it’s still something that I really appreciate that I did as a writer. I really like it. I had a lot of people really like the fact that I, you know, portrayed people that way, and of course, it does focus on non-normative people with disabilities and challenges in, you know, typical normal society. The illiteracy was actually based on a friend of mine who is illiterate. His dyslexia is so bad, he is effectively illiterate. He’s also an engineer. So, you know, it doesn’t stop you. It doesn’t have to stop you as long as you have the right elements and encouragement and resources. And that’s what a lot of people do struggle with. Like, he had to be homeschooled because his school that his parents had put him in originally were like, “We don’t know what to do with this child.” So being homeschooled allowed him to learn and actually grow and actually learn. Jeff: I have a suspicion a little bit where this next question at least will go a little bit given the “Elfquest” things, but what authors and genres do you tend to read? Aidan: Basically everything, but gore horror to be honest. I really enjoy contemporary pieces. I like fantasy. I really like nonfiction. I love learning stuff. This is probably not a surprise considering my need for research, my favorite author in the entire world is Terry Pratchett. That probably will never change. The man was absolutely brilliant and his ability to tell stories, and well-rounded characters, and development in plot, and his care in structure, and how he’s able to tie things up neatly with, you know, no questions except for like, what could happen next? He’s absolutely amazing. I really admire him. If I like a tenth of his ability to just, like, story weave, I’d be content in my ability to create. One of the other authors I really enjoy, he’s a very lesser known author, but Barry Hughart. He wrote “Bridge of Birds.” That is a Chinese fantasy mythology story, which basically happens in a historical China, but is written as if mythology was real. And he’s also, like, a very unknown and should be more known author for what he’s able to do with creativity. Other books that I appreciate, I enjoy a lot of Tamora Pierce’s work, especially the “Keladry” series because I really enjoyed her portrayal of a woman, a girl growing up and wanting to be a knight and fighting and dealing with a lot of the prejudices that come from, you know, girls trying to do anything that boys like to do. So, those pieces and she also is essentially…she’s written as not really interested in amorous connections, so to speak, and Tamora Pierce did end up saying that she did write her as asexual even though she didn’t, like, really know the term at the time. So that was really appreciated. Oh, that dovetailed a lot. M/M romance, yes, okay. There is a lot of het romance out there and that’s fine, you know, it’s got a market for a reason. It can be very well done. Me personally, it’s done by other people well and I gravitated more towards queer characters. M/M romance was easier for me to write because it was easier for me not necessarily to identify with the characters, but write about them in ways I wanted to, you know, with gentler portrayals and different effects. I wouldn’t say that I particularly write, like, alpha man male sort of things because it’s not really something that appeals to me personally as an author or as a person. I like people who are settled into themselves and know who they are and may be confident, maybe inconfident. For instance, in “Play it Again,” Dovid is a very confident individual who knows who he is and is really happy with himself. And Sam is much shyer and he’s wracked with anxiety all the time. But they’re both human. I like portraying clear people as human and I think that’s why I gravitated towards it first. I’m not super sure why I write M/M mostly. It’s just because it is a little bit easier for me to…I guess, it does come back to identification. I’ve written one…I have one published female-centric romance, which I do really like. It’s called “Making Love,” which I think is one of my favorite titles ever. It’s about a succubus and cupid falling in love. I was very proud of that, and it’s adorable. It’s very cute, it’s very loving, it’s really soft. And Carla, the cupid is just, like, made of cotton candy and love, sweet, and is really happy and bubbly. And Leeta, the succubus, is kind of cool and had reason to put up a lot of walls. Carla melts her heart and it’s so cute. It’s very silly, a lot of my reviews were like, “It’s cute, but cheesy.” And I’m like, “Yes, that was exactly what I was doing.” It’s called “Making Love,” what were you expecting? And then, same thing with “Stage Presents,” both the main characters are female. Dana is trans. I really enjoy portraying again, like, different aspects and different facets of queer people being human. They make coffee and they’re grumpy, and they might have disabilities or other challenges in life. And they also like stuff and are bad at things, and aren’t just, like, one cutout of a representation that, you know, people have one idea about. I like character-driven stories. Queer people deserve happy endings too. That’s the other thing. Jeff: Yeah. Absolutely on that one for sure. So we know “Stage Presents” is coming up here soon. What else is coming for you this year? Aidan: Well, I’ve mentioned it briefly, I have a short story that I had been kind of working on off and on. I was calling it “Baker Story” on Twitter and I did name it “Not So Cookie-Cutter” or something terrible like that because every single one of my titles…you may or may not know this, every single one of my titles are puns or play on words because I’m ridiculous and I love it. Yeah. So the book, “Bakery Story,” is called “Not So Cookie-Cutter.” I’m probably going to release it around October. It’s about two POC characters, which I did get sensitivity readers for because that was important to me. Jerel who is a baker at like, a cafe/coffee shop and Rafi who is a client who falls in love with Jerel’s pumpkin cheesecake essentially, and romance. They’re cute, it’s cute. One of my favorite things about the story is Rafi uses a wheelchair and Jerel is so smitten by Rafi that he doesn’t notice for, like, two chapters because Rafi is sitting down when he’s, you know, at the cafe and Jerel is just like, “Oh, my gosh, this handsome, amazing human being who is talking to me, like, he thinks I’m cute, okay.” And then, like, when Rafi actually, like, moves in front of him and he rolls away, Jerel’s like, “Oh, my God. I’m an idiot. This is fine. I’m an idiot.” So… Jeff: Nice. That will be one to look forward to this fall. Aidan: Yeah. I think, you know, it’s cute, cute and dumb. That’s kind of my mode. Jeff: What’s the best way for everyone to keep up with you online? Aidan: Twitter is mostly what I use, @aidanwayne is my Twitter handle, user name thing, and that’s primarily where I am. I have a website too and if you go to my website, there’s an option to sign up for my mailing list and mailing list is kind of how I send out information about releases to people. But I don’t like inundate people with mail. It’s just like, “I have a release, yay. Here it is, yay.” Jeff: Cool. We will link to those as well as all of the great stuff that we’ve talked about in this interview. Aidan: Cool. Jeff: Aidan, thank you so much for hanging out with us. It has just been a delight talking to you. Aidan: Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Again, I’m ridiculous. So I appreciate being able to be ridiculous on a podcast. That’s cool. And, yeah, this was a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Book Reviews Here’s the text of this week’s book reviews: Seriously Horny (Redneck Unicorns #1) by Piper Scott & Susi Hawke and Dangerously Horny (Redneck Unicorns #2) by Piper Scott & Susi Hawke. Reviewed by Will.Seriously Horny Unicorn shifter Isaiah is pure white trash. How do we know? We’re introduced to him as he’s settling in for the evening, in his trailer with a bottle of his pappy’s moonshine – but he’s also an expert tracker. He’s tasked with finding a missing teenage dragon shifter. He runs into the kid’s college age brother, Eric, an irresistible dragon omega. They go to search together for Eric’s brother. One night, in a motel room they give in to their desire, and trust me, the scene lives up to the book’s title. Eric has the power of second sight, kind of like Faye Dunaway in Eyes of Laura Mars, and he ‘sees’ where his brother lays injured. Isaiah and Eric find him and bring him back to the dragon compound where he can heal from his injuries. Eric is with child after his night with Isaiah, and months later we find our heroes happily in love with the beginnings of a new family. In Dangerously Horny, Unicorn shifter Bo Luke finally gets up the nerve to tell Mitch just how he feels. But broken-down dragon is a less than ideal match for someone so young. The rejection hits Bo Luke hard and he runs off, straight into the clutches of a crazed woman who has uncovered the secret of the unicorn clan, and desperately wants to touch Bo Luke’s horn – and yes, that euphemism means exactly what you think it means. Mitch and some of his dragon buddies are sent to find Bo Luke. They rescue him and subdue his kidnapper. Because this is a paranormal shifter Mpreg romance, omega Bo Luke finds himself in an uncomfortable situation, and alpha Mitch is the only one who can scratch his particular itch. They fuck and it’s hot and amazing and (of course) totally magical. Mitch’s misgivings were unfounded, they are now fated mates. While waiting for their child to be born, Bo Luke’s stalker escapes custody and attempts to kidnap her unicorn obsession once more. In an action sequence that I thought was particularly bad-ass, Mitch and the entire dragon clan literally reign down fire upon her, rescuing Bo Luke once again. The story wraps up with a hilarious scene in which our heroes experience a very memorable wedding/birthday. The covers of these books tell you everything you need to know. The hot cover models clue you into the sexy times ahead, while the titles, which are decidedly camp, tell you that these romances also about the humor – humor with heart. I loved both of these stories and think they’re a fantastic way to kick off the new series. While ‘Redneck Unicorns’ is a continuation of the author’s previous dragon series, they stand alone just fine.

SHOUT OUT TO SWEDEN! Going to Stockholm! And apparently I organised an orgy? But missed it? What? Oh and I am going on a vulva trip!

SHOUT OUT TO SWEDEN! Going to Stockholm! And apparently I organised an orgy? But missed it? What? Oh and I am going on a vulva trip!

  If people are learning about your product for the first time on the day it launches, it's a massive blow to your sales..   Launch campaigns are starting to die.    There are a few books out there that’ll teach you how to launch something, but proper campaigns are kinda becoming a thing of the past...  :-(   I was talking with Russell about six months ago, I said, “Dude, I feel like the term campaign is starting to die. People are forgetting what it is. They're forgetting the fact that a campaign is NOT setting up a Facebook ad.”   When you set up an ad Facebook calls it a campaign... If you set up a YouTube ad they call it a campaign...   But you have to think back to before any social media platforms existed…   How did these old-school guys create noise? How did they launch and bring a product to the marketplace? How did they do that without social media and without the Internet?   A: They Created A Campaign.    An ad can be part of a campaign, but it's NOT the campaign as a whole.   A campaign is NOT freakin’ Facebook ads. Facebook and Google and YouTube are destroying the term campaign.   Old school campaigners and direct response marketers, when social media wasn't around, those were campaigns.    Ads are part of the campaign, but it's NOT the campaign itself!!! (Urrg… Another riff there.)   So I want to show you how I design and structure a Launch Campaign in away that’s far more methodical than I think most people realize.    There's a pattern I use whether I have a week or six months to launch…   I am a pattern seeker.   So I wanna teach you the pattern with an actual launch I did recently.   A lot of times, I've found is when someone's product doesn't sell well it's NOT because the funnel wasn't good or the sales message wasn't good or the offer wasn't good.    Sometimes they just didn't accurately create pressure ahead of the launch.    So I want to show YOU how to create that pressure. It's pretty valuable stuff!    THE PROBLEM   I've coached a lot of people and helped them design their:   Messaging Positioning Offer Funnel   … and here's what happens.    They build the funnel, and then they push the launch button, (even though there's no launch button in ClickFunnels), they press launch... and literally, nothing happens…   NOBODY sees it because there’s NO PRESSURE created.    So I wanna teach you how to create pressure ahead of time... A LOT of pressure.   You have to understand that a marketer is an event thrower. We build pressure to events whether they’re virtual or not.    There are multiple campaign styles: Launch campaigns Evergreen campaigns.    Sadly, most people sidestep Launch campaigns and go straight to evergreen.   What they'll do is: Turn on the funnel Start driving ads   I'm not saying it's wrong, but…   There's a lot of cash that you're leaving on table when you go straight to ads. If that's the first time someone's heard about your product, that's a problem.    That should NOT be the case, EVER!   It's just like Hollywood…   COMING SOON   If the first time you heard about a movie was on the day that Hollywood released it, they wouldn't make much money...    Literally, the entire business model of Hollywood is to build insane pressure... lots and lots and lots of pressure for a specific time and date so that people talk about it and mark that date on their calendar.   … and it's because of this whole thing about anticipation.   Russell (and a lot of other people) have always said that Scarcity and urgency are some of your biggest tools as a marketer, but there's another one…   Scarcity and urgency are your biggest tools of a marketer post-launch, but pre-launch, (or before receiving whatever you purchased), your biggest tool as a marketer is anticipation.    So how can you structure and build anticipation to create emotion so that people start telling their friends, and it's so talkable that they literally put the date on their calendar???   I swear if you do this, the chances are that you’d make MORE money.    You ready for this, my friend?   HERE’S THE SECRET   What I do, (and my strategy behind it), is this:   I build a launch campaign for whatever I'm putting out there. I launch the campaign The day of the launch, all this cash comes in. I take all that cash and I dump it into my evergreen campaigns.   In my brain they're separate; they're very different roles, but they're both equally important.   Evergreen campaigns are gonna include things like:   Facebook ads Doing podcast interviews Getting on influencer's shows   Those are things that are evergreen and that will stay there forever. They just continually drip traffic to whatever I launch.   The actual launch campaign though, that's a VERY different beast.   A launch campaign is about making people feel like an event is coming up. It's about building that anticipation.    The scarcity and urgency of the event is the fact that it comes only once... and then, it's gone.   The launch that I’m gonna share with you know, (no one freak out), is for a product that you probably aren't even interested in... and I understood that when I decided to share it.    I wanna teach you how to structure a launch campaign... and that doesn’t change depending on the product.    True marketing comes down to beliefs changing.   So check this out…   CHANGING BELIEFS   I’ve been working with the CEO of Pruvit, (as well as some of their top people), to create something for their specific MLM.   I want you to see how I've been creating the launch campaign for the product.    All marketing, whether I'm creating a message or a launch campaign, I start the exact same way.    I write down the WHAT and the WHO:   I'm selling Wealth I'm selling to the MLM space It’s specifically for Pruvit   …  so I'm thinking through who the dream customer is?   If you've watched OfferMind at all, (OfferMind's coming up, September 2nd-3rd)... OfferMind is the funnel we're building right now, so that'll be COMING SOON!   Q: What did I just do there?   A: I just built a little anticipation for our future launch campaign that you don't know about yet… ;-) BOOM!   AN EASY SELL?   In OfferMind, I talk about how:   It's easiest to sell people who are already consuming a similar thing to what you're selling.    If you're like, “That doesn't make sense Stephen because I'm trying to make a blue ocean…?”   My answer is, “Yeah, but NOT always a ‘blue product’, right? That's very different.”   So here’s how I do it…   I walk through and write down some of the characteristics of that red ocean consumer.    ...so who'd be the easiest person to sell to?   If I'm selling to somebody in the MLM space, I'm going to sell somebody who's already:   In MLM - (#Pruvit) Using funnels. (I don't want somebody who's brand freaking new. Are you kidding? I’d have to sell them on the concept of funnels too. That's a harder customer) Knows how to drive traffic Publishing    So you go through and you figure out how to talk to people who are buying things that are already similar to what you're selling.   Your offer is different, but your products people are buying similar.   That’s a MASSIVE hack to the game.    SLOW DOWN   I start by writing down the offer,  (it’s basically done) and we could just launch and start telling people about it, but…   That would be a mistake.   I can NOT turn around and just start dropping this thing out to people.    People are like, “What? Why not? Start telling people, man! Get traffic.”   NO, NO, NO! I need to keep the waiting list page up I need to build pressure I need to create an event    … and I'm going to share with you, how...  and why I do that... And the easiest way to make this happen.   WHAT’S THE HOOK?   Now that I understand more of who I'm going to be speaking to and the offer I'm leading to…   I start thinking through hooks.   I’ve got the major marketing piece down; I’m very clear on the who at this point... and what needs to have happened already for someone to be considered a prospective customer.   At this point, the next thing is to start writing down all the audience lists that I have that might be interested in what I'm launching.    We have people who are:    On the MLM side Listening to my MLM podcast Specifically asking for the offer I've created Sales Funnel Radio and who wanna know how to do an onboarding case study or a launch campaign. The Science of Selling Online group   So zooming back here, I think through all the audiences that I have that I could go and talk to about this and I give everyone a number to identify them.   So if I have 7 audiences I’ll give them a no. from 1 - 7, (I’ll show you why in a minute).   Then…   My message changes for each group of people.   The major mistake people make with launch campaigns is that they create ONE message and they send it to everybody.   ...but this is specifically for Pruvit, and you may not be interested in that?   So the question is:   How can I repurpose what I’m doing and add value to *THIS* audience, aka Sales Funnel Radio?    Well…   I could teach you about launch campaigns.   ...which is exactly what I'm doing ;-)    Check this out:   Sales Funnel Radio = there'll be an episode called Launch Campaigns... (you guys are reading it right now.) WHAT? Oh my Lanta! #repurposing ;-)    So I think through ALL the different hooks that each of these has.   Secret MLM Hacks podcast = “Hey, you guys want to be a fly on the wall? There's no pressure.” Sales Funnel Radio = I'm going to tell you guys about my onboarding case study and launch.    The squares are for the podcast episodes that I'll drop.   For example:    This one’s for Sales Funnel Radio so you can learn how I structure a launch campaign.   … so think through:   Who you're talking to... (you should already have that figured out) What’s the offer you're building All the audiences that you have reach with   Next, you need to identify the:   The Hook The Intro The beginning message   ... that would be interesting to each audience.   One audience might just want to be a fly on the wall, but it still lets me put the offer in front of them. What do you think happens when that happens? I sell more.   Some audiences are specifically asking for this offer, so I'm just going to tell them about it... (and I'll tell you how I'm doing that). The Science of Selling Online might be interested in hearing about this with the hook:  “Hey, check out this onboarding case study!”? The Affiliate Outrage Group are very similar to the MLM group, so I'm going to tell them: “This is how you make your own training program. I'm gonna teach what I did and how it's structured the whole course.” The One Funnel Away people might be interested in this because a lot of them are in the MLM space and they always just go nuts on my door asking me: “Does this work for MLM?”   People who are on who are already on the waiting list.   Does that make sense? (I’m trial closing you? ;-) )   I'm thinking through:   Who it was made for All the audiences I have reach with The hook that would be interesting to them   HOW I GET CR*P DONE   Now there are two other things I want to share with you real quick about how I actually structured the launch itself.    Okay, so now I know who I'm talking to. I know about the hooks and the themes I'm going to talk about…   A campaign is just a vehicle to deliver a message   So…   What's the actual campaign? What's the Vehicle? What's the Message?    So check this out:   *THIS* is how I launched my first product when I left ClickFunnels…   I wrote the days of the week on my whiteboard, and then drew out weeks horizontally...   I think through the ways I could reach out to all of these people?    For example:   Facebook live into groups Facebook messenger Slybroadcast texts Email   Next, I identify what group I’ll talk to on which day?    Monday = Facebook live to the Science of Selling group.   To find out what I'm gonna do on each day, I just look at my chart…   That way takes all the thinking out of it and I can just focus on the message.    I know what I'm supposed to be doing every single day for the launch.   A lot of reasons why people don't make a lot of money with their funnels is because they don't actually structure a campaign.    They just finish the funnel and then they just start kind of telling people about it... but there's NO PRESSURE behind it, so it dies. They got nothing!   So look at this…   I'm gonna drop out an email for number one, two and six.   Q: What am I doing?    A: Building pressure and anticipation.    I know that I'm launching on Friday; so what I'm going to do on the first four days is pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure.    MESSAGE TO MARKET   Q: What are all of the messages going to be inside of this?    Vehicle Internal External Launch   ... that's it!    I can check to see what's going out each today.    You have to understand that there's a vehicle, internal and external false belief related individually to each one of those groups.    Now, while some people are in multiple groups, collectively the belief of each group is different.   So I need to understand the vehicle, internal, external false belief as fast as possible.   So when I write an email, I'm NOT talking to each audience in the same way…   You see what I'm saying?    For Example:   I know you're probably not in an MLM, so I'm NOT here to pitch you. I'm here telling you what I'm doing so you can structure the exact same campaign.   But when I talk to some other groups, I will be pitching. I want them to go to my offer.   However, I can still repurpose my content and talk to a whole bunch of other people to make noise.   I'm in the business of making noise. So a campaign is the vehicle that delivers the message.   Most people don't do this... and their campaigns SUCK.   They’ve got:   Good products Good funnels Good offers   … they're just terrible at launching them, and they get no money.   So they go straight to:   Evergreen campaigns Facebook ads   ... stuff like that.   There's no feeling of: “I can't wait for it to come out. Take my credit card!”   ...and that's what I wanna create.   MY CAMPAIGNS Here's the campaign structure itself for the  Science of Selling Online Group:   Monday = Facebook live Wednesday = an email with a lot of internal hangups stuff   Friday = an email so you can watch and follow what I'm doing.      The number twos are the people this product was specifically built for, so I'm gonna drop an email to them just announcing the fact that we've got it ready for them.    Then we have more emails covering:   Vehicle Internal External Launch Another  2x email   But then, we're going to drop out a text message because I have phone numbers for almost all of them; so I'm gonna drop out a broadcast text message.   The text will be something like, “Hey, on a Friday I emailed and sent you a voicemail as well. I just want you to know that it's available. The thing that you've been wanting all along is here.”   So the modalities interact with each other. Does that make sense?    I own real estate salesfunnels.com and for a while (like two, two and a half years ago), I thought I was going to go and do more stuff on the real estate space…   The way I did it was like, “Hey, put your home address in here and I will send you a quote for how much you could probably sell your house for.”   ...so they put in their:   Name Email Phone number    … they opted in.    15 minutes later I automated a text message to them which said:   “Hey, let me look this up real quick and I can give you a call.”   Then about 30 minutes later, I automated a Slybroadcast that said:   “Hey, I texted you saying I’d call. This is me calling. I just want you to know we got some cool information for you, just make sure you call us. Go check your email because I'm gonna email you something.”   An hour after that, I automated a pdf that was kind of applicable to anybody.   Every single message was, “Call me, call me, call me, call me, call me, call me…” 'Cause I know if they called me it's worth waaay more than me calling them.    I'm parsing out all the easy people to grab.   Each one of these things in the campaign interacts with each other!   If you’re thinking, “Steven, and this is deep!” Yeah, no Duh! I love what I do, okay?    MIXING IT UP   Maybe people don't like checking email. I hate checking email. People are like, “I emailed you months ago.” I'm like, “Sweet, I definitely didn't see it.”    “Steve, I Facebook messaged you months ago.”  “Sweet, I KNOW I didn't see that!”   Not everyone wants to consume their communication in the same way... but I'm definitely going to:   Point them to it Make it interact Connect with story    The launch campaign is as important as the evergreen campaign    It's one of the major reasons (besides affiliate marketing) why I've NEVER had to spend a dollar of my own on my own business.    Instead…   I structure a launch campaign Put all this pressure on Release it to the people I was building pressure for I take that cash and go dump it back into evergreen style campaigns #ads    ...and so it builds off itself like crazy!   In my high-ticket group called OfferLab,  this is the kind of stuff we do.   We structure the:   Sales message Offer Funnel .... but then, the next piece is the launch campaign.    How do you get a butt ton of money so you can go dump it straight back into ads, and now everything is pure profit?    You put a dollar in... but it wasn't even your dollar anyways! It came from the launch campaign… Do you see what I'm saying?    Here’s *A SHAMELESS PLUG*, go to myofferlab.com if you want to see more.   Hopefully, you can see that this is ONE of the reasons why my stuff has done so well.    I feel like people just don't understand the launch campaign.   BUILDING PRESSURE   When Russell puts things out, he builds pressure and soft drops.   That's why he creates so many open loops when he's speaking:     Just wait… It's coming…   Oh, my gosh… here it comes... He’s creating anticipation and pressure and that really annoys some people, but whatever...   Each day, I go in look at my checklist to see what part of the campaign I’m focusing on next:   I've done that, so I'll go do a Facebook live in the next group.  I'm gonna drop out an email to that audience, that audience, and that audience. Where am I in the campaign for that audience? Where am I in the campaign on Thursday for that specific audience? Here’s the theme I’m using. I  know the specific day it's launching so I say: “Make sure you're on the waiting list!”   ….I'm building pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure.   Call to action, call to action...    Waiting list waiting list, waiting list, waiting list.    ...and then all of a sudden, BOOM! The product is launched like crazy.   BONUS INFO   One of the BIGGEST mistakes people make when they create a launch campaign is they don’t have a way to create A LOT of momentum and pressure.   So how else can I leverage the fact that noise is naturally going to expand further than my own reach?   Check this out:   One of the things that we're doing, (and I've done this on Affiliate Outrage).   After people opt into the member's area, you’ll see a message: “Hey, if you want this other cool thing for FREE, this is how you get it…”    It's part of the members' area, and they can click enter and unlock it after they've shared on social media.    That's me hyper-leveraging what's going on.    I'm taking something that I know is highly attractive to them; very, very sexy, and entering it inside of a sharing contest.   If they share with two or three people, this extremely, extremely attractive, sexy thing unlocks.   The list I’m using will hit probably almost 30,000 people this launch, but then I can probably expect a 25 to 40 percent referral traffic share rate... which means I should get like another 5,000 - 6,000 people that are NOT on my list.    I'm going to ask everyone to share on social media and reward them for it.   It's NOT just what am I selling, it's NOT just how am I selling (sales scripts, sales message, funnel wise), it’s what’s the campaign that launches my funnel?    A funnel is NOT a launch.   What are the mechanisms you’re using to create noise? What are you doing to create pressure and momentum?    I actually bought offersummit.com and I'm going to do an offer summit…   Why?   ...’cause it's going to create tons of noise explicitly around the back of the OfferMind event. It will ride on the back of OfferMind.   So many people are like, “It's hard to fill events.” It is hard, but if I structure all the campaigns ahead of time, it's actually NOT that crazy!   Until Next Time: Get Rich, Do Good, Give Back   Hey,    I know this game can take a few tries to get the money flowing, especially the first time, right? And that can suck.    I also know from experience how frustrating it can be to know your business is just a few tweaks away from your next big payday, but you don't know what tweaks to make. I've felt completely paralyzed by that in the past, and it sucks.    I've been blessed to work with thousands of new and successful businesses over the last three years, and two things have really shocked me.    #1: I began noticing the pattern to success is vastly the same, but everyone's spot on the path is obviously different.    #2: I've been shocked and overwhelmed by the number of people asking for my help, my systems, and funnels in their business.    Well, until now I've never had a system or product in my own business to help you build yours. Now, I'm finally able to be public about all this.    If you'd like my help to build your offer or sales message funnel and even your content machine, go to myofferlab.com.   The path to online and offline success is 80 percent the same regardless of the product, price point or industry, and it works if you're new, or are already a killer in business.    You can get more details on how to get my personal attention and frameworks in your own business by going to myofferlab.com   In-person classes are limited to 60 people each, and frankly, I can only do about two of these a year. Get more details, and even jump on the phone with us for free at myofferlab.com  

This week's ControlTalk NOW features Ken Sinclair, who takes us on a deep dive through the murky waters of Cybersecurity.  The April edition of Automated Buildings is a must read -- as leading industry experts weigh in with critical insights and comprehensive advice on how to eliminate as many of your vulnerabilities as possible. There is a great framework from NIST. Click Here to Subscribe to our YOU TUBE Channel  Cochrane Supply's Controls-Con, May 2-4, 2019 Detroit's MotorCity Casino ControlTrends 10% Discount Code Available 2019 Haystack Connect, May 13-15, 2019, San Diego, CA EasyIO World Conference, May 19-21, 2019, Amsterdam, Netherlands Our AI transcriber is not smarter than a six year old, so I apologize in advance for any typos and miss spelled words. The following is a presentation and the ControlTrends, Podcasting Network,you're listening to ControlTalk Now. The HVAC and Smart Building Controls , podcast., with the man the myth, the legend Ken Smyres and Eric Stromquist. ControlTalk Now about weekly podcast with HVAC,building automation and Smart Building Control News you can use. Now here's Eric Eric Stromquist: Alrighty. All right man. So cool. What Kenny man, big week. I know you stay busy. I stay busy, man. Roscoe went on in the business world. I think anybody in our industry knows to just kind of like a business has just fallen out of the sky man. It's like how many buckets can you pick up? You know, everybody's scrambling to get the job done and keep up with it. It's keeping us busy. It's a good thing, you know, probably not last forever, but hey, while it's happening, let's enjoy it. Right. I think Ken Smyers: totally right. I think we've come to a, an intersection where the, the, some of the hard work, the pioneer work, the, the, the planting of the seeds so to speak. And then the technology is finally coming into, uh, you know, the, the various modular levels that are affordable. They're understandable. And they're, you know, the ease of installation. And so I think it's a good time, uh, economically too. There's money is available. I know when you talked primarily about HVAC and building automation, you go into certain markets like the mush market, Hospitals, universities, schools, hospitals, and commercial real estate, you know, and the GSA. But uh, you know, the truth of the matter is, is that we've done a lot of due diligence on this and we've proven without question that if you take steps, you know, you fix your worst problem first with the technology. And we've had some amazing products come to being easy. Io came up with the, uh, the FG 32, I think that was one of the mainstays. Then you had to Honeywell, LCB has connect. Then you had the Johnson controls Verasus uh, you know, and you got links spring coming out with the five 34. You have the edge tend to device series coming out from Tridion on. And so all the major manufacturers and vendors out there to provide solutions have taken some of the major product platform and scaled it down so that it can meet the markets that need it the worst. And that's those 50,000 square feet and below. And so, uh, as you know, we keep track of doe and they tell us that there's a, there's about 75% the 80% of the buildings after this still need some love and care and some building automation. Eric Stromquist: So I think what's going to happen with that, and again, at ControlTalk Now, we try to give you control news you can use. So I think if you're planning your strategy now, it's like when the business is falling out of the sky, your strategy nowadays, he'd be just, how can we, how can we capture that business and take it and make money on it? But you will remember this conversation where the man, the myth, the legend told you that 70% of those smaller buildings don't have anything in someone. The economy dries up. You can put together a strategy and go after that. And of course we've got so many great products, companies are coming out with products to address that segment of the market or anything for viruses. Kenny talked about the Honeywell LCBS, well you look at EASY IO, it's great for that race to the small space. and LYNXSpring has a great offering. Ken Smyers: Optergey and LoyTech. I mean we're just, we're seeing the, that we're seeing a lot more. I decided I was going to do, hey Eric, one more time. Could you do that thing you did there about the, you were catching things falling from the sky because you reminded me of somebody. You mind me a Julio Jones. There you go. Eric Stromquist: Oops. Drop it. Manna from heaven baby. Yeah, Manna from for sure. Well listen man, we got a great show this week. Let's go ahead and get our first guest on and then we'll, we'll take care of some business after we getting a motto. How about introducing him? Kenny sounds great. Is the first of the month and you know what that means. Ken Smyers: I sure do. It it that Ken Sinclair from automated buildings have come up with another fabulous addition. Uh, we're going to be bringing Ken Sinclair, owner, editor of automated buildings.com, On to the show. Welcome to the show Ken and tell us about your April edition. Welcome, Ken. Ken Sinclair: Thank you very much. Really pleased to be on a controlled trends. Uh, yeah, our, uh, our April fool's issue is going to come online April 1st, but we all got fooled. And the fact that, uh, I wrote an article for connected contractor that basically linked to the bulk of the articles and uh, it was supposed to go out on Thursday and surprise. It came out on Wednesday. So I'd left us scrambling to, to make sure that all the links were, uh, as, as need as they could be. So we had a release then and a, we're in a situation that we can kind of release that side of it. And I gave you a little piece of artwork and a, an actual article that you can link to that it'll take you to most of the cyber securities. So where this all came from, his Anto, uh, came to me and he had done quite a successful, uh, cybersecurity a session at Ahr Atlanta. Uh, he asked me what he should do and I said, it's way too late. Don't even try and do it. But he ignored me and, uh, and uh, cobbled it together. Uh, it ended up being at seven o'clock in the morning, uh, which actually turned out to be a blessing because everybody who came to the cybersecurity session actually made it. Anybody who waited to come on the bus was stuck on the freeways and mix ms most of our other sessions. So it worked out really well. Anyway, from that, uh, that was sort of the first gathering of a lot of cybersecurity folks and he suggested that we do an issue and we chose April as a month to do that issue. And, uh, I'm, I'm extremely pleased. Uh, uh, it, it makes you realize the giants that we actually work with in the industry. And, uh, if you just flip through their articles, I got to admit, I just learned a whole bunch about the cyber security. I've always been kind of concerned about it, that cybersecurity has the potential of a mobilizing us and uh, I, I feel better about that now. They all seem amazingly enough, although there's five, six, seven articles, uh, all coming at it from different directions, they actually mostly all embraced nurses. Uh, a framework which is great. So we have some commonality. Uh, I just a whole lot of stuff and it's, I think it's going to be a great resource for our industry and uh, I think also it's going to be useful for other industries and it will, uh, it kind of gets our message out, uh, to, to cybersecurity is as general, it maybe identifies us more as it thinking people and helps with that transition. We all have to make really nice job on in Canada. I think this is that this is the edition that you want to print out and save because I think this is going to be something you can use for sometime to come. But anyway, Kenny, I'm sorry for interrupting there. Ken Sinclair: No, that was great. Wedge in on that is the, uh, mark made that comment. He said, this is looking good. We should make this into any magazine and a really the issue, the way we index everything and automated buildings is we never throw anything away. We have our very first issue is still online from 20 years ago, so this issue is Sabre. We'll say cyber security issue will be online for now for for as long as I I chug on. I'm going to talk a little bit about that later in the show. Well, hang on real quick and I guess it one more thing is we've got an April fools coming up. Can I got an April fool's joke? You should play on the community, so on April 1st you should publish that, that republish, that one from 20 years ago just for the, and just see how many people pick up on it. Then you can put that other one back home. Believe it or not, most of the, most of the words are bang on. We haven't really achieved much. We've been talking about a lot of this stuff for a long time. It's pretty, it's actually pretty bad actually. Some of it is. I've actually been doing that in a lot of my writings. I've been taking something from 2015 years ago and it reads great. Well, you know, can I think that shows that you're a precocious back 20 years ago, I think you were when it was first minds in the business, they're really truly took uh, you know, began to document and archive what is likely to come and why and why it's necessary, why you gave us good foundation and you know, you say you gave us where we're at now, where we're going, where we're going to be. But um, you know, the, the way you started off the April edition was you said that, um, I've avoided discussion and the past cybersecurity understanding, highlighting to potential security and privacy concerns can paralyze us for 20 years. We have operated in the wild west manner. And I think that that's, that's exactly right. And I think within this last two years, maybe a year for sure, the compression of seriousness that regard now the adoption, everybody knows their response. Where is a co Co effort, you know, we need to cooperate and collaborate to get things done quickly with cybersecurity. But I mean, just kind of in your mind when you think back, like, uh, was back that for instance, we really didn't have that threat. So I mean, it could have been the wild west and it could be, you know, just, you know, we were naive, but again, the world was different then and I think some of our protocols and stuff. So what's your thoughts on, you know, did you ever have an idea that somebody would penetrate your back net network 20 years ago? Yeah, I think you'll, we were safer back in those days, in the 20 years ago because I think the problem came is when we, uh, started to depend heavily on the Internet and we started to develop a web controllers and all of our devices started to have IP addresses. So what happened is we kind of walked across the floor and we became it people, but not really, uh, identifying ourself in educating herself as it people. When you talk to somebody like Scott Cochrane, he understands that real clear and he's all of his new folks. He's hiring are coming from an it orientation. And I think that's kind of where we're at. I think that's how we kind of created a mess by just, we took the quickest way and I think it was necessary because we needed to prove to our industry that this, it was serious stuff. Ken Smyers: Even doing it badly. Uh, it was amazing what we could do. So now I think we used to have to back up a little bit and clean it up, but my comment was is we have really achieved a lot and we, there's holes systems. Uh, you were talking earlier and in a boat, uh, easy ios session in Amsterdam and easy. I do. I always, one of the companies that was quick to basically move into an Iot, uh, environment and actually almost leave our, uh, you know, so I would call it, flag them as one of the leaders in this. But now we have to kind of go back and take a look of what iot rules are doing. How are we going to make all of this stuff safe in that I have a tremendous concern that if we make too many fences, we're going to be the people behind the fences. That's gets too complicated. And uh, so we have to kind of keep that Claire Claire and I was just extremely pleased with all these talented, uh, cyber security experts that wrote for us. Uh, it, it kind of reads like the WHO's who of a cyber security for our industry and uh, that they all are focused on the Nis, uh, model of cybersecurity and uh, and basically identifying the, the five components of that. And so that's, that's just a great feeling a whole lot better. Uh, my concern, my concern got answered in the, uh, in the, uh, article and actually then at the end of it I just added some stuff just a few minutes ago. It's the trouble with my articles. You think you're finished reading them and then they add another paragraph and added the a a paragraph about the charter trust that Siemens is working for with, and they're there, the Europeans are, are, are sort of way ahead of us, although I'm very concerned that they, they could fence themselves in as they, as you start to, as you start to protect our human rights and protect, uh, our products. Every time you put protection around something, it makes it less flexible and less usable. So they're two opposing forces that we have to kind of deal with. Give me an example of being fenced and cause you use that term, but can you give me a for example, um, for example at which, oh, I see. Um, well just at the same, the thing is so secure. Like the simplest thing is that you have to sign on to everything. And if, uh, if I had to sign on to comfy every time I wanted to use it, that would make it useless. And if I had to, if I had to, every time I went into a building, if I have to give permission so they can use my Bluetooth beacon, mobilizes us idea of the technology, gets it, gets stopped with the so much friction that it would be, you wouldn't want to use it anymore. That's right. And I think there's that potential exists. So I think we have to always be, you know, I am, but what is the reality of it? I have no problem with sort of limiting the amount of information that can be taken off of, uh, an iPhone or Dapa off a mobile phone. But to the proper, the proper manner would be is that it would stop you at the door and say that, you know, it's the whole thing with every website now that's warning you that it's using cookies and you can't, you can't move on the website unless you click on it that you accepted to use cookies. So it's like, do I really need that message? Change your password every time you log on and you can't keep up with your passwords. I'm flock out of so many of my sites for that very reason that I can't remember the password because it made me change it. And then I do three times and then it goes through this massive reset and then you gotta come up with another password and then I just go, okay, I'm not going to be on Facebook anymore. Yeah. Well actually I am running that same thing. Yeah. The thing I've done, I just given up remembering my passwords and I actually, every time I sign on I have it send me a new password. Wow. It's just simpler. And actually for some of it, maybe they've achieved their goal cause maybe that's the most useful. Uh, you know, did you change your password? I had to get it on cause I couldn't remember what it was. Well, you know, they're going to fix it that one day. Ken Smyers: I think, uh, you know it. Then you have that big trust. You've got different people like Google and Microsoft and they'll remember all your passwords for you and then they get to hear that and they get caught. You go to and Ken, I, I thought he came up with another one. I wanted to, I want to make this a, this might be the same when we write something about it. You said that we all take, we all have taken the path of least it resistance. I think that's exactly right. I mean, we all did just what you had to do. I remember the early days we just added for, we asked for two ports. You get me on the network and you worry about it and if I create a problem for you, I didn't mean it. Whatever. So, um, yeah, I mean you said too that the WHO's who of of cybersecurity from our building automation and HVAC industry. You're absolutely right. I go through this, the names here and I missed Fred Gore you the first time because I thought initially and he's, he's like right up at the top that, do you have a Anto? You got James Lee, you have Fred Gordy, you have Marc Petock, Ping , and you have Teresa Sullivan. You have just, just how many Kevin Smith's different CTO from treatment. How did you get all these people involved so quickly that you could put this together in a monthly addition? I mean, it's, this is a lot of network. Ken Sinclair: Well, I got to, uh, Anto helped a lot, but as I mentioned that a lot of it, a springboard off of the, uh, cybersecurity session in Atlanta. And actually that whole session is on the new deal site, actually is as much information as there is on the surface. There's, there's two documents. There's, uh, a report I wrote to try and put pictures and English subtitles to all of their complex articles and then linked to their articles, sort of give you some, uh, so you can get up merge and get up to ramp speed trying to get your mind around all of this. And then secondly, uh, Anto and I did a discussion, just a, it's like an interview, but we did it in the form of an article and we basically talk and link to each one of their things and sort of talk about the evolution. Uh, and of course this'll, this'll also get fed back on the new deal, uh, website that, uh, uh, okay. Anto maintains as well. Uh, symmetrics has been a real supporter of this. Uh, and Oh, the other one you missed. Uh, the other fame to more famous people are, uh, James Butler basically talks about the new, a BACnet, BACnet secure, I believe it's called, and an Ping of Optigo Hook, Ping Yell. And then I miss Deb Noller and, um, Jim Butler, Simon. But I just definitely, but it's an incredible lineup. You're quite right. I, I too was impressed and a, I think what happened is that is once, once they found out that somebody was writing, uh, was easy, when I reached out to them and told them this was our cyber security issue and we have some pretty good traction, then I think they, uh, they wanted to be part of it. They wanted it to be identified as a part of the solution. But the amount of information there is just phenomenal cause you, you click on any one of those, uh, industry experts, you get down to their site and then they give you their links and then their links give you more links. So from, from this, uh, I'm really proud that from this one page or this interview, you can, you can probably even go down the rabbit hole. Yeah, you could read for two weeks. But the good news is, is when you start reading it, there starts to be some common themes and some common cautions. And, uh, it's not like everybody's saying, uh, you know, do it my way. And that's, that's what the holistic cybersecurity is, is that we've got to do this as a group. We've got to do this as a, uh, a community of practice. And of course, that was our last thrust and it fits really well into this. And in fact, at the end of our, of the article, we actually identify a whole bunch of communities of practice that are, uh, that are, are, uh, are accurate, are evolving for cyber security. Right? Right, right. No, I like that. Conceptr, but that was it. Was that a Therse Sullivan a concept? Yeah, actually that Atlanta was pretty significant for us. We're saying, we're still talking about it. Uh, um, we did the, uh, it was called the evolution of a automation from ether net to emotion, our session. And we basically went back and we talked about, you know, the overview that we had prepared. And actually this is going to be part of my keynote at control con is that, so I've been 50 years in the industry, uh, 20 years of that is automated building. And, uh, so what, what does the old guys see? Well, what the old guys sees is that we went through a whole lot of technologies on our way from pneumatics to AI, but, uh, the only constant is the people. I mean, there's pets. He's there in the beginning and he's still there in the end. Leaves there in the beginning, uh, the beginning of backnet them and James Lee in San Francisco and the first backnet integration with train that gotta be 30 years ago or something like that. Ken Smyers: Uh, all of this stuff is, has radically changed, but these people are still there and the people and their communities of practice are, well, it's kind of keeps us moving forward. So I'm kind of intrigued by that. And of course, uh, the, the events that are coming up, we're all kind of part of and they become our community of practice events. And uh, certainly that's a ControlsCon is certainly one of those events. The next one that I actually used as an example in that article is aHaystack Connect because HaystackConnect grew. You guys were there in the beginning, you saw how it grew and you saw where it's grown to today. And it is certainly a community of practice when you actually attach yourself to these communities of practice. There's so much information and so much resource because there's very talented people and we're all working on a common theme. And the other thing that comes is communities of practice beget communities of practice because once you start working with this, we've got an absolutely new field. Um, maybe like a camera AI or something like that that we're moving into. We don't really know anything about it. The fastest way we can get from zero to, uh, highway speed is how along the ramp is basically catch on to a community of practice and join them and basically look for a while, find out what the heck they're talking about. And then eventually we'll get up to merge speed and we can actually drive along highway with them. Yeah, it makes so much sense. Can I'll begin by just going to go it alone. And this sort of gets back to a concept that a, either you or Kenny coined about the Co- competition, Speaker 5: whatever it is, co option. All good, Eric. I'm just don't know which analogy which one they'll get doing the random, in other words, we've always said that it's for our community and for, for the building automation world. HVAC I'm ever you, Eric and I were down with Marc Petock.. We said, where do we go? What's, what's our, what's our course of action? And Fred Gordy came out of, uh, you know, he was the champion and he was working with Billy Rios remember. Uh, yeah. And then next thing, you know, uh, it just started rolling. This big wheel started taking roll. And now looking at this litany, this, this faculty, you know, again, Deb Noller, Jim Butler, uh, ping a poke, Ping Yow, uh, Mark Petock, Kevin T. Smith, Fred Gordy, Anto, but Yardo Vr, Joel and James Lee. I mean, now we've got a faculty and then use that with nest. And we've got real great direction that we've gone from having little, uh, you know, kind of guidance. And what do we tell people? Remember that that checklist we hung up on the refrigerator with Fred Gordy. We put his, uh, 10 best things to start a cybersecurity if I get an internal champion, et Cetera, et cetera. But then, um, so it's really good to see that what you said with the ramp to the highway. In other words, we got people onto that. They can finally get a, onto a ramp and started learning, like you saying, and put, put things into context, you know, deciphered, filtered for themselves and their organizations or whomever their businesses. And then, uh, you know, keep at it to the point where you could get onto the ramp way in, merge onto the highway and be comfortable and be professionally competent in cybersecurity. I think it's a great analogy and I think he had a lot to do with Ken. actually Scott Cochrane and I had been fooling around with it as well. And uh, uh, my comment to him as I was appreciating what Scott was doing for me cause he was, he's, he's pushing me along the, uh, along the merge ramp and uh, he wants me to get up to speed before I hit this uh, conference because, so I don't become roadkill. But they, then they, then they were very polite. They re they redefined me as the road warrior. Eric Stromquist: I like it. What, do you guys ever hear of a book called think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill? Yes. Okay. So you know what it reminds me of Ken, and I'm rereading the book is as you know, cause he interviewed Andrew Carnegie and all these people, the successful traits of people that are successful in the top in their field. And one commonality they had as they all had a mastermind group of likeminded people that weren't what they would bounce ideas off of each other. And you know, part of Carnegie's thing was it no mind, no matter how good it is, can capture and understand fully. So, you know, it's almost like these centers of practice are also run me a lot of Carnegie's mastermind groups. Ken Sinclair: Yup. Yeah, I think so. Very, very much so. Uh, I mean it's a way we organize their life. It's kind of funny that, uh, when, uh, teres definitely I would have to credit her to, to basically putting the words around the community of practice. And then she went digging back into the history of how that kind of came to a play and then she put it in one of her articles and then I've rewritten a whole bunch of other stuff on, on that. And you're quite right, it, those come right from the, uh, from motivation. And, uh, but it's just a quick way and it's certainly, I mean, if you want to learn about anything, if you want to learn about video equipment, I'm sure you belong to sub communities of practice for video equipment. I mean it's, and especially with the Internet, it's just so, uh, probably burnt and, uh, everywhere so we can actually get this information. The other thing we've identified a is in talking to my young guns, my young editors is we, you know, he floated out the question is how did you get so smart? And they all came from various backgrounds. Uh, but how they got smart was they basically educated themselves and they learned what they needed to learn. And that's really the model that our whole industry is evolving on is, uh, it's, it's just so broad that, uh, nobody can tell you what you need to know. You just have to pick a, a threat of it on real quick with that because you know, I think, you know, you, you and I both had this concept of, you know, take a millennial to lunch or whatever. And you know, I've got two mentors, one them moves in his seventies and one of them who's in his late twenties and you know, we've heard him manufacturing, I'm throwing this out primarily for our manufacturers who are trying to train to get traction with people with their products. But you know, we've heard just in time manufacturing, right where you just build it at the last second, but with this cat's about, and what the millennials are about, it's called just in time learning. In other words, if you give them a manual, they're not going to start at chapter one and go all the way through. They're going to hop in where they want to hop in and then they'll go around it however they do it. So, and I think in a way that's a lot better, uh, I think they can get up to speed a lot faster and they're willing to make mistakes along the way. But for guys like me and you and Kenny is like, no, you start on page one and well, you know what the Eric, your, your your point. It's so true. Uh, in other words, we're seeing this, uh, I took a look at some of the new education going on in, in public schools and grade schools, and then we're not a young students are not learning how to write cursive anymore and how it's been antiquated and how it's a, it's a barrier to learning enhancement learning. But if you talked about the community of practice, can, you know, you had, uh, you had, uh, an initiative back when you were doing your collaboratorium that was kind of, you were creating that, uh, that exact community of, of, uh, you know, practitioners that were the experts. And then, and then to your point, Eric, you're absolutely right. Just in time learning. In fact, remember Ken, you did the didactic you were talking to, you were the first person that I read the didactic. Ken Smyers: I said, I just use words. I can't say. Yeah, yeah. You, so you said that what's going to happen is we need to put all this stuff into some sort of forum that's available and it has the archives from a to z and then that anybody that wants to learn really quickly can, can enter any part of that, that 20 year swing that you put onto your website and pull down meaning from it, and then just learn what they need to learn to get by the next thing. And Eric remember, we did a thing with a wearable technologies, how they said it's the only way they're going to keep, you know, to produce results in the medical fields and the gas and oil fields. And now we're gonna see it. You know, building automation is, you're going to have a home base and the rest is going to be camera and somebody at the site's going to be to say Turner wrench to the right. Three quarters turn. Good. Stop. Okay. What's, what's the pressure reading again? Show me, you know, so that that's the way the world's going to work because you just, you won't be, you won't have the luxury of time. So it's more efficient. Right? You won't have electric, can't get a semester's worth learning anymore, you know, so you can't read the preface and the epilogue. You gotta just get to page 38 were, tells you how, but with a point of dinner is made now knowledge a very democratic in its not for the, the fewest for anybody that wants to learn can learn, which is the really exciting thing about it. And so for our community out there thought cybersecurity was out of your purview,Ken Sinclair, begs to differ with you. Just go to his April edition and you can be a cybersecurity cop, Billy the Kid Rios. Ken Sinclair: Good stuff. Okay. The other thing I think we have to look at is we have to look at a ControlTrends.com is definitely a community of practice and a, your company as well, Kenneth and automated buildings is a community of practice. Uh, and it's interesting that, that you go into these communities of practice and then inside of each community of practice is a unique one such as Haystack Connect is inside of that and inside the haystack is a sand star, uh, community. So all these little communities are the mosaic that, that build us. And if you want to get going fast, you have to just, you have to go to the community that you need, you need to interface with to do whatever it is you want. Once you get to that community because they're all online. The other thing you didn't mention about how the young folks learn is that we, uh, they can just send out a blog message and they just ask. They just say, I'm trying to do this. I've read, they always have the politeness that they've read through everything the community has talked about. And somebody said this to even pick up on a piece of that and said, I need more information about that. Then you'd be unbelievable. The whole community jumps in and helps them. They're very collaborative. I think we grew up in a time where we, we kind of, we had to do it on our own and we were very proud of that machiavellian Eric Stromquist: my number, can I, how I'm going to take another step out of it was a competitive advantage to know something somebody else didn't know that Internet changed that. So the youngsters who are coming along, you know, you know, good blind horse, why hoard information, but back when, back in the day, I mean, if you knew how to calibrate something, somebody else didn't, that was your differentiator in business. But knowledge now is, uh, I just keep saying democratic. Can we get gimme the vogue vocabulary word for it, Kenny, that, uh, where it's a ubiquitous or, uh, that was, it's not for the democracy of, of, of what we're doing is basically, it's, it's, Ken Sinclair: yeah, it looks I know what you're saying, Eric. I'll think of it in a second. But you don't see, knowledge is no longer elitist, right? Well, you know, you, you and I went to Scotland at one time and that's where it really hit me the hardest. I mean, uh, the, the way the cat gets out of the bag and the printing press and, and when they said that the one, the rich benefactor for Edinburgh said, I'm going to make everybody learn how to read. And he paid for it and he then suddenly children were learning how to read and write and it went, it went backwards on it. Instead of reading right in the Bible, they became political. They, they came politically unrested but to your point, a printing press changed everything because I had knowledge and, and so I think that was, that was step one. Step two was probably the Internet, right? I mean, wow. That's, I think that's the analogy I was trying to make is that the Internet was designed for certain things and all these processional items you work per session. We have no idea what's going to go. In fact, I was reading an article the other day about apple and some of the other people, uh, they're thinking they've gone to a, met with the president and they're talking about re organizing the United States, his approach to education because we're so we're falling so far behind the world because we're playing all these education process leads to a dead end. It doesn't lead to fermenting exciting people. And they want people to, you know, apple, uh, executives were explaining, if you let these kids play with technology and they take a tech technological path that they're not going to be interested in geography or history, they're going to be at their aptitude, say, let me play with his stuff and learn how to program. So the whole thing is to how do we get more programmers and how do we get that step, you know, the sciences, the technologies, you know, how do we get people involved in anymore like they did back in the 50s when we're having this space race. You know, all of a sudden we produced massive amounts of engineers, mathematicians, physic, uh, you know, uh, you know, PhDs in physics. And, and just, you know, because of the educational process drove in that direction and led to outcomes that we're producing. We're engineers. So we're seeing this come up, uh, you know, our whole Orthodox approach towards education is being, is being reevaluated. Ken Smyers: What about in Canada? Again, Canada, Canada, is it, is educational system really geared up towards the sort of technological revolution? Like, you know, Ken suggestion, we're not necessarily doing the stakes. Ken Sinclair: Yeah. Not where, what's going on in the states, but I'm actually reasonably close to like local school because we've got a granddaughter. It's a great, uh, six and uh, and yeah, they, they use the web a lot. Uh, basically, uh, what's going on is on the school, there's a class website and basically what's going on, who's doing well, what events are coming up. Uh, that's all that's all documented. But to Ken's remark, I wanted to, wanted to just say that when, when we started in this industry, you guys probably had a better idea than anybody cause your fathers were in the industry. So you followed your father's in. But for a guy like me, I mean I'm on the farm. Uh, and uh, it's pretty hard to imagine what I'm going to be when I grow up. And also information is very hard to come by and to try and discover your passion. Uh, it just sorta has to evolve. And you basically, the first job you took had a lot to do with where you ended up working. Uh, now we have the situation that you can spend hours, days, years, uh, surfing the web and you can find something that is incredibly intriguing to you. And then you say, I'd want to be one of those guys. And then you start learning that from the community of practice. So it's, it's kind of that, that thing has been completely reversed. If you think about when we came into the market, what are we going to do? Uh, now the kids can, they, they've all got a good idea what they want to do because they saw something on a youtube that looked pretty fun. Well said. Well said. So tell us some more by controls. Come for a minute because you're going to be a keynote speaker up there. Uh, would you be giving it away if you tell us what you're going to talk about or, or, and if our community have to remind what controls Khan is and why they should go, how by giving the, the sort of the Canadian elevator speech, if you will. Okay. Okay. At Scott, he involved me in this and I, I frankly, I got to go to admit that when he asked me, it was like, you sure you want me? Cause cause it's a, it's a systems integrators, uh, uh, meeting is, that is the gist of it. And every time I talked to the systems integrators, they're doing more than I'm writing about. I, I have this perception that I'm on the leading bleeding edge. And, uh, uh, every time I talked to someone like Jason Hoc, I'll, uh, uh, yeah, I find out a whole bunch of stuff they're actually doing that I haven't even thought of or haven't wrote about. So, uh, I was, I was wondering what I was doing there to get up to speed. So I think what I'm doing there is to just maybe a, explain the, uh, the perception of time, uh, and just the whole, you know, 50 years in the industry who actually seen an industry go from pneumatics to a AI and just seeing all of the people, uh, part of it, uh, I think the other message is, is that we're all struggling, uh, great. Now to extend our best by date because the technology's changing so fast. We become obsolete and moments. And my only the fence for that is to, uh, basically grow younger and I've found out how to do that and how to grow younger is basically to look at all of our problems and stuff through the minds of our young mentors and, uh, who have grown up as digital natives. So I think that's, that's sort of the gist of the message is too dry and do that. The other one that is, I'm, I'm coming around to is the fact that there are a tremendous amount of women in the wings in our industry who have basically been a personal assistance for powerful people. And they have an amazing amount of information in their minds. Uh, and some of them don't want to be mainstream, but that doesn't matter because they can be very useful remote. Ken Smyers: So my reach out the episode is out, uh, this is a potential for our industry. Probably within your companies, you have exactly the same thing as somebody who's been quietly sitting over there in the corner and has been, you know, organizing all these products and stuff like that. They have a tremendous amount of information and they can actually be very quickly on leashed in a AI or a machine learning type of environment and they can be, uh, very quickly get us up to speed. So I think we're all looking for how can we get new people into the industry. So those younger mentors combined with our younger mentors. And uh, and the other comment I always make is anytime I talked to my younger mentors, there are comment back is they say, you should see what these kids are doing. They're looking at the next generation. And these are kids, I dunno, there, I call them digital natives. I don't know what, uh, these other ones are like a digital, maybe digital immigrants, let's call them that. Digital immigrants. They basically come from a world that they don't know. They don't know reality. They never, they've never experienced reality. They've only definitely I to tell you real quick, uh, yesterday I'm driving home from the office, you know, coming home and it's Friday and Fridays are my favorite day other than Saturday his, but anyhow, the phone rings. It's my daughter calling from San Diego, I think. So I hit the button, hello? Hello Lo. Nothing's there. I can hear noise in the background and I'm like, what the heck? You know, so I got a little concerned so I hang up my call her back. And by then she rang regain control of her phone. Her five month old daughter, my granddaughter apparently picked up her phone, not even really picked it up. She said she was like, she was, they hold the phone to her. We do so many of these, uh, you know, whatsapp videos. We get to see credible. And so the technology, I'm like you, I love every day that there's something new going on because I still can't, I pinched myself to think of how crazy, you know, this iPhone is and how to talk to Germany and I pay for it. And it sent a video where after you to take, or to shoot it live, it's just, we got to, you got to do more of it. And, and, but um, you know, five months old tap in the phone because she's been put it in front of her all the time to show, you know, grand the grandparents in Pittsburgh with what's going on. So they do a video. So she's so used to that phone being part of her environment that she's like in front of a phone and then they, we reversed it so she could see what we look like. You know, we keep saying the same thing to her that she could recognize our voices. So, to your point about the digital native, I mean, we have no idea that somebody, uh, as a, as an infant, you know, learning about technology and playing with technology and not reaching for things that they don't have to reach for. , people don't want to get out of their chairs anymore to run over to the thermostat and turn it up or down or turn the fan up to speed or whatever. Or to dim the lights or to close the blinds. I mean, why should they want to just hit their phone and say, you know, boom, up, down, cold or warm or whatever. I mean, and, and to have that mentality when you come into your workplace and to see where we're, you know, state of affairs. And one more thing can I loved you said about the best buy, best sold by and the shelf life. So where do we sit in the scheme of things? We're, we're like the canned goods up on top of it. Shelf, don't eat, don't drink this milk. Yeah, I got a kick out of that. Anyhow. Well. Yeah, I titled, I think I'm going to title my, uh, my keynote is the next 50 years. So as you can imagine, that might be a stretch for me. But anyway, back to the other comment about how the, the digital natives or the, uh, the digital immigrants, I think I liked that. I think we should call these the, the next, the next wave. We've got the digital natives that are pretty comfortable with all this technology, but the digital immigrants are these kids that are coming up now that have they lived, never lived in a real world. They've only lived in the virtual world anyway. When they, they looked at your problem of raising the blind. I mean, the first thing they say, well can't they just talked to my whatsapp and say, what's that blind 50%? And it knows by where I am that that happens. You know, like why wouldn't you just do that over all of this stuff? They don't, the newer group is not the digital Emeris Ted there digitally and titled Digital Trust Fund Babies. But your point, I mean, the more we learn about it in our, our realm, the other day I had to convert a bunch of Celsius to Fahrenheit and I did the old nine over five and I'm thinking, what am I doing? So I just said, Hey Siri, what's 50 degrees centigrade? The set points, you know, whatever, boom. I mean it just came right back to me, you know, told me the degree is 120 degrees or whatever it wasn't and I thought, or 170 whatever. And I'm thinking, why is my brain not letting me access and avail all this technology? Why am I so, you know, determined to do it the hard way. And I think it's just conditioning. So the two year younger mentorship and having somebody aboard, like you were saying, Eric, you know, it's just to remind you that you don't have to do it the old school way, that there's a option and the option might save you a lot of time about energy that you can get more done, more efficiently. So that's kind of cool. And then the kids taking a picture of everything, hey, you'll be writing down a number or something. They saw something you want to buy or something on a thing and, and they look at you and they go click, click. I wouldn't, why, why would you write that down? Right? Why would you do anything? And of course the other thing is, Oh I actually, I got a good story about that. We were uh, we were lost in the train station, then a Roman, our ride was trying to find us and that's what he said. You said just hold your phone up and take a picture of where you are and then I'll know where you are and Oh, you're on the other side of the term when all he said, as soon as we send them a picture. So basically he's on whatsapp and we took here's a picture and then he knew where he worked cause our English or Irish, Italian wasn't that good. But uh, a picture's worth a thousand words. You're on the other side. You're not, you're not on the right side. You said, I'm just going to park my car and I'm going to come and get you. Yeah, I probably at that same spot. You are a canon. Not I want to go there. You were carrying stuff the baby buggy and are no cars. Car seat. What all do you have? I saw the picture that I'm glad I didn't have to do that. Oh Man. I'll tell you what Ken and almost kill me. What their travel with the small kids and my wife's brother, uh, had a destination wedding and then on top of that it was black tie. There was an extra suitcase to carry all the, the black ties and do, it was just, it was nuts carrying luggage around. But anyway, I survived. I'm better for it as Nietzsche said. What your wife does doesn't kill you, will make you better. I can't. So we get, we'll see at haystack we will see you. Uh, obviously a Cochran, uh, April issue is out automated buildings.com. You definitely want to check that out. What don't you got before we hop off here? My friend? Well, I guess we'll all have to put her Elvis Skosh Shims on and go to real calm and Nashville. Right? Eric Stromquist: Absolutely. You're going to be down there for sure. Right? Ken Sinclair: Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't going to, but Scotty talked me into it so, oh man, I'll never forget it. Yeah, I'll never forget the time. It was so much fun and hopefully you'll do this with us again was, well I think the last one I saw you, I was a maybe San Antonio, but remember you and me and Theresa and Kenny, we'd always do our day one, day two recap. So cause we can't you on and being a recap or with this. Sure. That sounds good. Yeah, it looks like a lot of stuff going on there as well. Actually I in my never my never ending article, I also tagged on a uh, their cybersecurity a day before event that's going on as well. Cause I thought that was a kind of fit in, well with this whole cyber cyber security resource. I'm kind of trying to kind of put this thing is it's just a link to where everything that's sort of happening in the industry. And at the bottom of that is I've got these three events we've just talked about as well. So, Hey, I do, I'm going to say one more thing before I forget. Uh, controlled trans for anybody out in it's still not, has not yet signed up for controls con 2019 it's May 2nd May 3rd in Detroit at the motor city casino, we have a 10% discount. If you go on now to the website and you register and you putting controlled trends under the discount code, you get a 10% discount. And also with real calm, I be con 2014, June 11th through the 14th down in Nashville, Tennessee. We also have a ControlTrends.com Discount 10%. Uh, and, and when you register, you put it in and it gives you, actually, you have to go to our website and get the discount code. So I'm sorry it's not, it does not ControlTrends.com Is the ControlTrends discount, but there's a number, a little code you put in there and it'll save you 10% so you want to put that plug in there. Eric Stromquist: Excellent. All right, I can't send ken Sinclair, Automated buildings.com check it out Ken. Thanks so much as always man. We can't wait to see you next month and if you have something in between now and then don't be a stranger. Okay. Alright, thanks guys. Great stuff from Kensen queers always in. Hey Man. Yeah. We even talk about all those other great articles that are on automated buildings.com. So be sure to go to check out automated buildings.com the April issue cause there's a ton of other stuff on there. And Man, speaking of phenomenal stuff, our man Mark Pete Talk, in addition to being the master of ceremonies of the controlled trends towards, in addition to being the guy that broke Cindy Crawford's heart, New York City back in the day in New York City when we got started in advertising now he and the team at Lynx Spring had been acknowledged by frost and Sullivan. Kenny, I've got to get this right so I'm actually going to do, I want to read it. 2019. Global Iot and smart buildings, customer value leadership award. Way To go, Terry Swope. Way To go, Bob [inaudible] way to go. Mark p talk way to go. Everybody at the Lynxspring Group could get group of guys. It's nice to see that frost and Sullivan is acknowledging them. Ken Smyers: Congratulations job. It's, uh, well the, uh, the big phrase to eat, to eat platform provides exceptional service delivery and value enhancements through a well synchronized suite of solutions to ensure timely integration with a smart building infrastructure. And it has earned his stripes and, uh, congratulations to a very successful team with a lot, a lot, a lot of motivation, a lot of passion, a lot of initiatives. So they, they basically took that product platform, uh, from over here, kind of an obscure location to a front, front, front vendor position. And, uh, it's, people are asking for it now. So, and listen for our young guns, you might not know when we talk about Cindy Crawford and mark in the 80s, there was an error of the supermodel, Cindy Crawford, Linda vaginal, sleazy, Naomi Campbell and all that. And speaking of that, you know, I just got a, there's a text on the Facebook messenger here from a see Crawford going, how old are married now? Hey, mark, it's me, Cindy Holler, whatever that means. So mark, you'll just do what that, what you'll do with it. So one more thing. I just want to say that, uh, you know, much of the technology is available through the built environment, depends on systems integrator. So link Spring Pa did the channel of approximately 250 systems integrated partners throughout North America and a few select international countries to support the built environment effectively. So again, well done. Well done guys. Well I'm for sure I Kenny, what's, what's gonna be our deep dive posts of the weakness acres. We've got a bunch of them. Well, I took the uh, but we can only do one. Well I think what we have to do is we have to say that, uh, you know, one of the biggest hit posts that we've ever seen of all time was the two way three way valve diverting mixing and the second largest, uh, post performance was on gas pressure regulators. And you did a nice little, a presentation from the HVAC Tech SChooll from HVAC Tech SChool Play list,. gas pressure pressure regulators made easy. So tell us a little bit about that. I think that was posted the week. Well, thanks buddy. I appreciate that. So we got to go back to what we've been telling our community a little bit that we're really torn up the youtube channel because we get more content up there quicker. So might not always make it to the control trans.com website. But uh, so we, we created a playlist of you will called HVAC Tech School, this on the youtube channel. Some of these make it over to controltrends.com. Not all of them, but yeah, the gas pressure regulators made easy, uh, you know, how to install them, how they work. We actually take one apart so you can look at it, see how it works of your answers and gas regulators at all. And apparently there are a lot of people who do, you can check that out. It's actually on controlled trends as well as the controtrends, smart buildings, youtube channel. So I encourage you to subscribe to that if you haven't already. We'll put a link for that in the show notes. So that's a big one in the two and three way valves. Again, sometimes a picture's worth a thousand stories, a thousand words county. So we know we're trying to create video content that takes some of these concepts that can be complicated and make them really simple and we'll build off of those. So we're going to keep putting those up on the youtube channel and then, well no, a lot of them make it over the controltrends.com Website too. But another massively hit, and this is only available on the ControlTrends Smart Buildings, youtube channel is the midweek review, which uh, one of the smartest guys here on the podcast a does, which is Ken Smyres. So talk about the med review again,Kenny. For our listeners who might know about that and tell them what you do on that and why they, why this is disrupted. He usually do youtube channel so they can get that. Well I appreciate that Eric. I didn't have makeup on a day. There's makeup squad wasn't around so, but you know what I want to be because if you are where big trouble, I was just trying to say something it on there because that was a fast and furious post and the reason why it's like you said, we had so many dates that were coming closer to windows where you had, you know, sign up by today and you look for, or you would forfeit the opportunity for a discount, whatever. So we had the midweek review is to give somebody a three to four minute synopsis of all the industry events that are coming in the next 60 to 90 days except for our Smart Building ControlTrends Awards, which is going to be February 2nd, 2020 but tomorrow when your calendar in case you're driving somewhere and you listen to the show or whatever and you have an opportunity or you're, you're, you're listening or you're watching but you don't have a whole lot of time trying to give people a synopsis, a real short sweet list of what's going on and where it's at and what the dates of signup are. So you know, I covered the, the, the controls con coming up May 2nd, third and we controlled trans as a discount coupon there. So if you go onto and registering, you putting controlled trends, uh, we have the CIO event coming up in Europe and we'll be putting a post up on that too. But there's registrations and you take advantage of them. Uh, we're going to put some other information about the travel costs, whatever, just to lure people into a different alternative vacation this year because you'd kill business and pleasure in the same event. Uh, we have the project haystack out there in California. The, the, uh, what's that going to be? That's the 11th through the 13th, I think. Right. But that's why even I have to refer to it because there's so much going on. And then you go to the 19th through the 21st is the CIO and Amsterdam and then you turn around, you've got a real calm, I become in June leverages, so you're doing the conferences, but you're also doing it. And to Kenny's point, what, what, who is trying to be as on Wednesday afternoon, you can take that, that you can just click on that video, you get an update. But things like if there's a recall, if there is something going on in the industry, if there's a cyber security alert, something going on with Niagara or something like that where you need to know something immediately, what we're trying to do is just make it easy for you to consume. That could control is unique you can use, right? And so Kenny does a great job of that. So it's not just conferences, it could be a new product release, it can be news you could use. And I think that's the point of a Kenny just trying to break it down short, simple, sweet. You go to the youtube channel, you quick on this actually if you did the youtube channel, you just cooked a little alarm button, you'll be notified when this comes out. And uh, so he can hit on that. And then obviously on controlled trance.com you get this show, the long winded version. Well, and then when we take our time and we make it happen, Eric Stromquist: I'll speak into the long winded version. Uh, what can Steve jobs teach us about the smart buildings controls revolution. Now I got to kick of the stretch you made there. But actually after watching that again, cause I had watched that before, you actually did make sense about what it's all about. The marketing, how, you know, it's taken for granted. It's a critical function, but it's changing. It's evolving. It was infused with social media. And if you didn't handle it right, you lost, you lost a lot of your mainstream. Uh, but today you send papers out in the, in memory, so much marketing, it wouldn't even open up the envelope. You literally just took it from your inbox to the trashcan. So those days have certainly changed. The people don't like to take catalogs anymore, whatever. So we were seeing the thumb drive, you know, uh, became the big thing. And even that, starting to, I heard a, a vendor tell a group of people that were looking for, they used to get thumb drives every time they had the presentation. I guess there's no marketing says you've got to go on, go on our website. It's all there. There's no sense putting them into these um, drives. Cause as soon as we get them done, they're obsolete because they're old and antiquated and we've added new products and it's not serving the purpose it was intended to. Well listen, I encouraging of the website is so about a five minute talk that I've found that Steve jobs did and many considerate the greatest marketing message ever and it led to the one what many consider the greatest marketing campaign ever. And like I said, rather than Kenny and give you our take on it. I mean it affected me enough. I just went, holy smokes made so much sense in my, what I'm basically saying is, hey listen to it or watch it. I should sound control with each on comments. We'd love know what you think. But I think there's so much wisdom and just how, cause he's basically addressing his, his stockholders and then staff. Right. And, and it was a radical concept as he's addressing them. And that you kind of can almost hear a pen drop. You're kind of going, well, they're not going to like this. And you kind of starts out and makes a statement and he kind of goes from there and by the time he's done with you, you're going, and this too, just got it right. So it's not necessarily what you think about is how you think about something. And I think that that message carries forward to our industry. Every single one of our companies in our industry, I think can learn something from, from this. So please check it out if you check nothing else on Controltrends.com site and check that out and reach out and comments. Let me know what you think and, and Kenny what you'd think. And Hey, you know, we'd love, we'd love to share it. I thought no, it was, pardon me. Putting that up here is, I think this needs to be not just a post and needs to be an ongoing dialogue and needs used to be a dialectic. There's my vocab word for the week, Kevin, that we carry forward as an industry that, that helps us hall, uh, as we move forward in this incredible industry we're involved all involved in. Ken Smyers: Right. We had one more shoutout section here and just the, our Linkedin, you know, the, the folks that say good things about us on Linkedin and, uh, some congratulations for birthdays, a Adam, I'll pull grab ya from Poland. He's the chief Ito Iot, Bam. B a s P, m, a s h VAC executive, uh, says a, you know, he's watching our controlled trends. We've got Travis curr had a birthday. Uh, he had a art hicks had a birthday. Darlene pope changed job. She now works with the, we work. So, uh, Darlene and Lindsay Baker together. Oh Gosh. Yeah, yeah. Two of the brightest women on the planet together. Whoa man. We want to come to, we works and we've got a worked in Hershey Holler. Well, you don't have to cheat. She was always, she, she, she fast tracked everything. You know, she was really smart. She was just a great speaker. I remember, remember how we got involved with her? Uh, she went to work with the Jones, Jj, Jj Jones. Lang Lasalle. Yeah. And so, uh, well she's just a, she's burning, burning, burning to the ground here. It would probably say here, hopefully see her and Lindsay at Haystack, uh, connect, but hey, good. Seriously. That would be a great show Lindsey. And uh, and I know Darlene on at the same time. All right. Then real quickly we have worked anniversaries for Eddie Turner, uh, Stacie O'leary and Richard Satchel, so, well, there you go. Yeah. Right. Well listen, last big thing is definitely check out the Egio collateral that uh, that we just put up. A man eight is going to be quite the event and Amsterdam. Kenny and I will be there, but I think if you look at the collateral we just posted on the site, you're going to be just amazed. They're easy. I would just us things, top hat, and this is going to be an amazing coffee. It's going to be a really great show. It's going to be your product roadmapping, it's going to be networking. It's going to be an exciting partying. There's going to be a tax deduction. It's going to be partying cause mad Mike Marston, him and his buddies. Uh Oh. What? Oh, I know Johann Roxborough. What? What's the big deal? You don't want to hurt man. I tell you what, it's like hanging out with Russell brand man. But they get a whole new, it's a whole new staff. I mean, uh, Johann has retold his whole European division people. It's going to be cool. It's going to be great. Be there or what? The square where. All right. There you go. All right. So there you go. That's another week on control talk. Now you're smart buildings, video by video cast and podcasts. A special thanks to our guests as we can auto sing choir. Be sure to check out automated buildings, Dotcom. Com by April. First issue is ah, and it is so worth reading. So with that Kenny Smyres, remember be bold. Stay in control. I'm doing Mourinho sweat. Snigger voice Batman and stay relevant. Speaker 3: Indeed.

想必大家都知道表示一般般，英语可以说：so so，或者just so so，来表示一般般，尤其是人家问How are you?的时候，其实外国人真不用“so so”来表达“一般般”，那我们今天就来学习还有哪些短语表示“一般般”。1It's okay 好吧重音放在"okay"上面的话，可以表示你持中立的态度，并不情愿。May I use your lipstick？What？ Oh…it's okay…我可以借用你的口红吗？什么？（口红这种私人物品为什么要借啊，我真是很介意啊，可还是要勉强保持微笑），好吧。。。2Not bad 不好不坏Have you tried my dish？Yeah！Not bad.你尝过我做的菜了吗？是的呢！还不错！（毕竟你也辛苦了半天，我真是不忍伤你啊，可是我又不愿意昧着良心说好吃）3sort of 一般般Do you like the dress I bought for you yesterday?Sort of.你喜欢昨天我买给你的裙子吗？一般般吧。除此以外，sort of 你还可以这样用4Sort of 有几分；稍微What is he like?Well, he's sort of strange to be honest.他是什么样子的？讲真，他看起来有点奇怪。5Not so hot 不怎么好，一般般How are you today?Not so hot, I am going to stay in bed and have a rest.今天感觉如何？不怎么样，我打算躺着歇一会。

You have the choice between riding an elevator or listening to this episode of ELEVATOR ACTION! What? Oh, okay. I can give you a minute to decide. For more NEStalgia as well as show notes for this episode visit www.NEStalgiacast.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nestalgia/support

I KNOW YOU’VE ALREADY BEEN TOLD BUT LET ME SAY IT AGAIN, THINGS GET WORSE WHEN YOU GET OLD Hey! Listen up! You wanna blurb? ‘Course you do! Everyone loves a blurb and this, my friend, right here in this box, is a BLURB! Know what I mean? Not just any old blurb, I mean a BLUUURRRB! Yeah, NOW you’re interested! You wanna see the blurb before you take it? Sure, but I can’t show you here. If I get this blurb out in public and people see it, we’re gonna have a crowd form in seconds and that’s gonna be a problem. Say, why don’t you come down this dark alley and I’ll let you have a little looksee. Okay, come on… Here we go, let me just get the latch here… heh heh, it’s a bit sticky, hang on… THERE! FEAST YOUR EYES! What? Oh shit! Sorry, wrong box! That’s a turd i did in the shape of a cock and balls… Sorry about that. No, you can go, it’s fine, sorry. Sorry. It’s a very special SILENCE! with a palindromic number! Gary Lactus and The Beast Must Die quickly fail at podcasting only in palindromes. Great informal chat including some Carmin and some chat about Work Guns. The Family Beast’s visit to the zoo. ”Excitement” about the Titans show on Netflix The Reviewniverse sticks its tongue in your ear and in morse code, taps out some quality chat about Conan The Barbarian, Kid Eternity, Batman Vs. Grendel II, Marvel Comics Presents, Crypt of Shadows and A Copy of the Comics Journal which is a Vertigo Special and it’s from 1992 so of course The Beast Must Die wants to talk about it. Backmin, Outmin, Whateveryoulikemin in the form of The Beast telling you all about Alan Clarke’s Elephant (more harrowing than and unrelated to The Beast’s visit to the zoo) in a bit of SILENCE! (Because The Film’s Started). Let’s make SILENCE! pal, Simon Russell’s comics dreams come true by funding his The Marriage of Njord & Skadi Kickstarter. TUCK IN! @silencepod @bobsymindless @frasergeesin @thebeastmustdie silencepodcast@gmail.com You can support us using Patreon if you like.

Chris is merely a man. If you prick him, does he not bleed? If you give him two awkwardly full bottles of soda, does he not spill them on his laptop and require an expensive repair? And if you give him a cup of coffee after that repair, does not his cat spill it on the same laptop and break it again? What? Oh, those last two aren't normal? Oh, I guess he is an idiot then.

We discuss the idea of professional reinvention and sit down with sales executive and entreprenuer Edward Nunn to hear his 33 year journey. Length: 54:08Host: Zach | AdeEdward Nunn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-nunn-7851ba11/NunnAbove www.nunnabove.comLiving Corporate Patreon and All Major Links: https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTAde: "It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change." The context of this apocryphal quote commonly attributed to Darwin is related to this theory of biological evolution, but I believe there's something more there. For many of us, we don't want to just survive, we want to thrive. We want to achieve as much as we can while being our best selves, or at least while striving to find out who our best selves are. So with that in mind, what does change responsiveness look like for us in our careers? How do we adapt professionally to make sure we're constantly setting ourselves up for long-term success? What does that even mean? What does that look like? This is Ade, and you're listening to Living Corporate. It's the remix. Zach: What?Ade: Thank you for joining us. [laughs] My bad. Today we're talking about reinventing yourself professionally, so I thought it was contextually appropriate. So the act of making a career change that is in-line with your long-term career goals.Zach: Oh, okay. Yes, gotcha. Yes. [laughs]Ade: Yeah. [laughs]Zach: This is really important though. Like, the concept of looking where you believe you're trending professionally and making adjustments. Sometimes they're major adjustments where appropriate. Speaking of which, Ade, would you mind talking to us about your journey to becoming an engineer?Ade: It's been a pretty rough, rough trip so far, and--I mean, some of it has been very enjoyable, and I mean that with all sincerity. I've had some amazing experience, but a lot of it has just been, you know, having to teach yourself a whole new--brand new field of knowledge. I like to describe myself as a learner, but having to teach yourself a whole new field of knowledge when you have nothing to base that field on is incredibly daunting. And I've had some, you know, technical issues, technical difficulties along the way, and I've also had some very, like, up at 2 A.M. in the morning like, "I don't think I can do this." Like, "I don't think that I am up to the task of making this switch," and that's not because I don't find this interesting or I don't find this, like, mind-meltingly awesome, it's that I just don't feel like I'm capable. And so those doubts always exist, but the fun thing about the switch is that in reinventing yourself you discover parts of yourself that you didn't know were there. And so it's difficult, it's daunting, but it's also really, really rewarding. Like, sometimes I get to a point where [inaudible] or my portfolio site comes together and I'm like, "Oh, my God. I did it. I did it, and I didn't--" I mean, yes, I used Stack Overflow more than once, but I did it, you know? You get that sense of accomplishment that you're not actually steering your life right off a cliff, and there's that duality of on the one hand "Am I even supposed to be here?" And on the other hand, on the days where, you know, you do feel like you're in the right room or you do feel like you're doing the right thing and you do feel like "I'm right where I need to be," it's this breathless wonder, I suppose is the best way of putting it, at just how dope everything can be.Zach: That's so cool. I know of a few people, right, who have made similar changes in terms of--not similar changes in terms of becoming an engineer, but similar decisions to kind of make a pivot, right, career-wise, and you know, I've seen people who have transitioned from being, like, HR managers to being fashion bloggers. I've seen--I have friends who have transitioned from being teachers to being full-time photographers. I've had friends who worked in the government and now they're, like, running intramural sports leagues. And I can't speak to the bag, like, how much money they're making, but I can say that each and every one of them seemed much more fulfilled in their day-to-day activities. And so, like, I'm really excited for you because you're going through a journey yourself, and I'm excited to see what the other side of that looks like for you.Ade: [laughs] So am I.Zach: [laughs] And I know that regardless of whatever, you know, ultimately it is, you're gonna be a better version of yourself coming out of it, so I'm really excited for you for that.Ade: Aye. And here's where we insert the celebratory Milly Rock. [laughs] But yeah, you know what? I think it would be super interesting to talk to someone who has had to professionally maybe reinvent themselves a couple times over, several times over. I'm thinking major changes, something like transitioning from education to car sales to, I don't know, stock brokering? To maybe pharmaceuticals to--hm, let's go with hospice care, and bonus points if this person was somehow related, in some form or fashion, to one of our Living Corporate hosts.Zach: Oh, you mean like our guest, my dad Ed Nunn?Ade & Zach: Whaaaaat? Zach: [imitates airhorns][Sound Man throws 'em in]Zach: Sound Man, listen, now. You gonna give me my pow-pow-pows, but then you also give me a couple pow-pow-pows 'cause it's my dad, okay? So pow-pow-pow. Give me a couple more.[Sound Man obliges]Zach: Give me some pow-pow-pows. Boy, that needs to be on a t-shirt somewhere. Anyway, keep it in. All right, so next we're gonna get into our interview with our guest, my dad Ed Nunn.Ade: We're back. Welcome to this portion of the show called the interview section. Y'all know how we go. So today we have the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Mr. Ed Nunn with us.[Sound Man throws in cheers]Ade: Ed, welcome to the show.Ed: Thank you. Appreciate it, Ade. Ade: Most certainly. So for those of us who don't know you, do you mind sharing a bit of your background? Tell us a bit about yourself.Ed: I'm 53 years old, Midwesterner. Right now I'm married, living in--outside of St. Paul. Five children. One of them happens to be one of your colleagues, Zach Nunn.Ade: Yeah, yeah.Ed: His siblings are a bit younger. We have a dog. My mother-in-law lives with us here in the suburbs. Ade: Okay. I love dogs, so I'm not gonna, like, go down that line of inquiry 'cause I'm gonna sit up here all day talking to you about your dog. But that sounds wonderful. It sounds like you have a nice, cozy life with a nice, cozy family, which is something I definitely aspire to, but today we're talking a little bit about professional reinvention, kind of remaking your career, which is something that's near and dear to my heart, and the path to getting there. You mind walking us through your own 33-year journey to being who you are now?Ed: Mm-hmm. You know what? When you put it that way, there's a--I look back, and I think about it, and I haven't really thought about it until you put it that way. 33 years.Ade: [laughs] Right.Ed: You know, I recall when I first went to college I had an academic scholarship to Jackson State University, and I recall going to college, and honor student and all that stuff, and my mom had talked to me--you know, I remember taking these trips with my mom and dad and the family to Saint Louis and Mississippi and California, and every time we'd go some place, you know, she'd talk about these roads and these build--I'm sorry, these bridges, and she said, "You know, son, you can be an engineer. You could build these. You could design these." My mom and dad weren't--were not educated, didn't graduate high school, but their aspiration was of course for all of us to do much more, much greater things, and they poured a lot of expectations and resources, time, and love and all of that into us to do that. So I went to school and I was gonna be an engineer. Not a civil engineer, I decided I'd try my hand at being a mechanical engineer and found out that I didn't like engineering. [laughs] So instead of--'cause I went to Jackson State, transferred to Mississippi State, went back to Jackson State and finished up my math degree. So I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, and I said, "Okay, now I'm out. Now what do I do with that?" Thought about being a teacher, tried my hand at teaching mathematics high school for a couple of years, realized I didn't like that. Left that and went into working as a recruiter for a liberal arts college in the Midwest. Left that and became a stockbroker. Really, really changed gears there because we--at that time I was married, and we decided to leave the Quad City area. When I got out of mathematics and moved back home to the Quad Cities I started the recruitment for the liberal arts college, became a stockbroker and wanted to leave the Quad Cities just to--the idea of having a family and being able to raise a family in a more cosmopolitan, diverse--you name it. You can put anything you want, it wasn't the Quad Cities.Ade: Right. The stakes were different.Ed: Well, yeah. It was just different, right, and so we decided to go to Minneapolis, the Minneapolis area, and got up to the Minneapolis area and realized I didn't really want to start all over again building a book of business after three or four years of doing it in the Quad Cities, so I started working in the field of pharmaceutical sales. Left pharmaceutical sales, went into selling copiers and printing and multi-function devices. Left that and went into--well, previously I went to telecommunications, then to--no, I'm sorry, it was telecommunications after selling printers, and then I found myself at a point where I was just kind of burnt out, you know? I'm hopping from place to place, industry to industry, and not really finding what I'm looking for. It was okay for a little while, get bored. Literally get bored of it, and I took a break, flat out took a break. There was a place where the pharmaceutical industry dried up. A lot of reps--the companies were downsizing, and I recall--I recall talking to my wife and saying, "You know what? I'm tired of this." It really wasn't sales, it was walking in and, you know, pop-up ads all you were. You weren't having an opportunity to have a discussion with people around their needs and how to solve them.Ade: Right.Ed: So I took a break, and I just started my own little deal. I got involved with some guys that had an investment idea, and we formed a company and started--we're manufacturing, with some partners in Asia, some technology, and then we have formed a company to actually--a separate company aside from our investment. We were going to import it and start selling it to resellers, and I did that for a couple years, and it was good. I enjoyed it. We saw some growth, my partner and I did. That went awry because the original investor group kind of--they were at odds with each other, and there were some issues that came about, and so that kind of blew up on that side, which it then kind of obviously cratered the business that we had importing the product and trying to sell it to the resellers. And so there I am again thinking, "Okay, great, now what?" So as I sat there, you know, I recall a couple of weeks just saying, "Okay, what am I gonna do? What do I want to do?" I got a phone call, and this was the beginning of what I've been doing for the last few years of my life. I got a phone call from a hospice company, and they--I picked the phone up and the lady said, "Hey, you know, I'm looking for Ed Nunn." Said, "This is he." "Hey, Ed, I'm So-and-so from, you know, so-and-so hospice. Have you ever thought about hospice?" I said, "No." "Would you like to?" I said, "No." [laughs] "What I know about hospice is death. I--you know, I'm not there yet. I'm not ready to talk about it, I'm not ready to experience it, so I'm not really interested. Thank you very much." "Well, just keep my name, and if you ever change your mind please call," you know? "We got your name from So-and-so and we'd like to talk to you." "Okay, thanks. Goodbye." I hung that up, and my wife said, "Who was that?" So I told her. She says, "You know, you may want to think about that." I said, "Sheila, I thought about it. No thank you."Ade: Right.Ed: But I gave it a little more thought. I don't know what happened, but I gave it some thought. I didn't have anything else lined up necessarily. I didn't have anything in my mind I wanted to do, and, you know, after I thought about it, there's got to be more to hospice than just death. I mean, it's something we're all gonna do is what I recall thinking, and I end up wanting to find out more about it. So a couple days have passed. I pick the phone up and call the lady back, and, you know, a couple, three, four weeks later, I find myself hired by this company, which at the time was one of the largest, if not the largest home health care company. It was a large company. 60,000 employees here in the states. For what they did, they were a big company. And so I found myself in the world of--still in health care, but now in hospice, and I've been in hospice ever since. And that was 2012, I believe. So for the last six years I've been in hospice, working for three different hospice companies. The third one, you know, actually was purchased, and they decided to shut down a third of their operations in the country to kind of get control of five different platforms. It was just spread out too far, and they chose to shut down the two offices I was running here in Minnesota as well as the other 25 to 30 they shut down. And so I got tired of doing hospice for others, and I opened my own hospice company, and so right now I own part of a hospice company, and I'm still working for yet another one, doing sales and marketing for them here in the Twin Cities area. So that's me.Ade: Wow. So first of all, I want to take a break. [laughs] I want to, like, sit back and be like, "That was a whole lot," and I feel like I've earned it, but yeah, it sounds like you've gone through a process of constant reinvention and experiences that have built one upon the other. Not necessarily a 1:1 correlation there, but it does sound like you've had a wealth of experiences. Have any of them really stuck with you, or any feedback that you've gotten from the people around you, have those stuck with you to the extent that you've utilized those thoughts or you've utilized that process in other areas of your life, maybe in building your previous companies or in building this one?Ed: Yes. As a matter of fact, the very first time I stepped out into the world of commission-based earning versus, you know, an hourly salary or some hourly pay rather versus salary, just doing it on commission. The very first thing I heard was from my father, and he told me, "What are you doing? You need to get you a job that pays you a solid hourly rate and will just--" "You can pay your bills, and--what are you talking about, commission? You don't know what you're gonna make," and he didn't care that it was a--that I had just been interviewed and I was the first person of color in the Quad Cities to actually have a Series 7 to be a licensed stockbroker with the company that I was working with, and they had been there in one form or another--for 93 years been around, and he didn't care. That wasn't a focus. He was--you know, my father grew up John Deere and forging metal and grinding it and that kind of thing. He's like, "Better get you a job." [laughs] And so that experience, his objection to it, was so strong. I'll never forget it. I'm thinking, "You know what? You may be right, but I'm gonna try this," and it was the best thing I ever did, and I always go back to that thinking no--you really have to have faith in yourself and the things you do, and if you really are passionate about it and--you just have to believe in it and go for it, and I'll never forget that. As the first thing--the first time I tried to do something outside the realm of what my parents had kind of modeled for me, that was the one thing that--it stuck out, like, "Wow, okay. I'm out here by myself now." "You're on your own." But yeah, that one stuck out with me because--I kept that mindset. It was uncomfortable, Ade. It was very uncomfortable going from a known, you know, to the unknown in terms of my pay because yeah, you know, I had a house, you know? All these things you're doing and you need to pay for, and all of a sudden--*claps*--you know? You know, when they first start you out as a broker, you know--I started out, and they give you a pay, rather a salary, and wean you off of it, and the goal is to be a year, a year and a half or so, that you're 100% commission-based. Well, after the first three months, I was doing enough in commissions--my commissions far exceeded my salary, so after three months I said, "You know what? You keep your salary. I'll just go commission here on in," and it was the best thing I ever did. And so I look back and think about the fact that had I not done that, had I not gone through that, had I not weathered the storm of my father telling me not to do it and going ahead and doing it, I wouldn't have ventured out and done some of the things I've done in the last few years.Ade: Right. And you've kind of touched on it, but I do wanna backtrack and get, like, an explicit conversation about the motivation behind a few of these shifts. So you mentioned that a few of them were by necessity, but you made some jumps and you made some decisions that weren't necessarily necessities, they were just you making decisions based off of your own motivations 'cause you speak to those.Ed: Well, I've always found it odd that when someone would look at my resume, and this was--you know, I'm 53 now, so when I was in my mid-30s someone would look at my resume--'cause there was a time when, and I didn't mention this, my wife and I actually went to Japan for a couple of years and taught English. We just--we stopped it all and said, "You know what? We don't have kids. Before we go, we're just gonna go." To get started we're just gonna go to Japan, and we're gonna start and teach for a while and get an experience, but when you get back and you sit down with folks and they look at your resume, and they're looking for--you know, they're looking for [inaudible], right? Whatever that [inaudible] is, that's what they're looking for. I've got widgets over here. All I've got is widgets. Now, some of mine are yellow, some are green, but I don't have [inaudible], and I'm thinking, "Why are you looking for that? Why don't you look--and I know that you're looking for something in terms of what you're trying to do for this position. You want these qualities you want this person to fill, and they've got this list, but I--and they're trying to, you know, jam me into that, or jam anybody into it, and what I realized was that after a while--for a while [inaudible] I was frustrated because I didn't have [inaudible] and I didn't fit the mold because I didn't stay nine years here, I didn't stay five years there, and the older I got, the more experience I got, the more I realized that's fine, it just wasn't a fit. But while I was going through it it was frustrating, and so the decisions that I made to move, at first they were very uncomfortable when I was--you know, I'd move. I'd want to do something. It was intentional. I didn't like what I was doing, and my thought was "Why stay here? Just because I don't fit this mold I have to stay until I fit this mold? Who tells me--and when is it okay to move because I'm miserable here? How long do I stay here and be miserable so I can do another move here?" And I realized, "No, that's just not gonna work. If that's not a fit because of me moving, well, then that's not a fit, and I'll just keep moving." What I came to realize in the end was I wasn't going to be happy getting a job somewhere necessarily. It's gonna have to be something--and I know a lot of folks come to it on their own. It took me a while to get to it, you know, get to the fact that it was okay, it was okay to not be comfortable. It was okay to not fit the mold, and it was okay to go and make your own money your own way, and if you stumbled along the way, you didn't make all the money you thought you were gonna make, and whatever that stuff was in the middle that I was kind of, you know, letting get in my way, that was okay too because the goal was to kind of, you know, be true to myself, and I know it sounds kind of cliche, but I really was trying to find something that I didn't have, and so it was okay getting through all that to get to, you know, trying to be happy with what I was initially rather going to wind up with, which was a journey in terms of just feeling like I was accomplishing something, you know? For me and myself, because I tell my kids all the time, Ade, and I know I kinda strayed here, but I tell my kids all the time that my life is--my life, I identify myself by my family. I'm only doing what I'm doing because of them in terms of trying to provide for them, but if I'm not happy doing it then they're in trouble because I'm--[laughs] They're in trouble, so that being the case I need to be happy while I'm trying to provide and give them the things that I really want them to have just like my folks did for me.Ade: Right. Yeah, so, you know, I think a lot about the current trajectory for a lot of my friends, or for even me myself, and just thinking about how people map their three-year plan, their five-year plan, their seven-year plan, their ten-year plan, I think a lot of it is based in that community where it's [inaudible]. Ed: [inaudible]. [laughs]Ade: [inaudible], yes. It makes me think of, like, my dog chewing on my shoes or something. Now I'm scared that he's chewing on my shoes downstairs. [laughs] But anyway, I've noticed that for a lot of my cohorts, we rely on that continuity and will even, like, rewrite resumes, and we'll just, like, try to shave the edges off of the square peg to fit in a round hole. And it sounds very much that you were like, "Nope, the square peg is still the square peg," and so that process for you, do you have any advice for anybody who's navigating that current trajectory on their own, such as myself? How we should go about it, just kind of presenting your experiences and how that might--and how your experiences might help us or edify us in any way.Ed: You know what? The first thing first and foremost is get comfortable with the idea of being very uncomfortable.Ade: Yikes. [laughs]Ed: I mean, you know, you've heard the--you know, those adages, and you've heard, you know, "If you want to succeed," you know, "you're either burning the bridge or burning the boat that got you there," so you're stuck there, those kinds of things. You know, that's true. You--I'm not saying you burn your, you know, your contacts and you burn people, but in your mind you have to just get used to the fact that "Wow, I just did something that--" "Oh, okay. I let that go," and you have to be comfortable letting it go and not going back to it. You let it go for a reason, and you get--you know, sometimes you can get a--you know, you get afraid of where you're going 'cause you're not quite sure and you kind of want to hold onto some things, but I would tell you that number one, get very comfortable being uncomfortable. Number two, I would say that you're going to--even if you have that mindset, some of those personality traits--you know, the gambler type of personality.Ade: [laughs]Ed: Seriously, you know, that doesn't mean that the gambler is 100% certain of themselves, but just know that--[laughs]--when you make that call, you're gonna fall. You really are, but that doesn't mean you made the wrong call. Be comfortable, you know, with being uncomfortable. Know that you're gonna fall down along the way, but you have to stay true. You really have to have faith in what you've chosen and faith in yourself because I'm telling you this much, if you put yourself out there and you don't have this privileged mindset, you will make it happen for yourself. I can guarantee you. If you sincerely understand that--the mindset that, "You know what? I don't know what this problem--I don't know how to solve this one, but I will figure it out. I'll use my resources. I'll call some friends. I'll have these conversations." You do what you have to do. You talk to folks, and it'll come to you, but you have to know that when you put yourself out there it's gonna be challenging, but if you have serious faith in what you're doing--and if you don't panic, overly panic...Ade: So panicking a little bit is fine. [laughs]Ed: [laughs] It's fine. You're gonna panic a little bit, because, you know, there are times when I might need a good chunk of change to do something I'm working to do. I've got a few projects now I'm working on that have nothing to do with my employer, they have nothing to do with, you know, my children right now. They have a sibling band, and they have--you know, they're actually doing pretty good. They're starting to get going a little bit. They're actually featured on this season's America's Got Talent and that kind of stuff. Not featured, but they're actually gonna be on the show. I can say that because I was told I could. Ade: [laughs] I'm looking forward to rooting for them.Ed: Pardon me?Ade: I said I'm looking forward to rooting for them.Ed: Oh, I appreciate it, and I'm sure they would too, but I've got another project I'm working on that I've been working on for five years, and there are times I--you know, you have a money crunch. If you need--you know, and I'm not a rich guy, so if I need 30, 40, $50,000, or even $10,000, and I need it next week and I don't have it, you have to start being creative. "How am I getting this money up?" You know, I'm not looking to go borrow money and go into debt, and so you just have some faith that you'll figure it out. And, you know, you do. You really do if your mindset--if you condition yourself to knowing that, "Okay, I'm gonna hit some things that I don't know how to handle. I'm gonna hit some snags. Don't panic overly so. Just go ahead and--" You know, 'cause there's a process to it, and typically my process has been to put different things in play so I have different areas or different things I can go back to to help me out.Ade: Right, so basically having a backup plan.Ed: Well, not just a backup plan. I'm talking multiple things that are going on at once. You know, the idea of having just one source of income scares the snot out of me. I don't know how folks do that. They have one job, and I look at that and think, "You're one management change away from twiddling your thumbs," and I'm thinking, "How do you navigate that?" And I realize you might have your--a year worth of savings, or two years worth of savings, or whatever you've got in your savings 401K to survive and why you--but why do it that way? Well, you know what, if that's what you want to do, great. My thought is just--I don't see it that way. I just like to have a little bit more control.Ade: Sure, yeah. Yeah. So I'm definitely gonna be looking into other streams of income now because you just dragged me by my edges just then.Ed: That wasn't the intent. That wasn't the intent, but--Ade: Look, I take it with all the love and the good sentiments behind that one. [laughs]Ed: [laughs] Well, no. I mean, and it's not anything that's--there's nothing elaborate, you know? Real estate, you know? For 20 something years I've owned real estate, you know? From several houses and/or multi-unit buildings to individual, you know, houses, but that stuff, for the last 20 something years, has kept me afloat, and it gave me the opportunity to make the choices and say, "You know what? I don't want to do that." You know, right now I have a project where I'm building these--I build these quarter-scale cars, and these things are--these are, like, four feet long, and they're huge, and they're quarter-scale. I mean, these things are 50 pounds maybe. They have their functioning engines, whether the engines be eight-cylinder gasoline engines or nitromethane engines. They have working lights, doors, you name it. They're actually scale cars. These things sell for about--you know, they sell for a lot of money, so that's something I do on the side as well. Just a lot of different things going on that help as you want to make a change, and they also take up your time, but they're a part of the plan, because the plan for me has always been--I go back to what I'm doing this for. It's just to make sure I get this group of people through this to a point where they can, on their own, start navigating. That's my purpose. That's my plan. That's all I'm here to do right now. That's it, and so I'm taking everything I can with me that I'm using to do just that, period the end. Ade: That's brilliant. I think that it's important, you know, the thought you just elucidated, that it's great and it's a good idea to reinvent yourself, but you also should have something to fall back on while you do that because it's a good thing to take the leap of faith, but you should have a parachute.Ed: Oh, certainly. Well, if you don't, it's a hard, rough landing. [laughs] I've been there too.Ade: [laughs] Right. But yeah, I mean, thank goodness for, you know, parachutes because every once in a while taking that step of faith is just kind of like, "I don't know. That's a mighty long way down."Ed: But you know, you guys, you're much younger. I mean, I look at--I look at you and Zach and, you know, folks your age, and I say, "Wow, you don't have to worry about that nonsense, someone looking at your resume saying, "Gee, you know, you were only here for two years. You were only here for three years."" Ade: Right.Ed: You know, that's not a question that people are posing. That's not even a mindset anymore. Well, you know, 30 years ago it certainly was. The idea of stability was--it was different, and I look at that flexibility that you have to--you know, to shape yourselves, your careers, your destinies. I think you have--I think you have more flexibility. I think you--there's an opportunity, a greater one, a much more easy opportunity to do just that than I had. So I think that's really cool.Ade: Yeah, I really like that. I think those were all the questions that we have today. Are there any thoughts that you would like to share that we haven't gotten to? Anything that you really think would benefit us? Ed: I guess--let me ask you a question.Ade: Sure.Ed: Education-wise.Ade: Yeah.Ed: What is your education?Ade: I have a B.A. in political science and legal studies. I think I had a minor's in philosophy. I really wanted to go to law school at the time, and then I began a master's in sociology, the focus being [inaudible] science, but I never completed my master's, and I'm now working on a front-end nanodegree at Udacity. It's a Google scholarship that allows people to kind of learn programming skills, which is what I'm interested in. So I really, really, really, really, really want to become a software engineer. That's my eventual goal. I want to build my own apps, but I also want to work at--not a Google or a Facebook. I think those are way too large for my personality type. Maybe eventually. Right now, I definitely want to work at more of a mid-sized company where I get the mentorship that I'm really looking for and ownership of my products, honestly so I can be outchea. [laughs] No, I'm kidding. I mean, that is it a little bit. I think that--I think that I'm really invested in a bit of freedom, and most of the software engineers that I know and most of the jobs that I look at are like, "Oh, yeah, you can work 90% of the time remote," which to me means, you know, I can spend a solid 90% of my time coding on beaches, which I know you don't know much about me, but I'm very much a water person, so the idea of being able to do something that I enjoy in a place I enjoy really, really appeals to me. So I have that freedom, and my whole life isn't sitting behind a desk somewhere.Ed: So if I'm not mistaken, what I'm hearing you say is that this education you're pursuing, you're doing so in order to gain some freedom in life and control.Ade: Yeah.Ed: Okay. If you didn't have to work, what would you be doing?Ade: If I didn't have to work, I would own a restaurant. Ed: You don't think that's work?Ade: No. [laughs] It's funny. I actually don't know if we'll keep all of this in the conversation. I don't know. Where is this going? Ed: [laughs] I'm asking the question 'cause you asked me--I'm getting somewhere. I'm going somewhere.Ade: Okay, okay. If I didn't have to work, I would have a restaurant. I actually have a book of recipe ideas and meals that I want to cook. The idea is to have a restaurant that is diasporic, so all of the food in the restaurant would from the African diaspora, from West African, East African-inspired meals to the Caribbeans to Latin America and meals that are typically in Afro-Latino homes. Just everything that brings us together as one community. I'm very much a community-oriented person, and I think that--to me, one of the most beautiful things about the diaspora is how similar but different food is, and Anthony Bourdain, who was, like, one of the, like, biggest influences for my love of food and cooking and people, had this thing where he talked about food being the center of humanity. Like, once you talk about a people's food, you're talking about people. So culture is built on that, and I could wax poetic about this all day, but essentially I'd be cooking. I'd own a kitchen or a food truck or a series of them and just feed people, 'cause I'm African and that's what we like doing. [laughs]Ed: So here's my question to you, and I mean, it's--you know, I listen to you talk, and the last couple of minutes have been real talk from you. It's been--I can tell it in your tone. I can tell from the fact that you have this knowledge about, this breath and this passion about it. I marvel at that because I'm wondering, "Okay, so how many of these changes are you gonna take yourself through before you say, "You know what? I'm ready for that change now.""Ade: Yikes. [laugh]Ed: Because I have a couple things that I'd like to do for me, and I'm 53, and I'm working towards them. One of them I've already started, with these cars. It's a passion. I love cars, and I like the idea of control or whatever. You know, life is extremely obviously random, but however you can eliminate some of that randomness--but that's one of the things I want to do. It's just taken a long time to get here. Dealing with my family, working with my family and having my kids and my wife around, that's something that I've always wanted to and I hold dear to. So the idea of working with them with their music career right now, that's really big for me, but it's taken a long time to get there. Some of that--well, I didn't have a family, you know, 30 years ago like this, but to get to something I really love--you already knew it, or know it rather. I didn't know 'til I got here. You already have something that is really, really dear and tender, and I'm listening to you talk about this nano this and this MBA that and this wizzy-wazzy this, and it was just interesting, and then when you started talking about the food I'm thinking, "Okay, this is real for her," and I'm just wondering: What are you gonna do, and when are you gonna decide to do that?Ade: It's funny that you ask because my partner is a tax lawyer, and her thing is constantly, like, "We need to get a food truck for you,", right? [laughs] And so I think that it's definitely something I want to work towards within the next five or so ten--five to ten years because I think that for me it's the security of the job, because, for example, I kind of provide for my family as well, and it's difficult for me to take a leap of faith with, like, a mini-parachute on my back when I know that, like, there are people who are relying on me to not break my legs on the way down, you know? So that's always--that's the fear. So there's the passion behind the cooking, right? And it's like--I'm definitely not gonna die without putting at least a plate in front of somebody's face and like, anticipating the look on their face when they eat it, right? But I also know that the amount that I have to lose right now is keeping me--is what's keeping me from it. So I think that the process of reinvention for me has to start from a place of absolute commitment, not a place of one foot in the commitment and one foot in the fear ,if that makes any sense. Yeah. Fingers crossed, man. [laughs]Ed: [laughs] Well, I just--I'm looking forward to hearing your story later when both feet, you know, finally land on the commitment side, and I'm wondering if it'll be the--you know, the pain to change was less than the pain to stay the same is what they say, right? So I'm just wondering what's your motivation, what actually gets you to that point? I realize you've got other things, that your people are depending on you. I got that. Hey, I got the same thing, and it's always interesting to hear what people's story is, what their story is, because I've gone through it too. So I'll be looking to hear the end of this one.Ade: Most definitely, and I'm looking forward to, like, feeding you at some point. [laughs] Putting a plate on your table, and hopefully I've written, like, my own e-commerce platform or something of the sort, so merging those two loves.Ed: Well, I've got to tell you this. I've listened to you guys with this Living Corporate, and I was--I've got some friends who listen to it too, and we marvel at it because--Ade: Really?Ed: Yes, yes. I think it's--I think it's relevant. My wife thinks it's extremely cool, because I think you guys have hit upon something.Ade: Thank you.Ed: Well, we think you've hit upon something because, you know, the idea of this--it's one thing to acknowledge, it's another to accept. And, you know, what you're doing is not new with respect to wanting, you know, this acceptance, not just acknowledgement in Corporate America for different peoples. But you guys have been able to reach beyond walls of these companies and connect it with this technology and have this conversation. And, you know, I've been at different companies, large companies, you know? A lot of them. You know, Xerox, Lilly. Some big companies, and within the walls, yeah, there's a lot of acknowledgement of different groups of people, and these different groups are formed, and they can have a platform of some sort, but typically in the past my experience has always been it's been a pat on the head, right? "Yeah, that's nice. That's nice. You guys go over there in the corner and talk, and I'll take it back to the board, and that'll be that." [inaudible] "I'll take this report that you guys had a meeting back too. That'll be nice," but you guys have decided that "No, we're not gonna center it in one particular place. We're just gonna put it out here for everybody," and you've taken this technology and taken this conversation to a different level, and it's so relevant. It's because it's now something that isn't confined to somebody's little bitty, you know, pat on the head from the corporate leadership. No, this is real, and we get to talk about this stuff, and we need to talk about it. And so I look at Living Corporate and say, "My God, that's a really cool idea. Man, they--talk about hitting on something that makes sense," and I enjoy listening to it. I enjoy listening to you guys. Your platform, the way you guys put it together, the music, the artwork - it's cool.Ade: Thank you. I really appreciate that it's making this much of an impact, and we've certainly been getting, you know, great feedback from people, and we really appreciate all of those things. So before we close out, do you have any final thoughts, anything that you'd like to share? Any shout outs you'd like to give? Whatever. The floor is yours.Ed: A big shout out to NUNNABOVE. That's the musical group that Zach's siblings have formed. They've been together for a few years doing their music together. They're young, they're young, but I ask that you check 'em out on America's Got Talent and support 'em, and a big shout out to my wife. She doesn't know that I'm gonna shout her out here, put her out here, but, you know, I mentioned--I mentioned all that changing and all those decisions I made to do different things to support my family. Without my wife there to be the support, it wouldn't have been able to be accomplished. I couldn't have--I couldn't have made the decisions and actually made them work without her. Not someone like her, but her here taking care of the things that needed to be taken care of in--you know, within the walls necessarily when I'm out trying out to figure out and knock down--you know, figure out a new path, knock down trees and break up big rocks. It makes it easier if you've got someone that can--that can do that for you. So a big, big, big shout out to her, big shout out to you guys, and seriously, I know that I don't need to do that 'cause you guys are--it's your show, but I'm just very proud of the fact that he's part of this effort that you guys are bringing forth.Ade: Thank you. Thank you very much, and I'm definitely gonna, like, hit him up like, "Your dad is the coolest ever." I did tell him that you were dragging me though. I informed him.Ed: That I was what? I was what?Ade: That you were dragging me. Like, you spent a solid chunk of our conversation today just, like, tugging on my wig all the way through. [laughs]Ed: [laughs] Well, it wasn't intentional. I just--but I do appreciate it, and you guys--I love the website. I was telling Zach there's some things that you guys are doing, the fact you got some pictures, and the way you guys have set it up, and I love the fonts. I love just the look and appeal of it. This is a really slick--I love the sound of it. When I listen to it, it makes you--it makes you want to listen. You want to engage. Like, "Okay, what did he say? Let me back that up. What did [inaudible] say? What? Oh, that was pretty cool." Ade: [laughs] Okay, I have appreciated the full length of this conversation. I am telling Zach about how amazing all of this is and how we're probably gonna have to put this on our Patreon 'cause people can't get this one for free. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you.Ed: Thanks, Ade.Zach: And we're back. Hey, Ade. That was a great interview. I really enjoyed that. The themes that kept popping up to me during your conversation were intentionality, comfort with being uncomfortable, and courage. It was really good.Ade: Uh... so I'm confused. Ed, why are you here? We're in the wrap session of the show. You can go now.Zach: Oh, you got jokes.Ade: Yeah, actually. Yes, I do. [laughs]Zach: [laughs]Ade: 'Cause y'all sound exactly alike. It is so weird.Zach: We do sound alike, which is why I knew we couldn't be interviewing, like, together. Like, I couldn't interview him. It would sound like I was having a conversation with myself.Ade: Facts.Zach: But eeriness of that aside, I love the fact that he was able to be on the show. He and I, we have these discussions all the time, and he's really the reason I'm so comfortable trying new things.Ade: Yeah. I mean, I definitely got that sense from him. During our interview, I was taken aback, and dragged, quite a few times at just how fearless he seemed to be. He made so many different transitions and changes and jumps and leaps of faith over the course of his professional career. It was actually kind of scary. Zach: Yeah. I know, right?Ade: But, like, at the same time, I think I learned that your plan doesn't need to make sense to anybody but you, right? 'Cause you're the one living your life, and--I mean, when he was talking about his parents discouraging his shifts and those transitions, I could definitely really--'cause, you know, you can't explain your plans to everybody. Sometimes people side-eye you like, "Sis, you sure?"Zach: Right, and it's all about like my dad said, following your passions and going for what you feel is right. I mean, we're here right now doing Living Corporate and embracing discomfort and uncertainty. High risk for sure, but great rewards.Ade: No, I definitely agree, and it's also interesting that your dad was definitely job-hopping and forging his own path way before it was trendy, like millennial trendy.Zach: Right, and, you know, he really wasn't wrong then, and he isn't wrong now. I mean, look, if you look at this 2014 article from Forbes, it says that employees who stay in companies longer than two years get paid 50% less, and I know there's more value than just your paycheck, but also there's value in being bold and taking control of what you need to get where you believe you need to be.Ade: Right. So honestly, I'm excited for us to drop the extended interview on our Patreon. By the way, Sound Man, give me some slow jams real quick while I hit them with the super ASMR voice. Guys, check out our Patreon. You want more content, right? You want exclusive stuff? You want giveaways? You want to hang out with the Living Corporate team? I know you do, so go ahead and go join our Patreon. The link will be in the show note. Thank you.Zach: Oh, my God. [laughs]Ade: [laughs]Zach: Oh, my goodness. (laughing) Anyway, major shout out to Ed, my dad, and I hope he can join us again soon. Let's get into our next segment, okay? Favorite Things, where we talk about what our favorite things are these days.Ade: Yep. My favorite things right now are--I'm really into Miguel. I have been listening to some of my favorite Miguel songs lately non-stop. Candles in the Sun is, like, top 5, top 5, top 5 of all my favorite songs. So I've been really into his entire discography, and I've also been really into hiking. So I have a puppy, and he's a husky, and he needs a lot of, like, physical activity, and I'm training for this marathon, and just being able to get out and really be active and get outside and kind of commune with nature and exercise my hippie-dippie side has been really, really fun. Hurts sometimes 'cause my knees like, "Sis, we're getting way too old for this," but it's been--it's been really great. What about you?Zach: That's really cool. So my favorite thing right now has to be my sibling's band, keeping with the family theme of the show.Ade: Right. Why didn't you tell me you have whole rock stars in, like, your family? Like, bro, what?Zach: I know, right? And so I don't know--like, by the time this episode releases if we'll already have seen them on America's Got Talent, but yeah, I'm really, really proud of them. I love them. They're great, but yeah, so they're called NUNNABOVE. They do funk, pop--Ade: Yes.Zach: Yeah. Like, my oldest sister--my oldest little sister Cadence, she's 18, and she plays the bass and she does lead vocals, and then my second-youngest sister is Maddie, and she does keys and vocals. And then my oldest little brother Bennett plays guitar, and he also does vocals, and then my littlest sibling, my little brother Wisdom, plays drum set, and they're all great. Like, they're super talented, really cute. I love 'em. They're awesome.Ade: I want you to know that this is a setup. They had no choice but to be rock stars with names like that. Cadence? Cadence?Zach: (laughing) Yeah, Cadence.Ade: Your dad knew what he was doing. See? Setup.Zach: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Strategist, strategist. And so what we'll do is we'll make sure to put their information in the show notes so you guys can check them out as well, and yeah, we'll make sure to link all that up.Ade: Awesome. And as a reminder, to see all of our Favorite Things, go to our website at living-corporate.com and click on Faves. And that's our show. Thank you for joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure to follow us on Instagram at LivingCorporate, Twitter at LivingCorp_Pod, and subscribe to our newsletter through living-corporate.com. If you have a question you'd like us to answer and read on the show, make sure you email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. Also, don't forget to check out our Patreon at LivingCorporate as well. And that does it for us on the show. My name is Ade.Zach: And this has been Zach.Ade and Zach: Peace.Kiara: Living Corporate is a podcast by Living Corporate, LLC. Our logo was designed by David Dawkins. Our theme music was produced by Ken Brown. Additional music production by Antoine Franklin from Musical Elevation. Post-production is handled by Jeremy Jackson. Got a topic suggestion? Email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. You can find us online on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and living-corporate.com. Thanks for listening. Stay tuned.

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.

Oh. Okay, okay. What's happening? I need this tripod back. Oh my God, you will not even believe what I'm doing to my Chanel handbag down there on this rock. I just, I cannot see. Do you think I need my sunglasses, or do you think the sun is going to play nicely with me? Okay, hey peoples of the internet. I have the things to tell you. Hello Shannon, what's happening? Okay. I'm going to jump off the rock ... face down. Okay, please work internet. I want to share this over to my page. Do you back yourself fully in your business? What about the rest of your life? That is our topic. I've got some ass kickery for you. I'm gonna jump down. Okay, I'm coming back. I've gotta climb up, oh my God. Okay, I can't get up. All right, I had to go the lazy way around. Okay, the internet keeps fucking up. Okay, Joseph, I noticed that every time you come on my live steams, you say your name. Hello, hello, Joseph, I can see your name though, from your profile. I'm gonna give you guys an ass whooping, is that all right? I'm just trying to figure out, should I switch to my phone data? Why are you putting your phone number in dude? What's happening? Did I ask for dates on the internet or he's telling something? I'm looking rocky. That's cause I'm rocky as fuck. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I've decided to back myself in my love life. How do you feel about that people? I'm gonna kick my own ass about that. I did just kick my ass. I was just on the phone with a private client just now doing a VIP session. Things got a little bit heated. I'm wearing your favourite leggings. Wait until you see my leggings that have "Grateful as Fuck," written on my ass. Actually, I think it just says, "Gratitude," or it says "Grateful," I don't know. I don't look at my own ass often enough. Brandon Marshall is bringing it like a soul brother. Thank you. Thank you for backing me there. Okay, I thought I was gonna get in trouble. Someone stopped. All right, what about ... Do you know what's hilarious you guys? When I jump into the search bar on my Facebook on my laptop, and I'm searching for my own page so that I can then share the live stream. The thing that's hilarious is that I can then see the search history, and the search history of my personal Facebook is stuff that my team have searched when logged into my profile, as well as obviously stuff that I've searched. I swear to God, sometimes the cat ninjas are using my profile to Facebook stalk, and fan girl stalk people that they're interested in or something, so that it doesn't come up on their profile, or something like that. Because I'm like, what is up with this search history? What do you guys think you're doing? What's happening? All right, why is this live stream not coming up so that I can share it? I'm not gonna sell a couch, but I'll sell you this delightful rock that you can come and sit on with me. It's beautiful. What do you want me to give you? Can you stop with the frick ... What are you guys doing? Yeah, I should use Live Leap. I'm so lazy at remembering to use things. Okay. Here's the deal, right? This is gonna get preachy. I'm just gonna warn you. I'm gonna remind you in case you didn't remember, in case you've forgotten. Do not fucking forget. Can someone share this to daily ass kick? 'Cause my sharing thing is not working. Do not forget ... Oh, don't even worry about it. I'll share it later. Do not forget that there's a one day event happening with me in New York on Tuesday, if you wanna come spend the day with me on New York on Tuesday. One day, VIP, intimate event, and then one day even with me at Soul Shift and Money Making in San Diego the next Tuesday, which is April third. So, if you wanna come along to either of those, or you'd like to know more, there's a couple of places left in both of them. Message me on my personal page is best, and I'll get you those details. I wish I had my sunglasses, but right now the bottom of this tripod, because the rock down there is on an angle, so I've elevated the back two legs of the tripod by chucking my Chanel handbag down there on the rock and sticking the back two legs of the tripod into the bag, and my sunglasses are in the bag. So, it presents somewhat of a dilemma. But we'll figure it out. So, I'm on the phone just now, with my client, and essentially we were talking about the fact that she's always trusted in herself and that's how she's got results in her life in different areas, but that when it comes to business and getting the results that she wants in her business, and this was our first one on one call, right? She's doing a VIP one on one trial session with me, that she's noticing this feeling of basically well should I? Should I go and follow along with what such and such people are teaching or saying that I should do, whoever such and such people happen to be. The people who are commonly or uncommonly known as the gods of the internet, self appointed. Now, obviously we can all self appoint ourselves as anything, but ... This tripod is self appointing itself as a little bit of a biotch. I'm worried it's gonna fall over and then I'll have to quickly jump off the rock and grab it. Okay, it's under control. All right. So, you know, we've all done this. Give me a love hot shower if you've done this, or if you ... Hopefully I'm not gonna fall off the edge of this rock. I'm sitting with one ass cheek off the edge of it. I don't know why I do the things I do. I just like to live on the edge, literally, on the edge of this rock. There's an ass cheek hanging off. Oh. It's gonna be fine. Okay. Give me a love hot shower if you do this. You're already giving the love hot showers and I didn't even ask the question. You guys are on the ball. You're level as fuck. You're playing tight. It's very stypical of our community, and if you don't know the new words of the community then figure it out. We do this where we question ourselves, right? And we start to wonder, are you doing this in your business? You start to wonder, maybe I should do it the way that these internet marketing people say to do it. Maybe I should do like the 26 fricking copy written emails, or whatever it is, right? And you wonder if you should follow these different systems or strategies to build a funnel, or to build recurring income, or build any fucking thing, I suppose. Or in general, you just start to wonder whether you should do it like how other people are doing it. But then at the same time, and there's nothing wrong with learning from other people, by the by. Obviously. But then at the same time, there's a part of you, it's a big fucking part I think, which is just oo, this is gross, right? Like, it feels disgusting. Give me love hot shower if you relate to that, and I swear to God, this sun is just like, I'm gonna get you bitch. I'm right in your eyes, and I'm not backing down. I've just had a fantastic idea. I could turn around the other way. That would make actually a hell of a lot more sense because I'm literally sitting here like a squinty eyed squirrel. All right. I'm gonna, oh fuck. I'm gonna sit on this rock down here. Okay, oh my God. Now I can see nothing. Do you know one time I helped my ex husband launch a programme online called Rock Hard Results? It was a great programme name. Now I can see nothing. So, it's actually even worse now. We're figuring it out. It's a team effort. I'm totally in the dark now though, so I don't think that's better. Okay. See, here I can see but here ... Okay. Don't revolve around the sun. Let the sun revolve around me. I like it. Okay. Here's the rule. I'm gonna try and cut to the chase. I have a habit of rambling on. I don't know if you've noticed. The rule is, if your soul is staying disgusting, like if something inside of you is just like this is oo, right? E-U, like ugh. This is gross and it feels gross inside my body, and it feels scaly on my skin to be taking action like this, or to imagine that I should do so, then if you feel that, then that's how it is. That's the rule, okay? This current situation makes no sense at all. I'm gripping the tripod between my feet in order for it to not fall over. So, this is requiring massive inner strength of abductors, which is my inner thighs. I already have inner thighs like that woman on James Bond that kills a man with her thighs. My inner thighs are extremely toned and tight and strong. And they're now getting stronger by the moment. I hope you guys appreciate the effort because I did already work out today. I don't know why I can't just let it be easy. I just like, my room is like right there. I could be sitting in my room live streaming, but it's very dark. And it's not as fun as being on a rock gripping a tripod between your legs. So, anyway. I'm getting there, right? I'm getting to the point. I think I said what I needed to say already. The point is back yourself. When are you gonna finally back yourself, okay? So, I was using an example with my client. I was like, listen to me. You already know ... This is what I wanna say to you now. You already know that everything you feel inside of you is real. You already know that the way that you're being directed to do it through your soul is the way that it's gonna work. You already know that if you were to go against your own soul, and your own nature, and you were to essentially go and try and do ... In a way that ... Okay, I think it just kept freezing. In a way that feels kind of icky to you, or it's just boring, it's not interesting, it's not expansive, it feels really, do I really have to do that? Oh, okay, I guess I better. That's what's gonna get me a result. Okay. And it's kind of like this head hanging type of feeling, right? If you were to do it in that way, you know that it's not only not gonna work, you know this at your core, right? You might be buying into a story, you might be telling yourself all manner of things that are definitely not true. You might be trying to justify and convince, you might be like, "Well, that person knows better than me", or, "They're further along than me and maybe I don't really know because I haven't achieved that goal yet", whatever your goal is, right? In your business. And so, "They probably do know better, and I probably should do it this way", and you're going down this pathway of essentially trying to convince yourself to not back yourself, which when you put it that way, sounds really kind a crazy, and not good crazy. And it sound sad I think, as well, right? And then the other side of the coin, the flip side of that is you 100% know, give me a love hot shower, give me a love shower about this, you 100% know, if you agree with me give me a love hot shower. You 100% know that what's inside of you is real. You know that the things you feel inside of you about where your success is gonna come from is correct. And one thing that I love to journal on again, and again, and you might like to save this as an idea for later, and write it down as a journaling prompt, or somebody can put it in the comments if you want because I'm having a hard time getting my laptop to work here. I like to journal often on where do I ... A question I've asked myself many times over the years, where do I really believe, for example, my hundred million dollar empire is gonna come from, or before I was already making multi millions a year, then I would journal on where do I really believe my multi million dollar business is gonna come from, or where do I really believe my fame or my impact, or whatever it is, is gonna come from. So, the thing that's a big thing for me at the moment is soul mate love. Being in a soul mate relationship, right? That is kind of the biggest focal area for me, or the thing that I've not achieved yet. And I now and trust that I will. So, if I would tune in and journal on where do I really believe that that level of love and romance is gonna come from, and being in a relationship with my soul mate, and then I would look at some of the crazy ass shit that I've done over the past 18 months, since I became single, since I left my marriage, I went through this period, I went through initial period of what did the fuck, where the fuck do I even start? I don't even know what dating means, I don't even know how to do that. I've been in long term relationships for 15 years at the time. I'd literally been in long term relationships since my first ever boyfriend. So, it's like I don't even know what I the means to date, right? So, that was ... Being a brand new entrepreneur on the internet, like what's a lead page? I didn't even know. I'm like, "What do you do and a date? I don't even know." I don't know, somebody tell me. I don't think I ever even went on a date with my first two husbands. I think we just somehow became in a relationship after meeting at the gym. I literally had no clue. And then, I went through the next phase, which I feel like is what all entrepreneurs who are driven, motivated, bad asses like we have here too. The next phase is, well you know what? I'm a high achiever, and I'm a good student of life, right? Okay, finally this is gonna let me share it, so let's share it. I'm a good student of life, and I like to do really well at stuff, and I'm committed, and I will get good results, and so I'm gonna go and learn how to do it properly. Who's done that as an entrepreneur? Right? You go along and you're like, give me an amen or a hell yes or something on the comments if you've done that as an entrepreneur. You go, "I wanna do this properly. So, I'm gonna go and learn from the best people about how to market, and how you build an audience online, and how you sell a programme, or how you make a programme in the first place", or whatever it might be. And so, you go along and learn, and because the vast majority of people out there are teaching some kind of non thinking system, like join these dots, do it this way, here's the right way, here's the wrong way, that's probably what you fall into, right? And there's only a very limited number of people out there who teach like I teach around business and entrepreneurialism, which is follow fucking flow and soul intuition, fuck everything else. There are no rules, there is no right or wrong. Let's tune in, let's get you connected to soul, let's get you back to what you've always known. Let's act from that place and then sure, if you wanna know a few little, if there's things you literally don't know, you never heard of what a lead page is and you wanna know, cool. We can learn that, but actually you don't even need that to be successful and to make money, right? So, for me, if we relate it back to the dating thing, I did that same thing. At first, I was like, "I don't even know what dating is. I literally have no clue what that means or how to do it." I've heard the word, and I am 38 years old so in theory I have some sort of concept around it, but I'm not sure. Somebody's gonna have to tell me. So, then I started hiring coaches. Now, fortunately I hired an amazing sex and love coach to start with who helped me connect with intuition and flow, which was my good friend Alexa Martinez, and cannot recommend her highly enough. She's actually doing a soulmate manifestation free challenge this week on her Facebook page, so worth checking out. And that was amazing, and that just taught me so much about, oh my God. I was like, "What? Oh my God. All these crazy things I've felt inside of me about what I really want from romance in a relationship, you're telling me that's okay? You're telling me I can even have that? You're telling me I've got permission to be me? What? You're telling me I should tell men how I feel?" I was like, mind is blown, right? So, same thing as well. I teach a lot of people around business, but then after that, I got kind of, I did that for a little bit, and then I just, I got pulled in, right? And we all do it. You get pulled in and distracted by, if you're on Facebook for example, you're gonna get pulled in and distracted by so many fricking people on the internet who are telling you the right way to make money, or to sell an online programme, or to do anything at all. And so, I got pulled in, and I jumped on a few different mailing lists for example, with people who would send out, "Here's 10 scripts to get him to respond in a text message." Stuff like that. Or here's how to say this, or here's what never to say to a man, or here's 10 reasons why he's lost interest in you. Stuff like that. And I was on these mailing lists, and I did some coaching with people who teach like this as well. I paid for some coaching with people who teach like this, because I was like that newbie entrepreneur, who's like, "But I don't know. And I don't know if I know what I know, and I haven't had success in this area yet. I've had two failed abusive marriages, and ..." Okay, stuff that was on me as well. Let's just be clear and on that, all right? I don't wanna be blaming and doing anything like that. But I've had two marriages that didn't work out, and clearly I have no fucking clue what I'm doing, and how do I know how to choose right? So, I should go and learn from an expert, right? And we all do that with business, or we've all done that. I did the same thing with business. I know so many entrepreneur who can relate to having done that in business, but yet I was getting this information and I was getting to taught these things and the whole way through, when I would be told, "Okay, say this in a text. Oh no, don't ... What? You were thinking of saying that to him? Don't say that. Never say that to a man. That's a terrible idea." And then, there would be this feeling inside of me like, oo, really? I did even send ... I think I did it like two or three times, where I used a little script from a text messaging thing. And I kind of thought it was funny, I was laughing at it, but I was also like, this is kind of gross, right? It feels icky. It feels like, yuck. And it's kinda like, really? And then, a few times where I didn't speak my truth in a romance situation because I was listening to the advice of coaches at the time who were like, "No, no. That's coming from a hurt place inside of you, or that's something you need to heal inside. Don't say that. And this is the right way to communicate with a man, and this is how to do it. And I was like, ugh. And something inside of me was shrinking, right? I was feeling contracted. I was feeling like maybe they're right? Because I don't know, and I'm not an expert, and I don't have results in those areas. So, maybe I should listen to them and I'm willing to try it, and I said that. And I spoke up. I was like, "I don't really feel ... But okay. I'm open to it." And they were like, "Yeah, well ..." They were basically like, without saying you're wrong and I'm right, that's basically what they were saying. They were like, "Well, this is how it works. I'm right, do it this way." I was like, "Okay." And then I just didn't follow through though. I didn't follow through. In the end, I sent the fucking letter that I wanted to send to a guy, even though everybody said don't send that letter, right? Or everybody who you asked, which is a very small group of people. But my coach, and one or two friends, and in the end I was like, "Fuck it. I've always spoken my truth in business, and I'm gonna speak my truth in this area as well." Because here's what I know for sure. Anything that's feeling contractive, anything that's feeling like it's actually making me feel sad to follow that method if I would follow the method of that particular person or coach, or whatever. Or the strategy that's being taught online around dating, it's making me feel sad and contracted, and icky all at the same time, anything you're feeling like that in business, or think that you should be doing but it makes you feel that way relevant to business, I'm gonna tell you flat out 100, 1000, one million percent, all the percents, gathered into a big percentage bucket, don't do that shit. It's not gonna work for you. And by the way, if you got some kind of supposed outcome from doing stuff that goes against your soul, do you think it's gonna make you feel happy and fulfilled? So, for me with the dating stuff, I just started to remind myself, and this is kind of what I was kicking my client's ass around just now on the phone, I just started to remind myself that all of my results in my entire life, back to when I was a child, and even in my business before I got results and how many results, I had to remind myself of thins and getting into believing in myself, and coming from faith, and coming from self belief before I had the results to back it. Every result has come from when I trusted in myself, and anytime that I achieved any sort of success, quote unquote success, by doing something that went against my soul and that didn't feel right, it made me feel icky or it made me feel contractive, or it made me feel sad, then that success meant nothing to me. I have made money in the past by doing stuff that wasn't my soul work. I've never done anything that's felt like immoral, or completely wrong or something, but I've done plenty of stuff to make money in business where it was like, "Oh, really? Yeah, okay. All right, I guess. Because I want the results and so I'll suck it up." And when I did make money doing things that way, it slipped through my fingers. I didn't even fucking care. It meant nothing. It was not fulfilling. So, I started to think about the dating, and I was like, "But if it's true. If it's true that if I would say it in this way and follow, and learn these scripts until they become automated inside of me so that I'm communicating properly, as how you're supposed to communicate to a man. If that's true, then how could I possibly end up in a fulfilled soul relationship for me?" Because it would have been based on me not being me. Every step along the way it would've been based on me going ... Me being me, and who I am in this moment in time, with all my faults, and all my uncertainties, and all my weaknesses, me being me is not enough to get that relationship. I would have to catch a man by saying things right. Hello, what kind of fucking relationship's that gonna be, right? Just like what kind of fucking business is that gonna be that's built on a foundation of not a beautiful rock like this? It's not built on a solid rock foundation. How cool is that? I'm sitting on a rock. I'm super excited. Look, here's the rest of the rock where I was sitting before. I was up there. Now I'm just on a lower bit, but there's all these little rocky foundations all the way around. I'm in Orlando. So, I just ... It was like a wake up call. It was like, hello. How do you wanna believe in yourself, right? Like, hello. Where do you ... What foundation do you want this relationship to come from? Hello, do you actually wanna choose to believe that if you speak your truth, and be you, that that's not enough? And I was like fuck that shit. I'm gonna start saying exactly what I want, I'm gonna chose to back myself, I'm gonna chose to trust myself. And like the particular situation with a particular guy where everything that I wanted to say to him was breaking all the rules, like don't say that. I was like, "You know what? I'm gonna fricking say it, and then some." And the stuff I said was like, stuff you definitely aren't supposed to say to a guy. And my choice was that if I would be myself fully, and it didn't work, then that's exactly perfect and what was meant to be. And my choice was also that actually it's impossible to screw up being me, because when I be me and back myself and trust in myself, only good and positive outcomes can come from that. And so now, I feel 100%, I'm fricking so in trust and in certainty around where I'm going in the relationship area of my life, and I know that I'm getting the results that I desire. Awesome Nicole, thank you for jumping on first. All right. Janice says, "I feel this icky energy nine hours a day." Soulmate relationship and not backing myself in business, [Keja 00:22:05]. That's exactly the same situation that was happening with the client that I was just on the phone to, right? We were talking about a similar conversation to this, but obviously personal to her, and it was exactly the same. She's got the results in her health and fitness, and in her relationship, and then we're talking about the fact that you know, and this is why I was using the relationship example to her. I was saying to her, I know that me being in a relationship with my soulmate, it's gonna come from me being fully me, and I know that it's about me speaking my truth, trusting my own inner guidance, and anybody who's basically trying to direct me or tell me what to do, whether it's somebody random on the internet, or someone who I'm personally speaking to, if it goes against what feels right inside of me, then I know that it's not right for me, and I know that that's not how I'm gonna get the results that I want in my life, and I know that I just don't have it within me to do stuff that doesn't align for me on a soul level. I know that in business, to get to where my business makes millions of dollars a year, and I have only 100% soul mate clients who are so fricking cool and badass and do the work, for that to happen, I had to fully back myself. I didn't have money. I was over $100 000 in debt. I was gonna go bankrupt, I couldn't even buy coffee, and I realised I was one foot in and one foot out. I knew inside of me, I just knew that I was born for more. I knew I'm gonna get those results. I had the faith inside of me, and I believed that I could make money doing what I love, and doing this and speaking my truth every day, and just hanging out and being fully me, and not being worried about if I'm professional and whatever else, but I wasn't backing myself. I was one foot over there, and one foot, "Oh, maybe I should do it your way? Maybe, okay. It doesn't feel good, but okay. You have more results than me so I probably should do that." And then eventually I was like fuck this shit. I'm gonna fully back myself, and if I have to do that every single day for the rest of my life, and never make money, then that's gonna be fulfilling to me rather than living a life of if I follow your rules and do it this way, maybe then I'll get a result that I won't even fucking care about because it didn't come from flow. So, that's what I apply over now to the relationship area. I'm like, this is like a done deal. 100% the results that I desire are gonna come from me backing myself and trusting in myself. Somebody said, "What about if you being yourself will cause others to shun you?" Which is a great question. Well, they will. They will. They will. I'm gonna tell you a great answer about that. First I'm gonna open my laptop, because I just saw that my brother WhatsApp'd me. It came up at the top of my phone. He doesn't know I'm sitting here waiting for him live streaming. He's asked me what time we should leave for dinner. So, I don't know. How long's it take to get from fricking, a Disneyland resort to downtown Orlando? Let me just message him back. Don't know. Can you check? Downtown Orlando. Am on a live stream. All right, cool. Did that work? I don't know. We'll see. Okay, so here's my answer. How are you gonna feel about whether people shun you. The reason I'm at a Disneyland resort, I'm so not a Disneyland person. I actually really don't like Disneyland. I don't like a lot of people around me, and I just don't like Disneyland. I don't like rides. Sorry all the people who love Disneyland. You can hate on me for it if you want, because we're at a conference here, and I'm like playing hooky on the conference because I'm not really a conference person either. So, that's why I'm sitting on a rock on a live stream, instead of being in a conference. So, he's in the conference room and he's just messaged me about dinner. All right. So, yesterday I found out that in certain groups on the internet, of Facebook groups, that people talk all the time about what a bitch I am, right? And how they can't handle my life streams. And I'm just like, okay. I'm just gonna say something directly to those people right now. Just so you know, if you say that you can't even, even, with me, and you can't handle my live streams, and did you see what she did on her latest live stream, I'm just gonna point out the obvious, which is that the only way you know that is because you're watching the fucking live steam. So, technically that makes you a magnetises fuck fan. Who's triggered as fuck, by the way. And if you are triggered and emotionally charged by me, that's because I'm being a mirror, and because I'm confronting in you something that you know you get to address inside of you, and basically probably you're gonna become a client in about a year, and then you're gonna tell me that you used to hate me and bitch about me behind the scenes but I already knew because other people told me. If you didn't actually care, if you weren't connected to me on a soul level in some sort of way, then you wouldn't watch the live streams, and you wouldn't bitch about me behind the scenes, and you wouldn't care. You'd be like, "I'm not interested. I'm not attracted to her. I'm not magnetised to her", and you would just not even observe. You literally wouldn't care, right? It happens all the time, Melissa. I actually was a little shocked because I'm so in a love bubble of my own cult and my own world that I've created that I haven't heard it for a while, but I used to be much more conscious of it, and to answer the person's question who asked about this, I knew about it more and I was conscious of it because I was concerned about it, and because it would cause me to shrink and be worried, and not speak my truth. And then I just gradually over time let go of that, because I still care. Yesterday I was like, I was triggered and I was a little hurt. I was like, "Oh." I was actually like, "Oh, I thought everybody loved me now." I really did. I was like, "Oh. Well, okay." And then I was like, "Oh, well technically I suppose I could ..." I do actually know that people don't like me but I kind of forgot because I'm only surrounded by love, so I was a little triggered, and I was kinda like, "I think I wanna go around to their houses and cook them dinner, and just sit them down and just explain to them, just so you understand, I'm a nice person." And I'm actually like really nice, and I'm really introverted and quiet in real life, and everything as well. I think you would like me, right? Like, really, I'm an actual ... I'll buy you a present. I'll bring you chocolates. I'll do that. I do that all the time anyway. So, I kinda felt like I need to deal with this situation so that people understand how awesome I actually am. But then the other part of me was like, not fuck them. I got into curiosity, and I think it's funny because the reason I said, I'm like, "Well, if you're watching my life streams, then it means you're a fan." Just technically. Just saying. So, I think it's funny. But also, even if I feel hurt, or even if I've lost people along the way, and I've lost friends, and I've lost some clients along the way who I got too much for them, I got too intense for them, and some of them came back and then they're like, "You've got too much for me. You got too intense for me. I couldn't handle it. It was like a trigger for me." One of my newest clients who joined my inner circle, first thing he did introducing himself is, "Oh, I'm probably like a lot of people here when I first came across Katrina Ruth, I wanted to punch her through the computer screen." I was like, "Aww. People say the sweetest things about me." And for real though, my clients say that all the time, right? So, it's really, really common and normal, oh, thank you. Thank you for the present in advance. So, anyway. My point is, I got to a point of understanding that my message and my art, and speaking my truth is more important and bigger than what people wanna say about me, right? And that I have to put that first. So, don't assume that somebody like me just doesn't care, or is so confident, because it's not that. I'm still hurt at the idea, and I don't like the idea, and quite honestly, even at a big conference like this, there's three and a half thousand people here, I'm conscious that there's people in this room, and some of them I know who they are, who really fucking don't like me and think I'm a bad person, or I'm too aggressive, or I'm unprofessional online, and that fricking annoys me, right? And I let it go, because in the end I have to be me, and I have to speak my truth, and even the real life friends how I've lost along the way, I've just been like okay, there's some sadness there, or sometimes there's a grieving process to go through depending upon who the person is in your life, and technically not just as friends, but really even my marriage was a fallout of me being fully me, right? There's many reasons that went into that, but it was. I'm so fully me that you can't have me in your life if you don't ... For somebody who's not fully being them in their life, and not fully pressing play, or they just, they disagree with my values or my beliefs, how can you keep me in your life, right? You can't. You're either gonna ... If I'm in your life, there's only two reasons for that. Either you really love me and you resonate so fucking fully with me, and we're basically come from the same glorious pot of souls, which is why when we hang out in real life we're gonna have the bestest time ever and I won't be hiding from you like I'm hiding from everyone else here. I know there'd be some cool people here, I just don't know where they are, right? For real though, whenever I meet any of my tribe or my clients, or people who follow me online and who are the same as me, when we meet in real life, we're instantly magnetically best friends because we're the same sort of person. Or there's the people who hate me. And if they actually say that they hate me, or they're like I can't stand her, or whatever, then actually it's because at their core, they're the same sort of person, and they're just not owning their truth. That's a reality, right? That's just how it is. Okay. What else? Where was I even up to? I am not who you think I am. I am ... You are who you think I am. Reflect your own truth. Thank you Ruby. You are also the most beautiful soul. Thank you for seeing that in me, and I reflect it back to you. I'm shooting it back to you like that super hero who shoots stuff out of there, like Spider Man who shoots his spiderweb out. I'm shooting back love and acknowledgement. All right, what else? So, anyway. I think one of the hardest things, in theory, it's a choice whether or not it's hard, is when you don't have the results yet. You don't have the money results, so you don't have whatever results you're having in your business. And you know, you know on a soul level what is right, and what is aligned, and how you're gonna get results, right? But you don't have the results. So, that voice comes up ... Maybe you have some other people who are lovely enough to tell you all the time that you're doing it wrong. Eliminate those people. I don't mean in a bad way. I just mean turn away from them energetically, or physically, or whatever else is required, right? Don't listen to them. Literally, la-la-la-la-la, can't hear you. Not listening. Choose to only listen to people that affirm what you already know inside of you, yeah? To me that seems obvious. But, mind you, I've definitely gone against that myself at some points in time. So, there's that. But then the other thing is it's not just the voices of other people, right? It's the voices, shit. It's the voices inside of your head. Those things are little bitches some of the time. And they come up every day and be like, "Really? Are you sure? Because that sounds kind of stupid to me. And besides which, how can you prove it? And I bet you're wrong. And I bet you're gonna screw everything up, and I bet probably if you do that, or say that, everybody's gonna tell everybody, and then the whole entire internet is gonna laugh at you because you're stupid." That's what the voices inside your head will say. Or it'll be like, "Who do you think you are to do that? Somebody else could do that, but clearly you have no clue what you're talking about. You don't have the results, you can't prove yourself, you don't speak properly, and your hair doesn't look good." And so, these are the normal every day thoughts that we all have. I have these voices inside of my head as well, and I know, I see them for what they are. I'm like, "Bitch please. I see what you're trying to do here, and I'm gonna let you know that I'm gonna be over here doing what I'm meant to do anyway." But sometimes they get to me. Sometimes they got to me with the dating stuff, right? And now I became stronger over time, because I just kind of thought back, and I thought back to my business stuff, and I'm like, "Hmm, well, took me like five fucking years, or however long, to really get this with my business, but then when I did, shit started working. When I fully backed myself. So, I think, thank you for coming along, and telling me all of your thoughts for today, and if you insist on carrying yourself around and following me everywhere, and talking shit, then I guess I can't stop you. I'm still gonna be over here pressing fucking play", and I'm gonna learn this lesson a lot faster, right? So, it's about realising that you can have these voices inside of your head, you can have the voice of doom and gloom, and self doubt, and whatever bullshit is going on or coming through you, or even coming at you from outside of you, all of that can be present and in attendance, and you can still do whatever you know what you're meant to do. And so, what that comes down to is you've gotta be bold enough, and trust enough to actually back it up and follow through though. It's not gonna be enough to feel and know inside of you what's true and what's gonna get you results. That is not gonna cut it. You're gonna have to back it with action, right? Which means, from my example, the dating example, it means that when I have an instinct or an impulse, or a soul nudge comes through me, like, "Hey, say that to this guy. Speak your truth. Say this", and my voice inside my head's gonna be like, "Oh my God, are you crazy? Don't say that. Really? You already said such and such thing. Like, really? You're gonna morally now? You're gonna say that?" And, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't, and maybe this, and then let's go check what he's posted on Facebook today because maybe that's gonna put me off because you don't know ..." Like, what? What if I just always followed my soul nudges? Because I can tell you something for sure, in my business now, and it took me however long it took me to get this, I always follow my soul nudges. That doesn't mean only when it feels exciting or inspiring. That means especially when it feels terrifying, when it feels reckless, it feels crazy, it goes against what everybody's saying, and I built a multi million dollar per year online empire where I get to do only what I fucking want everyday, and I have a 100% soul mate client base. My clients are now becoming millionaires and multi millionaires in the last year as well. Multiple clients who've gone from where they were making 8 to 10K a month at the start of last year to where they're now making 50, 60 and over 100K per month in numerous cases, over 200K per month consistently in multiple places as well, and all of these women and a few men who work with me, are doing what I'm talking about here, following soul nudges. And not only attracting such badass from only following soul desires, requirements, and flow. It's not just when it feels easy or comfortable or fun or exciting. It's when it feels terrifying. It's when it's scary. It's when it feels reckless. It's when it feels ridiculous, right? And here's something else. Let me just check in in what my brother's saying. He's just messaging me more. 36 minutes. Am on my way back. Okay. We can go for like 5 or 10 minutes more. Okay. Am on a rock. I'm telling him. Don't forget, if you jumped on late and you didn't hear me, I'm doing a one day VIP very intimate event this Tuesday in New York, and I'm repeating the same event the Tuesday after, April 3, in San Diego. These are soul shifting deep dive days to get clear on exactly who you are as an entrepreneur, who you wanna be as an entrepreneur, creator and leader, and the best fucking way for you to make fuckload of money and a fuckload of impact doing that. That was too many fucks. Maybe. Not maybe. Whatever it was. It's something like that. I can send you the whole written overview, so message me over on my Katrina Ruth personal page if you wanna know more about that. Okay, so then coming back to this. Here's how I actually got into this business, because as I've been sharing, I don't have the results yet, I'm like working towards these results in my romance side of my life, and I know that it will come from backing myself, but I also know that that means I can't just sit around being like, "Yeah, I believe that I'm gonna have a soulmate relationship, and I believe that it's gonna work out for me and I have faith." It means that I've also gotta follow all actions that my soul tells me to take, even though I feel like a fricking crazy person half of the time, okay? And the reason that I knew that first for business though, and where I can now apply it from business over to love, I knew it for business because when I was broke in my business, and when I was over $100 000 in debt, and I thought I was gonna go bankrupt, I sat down one day, and it's funny because I'm kind of at a theme park now. I'm at the resort anyway. And I was at a theme park. I was at a Wet and Wild theme park, like a water one. And I went and sat down for coffee, and I made this list and it was based on the fact that I'd been a personal trainer for 13 years before I built my own online business, and so I've now been actively involved in the fitness industry for 21 years, since I was 17 years old. And so, at the time, it was maybe like six years ago or something, so I would've been involved in the fitness industry at the time for like 15 years, and I had complete faith and certainty around my ability to always be in great shape. Now, it didn't mean that I always was in my ideal shape, because sometimes I would slip a little bit out or whatever, but it never was a problem. I was like, "I know how to be in fantastic fucking shape. It's very simple and straight forward, and easy, and it's just automatic that of course I get to have that." I have zero doubt, and also that it comes from me following what I believe is true and real for me inside me. Never once have I followed a diet plan. I've tried to do it a few times in years gone by, and I always was like cheating all the way through on those diets. And I don't follow structured training. All my training and my eating is intuitive. I even wrote a book about five or six years ago called Think Thin, The Intuitive Diet for Women. You can get it on Amazon if you go to books for kick ass women dot com, you're gonna see over 60 books on Amazon that I've self published, and Think Thin is one of them, right? So, that's my way of eating and staying in shape. So, I sat down and I thought about what if I had the same beliefs for business and for money that I have for fitness? What if I just always knew that I know what's right for me? What if I fully trusted in myself, what if I fully backed myself, what if I went from soul flow and intuition, and I basically sat there and I wrote a big list of what are all my beliefs to do with fitness and my body, and being in great shape? And they're all really powerful positive beliefs that would serve a lot of people well, as I'm sure you can imagine, right? And then I looked at what my money beliefs were at the time, and I had so many money and business beliefs around not trusting myself, or there's gotta be a wrong way, or something like a right way or a wrong way, or I've gotta get it right, or something along those lines, right? And other people maybe know more than me, and I've gotta do stuff that doesn't feel good, and just all these beliefs, and I literally sat there and I took all of my positive and powerful fitness beliefs and and I rewrote them into powerful positive beliefs for my business, and for money, and I just made a decision. I was like, that's how I'm gonna choose to think. I'm gonna choose to back myself, I'm gonna choose to trust myself, I'm gonna choose to basically operate from inside of me. And even last week I had another breakthrough around this, because I noticed that in my business there's still a couple of areas where I feel like I'm not fully showing up, right? Where I feel, you know that sense of disease, or feeling uneasy, or restless, or unsettled, because you feel like ... I had a general feeling that there's some discontent present in my business. And a general feeling of feeling like I notice that pretty much every day I feel slightly restless, like slightly, just like what am I missing? That was it. I journaled on why do I feel like there's always something missing in my business? I just have this niggle all the time, and I thought ... I said to myself, this was like the other day in Santa Monica, sitting in the tea and coffee bin. And I thought, "Well, I don't feel that way in fitness. I have like zero restlessness or niggles in fitness." Even if I go into [inaudible 00:40:58] and I'm in my little shorts and my sports bra, and I see that I got a bit puffy around the waste or something, it does not remotely bother me. I'm like, "That's fine. I know exactly how to fix it." Right? And I have only self love, right? Like I actually really, it took me several decades, but I really love and accept myself regardless of what my body's doing, and I have full trust, right? And I thought, "Why do I have such contentedness in fitness, but in business I still feel a little uneasy?" And I was like, "Oh my God." And I realised it's because with fitness and nutrition, I 100% follow every single soul command and desire and requirement. So, what that means is, like this morning, I was like, "I gotta go to Bikram Yoga this morning." Hot yoga. That's how I felt. That's what my body wants. Well, I had a schedule of going to a conference today. I'm like, "Too bad. I'm going to Bikram Yoga because that's what I feel I need." The zero of the time will I not follow soul urges in that situation, right? 100% of the time with fitness and my body, I do what I'm told to do from within ... Not by other people. Zero percent of the time I do what I'm told to do by other people, and 100% of the time I do it even if it comes at the cost of something else that I was supposed to be doing, but it's also on the times when I don't feel like doing something. Maybe I'm like ... Oh, the other day. I didn't feel like going to the gym. Too bad. I go to the gym if I know that it's what my soul's telling me to do. But by the same token, if I go to dinner, and there's like an amazing dessert and I wanna eat it, I'm gonna fricking eat it, right? If that's what feels good for me. So, then with business and money, I noticed that there was still times, or there's still times where I'm not doing what my soul tells me to do. You know, I like to rebel even if it's against my own self, from time to time. Just to kind of prove a point, that I can do what I want, I think. But I had to kind of acknowledge this. I'm like, "Oh, I have a feeling of discontent, or dis ease sometimes in my business because there's certain things that I know I actually should, quote unquote, should be doing from a soul point of view, like my soul's directing me to do it. Could be like whatever little task, or getting back to somebody on my team, or finalising an idea, or what it is, and it's that kind of little girl inside of me that's still like if your Mom tells you to clean your room, you're like, "Well, I was gonna clean my room, and now that you've told me to clean my room there's no fucking way I will clean my room." It's exactly the same reason that I refuse to see the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies, because everybody was like, "You've gotta see them. They're really good." I was like, "Bitch, please." If everybody's seeing them, there's no way I'm gonna see them because clearly I'm better than that. And then eventually I saw them and I was like, "I guess they were okay." So, it's just that ... I recognise that part of myself, and so I kind of kicked my own ass around it. And so then with love, and relationship, and sex and that sort of thing, I was like ... Oh, shit. I was like, "Well, okay." I went through this phase last year after I left my marriage, which was the year before, and so last year my phase was like, trying to do the things that I thought that I should to do be successful at dating or whatever, or try and learn about it, and doing things ... But also, I was in this most ridiculous pattern, which was so stupid, I can't even believe that I did this, where if I would go on a date with a guy, and I wasn't attracted to him, like romantic, to where you're like, "Can we just have sex right now?" That I would still kind of convince myself and I would be like, "Oh, well maybe I am attracted and I just don't know it, because he's a really nice guy." And now I say it, and I'm like, "That's hilarious." How could that be a thing? You either are or you aren't, and you fucking know where you are because you're like, can we just seriously, can I just crawl into your skin immediately? In a non weird way. And so, it was kind of this phase of trying to make it work, right? And now I'm like, "Okay, it's either I'm fucking feeling it, which is relatively rare, but that's the whole point, or it's nothing", right? And either way is totally fine, but I'm not gonna keep on meeting up with somebody just in case I somehow at some point magically wake up one day and in massive lust and attraction, or whatever, right? But by the same token, it also means ... That's fun. But by the same token it also means that if I'm feeling like, "Okay, I should say this to this guy", or message this or whatever ... I do this where, it even happened last week I think it was, last weekend, where I'm like, "Oh, don't message that." I met a guy, and I'm like, "Don't message that. That's a bad idea." And then I felt like messaging it. I'm like, "My soul is telling me to message that, so I'm gonna message it." And either outcome is fine, right? And it's just that continual process of I'm gonna continually back myself, I'm gonna continue to follow what I'm directed to do inside. Whatever the outcome is actually doesn't matter because the point is that I'm proving I fricking believe in myself, right? And I'm proving I'm gonna back myself, and I'm proving that I fucking mean what I say when it comes through me from the inside. So, I'm building inner strength, I'm building self belief, I'm building resilience, I'm building tenacity, and all these areas can just be related to each other, whether it's fitness stuff, business stuff, love and romance and sex stuff, all of them just connect into each other, and I have to fricking go. I could live stream all night, but I'm gonna go and have dinner with several badass people. So, I'm sure I'll have many more things to share with you tomorrow. I would really encourage you to watch the replay of this live stream. I feel like I brought the message and the preaching tonight, this afternoon, whatever it is. So, go watch the replay, leave me a comment, send me a message, let me know what you thought, and seriously, what if you just fully decided to back yourself? I've built a multi million dollar per year business where every day I just wake up, and sit around and talk to cool people on the internet like I'm doing now. I only do what I want, I have the best time ever. I travel the world continually. You guys see this, and I just want you to really know that's available for you. I didn't have all that. I built it up, and I built it from backing myself, right? And I literally used to write in my journal, all I really wanna do is inspire, educate and motivate people, and talk to cool badass people on the internet, and now here we are. So, I know that this is available for all of us in all areas. Don't forget that if you wanna spend a day with me in person in a VIP private event, on Tuesday in New York, that that's happening. There's several places left, I think three maybe for New York. Send me a message on my personal page, and then there's a couple of places left for San Diego the week after as well. So, it's gonna be April, sorry. March 27 in New York City, and April 3 over in San Diego. Message me on my Katrina Ruth personal page, or you can message on this profile if you're confused about how to find it, but maybe someone can tag in my personal page right now, or I'll do it in a moment when I jump off, and send me a message there because it's just easier for me to PM over on my personal one. I prefer it. And I'll get you all the details of exactly what we're covering, and the cost, and all that good stuff. Have an amazing day. Go take massive action, from your soul. And do not forget, life is now. Press fucking play.

Click above to listen in iTunes... I use funnels to sell AND manage… What's going on, everyone? This is Steve Larsen, and you're listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio, where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business, using today's best Internet sales funnels. And now, here's your host: Steve Larsen. Hey, guys. I can't believe that we are almost to episode 100. That's crazy. That's ridiculous. Seems like we just passed 80,000 downloads, and we're almost at 85,000 already, which is kind of crazy. Anyway, thanks to all you guys who are listeners out there. Hopefully, the holidays went well. I know that's the political way to say it, but whatever. I'm Christian, so I'll just say it: Merry Christmas!  Happy to have all of you guys here on the show. Really appreciate every one of you. Hopefully, whatever's goin gon for you right now, you're enjoying it. It is the day after Christmas, here. I'm not going to lie: after three days of vacation, Saturday, Sunday, and then Monday, technically, I have today off. What is it? It's 5:00. I have spent almost 10 hours building funnels today. Yes, for fun.  That's what I do. I had a hard time. Even yesterday, at the end of the day, I was like "I got to get back to work." You know what I mean? I don't know if that's a problem or an issue or whatever. There's snow all over the place, which is very fun. We had snow Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. It's snow all over the place. I grew up in Littleton, Colorado. Denver area. Kind of a suburb of Denver, right up against the mountains. The elevation's pretty high there. There's a lot of really high mountains and snows like crazy. There was one year that there was a five-foot snow storm. I always laugh. Here, in Boise, Idaho, where we live now, last year they called it Snowmageddon. "There's so much snow! It's Snowmageddon! Oh, my gosh!" There was, like, maybe six inches on the ground. It wasn't that much snow. I was laughing at how big of a deal everyone made it. But there's actually a good amount on the ground here. Anyway, growing up there was this golf course that we grew up on. We grew up on the back nine, on fairway 16. It was a public golf course. Not super fancy schmancy or anything like that. It was kind of fun, though, because every time it snowed super, super hard, even just a foot or two, which is pretty frequent in the winter, we would jump the fence. Yes, I know. I'm confessing right here on the podcast. We would jump the fence, though. We would go out onto the fairway of the golf course. Obviously, there's no golfers out or anything, so it was this massive snow playground. We would build these huge snow forts. We'd build two of them. The other one would be 20 paces away from the other one. What we'd do is we would go grab bottle rockets and roman candles, and all sorts of fireworks and paraphernalia, and we would load up two different teams and we'd shoot back and forth at each other, between the two snow forts. We had very minimal injuries, doing this, but it was a lot of fun. Every time I see snow, in any kind of accumulation, I always remember that experience for some reason. A whole bunch of others as well, but, specifically, that one. Anyway, hopefully, it's been good. Hopefully, you had time to spend time with family, and you remember the reason you got into this business in the first place. "Steve, what have you been building today?" Funny you should ask. I've been building a lot of management funnels. You're like, "What? Oh, my gosh! Steven, what is this? Holy crap!" (laughs) Anytime that there's a process, internally, that I have to do over and over and over and over again, that drives me crazy. I'm not an efficiency snob, but I do love variety enough that I hate doing the same thing over and over and over again. I will go automate it. I will go automate as much of it as I can. I'll go automate every piece, every little nook and cranny, as much as possible, so that there is enough variety in my own business life. It's almost a move, for me, of self-preservation. Funny enough. Some people are like, "You're efficiency snob!" Not really. It's kind of a mess, where I am right now. I've got parts of guns around me, as I've been toying around, tweaking some stuff with some guns. I've got packages, things I got to finish shipping. I'm not necessarily a neat freak. I'm not necessarily an efficiency snob. It's the other way around. I love variety so much that, if I have to do the same task over and over and over again... Whether you are an efficiency snob, or whether or not you're like me and you crave variety constantly, whatever it is, you can use funnels not just for sales, but for the actual automation of things. What I've been doing... I do this a lot. I've done this a lot. Who's that I was talking to? I think it was Miles! Miles Clifford! Shout out to you buddy! A few days ago he was asking, "Is Zapier the tool that seems to be really underutilized? That really opens up the rest of ClickFunnels?" I said, "Yes! Absolutely!" If you've never used Zapier, especially when it comes to the management funnels and the management funnel topic. Zapier is like the ring from Lord of the Rings. It's the ring of power. That's how I look at it because I'm not a coder! I have no idea how to code. What I will do a lot of times is, automatically, anytime anyone buys, or anytime anyone becomes a lead, I will pass that data on to Google Sheets. Whether it's a VA, and I don't want to give them access to my ClickFunnels account, or whether it's somebody... I will go and I will automate those different things, so that, A, no one else has access to my ClickFunnels account, then, B, everything's automated. Steve Larsen: I can say, "Anytime a contact hits this sheet, go ahead and follow up with them about X, Y, and Z, and do the one, two, and three. That's exactly what I've been doing. I've wanted to build this for a while. I've wanted to build this for quite a while. I don't like automating stuff right off the bat, when there's no need. You know what I mean? I like to look where the biggest pain point is. I started looking at all these different articles of when to automate, when to do X, Y, and Z. Stuff like that. And, quite honestly, people get really intense with it, which is great. It's not exactly my huge thing. But I love management funnels. That's why I call them. These are like internal processes. A lot of people don't know that, before I worked for ClickFunnels, my job was to go around and to create internal processes so that the company could run better, rather it was shipping or automating tasks to support agents. All these internal processes. That's what I was doing. Very heavily, very strongly. I was very good with Infusionsoft, plus ClickFunnel's integrations. The integration back and forth between them. That's what I was doing. There's a side of me that loves setting up that structure. I don't like to run it. It's not my personality to run it, but I love setting it up. So I've been doing that same kind of stuff to my own business. What I've been doing is thinking through "What are the pain points? What are the things that I've wanted to go fix and get done?" This is something that I've wanted to do for quite some time. That is to automate, or far better manage, the interview process that I have. Episodes 60 and 61 of this podcast go through and talk about how I podcast. All the systems I use, all the little things that I put together. I've got my own systems for this. After 100 episodes I've got a pattern, and it's on purpose. A lot of the stuff is things I'm going to do when I do an episode of my own. But what if I want to go interview somebody else? What if somebody wants to interview me? It is literally handled different every single time that happens, that scenario, and it's driving me crazy. I have a huge list of people that I want to interview. There's a huge list of people that are trying to get me interviewed on their show or their YouTube thing or their Facebook. Whatever it is. I'm flattered by it. It's awesome. I would love to do it, of course. But every single individual situation is being handled differently right now. So I thought, "There's got to be a better way to do this." What I did is I came up with... It's a blend between an opt-in funnel meets application funnel meets Zapier. I found out some cool ways to not have to use things like Wufoo or Typeform or anything like that. I just use the generic input form straight off of ClickFunnels. I do some cool things with them, so that's all I use now. Oh, my gosh, you guys. This is way too technical of a podcast already. I can feel it. I can feel it. We're craving a story here. We need some story, here, wrapped in this. Otherwise, people are going to start drawing out, here, and I get it. I feel it. You probably are too. What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to help you realize there's five steps that I use to automate internal processes. They're very simple. A lot of them are "no-duhs." Like, "Duh. Why would I not do that?" But, honestly, if you can do this, it saves you so much time! It is ridiculous how much it saved me. When we launched the 2 Comma Club coaching program, the Funnel Hackathon event... It's an event for three days. Russel and I go on stage. Him for a while, me for a while, both of us side-by-side for a while. It's a lot of fun. I really enjoy it. But there was tons of these little, internal processes that the ClickFunnel support team was having to handle, just off these one-offs. Someone would come in. He was, "It's driving me nuts." So I came in, added these cool little, internal processes that made support talk better with the [inaudible 00:10:26], which made it talk better with me, and it's all automated. Obviously, if you don't have a business yet, this is not going to matter. If you do have a brand new business, I wouldn't worry about this stuff, either. The moment when it's best to start thinking about internal management, funnels or internal management processes, whatever you want to call them... They're not sales funnel. To increase efficiency, is really after you've been in business a while. Not a while, but enough time to see where the pain points are. I'm a huge advocate of Tim Ferriss, in The 4-Hour Workweek, when he said that you should be the support agent for the first... He even recommends a month. So you take note of all the support that comes in, all of your answers back, because now you know exactly what to do when you go hire somebody else. You can hand them this sheet of all the different pieces that you get asked about most frequently. All the pre-canned responses that you've handed out. And you are literally duplicating your position. That's the time when you start figuring out internal processes and management funnels and things like that. Not for a while, though. I always kind of laugh when someone's like, "It's a brand new funnel. Then we're going to automate this and automate this and automate this and automate this." I'm like, "Oh, my gosh. That's so many things. That's so many pieces that, if something was to break, you may not know what's actually broken because there's too much automation." I'm not an automation fanatic, but I am definitely a practicality fanatic. I do not want to marry certain aspects of the business. Does that make sense? I'm not a good support person, as an individual, but I'm great at setting up the processes. I'm great at training another person. I'm great at putting those kind of people to replicate me. To replicate the processes. To keep doing over and over and over again. That's all I'm trying to say: take a step back. For me, personally, it's really one of two things: is there a ton of repetition, and I can automate it? And number two, is there just a huge pain point that I hate doing anyway? What I do is I take a step back and start looking at those things. I start saying, "Okay. How do I duplicate me? How do I free up my time?" I step back and that's literally what I do. That's the question that I ask. The answer to that question, this time, was "Your interview funnels, Steven. Interview funnels, interview funnels." Or interview applications, or whatever you want to call them. They're not necessarily funnels. They kind of are. They're mostly just internal processes. I guess, the way I'm using them, they're still kind of funnels, though. It's leading to this specific place, so that makes sense. In the past, someone would say, "Hey. Can I interview you, Stephen?" I'd be like, "Sure." It's literally the same questions that they're typically asking. It's usually the same questions that I'm typically asking. With both, I'm sure, giving the same kind of answers, and it's driving me nuts. So what I did is automated the whole thing. Like I was saying before, step number one is I look for wherever the repetition of the pain point is. Or, if there needs to be more automated communication in general. Number two, I don't care how many funnels you've ever built. Please know that Russel and I both draw the funnel before we build it. Every time. I don't care how many times I build... When I have not followed that rule, I'm usually more lost, number one. Number two, it takes me way longer to build it. I don't know why. I don't get it. Sometime about me putting it out on paper, and drawing it, helps me work out in my head all the kinks. It literally helps create the map of each page, what each page is going to look like, as I draw it. Literally, they're boxes. I'm drawing boxes with very high-level detail, with little squiggly lines back and forth, piece to piece, side to side. Does that make sense? I'm just drawing a high-level, 30,000 foot view funnel. Anytime I skip that... I don't know what it is. It really slows it down. Anyways, step number one, find the repetition/pain point. Step number two, draw the funnel. You've got to draw the funnel. I had to go buy another whiteboard. It's a free-standing one in the middle of the room, with two sides on it, which is kind of nice. It's chock-full of four different funnels that I built. I built three funnels today. The four was kind of inter-working with the other three. These three funnels that I built today, I drew it out. Then I go build it. I usually will work off of the design of the main funnel that I've been building off of. Step number one, like I said, repetition. Step number two, draw. Step number three is building it. Number four is test it like crazy. Number five is really key: I release it slowly. I phase it in. That's not always true, but most of the time it is. Going in and automating something that... I know you've tested it. It's actually more important to phase it in if you're working with other people. If you're still a solopreneur, it doesn't matter as much. At the end of this, at the end of today, when I stopped building all three of these funnels, what I did is I turned back around and I created a seven minute video, with just my phone, talking to an assistant that I have. She's amazing. She's going to be the one who's managing all this. She knew it was coming up. I walked her through the entire process so she knows how it works. Then, I showed her the two things she has to worry about. That's it. Now she knows how to do it all. So when someone wants to interview me, they fill out the little form so I know what it's about. I know when they want to do it. I know the topics they want me to deliver, if there's a value bomb they want me to drop. Does that make sense? I know what those things are. They give me the Skype ID. Facebook ID. Stuff like that. And it's all automated. Shoots that data over to a Google Sheet, then automatically notifies the assistant, so that they can go in and check it out. Vet the person. (laughs) They go through and check out the person. Then, there's Calendly link that's totally set up so that she just drops it over once the person's vetted. That's the only manual part. The rest of it takes care of itself. We get hooked up whenever the interview happens. Does that make sense? I went through and I pre-selected the times that I want to be available for interviews or interviewing. That's pretty much it. SI have two podcasts. This is one of them, obviously. I have a second one. The third category, I did, is off of stevejlarsen.com. They're very similar, but there are very subtle tweaks between all of three of them that I built. The first one is for stevejlarsen.com. That's if someone wants to interview me. I get that request like crazy. I know there's some podcasting agencies out there, and they keep trying to put tons of people on their podcast. I'm very protective of you as an audience. (laughs) I don't want just anyone coming in. I'm fine if people want to interview me. If they want to interview me over different places, yeah. That's great. That's awesome. I just want a process. I want something in place that I can send people to. So stevejlarsen.com, what I did is I added... You can check it out if you want. Or, if you are asking to interview me, that's fine too. But, stevejlarsen.com, up at the top it says "Interview Me." You click Interview Me at the top, and, basically, what I did... This is super clever. (laughs) I created a whole bunch of show/hide elements. Show/hide rows. So it looks like you're going from one page to the other, and you're not. It's actually one page, where things are getting swapped in and out. At the very last button, the whole form, all the forms, submit at once. It's pretty cool. Then that data gets sent over to Google Sheet, notifies the person, sends over the confirmation email, saying "Hey. We got you." On the "thank you" page, I took the concept of an "offer wall." I put it there on the thank you page. It says, "Hey, look. You want to come check out the talent directory? Do you want to put your talents in one of my podcasts?" It pushes itself, anyway. It's pretty cool. It pushes all over the place. Really awesome stuff. Three different places so that the loop doesn't close in the head. That's all I'm trying to say: the loop doesn't close. On the last page, it is not a dead end. I push them to other places. If a person is in momentum, I want to keep them in momentum. I give them three other places they can go that are literally the beginnings of three other funnels. That's it. Does that make sense? This a lot more technical babble styled stuff. I'm sorry if this is boring. I'm sorry if this is not as interesting. I usually try and tell more stories on this podcast. I just wanted you to know what I pulled off because it's really, really awesome. (laughs) It's pretty cool. That was the first one. The second one is for Sales Funnel Radio. The first one is if someone wants to interview me, but if someone goes to salesfunnelradio.com... I need to redo that entire thing. But if they go to salesfunnelradio.com, up at the top it says "Get Interviewed." Those are for the people who are trying to get on the podcast, to get interviewed. I am very protective. I vet those people very, very heavily. So there's an application process. It's kind of an application funnel, kind of. Kind of a blend of them. But, on that first page there, they go fill out somewhat of an application process. On the second page, it says "Hey, look. Here's the plan. The VAs"... My assistant. Not really VA. Kind of VA, kind of. "Goes through and vets it out. We talk about it. We look through the content. We look at the kinds of things you want to pull on there and talk about and stuff. I do believe heavily in interviews. Then, we send out a specific Calendly for that, with specific times that I'd love to be able to do those kinds of interviews. That's it! I did the same thing for my second podcast show. Does that make sense? I did this because I know that you guys... There's so many rock stars out there. I am not trying to be the guy who puts his own voice, only, on here. You know what I mean? (laughs) How should I say this? How should I say this? I put this episode out a while ago. It said "publishing get haters," which is good. If you don't, something's wrong. (laughs) I always laugh at the people who take the time to complain to me that I'm publishing. If that's your thing, stop listening. Okay. I'm going to move on. Moving on! I want to be able to get other people on the show. I want to be able to get other people onto... I love that. And I know that you guys love that. It's list hacking, for me. It's value adding, for me and you. It helps show other awesome people in the industry and what they do in their talents. I want to interview people. I love interviewing people. There's so many who are asking to, though, that I needed a process. I did that for both podcast shows that I have. Then, I also... (laughs) There's about to be a third podcast show. Oh, man.  I'm a gluttony for punishment, I guess. It takes, like, an hour per episode. Just so you guys know. To be able to put these out. Then, I also wanted to give people a way if they want to interview me, which I also love and I'm far more lenient on getting on anyone's. stevejlarsen.com. There's a lot that's going to change with stevejlaren.com, coming up soon, also. I'm kind of talking in circles now, but that's pretty much it. Management style funnels: you can use them for tons of things. Here's another example of one: when somebody bought Secrets Master Class. When we were selling it a little more a la carte. It's not so much that way anymore. When somebody bought it, as part of the offer, we were shipping out to them a physical thing. A book. A physical book. Think about this for every one of your offers. When somebody buys one of your offers, is there something physical that's getting shipped out? What I did is I thought how cool would it be if, number one, let's send that data again, over to Google Sheets. But, number two, there was a lot that happened ....I can remember... Guys, learn Zapier. It's not hard. There's tons of tutorials. If not, you could probably figure it out on your own, anyway. It's pretty self-explanatory. It's a whole bunch of "if this, than that" statements. That's it. What I did, though, is I automated a Trello card, being created with the customers address, all the data that a fulfillment person needed. It created a Trello card automatically for a specific individual, and pinged them and gave them a notification, so that they knew to go ship the specific thing. It was very specific. It was super, super cool. Calendly, you can automate stuff to slack... There's so much stuff, and I feel like a lot of people miss the boat on it. Yes, ClickFunnels is amazing, but we know it is not necessarily for a CRM. It's not necessarily for management-style stuff. You can do it. You can build it like that. I do it a lot. But it pretty much always does require a small Zapier integration, which is not hard to pull off. And, if you do have to pay for it, is extremely cheap. If anything, you can just use the free plan for a while, anyway. This is not a Zapier promo. I just wanted to tell you guys more about that. Guys, the thing is that I want all my time, all my attention, all my focus, all of my brain power and mental shelf space, focused on selling. That's it. If there is something in my business that I am doing over and over and over again, I'm doing myself and my customers a disservice. It's the reason I set these things up. I don't do it immediately because I'm not sure what the pain points are yet, but they come quickly, and I am able to see pretty quickly. They'll start to pop out of the woodwork, and I'll go: "Oh, my gosh. I have to automate X, Y, and Z. One, two, and three. Let's go through and let's create that." I follow the same steps. Number one, where's the repetition/pain point? Number two, draw it in depth! Explain it to somebody else. It will make the build, which is step number three, so much faster. Then, step number four, test it like crazy. Go through and fill the form out. Put it in test mode or whatever it is. Do whatever. Fill out. Then, run through a few test runs with your own VA or assistant or someone on your team... What it is, and start to phase it into your processes. Pretty soon you can step back and let go and, maybe, check it again in a month. Everything should fire pretty correctly. I never had too many issues with Zapier, to be honest. They're awesome. (laughs) That's pretty much it, though. It is with the intent that I can continue to sell, and focus on selling and create offers, that I made these three funnels today. That's pretty much it, guys. Go back, figure out what it is that you need to automate. Whatever your pain points are. If your time and your attention has not been on selling, ask yourself what it has been on. Then, ask yourself how you can get back to that. It's the only thing that matters, especially from the zero to seven-figure range. It's the only thing that matters. Don't worry about your desks. Don't worry about renting an office. Don't worry about your freaking logos. Only thing that matters is selling! That's all. That's it. You don't even have to have the product done. Anyway, getting ahead of myself, and getting on to another topic, so better end this one. All right, guys. I'll talk to you later. Merry Christmas. Thanks for listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Want to get one of today's best Internet Sales Funnel for free? Go to salesfunnelbroker.com/freefunnels to download your prebuilt sales funnel, today.  

Click above to listen in iTunes... Here is how I have mitigated risk as I prepare to leave my job... What's going on everyone? This is Steve Larsen, and you're listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. Now, here's your host Steve Larsen.  Hey, so the last few days have been pretty intense, not in a bad way. There's good intense and bad intense. You know what I mean? But the pressure has been increasing. My wife came to me the other day. I think it was yesterday or two days ago. She walked up to me. It was morning time. You know, everyone's kind of getting up. She walks in and she's like, "I had a really bad dream last night." I was like, "Really? What was it?" She goes, "I had a dream that you were upstairs ..." I have a home office here upstairs, kind of in the corner of the house, which is kind of nice to have. I've got sound panels all over the place. I totally made a man cave. I love sitting in this room and creating stuff. I got whiteboards all over the place. Quotes on the wall. Three bookshelves totally full. Anyway, I love it. Sound equipment all over the place. Film stuff. I've got a sheet over on the wall over here, top to bottom. It's a black sheet that I stand in front of and film a bunch of 4K videos with, which looks awesome, super cool, and actually pretty pro. It looks pretty awesome. Anyway, I like video a lot. Anyway, back to the story. She goes, "I had a dream that you came down from the office. That you had left ClickFunnels. This was later on in the future, in January. You came down and you just said, 'Alyssa, is there a check in the mail?'" She was like, "I said back to you, 'No. Why would there be a check in the mail?'" I'm like, "I don't know," or, "Who it'd be from?" "I don't know. I'm just wondering if there's a check in the mail. We only have a thousand dollars in our bank account." This is all in the dream. My wife was like, "What? Oh my gosh. Are you kidding me? There's no money in the bank account?" Like, "What have you been doing?" I was like, "Ah, I haven't started selling anything yet." She's like, "Well, go start selling crap." Like, "What are you waiting for?" Anyway, the pressure is here, okay? The pressure is turned up. I'm excited. It was never my intention to be an employee. But I am super thankful that I've had this experience. I would never regret the fact that I've gone through this and that I've worked for somebody else and that it's Russell Brunson. I mean, come on. Holy crap. This is like a dream job which seems all the more ludicrous that I would leave ClickFunnels. What's funny about it is that there's a lot of people ... I don't know if some of you guys who listen to this that still think that I'm crazy about them. It's hilarious to me how many people have reached out, giving me their opinion on the fact that I should not leave. I go, "Okay. You have no idea what I'm going to go do." Some person messaged me and they're like, "Hey. Awesome. You're going to go do ..." I'm won't say exactly what they said, but it's just hilarious like ... It reminds me of the quote like if you're not marketing hard enough or if you don't offend someone by noon, you're not marketing hard enough. It's funny, guys. As you develop your own attractive character, be prepared to have a lot of naysayers that pop out. I actually kind of look forward to it now. If I don't get enough naysayers, I feel like I'm not taking as aggressive of moves as I should be, so bring it on. I like hearing the other side too, but man, every once in a while it's like, "Gosh." I wrote something back to a certain individual like three times, and I just ended up deleting it. I was like, "It's not even worth it. Just, ugh, whatever." It's funny. It's funny, but the pressure is on. So what do you do ... I know a lot of you guys are thinking like what do you do when you know that you're about to lose your job? I shouldn't say lose my job, I'm leaving. But most people they either lose their immediately because they got fired or they're leaving this other job with a two weeks notice. I've known for a very long time you guys, way before it was ever announced. Way before Russell every announced it before, everybody start talking about it. We have both known that I was going to leave ClickFunnels for a long time. What's funny about it is it's almost like ... I'm trying to think of an example, but you know like when you put something off and there's more ... I forgot the name of it. There's an actual theory behind this. It's when there's an ... Like if you have three months to get something done, because you have three months, there is added stress and pressure because you have three months of stress and pressure rather than it being needed to be done in three days because you know that it's three days. You know what I mean? It's been fumy because that's exactly what's happened. I've totally had sleepless nights. I've thought through ... I'm just being open about this, okay? I'm being open and I'm being real. I'm letting you guys know where I am. What's funny is I'm not nervous about creating revenue on my own. Obviously, I would not leave ClickFunnels without that being a very solid plan, which it is. I'm grabbing a little ownership and a few other things that I haven't quite announced yet. There's a lot going on behind the scenes in the world of Steve Larsen. But what I wanted to talk about real quick today was if you ... Okay, quick story. Russell has got this cool story he was telling me about the other day. I can't remember who, but he had this thing called like the 30 day challenge or something like that. I actually can't remember what it was called. But basically, the premise was this guy went around to all these gurus and he started saying things like, "Hey, let's say you lost everything. You lost your reputation or you don't have one. You're starting literally from scratch. What would you do to be back on your feet in 30 days?" It's a pretty powerful question when you think about that. Think about where you are right now and go ground zero in your own head, ground zero. No assets, nothing. No money, no reputation, no following, nothing. No list, anything, nothing at all. You have a ClickFunnels account and your rent on your internet has been pre paid for a month or something like that. What would you do? Right? What would you do? Someone messaged me the other day. They're like, "How can we not sleep anymore?" and stuff like that. What would you do if you knew you don't have a job in a few weeks? Come on. Tell me how would you handle it. I worked my butt off which I've been doing. We are more than fine. I made like 10 grand last week on this one event funnel, I'm sorry, application funnel. That's not to be cocky. I'm letting you guys know I'm not an idiot. I'm not going to just jump ship from something without any plan. It's a very solid plan. It's been there for a long time. It's amazing and extremely lucrative, and it's awesome. I'm excited to talk more about it once I'm no longer part of ClickFunnels, anyway, and tell you guys a little bit more about those things you guys can follow and totally funnel hack, which is awesome. Anyway, but what would you do? What would you think about? So I want you to know the process that I've gone through in my head to make sure that I'm ready to make the leap because I know a lot of you guys are trying to do that because you message me about it. A lot of you message me. I don't think you guys realize how many of the rest of you are also messaging me besides a lot of the rest of you also. There's a lot of messages that I get. It's fun and it's awesome. Please don't get offended if I can't answer every single one of them. It's logistically impossible now. But anyway, what would you do though? You think about that. What would you actually do? Then what I invite you to do is as I go through like two or three things here to let you know what I've done. I've already tested it. It's already making great money. It's already like this, you know, which is why I can leave, which is why I can go jump off and do that stuff. I want you to think through in your head your own checklist. What is it that you would do? Then I invite you to actually do it. Create that actual environment in your head and just get it done. You know what's funny about building funnels? It's really easy. I know some of you guys are laughing when I say that, but it is. Click drag, drop, click buttons, choose some colors, right? I mean, if you can send email, you can use the ClickFunnels editor, right? What most people screw up on and the reason why it gets hard for them is because they suck at making offers, okay? Funnel building is more about offer creation than it is putting a few pages together, okay? Any monkey can put a few pages together. They're even pre-done for you in templates where you literally would just have to change the copy on the page, okay? There's templates over the place. So then what is it really? Let's think about it. What actually is the reason why the funnel isn't working? It's because you suck at offer creation. If that stings a little, that's okay. It's medicine. Think through, "Wow. Do I actually know how to create offers?" Wherever you are in the world right now, I want you to raise your hand. I'm not trying to get on a side tangent here, but I want you to realize how I've been able to secure my landing as I jump from ClickFunnels, because I know how. I know exactly why. I want you to be the same. You've got to know why your stuff's working or why it isn't. If you don't know, that's the scariest thing ever. So I'm trying to shed some light on usually the number one reason why a funnel doesn't convert. Raise your hand right now and say, "I will not sell products anymore." What? "Oh, Mylanta. Steve Larsen, what are you telling me to do?" Okay, "I will not sell products or services anymore." Now you raise your other hand and you say, "I will now sell offers. I only sell offers now." Now think about that. The point ... I was getting kind of ticked off when someone's like, "The book Expert Secrets is only about info products." Bullcrap. It's not true at all. "The book Expert Secrets is only about webinars." No, you missed the whole point if you think that. Go back and read it again, okay? Webinars is just an example of what to do. It's an example of how to pull off what the book teaches. Expert Secrets is such a good book because it's about offer creation. It's not about webinars. It's not about info products. Those are just two examples of how to pull off what's it's really teaching you to do. If you missed it, go back, especially to the third section there what's called your moral obligation to sell. But honestly, the whole thing though, okay. The reason why I am totally at peace about this decision, there's some few butterflies here and there, but honestly, I'm very excited and I'm totally at peace about it. There's some freakout moments. I'm not going to lie, okay? It has nothing to do with whether or not my ability to make money. It has everything to do ... My biggest freakout has everything to do with not being around other marketers, okay? Sitting in isolation in my home office, that freaks the crap out of me. Not because I'm a chatty guy, I'm actually not. In public, I'm actually kind of shy. I am. I don't know what to say a lot of times. Whenever like after I finish speaking at an event or something like that, whatever it is, I'm actually pretty shy about it, okay? Anyway, it actually scares me more to just be alone and not be connected to the marketing nucleus that ClickFunnels is. You know what I mean? That actually scares me to death. So I have a few things coming out, a few things to help mitigate that. Things that I've watched and things that Russell has taught me one on one. As I sat back and I asked specific questions and realized like, "Oh, that's why you do this. That has nothing to do with you needing money over there is it?" He's like, "No. No, no, no, no." I was like, "That has everything to do with you staying connected and making sure that you've got the best of the best of the best." He's like, "Yeah." "Oh, man. Well, I'm going to do that." So just watch closely over the next few months because I am a funnel hacker. Anyway, so here's the reason why. It's because of offer creation. I've learned how to create offers. I'm actually using the same process that I teach as the Two Comma Club coach, the Secrets Master Class coach. This is not something where it's like I've read about it and now I feel like I can teach it. It's actually not that at all. I've been doing this for a long time and on my own before I worked at ClickFunnels, doing it for other people, doing it for their clients, doing it for their businesses, their customers, their product lines, and doing it for my own, right? Took a total hiatus, dropped pretty much everything except this podcast and a few other things as I started working for ClickFunnels. I will tell you that the two things that really made the jump, that it is making the jump more easy for me is that I've gotten much better at selling products. I'm sorry, selling offers rather than products. Then number two, I am far better at marketing and not just selling, okay? Those are the two major differences there. It's about two and a half, three years ago when I really learned the difference between marketing and selling, and then selling products versus offers, okay? When I sell offers, awesome. When I sell products, bad. I have to compete in price. When I do marketing, awesome. When I just do sales and no marketing, it's like starving leads kind of salesmen. It's not a fun place to be in at all. It's a terrible spot to be in. Anyway, so here's what I've done though, so I want you to know ... That's a long freaking intro. I'm so sorry. But anyway, here's what I've done, okay? What I did is I sat back and I thought, "What is the core of my business?" Now you think about what the core of your business is. Let's think about it. I think it's a ... Gosh, what book is it? I think it's Rework. Yeah, Rework. At a hotdog stand, can you sell hotdogs without relish? Yeah, you could, right? You could do that. Could you sell hotdogs, I mean, could you have a successful hotdog stand without having mustard? Yeah. What about buns? Technically, yeah, sure, you could. Could you have a successful hotdog stand without hotdogs? No, okay. At every single business and in every single value letter, there is a core aspect to the business. You got to figure out what that is, okay? If you don't know what that is, it's scary because you treat every product like the core and you shouldn't. That's where a lot of you will start getting in trouble and they start to ... they confuse offers and it causes a little schizophrenia inside of their customers because they don't know what the core of the offer is. They don't know what the core of the business is and what it's actually offering, okay? What I did is I figured out what the core of my business is and I placed it inside of a thousand dollar webinar which just kind of fits in the middle of the Value Ladder, okay? When I knew what the core was, I now could start testing it. First though, I wanted to make sure there would be traffic, ample traffic, ridiculous traffic, traffic in a way that I knew I would never have to worry about it again. So I started creating cool little free front-end products, and then I put them out there for free or I just put places over here or small little free plus shipping things or things ... You know what's funny? It exploded. It exploded. It made so much money on just this little dinky free crap where like barely any money kind of stuff. I was like, "What the heck?" We went on a cruise. We did all sorts of stuff. Anyway, it made almost matching my beginning salary with ClickFunnels for a very long time, which is hilarious. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, "Oh my gosh. There's something to this." It took me a solid two and a half, three years to really clarify the core and the niche, and find the niche and create it. Then what I did is I wanted to make sure that I would have an easy ascension. I know in past episodes I've said, "Hey, start at the core of the business and only sell that," which I did and I've done, but I have gone out and I've made sure there is an easy ascension. I've made sure that there's easy traffic in the front-end. I've made sure ... There's different strategies and ways to pull this thing off, okay? I've tested the core offer like crazy. It's not like I was skipping that step. I did not skip it at all. But anyway, so if you're going to jump ship, or if you're just trying to get your first thing off the ground, or if you're just trying to make a little extra money, I remember like my first goal was just to make an extra thousand dollars a month. If I could do that, I thought that I would die and be in heaven because I would be able to cover some bills. That was my goal four years ago, okay? It's crazy that how tiny that is. You can do that, okay? If you're trying to figure that out, number one, you've got to figure out your Value Ladder, okay? What I mean is figure out the core of the business, figure out a price point around a thousand dollars. Do not go cheaper, okay? And go start testing it. Go sell it like crazy. That's what I did. Then when I knew it could sell, I went in and found an additional traffic source, I proved out that traffic source, and that was a really easy very soft landing for me to land on as I jumped from ClickFunnels, okay? That Value Ladder, guys, is stronger than the majority of the business models I learned in my marketing degree. I feel like it gets misunderstood a lot of times. I'd go back and I read DotCom Secrets again if you don't quite understand that or whatever. Anyway, but that's how, that's why. I've got at least jitters. I've got all these, I mean, guys, I'm nervous. I am nervous, but there's complete safety in my head. Not just in my head, I've tested it. The fact that I've tested these things, there's a Value Ladder and I only am focusing on one step of the Value Ladder at a time. I've built up the front-ends. I've built up the back ends. I'm finishing up the core right now, and then I just got to turn the machine on. Everything else has been tested. I know it's literally about me just clicking a few buttons now which is great. If you're trying to figure out what to do next or if you're waking up and you're like, "Oh my gosh. Steven, there's so much data out there. There's so many things out there that I could go be doing right now. There's so much noise." What I'm telling you to do is go nail that Value Ladder. Figure out a core thousand dollar product or at least 500 bucks to two grand. Somewhere in there because then you don't need that many to actually change your life. Figure that out. If you don't know what it is yet, fine, don't let your brain leave that problem sitting still. That's where your head needs to settle. Be okay with the fact that it's unanswered still and just let it sit there, let it marinate, let it marinate, let it marinate. You sit there and you figure it out. Then you just focus on that one thing, go test it. It could be life changing. It was life changing for us. How crazy that that little tiny test that I did, guys, that had the complete ability to pay for the down payment on our house. We don't have a huge house, but it's not a tiny house. You know what I mean? It's because of that. Again, not showboating, I'm just telling you. I'm trying to illustrate the power of what it is that ... Anyway, so I totally have the jitters, okay? I'm nervous. I'm scared. There's a solid plan. I have I think eight different revenue sources identified. I'm just turning them on one by one now. They've been working great. Anyway, it's exciting... So what's cool about this, guys, is that from the ... This podcast is going to continue as I move past ClickFunnels, but what I really want to do is I'm trying to continue to podcast. I want to get to episode 100 before the end of the year. I don't think that's going to happen, but I'm not sure yet. But the reason why is because I want zero to 100 to be my journey with ClickFunnels. Then I want 101 beyond, I want to document my journey. I want to document what's going on, the process that I'm going through, being super transparent, letting you know like, "Hey, this Value Ladder worked really well over here. This one did terrible over here. This one and this one ..." You know what I mean? And just being super open so you guys can see like, "Look, Steven is hitting the freaking ground running, and he's on his own. This is how he's doing, and this is how he's doing it." You know what I mean? I feel like that would be crazy valuable, so I'm excited. I'm excited to keep doing these things, and I'm excited to keep pushing out. But I mean, there's totally been fear with it. I'm just trying to be true to myself so and it's going to be awesome so ... Anyway, I'd still be contracted as the Two Comma Club coach for Secrets Master Class which I'm very excited about. I'll still be very involved at ClickFunnels, actually, from that aspect. But I probably will never be an employee again in my life which is crazy. If you want that and you're still an employee or even if you're not, like get more clear in that Value Ladder, it's totally the key to blowing this thing up. We've noticed, especially people inside the inner circle, I've noticed other people ... Anyway, when someone has a clear Value Ladder, when they know what the core of their business is, when they know how they're actually making money ... What's funny is a lot of people don't know how they're making money, or it's haphazard, or they're like they think that the value is over here but really the market's giving them all the money in this area over here or whatever it is. What's funny about that whole thing is every time someone gets super clear on their Value Ladder, I'm going to give this free thing. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go read the book DotCom Secrets, okay? That would give you context for the whole thing, of everything I'm talking about right now, but it is. When I read that and I was laying in the dirt with my M16 in my right hand and DotCom Secrets in my left hand, no kidding, when I read that and I was laying on the security line reading that book, my brain was exploding because now I had a map. I wasn't making it up anymore. Suddenly, there was this logical progression that went from this product to that product to that product. Oh, sorry. That product doesn't fit, so I can't do it. There was so much clarity in my head. It made so much more sense. It actually was calming to me on what the path was that my business needed to take. So it's the same thing. If you got noise just like screaming in your head right now, you probably don't know where you're going, okay? That's probably it. You probably have no idea where you're going. I know exactly where I'm going as I leave ClickFunnels. I have known for a long time, okay? At least six months, very, very clearly. About a year and a half, kind of fuzzy. But especially in the last month, the clarity is ridiculous. So if you got the noise in your head, you have no idea where you're going, it's time to get back to the Value Ladder and think through what am I actually trying to sell, what is my offer, and then what funnel matches that offer . Go build that funnel type, okay? You stay on that funnel till it's profitable, and the whole game will get so much more clear in your head. You might actually have fun with that again, okay? Hopefully, you still are, but that's exactly what I'm trying to tell you is that this is it's a very fun game. It is a game. I look at it as a game. I have a lot of fun with it, but it doesn't need to be this super confusing thing. I was confused out of my butt in my entrepreneurship classes in college. I took a lot of them because I really wanted to be one. All except one that they offered. I did really well in every one of them. I was always that weird kid that has actually doing entrepreneurial things, and actually had businesses, and was actually making money versus all the other students that were just trying to get A's reading books and writing reports. What I can tell you is that there's a lot of information out there, but it's as vital as for you to learn a ton of stuff as it is for you to shield yourself from a lot of crap and noise out there... The way I've done it is through the Value Ladder. That's the entire way that I'm able to go do what I'm about to do in January. So anyways, guys, excited for the journey to continue. I'm excited to have you guys with me as I keep doing it. I'm excited to keep pushing forward as I take this huge next step, it's a big step. All right, guys. Talk to you later, bye. Thanks for listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Want to get one of today's best internet sales funnel for free? Go to salesfunnelbroker.com/freefunnels to download your pre-built sales funnel today.

We watch "The Family of Blood" (Series 3, Episode 9) where not-quite-The-Doctor and Not Rose raise a boarding school child army to defend the Doctor against an alien invasion. Whist there, Not Rose gets into a pub fight, Not Rose professes her love for the Doctor and Not Rose is then mortified that the Doctor remembers said profession after losing his humanity. And the Doctor causes a whole bunch of deaths. And breaks Joan's heart. But at least he showed the aliens mercy. Wait! What? Oh crap... Show notes can be found at drunktorwho.com/episodes/39 This episode was absolutely not brought to you by Jeppson's Malört, though someone should pay us for drinking this stuff.

Some things should be said "in private". But some things can be said "in public"! What things are okay? Enjoy today's podcast and have a SUPER Wednesday! Your English coach, Shane     Today’s English expression and dialog: say something out in the open Hi! You wanna have some coffee? Ugh! Your breath stinks! What? Oh…sorry… Betty! You shouldn’t say something like that right out in the open!     Subscribe on iTunes and get this English podcast EVERY DAY! PLEASE support my sponsors: (Get a free AUDIO BOOK!) Study English, FREE ENGLISH LESSONS, on our YouTube channels: Support the Let’s Master English team! On PayPal: Send to Or you can go here:   Today's Daily Easy English Expression PODCAST is UP and READY for YOU!! #LME #LearnEnglish #ESL

Progress in entrepreneurship REQUIRES you to face a few character flaws. Address them, and you'll move forward... Hey, how's it going? Hey, thanks for tuning in. This is Steve Larsen and you're listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. Now, here's your host, Steve Larsen. All right, you guys. Hey, if you listened to the last episode, I was talking about how I went and I spoke at Local Client Takeover and that was a lot of fun, had a whole bunch of fun doing that. I don't know. The older I've gotten, not that I'm old at all, I'm 29, but the older I've gotten, the more I've realized I truly don't care that much what other people think about me and what's funny is that ... That's not like a chip off the shoulder way like, "I don't care. I don't care." That's not it at all. It's just I've become far more comfortable with my personality and who I am and the value I think I can bring places and being energetic and if I feel like I want to yell, I'm going to yell. That's actually been part of the fun part about having a house now is man, I'll just start ... My little girl, my little 1-year-old and 3-year-old will just start running around the house screaming, right. I'm comfortable doing that in public settings now. There's something to be said about being comfortable with you and self-expression... You know what I mean? Anyways, I was speaking at this event, right, or I was about to go on stage and this isn't a bash at all on that event. It was really, really good actually. It was awesome. Honestly, most of it was about SEO. I don't know anything about SEO. I don't really want to know anything about SEO and so, I tuned out for a little bit because my topic was about local funnels and how to structure agencies in order to sell to local businesses, right, and so that's what I did. I went in and I talked about that, but beforehand what was happening was ... It was pretty funny. I noticed that the emcee, he probably wasn't an actual emcee. What he was doing was he was standing up and he was saying, "Hey," low energy, "Hey, welcome. All right, it's time for our next speaker and here he is." That was like sometimes there's applause, sometimes that's it, the guy just stood up and it was like, "Hey," and I was like, "Oh, man," again, nothing against him. I don't think he's an actual emcee. I think he was just part of the employee staff that was there and I was like, "Gosh, that's really, really rough." What I started thinking about was the time Russell asked me to introduce him to his inner circle. Now obviously, his inner circle knows who he is, right, and this was at the last Funnel Hacker Event we had and just my mind went back to it and I started thinking about it. It was huge lesson for me, right. The event's about to start and Russell's like, "Okay," he comes to me, he's like, "Hey, Stephen, do you want to introduce me before I go out there?" and immediately I got nervous. I was like, "Man, I don't have any problem speaking. I love speaking. I always want to speak, but I've never introduced somebody like what do you do? What's the structure? What's the model? What does it look like? What does it look like to successfully introduce somebody?" You know what I mean? That might sound like a cheesy, dumb question, but to me, it was a big question... I was like, "Dude, yeah, man, but like what do I do?" He laughed and he was like, "Dude, here's your only goal. This is the only thing that you need to do." There's a whole point to this whole thing, by the way, so just keep following me here. He goes, "Okay, all you need to do is you need to ... I don't really care how you do it. I don't care what you say honestly." He's like, "The only goal that I have for emcees is that before I come on stage, they've got to be at a drastically higher state than before so that when I come out on stage, I don't need to lift their state. I don't need to spend time putting energy into the room. I don't need to spend any time helping them raise up to me because I'm a high energy speaker," and I was like, "Okay, that makes sense. Okay, okay." He's like, "So that's all you got to do is get out there, whatever it is, elevate the energy in the room, elevate the state in the room and then, I can come out and meet them with high energy. Otherwise, it's weird. You get on stage and everyone's kind of like blah, like they're not energetic yet. They're not in a state to receive me yet." I was like, "Hey, okay, that makes sense..." I went out there and I told this cool story and I think it worked. It was my first time, the first time I did it was a little bit weird. I don't think I hit it. I don't think I nailed it very well, but second time, I did better. The third day, I definitely did all right. Anyway, that's what I went up to this emcee and I told him, and if he hears this, please know that I'm not at all bashing at all, but it just really brought me back to that lesson of how important it was. I walked up to him and I was like, "Hey, how do I tell this guy that man, you can't be boring and it's really boring," and be respectful for what he was doing, what the event was, but at the same time, I didn't want to go on stage and have everyone just sitting there like, "Okay, dude, start talking. What are your gold bombs you're going to drop on me?" You know what I mean? They got to be at this higher level of energy so that when I come in, I start to go nuts. It's the reason Tony Robbins events are parties. If you change your state, you learn better... If you change your state, you receive things better, you act better, you make decisions faster. I have bad days every once in a while. I had a bad day just recently and I was like, "Crap," and I was telling Russell this and I was like, "Man, I'm sorry, man. It's a rough day. There's some challenges going on and I think I got to change my state." I'll spend some time state control and try and get back into a fiery zone so that I can produce and be a high producer, right. Anyway, so I went up and I told this guy that and he did better and it went fantastic and it was awesome. On the flight back I was listening to High Performance Academy. It's something Russell gave me. It's awesome. By Brendon Burchard and it's been super awesome. I was thinking about life and I was like hey ... I'm not trying and have this be like a super deep podcast at all just so you guys know, but I was thinking about like okay, what do I want to do? What do I want to accomplish? What are the things I want to be known for? What's my life's work? Things like that... I want to be purposeful... I want to be driven... I don't want to just be ... What's that? I can't remember what book that is. He's like, "Most people are just floating around in a river without a paddle." Actually, they have the paddle. They'd just would rather drift and just stick the paddle in the water and start going somewhere. Most people just take life as it comes. They don't really move in a certain direction. I was thinking about all these things and I was getting an Uber driver and I sat down and the Uber app all of a sudden popped up and it said, "Your driver is hard of hearing or deaf. Just be aware." I was like, "Whoa, okay, cool." I just thought she'd be a little bit of hard of hearing, but she was actually completely deaf. Obviously, she can't talk and she's sign languaging for me to sit in the front and things like that. It was really, really special. Actually, it was interesting. I have a niece who's completely deaf and so I have a few cousins and they're trying to learn sign language and things like that so they can keep communicating with her and it's really, really special, but it was interesting. I sat there and it was dead quiet. There's nothing to say, of course, which is a little bit weird for me. Usually, there's some kind of interaction at least going on. I always like to ask the Uber drivers what's going on with their life and learn what they're doing and see what path they're on, stuff like that and all of a sudden, I just thought I've got 20 minutes before I actually get back. What if I learned some phrases in sign language so that by the time I got out of the car, I could thank her and ask her some stuff and things like that? I discretely pulled out my phone. I was sitting in the front seat. It's not like she couldn't know, but I was sitting in the front seat and I started going through and I was looking up all these sign language phrases and I was trying to practice them without moving my hands. We pull up to the house and I start signing thank you, please be safe, hope you're doing okay, stuff like that. Her eyes lit up and she starts saying with really fast sign language and mumbling and all, and thank you and hope you're doing well and things like that and it was really, really a cool experience. I had Brendon Burchard's High Performance Academy stuck in my head. I had a bit of the high from the event that I spoke at going through my head. I had all these things going through my head and then to top it all off, there's been this follower who's fantastic. I'm sure I'll introduce him here to you guys shortly, but there's this follower who has reached out over and over and over over the course of several months begging to do something for free for me and I couldn't believe it and he reached out again. It was like all these events started coming together in one cool moment. I came back upstairs, I came inside after the lady dropped me off from Uber and I came inside and all these things were just racing through my head. I was like I can't go to sleep yet. It was super late. I got back really, really late. I had to go to work the next morning, in just a few hours, but I couldn't go to bed and I started thinking of all the cool things that have been going on and this is something I recommend that you guys do. The entrepreneurial journey is something that's very interesting, and this is a little side tangent real quick here, but there's a really cool part in one of Robert Kiyosaki's books. I think it was the Cash Flow Quadrant where he talked about when you are beginning to move forward in entrepreneurship or any kind of thing in business, but particularly entrepreneurship, there's this really interesting phenomenon that happens where, as you move forward, let's say ... I'll just say it. As you move forward, your character flaws begin to be exposed to you and it's very uncomfortable. It's painful and you don't move on until you address that character flaw. That's something that he taught. You think about it, it's totally true. Let's say I was moving on with my business and there's all these things going on and I'm just getting things started, but I really can't control my own sched. Let's say that I just really can't control my schedule enough and so, I never get up on time and I miss a few crucial meetings and so, the business just sizzles out and dies, right. That's a character flaw, right, and that happens for every single time you start a business every time or anything in business, right. These character flaws will start to blow up in your face. It's not like it's this soft blow. They will blow up in your face and you will not move on. Your business will not progress. You will not do anything until these character flaws are taken care of and fixed... When he said that, I was like, "Holy cow, that's crazy," and I was like, "That's neat. That's interesting," but it stuck with me. As I began to progress and move forward and as I've done things in my personal business and stuff with Russell and all over the place, character flaws have been exposed and it's uncomfortable. I had that in my head and I had this stuff with Brendon and this really cool experience with this ... I had this really special quick connection with this lady who was deaf and I was trying to sign, and this high coming back from speaking, all these things coming on and then, the guy reaching out saying, "Please, let me help you. I see you're struggling in these certain areas." I just gave in. I was like, "You know what? Yeah, I do. Character flaw is blowing up in my face right now... I'm trying to ... I got to fix this one aspect of business. Can you help me? I will not move forward until I get help." He's been helping and it's been great. It's been a character flaw of mine that I know in the last six months, I've not done as much as I can to be connecting with people and show concern for other people's welfare. It's not that I've been greedy. It's just been so focused that I've not taken the time to connect with other individuals at all, right. I was trying to do that with the deaf lady. There's a character flaw that I've been fighting with is this whole ... Guys, I'm just trying to be super vulnerable. This is uncomfortable for me to say with this podcast, but I'm just trying to be open and honest about it, right. It's been a character flaw of mine to shut in and not express what my actual inner feelings are while I'm progressing on this journey. So, I went and I spoke my mind, right, to that emcee and in a loving way said, "Hey, look, could you not do that in the way you've been doing it? Here, try it this way." You know what I mean? It's been a character flaw of mine to suppress some energy and I'm actually much more of a open and out there and very high energy person in my head, but not always in public and that might shock some of you guys. I'm an extrovert, but there's also this part of me that needs to be alone sometimes to recharge and sometimes that can be a character flaw for what's going on around me. It's been a really fascinating last few days for me as I thought about all these little pieces and all these things and this guy. I don't want to just keep talking about this guy, but I want to actually introduce him to you at some point. He's been awesome. He's like, "Hey, man, I love support and it looks like your support sucks." That's basically that's what it came down to and I was like, "Yeah, my support does suck." I get hundreds of questions a week and it stresses me out to death. I'm not good at that. It's not that I don't want to talk to anybody. It's just I feel walls closing in. I feel confinement. I feel like I can't expose myself and ... Whatever it is, I'm not good at support. I'm good at sales or marketing I should say. I'm good at speaking. I'm good at those kinds of things of the aspect of the business. What was really interesting and I think what started this whole ... It's been on my mind in general, but what really started this is on the flight over to go speak, two or three days ago, while I was on the flight ... It was about a week ago when I was flying to Utah with Russell. That's what it was. I decided to read and pick up and read Ready, Fire, Aim and the very beginning of the book was really, really powerful. I haven't got that far into it yet, but while on the flight over there, I just started to read. There was this really, really funny ... It wasn't supposed to be funny, but for the situation I'm currently in, it's been really, really funny, right. Timely, I should say, but it's talking about the different stages of needing to work with other people and I was like, "That's funny. That stuff's been on my mind." There's been this really, really awesome thing that popped up while I was reading and so I underlined it and I just wanted to read it here. It was on page 27 of Ready, Fire, Aim. If you guys have ever read that book, highly recommend it. I'm only, I don't know, 30 pages in, but I can already tell it's going to be one of those favorite books, spots on my shelf kind of thing. Anyways, the bottom here says, "If you make it a practice to hire people with potential, the potential to do a particular job as well or better than you can do it, your business can grow. This way, with each tier being promoted to the next level and each stage of growth giving rise to the new level of challenge and reward for your employees. Smart entrepreneurs will encourage their employees to hire subordinates who are as good and capable as they are. If you are not doing that, start doing it now. It will make everything easier later on." Gosh, this is just so key. It's so amazing and it's not that I've been afraid to do that. It's just it's funny how relevant that is to me right now. He says, "Smart entrepreneurs will encourage their employees to hire subordinates who are as good and capable as they are, if not better." I thought that was so, so important. You guys, you'll not do it alone. You won't do it alone... If you're going to do it, if you're going to try and do it alone, you'll get there to a certain extent. Don't go out and just try and start hiring people. Russell always says, "Hire when it hurts. Hire when you're in pain. Hire when you can't handle it anymore," but know that overall, you're not going to be able to do it alone. You have unique abilities that you're really, really good at and you have stuff that you suck at and it's cool to know what those things are and it's totally fine. If you don't know what those things are, don't worry, just start moving, and like Robert Kiyosaki said, the character flaws will start blowing up in your face and start taking note of that and take some humble pie and just be like, "Okay, that's what it is. That's fine. I don't need to be the best at everything in the world. That's not possible anyway. What am I really, really good at?" Focus on those things. Hire out on the other parts and super, super powerful... Anyways, it's just really interesting to start thinking through all those things. Not going to do it on your own. Understand that you've got some character flaws are going to pop up. I understand this is not like a normal episode for Sales Funnel Radio because it's not totally about sales funnels, but as you guys begin to build or continue to build, just recognize that if you haven't done so before, that there are flaws inside of you and that's fine. Just know that it's going to be way better to find somebody else to go hire and help you out... What's been so cool is the guy who's been helping me out, man, it's been awesome to take stuff and put it on his shoulders and he's come back and be like, "Yeah, totally fine. I can do that. By the way, I've done X, Y, and Z also while you were gone." You're like, "What?" Oh, my gosh, I hired somebody as capable as I am, but in a different area, a different specialty. You know what I mean? It's been amazing. It's been so cool. The level of stress has dropped dramatically in my life and I didn't expect that. I thought that I'd have to manage this person a lot. I thought I would have to ... Not like judging him, just I've never really done this before so I assumed that you would have to do heavy management of the situation and as long as you can hire a few rock stars, go for it. My question became a couple of weeks ago while I realized I needed a person, I needed something, I needed someone and I started looking around. I started making little tiny hooks out there to just see this isn't something I want to care of. It's not something I can focus on. I want to stay focused with Click Funnels and my current thing, but there needs to be some attention in this support area because I'm getting hundreds of questions a week and I can't handle it, but I tell people that they should ask me questions. I'm like, "Crap," that was ... Anyway, it's vicious little cycle there, but it's been cool to go out and vet people out. What I've been doing to vet people is give them a little task and see how they react to it. I was talking to Dan Henry and hope Dan's fine with me sharing this, but he was saying, he's like, "Dude, when you go out ... " I actually talked to a lot of people. It was one, two, three, four, probably five entrepreneurs. I was like, "Hey, what'd you do in this scenario? What'd you do in this scenario?" I got all the feedback from all these different people and I said, "Hey, cool, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? What are you doing here? And How do you actually hire these people? And how do you find this person overall?" Because you could hire anyone off the street, but he may not be that very good. How do you find someone who's good and willing to go the extra mile and who's just full out in love with you? Basically, it was, hey, see who's willing to do it for free, not that you're going to be free loading on them, but you need to find someone who's passionate and who would do it for free because they love your brand. They love what you do. They love the things and the direction that your business is going in. Find somebody who would do it for free and actually doesn't ask for money and does a few tasks without asking for anything and excels in them and pushes forward and babysits the business a little bit and acts like it's their own and find that person. Two or three days ago, I realized there was this certain person and I was like, "Oh, okay, he's the guy and okay, so let's do this." It was this big character flaw moment for me also. I got to give off some control and trust in a certain area and it's been amazing. Anyways, I'll bring him in here at some point and I'll do a little interview because he's got a cool story as well, but for right now, that's basically it. I basically wanted this whole podcast when I came home and I didn't want to go to sleep, I just went to my white board and I just started brain dumping all over the place, all these things around my head and the common theme around all of it was this whole thing. Wow, I have character flaws. I'm totally fine with that. I got to find someone because I'm not going to be able to do it on my own and that's fine. It's been fun to push forward in that area. Anyways, guys, hopefully that was helpful and super excited for all the cool things coming up. Hope you guys all got the Expert Secrets Book from Russell Brunson. If not, go to expertsecrets.com. That book's amazing. I just barely got mine in the mail and I feel like I got to put it in a glass case or something. These books have done more for me than my marketing degree and that's not to badmouth the education at all, but seriously, these are like the bibles of marketing. It's brilliance. It's brilliance that the man's put in there. Anyways, guys, this was a fun one and I will talk to you all later. Bye. Thanks for listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Want to get one of today's best internet sales funnel for free, go to salesfunnelbroker.com/freefunnels to download your prebuilt sales funnel today.

Click above to listen in iTunes... THE thing I changed that actually started making me money... Hey, what's going on everyone. This is Steve Larsen and you are listening to a absolutely very special Sales Funnel Radio because today is actually my birthday. What? Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. Now, here's your host, Steve Larsen Hey, you guys. What's going on? Hey, so it's my birthday. I am actually not home right now. It's been an absolutely insane week and I super bad ... I had this written down. There's a podcast that's been in my head for a while. It's been like oh, my gosh. This is such cool value. I've got to share this, but it's been so intense that I've not been able to do it. I'm so sorry. To recap, it was about a week ago, right. Today's Saturday, April 22nd, it's my birthday. What? Super cool. About a week ago last Friday, so a week ago Friday, we actually started building the Expert Secrets book funnel. Now, we started that a little bit before that. We knew what it was, but we really didn't dive into it until two days before the thing was supposed to launch. It was supposed to launch on April 18th and it did, but we didn't start until two days before. I remember sitting there, I was like, "Dude, Russell, what is the funnel? What am I supposed to be building for you?" You know what I mean? He was trying to figure that out and we were putting the offer together and stuff like that and it was high, very high pressure, very high pressure, very high stress. It's cool. It's funny. That used to really freak me out, but what I've learned is that the more I embrace the fact that it might suck a little bit or things are going to be hard or whatever, I actually grow so much from it that I actually embrace those hard things now. I don't know, but Russell totally knows what I'm doing every time, but whenever he's like, "Dude, it's going to be so crazy," I always go, "Cool, bring it on. Make it hard, coach. Make it hard, coach." He doesn't ever say anything back. I don't think he knows what I'm talking about, but it's basically goes back to some things I learned where it's like basically my reactions determine my experience. If I immediately can ... If I sit around and just like "Oh, I'm so sad." Like, "It's going to be so hard, eh." That's what most people do. If I can just turn around instead and say, "Hey, you know what, I'm just going to rock it, then it's going to be awesome." Anyway, back to the story. We get there and it's 9 AM and I work the whole time. I get home Friday night, a week ago, Friday night before the book launch and Russell's like, "Dude, I'm so sorry, man, but is there any way you can get this piece of custom coding done before Monday starts?" I was like, "Oh, I just want a break. I'm so tired. I'm so tired." I was a little bit annoyed at first like, "Oh, I get it, I get it," but the pace that we move at, I don't think you guys realize, is exhausting. It is exhausting, but it's super awesome too at the same time, right. It's like it is ... Somebody asked me recently and I think you guys saw on Facebook too someone asked me like, "What's it like sitting next to Russell and building his funnels out?" I was like, "Imagine you're flying the fastest fighter jet on the planet. It's got all the bells and whistles. You got all these missiles sticking on the side and you're going as fast as the thing will actually let you go," right. Mock 4, something ridiculously fast, way past the speed of sound. Then all of a sudden, not that you do on this in a plane, but you roll down the window so to speak and stick your head out like ahhh. That's what it's like. It's so fast paced and I'm constantly digesting as much information as I possibly can just so that I can keep up with what he's doing. It's awesome. It's more value than I ever got anywhere else for anything. I get to sit and pick his brain constantly, which is such a treat. I was tired. It was Friday night. I was tired. I wanted to spend time with my wife. It was the first week in our new house and we're still setting things up and we're making it our own home and I was like, "Oh." I decided I'd stay up super late. I stayed up 'til 3 AM two nights in a row doing two things because there's so many things going on right now, not just the book funnel, right. Number one, what I did is, and I'm just telling you guys the story just so you know what ... I know I'm sporadic with these podcasts, but whatever. Number one, I was trying to get some custom coding done for this funnel, stuff that Click Funnels doesn't do out of the box, but also allows you to do, which is cool, which makes Click Funnel so unique. Really, really cool. I was getting the stuff done, but at the same time, I was trying to finish my slides for the presentation at Ad Con, which I just did a few hours ago and it went so, so, so well. Oh, my gosh, it went so well, but I was trying to finish, right, the whole presentation, get it all together. It was like 74 slides and I was teaching about e-commerce funnels and successful funnel strategies in the e-commerce areas, which my gosh, it went so well. So excited. I love speaking on stage. By the way, that's my shameless plug if any of you guys want me to come do that. I don't charge anything, be a lot of fun. Anyway, so I was juggling all these things going on. I was trying to put the actual house together and build furniture and put things ... It's been hectic. I have barely slept. I have such a headache right now while making this. I can't even tell you. I actually got a little bit worried. I was like, "I'm on so much caffeine right now." That's okay. It's super, super awesome at the same time though... We go through and I finish his custom code piece, and Monday comes along so a week, it's about what, five days ago. Monday comes along and I had finished slides. I sent them over for the presentation and everything to Dan Henry. Monday comes along and I was just thinking to myself like I've built over 160 sales funnels in the last year and I was looking at what we had and I was like, "There is no way that this funnel is ready, even nearly ready for the amount of traffic that we're going to send to this thing the next day." I was like, "Oh, my gosh." I sent a message to my wife and I was like, "Babe, I'm so sorry, but I seriously doubt I'm going to be home tonight and maybe hardly even at all tomorrow." As long as I let her know in the future, as long as I let her know, then she's usually fine. She knew. I was like, "Hey, the book launch is coming up. I'm sure it's going to be sporadic. It might be here. It might be not." As long as I let her know, she's fine with that. Russell cued me in on that tip on how to do it, every once in a while it happens. We went and we start working, and I start doing some more of this custom code thing. We're using Jamie Smith's expertise and I was doing stuff on my own as well and we were putting pieces together and I was putting the other membership area and it looked so good. Oh, if you guys got the Expert Secret book yet, go get it for sure. I'm actually going toss my link if you're okay with that down in the description here just because might as well, right. We were pushing. We were pushing, and it's so funny because Russell's always, "Dude, I'm so sorry, man. I know you never used to really drink caffeine until you worked for me," and I was like, "That's how it works though." I had so much caffeine. I was shaking, but I had to stay up... I had to get this stuff done and I was going 'til 3 AM. About 3 AM, everyone was on the floor and we're like, "Oh, so tired," and I was like, "There's more to do, there's more to do. We're trying to launch this thing at 2 PM tomorrow. There's more. I can't stop. I can't." Russell's like, "Bro, we're going to make better decisions if we're rested." He's like, "We got to go home." I was like, "Gah, like he's right. Dang it." I got most of the things done, custom coded a whole bunch of stuff, and it went really, really well. I was so tired, so tired. The next day, we left at 3 AM and I was back at work at 9 and slammed a whole bunch of caffeine again and just cranked and cranked and cranked. We actually almost hit the deadline. We were only 9 minutes launching. We were supposed to launch at 2 PM Mountain Standard Time and it was actually 2:09 when we made the final call out and it actually started going. Guys, the success has been insane. If you've not had the Expert Secrets Book, you should probably get it. This isn't like a pitch like, "Oh, it's 'cause I work there." No. I've read his book over five times now. I have one of the original spiral bound copies. I have the original files on my computer as I was vetting it back and forth with him during inception of the concepts of this book. I've been a part of this book pretty heavily and it's super, super fun. I've really enjoyed it, hashing out some of these main topics and ideas and core concepts behind why this book is so good. I was really, really shocked and honored to find out that he put me in the acknowledgements and it's super awesome. It's the last paragraph in the acknowledgements. I was so excited, I couldn't believe it. He goes, "The last one I want to thank Stephen Larsen for being a constant sounding board during this project. Without your excitement for this book, it would never have been completed." I was like, "What? Oh, my gosh. Man, that's so awesome. That's so cool." I got in Russell freaking Brunson's book. It's crazy. In the first 24 hours, we sold 10,000 copies, 10,000 copies. Now by comparison, I want you to know that DotCom Secrets sold about 80,000 total-ish and last I checked ... That was the first day and last I checked, we about surpassed 20,000 copies total. It's insane, absolutely insane. The amount of pressure in the market right now is insane for this book and we could feel it. People were going crazy for it and really, really, it's been such a great experience. Anyway, the whole purpose of this episode is that I had this huge ... I already knew it, but it was just a big confirmation, right. It is not about your main product. Let me try and say that it again. The sale is not about the main product. Expert Secrets is a absolutely insane book. It is so awesome, right. The book launches and we put it out there, but we didn't just sell the book, right. You got to wrap it. You got to wrap your main service, your main business, your main product. If you can do that, your income will go through the roof. Are you guys following when I'm saying this? Give a little nod with me as I'm doing this. The reason I'm bringing this up is because so we built this book funnel and there's other funnels that we want to go through and build and put together, but we didn't start with, "Okay, what's the funnel look like? What does the automation sequence look like?" That's what I feel like 90% of people do and it's wrong. That's not how you start. The way that you start is by sitting back and going, "What's the coolest offer on the planet?" I have this core thing. Let's take the book, for example, right, the Expert Secrets book. I have this core book. I have this core thing. If I try and sell it directly, there's a hundred other people that are out there that are doing what you're doing, at least a hundred, right, a thousand, thousand. I should've started with thousands, thousands of other people. The easiest way for you to actually get out there and separate yourself from competition is to make an offer out of your product. An offer can encompass many products, all right, and his book actually goes through this. Actually, I have my fingers right now in the book. I'm holding the places for it. I'm looking at a page ... Wow, that's a coincidence. I'm looking at page 79 and 179. Oh, that's kind of cool. What I wanted to show you guys and tell you guys about real quick is the absolute ... I want you guys to know that we use this. Here's some examples. Yesterday. Wait, what is today? Today's Saturday. It's Friday. Yeah, so it was yesterday. I'm losing track of my days like crazy. Something's going too fast. Yesterday, we were like, "Okay, this book funnel, it's killing it. It's awesome." There's a few tweaks we had to make. I totally forgot to stick a rule inside of our action [inaudible 12:24] sequences and what it is it made people get the "Hey, looks like you didn't purchase," emails when they did purchase and I was like, "Oh crap, sorry, dude, 3,000 people totally got that." That was my bad. Super late at night. I take full responsibility to that, but it's all right. We make mistakes, too. Anyway, so right afterwards, we're like, "Okay, what's this thing we're trying ... " We know there's this area where people are wanting to get more training in and it's this area that Russell said that ... It's really super fun, man. It's my own program that I'm doing with Russell, kind of co-hosting it. It's so cool. I get to be on stage with Russell Brunson teaching his stuff. It's so awesome, you guys. There's this place that we're trying to get people on. I'm not going to reveal anymore about what it is than that, but what we did is we literally spent three hours brainstorming the offer, brainstorming the positioning, and brainstorming the actual message, right. People are like, "Wait a second, Stephen, you already have Click Funnels. You already have the message." Like well, yeah, for that product, but how does this, right ... You guys are going to learn about this in the book. There's a thing called opportunity switches, which is when there's a brand new thing and the thing called opportunity stacks. Remember when we came up with those two concepts. He and I were sitting side by side and we had this huge piece of paper in front of us, it's like oversized butcher paper, and we were going through different offer styles and I was taking out a lot of my notes from previous people I had learned from. He was taking a lot of notes he had previously learned from and side by side, we were figuring this out and we realized that it boils down to two different offer styles. One is an opportunity switch and the other's an opportunity stack. What Russell and I along with Dave Woodward 14:06, the three of us, we started brainstorming was an opportunity stack. There's an area that people are not very good at that we're trying to put an offer in, right, or a product. We've realized, it was two or three days ago, we realized, "Dang it, that doesn't sell very well on its own. It's a great product, but it doesn't sell. How can we make it an offer?" Think about that. In your marketing, think about that with your sales funnel, that's what a sales funnel is. A sales funnel lets you string out the offer inside of the actual funnel, right, so you don't hit them with all these things right at once, depends if it's an e-commerce product or a webinar or whatever, that changes, but let's say it's an e-commerce product, you're not going to hit them with this big, "Hey, buy this huge kit all at once." No. First you offer this. Then you offer that. Then you offer this. Then you offer that, right. It's complementary the whole way through. Guys, think about the offer itself. That's what I realized when I was in college that I was missing. I told you guys I was biking home one day and I was so depressed. I was like, "Gosh, why isn't this working? I am learning so much. I'm learning like crazy." This is probably three years ago. I was like, "Why am I not making money? I feel like I know more than a lot of these other people, but I'm not actually making the money that they are. I'm making way less." It's like, "What is it? Why am I missing this?" I realized that I was not asking for people's credit cards as often as I should be, right. I was not and it was really painful that I wasn't. I realized that I was very good at making funnels look good, but I was not yet good at creating offers. That's what sales is. You're pitching an offer, which doesn't necessarily mean a product or a service, right. That's singular. Offer is plural. There's many things that make up an offer. You guys understand what I'm saying? I hope that you guys understand what I'm saying because it's so key. If you can nail the offer, the funnel's cake. It's so easy, right. All right, let's look at this real quick. All right, this is on the opportunity switch chapter. That's page 79. Russell's talking about how you can run an ask campaign and you just ask your market what do they want, right? What they do is they give you all this data and you create a master class out of it, right. Let's say that you guys tell me the top six things that you guys struggle with, with building funnels, which I've done with you by the way and I do for a reason. It was an ask campaign and I got tons of response and I know exactly what you guys struggle with. I did that for my podcast content so I know what I can help you guys with. I did it for a product that I was thinking about doing. I don't know. I might not, but just to understand who's listening to this podcast better and I know what those things are, right. If I was to go create a product about that, an info product, that's one product... That's not an offer... An offer and a product are not the same thing... Let's fast-forward then to page 179 when he's talking about what's called ... He's talking about the offer basically. He calls it the stack slide, but there's all these little elements that get brought into it at that time, tons of them. You're going to get the six-week master class. You know what I mean? You're going to get the ... Does that make sense? It's all the pieces that make it up, the six-week master class and you could see the whole list on page 192. You can get the six-month enterprise account level of Click Funnels, right. You're going to get Instant Traffic Hacks. This is all making up what is called the offer. Inception Secrets, you're going to get the Soap and Seinfeld secrets. You'll get unlimited funnels to your account, first 50 people only, right. That is an offer. You put it all together. I feel like I'm explaining it, but maybe I'm not. I don't know. What we were doing yesterday was we were creating an offer. What's funny is that this presentation I just did at Ad Con, I'm still here. I'm in the hotel room right now. Crazy tired. My head hurts. My throat hurts from talking so much. There's a huge line of people who wanted to take pictures, which is really fun. That was really fun. Even in my presentation where I wasn't pitching anything, I still was using an offer structure, right. What I did is I literally sat down and I wrote down all the things that I knew, right. These are Facebook ad agency owners, right. Dan wanted me to talk about e-commerce. I was like, "Whoa, that's a little bit weird," but I'm so grateful that he did. What I did is I sat down and I thought through all the knee-jerk reactions people were going to have to me telling them that they need to create an e-com funnel. I was like, "What are they going to say?" Do this to your own people too, right. What are they going to say? They're going to say things like, "I don't have an e-commerce product. They're too hard to make. I don't want to ship things out to people. I don't like spending ads on small little things like that. I wish it was bigger," right, tons of stuff. I made a huge list of I knew of the false beliefs that they would have about my topic. Then what I did is I orchestrated my topic to directly address the false beliefs that they were having. I swear if I put a pitch at the end of that, people would've bought. All right. I got offered $60,000 worth of business right after that presentation today, 60 grand at least. If I had actually tried to close, I know I would've made a lot of money. People were on their seats... It was freaking awesome... Gosh, it went so good... I'm not trying to pat my own back, but I know that the process that I'm telling you right now where you write out the false beliefs and you make products that directly address those false beliefs so that they're no longer false beliefs, guess where I got all that? All right, that's in the book, Expert Secrets. It's not so much about making webinars. This is how to sell. This book taught me how to make it. I already knew how to, but this is yeah, really, really awesome stuff you guys. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. This started as a long podcast and it's a bit tactile, but I hope that you guys are taking the time to sit back and go, "What is my offer? What am I actually offering people?" If you're sitting back and it's these onesies, twosies product, I know I have that on my personal site. I know that I needed to change it. I just have not had the time to do it. You know what I mean? I know that you guys are in that place as well, some of you guys as well. Some of you guys, just don't be lazy about it. Think through. You don't need to come up with that. I'm doing this right now with my dad and his own webinar and he just launched his podcast and it's going great and he's interviewing these industry leaders in the financial area and financial investing and it's going awesome. We're about to launch his webinar and the thing that I'm doing with him right now is offer creation. He's like, "Maybe we should go focus on the webinar a little more, a little bit more on the funnel." I was like, "No, no, it's not time. We have not yet nailed the offer." Just today, I was reviewing the offer... I was reviewing all the things going in there. I think it directly addresses the things that people are going to have the knee-jerk reactions about, I think. I'm pretty sure that it's going to. We went through and the thing we got to do next is we'll probably run an ask campaign and make sure, but the products themselves is what helps change people's false beliefs using what you'll learn in here, using what is called the epiphany bridge. That's what I'm doing. I'm helping my dad map out all the stories. I'm helping him map out all just some tactile pieces that he's got to teach on the webinar, but I'm helping him map out the stories, all the products that will directly help correct the false beliefs and that's it. You guys start doing that. Don't offer just onesies, twosies. How come people will sell ... This works even on e-commerce. Amazon products, why will people buy a pack of three socks versus a pack of one? Because it's an offer. It's an offer... That may not apply directly to sock selling, but that's the basic concept though and that's what I want you guys to do and start putting together. Know that it's all about offer structure and the way that you present that offer inside of the funnel. The funnel gets really easy afterwards because then you have the first product that goes for the first page in the funnel that helps you sell the first thing. The second page helps you sell the second thing. You know what I mean? You're literally offering upsales throughout and by the end, they've gotten the whole offer. Funnels give one offer... Whenever you have more than one offer inside of a funnel, usually the conversions drop because they have not actually had time to digest the first idea. Anyway, I hope that makes sense guys. Get the book. I'm going to drop the link down there. I'll drop my affiliate link for sure and I made a little deal on a email that I dropped out there and there's quite a few guys that actually took up on it. It was really, really fun. Basically, if you get the Expert Secrets book through my affiliate link, I would love to just do a 10-minute overview of your funnel live. I would love to do it live. It's been a while since I've done one of my funnel feast episodes where I ... If you go to funnelfeast.com, I go through and I build live, but it would be fun to have a little critiquing session. That'd be really awesome. If you guys are okay with me going through your funnel live, just send me all the pages. That's my little thank you. What I'm thinking about doing is I'll stack up probably 10 or 15 people and just 10 minutes each just go through and show what I would do just right off the bat to change in the funnel, things like that. Why do you think I can do that? I'm not an expert in real estate. I'm not an expert in stocks. I'm not an expert ... It's because it's sales. Sales is all of that. That's the blanket that I'm talking about here. Anyways, guys, so sorry for talking so long, but go get the book. I'll post the link in my blog and also toss it inside of the description as well in here. If you want me to do that, just reach out to me on my Facebook page and I am happy to gothrough a little critique of your funnel. That'd be really, really fun. All right, guys, talk to you later. Bye. Thanks for listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Want to get one of today's best internet sales funnel for free? Go to salesfunnelbroker.com/freefunnels to download your prebuilt sales funnel today. Book Link:  https://expertsecrets.com/freebook?cf_affiliate_id=52291&affiliate_id=52291&aff_sub=&aff_sub2=&nopopup=false&noautoplay=false&cookiepreview=false  

Today's Guest: Adi Tantimedh, novelist, Her Nightly Embrace: Book 1 of the Ravi PI Series Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with Adi Tantimedh by clicking on the video player above!  Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience full of conspiratorial whisperers who know there are cameras and microphones recording their every move… in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida! Her Nightly Embrace by Adi Tantimedh. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above! (EDITOR'S NOTE -- This is a very special interview. It is the 1,300th overall  post on Mr. Media and, coincidentally, it marks the site's 10th anniversary, February, 2017. Neither my guest nor I realized when this conversation was recorded that it would fall on such a significant occasion. Thank you to novelist Adi Tantimedh and thank you to the more than 4.5 million people who have visited, read, listened and watched Mr. Media over the past decade! -- Bob Andelman) I have to admit I was a bit skeptical of the detective novel Her Nightly Embrace when I read that the lead character, Ravi Singh, sees visions of Hindu gods wherever he goes. What? Oh, and I subtracted points for the back cover quote and endorsement from Deepak Chopra, of all people. ADI TANTIMEDH podcast excerpt: "Ravi used to be a religious scholar, which means he would be extremely well-read. And he's Hindu. If he's worried about karma, his life, the more deeply he gets into this world, how corrupt and evil it can get, I thought, 'What if he sees gods?' He would start to assume that he's going insane!" Fine man, that Deepak Chopra, but not exactly the guy I look for to offer recommendations of books about the adventures of a private detective. Michael Connolly, yes. Vikram Seth, yes. Deepak Chopra? Eh, not so much. But dammit, Deepak was right when he wrote that “Ravi is a character unlike any that readers have quite encountered before.” Her Nightly Embrace is a series of wack-a-doodle adventures introducing Ravi and the crew of screwups at the Golden Sentinels agency in London. Ravi, like the best PIs in 20th century detective literature, gets plenty of tail, by the way, but always at a steep price. And his family is a hoot and a half. La Muse by by Adi Tantimedh and Hugo Petrus. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above! Still not sure about the Hindu Gods, however, unless they are supposed to be the book’s version of a Greek chorus, offering commentary from the margins. I think the stories would soar just as high without them. ADI TANTIMEDH podcast excerpt: "I wondered if we could get a quote from Alan Moore since he was my writing teacher and I still talk with him weekly. But Deepak Chopra? I did some work on a video game that had Deepak Chopra's name on it, but I never met him. I'm surprised and perplexed (by his endorsement of 'Her Nightly Embrace')." Key interview moments: • 3:15 Novelist Adi Tantimedh can't explain why Deepak Chopra endorsed his first 'Ravi PI' novel, 'Her Nightly Embrace,' but he didn't turn him away, either; • 17:30 Tantimedh's anti-hero, Ravi, has issues every where in his life, including dealing with the local Asian housewife gangster who is shaking down his mother; • 31:15 An explanation--that makes sense--for why Ravi PH sees Hindu gods wherever he goes. Adi Tantimedh Twitter • Bleeding Cool • Goodreads • LA Muse     Order Will Eisner: A Spirited Life (2nd Edition) by Bob Andelman, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above!     The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland!

Click above to listen in iTunes...  "About 10 years ago my Dad told me one of the secrets to wealth regardless of your job or business..." What's going on, everyone? This is Steve Larsen, and you're listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio, where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels, and now, here's your host, Steve Larsen. All right, all right, all right. Hey. I'm in a car by my phone. I am obsessed with music, so I love sound quality, which is why I usually use a $200 mic to record my podcast. Hope you guys will forgive me. I actually just went to Russell's this morning. We are lifting together with the crew, and I'm hurting actually. I'm in a lot of pain. We're doing squats and I didn't warm up, so I'm feeling all those pops in my hamstrings. That was stupid. Anyway, hey, I hope you guys are doing awesome. I have got just a ton of messages lately. I want to thank you, but I also want to apologize. I'm 300 emails behind, real emails from you and 60 Voxes, another 30 Skype messages. People are somehow finding my phone number, calling me. I appreciate it, but I just physically am unable to answer all that stuff right now, but anyway... Russell and I were talking this morning. We didn't talk about this, but something popped into my mind. I remember growing up, I did a whole lot of construction. You guys probably didn't know that. I actually worked at Discount Tire for a little while during the winter months. It was totally freezing.   We would work 12 hours a day, no breaks. They'd give us hamburgers for lunch, and we'd grab ... It was so cold. Oh my gosh. You'd feel it down in your core, the kind of cold ... I grew up in Colorado, and it was the kind of cold where you breathe and it hurt your lungs to breathe just because the air was so freezing. You know what I'm talking about?... Anyway, super crazy. I ended up getting really deathly sick because of it, because our hands would be all greasy. They'd come in, they'd give us this food. It's not like we'd wash our hands. I'm sure I ate car grease and oil a couple times. There's no doubt that I did. Then after that I went and I did construction doing residential swimming pools. We built a lot of swimming pools for the Denver Bronco players. Pretty cool stuff. I got to meet a lot of their players and stuff like that. We'd go around and we'd build these sweet, just awesome, high end swimming pools. Sometimes I was part of the build crew and sometimes I was part of the cleaning crew. I'd come up later on and we'd do all the pool maintenance on them and stuff like that. A couple times ... Is it Moreno? I can't remember his first name, but on the Broncos player, Moreno. He almost shot me because I walked into his house or I walked into his backyard, which is usually what we did. We didn't knock. We just did it. He's like, "What? Oh, bro, I almost shot you." Anyway, kind of funny. Then I worked other ... All I'm saying is I actually worked at a plastic factory for a while, and we made M16 buttstocks and syringes. It was injection molding. It was really interesting. I did so many construction jobs and it taught me how to work. It taught me how to do hard stuff, stuff that sucked, which is good. You want to know how to do those things. I love what I do, but there are elements of it that are work, stuff that is really, really ... Let's see if I can shift. I'm driving my car. I drive a stick shift. Here we go. If you can't do the crappy part of the business, then you're going to fail because it's the crappy part, so I'm having a crappy part of it. Obviously, a good side and bad side. Anyways, one day, my dad brought me aside. My dad was an executive at IBM. He's a genius, man. He's the man. I'm working on his ... He does extremely well in the financial markets, just personally and so I'm helping him build a webinar right now, but anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. Anyway, he brought me aside. This is several years ago, a long time ago, maybe almost 10 now. That's crazy. I'm 28. What? He brought me aside and he said, "Hey, you know what?" I was doing all these construction jobs and I was learning how to work and it was great stuff and it was good for a teenager. I went on a mission for my church. I came back, and he was like ... Here's one of the biggest lessons he ever taught me besides how to work hard. He brought me aside and he said, "You know what? If you want to make a lot of money, you have to got to stay on the revenue side of business." I didn't understand what he was saying at first. He's like, "Do not reside on the cost side of business." I was like, "Okay, you know, I don't, what are you talking, what are you talking about?" He said, "Think about it. When you go into work, does your position produce revenue or is your position a cost to the business?" I was like, "Interesting." He's like, "Any time that you are standing on the revenue side of business, you're going to make a lot more money." That's why sales guys get paid so much money. That's why people who do HR and people who do support, that's why they don't get paid a lot of money. They are a cost to keeping the business running. He's like, "If you want to ever ... If you want to keep on ..." He's like, "That's why I've done so well in my career is because I have stayed on the revenue generating side of business." His job was to go, to fly to clients all over the world. He's been to I don't even know how many countries, well over 50, tons of ... My dad traveled like crazy growing up. He'd go out and he'd go to these clients and he'd figure out what they needed to built. Then he would come back and he'd orchestrate the team and they would build this crazy software solution for these high-end people, anything from watches to NASA and to the military. He did a lot of stuff software wise. The software in your car that you're driving right now, he's touched that stuff. He's created industry standards that's touched all of it. All I'm saying is he knows what he's talking about on this stuff. Take what he's saying and take what I'm saying to you right now as real. Just think about it. Any time your business, any time your position, which is why it's so great to be the entrepreneur, you are directly in charge of making money for the company. People are like, "It's not fair that that guy comes in and he owns it and he makes all this money." He's like, "Well, he is solely responsible for making your paycheck happen, so, yeah, why wouldn't he be, you know?" There was a great book that I read... I was just thinking about all this again, how interesting that is because that's one of my roles for current job in ClickFunnels. I'm very much on the revenue side of business. Sales funnels and my skill set is very much directly related to the revenue side of all these other people's businesses when they hire me to do their funnels. I'll charge 15, 20 grand for a sales funnel, but I know it'll make them 10 times that in a year. You know what I mean? It's dumb, easy decisions on that. The reason why I can do that is because it's on the revenue side of business. Just think about that as you go through. Are your activities, what you're doing right now in your day, are your activities keeping you in the revenue side of what you need to be doing in your business to grow it or are you standing on the cost side? That stuff started hitting me because I've been doing some extra stuff to just push further and push harder as I work with Russell, and it's brought more money in. It's more brought more value. It's brought more stuff in. It's cool to see what happens when you start to do that. Whether or not you are an entrepreneur who's solely on your own, you can start thinking about this. Are my activities right now revenue producing or are they cost producing? Am I actually pulling in money? It's such an interesting way to look at. There's a great book that I read once. I got to be honest with you. I'm saying this to you, but I cannot remember the name of it. The whole point of the book though was he was saying, "Okay, there's really four different areas of work that you can go in." This isn't Robert Kiyosaki's ESBI thing. It was another guy who had four different quadrants, also, and he was saying that your ... Let's say you want to get a job. Let's say you don't want to be an entrepreneur. I know a lot of ... 99% of the people who listen to this podcast, you guys are all trying to be entrepreneurs. You are entrepreneurs. You're going out. You're changing the world. You're doing great things. Just take this as a grain of salt just with the lesson. He basically said that if you want security, you will not make a lot of money unless you become this high-end entrepreneur. Eventually you get to this place of great security. If you want to make a lot of money, you have to stay in high-risk job opportunities. You have to stay in these positions where you actually go out and you have to ... It ties in exactly what I'm saying. You have to be on the spot where revenue is created. There were four different quadrants and he was saying, "Look, the places ..." Think about a doctor. That's more high risk. You are playing with people's lives. It's no wonder they get paid a lot of money. Society has said, "Okay, let's let this guy get paid a lot so that he is motivated to know his stuff." You know what I mean? Remember that thing about sales funnels? 50% of the time, on the first launch, they don't work. They're high risk. Then you turn around and we make three tweaks to them and they're actually not high risk at all. They'll turn around to make a butt load of money. It's just figuring out the right model on certain things. Anyway, funnels are not high risk though for that reason... I was just thinking about all this stuff this morning while we were lifting. I was like, "It's so fascinating how true that lesson is that my dad told me, like, 10 years ago. Stay on the revenue side of business. You know, do things that are going to bring extra income in." If you're working somewhere right now and they're not willing to see the money that you're pulling in, should be worth a raise or whatever, second guess what you're doing. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. That sucks... If you can go in and you can create a butt load of extra value, if you can go in and you just ... Anyway, I think you guys get the idea. What ended up happening is I was doing all, just to come full circle, I was doing all these construction jobs and I was tiling. I was actually steel tying. We'd get these huge things of rebar. We'd take these machines and we'd bend the rebar. We'd build these pools inside of these backyards. It's cool. I helped maintain and do some of the pool for the singer from One Republic, which is cool. The guy's got a sweet pool, man. It's underground, under his house. It's so crazy. I was a pool cleaner and I did that for a long time. I'd go and I'd clean the pools. I had a route that I'd go on. It's the cost side of business. It wasn't directly ... I was a service guy. My position didn't really make money. I was just fulfillment for what they were selling... I remember I was sick of it, that there was this moment of time. I was 22. That was 6 years ago. Wow, almost 7. What? It's my birthday coming up. Woo hoo. I remember walking out of the big warehouse where we had all of our stuff. I was covered in cement powder and all this stuff. I was dirty and it was freezing out. It was a good experience, but I remember it was time for me to go back to college and finish that semester, to pick back up. I was almost done with school at that time. I remember there was this little piece of tile on the ground. This might sound cheesy, but I remember I picked up this piece of tile and I realized, I was like, "I'm going to take this and I'm going to keep it with me because I want to remind me to never do a job like this again. Not that it's below me, but just because I want to never have to be in a position where I have to do this again, and there were times in the future during college where I hadn't quite figured out how to make enough money yet. I went and I ... We're about to start Funnel Fridays. I got to run, and it's in three minutes... Instead of taking the construction job, that's when I decided I was going to go try and do real estate, which eventually led me to funnels. Anyway, all I'm saying is decide what position you're going to stay in and then stick to it. I know a lot of you guys have already done that, but anyway, I just hope that stays motivating to you guys. Stay on the revenue side of business and stay doing only the tasks that are going to bring revenue to what you're doing. Outsource the rest of them. Anyways, guys, I got to run. If you guys want to, check out Funnel Fridays or Funnel Feast. That's where I do kind of what we do on Funnel Fridays, but more in depth usually on Saturdays. Check out FunnelFeast.com if you want. All right, guys. Talk to you later. Bye.  

Wait. What? Oh you haven’t quite achieved what you set out to do. You are not quite the “new you” you had imagined. Geez, you’ve have had 15 days to get this completed,what have you been doing? Seriously. I know this can be disappointing when we start out on a journey of change and then next thing we are feeling like giving up. You entered the new year bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with plenty of goals in mind, but it doesn’t take long before you start to make a few excuses and think to yourself it is ok I hit retry button someday. You tell yourself things like "now is not the right time"or "maybe I am not ready to(fill in the blank). Guess what  now is  the right time for you to start living your dreams For whatever the reason, it’s ok  to readjust those resolutions and get back into it. Let me help by giving you nine tips to boost your goal-setting process so you can start your resolutions again. Questions/Comments info@ericgreid.com

Click Above To Listen Or Listen In iTunes...  I'm all about confidence, acting like the "bees knees", and the "cat's meow". There's a balance though. Here's how I find it. What's going on everyone? Hey, this is Steve Larsen, and you're listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Welcome to Sales Funnel Radio, where you'll learn marketing strategies to grow your online business using today's best internet sales funnels. Now, here's your host, Steve Larsen. All right. I got off an airplane. I left the airplane. Walked off the tarmac. We got ... Started walking through the terminal, and I get over to the car rental place. They're like "Mr. Larsen?" I was like, "Yes." They go, "For $30 more would you like to drive our brand new Ford Mustang for the next 3 days?" I said, "uh, yes." Anyways, I'm just sitting in a brand new Ford Mustang. Usually I'm not a car guy, and usually I'm not even a Mustang guy, but these new ones, the new models look pretty sick. It drives like a dream. It's amazing. This is not a Ford Mustang promo, I'm just saying. They got these seat ... You know seat warmers? These have seat coolers. I couldn't figure out forever how to turn off the seat cooler. It was on full blast. My butt was so freaking cold...  Anyways, I did not start this podcast to tell you guys that. I don't know why I just said that. Anyways, I've been over at a little email conference. Email copywriting conference. I had a lot of message to market match stuff. I mean super nerdy stuff if you're not into this world at all. But it's been really helpful. I've been hanging out with Travis. I met a lot of cool guys... Been over at Travis's house the last couple of days. He's been teaching us the deep dark secrets of email copywriting and how to get more opens and how to get more clicks when they open. Retainability and deliverability rates... Anyways, it's like ... That's like brain candy for guys like me. Absolutely love it, super fun. Really enjoyed it.  But, yesterday I was sitting there. We kind of ended and we were all sitting there still though. There was only 5 or 6 of us, kind of small intimate groups so we could ask questions and get better. He's like "What do you guys need? I've been talking a lot but what are some more of your questions also from what we've been talking about?" Everyone went through and went through. I was like "The problem I'm having is that every time I go look at someone else's sales funnel, I know what to do. I look at their stuff, I see the leaks. Every time I go see someone else's process or whatever, I look through it and I see the leaks... ...I know exactly what they need to do and how they need to fix it."  The entrepreneur is always like "What? Oh my gosh, why didn't I think about that?' The weirdest thing has been happening. This happens every time I go build my own thing. I always ... this happens every time, and it's frustrating but it happens to literally every entrepreneur who's out there. As soon as you get ... Well, I mean, we're all prone to it anyways. It's easier to see what people are doing wrong in other people's business because it's not your business. Right? You stand up from a 50,000 foot view and you're looking down on top of it and you're going... "Oh, I totally see what that guy is doing wrong. If he would just add this sequence. He would add another 20% to his bottom line." Or, "If he would just add this, he would go to this traffic source. It's so obvious. Why isn't that guy seeing it?"  In the group I was like "You guys literally all day long, all I do is look at sales funnels. I build them. I'm literally building them and working with them for about 12 hours a day right now. I've been doing that for a long time. Couple years." I was like "The problem I'm having is that I don't know where to go next, which is the weirdest feeling, because I always know where to go next when I'm looking at other people's things." Now that it's in front of my face literally, there's so many decisions. You're wading through all these things. Decision after decision. It's not that the decision making is hard. Its like, what's the ramification from this one. If I go down this path does that mean I'm giving up the other path? I only have so much time in the day, and I don't want to sabotage what I'm doing over here.  I mean, for me, it's overload because ... I don't know. I'm probably a little bit weird like that... But my brain just goes all over the place, and I don't know what to do sometimes. I'm sure you guys have felt that way. I told everyone in the group "I'm learning right now. Not that I haven't known that before, but I'm relearning it. The importance of having a coach. Someone that just looks at your stuff and says, all right, you got to ... I know you're so close to it, you can't see everything that I can because you're making the decisions day to day." That's fine. Never feel bad that you're in that situation. I've been in that situation a lot...  That's the first thing I realized. Number one, my progress just went through the roof as soon as I got a coach... They're like "Hey, here's some strategies you can do to cut the noise down. Here's some things you can do to "... It's really interesting, really fascinating. I was like "Oh yeah. It's so true. I would have said that somebody else. Why didn't I think about that?" It's because you're so close to the project. All these things ... You're not just making decisions, you're managing. You only have so much mental shelf space before your head starts to get all jacked up and you'll make stupid decisions.  No matter how much of a boss you think you are, everyone's prone to that. Anyways, that's the first thing. Hey sorry by the way if the sound's a little bit different. Usually I record on a really nice mic so that the sound quality is awesome, but I am driving back to the airport to fly home. Thought this would be a good time for me to do this. Anyways, that was the first one. Number one, to clear away the noise you've got to get a coach...  Which leads me to the second point. The scenario is hey I've been going through and been listening what the coach is saying. I'm fixing my business, fixing my life... You should get a coach for really every aspect of your life if you can. I certainly have several mentors in one space. I ask all of them the same question. I'll get different takes from every single one of them, but after awhile, a story, a flavor starts to come out. I'm like "Okay, this is kind of where they're all saying I should go and where my gut is saying I should go." Hopefully they match up and I start moving forward.  After awhile, sometimes the apprentice can become like the master. What do you do then? What do you do then? How do you keep the progress going and how do you keep fast ridiculous speed? It's all about producing results as quickly as possible... That doesn't mean you have to do it. You're right. You just orchestrate it. It's more of a brass tacks episode also. Here's the 2nd step. First step, you have to get a coach, and the 2nd step, be a coach... Holy crap. I learned so much stuff. I remember, I first started mentoring people in their own business actually when I was in college, and I was conscious about my age. I was like 'uh, I'm still in college. If these guys know that I'm in college, and I'm mentoring and teaching what they should do in their business, maybe they'll discredit me." It was all these woes. "Am I qualified? Is somebody going to come through and give me a certification to be a coach?" You don't need any of that crap anyways.  If you're like a doctor or a lawyer, please don't skip school or anything, but in the internet marketing space, you definitely don't need all that stuff. You can just go learn. Anyways, number one, getting a coach, and constantly too. It's not like you can graduate from getting a coach. That's why athletes who are in the Olympics still have coaches. They continue to after they win a gold medal. They continue to ... Anytime you're at the peak of something, always have a coach. Then the other way around is things that to solidify stuff in your mind, especially with business or whatever, just be a coach. Turn around ... For free even. My periscope channel, I've got over 600 followers on there. For a long long long time, I just kept recording these videos saying "Hey, I just learned this sweet trick. Oh hey, I just learned how to target a single person with Facebook ads, and put their name in the ad. It kind of freaks them out." Or, "Hey, I learned this cool traffic technique. I made this tweak and I got three times the subscribers for email." Which is true. Anyways, that's when it just started exploding, right? What's funny is that when you start offering out advice like that, or you start doing ... You get more clients anyways. That's how I got in so many industries in the first place with internet marketing is I just started working for them for free. I didn't even ask them sometimes... I just produced the result and gave it to them. There's couple times I've gone and just built a funnel for someone and brought it to them and said "Hey I built this for you. Do you want it?" That's way more valuable than dropping a resume on the desk. Resumes are crap... Just go produce a result. Actually solve that person's problem or help on it. Or at least show interest and produce something that normally they would pay for. Then, you're in. I've done that tons of times and it's amazing what happens when you do that.  Anyways, that's really all I was thinking, and that's kind of what they were saying to me also. They were ... I was asking for coaching. It was helping to clear my mind up. "Hey, here's where you should go. Here's where you should go." I was like "Okay. It was okay." I was taking all of their advice in. It was like "Eh, I don't know. I don't know." Then today, I was sitting down and I was thinking about all the things they were saying. Then boom. It hit me really hard. I was like "Oh my gosh. That's it. I know how to build the next part of the funnel that I'm working on right now." I'll show that to you guys sometime...  It's because of them coaching. Then I was able to coach some of these other guys on some stuff. It's ... That's why masterminds are a cool thing, because you sit around and you get to be a coach and also get coached at the same time. Anyways, that's all I was thinking. Get a coach. Be a coach. I don't now if I've said that to you guys before. That's kind of one of my things. If I've said that in a different podcast, I'm sorry. But when the noise starts to get really really high, because for all of us, it almost always does at some point. The noise gets really loud. Every path feels like it's cloudy... Travis very wisdomly, profoundly, he said "Dude, sometimes that's just life telling you that that path hasn't quite been hashed out yet." It's like "Oh that's a good point." I went home ... Or, I went back to the hotel room. I was thinking about that. I didn't ... On purpose, chose not to work on stuff last night. I just kind of hang out and it was awesome. Kind of let my mind germinate on it.  I always thought the whole subconscious thing is kind of bullcrap but it's not. I've been learning more and more that it's actually the majority of your thoughts. It's the whole 80-20 principle... 80% of what you do is that subconscious... Anyways, I did not mean to make this a hard core ... But whatever. We're telling these different stories and putting it into email. I was talking about how sometimes with your programmer or your developers or certain members of your team, or things that are cankering on you, you've got to get rid of them. Anyways. I'll stop right there. I want you guys to know that if you guys want me to coach at all, this isn't like a ... I'm not hard pitching you at all, but I get an average of 1 to 2 requests per day from people ... For me just to go look at their funnels. I got to go do that here soon also. Someone just sent me their email address and they're like "Hey just check it out." If you want me to do that, just let me know. I do ... I charge $500 for it. It's not as much ... $500 is not that much money. The whole reason I charge it is because free advice gets ... Even if it's good advice, you stack it in the free advice section of your brain. It's like "ah well, that was free advice. He's not really working for me anyways."  I charge $500 for it. We sit down for an hour and I un-stuck you. Let's go find the leaks in the funnel that can cause huge percentages in return. It sucks to be stuck, when you know your dream is there and you're not progressing towards it... That is the worst kind of hell for an entrepreneur. Non movement. Being stuck... Anyways guys, I'll talk to you later. I'm super excited to go home. Play with my little girls. Keep putting in practice what I've learned this weekend. All right guys. Talk to you later. Bye. Thanks for listening to Sales Funnel Radio. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Have a question you want answered on the show? Get your free t-shirt when your question gets answered on the live "HeySteve!" show. Visit salesfunnelbroker.com now to submit your question.    

What? Oh sorry, just checking my Facebook notifications... Happens a lot and not just for me! (Yes, as the editor of the show, I get to write the truth here! Wazza) I'll admit it, I do check my social accounts Read More The post TBS098 Is social media killing your productivity? Wazza is getting banned appeared first on Tradies Business Show.

Hey there, welcome to the Kaijucast HQ! What? Oh, nothing – we’re all just hanging out and having a few beers and talking about whatever the hell we want… MONSTERS… and life …and stuff and things. It’s all very conversational, I assure you. Some of the nonsense about to bombard your ears: Jeff and I […]

It's a crazy show (duh!) because we're so happy, we're giddy and gabby! Yay, SCOTUS! Yay, #LoveWins! Yay, new towels! Wait. What? Oh, yeah, yay, new towels! Bay is looking forward to Blue Apron deliveries, and Amy is looking forward to her vacation in Tennessee. And she's looking for a new housesitter, too. Have you looked at MindMyHouse.com? We have! Call us at 44-222-96269! Would you mind? [My house?] Find a housesitter! Make a Blue Apron meal! Party in August! What Amy's new towels would look like if she had waited for SCOTUS and Bay's input!

Aug 2009 - Back like Patrick Duffy! What? Oh! It was all a dream...

Hey Guys! What? You’ll have to excuse me. I’ve been up for a week. What? Oh yeah, I got a hold of some really great Crystal Meth. What? No… Its not addictive! Whatever! I can quit whenever I run out and can’t find anyone to rob or have sex with for money. So… do you […]

One Life Left -- s05e01 -- #97 -- Guess Who's Back?Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back...For the newcomers: One Life Left is back. What? Oh! It's a radio show about videogames. It's presented by Ste Curran, Simon Byron and Ann Scantlebury. Ste and Simon both work in the videogame industry and have done forever. Ann, after close to a hundred episodes, now knows what a videogame is. We assume. Possibly.We broadcast on FM radio, courtesy of the brilliant Resonance FM, in the United Kingdom on Monday evenings and podcast the show later that night. We don't talk about videogames all the time and we try to be inclusive. Lots of our listeners don't play videogames all that much, just like Ann. Some of them don't play at all.  For the veterans: Oh, wow. Tonight was totally fun and we've missed you. Promise.Season 5 Episode 1 contains: Ste, Ann, Simon and a very special guest. News about videogames, Music that sounds like videogames, four tiny features loosely themed around videogames. Lots of chat about E3, some chat about Ann's cat. That sort of thing.Music in s05e01: Three Kings by Swampyboy, Relapse and Corecontax (apologies for failing to credit the final two in the show), 8 Bit De La Mort by the incomparable Jungle Fiction, and Raw Footage Trash80 Remix by Leeni.Other stuff: Hey! You! Please write to us / call us / tweet us / whatever. You're a huge part of why we do this and it's genuinely awesome to be back. The next show is in two weeks' time and after that return to our usual a weekly schedule. We've lots of new features and guests and surprises to come over the next 23 episodes. One more thing: OLL is completely independent and relies on word of mouth to bring in new listeners. If you listen to the show and like it all we ask is that you tell your friends. Then they'll tell their friends, they'll tell their friends and pretty soon we'll be able to tell the whole world about Ann's cat. Thanks! And see you in a fortnight (or less, if you follow our Twitter / go on our forum / etc).Bye!OLL xx